This list is later than I would have liked due to other commitments but better late than never. February continued the strong start to the year with another five star match.
Honourable Mentions
Pete Dunne & Trent Seven vs Matt Riddle & David Starr - PROGRESS Chapter 63: Take Me Underground ****
Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi & Chase Owens vs Cody, Marty Scurll & Hangman Page - ROH Honor Rising Night 1 ****
Ricochet vs Chuck Taylor (PWG Title, Guerrilla Warfare Match) - PWG Mystery Vortex V ****
Andrade 'Cien' Almas vs Johnny Gargano (NXT Title) - NXT 21st February ****
15. Drew Gulak vs Tony Nese - 205 Live 13th February
The revival of 205 Live since the removal of Enzo has been a joy to watch. The tournament has produced good matches one after another and this was up there with the best. Gulak is one of my favourite wrestlers in WWE at the minute and it is always nice to see him do well. ****
14. Alexa Bliss vs Mickie James vs Sasha Banks vs Bayley vs Sonya Deville vs Mandy Rose (Raw Women's Title, Elimination Chamber Match) - WWE Elimination Chamber
I wasn't expecting a great deal heading into this, due to the involvement of Rose and Deville, but it far exceeded my expectations. Mandy Rose turned in her best performance ever, and you could argue that Deville did too. This ended up surpassing the men's chamber match that took place later in the show, despite the star power in that match. The promo Bliss cut after the match was superb too. ****
13. Roderick Strong vs Hideo Itami - 205 Live 6th February
Another match from the cruiserweight title tournament, and another blinder. The additions to the division that this tournament has brought have all been worthwhile, with Strong being the biggest highlight of the lot. This was an excellent statement of intent as to how good this tournament would be. ****
12. Zack Sabre Jr vs Austin Theory (Evolve Title) - Evolve 100
In the time that Theory has been on Evolve I haven't been blown away with anything he has done, not that he has been bad, just nothing special. He took his chance in the main event though as he looked great here. Sabre Jr, as per usual, was top notch. He puts on high quality 20 minute title matches in his sleep at this point. ****
11. Chosen Bros vs Ringkampf (PWG Tag Titles) - PWG Mystery Vortex V
This was exactly what you imagine it would be. They started off with back and forth wrestling but as the match went on it turned into the physical encounter it was expected to be. I could watch these two teams wrestle all day to be honest with you. ****1/4
10. Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs Cody & Marty Scurll - ROH Honor Rising Night 2
This was essentially the better version of the 6-man match that took place the day before. The wrestling was great and the storytelling was even better. The split in the Bullet Club is providing interesting match ups all over the place. Cody's heel work is fantastic throughout. ****1/4
9. Keith Lee vs AR Fox (WWN Live Title) - Evolve 100
AR Fox has been having somewhat of a career resurgence in the last 18 months or so and this really felt like the peak of that. He managed to give Keith Lee a hell of a match here. They could have gone with a sprint here but they elected to go with more of a traditional title match feel and it paid off. Great stuff. ****1/4
8. WALTER vs Mark Davis (Atlas Title) - PROGRESS Chapter 63: Take Me Underground
This was brutal. Especially if your name is Mark Davis. Within two minutes the chest of Davis looks like raw meat and it just continues from there. WALTER is in a class of one when it comes to chops and I would absolutely love to see him tear it up in the G1 at some point. Davis had his best singles match here too, hanging with the more experienced Austrian throughout. ****1/4
7. Matt Riddle vs James Drake (No Rope Breaks) - Evolve 100
This was the break out match for Drake as he took everything that Riddle had and made the crowd believe that he could get the upset victory. The brutality of the match led to Riddle bleeding from his chest pretty early on, and when Drake hit the moonsault I had fully bought into him winning. Great match, and a star making performance. ****1/4
6. Io Shirai vs Momo Watanabe (Wonder of Stardom Title) - Stardom Queen's Fest
While it was a shame that Shirai didn't get to have her run in WWE, it has meant that she has gone straight back to putting on fantastic matches regularly. Watanabe has a very bright future too as she is only 17. Together they put on a fantastic match that caught me off guard as I was watching the show for Toni Storm vs Meiko Satomura but came out far more impressed by this. ****1/2
5. Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns vs John Cena vs Elias vs Finn Balor vs The Miz vs Braun Strowman (Gauntlet Match) - WWE Raw 19th February
I know that technically this was a collection of six back to back matches but WWE classes it as one match so who am I to argue. This took place over the first two hours of Raw and featured a beast of a performance from Seth Rollins, who beat Reigns and Cena back to back while competing for 65 minutes to start the match. This match made for one of the best episodes of Raw in quite some time and was brilliantly structured throughout. ****1/2
4. Zack Sabre Jr vs Tyler Bate - PROGRESS Chapter 63: Take Me Underground
This match was excellent. It had Zack going full on with his limb work and his vast array of submissions, while Tyler tried everything in his arsenal to avoid having his appendages snapped off. The pace is well thought out and the standard of the wrestling, the reversals in particular, was top notch. In the end Bate gets caught in a submission that is impossible to escape. ****1/2
3. Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi (IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title) - NJPW New Beginning In Osaka
This match was pretty much what you would expect from two of the best high fliers of this generation. They went all out and produced a highly entertaining, rapid paced match. If you didn't like Ospreay before this match, and there are many who don't, this will do absolutely nothing to change your mind. It was high octane and the execution was super crisp. ****1/2
2. Kazuchika Okada vs SANADA (IWGP Title) - NJPW New Beginning In Osaka
There was really nothing between this and the previous match in terms of quality but obviously the structure of the two matches was vastly different. It says a lot that this a match of this quality is pretty much the base standard for an Okada title defense these days. SANADA once again proved that he could very well be a consistent main eventer and Okada showed again that he is the most consistent high level performer in wrestling. ****1/2
1. WALTER vs Timothy Thatcher (Atlas Title) - PROGRESS Chapter 62: Fear No More, Come To Dust
This right here is what I fucking love most in wrestling. I love all styles but I have a soft spot for double hard bastards chopping each other to death. This is so fucking physical that it is impossible for me to fully express it. The closest I can get is to say that there is a line of commentary that is simply 'My God, he chopped him in the fucking face!'. These two are tag partners too. This is right up there among the early contenders for match of the year. I absolutely fucking loved it. *****
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