GME Guide :
The Greatest Matches Ever 100-75
The Greatest Matches Ever 74-50
The Greatest Matches Ever 49-25
The Greatest Matches Ever 24-1
Here we are, finally, the 25 greatest matches to ever happen are here. Be sure to check the 3 other parts if you haven’t seen them and if you did, let’s start right now :
24. Minoru Kido vs. Fundoshi Devil®︎ - nkw - 16/10/2021
I already spoke about that match when i wrote about Minoru Kido here. But this match is legit incredible, there is a lot to love like Fundoshi underdog performance because he is a comedy guy and he has literally zero chance to survive against the best deathmatch guy the Amaresu scene have but he never gives up, he gives everything, he fight with his whole heart, ready to take any punishement in that bar and it’s absolutely wonderful. Kido does Kido things, he is super mean, super violent and evil and brutalize Fundoshi really badly with any kind of brutal strikes and by using weapons. The part where he begins to laugh while giving shoot headbutts is truly scary but incredible. The greatest match in the Amaresu scene.
LINK HERE
23. Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa (c) - BJW - 31/03/2015
BJW World Strong Heavyweight Title Match
Shuji’s work over Sekimoto is some of the meanest and most evil work i’ve ever saw. Shuji punish him like crazy by hitting him with some of the most violent slaps, elbows and headbutts and by throwing him head first in the post in a full nelson position. Sekimoto is an incredible underdog, his comebacks are out of this world, doing the unthinkable and always coming back after Shuji and matching the intensity and violence of Shuji. This is the kind of match that makes the BJW style so good, when you combine incredible story with incredible in-ring, it makes the almost perfect match.
22. Akitoshi Saito, Shinjiro Otani, Toshiaki Kawada & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Kensuke Sasaki, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama - Kensuke Office - 11/02/2008
A legit all star tag for the 1st year anniversary of Kensuke Office. It’s a giant slugfest, everyone just fuck each others up so hard with strikes or head dropping moves by times. Everyone does atleast one fucked up thing like Otani with his Gamen Wash on Tenryu or Suzuki & Takayama holding Kawada’s each hand to kick him, it even made Kawada jump after taking those kicks. It’s extremely stiff and typically what you want to see in a Kensuke Office match. It’s just incredibly fun and guys like Yoshie or Saito doesn’t even feel like the weakest guys in the match.
21. Kaoru Ito vs. Yumiko Hotta - AJW - 04/05/2001
Hotta in this era is an incredible heel, not only she knows how to do a great chaotic brawl but she still wrestle like in the 90’ as an ass kicker. The feud with Ito is just full of awesome chaotic brawls and this one was their best. A gigantic 51 minutes brawl where they both make us a tour of that Kawasaki Arena, they brawl in the crowd, on the scene, they goes at the outside of the venue, in the bathroom ect. Hotta suceed to throw Ito over the balcony, Ito also jumped off the balcony. There is ladders and chairs spots with them being thrown full forces at each others, bumps on concrete, the ropes would have been removed for Hotta to choke Ito with and the finish is fucking insane with Hotta kicking Ito’s head while Ito was turned inside out with her legs attached on a ladder with chains. The intensity never stopped and it kept being really intense. Ito was a whole mess at the end, but she always fought back and fought with her whole heart in those comebacks. A fucked up match.
LINK HERE
20. Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yuji Nagata - NJPW - 04/01/200
Incredible sprint that have some of the nastiest bladejob ever. You can see on this picture, it gets very nasty toward the end and even at the start. The match is super hot, they are super intense, the violence is at his peak and both guys bleed buckets. The lariat into the post by Kensuke was phenomenal, something that need to be brought back. Those two were ready to kill each others that night, producing a true spectacle in the biggest show of the year. Truly incredible.
19. Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii (c) - NJPW - 07/11/2015
NEVER Openweight Title Match
Honma has never been this over before, this is his goddamn time to put an incredible performance and win the title. The strikes are absolutely insane but the left arm work done by Honma on Ishii is fantastic and he does everything to injure it even more, even with a crazy Kokeshi from the top rope into the outside. Honma puts on a performance of a lifetime as an incredible underdog trying to overcome the odds. Ishii is also awesome with his big bombs and the selling of the arm who truly made the match. The rest is just peak NEVER style with both of them throwing awesome bombs and headbutts each others hard. Ishii throwing a lariat to counter a Kokeshi from Honma was also insane. But with all the effort from Honma, this wasn’t enough, but it should have been his moment.
18. Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega - NJPW - 11/06/2017
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Second match of their series and they are able to go even crazier than the Tokyo Dome match. Unreal hour of wrestling with a real drama toward the end about the Bullet Club who wanted to throw that towel and everything that happen after that is just magical. The Omega legwork is also very evil. They never looked tired or even slowed down the pace for the whole hour. Incredible sense of urgency to win the match at the end. This is the perfect kind of epic style matches where there is literally everything you need in a pro wrestling match, big spots, high flying moves, stiff strikes, awesome selling and crazy suspens toward the end with the near falls.
17. Takuya Nomura vs. Yuji Okabayashi (c) - BJW - 21/07/2019
BJW World Strong Heavyweight Title Match
Nomura was a genius since he started his career but this one remains his best match and for some people his breakout performance even if i think he had incredible matches before that one. But atleast he shows an incredible resiliance and show that he can hang out with the best and against the champion of the company and he made Okabayashi struggle. This has incredible strikes, chops, suplexes and Nomura really shows the hate he has to do anything to win the title. And Okabayashi makes such a great job on the selling to make Nomura look like someone who is at the same level as him.
LINK HERE
16. Kengo Takai vs. Magnitude Kishiwada - Team DERA - 25/04/2014
This amaze me how these two decided to work an hour match in the Sportiva Arena in front of less than 60 people, this is extremely beast. Basic story but yet super effective. Kishiwada is an absolute bastard and destroy Takai’s leg so bad, but Takai refuse to give up so he keep come back and this just give an incredible heel vs. face dynamic. Takai sold his leg so well too which is why this is so high on that list, because the selling is almost perfect. They also do a ton of sick spots, they throw huge bombs and headbutts. I spoke in deep about that match when i reviewed this show on my blog here. One of the most insane matches ever done in the Japanese indy scene.
15. Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Takeshi Ono & Yuki Ishikawa - Fu-Ten - 19/12/2010
The biggest match Fu-Ten ever booked. The Ikeda/Ishikawa interactions are some of their best work together. Ono & Usuda are ridiculous together but everyone brought an incredible intensity and hate with insane strikes in almost 30mins. It’s almost perfect in every sense with either the grappling and the tension or the high quality striking that you can never find anywhere else. This was truly something incredible you could only find in Fu-Ten.
14. Alexander Otsuka & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono - BattlArts - 30/10/1996
The best BATI-BATI match ever. 4 beast and literally 4 of the best BATI-BATI workers pulls an insane match with an insane amount of violence. Team Taco destroy the fuck out off Otsuka before everyone start to obliterate each others with all sort of strikes or grappling and submissions. The Ishikawa & Ikeda exchanges are insane but Otsuka & Ono does a incredible performance aswell. The best of the BATI-BATI style is right here. It’s so close to the perfection, it’s just pure insanity.
LINK HERE
13. Masato Tanaka vs. Takashi Sugiura (c) - ZERO1 - 04/06/2022
ZERO1 World Heavyweight Title Match
Now we enter into the good stuff, everything from this match is an all timer to me, which is five star, a perfect match. Dangan Yankees goes at it in Ota Ward and pull one of the best but very emotionnal match of the decade by paying tribute to Shinjiro Otani. Really mean striking with an amazing work from both guys during the whole match, some wild spots and the spinal bomb by Tanaka in tribute to Otani. Tanaka really does everything he can to take back the title of Sugiura for Otani. Tanaka coming with the Emblem theme song was also fantastic. This is their best match together even if all their previous one were atleast great, this one is untouchable. The Dangan Yankees pairing will never fail to amaze me.
12. Daisuke Sekimoto, Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura vs. HARASHIMA, Yuji Hino & Yuji Okabayashi - BJW - 30/06/2015
This is literally the semi-trucks match. 6 of the best during that period. They all mix the interactions and they are all incredible. HARASHIMA is able to live up to the hype and have great interactions with Tanaka. Everyone have killer interactions with all kind of crazy strikes, shoulder tackle, elbow drops or even moves done in a really brutal way like a simple bodyslam. The pace is also very fast for a match like that and they push all their limits until a 30 minutes draw to celebrate the last show ever happening in the Sapporo Teisen Hall.
11. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (c) - AJPW - 09/06/1995
AJPW World Tag Team Title Match
It’s an easy pick, a match that pretty much everyone have on his list and if you haven’t you gotta watch it ASAP. The story in that match is the best story ever told in a ring. Kobashi does one of the greatest performance ever, his selling is unreal and the whole story is him getting beaten up by Kawada & Taue with his injured left leg and Kawada & Taue keeps working on his leg but no matter what, Kobashi would comeback even if his leg was broken. Holy Demon Army are so nasty against Kobashi and they do an amazing heel performance. Misawa is really great aswell, let’s not forget about this performance against Kawada & Taue which exceeded all my expectations on a rewatch. Add this with all the great sequences, strikes and all the near falls, this was just incredible. Kobashi protecting Misawa from Kawada near the end was also one of the best thing i’ve ever saw.
LINK HERE
10. Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega - NJPW - 09/06/2018
IWGP Heavyweight Title No Time Limit Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
I never thought i would have ever loved those matches this much but here we are. By far the best one of their incredible series and the best NJPW match at the same time. Insane 65mins match where the work stay incredible during the whole match. The selling of the ribs of Omega is amazing, they are able to pull those insane sequences with a real sense of selling and it’s just fabulous to see. All the falls are done so well. The OWA’s of Omega are wonderful here and his determination of trying to win is awesome. It’s like the 2017 Dominion match, they were able to have everything in it but this one was longer and had even more greatness in it. There is nothing wrong to say about this match, it’s perfect from start to finish. Incredible way to finish an all timer rivalry.
9. Daisuke Sekimoto & Kohei Sato vs. Shingo Takagi & Yuji Okabayashi - BJW - 20/09/2017
Saikyo Tag League 2017 Strong Block Match
Shingo in BJW was truly incredible and i wish he stayed there to work more because you can see how good he was in that environment. Like usual with all those incredible BJW matches, it’s a huge bombfest, it keeps getting better and everyone pull their best performances. Kohei & Shingo interactions were truly incredible and same goes for Okabayashi & Sekimoto. We get a lot of Sekimoto & Shingo aswell but everyone just goes fucking crazy with the strikes and pace and they all match that crazy intensity that these 4 are known for. Just an incredible BJW style match that feels quite underrated among other fans.
8. Chihiro Hashimoto, DASH Chisako & Mika Iwata vs. Mei Hoshizuki, Mio Momono & Rin Kadokura - GAEAISM - 13/06/2021
AAAW Title / AAAW Tag Team Title / Sendai Girls World Title / Sendai Girls Tag Team Title All Rights Elimination Six Man Tag Team Match
Unreal interpromotionnal match. This is a huge throwback to those insane multiman tag you could see in Joshi in the 90’ or start of the 00’ with GAEA and they all nailed it. You can already feel right from the entrances that it’s about to be a big match, they are all ready, ready to fight and defend the flag of their promotion, to prove who is the best between Sendai Girls & Marvelous and to win those titles. It’s just a fast paced war with everyone giving their whole heart and being so intense at trying to win the match. The peak of that match is the Mio & Chihiro 1v1 at the end and Mio does one if not the greatest underdog performance of all time. There is so much urgency, so much frustration that she couldn’t pin the beast Chihiro with all her signature moves, it’s simply fantastic. And Chihiro also does an incredible work at being the beast to beat. I flew throught the 4 others but they were all wonderful and perfect in everything they did. I can talk all day about that masterpiece, this match is truly something.
LINK HERE
7. Akihiko Ito, Atsushi Aoki, KENTA & Kenta Kobashi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kensuke Sasaki, Kento Miyahara & Takashi Okita - Kensuke Office - 17/08/2008
Eight Man Tag Team Survival Match
Survival 8-man tag, this is the peak of the Kensuke Office & Burning rivarly, the intensity and determination of everyone in that match is unreal. KENTA stay during the whole 55 minutes, being super mean against young Okita & Kento with Aoki before going in a 35 minutes war against Kensuke & Nakajima. Everyone shines, even Ito who stay in the match for less than 3 minutes, he still looked incredibly strong even after Kensuke destroyed him. It’s one of those matches where they all go at 200% without slowing down a second. I’m simply amazed that such a long match had the same intensity from the start to finish. One of the greatest rivalry ever.
6. Aja Kong (c) vs. Yumiko Hotta - AJW - 24/01/1994
WWWA World Title Match
One of the most violent match ever. The first 5 minutes are some of the best 5 minutes i have ever seen with Hotta trying her best to beat the unstoppable monster Aja with crazy kind of strikes. The work of Aja on the bloody hand of Hotta is legendary and some of the most vicious work even done. Aja is at the top of her game and really punish Hotta like no one ever did before and even today. The moment where the match has to stop because Hotta is bleeding too much from the hand is awesome because Aja took the mic and literally said to Hotta to get back to take the belt off Aja as Hotta said earlier and Hotta comes back ready to beat her for the title by renouncing to heal her injury. A match that feels like a real war and see Aja being absolutely unstoppable in her red belt run.
LINK HERE
5. Toru Sugiura (c) vs. Takayuki Ueki - FREEDOMS - 23/03/2021
King Of FREEDOM World Title Blockade The Light Tube Bridge Death Match
This match, man, it might feel really uncomfortable to some people out there but that’s why this match is so good. The thing that makes this match incredible is the selling performance, they treat the match like a true deathmatch, like a fight to the death. It’s not the bloodiest match ever, it’s not the faster but everything is just so visceral, everything fucking hurts and everything looks spectacular because they do sells the moves. But they also do an insane amount of headbutts here, 36 in total and some absolutely insane spots with the cinderblocks. Not only this is a true masterpiece of how this type of match should be worked but this is the number one CTE match. I can’t recommend you enough this match, it’s how a deathmatch should be worked, you need to sell the damage and that’s what they did while being super violent.
LINK HERE
4. Fujita Jr. Hayato vs. MUSASHI (c) - Michinoku Pro - 01/07/2022
MPW Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Title Match
So far the match of the decade. Hayato comebacks after beating cancer since it has been discovered in 2017 and it’s like he never left. Insane striking that is even better than when he was active before that long injury, super violent submissions and headbutting MUSASHI like it’s a normal thing to do (it’s so beast). We all speak about Hayato but MUSASHI is also able to do magic and he is willing to defend his title but he also prove that he has been the ace of the company during Hayato’s injury. Legendary performance from both guys. An all timer that deserved to have a whole crowd screaming for Hayato.
3. Fugo Fugo Yumeji & Sanshu Tsubakichi vs. Munenori Sawa & Keita Yano - EXIT - 24/08/2008
The Underground wrestling world is incredible. Fugo create his own wrestling fed and bring his vision of true wrestling and my god, it’s literally perfect. EXIT is basically at the same level of promotions like BattlArts, Fu-Ten or even CAPTURE, super intense match with a violence that you never see anywhere else. The match have some incredible, intense and mean grappling, everything look like the match could end at any moment. But Fugo & Sawa, one of the greatest pairing of all time, a pairing that i would compare with Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda, they just torture each others here and it’s wonderful. The finish is also something extremely violent with Fugo doing an arm lock to Keita on the mat while Sawa kicks Fugo’s head to break the submission but he can’t, because Fugo has the best headbutt in the world and his head is literally made in reinforced concrete. The ultimate match you can find in the Sleaze Indy scene.
LINK HERE
2. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. Kiyoshi Tamura - RINGS - 27/06/1998
I remember watching that match first and have no idea what i was about to watch. RINGS have an insane amount of crazy matches like that and yet not a single one was able to top that, not even Tamura & Kohsaka themselves. It’s 30 minutes of very intense grappling with a lot of tension but mostly an incredible sense of urgency, smooth grappling transitions and an unreal cardio to pull a match like that. They do bring strikes in that contest and it’s fucking incredible too and add to what RINGS is all about. That’s the kind of match to show at people who don’t like technical wrestling, an absolute masterpiece in every sense.
LINK HERE
1. WALTER (c) vs. Tyler Bate - WWE - 31/08/2019
WWE United Kingdom Title Match
It’s quite weird to see me talking about all those Puro & Joshi matches just to see that this match lands on first place. I have saw this match a lot of time and ever since i saw it for the first time in my bed, when i cameback to wrestling in 2020 on the WWE Network, this always been THE ultimate match. All of those matches on that list deserve to be 1st place but i don’t know, this will forever have a huge place in my heart and i can’t deny that these two produced the Greatest Match Ever in a WWE ring. Incredible David vs. Goliath story with Bate fighting with his whole heart against an unstoppable monster that would get a super long reign with the UK Title, WALTER. The crowd is all behind Bate and chants like crazy for him, just beautiful stuff. 42mins where the story is told perfectly, the wrestling is unreal and the crowd add themselves perfectly with those chants, literally everything seconds are perfect. The finish may feel anti climatic but there was nothing better than to finish on a lariat. Just incredible, i don’t even know if something will ever be better than this match, you can’t do more perfect than that.
Conclusion :
This incredible serie of blog post is over. This was awesome to speak about those matches, all from different places and different era. I’ve been rewatching a bunch of matches that i’ve really enjoyed back then recently and what i was scared happened, some matches definitely needed to feature on this list but it was literally impossible to do speak about them since the first part of the GME list was already uploaded. So maybe some day i will be doing a part of the missed cuts but it’s not for now so far, i have to see more matches to do a bigger blog post than just speaking about 3 matches. But anyway, i hope you liked this series, i’m already working on another little project so far so you will still have to see me writing in a very bad way about what i like. If you stayed there, thanks a lot, i always appreciate it and be sure to check some of the matches on that list especially that number #3 and enjoy it while it last.