Voices of Wrestling 2022 Match of the Year (#75-51)

Voices of Wrestling’s 2022 Match of the Year countdown continues with matches #75-51.

Voices of Wrestling 2022 Match of the Year Archives

• Introduction & Honorable Mentions
• Matches #100-76

Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year Archives

• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012

#75
Asahi, Hamuko Hoshi, Ibuki Hoshi, Kaho Matsushita, Kiku, Nao Ishikawa, Rina Amikura, Saran, Yappy, Yuko Sakurai & Yuuki Mashiro vs. Dropkickers (Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi Haruka)
04/23
Ice Ribbon

Overall Points: 22
Total Votes: 2
% of Ballots: 0.96%
1 First-Place Vote

#74
Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Aoyagi
05/15
AJPW

Overall Points: 22
Total Votes: 3
% of Ballots: 1.44%
Highest Vote: 2nd

“Despite Kento’s continued deliverance of MOTYCs, Yuma Aoyagi surpassed him in match quality this year. This was Yuma’s big moment and he delivered big. It solidifies Yuma in the title picture and shows him as a true potential future ace. The psychology was great. The selling was great. The match flowed seamlessly. Kento of course was no slouch either as he matched Yuma’s energy and intensity” -Rene Martinez

#73
Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) vs. The VeloCities (Jude London & Paris De Silva)
05/22
RevPro

Overall Points: 22
Total Votes: 3
% of Ballots: 1.44%
Highest Vote: 2nd

“Aussie Open and the Velocities had some humdingers in the past – and this one for my money is right at the top of the pile. The VeloCities had to win over a York Hall crowd that weren’t fully onboard with them, but my word they managed to win them over despite the result. Lots of crazy spots, and a result that kept Aussie Open strong ahead of their eventual New Japan debut later in the year.” -Ian Hamilton

#72
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
02/20
NJPW

Overall Points: 22
Total Votes: 4
% of Ballots: 1.91%
Highest Vote: 4th

“I might be in the minority but I enjoyed this match more than the other ones between the two this year. Even though the outcome was never in question they managed to create dramatic nearfalls just based on the history between the two. This was the first meeting between the two in two years so it was crucial that they come back with something fresh. Although there were lots of similarities and callbacks to previous matches, it was all done in order to further the match and the fued. As expected both men were great and performed at the highest level” -Rene Martinez

#71
The Jericho Appreciation Society (Angelo Parker, Chris Jericho, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, Matt Menard & Sammy Guevara) vs. The Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta), Eddie Kingston, Ortiz & Santana
06/29
AEW

Overall Points: 22
Total Votes: 6
% of Ballots: 2.87%
Highest Vote: 4th

“This was a war! Claudio enters first as the heavy while Sammy starts off for the JAS to use his speed and we get a nice opening few minutes. Match switches back and forth from the JAS being in control when they have the numbers advantage and the babyfaces being in control when the match is even. Moxley enters and we get some chaos! Forks, broken glass, thumbtacks, barbed wire and lots of blood! Santana hurts his knee and is taken out leaving the babyfaces down a man. Kingston enters last and goes right after Jericho and the Blood and Guts match is on! They rip up the ring! Parker escapes the cage but is left hanging from the cage covered in blood! Tay takes out the referee and helps Jericho escape and he climbs the cage, but Kingston follows! Sammy goes to help but is tossed OFF THE CAGE! OH MY GOD! Jericho gets the Walls of Jericho on Kingston but Claudio makes the save! Big Swing on Jericho on top of the cage! Menard rushes up to help but gets caught in a Sharpshooter by Claudio. Kingston gets Jericho in the Stretch Plum! Kingston is going to make Jericho tap but Menard taps first! Kingston and his team won the match but Claudio denied him his revenge on Jericho! Fantastic booking to an insane, bloody and violent match!” -Alexander Charles Kalil

#70
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Death Triangle (PAC, Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix)
12/28
AEW

Overall Points: 22
Total Votes: 7
% of Ballots: 3.35%
Highest Vote: 3rd

“Not going to lie, I’m a sucker for chaotic No-DQ, Falls Count Anywhere matches but these guys pull off the genre so well on this night. This match is so much fun. Fenix is doing Fenix things, Nick Jackson sells the ankle that has been a theme of the series so well and the finish is a great use of the stipulation.” -Peter Edge

#69
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Death Triangle (PAC, Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix)
11/23
AEW

Overall Points: 24
Total Votes: 5
% of Ballots: 2.39%
Highest Vote: 4th

““I don’t think they’ll boo the Elite out of the building” was what I said that morning. I was convinced that an AEW crowd, EVEN a CHICAGO AEW crowd was kind of sick on Punk and his nonsense. Turns out, I was wrong AND right. “F*ck the Elite”, “F*ck CM Punk”, “Colt Cabana!” This was an insane crowd during this. They were fighting each other just as much as the wrestlers were…. and the Elite played into it masterfully. So much so that people thought it was a sign that CM Punk is coming back. I don’t think that’s happening, but I also thought the Elite wouldn’t get booed, so what do I know?” -Skeach101

#68
Syuri vs. Utami Hayashishita
11/19
Stardom

Overall Points: 24
Total Votes: 5
% of Ballots: 2.39%
Highest Vote: 4th

“Two of the best women going at it yet again delivering bell to bell at a high level. Syuri topping Utami in reminiscence of their epic conclusion from 2021 was extremely satisfying.” -Jacob Woolley

#67
La Jarochita vs. Reyna Isis
09/16
CMLL

Overall Points: 25
Total Votes: 5
% of Ballots: 2.39%
Highest Vote: 3rd

“This caught me off guard, I was hopong a very good match, but this was the best moves-based match of the year for me, by far the best match of the career of the two wrestlers and finally an Aniversario apuestas match that’s emotional and memorable and will be revisited in the future.” -Jorge Romo

#66
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Ren Narita
10/26
NJPW

Overall Points: 25
Total Votes: 6
% of Ballots: 2.87%
Highest Vote: 3rd

“It’s the 2013 G1 Climax Ishii/Shibata match except Ishii is almost a decade older and Shibata’s brain has been inserted to a carbon copy of himself called Ren Narita.

That previous sentence may sound stupid (and it is, no one’s ever accused me of coherency), but that truly is the best way to describe this showcase of brutality in Korakuen Hall. It’s short, snappy, hurts like hell and a LOUD Korakuen for the first time in years. Pure adrenaline.” -Semi Salmikannas

#65
Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki
01/04
TJPW

Overall Points: 26
Total Votes: 6
% of Ballots: 2.87%
Highest Vote: 2nd

“So early in the year that people may have forgotten it, and in many respects the story of the year in TJPW was Miu Watanabe’s run in the summer’s Princess Cup, nothing in TJPW dislodged this match from my own list. I’ve often written about how the grammar of TJPW’s matches is one where highspots are the punctuation rather than the words. It’s a house style where psychology and in-ring storytelling matter and where long term viewers are rewarded. Every now and again, the very best in the promotion get a chance to go out and have a BIG MATCH where, to torture the punctuation analogy, the exclamation marks are used very liberally.

With the somewhat obligatory grappling component finished, it’s a match that really hits its stride and never really lets up. Yamashita is the base here, with Mizuki bouncing around the ring and alternating between knocking Yamashita down and bouncing off her. And you know we’re really in big match territory when Mizuki’s super secret Whirling Candy move comes out.” -Ewan Cameron

#64
KAI vs. Susumu Yokosuka
05/05
Dragongate

Overall Points: 27
Total Votes: 4
% of Ballots: 1.91%
Highest Vote: 3rd

“The best match of KAI’s life. A violent, emotional farewell to Susumu Yokosuka’s time as a main eventer in Dragongate. It’s a tragedy this match won’t get the support that it deserves.” -Case Lowe

T-#62
Maikol vs. Teo Griffin
08/28
Legion Nueva Era Argentina

Overall Points: 28
Total Votes: 2
% of Ballots: 0.96%
2 First-Place Votes

“”La Torre” Maikol defends his championship against the most easy-to-root-for wrestler in Legión Argentina, Conurbardo’s Teo Griffin. It’s a great dominant face vs. underdog face match with a huge twist as Ricky Rocca uses his title shot at the very end of the match to steal the championship two seconds before Griffin could win it.” -Xavster

T-#62
Hamuko Hoshi & Nanae Takahashi vs. Dropkickers (Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi Haruka)
05/22
Ice Ribbon

Overall Points: 28
Total Votes: 2
% of Ballots: 0.96%
2 First-Place Votes

“Amazing end to the career of one of the wrestlers that personally touched my heart most, while also being a turning point to one of my favorite companies. This match still conjures up a lot of mixed feelings for me as everything has never quite been the same since Tsukushi & Tsukka left. I have hope for Fujimoto to return, but it seems as if Tsukushi is well and truly done. I can’t speak on her specific experience. But the life of a kid wrestler isn’t easy. She was a veteran of well over a decade by her early 20s. The wrestling business never gives. It only takes. I think about her journey and her troubles that sadly played out in public over the years and it’s hard not to conflate these feelings into the match itself, but even as a match this was special stuff, all of the heart of the Dropkickers on display against the two that meant the most to Tsukushi in particular with Nanae showing even in her twilignt years she can still tap into the miracle passion when called upon. Amazing match and Ice Ribbon deserves praise for orchestrating the perfect sendoff for one of it’s most beloved and important wrestlers.” -Dylan Fox

#61
Drew Parker vs. Masashi Takeda
11/24
FREEDOMS

Overall Points: 28
Total Votes: 3
% of Ballots: 1.44%
1 First-Place Vote

“Pinnacle of Deathmatch Wrestling! I absolutely loved the match from the first seconds to the very last and man what a comeback story it has been for the “Crazy Kid” since his return to FREEDOMS. The match had it all from being brutal, cool spots and a nice story of a winless Drew Parker, who wouldn’t claim himself as one of the best of the scene without a win over Takeda. Loved the finishing sequence with the welshman throwing bombs at Takeda and needing two swanton’s to beat Takeda. All the stars for me” -Christian Gascoigne

#60
Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
07/30
WWE

Overall Points: 28
Total Votes: 6
% of Ballots: 2.87%
Highest Vote: 4th

#59
El Phantasmo vs. Robbie Eagles
05/26
NJPW

Overall Points: 28
Total Votes: 7
% of Ballots: 3.35%
Highest Vote: 2nd

“An underrated classic that stands as perhaps the greatest Korakuen main event of the pandemic era. With NJPW still very much under clap crowd regulations, two foreigners were able to capture the imaginations of the supposedly silent spectators and draw vocalisation that harkened to a time gone, but signalled to a hopeful future.

With three years of story built between the two rivals, El Phanstamo set about continuing his goal of humiliating Robbie Eagles for having the temerity to reject his corruptive advances. But, in a tremendous show of character development, Eagles responded to ELP’s taunts, showmanship, shenanigans and ego, with a dogged and persistent determination to the job at hand. To slow ElP down, and dismantle him. Eagles was going to humble the man by out wrestling him. Simple. In the process, he solidified the Sniper of the Skies character, as he did to ElP what ElP had wanted to do to him. He humiliated the man, and sent Phantasmo packing from the junior division; aware that he will not break, nor beat, the babyface spirit of Robbie Eagles.” -Josh Creighton

#58
Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) vs. Strong BJ (Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi)
07/09
BJW

Overall Points: 29
Total Votes: 6
% of Ballots: 2.87%
Highest Vote: 3rd

“2022 was a GREAT year for Tag-Team wrestling and Strong BJ (heh-heh, I love typing that out!) were not gonna let themselves be left out of the conversation. Astronauts hustled hard here too, and between the 4 of them they put a big smile on my face.” -James “NuclearConvoy” Snelgrove

#57
Jon Moxley vs. CM Punk
09/04
AEW

Overall Points: 30
Total Votes: 3
% of Ballots: 1.44%
1 First-Place Vote

“The psychology of this match took a sudden, abrupt turn when two weeks before the PPV, Jon Moxley defeated CM Punk in a squash match to unify the AEW World Championship on Dynamite. This turned the match from the two strongest men in AEW fighting once and for all to settle who was the best to an injured CM Punk fighting from underneath against less of a man and more of a demon of perfect violence in Moxley, buoyed by the support of his hometown Chicago crowd. This was an inspired piece of storytelling that led to a significantly more compelling version of the match to main event All Out. CM Punk having to fight at less than a hundred percent against a man who had dominated him just 10 days prior, Moxley embracing his role as the goliath that Punk had to topple, the two men fighting and bleeding and leaving every piece of themselves in the ring until Moxley collapses on Punk’s shoulders and Punk, too exhausted to even stand, hits him with one more GTS to put him away, regain his championship and fully return from his injury to the top of AEW… … …for about fifteen minutes.” -Jeff Ahmed

#56
Alex Shelley vs. AC Mack
01/21
ACTION

Overall Points: 30
Total Votes: 5
% of Ballots: 2.39%
Highest Vote: 2nd

“Oh shit, we got to go all the way back to January for this one. Probably forgotten by many, but for a few months, this match rocked around in my brain. It had an old-school territorial feel to it that very few matches this year with far more sizable crowds could match. AC Mack was beloved by the crowd, Alex Shelly was hated, and the atmosphere was fantastic. AC Mack winning the title was one of the highlight victories of the year. Maybe the follow up has been lacking, but nothing can take away from how special this match was.” -Jeri L. Evagood

#55
Villano IV vs. LA Park
04/30
AAA

Overall Points: 30
Total Votes: 5
% of Ballots: 2.39%
1 First-Place Vote

“The best genre of wrestling is LA Park brawling, and this is one of his best, it’s like watching two Necro Butchers trying to kill each other, and both of them near their 60s, just awesome.” -Jorge Romo

#54
Kazusada Higuchi vs. Naomi Yoshimura
07/03
DDT

Overall Points: 32
Total Votes: 5
% of Ballots: 2.39%
Highest Vote: 2nd

“Higuchi has been one of the best champions in the world in 2022, and it may not have even been planned, as he won the title after it was vacated by Tetsuya Endo due to getting his brains shaken up by Katsuhiko Nakajima. And it all started right here, with Higuchi and Yoshimura beating the dogshit out of each other.” -Paul Wedding

#53
CM Punk vs. MJF
02/02
AEW

Overall Points: 38
Total Votes: 5
% of Ballots: 2.39%
1 First-Place Vote

“No match in 2022 made me feel more than CM Punk vs. MJF, the first chapter. CM Punk’s performance is masterful on every level.” -Heikki Oinonen

#52
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Rey Fenix
10/15
AAA

Overall Points: 38
Total Votes: 8
% of Ballots: 3.83%
Highest Vote: 2nd

“This has the live bump for me since I was there. Seeing these two men live is just incredible, especially seeing all of the crazy spots in front of your eyes. This had the crowd eating from the palms of their hands from the start and it did not let up. Even the thousand kickouts did not diminish this and I sincerely thought that Fenix had it more than once. It has great spots, great storytelling of the passing of the torch, drama, and seeing it was special. Too bad that the recording is probably bad because it’s AAA, but hey, the match is great.” -Abraham Delgado

#51
Yuki Yoshioka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
12/06
Dragongate

Overall Points: 38
Total Votes: 8
% of Ballots: 3.83%
1 First-Place Vote

“I was going into December ready to write in ShunMante vs Kung Fu Masters as my MOTY, an easy 5-star Kobe World classic. What I didn’t take into account was that just a few short days into the month would be a Masaaki Mochizuki Dream Gate match in Korakuen Hall. Mochi is nearly 53 years old, and there’s still very few people in the world who can bring it as consistently in main event title matches as this man. He didn’t show any signs of his age in this epic contest against Yoshioka. Time and again in this match he outwitted the young champion, showing off some of the smartest and most shocking counters of the year, including countering a frog splash with a stiff fist across the jaw, which had me jumping out of my seat. The finishing stretch is unlike any other I’ve seen this year, with Yoshioka finally overcoming Mochizuki and looking like a world-beater in the process thanks to Mochi’s incredible selling.” -Paul Wedding

Voices of Wrestling 2022 Match of the Year
(Full List)