No Moon Landing's X Of The Year: Wrestling 2013

Wrestling is really cool and you should watch it and everyone should enjoy it. This year I watched a lot more wrestling than I've watched in previous years and my whole list of matches I have written down as at least "Pretty Great" would be like a full page longer and maybe they'll show up at the bottom when I get down there who knows this is all Off The Dome no drafts here.

Match of the Year

In no particular order (mostly chronological):

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Shinsuke Nakamura - 1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom VII

This match, from the first show of the year, the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show, is what fully convinced me, regardless of last year's list, that New Japan Pro Wrestling was the greatest promotion on earth. The whole show was phenomenal, top to bottom, but this match was icing on the cake.

Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - 4/7 NJPW INVASION ATTACK

The Okada/Tanahashi feud was captivating from the start for me and this match, I thought at the time, was the ideal blowoff and probably the best match I had ever seen up to that point. Later this year I'd be proved wrong, but that match, blown spots and all, still stands tall above the rest of the stellar feud.

Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto - 6/22 NJPW Dominion

Another great feud that lasted a while this year was Shibata vs Goto. Two adolescent rivals going their separate ways as adults and being reunited in pro wrestling, each with their own message to prove. This match is violent and, while not gory, still cringe-inducing in its stiffness, and the psychology is out of this world. There's great subtlety in between the exclamation points.

Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii - 8/4 NJPW G1 Climax Day 4

Throw all the subtlety out with this match. Just two dudes beating each other up in one of the most violent, and most awe-inspiring matches of the year. Shibata, a ruthless violence machine up against the stone pitbull Ishii, is a unstoppable force meeting the definition of an immovable object.

Drake Younger vs Sami Callihan - 3/22 PWG ASW

Another match in the vein of Shibata/Goto, except the violence is more over the top. Staples, tacks, blood. One of the reasons this match stands out so much is its setting. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla is not a place you ordinarily see deathmatches, or near-deathmatches I suppose. The shock of seeing so much bloody violence in a place like the american legion hall in reseda is strong enough to sear this match into my memory.

Kota Ibushi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - 8/4 NJPW G1 Climax Day 4

The heat. True babyface heat can be hard to come by. The way Ibushi turns the crowd in this match is incredible. Not to mention the amazing in-ring ability he and Nakamura both bring to the table. Charisma off the scale in this underdog taking on insurmountable odds in this one.

Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - 8/14 NJPW King of Pro Wrestling

This is probably the best match I have ever seen in my entire life. This isn't to discount the few Kobashi matches I've seen, or the Danielson matches, or the Flair matches, etc, that's how good this match is. Words can't do it justice, its just a must see.

i also really liked ACH vs Kyle O'Reilly. wasn't feeling it when i watched it so i didnt write anything down but in retrospect it was really good

also Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly would have been a moty if it wasnt for the finish thanks and god bless

also i guess im not huge into tag team wrestling so there's that but there are a few bucks matches including the one against suzuki-gun and against the unbreakable fucking machines and against steenerico and that big njpw broadway from earlier this week (christmas week) (2013) and those shield matches against the undertaker after Wrestlemania and that big Dragon Gate tag match between Tozawa and BxB Hulk and Ricochet and Naruki Doi.

also these are pretty far down the totem pole but I figure its interesting somehow, my favorite WWE match this year was Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk from Summerslam and my favorite ROH match was either the match where Davey knocked Paul London out from Border Wars or the Roddy/London match from Glory by Honor. 

Wrestler of the Year

My favorite wrestler is Kevin Steen but I also like Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi and the Young Bucks and Daniel Bryan and CM Punk and El Generico and Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly and Drake Younger and Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura and Roderick Strong and a lot of guys its hard to pick who had the best year.
I like Kevin Steen though.

Here Are Some More Matches In Tiny Print If You Wanna Look Them Up

There are some spoilers here I'm warning you

Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki - 1/4 Wrestle Kingdom VII NJPW
Prince Devitt vs Kota Ibushi, Low-ki - 1/4 Wrestle Kingdom VII NJPW 
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kazushi Sakuraba - 1/4 Wrestle Kingdom VII NJPW 
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - 1/4 Wrestle Kingdom VII NJPW 
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Karl Anderson - 2/10 New Beginnings NJPW 
Drake Younger vs Sami Callihan - 1/12 DDT4 PWG 
John Cena vs CM Punk - 2/25 Raw WWE 
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Prince Devitt - 3/3 Anniversary NJPW 
Inner City Machine Guns vs AR Fox & Samuray Del Sol - 3/22 PWG ASW 
Drake Younger vs Sami Callihan - 3/22 PWG ASW 
Kazuchika Okada vs Hirooki Goto - 3/23 New Japan Cup FINAL NJPW 
Ricochet vs Akira Tozawa - 4/6 Open the Ultimate Gate DGUSA 
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - 4/7 INVASION ATTACK NJPW
Shingo vs Akira Tozawa - 4/7 Mercury Rising DGUSA
Undertaker vs CM Punk - 4/7 Wrestlemania 29 WWE
The Shield vs Undertaker & Team Hell No - 4/15 Raw WWE 
Davey Richards vs Paul London - 5/4 Border Wars ROH
The Shield vs Randy Orton & Team Hell No - 6/3 Raw WWE
Forever Hooligans vs Timesplitters - 6/22 NJPW Dominion 
Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto - 6/22 NJPW Dominion
Kazuchika Okada vs Togi Makabe - 6/22 NJPW Dominion 
Shinsuke Nakamura vs La Sombra - 7/20 NJPW KIZUNA Road 
Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto - 7/20 NJPW KIZUNA Road 
Kazuchika Okada vs Prince Devitt - 7/20 NJPW KIZUNA Road
Tomohiro Ishii vs Katsuyori Shibata - 8/4 NJPW G1 Climax Day 4      
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kota Ibushi - 8/4 NJPW G1 Climax Day 4
Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk - 8/18 WWE Summerslam 
Daniel Bryan vs John Cena - 8/18 WWE Summerslam
Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii - 8/14 NJPW King of Pro Wrestling
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - 8/14 NJPW King of Pro Wrestling   

This list kinda peters out in august but what can i say i guess im not the superfan people expect