10 Must-See Matches That ALREADY Make 2018 Wrestling’s Greatest Ever Year
1. Johnny Gargano Vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT TakeOver: New Orleans)
Johnny Gargano owed a modicum of the plaudits received for his clash against Andrade Almas to Tommaso Ciampa for the 'Psycho Killer's life-ruining assault nearly a year earlier, but got to share even greater praise with his former #DIY partner when the two finally went to war at TakeOver: New Orleans.
It was once-in-a-generation Sports Entertainment theatre when the two finally locked horns. A feud magically enhanced by the delay caused by an injury to Ciampa and Gargano's subsequent rise and fall without him, the match was elite beyond the sky-high standard already set elsewhere this year.
In 1997, Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin had a contest that was required by the company to kickstart a movement - this instead felt like an important milestone in the decade's finest angle. Rich in callbacks and reverence (something the angle has made glorious use of right down to minute physical details in the ways both men have walked, talked and acted since their debuts on the brand), the fight was deeply rewarding for an audience that had invested so deeply in it. From Ciampa's entrance to his last desperate moment of loss, he was a loathed villain completely at odds with the modern wrestling heel. Gargano inch-perfectly opposed as the discerning babyface.
Crucially for an industry that never ever ends, (and just like fallen hero Hart in the WrestleMania 13 comparison) 'Johnny Wrestling' was a survivor, not a victor. He had won this battle, but it was all-too-apparent that the war wasn't over.