2018 was probably the best year ever for high quality wrestling on a worldwide basis. Almost every company put together at least one absolute banger and many wrestlers put together absolutely stellar resumes in the year just gone. Here we will look at what I consider to be the best of the best. As always with these lists, these opinions are mine and mine alone, and what I look for in a wrestling match may not be what others are looking for. It was tough to cut this down to 101. With that said, let's get on with the list.
101. WALTER vs Timothy Thatcher - PWG Battle Of Los Angeles Night 2
These two had one of the best matches of the year in February and, while this wasn't as good as that, it was still a hell of a match. These two go all out against each other every time, in a way that only good friends can. Just one hard-hitting WALTER match in a year that was chock full of them.
100. Jordan Devlin vs Chris Ridgeway - PROGRESS Chapter 78: 24 Hour Progress People
I went into this match thinking that it would be good but it far exceeded my expectation. Devlin has become one of the best wrestlers on the European scene and this was another example of why. These two put together a wonderful back and forth match that you should go out of your way to check out.
99. CCK vs LAX - PROGRESS Coast To Coast: New York
LAX are, simply put, one of the best teams in the world right now. CCK are pretty darn good too, even when they switch up their personnel. This was the best match on the Coast To Coast tour, one that showcased the quality of both teams.
98. Minoru Suzuki vs Tomohiro Ishii (British Heavyweight Title) - RPW/NJPW Global Wars
It's Ishii vs Suzuki. Two nasty bastards beating the shit out of each other. What's not to like?
97. Kota Ibushi vs Hangman Page - ROH Supercard of Honor XII
Page had a great year and established himself as a top tier worker. He is now someone I look out for on shows. Ibushi is one of the best, smoothest wrestlers on the planet. They put together a fantastic match, that even managed to outshine a ladder match that involved the Young Bucks.
96. Aleister Black vs Adam Cole (Extreme Rules) - NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
This started off quite slowly but by the end, it had turned into an entertaining brawl. It featured a bunch of crazy spots, including an electric chair drop onto a ladder and a DVD onto the backside of two chairs. It worked very well as a showcase for both men and as an entertaining semi-main event. Even the interference from SAnitY and Undisputed Era didn't hurt the entertainment value here.
95. Zack Sabre Jr vs WALTER - Evolve 99
This is the first, but not last, entry for this matchup on this list. These two have fantastic chemistry and they work the big man/small man dynamic differently than you normally see. The wrestling is simultaneously smooth and brutal and I would happily watch these two wrestle over and over again.
94. Absolute Andy vs David Starr (16 Carat Gold Final) - wXw 16 Carat Gold Day 3
Absolute Andy had spent the entire tournament being a massive prick, so the crowd was frothing at the mouth to see him get what was coming to him. It didn't happen though, and he managed to win a fantastic tournament, despite Starr refusing to give up over and over again. Great match, better story.
93. Matt Riddle vs Will Ospreay - OTT Scrappermania IV
For my money, this was better than the match they had on Wrestlemania weekend. They took everything that they had done in their previous matches and built on it to produce a wildly entertaining sprint that was expected of them.
92. Io Shirai vs Momo Watanabe (Wonder of Stardom Title) - Stardom Queen's Fest
When Shirai missed her first chance at WWE she went straight back to putting on fantastic matches in Stardom. Watanabe has a very bright future as she was only 17 when this match took place. Together they put on a fantastic match that caught me off guard as I was watching the show for Toni Storm vs Meiko Satomura but came out far more impressed by this.
91. Kento Miyahara vs Naomichi Marufuji - AJPW Super Power Series
This was the rematch from their excellent Champion Carnival encounter in April and while it was a shade below that match it was still a great match in its own right. Miyahara is the main reason that All-Japan is making a resurgence in the wrestling world, and this is another example of just how good he is.
90. WALTER vs Zack Sabre Jr - PROGRESS Chapter 67: Bourbon Is Also A Biscuit
Firstly, that is a brilliant name for a show. Secondly, this was a brilliant match. Two of the best wrestlers in the world showing their brilliant chemistry again. I honestly don't think they could put on a bad match against each other, and this wasn't even the best they had in 2018.
89. Jeff Cobb vs Shingo Takagi vs Bandido (BOLA Final) - PWG Battle Of Los Angeles Night 3
This was a wonderful way to finish off a great tournament. It started off quite slowly but the latter half, featuring Cobb and Bandido, was an absolute joy to behold. Bandido is one of the most exciting wrestlers I have seen in some time and Cobb is perfect in the role of the athletic big man. Definitely check this out. Check out the whole tournament.
88. Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns vs John Cena vs Elias vs Finn Balor vs The Miz vs Braun Strowman (Gauntlet Match) - WWE Raw 19th February
I know that technically this was a collection of six back to back matches but WWE classes it as one match so who am I to argue. This took place over the first two hours of Raw and featured a beast of a performance from Seth Rollins, who beat Reigns and Cena back to back while competing for 65 minutes to start the match. This match made for one of the best episodes of Raw in quite some time and was brilliantly structured throughout.
87. Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii (British Heavyweight Title) - Rev Pro Live In New Orleans
Sabre and Ishii prove why they are two of the best in the world. Sabre uses his fantastic wrestling skills to try to avoid Ishii's power, but he can't avoid it forever. This was part of setting up Sabre as a full-time New Japan star, something that has paid off very well.
86. LAX vs The OGz (Impact Wrestling Tag Titles, Street Fight) - Impact Wrestling Slammiversary
It's great to see Homicide and Hernandez back and this was the perfect match to properly reintroduce them. The Santana and Ortiz iteration of LAX have established themselves as one of the best tag teams in the world and this match definitely did nothing but help that. It was a violent and wildly entertaining brawl that built throughout and made everyone involved look great. It is the best match I have seen in this company in some time.
85. Matt Riddle vs Keith Lee - Evolve 105
Keith Lee's last match for Evolve, and what a way to go out. These two appreciated the significance of the situation and produced a fantastic match that was essentially them throwing everything they had at each other until one of them could no longer continue. It played well into their previous matches and had a hot crowd to go along with it. Great stuff.
84. Kenny Omega vs Penta El Zero M - All In
I love a good dream match that you never really knew how much you wanted. This played out pretty much like a big time New Japan match would, with big spots and a massive finishing stretch. It was an excellent match that was unfortunately held back a tiny bit by the fact that the result was never really in doubt.
83. Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii (IWGP Title) - NJPW Destruction In Hiroshima
Is it possible for a match to be both excellent and a slight disappointment? If so, this is it. These two had one of the best matches this year in the G1 and I was expecting that level again here, perhaps unwisely. Having said all of that, this was clearly still an excellent wrestling match, as evidenced by it's inclusion on this list.
82. Zack Sabre Jr vs Kota Ibushi - NJPW G1 Climax Night 2
These two seem to work wonderfully together, which speaks to the quality that both men possess. This was around the quality of their NJ Cup match from March, which is a very good thing. They worked a great back and forth clash of styles type match that was never anything less than enthralling.
81. Zack Sabre Jr vs Tetsuya Naito - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 3
Sabre Jr had a hell of a run in this tournament, beating most of the top guys in the company to cement his upper card status. This was the first match of that. Sabre Jr is always at the top of his game and Naito brought everything he had here. This established ZSJ as the submission expert.
80. Zack Sabre Jr vs Kota Ibushi - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 6
Sabre is back with another amazing match. It was also another match where Sabre used his superior technical skills to stop his opponent from getting up a head of steam. These two share great chemistry and put on a superb match. Sabre is such a good heel and Ibushi was the perfect babyface to play off that.
79. Toni Storm vs Meiko Satomura - WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 8
Meiko had a great match with Mercedes Martinez but this was even better. For me, this is the best match that has taken place in the MYC, with both women showing just how good they are when they are allowed to go all out. This was excellent.
78. British Strong Style vs Undisputed Era - WWE UK Tournament Night 1
This was superb. Everybody came out of this looking a million bucks. The crowd was magnificent throughout too, pushing this even higher. They built on what they had already done and set up matches down the line. Excellent stuff all round.
77. Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito - NJPW G1 Climax Night 14
These two had a fantastic match at last year's G1 and while this didn't quite match that effort it was still wildly entertaining. Naito, in particular, was at the top of his game. The only thing holding this back from being much higher on this list was Ibushi's refusal to sell anything for more than two goddamn minutes.
76. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre (Raw Tag Team Titles) - WWE Hell In A Cell
I love a good tag team match, and this was certainly a very good tag team match. A large portion of this PPV was forgettable so it needed a match like this. You could tell that all of the wrestlers went out there and gave their all to put on the best match they could, probably because they were aware that the main event would go over like a lead balloon. Great stuff.
75. More Than Hype vs The Rascalz & Meiko Satomura - OTT Fan Appreciation Night
Meiko Satomura can wrestle anybody and it will be great. None of More Than Hype were even born when Meiko made her debut but they are some talented youths and they had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand here. This was non-stop action and, while it may not be for everyone, I loved it.
74. WALTER vs Zack Sabre Jr - wXw We Love Wrestling Tour Hamburg
Modern wrestling has so many combinations of wrestlers that produce consistently great matches and this is among the most reliable. Sabre was the one to take the role of aggressor in this one, attacking the leg of WALTER relentlessly, with WALTER's chops being used more for defense. Everything they did made sense and it is another example of why both men are among the world's best.
73. Minoru Suzuki vs Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW Power Struggle
This match was just two no-nonsense badasses kicking lumps out of each other, and it was delightful. Quite often in Suzuki matches, you get outside interference, which can get very tiring, but there was none of that shit here. I love crazy, violent Suzuki.
72. Tetsuya Naito vs Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW G1 Climax Night 4
These two have put on a series of great matches against each other and this was no different. The match was structured in such a way that there were very few nearfalls until the finishing stretch which meant that the crowd was fully invested in them when they did finally come. It's two of the world's best putting on a display. Excellent.
71. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Takashi Sigiura (GHC Title) - NOAH Global Jr League Day 10
This was a superb match that had a really good dynamic between the cocky dickhead Nakajima and the grizzled veteran Sigiura. They basically threw bombs at each other for half an hour and it was joyous. This may well have impressed me even more if I had the time to watch more NOAH.
70. Pete Dunne vs Ricochet (NXT North American & UK Titles) - NXT 19th September
When you put two of the world's best wrestlers against each other, even on TV, you expect the match to be memorable. Mission accomplished. These two put together one of the best matches that has appeared on weekly NXT TV. Even the somewhat predictable Dusty finish couldn't bring this down. I hope to see a rematch at a Takeover in the future.
69. Zack Sabre Jr vs Tyler Bate - PROGRESS Chapter 63: Take Me Underground
This match was excellent. It had Zack going full on with his limb work and his vast array of submissions, while Tyler tried everything in his arsenal to avoid having his appendages snapped off. The pace was well thought out and the standard of the wrestling, the reversals in particular, was top notch. In the end Bate gets caught in a submission that is impossible to escape.
68. Undisputed Era vs Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan (NXT Tag Titles) - NXT Takeover: Chicago
Well, this was awesome. Lorcan and Burch have been a sneaky great team for a while but they absolutely cemented themselves here. This was given all the chance in the world to succeed and it certainly did that. Both teams looked great and the crowd was fully invested throughout. There were some great near falls and they did a good job of making me believe that the challengers could win.
67. Pete Dunne vs Zack Gibson (WWE UK Title) - WWE UK Tournament Night 2
This was an engrossing back and forth match that did an excellent job of pushing Gibson as a potential champion and establishing Dunne as the very top of the mountain. The crowd was fully invested throughout and 'Shoes off if you hate Gibson' is an all-time chant. Gibson worked his way to utilizing the Shankly Gates but Dunne was just too good and retained his title.
66. Masashi Takeda vs Isami Kodaka (BJW Deathmatch Title, Light Tubes, Giga Ladder, Panes of Glass Match) - BJW 20th June
I don't really watch many deathmatches as I usually find them to be lacking in structure or quality but I can't say that here. It is absurdly violent but it does have a real match at its centre, a really fucking good one. It honestly resembles a New Japan main event in terms of structure and layout, the only difference being that this involves glass and nail boards. Even if deathmatches aren't your thing, give this a try as it may well be the best pure deathmatch ever.
65. Keith Lee vs Tomohiro Ishii (British Title) - RevPro Epic Encounter
These two put on a great match for RevPro in 2017 but this one was even better. I have never made any bones about how much I like a good big man showdown, and this was certainly that. Lee dominated for large portions and Ishii sold everything brilliantly, while still maintaining his double hard bastard persona. You should go out of your way to watch this.
64 & 63. Golden Lovers vs Will Ospreay & Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW Road To Destruction Night 2 [&] Golden Lovers vs Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW Fighting Spirit
I have decided to lump these two matches together as they only have a slight change in line up and they were both equally excellent. Both matches showed how good the Golden Lovers are as a team and how well put together these somewhat random matches can be. Neither match was for a title but that didn't stop them putting together matches that were beautifully paced and brilliantly executed. Superb stuff on both accounts.
62. Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles (WWE Title) - WWE TLC
This was possibly the best pure wrestling match to take place on a WWE PPV in the entire of 2018. Bryan is fantastic as a heel and the little things he adds into his repertoire are great. Excellent stuff.
61. Aleister Black vs Tommaso Ciampa (NXT Title) - NXT 25th July
This was great on many levels. The match itself was top notch but it was the overarching story being told that pushed this to a higher level. Gargano tried to stop his bitter rival and ended up handing him the title, making an enemy out of Black in the process. It is this level of storytelling that keeps NXT so entertaining and this is one of the best matches on NXT TV ever.
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