10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2021
9. Syuri Vs. Utami Hayashishita - STARDOM Tokyo Dream Cinderella Special Edition
Structurally different to anything you'll see all year, the sense of real-fight immersion was so gripping that it felt like a surprise when they busted out a wrestling move.
Informed by Syuri's legitimate MMA skills, the work was meticulous. Every pin escape was an opening, a potential trap with which to maintain the advantage. Stiff and attritional, Syuri went after Utami's knee with a masterful, deadly intent, fusing her shoot background with a creative interpretation of the pro wrestling form. Syuri's mastery was such that she toyed with her opponent to inform dramatic momentum swings; in one such moment, she feigned helplessness with her trailing leg, but flat-backed and slid underneath to ensnare Utami into a cloverleaf.
Her strikes were wicked, and Utami sold them with agonised winces. She treated Utami like a practise sandbag, and the sound created resonated with the same thud. Utami was mere meat to pulverise before she edged her way back into the fight with an aerial onslaught and sharp blocking game.
The match went into overtime following a squelching striking duel, after which Utami almost took her head off with a lunging forearm to display her fighting champion credentials.
The jellifying head strikes were registered with harrowing aural selling in a match of relentless back-and-forth drama, the minutiae in which dragged the viewer, no matter how repulsed, closer to the screen.