Top ten wrestling matches of 2021
When the real-world gets you down, there’s always stylized violence
1. Eddie Kingston vs. CM Punk, AEW Full Gear 11/13
Most fundamentally, wrestling is about the fiction that hatred can be resolved through one-on-one violence. It’s childish, and yet narratively so satisfying. CM Punk comes out as the most popular man in American wrestling, his enemy Kingston cheap-shots him before the bell, and yet within minutes, the crowd is totally behind Eddie while he mocks Punk’s mannerisms and makes jerk-off motions. In a piece for the Players’ Tribune, Kingston gets across the life-saving value of pro wrestling better than I can, so if you haven’t read that, go read it instead of my column. Seriously, go, we’ll get back to music criticism here next week.
2. Ilya Dragunov vs. Walter, NXT TakeOver 36 8/22
This would be the most likely overlap between my list and the consensus of (the surprisingly large number of) music critics who are wrestling fans. Even the ones who like three minute punk songs seem to prefer wrestling matches that to my taste are kind of excessive and go on way too long (no one-hour draws on my list.) This is the closest thing to a prog epic that I’ve loved lately: the classic story of the underdog facing the immovable object, only this time the underdog has more credible offense than he had in WXW.
3. Black Terry vs. Ricky Marvin, Lucha Memes 4/25
As a middle-aged wrestling fan I admit to being in some sense messed up, yet I can’t even imagine the mindset required to not only still be wrestling in your late sixties, but to have matches that are as brutal as this. Black Terry (b. 1952) starts bleeding almost from the bell; he plays the aging gunslinger better than anyone, physically way past his peak but willing to do the expedient thing, like smash whatever’s smashable over a diving Marvin’s head.
4. Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair, WWE WrestleMania 37 4/10
Even more than the rise of AEW, the big story of 2021 wrestling was the decline of WWE, rumored to be on its way to a sale and a slow slide into value as nostalgia only. This match is a reminder that they are absolutely capable of making stars when they put their mind to it: all they need is a superworker and a cool braid. The hair whip, teased for so long, is the year’s most memorable spot.
5. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Finn Balor, NXT 1/6
Meanwhile Triple H’s dream of running his very own indie wrestling promotion with his in-laws’ money is over was ended by Vince with a shot to the liver. It went downhill pretty quickly once the two-hour show started, but we had some good times, didn’t we? This epitomizes what the brand did at its best: getting talents to fit their schtick into integrated structures, such that the beginning of the match ties in with the ending. Seems so simple.
6. Eddie Kingston vs. Dominic Garrini, AIW 4/30
As a grumpy old person there are tendencies in indie wrestling I don’t like, the de-emphasizing of storytelling prime among them, but one has to change with the times. This is just two dudes hitting each other very hard over and over again, and although the exchange-based match structure is modern, the violence manages to shine through.
7. Eddie Kingston vs. Bryan Danielson, AEW Rampage 10/27
A fast-paced interpretation of All Japan-style wrestling on U.S. national television—heavy hit after heavy hit—but with the threat that things could break down into a street fight at any moment. Somehow even the stuff on top of the turnbuckle makes sense.
8. Ricky Marvin vs. Negro Navarro, Lucha Memes 7/4
Stylistically a completely different Marvin vs. sexagenarian match, with Marvin trying to twist the golden hi-tops off Navarro’s feet, and Navarro doing a tremendous job of (deliberately, I think) showing his age as well as his skill.
9. Bryan Danielson vs. Dustin Rhodes, AEW Dynamite 10/23
It’s remarkable that Tony Khan, owner of AEW, read the same message boards the rest of us hardcore fans did in the 2000s, and now can not only put on the matches we dreamed of them, but put them into meaningful contexts. Hey, I could do it too if I were a billionaire.
10. Daniel Makabe vs. Artemis Spencer, 365 Wrestling 9/18
Post-rock guitarist Makabe is the finest technician on the indies (and old rival Spencer keeps up with him) but what’s most impressive here is his character work, turning the crowd against him with no more than a punch. The cur!
My top 50 in-ring wrestlers of 2021 (caveat: I only have limited interest in wrestling from outside of North America these days):
Bryan Danielson
Eddie Kingston
Ricky Marvin
Black Terry
CM Punk
Negro Navarro
Walter
Daniel Makabe
Hechicero
Ilya Dragunov
Fénix
Darby Allin
Perro de Guerra Jr.
Keita Yano
Sasha Banks
Hikaru Sato
Kyle O’Reilly
Cesaro
Dominic Garrini
Miro
Mr. Cóndor/Romano García
Tony Deppen
Thunder Rosa
Blue Panther
Lord Crewe
Justin Kyle
Psycho Clown
Laredo Kid
Jonathan Gresham
Dustin Rhodes
Yoshinari Ogawa
Bianca Belair
Finn Balor
Rey Escorpión
White Moriyama
Raquel González
Artemis Spencer
Oney Lorcan
Taurus
Bárbaro Cavernario
Kaito Kiyomiya
Dr. Cerebro
Daniel Garcia
Drew McIntyre
Hangman Adam Page
Hoodfoot Mo Atlas
Austin Connelly
Bruce Santee
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.
Steve Corino