Every 5 Star Match Of 2023 - WWE, AEW & New Japan - video Dailymotion

WrestleTalk

What was your most 5 star match on this list? Let me know in the comments...  Watch our Survival Series Patreon Exclusive  https://www.patreon.com/wrestletalk Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, MJF, Will Ospreay, Bryan Danielson, Gunther, Will Ospreay... 2023 might go down as one of Dave Meltzer's favourite in-ring wrestling years ever. And for good reason. Tempest lists every one Big Daddy Dave gave his prestigious 5 star rating, and above...  Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay - Wrestle Kingdom 17 (6.25 Stars) The Elite vs. Death Triangle - AEW Dynamite (Jan 11) (5 Stars) Hangman Page vs. Jon Moxley - AEW Revolution (5 Stars) MJF vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW Revolution (5.75 Stars) Kenny Omega vs. El Hijo del Vikingo - AEW Dynamite (Mar 22) (5 Stars) Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. The Usos - WrestleMania 39 Night One (5 Stars) Shingo Takagi vs. Aaron Henare - NJPW Road to Sakura Genesis Night 2 (5.25 Stars) Gunther vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre - WrestleMania 39 Night Two (5 Stars) Master Wato vs. Titan - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Final (5 Stars) Anarchy in the Arena - AEW Double or Nothing (5 Stars) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Blackpool Combat Club - NJPW Dominion (5 Stars) Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door (6.25 Stars) Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kento Miyahara - Pro Wrestling NOAH One Night Dream (5.25 Stars)  FTR vs. Bullet Club Gold - AEW Collision (July 15) (5.25 Stars) Tetsuya Naito vs. Will Ospreay - NJPW G1 Climax Day 18 (6 Stars) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada - NJPW G1 Climax Final (5 Stars) Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi - RevPro 11th Anniversary Show (5 Stars) Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks - AEW All Out (5 Stars) Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW All Out (5 Stars) Will Ospreay vs. Yota Tsuji - NJPW Destruction in Kobe (5 Stars) Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - AEW WrestleDream (5.5 Stars) Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - NJPW Royal Quest III (5.5 Stars) Will Ospreay vs. ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey - IMPACT Bound For Glory (5.25 Stars) Will Ospreay vs. Shota Umino - NJPW Power Struggle (5.75 Stars) Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Yumi Aoyagi - AJPW Giant Series Day 11 (5.25 Stars) Hangman Page vs. Swerve - AEW Full Gear (5 Stars)  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/ Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/ Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/  Youtube Channel Comments Policy We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.

Transcript

00:00 Another year has somehow come and gone. 2023 is at its end. We're all a little older. We're all a little wiser.

00:06 We've all seen a lot more wrestling. Some of it good, some of it bad, and some of it good enough to earn five stars

00:12 from Uncle Dave. Here we are once again putting one man's opinion on a pedestal,

00:16 but really I just look at this list as an opportunity to look at some of the very best matches of the whole year. Because

00:21 we all have things going on in our lives that keep us from watching the metric ton of pro wrestling

00:25 we would all like to consume. Laurie had to collect his 39th transformer. Sullivan had to watch Chelsea lose...

00:31 again. Luke had to raise that kid he keeps talking about, but I've still never seen. It has indeed been a busy year.

00:36 I hope you like Will Ospreay.

00:38 I'm Tempest Hailing from PartsFunKnown, and this is every five star match or higher of 2023.

00:43 But before we get on with this list,

00:44 please make sure that you like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications to always on so you never miss a fun list just like

00:49 it. And make sure you check out the Christmas edition of Survival Series.

00:53 It's... it's very good. Kenny Omega versus Will Ospreay. Wrestle Kingdom 17, six and a quarter stars.

01:00 Only three things are guaranteed in life. Death, taxes, and a Match of the Year candidate on January 4th.

01:06 But even for January 4th standards, this match was special.

01:09 Just as Bobby Clark once said about Bobby Orr, "These guys should be in one league higher than this." Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega put

01:16 on many people's Match of the Year at Wrestle Kingdom, capping off years of pent-up animosity and

01:20 exceptional reality-based storytelling through violent brilliance, while still somehow leaving the door open for more to come.

01:26 Kenny f***ed DDT's Will on an exposed turnbuckle, and I think now, nearly a year later,

01:32 it is still the most brutal and exceptionally performed spot I have seen in 2023. And also Christian killing Darby on the steps,

01:38 but I forgot about that while I was writing this entry. Kenny Omega in a New Japan ring is as close as this fan can

01:43 get to perfection, and I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of it. The Elite versus Death Triangle.

01:48 AEW Dynamite, January 11th, 5 stars. One week later, and Kenny Omega was back at it again, winning more

01:55 championships, this time of the trios variety. The culmination of the best of seven series between the Elite and Death Triangle in the Young Bucks' home

02:03 territory helped to get AEW's 2023 started off hot. It is no secret that these two teams work extraordinarily well together,

02:10 but they informed the uninitiated with a very not-tame ladder match. From Fear Factors and Hurricane Rana's onto ladders to Brandon Cutler

02:17 cold-spraying Alex Everhontis in the eyes, everybody came out of this match a little worse for wear.

02:22 It wouldn't be long before the trio's titles would take a massive dip in importance, but in January of 2023,

02:27 these two teams made these belts a prize worth going through hell for. Hangman Page versus Jon Moxley, AEW Revolution, 5 stars.

02:36 While all wrestling certainly is subjective, we are now getting into very divisive territory. 2023 has been the year that Hangman

02:43 Page became the AEW King of the Death match, which I personally didn't see coming, but as the protagonist of the promotion,

02:49 I absolutely welcome Page having that distinction. The highly personal rivalry between Hangman Page and Jon Moxley had started as a

02:56 respectful bit of competition over the AEW World Championship, but after a concussion and some very harsh words,

03:01 Page and Mox found themselves going through hell to be called the better man. Bricks and tacks and barbed wire were only some of the

03:08 potpourri found in this match before Hangman lived up to his name, choking Moxley out with a chain for the win.

03:14 This sort of match may not be everyone's bag, baby, but if it is, or it could be, you won't find too many examples of this sort of match

03:21 being done better than this. MJF versus Bryan Danielson, AEW Revolution, 5 and 3/4 stars. Less than an hour later,

03:29 we went from one of the greatest death matches of all time to the single greatest Iron Man match of all time.

03:35 MJF's reign of terror as AEW World Champion was still in its infancy at Revolution, so with a need to get a classic

03:41 pay-per-view title defense under his proverbial belt, there would be no one better to turn to than Bryan Danielson.

03:47 Unfortunately, I do not have an hour to go over everything that was great about this match, but the simple and brilliant

03:53 storytelling involved in this moment, with MJF sobbing after having been forced to wrestle the best in the world for an hour,

04:00 while Bryan has stood smiling in his element, is so perfect. MJF needing to be put on an oxygen machine while Bryan does

04:08 jumping jacks, all leading to the first Bryan-led yes chant in AEW before he is forced to tap to his own hold.

04:15 A perfect match, and one that serves as Bryan's AEW pay-per-view classic just as much as it did MJF's.

04:21 Kenny Omega versus El Hijo del Vakingo, AEW Dynamite, March 22nd, 5 stars. I will tell you right now,

04:28 there aren't many matches that force PFK headquarters to stop and gather around the television to all take in together.

04:33 This was one of those matches. The long-awaited dream match between Kenny Omega and the Twitter gif come-to-life

04:39 El Hijo del Vakingo was just that, a dream come true. Vakingo is a generational high-flyer, and it is because of matches like this

04:46 that I don't feel I have to come on these lists at the end of the year and sing his praises. Now, everyone knows just how

04:52 brilliant he is. Crazy flipping reverse Ranas, inverted Dragon Ranas, and springboard 630s all sound like moves you should

04:59 only be able to pull off in a video game, and we all got to see it on free television. Matches like this are what AEW

05:05 is built for, and I feel blessed to have witnessed it. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn versus The Usos,

05:10 WrestleMania 39, Night 1, 5 stars. We had to wait for the 39th WrestleMania for the WWE Tag Team Championship

05:17 to be defended in a main event match, but thankfully, that wait produced maybe the best WrestleMania main event of all time.

05:24 At the time of WrestleMania 39, the bloodline story appeared to be WWE's magnum opus. Now, we all know how

05:30 WrestleMania ended, but at the halfway mark, we were still on pace for the greatest blow-off in WWE history because of this match.

05:37 There was only one finish that made sense for this match, and it was Sami Zayn pinning Jey Uso, and that is exactly what we got.

05:44 Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn finally winning tag gold together in WWE, ending the record-setting reign of The Usos

05:51 after everything the bloodline had put them through, was euphoric, and a feeling that could only have been rivaled by a

05:56 similar finish the following night, but we're not gonna talk about that.

05:59 Shingo Takagi versus Aaron Hinare, New Japan Pro Wrestling Road to Sakura Genesis, Night 2, 5 and a quarter stars.

06:06 Breaking up the two days of WrestleMania is pesky old New Japan, and the king of pro wrestling championship of all things.

06:11 In its three years of existence, it has not been a title known for the quality of its matches.

06:15 It's a belt defended with a different stipulation every time. We've seen blindfold matches, sumo matches,

06:20 take the turnbuckle pad off matches. You get the idea, it's silly. However, put the title on Shingo Takagi and have him

06:26 wrestle a best of five falls match, where to win you have to win your three falls, by pinfall, submission, and knockout,

06:33 and you get a five-star king of pro wrestling match. Aaron Hinare is a hell of a big meaty man to battle Shingo,

06:38 and by the end when these two are both only trying to knock each other out, you get the kind of big meaty man slapping meat match

06:44 that really gets the blood flowing. Gunther versus Sheamus versus Drew McIntyre, WrestleMania 39, Night 2, 5 stars.

06:51 Speaking of big meaty man slapping meat, we heard you like that Gunther versus Sheamus match from Clash at the Castle,

06:56 and decided to give it to you again, this time with an additional 50% more meat.

07:01 But while this match certainly did benefit from having a third mountain of man meat to get involved in the violence and destruction,

07:06 Drew McIntyre's presence also added loads to the story of the match, as his friendship with Sheamus had dissolved as a result of

07:13 Drew and Sheamus liking the same girl. Pardon me, title.

07:16 Sheamus' final goal in his career was winning the IC title, and seeing his friend Drew choose to go after the same prize

07:22 drove a wedge between them that has yet to be rectified, and that was very much the case during this epic WrestleMania classic.

07:28 And I've barely mentioned Gunther! At this point, I'm convinced he is a top five in-ring performer in WWE history,

07:35 and if you think that is hyperbole, I would just tell you to go watch this match again.

07:39 Master Wato versus T-tan, New Japan Pro Wrestling Best of the Super Juniors final, 5 stars.

07:44 What a difference three years can make for young Master Wato.

07:48 From strolling into an empty building with bright blue hair and stinking out the joint in his debut,

07:52 looking like the biggest goober in New Japan, to winning the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in one of the best matches of the year.

07:58 The same can honestly be said about T-tan, who I didn't think much of when I saw him for the first time four years ago,

08:04 but now comfortably sits as one of the best juniors in the promotion as well.

08:07 The match they had in the final of the tournament was a 25-minute classic, with momentum shifting more times than I can count,

08:13 and with a roaring crowd and LIJ at ringside, this had the atmosphere of one of the biggest matches in New Japan this year.

08:20 Anarchy in the arena, AEW double or nothing, 5 stars.

08:23 For the second year in a row, the Blackpool Combat Club walked into Las Vegas to have a big ol' brawl around the arena,

08:29 and walked out with 5 stars.

08:31 But while this one may not have had Eddie Kingston with a gas can, it did have the Elite superkicking the annoying-ass band that missed their cue to stop.

08:38 The Young Bucks also continued their foray into shoe-based warfare, this time putting an explosive on the bottom of their shoe.

08:43 This match was just as all over the place as its predecessor, which may or may not have been to everyone's liking,

08:48 but the match and its finish of Konosuke Takeshita turning on the Elite capped off this chapter of this gang warfare rivalry,

08:54 leading to their blood and guts match in July.

08:56 Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. the Blackpool Combat Club, New Japan Pro Wrestling Dominion, 5 stars.

09:03 It doesn't matter what promotion it was in, put the Blackpool Combat Club in the ring with talent of equal or greater caliber, and you have yourself a 5 star match.

09:11 In this case, Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli took their talents to Japan and enlisted the help of Young Shota Umino

09:17 in their attempt to relieve the New Japan All-Star team of Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tomohiro Ishii of their never-open-weight 6-man tag titles.

09:25 There is so much to love about this match.

09:28 The crowd are so excited to see Claudio in New Japan and pop big when he starts the match against Tanahashi,

09:33 Moxley and Ishii reignite their old rivalry, and Okada continued his bitter veteran diatribe against the next generation of New Japan stars,

09:40 beating down and eventually pinning Umino.

09:42 This is just an electric match filled with star power, exciting combinations, and storytelling,

09:47 and that doesn't even factor in the post-match announcement of Okada vs. Danielson for Forbidden Door.

09:52 Speaking of, Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay, AEW New Japan Pro Wrestling Forbidden Door, 6 1/4 stars.

09:59 Two wrestlers, two matches, two identical ratings.

10:02 Not a day goes by that I don't curse WWE for booking Money in the Bank in London,

10:06 meaning I could not take my summer trip home to Toronto one week earlier to see this f***ing match.

10:13 It is up to you whether you think this match or Ospreay and Omega's Wrestle Kingdom Classic is the better of their two 2023 encounters,

10:19 but after months watching both back and letting them marinate, I think Wrestle Kingdom is just marginally better.

10:26 But if you told me this was the match of the year, I wouldn't argue with you.

10:29 The only knock against it is AEW's officials being made to look utterly useless,

10:33 but if you look past that, the match is f***ing amazing.

10:37 The first match was Omega's turn to get the bulk of the offense, but this was Ospreay's time,

10:41 and he responded with pure, vicious bellendedness.

10:45 Pardon me while I coin a phrase.

10:47 Combine that with Omega's fighting spirit, providing the best kickout at one in goddamn years,

10:51 and you have the best meeting of England and Canada since... me.

10:56 Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kento Miyahara, Pro Wrestling NOAH, One Night Dream.

11:00 5 1/4 stars.

11:02 We don't often get to talk about Pro Wrestling NOAH on this channel, much to my dismay,

11:06 but that does just mean times like this are so special.

11:09 On the surface, this may seem like a massive Pro Wrestling NOAH vs. All Japan Pro Wrestling match,

11:13 with Miyahara being All Japan's ace, and Nakajima calling NOAH home,

11:17 but rather this was an intensely personal battle between two former partners with loads of history.

11:22 Miyahara is the best substance over style wrestler in the world.

11:26 That's not to say he isn't exciting, but everything he does is very simple,

11:29 and he manages to still have fantastic matches and tell phenomenal stories through his execution and charisma.

11:35 Here, he and Nakajima exchange the best strikes you will see in wrestling this year,

11:39 and through those strikes, you feel all of the animosity these guys are feeling towards each other.

11:44 This match slaps, and also punches elbows and knees, and you will not be disappointed going out of your way to see it.

11:50 You don't need to know loads about NOAH to enjoy it, you just have to like good wrestling.

11:54 FTR vs. Bullet Club Gold, AEW Collision, July 15th. 5 1/4 stars.

12:00 The second of only two traditional tag matches to score the full five from the cheese melts this year,

12:05 a sharp downturn from last year, but when last year's tag team MVPs got to let loose in a near hour-long 2 out of 3 falls match,

12:11 we got the tag team excellence we had been craving.

12:14 FTR and Bullet Club Gold carried Collision from an in-ring standpoint for the first month of the show's existence,

12:19 and their 58-minute blow-off match remains maybe the best match in the show's short history.

12:24 From all the callbacks to teams from Days of Yawn, to the excellent commentary from JR and Nigel McGuinness,

12:29 to White being the best heel worker ever, this is just a phenomenal match.

12:34 Which seems redundant considering every match on this list is,

12:37 but if you have an hour of your day to carve out for some wrestling, you will not go wrong watching this match.

12:42 Tetsuya Naito vs. Will Ospreay, New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax, Day 18. 6 stars.

12:48 Do you like Will Ospreay? Well, you're about to hear his name a lot.

12:52 The back half of the year was absolutely dominated by Ospreay,

12:55 and while that began with beating Kenny Omega, his momentum really took hold in the G1 Climax.

13:00 After a very good showing in block competition, Ospreay had his tournament run ended by Tetsuya Naito in the very best match of the whole tournament.

13:08 Naito being unable to resist going for the Stardust Press and failing made me weep my little eyes out,

13:13 but Ospreay legitimately knocking Naito out with an errant kick,

13:17 then managing to hit himself with two Destinos as Naito got his bearings back,

13:21 was maybe the most impressive wrestling I have seen all year.

13:25 Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada, New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax, Final. 5 stars.

13:31 New Japan Pro Wrestling on the whole may not be the promotion that it was before the pandemic,

13:35 but I don't know if there is a single wrestler's character I am more emotionally invested in than Tetsuya Naito,

13:40 regardless of the state that New Japan is in.

13:43 And let me tell you, I was very not expecting the last ride of Naito to come in 2023.

13:48 Naito going for his third G1 victory at this stage in his career was among the most emotional matches I saw this year,

13:55 and after finally managing to put away long-time rival Kazuchika Okada in yet another legendary G1 Climax Final,

14:01 Naito proved that even in the twilight of his career, he is still New Japan's shuuyaku.

14:06 Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi, RevPro 11th Anniversary Show, 5 stars.

14:11 Ay, match one of two that I was privileged to witness live.

14:14 'Twas the night before All In, and all through the Copper Box, not a creature was sleeping.

14:19 Not even Tegan Nox. Listen, it's hard to come up with a rhyme for Copper Box.

14:22 Ospreay didn't give himself enough credit in his Dynamite promo.

14:25 He did not just work in Indy the night before All In, he tore the house down the night before All In.

14:31 Ospreay and Shingo have beyond incredible chemistry, and to see just how crisp their movements are up close

14:36 was an experience like none I have ever had watching wrestling.

14:40 Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks, AEW All Out, 5 stars.

14:44 Not bad for a backup plan, eh?

14:46 While this was not the CM Punk vs. Ricky Starks blow-off match AEW had been building to,

14:51 Bryan Danielson returning from his broken arm to defend the honor of Ricky Steamboat

14:54 in a brutally violent strap match was probably a better match than we would have gotten anyway.

14:59 Ricky Starks went into this match motivated and clearly very frustrated,

15:02 and took all of that aggression out on Danielson, making him bleed like a stuck goat,

15:07 which only helped the presentation of it all when Bryan mounted an equally violent comeback.

15:12 Kenny Omega vs. Kenosuke Takeshita, AEW All Out, 5 stars.

15:16 Then a half hour later, we had part two of our buy one get one free 5 star extravaganza,

15:21 as Kenny Omega and Kenosuke Takeshita had their long-awaited singles match.

15:25 For as much as it hasn't felt like it since, Takeshita did indeed beat Omega clean.

15:30 These are two of the most dynamic wrestlers in AEW, nay, the world,

15:34 and whether it is as beautiful as an avalanche blue thunderbomb,

15:37 or as simple and vicious as a bare-bone knee that put Kenny down,

15:41 there was a different kind of artistry to this match compared to the strap match.

15:45 Both excellent, but I will leave it to you to decide which you prefer.

15:48 Will Ospreay vs. Yota Tsuji, New Japan Pro Wrestling Destruction in Kobe, 5 stars.

15:53 No one brought out the best of the new three musketeers of New Japan in 2023 like Will Ospreay.

15:59 Yota Tsuji has a great presentation with wild eyes and a crazy smile,

16:03 features that spooked Ospreay for a moment just after Tsuji head-pressed triangle and stole Ospreay's finisher.

16:08 But while Tsuji definitely has a bright future ahead,

16:11 Ospreay spent the second half of 2023 being practically untouchable,

16:15 notching another win in his title reign and giving Tsuji the best match of his career thus far.

16:20 Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr., AEW Wrestle Dream, 5.5 stars.

16:25 The cursed forbidden door event took so many classic matches from us last year, but thankfully, we got one back.

16:31 There are loads of styles of wrestling, and I am not going to say that everyone has to love every style,

16:35 but if you love technical wrestling, or think that you could love technical wrestling,

16:39 you will not find a better example of technical wrestling excellence than this match.

16:44 At least, you won't until the rematch, where that coward Bryan Danielson won't take the easy way out and win with a strike.

16:50 Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr., New Japan Pro Wrestling Royal Quest III, 5.5 stars.

16:55 And now for part two of Tempest's five-star live wrestling experience of 2023.

16:59 While those who I was in the company of may have already seen Will Ospreay and ZSJ wrestle live dozens of times,

17:05 this was a first for me, and one of the best live wrestling matches I have ever seen.

17:09 I could recite all the insane moves and counters in this match, but that would bore people,

17:13 so I will not be reciting how Zack countered the handspring back kick into an ankle lock,

17:17 and I will not be reciting how Ospreay countered the octopus hold into a pile driver,

17:21 and I certainly will not be reciting how Zack countered the hidden blade into an excellent triangle choke.

17:26 I certainly will not be doing any of that, despite how great it was.

17:29 Will Ospreay vs. Speedball Mike Bailey, Impact Bound for Glory, 5.25 stars.

17:34 Last year, I voted for Speedball Mike Bailey as my wrestler of the year.

17:38 I love this man, and I love his work, and I love this match.

17:42 The story of Speedball proving himself as one of the best in the world against THE best in the world

17:46 who was on the run of his career while the arrogant Ospreay did everything he could to let Bailey know

17:51 that they weren't on the same level was fantastic, and accentuated perfectly

17:55 by Speedball having multiple devastating characters to Ospreay's biggest moves.

17:59 And to cap it off, Ospreay hitting a Styles Clash in the former home of Mr. TNA AJ Styles

18:04 was the cherry on top of this match that I feel totally comfortable calling THE best match in Impact history.

18:10 Will Ospreay vs. Shota Umino, New Japan Pro Wrestling Power Struggle, 5.75 stars.

18:15 Just as Yota Tsuji tried to dethrone Will Ospreay as the IWGP UK Champion,

18:19 Shota Umino took his turn at Power Struggle, and holy smokes baloney fudge and mustard,

18:23 did Shota ever look like the future ace he is destined to be?

18:26 Little by little, he has shown more of the edge that you would expect out of Jon Moxley's protege,

18:31 and in this match, he wasn't having any of Ospreay's attitude,

18:34 throwing a table at his head, and walking forward into Ospreay's chops like an absolute badass.

18:39 I don't know if it's only because I have seen so many Will Ospreay matches in the last couple of weeks for this list,

18:44 but the Stormbreaker into the Hurricane Rana is probably my favorite counter in wrestling right now,

18:48 and my god did they do it to perfection in this match.

18:51 I love Shota, and my heart breaks for him to have to have lost this match right in front of his father, Jon Moxley.

18:57 Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Yumi Aoyagi, All Japan Pro Wrestling Giant Series Day 11, 5 1/4 stars.

19:04 For as infrequently as we get to talk about pro wrestling Noah on this channel,

19:07 All Japan Pro Wrestling comes up even less, but when the promotion earns its first 5 star match in 24 years,

19:13 I reckon that's as good a reason to check out the second oldest Japanese wrestling promotion as I could ever hope for.

19:17 In fact, the promotion has been slowly experiencing a resurgence as of late,

19:21 and it is due in no small part to wrestlers like Yumi Aoyagi in matches like this.

19:25 Aoyagi had been a great Triple Crown champion, and was defending against outsider Nakajima in this match with stiff strikes and a hot crowd.

19:32 Basically, if you like strong style, you will like this match.

19:36 Hangman Page vs Swerve, AEW Full Gear, 5 stars.

19:40 I mean f***ing hell, right? That mother f***er drank his blood.

19:43 This match is either the greatest thing you've ever seen in wrestling, or the worst thing you've ever seen in wrestling.

19:48 At least that's what Twitter would have you believe.

19:50 But one way or the other, a 5 star rating it did receive.

19:53 I am much more on the positive end of the spectrum in regards to this match,

19:56 because while death matches are not necessarily my cup of tea,

19:59 I can certainly appreciate the incredible skill and craftsmanship it takes to put on a match as excellent as this.

20:05 Hangman getting the barbed wire caught in his face is horrifying.

20:08 Swerve taking the barbed wire chair off the chest on a moonsault makes me want to shrivel up.

20:12 This is the best death match I've ever seen.

20:15 Hangman Page is a vampire, Swerve should be your next AEW World Champion,

20:19 and I'll see you all in 2024, or until Dave gives another match 5 stars within the last 3 weeks of the year.

20:25 Take care, Merry Christmas.

20:27 And that just about wraps things up for me.

20:29 If you like this list, make sure you like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications to always on,

20:32 so you never miss a fun list just like it.

20:34 And make sure you check out this clip from the latest episode of Survival Series.

20:37 Welcome to a Christmas edition of Survival Series,

20:42 the show where we celebrate the spirit of togetherness in pro wrestling.

Every 5 Star Match Of 2023 - WWE, AEW & New Japan

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