14 Ups & 3 Downs From NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard

2. Match Of The Year

Recency bias is real, and great matches always come across better live and in-person, but Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi was 2019's best wrestling match.

Better than Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega.

Better than Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kazuchika Okada.

And yes, better than Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano.

These guys continued where they left off in their grisly New Japan Cup scrap by destroying each other's spinal columns with all manner of brutal offence. Hatred permeated every single second, their chemistry was palpable, and the atmosphere was so hot that people were chanting "this is awesome!" before they'd even locked up. Such was the power of Naito vs. Ibushi.

We'll avoid minor details so as to not detract from the experience, because this match needs to be seen. It was two of the best wrestlers in the world whipping a white-hot arena into a frenzy with a beautifully barbaric in-ring story, resulting in the night's most cathartic finish, and it set an impossibly high bar for the rest of WrestleMania weekend to follow.