Ramblings About’s Matches of the Year 2023: The Best of the Rest

It’s been a hell of a year. Credit: TJPW

As 2023 draws to an end, people like me decide to spend far too long coming up with a match-of-the-year list. Honestly, even I think this one is somewhat excessive, as I have nineteen matches to cover in what I’m describing as the best of the rest. However, I didn’t want to let any of my favourites go, as I’d be happy to have any one of these as my number one. As usual, these are the matches I loved, so while you can feel free to throw some suggestions my way (in fact, please do), don’t waste any time telling me I’m wrong. I don’t care how good you think Will Ospreay vs Kenny Omega was – I’m never going to watch it. Anyway, on with the list!

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29/12/2023 1

Ramblings About’s Matches on the Month for September 2023

September’s matches of the month roundup is a bit shorter than usual as I’ve been experiencing some post-Japan blues, which has made sitting down to write about wrestling feel like more effort than usual. However, there are still some treats in here, including one that might make my end-of-year lists, so hopefully, you’ll find something to enjoy.

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01/10/2023 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for June 2023

Another month down, another group of fantastic matches that I want to ramble about. The wider wrestling world has been busy over the last thirty days, but, as usual, not much of that made the cut (although there is a taste of New Japan). I actually watched most of Forbidden Door, but was it as good as a WAVE show in front of 80 people? I think we all know the answer to that.

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01/07/2023 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for May 2023

May is a quieter month for my best matches roundup, not because there isn’t plenty to talk about (there is), but because it’s exam time in Scotland, and as someone whose job is to help kids prepare for them, I’ve been quite busy. Still, I had a lot to say about the things I did have time to watch, and there are at least a couple I will be returning to at the end of the year, so May more than held up its end of the bargain.

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01/06/2023 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for April 2023

April and the start of May are the busiest months of the year for me, so I haven’t watched anywhere near as much wrestling this month. However, I consume a stupid amount of the stuff on average, so let’s not pretend I haven’t still spent a lot of time watching people pretending to fight. With that in mind, here are my favourite matches from April of 2023.

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01/05/2023 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for March 2023

Even when you remove the start of WrestleMania Weekend (which came too late to make this list), March was a packed month for wrestling. TJPW ran their biggest venue yet, Gatoh Move celebrated their 300th show, Takumi Iroha returned to Marvelous and Ice Ribbon, well, Ice Ribbon did a lot of stuff. Good and bad, it was a busy old time, and there were plenty of great matches to get our teeth into.

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01/04/2023 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for February 2023

It was a big month for Endo. Credit: TJPW

If January brings the excitement of a new year and the motivation to keep up with every promotion going, then February is inevitably the month when real life intrudes. Unless you’re young enough to have very few responsibilities (and lucky you if so), the sad reality is that you can’t watch everything. However, fear not, because that brilliant match you missed in the crowd? It might just be on this list, ready for you to discover it.

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01/03/2023 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for January 2023

A painful start to the year. Credit: TJPW

Maybe it’s just me, but January always feels like a fresh start for my wrestling viewing. My backlog from the previous year goes out of the window, under the assumption that if I haven’t watched it yet, I never will, and it’s a chance to jump back into promotions that I might have fallen away with it. When you throw in Ittenyon and all the excitement around that, it’s usually a good month, something this list makes clear.

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01/02/2023 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for December 2022

Wait, that’s not your gimmick. Credit: TJPW

That’s a wrap! My final round-up of the month for 2022 is a bit shorter than the others, thanks to Christmas, end-of-year stuff and probably a few too many beers. Still, there were a few matches that I wanted to shout out, so there is plenty to get your teeth into anyway. Plus, if you do want more, I’ve written about my wrestlers of the year, the best of the rest matches and my match of the year, so give those a read after you’re done with this.

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01/01/2023 0

Ramblings About’s 2022 Match of the Year: Miu Watanabe vs Yuka Sakazaki

Coming into 2022’s Princess Cup Final, it felt like the focus was entirely on Miu Watanabe. With good reason, too. Miu going deep in the tournament, beating Shoko Nakajima and Miyu Yamashita on the way, felt like the stepping up of Tokyo Joshi’s next generation. Yes, they’ve made it to main events and battled for titles before, but no one had ever done it by going through two of the heads on TJPW’s Mount Rushmore. Miu was brute forcing her way to the top, breaking down walls for those who followed, and people were desperate for her to go the distance.

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30/12/2022 1