10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2022
5. CM Punk Vs. MJF - AEW Revolution
The best wrestlers in the world aren't those who work the quote-unquote "best" matches.
The modern generation has worked out a cheat code to critical acclaim, and not to parrot a tedious podcaster bit, it really is simple to do some spectacular moves, wear some kick pads, and go 18 minutes to convince certain online fans that the match was a "banger" - even if the actual live crowd doesn't share the same feeling.
CM Punk Vs. MJF II was a masterpiece before it even made the ring; a seminal, intricate story, the bantered-off handshake that started it all was sublime. It was revealed that an image of Punk shaking hands with Bryan Danielson in 2011 was the catalyst for MJF's pro wrestling journey. Punk created the snake and wasn't even considered dumb to try and heal it. He was on a redemptive arc of his own, and until All Out, it was a perfect hero's journey. Writing the words "a complex meditation on morality" is pretentious in any context, and wildly inappropriate for 99.9% of pro wrestling, but that's precisely what it was.
The best wrestlers in the world, once actually inside of the ring, make every moment matter - and until these two genius performers made you realise it, thumb tacks should be treated like an explosive. Fusing Death Match suspense and classic territory violence with the detailed, grand storytelling heft of prestige television, the denouement and wider story was so incredible that it was more than one genre of masterpiece.
The emoting, selling, wisened old babyface comebacks, attritional tone and super-gradual pacing were more patient, authentic - and in the end, exponentially meaningful - than so much else in 2022.
CM Punk has left pro wrestling. Many fans and wrestlers are happy to see him go. But he's taking something immensely rich with him.
AEW is a much better and worse place for it, in what is a fitting send-off to a paradox of a man.