5 – FTR vs The Young Bucks – Full Gear (November 7)
After over three years of anticipation, build, rivalry, and bad blood, the two of the greatest tag teams of this generation finally collided in a tag team match for the AEW Tag Team titles. Fans always imagined if we would ever get to see this match and that was answered when FTR arrived in AEW. We knew we had a dream match coming and it truly delivered. After facing heavy criticism over the build of this match these two teams replied to it by having one of the best tag team matches of all time. It was a clash of two wrestling forms. Flippy Shit versus Traditional wrestling. When these two styles blended, we saw magic. The match was placed in the middle of the card but it stole the show. The match had some amazing callbacks to great tag teams from the past with the four men becoming infallible for that night. The match told the story of strong egos colliding and a contest not only for the Tag Titles but also for the title of the best tag team. This match would have been placed higher on the list if it wasn’t for the substandard build in the weeks leading up to it because the story and build is an integral part of a match.
4 – Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay – Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 1 (Jan 4)
How can we forget our friends in Japan who are famous for having match of the year contenders whenever they put out a show for the wrestling world to see. This time, one of those matches comes from Wrestle Kingdom Day 1, contested for Will Ospreay’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. The match went into full gear the second the bell rang and from there on it was an anime fight. Two overpowered characters who can fly were trying to inflict pain upon each other. Both wrestlers activated the unlimited reversals cheat and had a counter for every single move. If you haven’t seen that match you need to. It’s the type of match that would fill any wrestling fan with excitement unless you’re Jim Cornette. Takahashi and Ospreay set the bar really high at the start of the year with this match but only some exceeded it.
3 – Kota Ibushi vs Kazuchika Okada – Wrestle Kingdom Night 1 (Jan 14)
Two matches in succession from the same event from the same night. Now that’s odd but trust me this list was already hard enough to build and I couldn’t separate these two matches, however one was better than the other for me. This match was bound to deliver. Ibushi headed into the match as the G1 Climax 2019 winner and Okada headed into the match as the final boss at the end of a long and tiring game. Literally. Go check out his entrance from that night. Unlike Takahashi vs Ospreay, this match was very methodical at the beginning and slowly started picking up pace. It was as if both wrestlers were picking at each other’s weaknesses very realistically and expertly. The match then went into Super Saiyan mode when they decided that there was going to be no more fooling around. They both stiffed each other with some hard shots with the momentum going back and forth amongst the two biggest stars pf Japanese wrestling. The ending sequence was brilliant with Okada flogging Ibushi with two hard lariats before Ibushi counters the Rainmaker with a running V Trigger only for Okada to quickly regain his senses and come back with a sit-up tombstone piledriver into a Rainmaker to defend his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.