2023 was, arguably, one of the best years professional wrestling has seen in quite some time. Without question, it’s the best year of the 2020s decade thus far, and in many ways likely even exceeds the 2010s as well! It’ll go down as one of wrestling’s most important years, and for good reason! Companies like WWE, AEW (ROH by extension), NJPW, and Impact Wrestling (soon to be TNA once again) put on world-class entertainment and action for the entire year. For a change, there seemed to be more positive things than negative that occurred this year, so it’s fitting we take some time to remember those great things! So, with that, let’s tie a bow on this year and look back at some of the best matches, shows, moments, and superstars of the year gone by!
Best Shows of the Year
This one is very difficult to look at because weekly TV has hidden gems sprinkled everywhere, so it focuses more on the PLEs/PPVs of the year more than anything. Right in line with that, let’s start with the best show of the year, in my opinion, Wrestlemania 39! We’re looking at both nights combined here, in the interest of time, but regardless, this year’s Wrestlemania was an all-timer for sure. Some of the year’s best matches, some of which we will see a little later once again, took place in the forms of McIntyre/Sheamus/GUNTHER, Ripley/Flair, and Uso’s/Owens & Zayn. Even the much-maligned main event of night 2 was a fantastic match until a rather inexplicable decision was made at the end. Overall, WWE hit a home run with this year’s Wrestlemania, and they reminded the world why they are the best at putting on a showcase like no other.
WWE also found success with some other shows this year as well, such as Night of Champions and FastLane. The former saw a “Triple Main Event”, featuring Rhodes/Lesnar 2, Rollins/Styles to crown the first World Heavyweight Champion, and Reigns & Sikoa/Owens & Zayn. The latter saw LA Knight team with John Cena against the Bloodline, Rollins & Nakamura’s Last Man Standing Match, and a fun triple threat for the WWE Women’s Title! To give a little shine to NXT as well, No Mercy blew so many people away, headlined by the Hayes/Dragunov rematch!
On the AEW side of things, it was very up and down for them in terms of their big shows this year, but some stand out above the rest (with World’s End still technically to come on 12/30)! Notable, All In: London was built as the biggest wrestling show ever, and it sure delivered on just about all fronts with so many great matches, spearheaded by MJF and Adam Cole’s anticipated encounter! Also, WrestleDream in October was a show that had some big expectations for a brand-new event, and it sure delivered, and was the place where Adam Copeland made his AEW debut, which nobody will soon forget! Plus, Cage and Allin, as well as ZSJ and Danielson tore the house down! Finally, a hybrid show between AEW and NJPW took place once again, and Forbidden Door delivered in every way possible. Of course, this show featured the incredible first encounter between Okada and Danielson, which will get run back as soon as 2024 begins at Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo! Then to give some shine to Impact Wrestling, their Victory Road and Bound for Glory shows were super fun, as has been documented before. Be on the lookout for them to continue to break out into the mainstream come 2024 when they go back to being called TNA Wrestling once again!
Best Wrestlers of the Year
This one is so broad of a category because of the sheer number of wrestlers in the world to choose from. To choose just one is difficult, but let’s highlight some of the best of the best! Starting off in WWE once again, LA Knight had his breakout year in 2023, breaking into mainstream popularity. He was a heel losing in unconvincing fashion at the start of the year, but after connecting with the fans, he main-evented Crown Jewel for the WWE Title by November. He truly is WWE’s fastest-rising star, and it’s only up from here for Knight in 2024 (YEAH!) Next, Rhea Ripley had the best year of her career thus far with the incredible performances she’s had as the unofficial leader of the Judgement Day. Couple that with her Royal Rumble win, winning the Women’s World Title from Charlotte Flair in a fantastic Wrestlemania match, and more, Ripley is now firmly established as one of WWE’s top women’s stars! Finally, the third of the WWE trio we will look at is Seth “Freakin” Rollins, who has returned to the world title scene with a vengeance in 2023, having the reign everyone needed as Roman Reigns has been seen less and less. His constant presence, his consistent performances, and his entertaining storytelling have led to the brand-new World Heavyweight Title to feel as important and desired as the WWE Title! Seth is poised for even more success in 2024, and a potential match with CM Punk looms very large indeed!
On the AEW side of things, MJF has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue for the entire year, for so many different reasons. He entered the year as the MJF we’ve known for years now: the smarmy, cocky heel world champion who nobody could stand, but he had banger after banger, specifically his 60-Minute Ironman Match with Bryan Danielson at Revolution. But then, something happened this year that nobody saw coming: MJF went from being pro wrestling’s biggest heel to pro wrestling’s biggest babyface seemingly overnight, and he has thrived in that role. And with the bidding war of 2024 supposedly nearly upon us, World’s End on December 30th will be a show to watch for sure to see what happens with MJF next! This year was also the emergence of Swerve Strickland and Orange Cassidy. Cassidy’s run as AEW International Champion has been one of if not the single greatest title reigns of all time. With over 30 successful title defenses over his 11 months as champion, it was simply incredible. Cassidy now has the gold again, and only time will tell where the title will go next after yet another successful run for Freshly Squeezed. Swerve Strickland on the other hand, well, he just straight up took what was this year, and he’s primed for a massive 2024. He came into his own during his feud with “Hangman” Adam Page and was firmly solidified after his Texas Death Match win at Full Gear. If there is any man worth watching in 2024 in AEW as much as MJF, Swerve is your man!
Best Matches of the Year
This is always the hardest, yet most fun thing to do at the end of every single year in wrestling: picking out some matches that stand head and shoulders above the rest as the best the year had to offer, and 2023 had an abundance to choose from! First up is my personal favorite from this year, Drew McIntyre v. Sheamus v. GUNTHER at Wrestlemania 39, Night 2. This match was the ultimate hoss fight, the ultimate “Meat” match, and the definition of why I love professional wrestling. It was stiff, it was hard-hitting and vicious, and it was everything that it needed to be for all 3 men to come out looking even better than they did when they went in, especially GUNTHER. Also, on the Wrestlemania card, over on night 1, there were two more candidates for this list. Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair and The Uso’s vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn! The final two matches of that first night took fans on a rollercoaster of emotions, all while putting on top-shelf action and having the right winners in both matches. Two new champions were crowned, and the fans were well-pleased with Ripley at the top of the women’s division, while Owens and Zayn reached the pinnacle of the tag team division! Finally, to sway away from Wrestlemania, some offerings from WWE not on the grandest stage of them all but still well worth the watch from this year are Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest at Backlash, The Uso’s vs. Solo Sikoa & Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank, Carmelo Hayes vs. Ilja Dragunov at NXT: No Mercy, and Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa at Night of Champions!
https://youtu.be/6lT9DIey1Ts?si=D9Oi6xSX_IGZm3Aj
AEW’s mixed bag saw their best match at their most recent PPV at the time of writing, the aforementioned Texas Death Match between Swerve Strickland and “Hangman” Adam Page. That match was the most brutal, bloody, and hard-to-watch match I have seen in some time, and it captured the hearts of many fans on that night in LA. Page and Swerve are made for natural rivals, and hopefully, they will circle back to one another again in the future! MJF and Bryan Danielson’s aforementioned Ironman Match also deserves a ton of praise, as it was a 60-minute classic early in the year. Other Danielson offerings of note are the match with Okada at Forbidden Door, as well as his match with Zack Sabre Jr. at WrestleDream. Finally, Orange Cassidy and Jon Moxley had one hell of a match at All Out, which was the match that solidified Cassidy’s place at the top of AEW’s pecking order.
Finally, Impact Wrestling enters this discussion more than ever, as they put on some bangers in 2023! Josh Alexander and Will Ospreay tore the house down when they squared off, as did Alexander with Steve Maclin at Victory Road and Ospreay with Mike Bailey at Bound for Glory! Impact’s 2023 resurgence in popularity only leads us to think that 2024 will be the most pivotal year for them in a long time, so it shall be seen if they can keep showing why fans are flocking back to the Impact Zone after so many years away!
This is a snippet of the year that has come to an end, as there were so many great moments, matches, and superstars to grace the squared circle this year. In the end, we should truly consider ourselves blessed to be able to have these great shows at our disposal so often and in such great numbers. 2024 is on the horizon, and cannot get here soon enough, as I for one am ready to see what great things the new year of wrestling will have to offer us when it arrives!
