Ongoing 2022 Matches Of The Year

 #12. Jon Moxley vs Biff Busick, GCW Bloodsport 8 31/3

Pretty much what you want from this. Those elbows looked nasty, and they stuck to the heirarchy well with Mox being all over Biff, but with enough battle that it was competitive. Some of Biff's chops are thunderous. This is 2022, year of the epic bladejob (about 90% of the matches on this list will be bloody by the look of it), and Biff leaked like a faucet again. His whole dome was slick with blood by the end. Obviously loads of fire and heat and that knee finish was a finish.

#2. The Briscoes vs FTR, ROH Supercard Of Honor

On first watch I thought this was as good as the famed Briscoes vs MCMG match from 15 years ago. They successfully had a long, epic, workrate heavy tag match in 2022 that didn't feel too cutesy or overboard despite it's length and ambition, which is a real achievement. That they spent the vast majority of the match throwing hands and working exciting strike exchanges made that possible. Very physical, hard-hitting match with a lot of beef, but also thought they paced it really well, letting the small moments breathe, and it had more structure than most matches of this length these days. FTR are unabashed '80s heel fanboys, and they have plenty of dubious tactics to gain the advantage, and once again the colour red added a lot to the middle of the match. Dax had some great hard punches right to Jay's open wound, and Mark is an awesome hot tag guy with energy to spare. All the big spots down the stretch felt organic and unpredictable, and the bombs dropped on the outside (especially that suplex) were nuts. Of course Dax vs Jay was the centre of the match, but both Mark and Cash are great in secondary roles, and Mark's surprise corkscrew senton to the floor was a genuine holy shit moment. Great match that is a big notch on both team's legacies. That the Briscoes are in their 3rd decade as a team and still having matches at this level really begs the question if they are the best of all time, and if this was their swansong in ROH then they couldn't have asked for a better exit.

#6. Ilja Dragunov vs Roderick Strong, NXT UK 7/4

NXT UK is such a blindspot these days I have to wonder how many are even watching it, which is a shame because Ilja's title run has been good so far. He has really developed into a near total package, and against a reliable guy like Roddy they delivered a banger. Both guys absolutely lace each other with chops, and I am a fan of Ilja busting out his swank judo throws. This was a match with not just stiffness, but some smarts too as they both target a body part on the other, with Roddy working Ilja's shoulder and Dragonov going for Roddy's knee. I was really surprised with how good of a job Dragunov did, he has always been a guy who is best when working from below, but he made a massive effort to sell the damage he was taking even he was on the offence. The Torpedo to the knee could have looked dumb but made sense with his strategy and I thought his work on the leg was great. I am always a fan of the stretch muffler in particular. Roddy was there and had a good showing, busting out his usual bombs, but this was Dragunov's match and he reminded us all we should still be keeping an eye on this brand for now.

#7. Jon Moxley vs Wheeler Yuta, Rampage 8/4

This was not a match without it's flaws, but they still pulled it off and achieved a star making showing for Wheeler. That table spot was goofy and the last finisher kicked out was excessive, but otherwise was a great payoff and a testament to pro wrestling story-telling done right. Wheeler has progressed from comedy unit geek who got crushed in a minute, to getting more and more in as he has progressed, to taking Moxley to deep waters and earning his respect. For his part, Yuta had the type of performance needed, bringing it to Mox from the bell with a great tope and brawling with him around the floor. Just like the Biff match, the blood and the hierarchy were key to making Yuta strong in defeat, and I did really love him paying Moxley back with both the Danielson stomps and the biting and back raking. To me, that did more than the blood in showing Yuta was operating at a different level, though the visual of him covered in blood screaming for Mox to tap while in the choke was also fantastic. Whether Wheeler is That Guy remains to be seen, but they have set the stage for him now.

Ongoing 2022 Matches Of The Year List

Ongoing Best Of 2022 Matches

 #4. Biff Busick vs Slade, Beyond Wrestling 'Day 91' 4/2

What a bloodbath. Slade looks like he belongs in prison and is akin to a horror movie villain, just constantly absorbing whatever gets thrown at him and piling bodies up. Both these dudes hit hard as fuck, and I liked how Biff worked from beneath for all of this. He was coming back from a long lay-off, against the new hotness, and got absolutely mauled. He bleeds a bunch, gets murdered with chairs and door, and for most of the way Slade looks unstoppable, almost to a comic extent. But when Biff blasts him with a chair out of nowhere and Slade did the gig, this kicked into another gear. I don’t know where Slade cut, but he obviously nicked something he shouldn’t have because he was jet-washing the whole place with plasma. I could have totally bought him passing out from the amount of blood he was spilling. He still dominated Biff, but it showed vulnerability, and Biff believably worked his way back in by trading hands. Finish was disgustingly violent as Biff had to murder this guy with a bunch of straight trash can blows to the dome. A triumphant return for Biff and Slade is a scary, scary man.

#2. CM Punk/Jon Moxley vs FTR, AEW Dynamite 9/2

A few cool threads going on here with the setup, being a rare unscheduled match and a classic two great singles guys vs great tag team match. Punk and Mox felt like an all-star team and clicked really well together. We know FTR can be great at old school cut the ring in half wrestling, we know they can be great at big spot-filled home stretches, but often they have a tendency to focus too much on the latter. This was very well structured with the body of the match all being really meaningful, with Punk getting his leg worked, the exciting brawling off the Mox hot tag, then the longer more focused heat section on him after he got put through the table. All that heat building paid off with a really satisfying final run with some big counters and a couple great false finishes that had real peril to them. The Doomsday Device will always, always rock and all the stuff with the stereo finishers was awesome. The only flub was the Tully spot, but god bless him for trying and wanting to take the GTS. I had a blast.

#5. Hangman Adam Page vs Lance Archer, AEW Dynamite 9/2 [Texas Deathmatch]

Hats off to Page, he is beginning to look like the guy AEW wants him to be. A couple lengthy title epics and now a quality garbage match to his reign. This was a slightly above average plunder brawl, elevated by a few things. Hangman has already accumulated enough scar tissue that he can bleed on command and he wore another top tier crimson mask, looked like someone threw a bucket of red paint on him. Page has always been a good athlete and he throws himself into the big bumps, and that Blackout onto the steps was a Darby-level insanity bump. The stuff with the top rope being removed was a clever twist to lead to the finish, which was also imaginative but looked a little silly. Having your big bloody death-match end with a ref being used as a pummel horse is a choice move.