10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2024

The Busaiku knee ramming into the Oscutter attempt may well be the most perfectly-timed counter ever. The duel moment - in which Danielson and Ospreay charged into one another with the Busaiku knee and Hidden Blade respectively - was so perfect because this Advertised Dream Match best realised the idea that the two best wrestlers on the planet could not be more evenly matched. 

These moments do not soar, to unscaled heights, if the Dragon and Ospreay don’t set the tone for a classic within minutes. 

The moves stalemate exchange was the best in the history of the sequence, and at that point, Danielson was simply showing off. It isn’t really how he goes about the opening phase. He just knew who he was wrestling, and casually perfected that style - after first trying to ground Ospreay and smear his forehead open with palm strikes. 

A sense of struggle and intent underpinned it. Danielson didn’t duck theatrically until he was forced to, after his desperate impulse blocks weren’t enough to ward off his explosive phenomenon of an opponent. And when he did duck, as a chessmaster, he went for the Yes! Lock and didn’t just dance about a bit. This logic-driven take comprised none of the intricate exhilaration of the stalemate; rather, the Dragon’s approach elevated it.  

It was at this moment that the crowd, and everybody live-tweeting, shared something verging on a religious experience. You knew at that moment that you were going to see an all-timer cast-iron classic, a match miles better than the most optimistic projections for something guaranteed to be transcendent. 

If every match is *****, none of them are. Greatness had been normalised in the 2020s, tainted by acclaim-chasing cynicism. 

This match restored the true full-five feeling.