10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2019

7. Adam Cole Vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT TakeOver: New York

Dean Ambrose Jon Moxley
WWE

A quick personal detour:

I was in attendance for this live. I had not slept for roughly 30 hours. The plane seat was too uncomfortable. Since the plan was to sleep on the plane, I drank several pints to put myself down. A draining transatlantic flight, daylight hangover, Vince McMahon sleep schedule and vertigo induced by the steep steps of the Barclays Center all converged to do me in. I was exhausted. My eyes dropped several times during the first ten minutes. I woke up to find Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano in a different part of the ring entirely. I was sleep-watching.

And then Cole and Gargano woke me up with a scintillating pro wrestling match of the highest drama. My circumstances were unique to myself, but I wasn't the only fan transformed by what was the perfect, in-character Johnny TakeOver epic.

The entire arena bonded in the queue with volleying BAY-BAY chants. Adam Cole was hometown-hero over 200 miles away from the place of his birth, but through a seminal, all-timer of a babyface performance, Gargano shifted the atmosphere. His selling, his last-ditch kick-outs and his heart won everybody over in a match that may have constructed the greatest finishing sequence in the history of North American pro wrestling.

Cole Vs. Gargano was electric enough to raise the dead.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!