25 Best Wrestling Shows EVER
16. Big Egg Wrestling Universe
Curated by All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling with involvement from an array of other joshi promotions, Big Egg Wrestling Universe was a conditionally great pro wrestling show.
You’d struggle to sit through the entire thing: the run-time is 10 hours. That’s almost as long as a Tony Khan-era Ring Of Honor pay-per-view.
Miraculously, by the time the Akira Hokuto Vs. Aja Kong match hit the ring, the atmosphere was still hot for the duration. That was the 23rd match of the night, and it was really good.
It couldn’t match the best bout on the card, which was arguably the Match of the Year: Kong Vs. Manami Toyota. Toyota was positively awesome in it. Knowing she was up against a formidable, much larger opponent, she perfected the urgency of the opening shine by attempting to put Aja away within seconds. Toyota was a whirlwind in what is one of the best opening minutes of any match ever. A great and logical approach to the dynamic in and of itself, it was especially inspired given the epic run-time of the show overall.
A staggering assortment of great matches, a top five all-time entrance made by the superb Akira Hokuto, an extravagance of spectacle: in truth, Big Egg is best watched back as a compilation of sorts. It is a Best of Joshi anthology doubling as a show.
No promotion of renown has attempted anything like it since, which might suggest it was a noble, über-ambitious failure - but somehow, it wasn’t.