10. NXT TakeOver: Respect
Starting off this list is a show that was really good from
top to bottom. It might actually be the most consistent NXT TakeOver this year.
This happened to be a historic show for two reasons. First, it featured the
Semi-Finals and Finals of the first ever Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in honor
of the fallen legend. The other reason it’s historic is that Sasha Banks and
Bayley became the first females to not only compete in an Ironman match but
also to main event a major WWE event. The three Tag Team Classic matches were
all good, with the one pitting Chad Gable and Jason Jordan against Baron Corbin
and Rhyno being the best. It was this match that really seemed to put Gable and
Jordan on the map, setting them on the fast track to NXT superstardom. Finn
Balor and Samoa Joe won the whole thing in a nice moment. This show also gave
Apollo Crews his first big TakeOver win as he bested NXT’s resident upper card
whipping boy, Tyler Breeze. Adding to the historical value of the show, we saw
the in ring debut of Asuka, who seems to have a very bright future ahead of her
and is already one of the most talented women in WWE history. Of course, the
main event between Banks and Bayley lived up to the hype. It was honestly, the
third best women’s match I’ve ever seen in WWE history, while also being the
most brutal. They not only delivered in their main event slot, but gave a more
than fitting end to a great show.
9. NJPW G1 Climax Finals
The G1 Climax this year had a lot to live up to. The 2014
incarnation of the tournament is widely considered to not only be the best in
history, but the best tournament in wrestling ever. This year’s wasn’t quite on
that level but I’d say I was pretty close. After eighteen nights, some better
than others, it all came to a head in the finals on August 16th. With
only one tournament match remaining, they had to fill the rest of the card in
other ways. They found a good way to do that. Outside of the typical NJPW
multi-man tags early on in the show, which were all mostly fun, there was the
second best IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title match of the year between reDRagon and the
Young Bucks. KUSHIDA also evened the score against Ricochet when he retained
the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against him in another really good match. Michal
Elgin, who had a fantastic run in the G1, beat YOSHI-HASHI in a surprisingly
good match. AJ Styles pinned Kazuchika Okada in another fun six man tag match
before the main event came. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura have
wrestled loads of times and some were great, while some disappointed. This was
their best work together. It all came together in one epic finale that
Tanahashi prevailed in. It’s possible that was their last match in history and
they could not have ended on a better note. I’d like to note that the G1 show
before this was very close to making the list.
8. NJPW Power Struggle
Power Struggle is kind of a “B level” event for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Not that it’s usually a bad show, but it’s one of the ones that isn’t headlined
by a World Title match since they started not doing World Title matches on
every major show. That’s usually reserved for Wrestle Kingdom, Dominion,
Invasion Attack and King of Pro Wrestling for example. However, that didn’t
stop this from being a great show. The show began in solid fashion with a few
multi-man matches surrounding the in-ring re-debut of EVIL. The show really
started to pick up with the finals of the Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament. That
tournament was lackluster in general but the finals were much better than
expected as Ricochet and Matt Sydal bested Roppongi Vice. After a fun tag
involving AJ Styles, Bad Lucky Fale, Toru Yano and YOSHI-HASHI, things got
really great. Tomoaki Honma and Tomohiro Ishii completed their 2015 trilogy
with another great, hard hitting match. Then, one of the best tag team matches
all year happened when Katsuyori Shibata teamed with Hiroshi Tanahashi against
Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuchika Okada. I enjoyed Okada’s interactions with
Tanahashi here more than I did during their WK10 match. Rounding out the
evening, Shinsuke Nakamura successfully retained the IWGP Intercontinental
Title against Karl Anderson, before coming face to face with AJ Styles, setting
up a dream match for Wrestle Kingdom. This show was pretty much the definition
of a card over delivering.
7. ROH Final Battle
The lone Ring of Honor show to make this list. I’m not
saying anything negative about ROH as a whole because most of their
Pay-Per-Views were good, but most didn’t reach great territory. They happened
to save their best for last, capping the year in style. Outside of a really
short Tag Team Title match, everything on this show was good to great. They
started with a fun three way tag team opener before managing to end the Silas
Young/Dalton Castle feud with both guys coming off looking good. There was a
solid hoss battle between Moose and Michael Elgin, a decent six man tag and a
pretty good match for the Television Title involving two really good wrestlers.
There were two matches that really stood out and helped take this card to the
level that other ROH PPVs never reached. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, in the
midst of a red hot rivalry, faced off in a great match that left just enough
out to guarantee some rematches. Then, the main event stole the show and was
the best match Ring of Honor produced throughout all of 2015. AJ Styles and Jay
Lethal put on a classic World Title match that more than lived up to the hype. If
you can only see one ROH event from 2015, make sure it’s this one.
6. NOAH Great Voyage in Osaka
Thanks to their old partnership with Ring of Honor, I’ve
seen a fair amount of Pro Wrestling NOAH matches but never a full show. That
was until I saw this event. Man, I chose the right show to check out. Even
though I wasn’t fully aware of everyone on the card or the angles involved, it
was still a truly enjoyable show. There was a pretty bad opener, but everything
after that ranged from pretty damn good to great. One of the things I liked
most was that there were so many different things involved. There were fast
paced, enjoyable Junior tag matches, a pretty convincing brawl, good tag team
wrestling and a true heavyweight fight in the main event. Guys like Shelton
Benjamin, Naomichi Marufuji, War Machine, the Killer Elite Squad and Katsuhiko
Nakajima all delivered and put on quite the show. The crowds in Osaka are
always great (which you’ll hear more about later). It was the main event on
this show that really solidified its position here. Minoru Suzuki, the GHC Heavyweight
Champion and leader of the Suzuki-Gun stable, put his title on the line against
Takashi Sugiura. There were so many little things about this match done so
perfectly that it all really clicked. In most years, it would have probably
been my match of the year, but there were a TON of amazing matches in 2015.
Because of this show, I will be certain to watch more NOAH this year.
5. NXT TakeOver: Rival
Unlike the TakeOver: Respect show that I listed earlier, not every match
on this show delivered. There were two matches that didn’t exactly shine. Baron
Corbin and Bull Dempsey had a pretty awful match, while the Lucha Dragons faced
Blake and Murphy in a disappointment of a Tag Team Title match. Why is this
show ranked so high then? Everything else on this show was great. Hideo Itami
opened things against Tyler Breeze in a really solid match before things slowed
down with those two aforementioned matches. Then things kicked into a
ridiculously high gear with a string of three straight matches on a level that
NXT has never reached again. That’s right, I’ve never seen NXT produce three
straight matches of this quality. Finn Balor and Adrian Neville had a fantastic
match that not only made Balor the number one contender for the NXT Title, but
also doubled as a passing of the torch. The women of NXT delivered another
standout performance when Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayley
competed in an awesome fatal four way where Sasha won the title and began the
best reign as NXT Women’s Champion so far. To close things out, the rivalry
between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn reached a boiling point in the best NXT Title
match that I saw all year long. Watching Owens decimate Sami and leave fans in
tears to close the show and win the belt was one of the best moments on any
show.
4. NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn
The pinnacle of the NXT TakeOver specials. It was the first TakeOver to
happen outside of the friendly confines of Full Sail University. They went out
and sold out the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, one night before SummerSlam did
the same thing. The main difference was that NXT didn’t have the names like
John Cena, Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker behind it but managed to vastly
outperform that show. There were so many things to love about this show. First
of all, the atmosphere in that building was absolutely tremendous. There were special
moments all over the place. Jushin Thunder Liger made his first appearance with
the WWE in a fun match against Tyler Breeze. We saw the debut of Apollo Crews,
who impressed, as well as the first TakeOver match for Samoa Joe, who beat
Baron Corbin in probably the best match of Corbin’s career. Even the tag team
division, which was usually a weaker part of TakeOver specials, delivered the
best tag match on a TakeOver ever. The final two matches were fantastic though.
Sasha Banks and Bayley not only had the best women’s match I have ever seen,
but it was also my match of the year for 2015. It was a tough act to follow,
but Finn Balor and Kevin Owens did pretty well with that, having one of the
better NXT Title matches in history. It was a special show that even brought
Seth Rollins to tears in the front row.
3. NJPW Dominion
I originally signed up for New Japan World at the start of 2015 to watch
Wrestle Kingdom. Unfortunately, I was unable to keep it past that and didn’t
sign up again until it was time for Dominion. So basically, the first two NJPW
shows I got to see were both all-time greats. There were four matches from this
event that ended up on my Top 100 Matches of 2015 list. That’s impressive.
Running down the matches that didn’t make the list, we’d still have a pretty
good show. The Junior Tag Title match was one of the better incarnations of
that same shit they do each time out. Togi Makabe and Tomohiro Ishii had their
worst match but it was still pretty good. We got to see a key part of Tetsuya
Naito’s incredible heel turn as well as a fun little match between Hiroshi
Tanahashi and Toru Yano. I mean, the only stinker on the card was the IWGP Tag
Team Title match. The rest of the show is phenomenal. Kenny Omega and KUSHIDA
had what was easily the best match of their series of three, while Shinsuke
Nakamura and Hirooki Goto had their second best match of the four from 2015. Katsuyori
Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba showed how two real men fight in one of the
hardest hitting matches all year long. To cap it all off, AJ Styles and Kazuchika
Okada competed in their best match ever and one that nearly made my top 10 this
year. It was the crowning moment for Okada, who still holds the title to this
day. In most years, this would be an easy pick for the best show of the year.
2. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9
My first foray into New Japan Pro Wrestling was certainly
impressive. It was this show that made me stand up and realize that I had to do
everything in my power to see more from New Japan. This was everything great
about Dominion, but throw in the atmosphere of the Tokyo Dome and the pageantry
of a WrestleMania like show. There was something for everyone on this show. If
you like fast paced spot fests, you could enjoy the opening IWGP Jr.
Heavyweight Tag Team Title match. If you like your matches to be fights, check
out Minoru Suzuki and Kazushi Sakuraba in a match that could only end via
knockout, submission of ref stoppage. If you want to see good old fashioned tag
team wrestling, the IWGP Tag Title match more than delivered. That’s all not including
a great fight between Makabe and Ishii, as well as the three top matches. I
mentioned earlier that NXT TakeOver: Rival had three straight excellent
matches, but there was no better streak of three straight matches than the
final three at Wrestle Kingdom. AJ Styles, Tetsuya Naito, Shinsuke Nakamura,
Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi all performed at the top of
their games and delivered some incredible bouts. The one between Nakamura and
Ibushi was my clear match of the year for over seven months. Tanahashi and
Okada had their last great match in my eyes and Naito/AJ was really great. Just
an all-time great show that is a must-see for any wrestling fan.
1. Ultima Lucha
Wrestle Kingdom 9 was very close to being number one but I
couldn’t go against Ultima Lucha. Lucha Underground as a whole was easily my
favorite promotion to watch in 2015 and their season finale was incredibly
satisfying. This is the only show on the list to span two nights. The first was
solid, with the best Falls Count Anywhere I can remember, a fun Trios Tag Title
match and a pretty good match between Drago and Hernandez. Night two is when
things really picked up. Alberto
El Patron and Johnny Mundo had a great match together and we saw the surprise
return of Melina, even though I was never a big fan. Then, Pentagon Jr. and
Vampiro far exceeded my expectations with the most violent match I've ever seen
on regular television. The twist of Vampiro as Pentagon's master was just
excellent television. We also got a really fun seven way match and a main event
that was among my favorite matches of the year, which was excellently built,
booked and executed. The show had great wrestling, told masterful stories, had
some twists and turns and even ended on a great cliffhanger. This felt like a
show that really completed something, ending months of story build up. Despite
not taking place in a special arena or on a different network than normal, this
felt like a big deal and delivered as such. Wrestling is supposed to be fun.
Nothing last year was more fun than Ultima Lucha.
