VOW 2021 Match of the Year: #5 (Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri)

The highest-ranked Joshi match in the history of our poll is a well-deserved nod to incredible performances from Utami Hayashishita and Syuri.

2021 MATCH OF THE YEAR ARCHIVES

• Introduction & Honorable Mentions
• 100-76
• 75-51
• 50-26
• 25-11
• Top 10 Reveal/Audio Show ($)
• #10: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi
• #9: Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker
• #8: Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
• #7: Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White
• #6: WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov

VOICES OF WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR ARCHIVES

• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012

#5
Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri
6/12
Stardom

Overall Points: 409
Total Votes: 58
% of Ballots: 33%
10 First Place Votes

“An incredible spectacle in strength, endurance, and beating the absolute piss out of each other.

The first 30 minutes felt like a good ****1/4 title match, albeit a bit deflating due to the draw. But the restart, reminiscent of Frye/Takayama, and the 12 minutes that followed absolutely put this match over the top. When it was all said and done, the draw felt earned, as both wrestlers did an incredible job selling the absolute exhaustion and damage they had taken.

Stardom has been growing significantly since it was purchased by Bushiroad in 2019, but this match will likely be looked back on as the launching pad that shot it into major league status.” -NiagaraDriver

“It starts a little slow but it’s a match that gets better with every minute that goes by. I think this match more than any other is a victim of clap crowds. With a crowd able to scream and shout this could make a shout for a top 3 Joshi match of all time.” -Mark

“A match built on physicality and in-ring drama to excellence. This bout was something straight out Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagoya double KO in 1985 AJW. The difference was Syuri and Utami first went to a 30 minute draw resulting in neither wrestler being satisfied after a technical and brutal battle. Then the restart happened and thus the WAR!. The adrenaline pumped in my soul and the resulting double knockout had me wanting to hit the Summer pool needing to cool off. Phew, what a match!” -Jacob Woolley

“It takes a lot for me to watch a modern day Puro match, but I was hearing so much about this match I figured I needed to give it a whirl. This match from Stardom went to a 30 minute draw, and then 13 minutes of overtime, and didn’t once feel like the clap crowds were dragging it down” -Ed Mills

“The match that brought Stardom into a more global light, a 43 minute war that brought out both their skills and their determination. The most important match in Stardom’s history” -Trent Breward

“Somehow I’d never seen a Syuri match before this one and I was blown away by the strength of her strikes and by the confidence she projected. This is a fighter. Utami, to me, felt like a survivor. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a match that communicated the exhaustion of being unable to put your opponent away like this match did. After the time limit draw break, these women got right back into it, beating the hell out of each other, continually coming right up to the line of running out of gas and looking at each other with an almost nervous unwillingness to lose. It reminded me of the look on Bas Rutten’s face toward the end of his famous destruction of Masakatsu Funaki in Pancrase. It’s the “why won’t you just die” face, but with an added twinge of anxiety over the increasingly deep breaths they’re having to take. 40 minutes into this war, Syuri and Utami looked like two people who wouldn’t give up as much because they wanted to win as they didn’t want all this work they’d done to be for nothing. It certainly wasn’t for nothing. Despite the inconclusive finish, this match felt like a very bold statement from both women and from the promotion and they deserve all of the praise they’ve received for it.” -Casey Fiore

“Somehow I’d never seen a Syuri match before this one and I was blown away by the strength of her strikes and by the confidence she projected. This is a fighter. Utami, to me, felt like a survivor. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a match that communicated the exhaustion of being unable to put your opponent away like this match did. After the time limit draw break, these women got right back into it, beating the hell out of each other, continually coming right up to the line of running out of gas and looking at each other with an almost nervous unwillingness to lose. It reminded me of the look on Bas Rutten’s face toward the end of his famous destruction of Masakatsu Funaki in Pancrase. It’s the “why won’t you just die” face, but with an added twinge of anxiety over the increasingly deep breaths they’re having to take. 40 minutes into this war, Syuri and Utami looked like two people who wouldn’t give up as much because they wanted to win as they didn’t want all this work they’d done to be for nothing. It certainly wasn’t for nothing. Despite the inconclusive finish, this match felt like a very bold statement from both women and from the promotion and they deserve all of the praise they’ve received for it.” -Abraham Delgado

“2021 was the year Syuri ultimately became my favorite women’s wrestler in the world. The quality of her work is such a high standard and ultimately feels a class above everyone else. This match was her coming out party to the rest of the world it seems. This is probably the most talked about joshi match since the days of Io/Kairi. I felt the build in the match was absolutely incredible. These women beat the piss out of each other. I thought the finish was absolutely clever then just having it finish in a time limit draw.” -Chris Duare

“A great back and forth match where Syuri really got to shine. It was an important step in her elevation” -Rene Martinez

“This match is going to receive a lot of votes. And rightfully so, Utami and Syuri captured lightning in a bottle with this masterful draw. Matches of this length and this style often fall flat but Syuri’s excellent performance carried the match as the dominant performer that the World Champion couldn’t quite figure out. For her part, Hayashishita put in a shift as the World Champion desperately trying to cling on to her championship in the face of her biggest challenge yet. After the forced restart at the 30-minute mark, this kicked into the highest gear as both women were going in for the kill as fatigue set in from their lengthy battle. Matches as ambitious as this often fall flat but on this day, with this match, Stardom struck gold.” -Alex Richards

“Since the moment the match happened, I knew it was the match of the year and one of the best I have ever seen. Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri delivered a 43-minute instant classic that will live on forever. I have written countless words about this match since it happened and June, yet the one word I always come back to is “legendary.” It’s the match that will be the spark for Stardom into what should be their best years to come. The ability to make the Japanese clapping crowds feel as though they are able to react made this one feel even greater. As they smashed and clawed at each other with minutes to go before the 30-minute time limit, that fear that a draw would be the deciding factor didn’t enter but the heightened hopes of Hayashishita or Syuri getting the win became the feeling. Once 30 minutes hit, I sat there thinking that this was at the very least a match of the year candidate… and then they restarted the match. 13 more minutes of slugging, battling, and trying to become the World of Stardom Champion. As the 43rd minute came and neither were able to continue, it was easy to know that this match was as close to perfection as we’d get all year. It’s the Stardom equivalent to Okada vs. Omega I and will go down that way for good as it booms Stardom into a new realm of popularity. Easily my match of the year.” -Scott Edwards Jr.

“If you don’t like womens wrestling or talk bad about it , give this match a chance to see what womens can do , when the opportunity is given. Utami was a perfect match of beign a fighting champion. Syuri on the other hand is the best in-ring worker women we have right now. Joshi’s are the ones who started real womens revolution in this business and this match is a huge proof. I even made my non-wrestling fan friends watch it. And every single one of them liked it. This was totally a womens wrestling at it best.” -Kaan Ünverdi

“The famous death battle in Ota-ku Gym. A dense 40 minutes of superhuman stamina and endurance. Syuri seemed to have a thousand holds at her disposal, not to mention many different ways to kick her opponent. They leveled each other with hard-hitting strikes and slams until the time expired, which led to a K-1 style extension round that took the clash to another level of epicness.” -aguakun

“I was really glad that I took the advice from industry talking heads to make time for this match. Clap crowd pro wrestling shouldn’t be this good, and it’s only because Utami and Syuri went above and fucking beyond that this match reached the levels of excellence that it did.” -Shane D

“Hard hitting, state of the art women’s match with a unique finish.” -Very Worried About Ibushi’s Shoulder

“I do not follow Stardom, so I was completely unfamiliar with these two women and only watched because I heard so much about it. Truth be told, I was underwhelmed at first. But as it approached the time limit, I really bought into the drama, and when they added the extra time, I was fully invested in these two. 2021 was the year of the draw, and this was really the most dramatic example.” -Kevin Ely

“These ladies were reinventing greatness here. I have never seen a “match must continue” gimmick deliver like this before and likely won’t again.” -Dave Musgrave

“A star-making match that broke down barriers for many fans unfamiliar with joshi. We may end up looking back at this one as a turning point for the rise of the popularity of joshi in North America.” -Warren Hayes

“Two surging stars were at their best under the bright lights. Utami and Syuri looked every bit like aces of growing, buzzing company. The impassioned warriors were dead even throughout all the flailing and frustrations, all the big bombs and desperate counterpunches. Utami vs. Syuri was a true epic, a two-act play about two wrestlers pushing themselves to their limits in order to prove themselves better than their foe.” -Ryan Dilbert

“Honestly, this was a “very good-to-great” match at the end of the first 30 minutes. When they added another 13, it turned into one of the best Stardom matches in history. Syuri is on another level right now and if I had to pick a match that really put her there it would be this one. There was a strong backstory: Syuri had come up short in some big matches, and was trying desperately to win her first World of Stardom Championship in honor of her mother, who died before she could see her daughter succeed. Both wrestlers brought an intensity that made it feel like the title mattered. (I can only imagine what it would have been like with a live crowd.) And after restarting the match, I bought into the idea that we were going to have an actual winner, which meant I was living and dying with every move. The match ultimately ended in a double knockout (this might have been my MOTY with a clear winner.) Obviously Syuri went on to beat Hayashishita later in the year to end their story, but this was the match that mattered: When it was done, it finally felt like Syuri’s stature in the company caught up to her ability. (Side note: In a timeline that includes Kenny Omega, Roman Reigns and Shingo Takagi, Hayashishita was the best champion in the world throughout her reign.” -Paul DeBenedetto

“The first battle of Hayashishita and Syuri is something that paid off years of the company trying to live up to the All Japan Women glory days, but never quite matching its in-ring reputation. On this night, they set out to top every other match in company history and did just that while helping to raise the expectations for just what a great match in the company meant.” -Jeremy Peeples

“Flawless. That is what immediately hit my mind after I finished this at around 4am central time. After popping for the 30 minute draw with how hard they worked, the post match promo lead to a overtime period, which I was shocked by considering the company. From this, I expected as much as Syuri had the dramatic story leading into the match with the loss of her mother, and being the super underdog, I was ready for Utami to put her away and continue her dominance over the company in 2021. The back and forth lead to a dramatic double KO, in which we still had a draw, but just later than the last. I openly begged for the rematch. When they had their second contest of the year in the Grand Prix, another similar finish made me drool for more. The finale to close the year was fantastic, with the payoff most of us wanted, and the moment that was the reason we all love wrestling. The reason though why this match stands here as my match of the year, is it started the most intriguing storyline and payoff for the entire year, half way through it. I was now invested for 6 straight months, awaiting the payoff at the end of the year. I proclaimed this was the best women’s wrestling match I’ve ever seen in my life. From start to finish, I never took my eyes off it, or played with my phone like most of us do when something has length. I then watched it a second time the next day, and a third the week later, and continued to find something new to appreciate every time. This was a classic for me, and I’m so glad I pulled the trigger for this to be the match of 2021 in pro wrestling.” -Ryan Cooke

“This match broke through the joshi bubble and got attention from the more mainstream wrestling press, and for good reason, as it featured what was perhaps the most memorable finish in pro wrestling this year.” -Chuck Hodgin

“This is arguably the most important joshi match since the 90s for fans outside of Japan, as it drastically increased western awareness of the promotion and the high quality of its workers.” -Fred Morlan

“I have followed Stardom since 2015. In that time, the company has evolved in ways I couldn’t honestly expect. While I personally believe there have been better individual performances, I don’t think the company has seen a match as singularly important as this one. The rivalry between Utami Hayashishita and Syuri defined Stardom in the most transformational year in the company’s history. This was a breakthrough match that put Stardom on the radar of the greater wrestling world.” -TDE

“Despite its slightly confusing conclusion, the most highly praised women’s wrestling match in decades is worthy of the many plaudits it has received. It succeeds where so many other recent ‘epic’ Japanese main events have missed the mark in how the escalation of the drama is constructed. There is the emotion of Syuri looking to win in tribute to her late mother, Hayashishita’s determination to prove herself worthy of being a headline champion, the thrill of some jaw dropping spots and the feeling that the two are genuinely trying to hurt each other. It is one of the best matches of its kind that pushed Syuri beyond faction lieutenant to leading contender. It was also key to moving Hayashishita’s reign from its uncertain start to being one of the year’s best.” -Jack Groom

“In a year where the Japanese wrestling scene has been strangled nearly to death by COVID-19, Stardom not only survived, but thrived. That was in large part to the incredible rise of Utami Hayashishita, and this title match with Donna Del Mondo’s Syuri is without a doubt her magnum opus.” -Doug Fowler (Skeach101)

“I’m not going to lie and say that I stay regularly tuned in to STARDOM, but this match tells me that maybe I should. An absolute banger where these two women went to war, twice in one night. Already a MOTY contender after the initial time limit expired, the second round in overtime really sealed the deal and left me feeling like a dingus for how often I sleep on the biggest Joshi promotion.” -James “NuclearConvoy”

“Breathtaking, amazing, highest drama. Nail biting nearfalls. And for me? For me it was the added bonus of Utami Hayashishita being the first main event wrestler that I have had the privilege to follow from the start of their career until this point and Syuri being one of the first wrestlers that I have seen, that have captured me from the start she appeared on my screen. That’s the main reason why it is so high up on my list.” -Velkej Bracha

“Using strikes to tell the story of this match but not overdoing it (Yes you NOAH, I’m talking to you), Utami and Syuri is a wonderful match that would not look out of place in the heyday of Joshi in the 80s and 90s. It would have contended for the Top 3 had the urgency to get the win in the final minute of the original 30 min time limit been higher plus I would have liked them to go the full hour instead of the double down that ended the contest, otherwise the action was up there with the best 2021 had to offer” -Peter Edge

VOICES OF WRESTLING 2021 MATCH OF THE YEAR