Voices of Wrestling 2023 Match of the Year: #8 (Fuminori Abe vs. Takuya Nomura)

A hard-hitting battle between tag team partners Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura shocks the world comes in at #8 in Voices of Wrestling’s 2023 Match of the Year countdown.

VOICES OF WRESTLING 2023 MATCH OF THE YEAR ARCHIVES

• Introduction & Honorable Mentions
• Matches #100-76
• Matches #75-51
• Matches #50-26
• Matches #25-11
• Match of the Year Statistical Analysis & Top 10 Early Reveal (FlagshipPatreon.com)
• Match #10: Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks
• Match #9: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kento Miyahara

#8
Fuminori Abe vs. Takuya Nomura
10/12
We Are Fighting Detectives

Overall Points: 388
Total Votes: 47
% of Ballots: 21.27%
13 First-Place Votes

“Wrestling is a fine balance of violence and technique. If you’re all about the violence, it can look sloppy and unrefined. If you put all your eggs in the technique basket, it can look unconvincing. When the balance is right… it’s beautiful. Or, as the kids say, THIS.” -Ian Hamilton

“Statement of intents aren’t uncommon in wrestling, but this is the first one in a while that felt promising.” -Chris O’Brien

“The match started with some mat wrestling, grappling stuff by Fuminori Abe and Nomura in various positions and holds. The action really kicked off in the first minutes when these two slapped, kicked and striked each other without any mercy or remorse. Nomura’s strikes were so brutal looking, he even stomped on Abe’s head. They were closed fists to the unprotected head and even the typical headbutts by Abe-san. This fight ticked all the boxes for me, I really loved the no remorse attitude by these two gentleman when they stomped on each other’s body, hit their opponent with brutal penalty kicks to the face or smashed forearms into each other. After a brutal closed fist by Nomura, Abe bled from his scary forehead which added even more to the match. Near the end Abe hit Nomura with a knee strike which looked so brutal I had to scream though. The finish was amazing when Nomura had Abe on the edge of tapping but Abe turned Nomura into an achilles hold. Nomura screamed, tried desperately to escape, to fight Abe off but it wasn’t meant to be. Nomura had to tap out to his friend. What. A. Match” -Christian Gascoigne

“The two big companies in America did their best to make me not love wrestling this year. This match reminded me why I love it.” -Sean Flynn

“For nearly 20 minutes, these two gave no quarter and asked none, relentlessly attacking each other in front of a roaring crowd with a degree of ferocity I haven’t seen in any other match this year. Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura stepped into that ring to show everyone their vision of what pro wrestling should be, and that vision is beautiful.” -Paul Wedding

“A pure expression of love to Shoot Style, and a match filled with more desire, appreciation, and love than few others out there. It is the most outstanding example of how important Shoot Style Wrestling is to the greater landscape and shows why Abe and Nomura are so highly celebrated. No other match this year has brought so much joy to my heart.” -Daniel Hill

“Match of the decade so far.” -Jack Groom

“The Astronauts have been my favorite tag team in wrestling for a couple of years now. When you see either Abe or Nomura, they always deliver. Whether it’s singles or tag, or even with different partners, these two guys are just special at what they do. Watching Nomura with Miyahara on their short AJPW Tag Title run, or Abe doing stuff on every indy promotion in Japan, these guys are great. When I heard they were running their own show, and a 1v1 was the headliner, I knew magic was going to happen. This felt like a fight. This was two great friends, going out there and doing what great friends do in a wrestling match. Everything was laid in snug, submissions were just brutal looking, the bumps were stiff, just all sorts of action. Nomura was just kicking Abe like he was trying to get information out of him in a interrogation situation. Abe would come back and bring the fight, and lock in a knee bar that looked like he snapped his leg in half. When Nomura tapped, I was shocked, then ecstatic because that was exactly why this was so special. You didn’t see it coming that way. One guy couldn’t fight and that was it. There was can he or cant he, or crazy trying to put over one specific finish. This was just two guys, who are amazing at what they do, and knew exactly how to put on a match that will be remember, by myself especially, as the best match I saw in 2023.” -Ryan S. Cooke

“One of the most earnest feeling matches I have seen in a while mixed with amazing fluid/clever action. The Astronauts passion for each other and bati-bati fighting radiated off the screen.” -Henry Rivers/HeadCheese

“They always say in wrestling when you fight your friends it’s the hardest hitting match. Astronauts the best tag team of 2023 pit together in a singles match. They beat the ever living shit out of each other. The pacing and the way the match was conducted was very realistic where when there was any downtime between spots and stuff they both did little things to keep you engaged that added on so much to the match. Just phenomenal wrestling here from these two.” -FAR5222

“A counter to the wrestling cliche that “good friends make better enemies,” the October 12th bout between Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura proved that you never need to stop being best friends to beat the living hell out of each other. While the Astronauts’ chemistry as a tag team was on display all year, this rare glimpse at what they could do opposite each other made their bond even more undeniable. A technically sound, hard-hitting singles match that never really let up, Abe vs. Nomura stands as one of the best matches the Japanese indies had to offer in 2023, and it must be seen to be believed.” -Dylan Murray

“This is what friend fights are supposed to look like. You love and respect your buddy more than anyone and thus you give it your absolute best when taking them on on a professional level. It is what these two did while paying homage to one of the greatest promotions in wrestling history. Brutal, heated and incredible.” -Ashutosh Dubey

“It was so refreshing to see the pull-no-punches style of wrestling get the spotlight again.” -Jamie O’Doherty

“I think one of the reasons why this match is being rated so high is that this is a much-needed break from the style of wrestling that dominates so much of the scene today, from NJPW to AEW. This is professional wrestling at its very core, a brutal sporting contest between two men who practice the art form. There are no high spots, pointless acrobatics, or constant nearfalls designed to get maximum pops from the crowd. Instead, you get Batti-Batti at its best. In 1998, this would have been an average BattlArts match, but in 2023, this is nearly revolutionary and recalls matches like Fujiwara vs Sayama from 1984 that sent reverberations throughout the wrestling landscape. Hopefully, this match does the same.” -Eric Thornley

“Tag team partners clash in a fight that is as rich with intimacy as it is unnervingly violent. Abe and Nomura hold nothing back in their strikes, their intensity blazing. You get a dash of odd comedy, taut and crisp technical wrestling, along with all the gross, bloody stuff at the end.” -Ryan Dilbert

“This was amazing. Nothing more than two friends riffing with each other, playing jokes while simultaneously belting each other with the stiffest strikes, just because they can. Nothing was held back. The striking was great, the grappling was fantastic. It was a simple match in an intimate setting and is easily one of the better matches of 2023 hands down. ****1/4″ -Bailey Mowatt

“Two friends beat the living hell out of each other for 20 minutes with some of the stiffest elbows, headbutts, punches, and kicks I’ve ever seen in a Pro Wrestling ring. It even led to Abe being busted open the hard way after Nomura shoot punched him multiple times. They used every opportunity they had to continue beating each other up so that you wouldn’t believe they are friends if you didn’t know it. Two of the greatest on this planet delivered a masterpiece that everyone needs to watch” -Yannik Peps

“If this is what being partners looks like, I hope everyone stays single forever. I didn’t mind the comedy at the start (biting the nipple, poking the butthole, the grimacing at how hard each other’s head was) because you need the lightness at the start to contrast with how serious they get when the match goes into the next gear. The strike exchanges at around 14 minutes are filthy. I really appreciated the clean, simple hard cam only camera work here.” -Kim Wong

“In a year where a far higher profile pair of brochachos had a match, these two showed exactly how two partners should face off. They brilliantly built from their slightly comedic start, slowly got more competitive and then ended in a dance with the line of who might do something completely unforgivable to their partner. I had never watched these two before but this was recommended to me and was completely compelling from the opening bell to the final pinfall and handshake.” -Sam Brown

“The two best friends producing this BattlARTS tribute show wanted to go out there an capture the spirt of shoot style, and they did it masterfully. The match constantly ramps up its violence, as Abe and Nomura take turns on hitting each other as hard as possible with actual punches. Abe getting busted open from the punches of Nomura giving us a great visual of the real fight this was. In 2023 this was the match that stood out to me the most as to how I want wrestling between friends to be worked, a real fight of one ups man ship.” -Sondre Fossheim Bjørn

“A pure expression of love to Shoot Style, and a match filled with more desire, appreciation, and love than few others out there. It is the most outstanding example of how important Shoot Style Wrestling is to the greater landscape and shows why Abe and Nomura are so highly celebrated. No other match this year has brought so much joy to my heart.” -Daniel Hill

“Words do not do this match justice, so I won’t write that many. A more than a fitting tribute to the BattleArts style of wrestling. Abe and Nomura hit each other so ludicrously hard that even the audience can’t help but laugh in disbelief, terror or sheer joyful amusement at the beautiful display of pro wrestling madness presented in front of their eyes.

Matches like these make me glad to be a fan of professional wrestling.” -Semi Salmikannas

“The amount of people dropping what they were doing to see this match, through word of mouth, is the best example of how the wrestling community should function.

An exceptional wrestling match rooted in two people sharing something they love.” -Stevan Savich

“Two teammates beating each other up for the love of wrestling. That’s all you need to know to enjoy this tremendous fight with two guys giving it their all to show which is the best on the team.” -Fede Fromhell

“They say you hit your friends the hardest. When you and your friend also happen to be one of the best tag teams in the world, you hit even harder. When Astronaut met Astronaut at their produce show in October the world was set ablaze. This is an old school, KT Dan Battlarts revival at it’s finest. Outstanding grappling, hard way blood, and strikes that echo through the building. 20 minutes of pure wrestling bliss that sadly, a lot of the world is going to miss.” -Jason Westhaver

“Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura booked a show to beat each other really bad and along the way they produce a pro wrestling masterpiece. Both guys’ background in pro wrestling puts the fighting nature of this wonderful sport first and yet they are both incredibly funny dudes who can work practically any style and will do so if asked. Here though, it was all about the fight. Every strike sounded like a gun shot, every hold was a struggle for supremacy and while the fight had priority, Abe and Nomura never failed to prove they are two of the slicked and most gracefully moving wrestlers in the world.” -STRIGGA

“This was a fantastic contest between two idiots and better friends, and I loved every second of it. They left everything they’ve got in the ring and showcased the beauty and passion of professional wrestling.” -Gin Malkavar

Voices of Wrestling 2023 Match of the Year
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