10 Worst Wrestling Matches Of 2023 (According To The Internet)

5. Yujiro Takahashi & SHO Vs. Taichi & TAKA Michinoku (NJPW New Japan Cup - 13 Mar)

Baron Corbin Gable Steveson
NJPW

Cagematch Rating: 2.62/10.

There were three House of Torture matches in Cagematch's raw list. This was the worst-rated of the trio; the other two have been omitted, horrible as they are. Do you really want to read a list that's 30% based on the worst act in NJPW history?

House of Torture is a curse. This is New Japan. The 'King of Sports'. The zeitgeist-grabbing, cutting-edge puroresu group that, spearheaded by Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada, escaped one of the darkest periods in its 52-year history to redefine the alternative.

Or at least it's supposed to be.

Bullet Club's appeal was that Prince Devitt's crew of cheat-heavy western hooligans were a dastardly exception to a sacred norm. Their use of US-style tropes in a sports-based product worked because they were the only group doing it. 10 years later, House of Torture have reduced it to parody.

All booze-spewing "comedy", dishwater-dull tropes, and insomnia-curing offense from one of the worst mainstream wrestlers in the world, Yujiro Takahashi, this was a House of Torture match alright.

 
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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.