The Best of Pro Wrestling in 2023 So Far
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We are in the middle of 2023 and we can finally start to review the best pro wrestling has offered in this first half of the year. We’ve seen plenty of good moments, and when you list them all out, there’s a lot to choose from in every category…
Match of the Year
This is one of the few categories that peaked very early this year, and to be more specific, on January 4th. The match we are talking about is the bout between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom 17 for the IWGP US Championship. This was an all-time great match and to many, it feels it will win the award for Match of the Year, and the only potential match that could surpass it is a rewatch between Omega and Ospreay for the upcoming show Forbidden Door.
They’re other candidates for MOTY, but with not as strong of a case as Omega vs. Ospreay. Matches like MJF vs. Bryan Danielson and Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley are some of the there candidates. Besides a potential rematch between Omega vs. Ospreay, Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door is a match that has the potential to be a strong contender as well, if everything goes according to plan.
Show of the Year
Show of the Year is a very open category and with no clear winner. AEW’s Revolution, NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom and STARDOM’s All Star Queedom are strong contenders for this category. Other shows that can’t be ignore are Sakura Genesis, SuperCard of Honor and Keiji Mutoh’s retirement shows with NOAH.
Forbidden Door, All Together, Dominion and AEW’s All In II show are shows that also have potential to join this category if they are able to meet the expectations fans have for these upcoming shows.
Tag Team of the Year
This category has been controlled for a long time by the Young Bucks, but this year, Aussie Open have been the best tag team in the world on the indie scene, NJPW and now AEW. It really feels like their year and very few tag teams can compete with them in terms of matches this year.
Besides the usual suspects like The Young Bucks, FTR, Lucha Bros or The Usos, one tag team with a strong case is the team of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
Promotion of the Year
AEW for the last three years has dominated this category and this year they are a strong contender, but we can’t ignore the cases of STARDOM and their growth in the last 2 years. They have basically become the second strongest promotion in Japan, and only being behind NJPW. Promotions like NJPW and ROH can’t be ignored as well.
One case we shouldn’t forget is that of TJPW and the wonderful work they’ve also been doing these last few years that has been overshadowed by STARDOM.
Booker of the Year
One of the biggest memes on social media is the idea that Tony Khan is basically competing with himself in this category… AEW TK vs. ROH TK. While you can’t ignore the booking Tony Khan has done for ROH and AEW, this category isn’t as one sided as you would think. Gedo (NJPW), Rossy Ogawa (STARDOM), and Tetsuya Koda (TJPW) are interesting candidates for this category as well.
Wrestler of the Year
This is the most subjective category of them all, and probably the most controversial for many. For some (WWE fans) Roman Reigns should be a candidate because of his historic 1,000 days title reign, and the case is there to be made with him because of that. There are stronger cases on this category though, like the usual suspects in Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada or Will Ospreay. You also have wrestlers like Bryan Danielson, Hijo Del Vikingo and Claudio Castagnoli as well.
We are still just in the first half of 2023 and things could change from here until December. Let’s hope the world of pro wrestling can offer us an even better second half of 2023, and that could be tough considering the great amount of good pro wrestling we’ve seen this year so far already.
What are your thoughts on each category? Comment below…
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