10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2023 (So Far)

10. Claudio Castagnoli Vs. Eddie Kingston - ROH Supercard Of Honor

Great wrestling storytellers need not lay the exposition on thick in promo segments. If you've never seen a single chapter of their CHIKARA rivalry, nor read any of the interviews through which Kingston attempted to keep it alive, it didn't matter: you could infer it through the magic of pro wrestling's best storytelling medium: professional wrestling.

Claudio Castagnoli, to borrow the best ever description of the man - Kevin Owens' - is a human horse. Eddie Kingston is nowhere near his athletic level, but was fuelled with such defiant motivation that he only narrowly lost.

A sophisticated war that never disappeared up its own arse, the finish was life-affirming and heartbreaking.

Eddie, battered throughout, attempted to strike Claudio with the Uraken. There was nothing behind it. He was spent. Claudio laughed. It was thoroughly obnoxious. Eddie's hate drove a second strike, which landed flush and led to a euphoric near-fall. Then, he almost won with - and this was the heart-breaking bit - a hurricanrana. The man Claudio buried for never hitting the gym almost beat him with a rare, beautiful display of athleticism. It wasn't to be; Claudio reversed it and caught Eddie unaware just as he had proved him wrong.

A cruel finish that built the sequel better than even a Kingston promo would have done: the language of pro wrestling is more powerful than the spoken word.