Top 50 Matches - The 2017 Edition

Hello everyone and a Happy New Year to you all. New Year as always means it is time for my top fifty matches of the past year of professional wrestling. It's been an interesting year for pro wrestling, the landscape has changed drastically and it feels like we're going to see more change in the next 3-5 years than we've seen in over a decade, a very interesting time to be a fan. 

Anyway as for the past twelve months it is hard to categorise overall whether it has been a good or bad year for wrestling. Certain promotions have been great, others less so - and I'd actually say on a whole it's not been a great year for wrestling. But when you look solely at the in-ring stuff this year is possibly up there as one of the greatest years of all-time. The in-ring product of most companies that I dedicate any sort of time to, even those producing all around average or poor shows, has been stellar. 

Looking back on 2017 vs. 2016 in terms of my viewership I think levels have remained roughly the same. I watched every broadcasted even from NXT, ROH, PWG and Lucha Underground. That was supplemented with every major NJPW show as well as any All Japan or NOAH shows/matches that caught my attention. I also kept an eye on the independent scene and watched anything that stood out from there. My only real regret from my viewership this year is I wish I'd watched more All Japan and I wish I'd watched more of PROGRESS hopefully two issues I can rectify in 2018 but there is only so much time in the year and only so much pro wrestling I can physically pack into any given year. Within WWE I watched very little of the weekly shows but still made myself - despite significant lack of interest - watch the PPV's if nothing else but to legitimise this list. I also watched every episode of the Mae Young Classic. 

Speaking of women's wrestling they made a slight improvement by making an appearance in the Top 50 this year - it is only one match that made it but two matches came particularly close to making it into the Top 50 (#54 & #57 respectively). So a step in the right direction but still a significant step down from the amount of matches I was seeing on my lists two or three years back. I decided to keep the statistics addition from last year for this year's list as I think it is a fun little wrinkle. 

Now to my favourite part of every single one of these - the explanation of the date parameters thanks to PWG. The reason I need to mention this is because there is a match on this list from Mystery Vortex IV which was taped in December 2016 but was not released on DVD (the only way to watch PWG unless you're actually at the show) until 2017. Therefore it was considered for this 2017's list rather than 2016. The same goes for a match from Lucha Underground that appears which was actually taped as far back as June 2016 but didn't air until Ultima Lucha Tres in September 2017. The unique twist this year is I don't have any matches that have already taken place that I need to warn you about for 2018's list thanks to PWG not holding a December show this year and Lucha Underground not taping Season 4 until February or March. Now with all that inane rambling out of the way, here it is, let's see who just made the list (Sorry Y2J, couldn't resist).

Best Matches of 2017:

1) Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, IWGP Intercontinental Championship - Dominion 6.11
2) Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito, G1 Climax Final - G1 Climax: Day Nineteen
3) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega, IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Dominion 6.11
4) Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, IWGP Intercontinental Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 11
5) KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay, Best of the Super Jr. Final - Best of the Super Jr. 24
6) Dante Fox vs. Killshot, Hell of War - Lucha Underground: Ultima Lucha Tres, Part I (27th September)
7) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi, IWGP Intercontinental Championship - Power Struggle
8) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega, B Block - G1 Climax: Day Eighteen
9) The Hardy's (Jeff & Matt) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson), Ladder Match, ROH World Tag Team Championship - Supercard of Honor XI
10) Seth Rollins vs. Triple H, Unsanctioned Match - WrestleMania 33
11) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega, IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 11
12) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito, A Block - G1 Climax: Day Seventeen
13) WALTER vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. - All Star Weekend XIII: Night Two
14) Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne, United Kingdom Championship - NXT Takeover: Chicago
15) Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream - NXT Takeover: War Games
16) Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito, A Block - G1 Climax: Day One
17) Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Marty Scurll, PWG World Championship - Mystery Vortex IV
18) The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix) vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet, PWG World Tag Team Championship - Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock 'N Roll)
19) Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa) vs. The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson), Three-Way Elimination Match, NXT Tag Team Championship - NXT Takeover: Orlando
20) Bobby Fish vs. Jay Lethal - 15th Anniversary Show
21) Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) & Roderick Strong vs. Sanity (Alexander Wolfe, Eric Young & Killian Dain) vs. Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly), War Games - NXT Takeover: War Games
22) John Cena vs. AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz, Elimination Chamber, WWE Championship - Elimination Chamber
23) Adam Cole vs. Christopher Daniels, ROH World Championship - 15th Anniversary Show
24) Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki, B Block - G1 Climax: Day Sixteen
25) Asuka vs. Ember Moon, NXT Women's Championship - NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III
26) The Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb & Matthew Riddle) vs. The Monstars (Donovan Dijak & Keith Lee) - Battle of Los Angeles: Night One
27) Marty Scurll vs. Adam Cole, ROH World Television Championship - Supercard of Honor XI
28) Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin, IWGP Intercontinental Championship - The New Beginning: Osaka
29) Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto, NEVER Openweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 11
30) Marty Scurll vs. Lio Rush, ROH World Television Championship - 15th Anniversary Show
31) Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin, B Block - G1 Climax: Day Eight
32) Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III
33) Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll - Final Battle
34) Flip Gordon vs. Will Ospreay - Global Wars: Chicago
35) The Hardy's (Jeff & Matt) vs. RPG Vice (Beretta & Rocky Romero) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson, Street Fight, ROH World Tag Team Championship - 15th Anniversary Show
36) Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. Leaders of the New School (Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre, Jr.) - Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock 'N Roll)
37) Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii, IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Final, IWGP Heavyweight Championship - G1 Climax Special: Night Two
38) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre, Jr., A Block - G1 Climax: Day One
39) AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon - WrestleMania 33 
40) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi, A Block - G1 Climax: Day Eleven
41) The Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus) vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins, RAW Tag Team Championship - SummerSlam
42) AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar - Survivor Series
43) Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre, Jr., A Block - G1 Climax: Day Three
44) Drew McIntyre vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas, NXT Championship - NXT Takeover: War Games
45) Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee, Quarter-Final Match - Battle of Los Angeles: Night Three
46) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bobby Roode, NXT Championship - NXT Takeover: San Antonion
47) The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin), ROH World Tag Team Championship - Death Before Dishonor XV
48) The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks [Matt & Nick Jackson]) - War of the Worlds: Toronto
49) Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin, IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship First Round - G1 Climax Special: Night One 
50) KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship - King of Pro Wrestling

Statistics

Number of Top 50 Matches by Promotion

New Japan Pro Wrestling – 20

ROH – 10

NXT – 8

PWG – 6

WWE – 5

Lucha Underground – 1

Number of Top 50 Matches by Wrestler

Kenny Omega – 8

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 7

Tetsuya Naito – 6

Marty Scurll – 5

Matt Jackson – 5

Nick Jackson – 5

Zack Sabre, Jr. – 5

Kazuchika Okada – 4

Kota Ibushi – 4

Adam Cole – 3

AJ Styles – 3

Michael Elgin – 3

Will Ospreay – 3

Akam – 2

Andrade “Cien” Almas – 2

Beretta/Trent? – 2

Bobby Fish – 2

Christopher Daniels – 2

Dean Ambrose – 2

Donovan Dijak - 2

Jay Lethal – 2

Jeff Hardy – 2

Johnny Gargano – 2

Keith Lee - 2

KUSHIDA – 2

Matt Hardy – 2

Rezar – 2

Seth Rollins – 2

Aleister Black - 1

Alex Shelley – 1

Alexander Wolfe - 1

Asuka – 1

Baron Corbin – 1

Bobby Roode – 1

Bray Wyatt – 1

Brock Lesnar - 1

Cesaro – 1

Chris Sabin – 1

Chuck Taylor – 1

Dante Fox – 1

Dash Wilder – 1

Drew McIntyre - 1

Ember Moon – 1

Eric Young - 1

Fenix/Rey Fenix – 1

Flip Gordon – 1

Frankie Kazarian – 1

Hirooki Goto – 1

Jeff Cobb/Matanza Cueto - 1

John Cena – 1

Katsuyori Shibata – 1

Killian Dain - 1

Killshot – 1

Kyle O'Reilly - 1

Lio Rush – 1

Matt Sydal – 1

Matthew Riddle - 1

Minoru Suzuki – 1

Penta El Zero M/Pentagon Dark – 1

Pete Dunne – 1

Ricochet/Prince Puma – 1

Rocky Romero – 1

Roderick Strong – 1

Scott Dawson – 1

Shane McMahon – 1

Sheamus – 1

Shinsuke Nakamura – 1

The Miz – 1

Tommaso Ciampa – 1

Tomohiro Ishii – 1

Triple H – 1

Tyler Bate – 1

Velveteen Dream - 1

WALTER - 1

Best Match/Best Possible Match:

Overall: Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Lucha Underground: Dante Fox vs. Fenix vs. Killshot vs. Matanza Cueto vs. Pentagon Dark vs. Prince Puma
New Japan Pro-Wrestling: Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
NXT: Adam Cole vs. Akam vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Bobby Fish vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Rezar
PWG: Marty Scurll vs. Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson vs. Zack Sabre, Jr.
ROH: Marty Scurll vs. Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson
WWE: AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy vs. Seth Rollins