10 Awesome Heel Vs. Heel Wrestling Matches

3. AJ Styles Vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW G1 Climax 01/08/2014)

Chris Jericho MJF
NJPW.co.jp

This was the moment that AJ Styles became a bonafide star in Japan. Yes, he had already won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at this point, but The Phenomenal One was still facing an uphill battle in his attempts to truly get over with a brand new audience. The 2014 G1 Climax gave him an opportunity to have a succession of great matches with a variety of iconic opponents, proving himself worthy of his status in the process.

The August 1 match against Minoru Suzuki was undoubtedly the highlight. This was the sort of match that people didn't realise they needed until it happened, a match between two very different types of heels that overachieved on all levels. AJ had to dig deep and bring back some of his high-flying babyface athleticism, while Minoru got to do what Minoru does best; beat up chumps.

The match was so good that it wasn't hurt by the interference towards the end, shenanigans that made sense and fit both characters involved. AJ eventually picked up the win, but both men came out of this looking like a million dollars.

The greatest match ever between two opponents who only faced each other once? Maybe, just maybe.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.