10 Best Wrestling Pay-Per-Views Of 2019 (So Far)

5. NJPW Best Of The Super Juniors Final

Cody Dustin Rhodes
NJPW

Highlighted by three awesome and very different matches, New Japan Pro Wrestling's response to AEW's Double or Nothing belatedly, emphatically made up for the flat and worrisome New Year's Dash. The Best Of The Super Juniors Final expanded the palette of the company's in-ring oeuvre, created an overnight star, and reinforced the two men tasked with succeeding the Elite.

Hiroshi Tanahashi sold with so much pathos and authenticity for Jay White in their stripped-back masterclass. The Ace of New Japan is broken, completely, and yet he still works to a far higher standard than the vast majority of his contemporaries. He unleashed another, incredible variation of his dragon screw signature, the most psychologically rich move in all of wrestling. It was as wrenching on the heart as the knee; Tanahashi, clutching helplessly to his legend, had to use both arms to drive White to the mat.

Where Tanahashi used minimal resource to extract drama, the debuting Jon Moxley treated his new home as a delinquent's playground by laying into Juice Robinson with everything he could grasp in his restless hands in a brutal hoot of a match.

And, in the seminal main event, Will Ospreay entered the performance of his career by slaying the undefeated dragon Shingo Takagi. A total triumph of a match, the workrate in which was almost peerless, Ospreay's command of storytelling was the real story.

It neared Kenny Omega's performance at Dominion 2018 in its portrayal of a man in the fight of his life.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!