10 Most Underrated Wrestling Matches Of 2019

2019 was the year that proved to the world that Taichi was one of the greatest wrestlers in the world. Fans of Suzuki-gun will have recognised his abilities long before now, but for the majority of wrestling fans prior to this year, Taichi was on the lower echelon of NJPW superstars. While his couple of matches in the New Japan Cup were great and his Openweight title win over Jeff Cobb was a great styles clash, he was still doubted as a singles star. The groundwork for that change truly started at Dominion 2019, in a rematch from the Cup, against one of the best wrestlers in the world, Tomohiro Ishii.

The three matches that Taichi and Ishii had in 2019, with the third match taking place during the G1 Climax, rank up with the best modern trilogies in professional wrestling this decade. This is plain and simple, the epitome of professional wrestling, two dudes battering each other until one can't move anymore. Taichi and Ishii have the best kicks and the best lariats in the business, with Taichi matching the notoriously stiff work of Ishii instead of relying upon his love of interference.

The match started off with furious intensity and managed to sustain itself through 15 minutes of perfection. Both men's selling was on another level of quality, effortlessly portraying the adrenaline-fueled need to beat the other. It isn't the most complicated or flashy match of the year, there aren't gravity defying acts of daredevil mayhem, or terrifying suplexes on the apron like other matches from the Dominion card. It is simply ideal violence, that calls back to the best days of the Openweight belt and ensured that Taichi got to have his immaculate G1 tournament. One of New Japan's undercard highlights of 2019.