10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2023
8. Viking Raiders Vs. Alpha Academy - WWE Raw, July 17
Wrestling is trapped in a weird, endless cycle of critical acclaim in which the best matches must be long, epic main events.
This list on the whole hardly breaks that rule, almost subconsciously adhering to it, but a great comedy match can be better than a great 40 minute New Japan epic.
Viking Raiders Vs. Alpha Academy, from the July 17 Monday Night Raw was, on its own terms, an absolutely awesome pro wrestling match. Every match serves a purpose, whether it reaches the goal or not. Most matches on this list strive for intense, serious drama, the wrestlers involved aiming to claim gold or the title of being the best.
This Viking Rules match aimed for fun, and it was a hoot, a riot, as fun as anything to have ever happened on WWE's TV flagship.
Firstly, there was a wooden viking boat attached to the ring that emitted dry ice, and then, setting the tone for big dumb fun, Erik body-slammed Ivar onto Otis from it. A prop-heavy crowd-pleaser, everybody involved just wanted to pop the fans. Chad Gable retrieved a table in under a minute to a mega-pop. This knew exactly what it was.
Ivar - who is absolutely massive - hit a moonsault on Otis, who is also massive, and had earlier in the match reversed Ivar's springboard twisting crossbody attempt with a World's Strongest Slam of sorts. Gable broke up the pin Ivar attempted following the moonsault by hitting Ivar with another moonsault, after which he hit Ivar, who again is a monument, with a dead-lift German. This was just an impossible fireworks display designed to unhinge your jaw and make a series of shrieking noises come out of your newly gigantic face.
WWE's motto - Putting Smiles On People's Faces - has been weaponised against the company for years. It has taken on an ironic definition over and over and over again.
With this beautiful, deceptively clever blockbuster, WWE justified it - and how.