10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2018
7. Johnny Gargano Vs. Tomasso Ciampa - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Tomasso Ciampa needed no entrance music at TakeOver: New Orleans.
An entrance theme is designed to amp up a performer, yet Ciampa needed only the hatred of the fans to sustain him. There was something ideal about the production aspect; through very well-crafted long-term storytelling and excellent character work, NXT almost turned back time. Babyfaces were babyfaces and heels were heels again.
The main event itself reflected and matched in quality the rich, emotional wider storyline.
Markedly different to their urgent Cruiserweight Classic encounter, this was far more methodical in pace. They weren't striving to out-wrestle one another in a sudden death sprint; they hated one another, and they made this hatred believable, in a real war of attrition that looked very, very painful. Even through a very heated atmosphere, you could hear the sickening way Ciampa rained clubbing blows on Gargano's back. In a match built on retribution, Gargano reflected that theme brilliantly by powerbombing Ciampa onto exposed concrete in one of several indelible moments that will live on forever.
Between the fan plant and the body language melodrama of the finish, this reached very far in ambition - and comprehensively delivered a blockbuster of a cinematic experience as stylish as it was substantive. A spectacle and a fight, this was a very WWE match on the so-called glorified Indy brand.
And all the better for it; they went for something epic, and it was f*cking epic - without once verging on the overblown.