Top 50 Matches - The 2015 Edition

It's almost February of 2016 now so that means we're nearly a month late for my annual edition of the Best Matches of the year. 2015 was on the whole a good year for pro wrestling and the overall match quality was damned good too. There were many matches I absolutely loved that didn’t make the cut for the Top 50 which puts into perspective how good the Top 50 matches were, which is something I seem to remember saying last year.

Life meant I may have watched less pro wrestling this year than in previous years. I still caught every episode of NXT, ROH and Lucha Underground but I saw very little of Monday Night RAW past May this year, very little Smackdown period and no Impact Wrestling was watched after April (my will was finally broken). I did catch every WWE PPV though, saw every ROH PPV and special event as well as every PWG event and most of the big NJPW shows. I saw less SHIMMER than ever before though, not catching a single show this year. I've also placed an asterisk next to the two matches from NXT Takeover: London that made it into the list as I was (thankfully) there to witness that show live which I always think lends itself to overrating.

This year was the best year women have had since I started the list with their highest position to date (11th) and 5 matches in the top 50 - all of which are in the top 30. I'm also really, really happy that Jimmy Jacobs' retirement match made it on to the list. It was a really emotional match for me and although it was far from a five star classic in the ring, it was a fabulous match in my eyes because of what it meant to me. For a while I thought it was going to fall out of the Top 50 but as the year came to a close it managed to hang on, just.

As per usual I feel the need to remind you guys that the date range for this list was anything that aired between the 1^st January 2014 and the 31^st December 2015. So, for example, PWG’s All Star Weekend shows which were taped in December 2015 haven't been released on DVD yet and therefore will be considered for the 2016 list instead of this one. With the formalities out of the way, here is the list:

Best Matches of 2015:

 

1) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi, IWGP Intercontinental Championship – Wrestle Kingdom 9
2) Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Royal Rumble
3) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, G1 Climax Final – G1 Climax: Day 19
4) Andrew Everett, Biff Busick and Trevor Lee vs. Mount Rushmore 2.0 (Super Dragon and The Young Bucks [Matt and Nick Jackson]), Guerrilla Warfare Match – Battle of Los Angeles: Stage Two
5)      reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), ROH World Tag Team Championship – 13^th Anniversary Show
6)      AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, A Block Match – G1 Climax: Day 17
7)      Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor, NXT Championship – Beast In The East
8)      Jay Lethal vs. AJ Styles, ROH World Championship – Final Battle
9)      Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, B Block Match – G1 Climax: Day 18
10)   Jay Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal, ROH World Championship, ROH World Television Championship – Best in the World
11)   Sasha Banks vs. Bayley, NXT Women’s Championship – NXT Takeover: Brooklyn
12)   Adam Cole vs. AJ Styles – War of the Worlds: Night One
13)   Bayley vs. Sasha Banks, Ironman Match, NXT Women’s Championship – NXT Takeover: Respect
14)   Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Roderick Strong – War of the Worlds: Night Two
15)   Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly – Final Battle
16)   Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bailey, PWG World Championship – Mystery Vortex III: Rock & Shock The Nation
17)   John Cena vs. Kevin Owens – Elimination Chamber
18)   Roderick Strong vs. Zack Sabre, Jr., PWG World Championship – Don’t Sweat The Technique
19)   AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi, A Block – G1 Climax: Day 5
20)   Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe, NXT Championship – NXT Takeover: London*
21)   Jay Lethal vs. Roderick Strong, ROH World Television Championship – ROH Wrestling (21^st November)
22)   Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch, NXT Women’s Championship – NXT Takeover: Unstoppable
23)   Ethan Carter III vs. Rockstar Spud – Impact Wrestling (13^th March)
24)   Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and The Young Bucks [Matt and Nick Jackson]) vs. Team ROH (The Briscoe Brothers [Jay and Mark], Roderick Strong and War Machine [Hanson and Raymond Rowe]) – Global Wars
25)   Bullet Club (AJ Styles and The Young Bucks [Matt and Nick Jackson]) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and Roppongi Vice [Baretta and Rocky Romero]) – ROH Wrestling (20^th June)
26)   Jay Lethal vs. Roderick Strong, ROH World Championship – ROH Wrestling (5^th September)
27)   Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks, NXT Women’s Championship – NXT Takeover: RIVAL
28)   Kyle O’Reilly vs. Roderick Strong – Winter Warriors Tour: Atlanta
29)   Ricochet vs. Zack Sabre, Jr., 2015 Battle of Los Angeles 1^st Round Match – Battle of Los Angeles: Stage Two
30)   Bayley vs. Nia Jax, NXT Women’s Championship – NXT Takeover: London*
31)   Bullet Club (AJ Styles and The Young Bucks [Matt and Nick Jackson]) vs. Team ROH (ACH, Cedric Alexander and Matt Sydal) – ROH Wrestling (14^th February)
32)   Kazuchika Okada vs. Roderick Strong – Field of Honor
33)   Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba – Dominion 7.5
34)   KUSHIDA vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Best of the Super Jr. Final – Best of the Super Jr. XXII, Day 13
35)   Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), PWG World Tag Team Championship - Mystery Vortex III: Rock & Shock The Nation
36)   Prince Puma vs. Mil Muertes, Lucha Underground Championship – Lucha Underground: Ultima Lucha: Part Two (5^th August)
37)   Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O’Reilly, ROH World Television Championship – Conquest Tour: Hopkins
38)   Roderick Strong vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – ROH Wrestling (20^th June)
39)   KUSHIDA vs. Roderick Strong – War of the Worlds: Night One
40)   Drew Galloway vs. Mike Bailey, 2015 Battle of Los Angeles 1st Round Match – Battle of Los Angeles: Stage Two
41)   Jay Lethal and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) – Field of Honor
42)   AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada, IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Dominion 7.5
43)   Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns, WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Payback
44)   Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi, A Block – G1 Climax: Day One
45)   Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito, New Japan Cup: Semi-Final – New Japan Cup: Day Seven
46)   Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake vs. The Vaudevillians (Aiden English and Simon Gotch), NXT Tag Team Championship – NXT Takeover: Brooklyn
47)   Pentagon, Jr. vs. Vampiro, Cero Miedo - Lucha Underground: Ultima Lucha: Part Two (5^th August)
48)   Monster Mafia (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) – From Out Of Nowhere
49)   Michael Elgin vs. Moose vs. Roderick Strong – Best in the World
50)   BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs, No Disqualification Match – Supercard of Honor IX