10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2022
9. FTR Vs. The Briscoes - ROH Supercard Of Honor
ROH is an imposition on AEW television.
It doesn't matter how incredibly well Chris Jericho continues to wrestle, or how spectacular a sight it is to watch Claudio Castagnoli rampage across the ring with two men holding onto his impossible frame for dear life: the value of the brand barely exists. Much of the storytelling and action centred around it is stellar, but it's nothing worth truly looking forward to because, ultimately, it is inessential and unnecessary.
FTR Vs. the Briscoes was so great and so hard-fought that it made the brand feel, if not major league, then a legendary entity worthy of the reboot. There was no fixed ring style in the halcyon days, but there was a standard of craft, physicality and detail. FTR and the Briscoes arguably exceeded it in a special dream match. Unlike the bloated sequel - a very good if flawed affair that pursued acclaim too transparently - this was the perfect FTR match.
Far more cynical in their desire for big camera-friendly moments than their old school call-it-in-the-ring reputations suggests, this was a truly awesome revival of their interpretation of the form. Modernised to an extent that wasn't hypocritical here, the cinematic show-downs between Dax Harwood and Jay Briscoe were measured and performed perfectly. It felt less like two actors building to a moment and more like two real people, two vanguards of a form, intent on proving that they were the absolute doyens of it. Because they were. The level of motivation here was off the charts.
It was a match that rewarded multiple viewings. On the first, it was watched in a haze of excitement, a hot, disdainful brawl that built towards the big bombs with an elegance that felt so much more competitive than obligatory.
On the second viewing, the sheer level of craft began to realise itself. Dax did a better job selling his hand after a barrage of closed fists than most of his peers sell a limb in a match built around it.
All four men spent months and months putting this thing together, and their passion was evident across every solitary second.