Best Matches of April 2018


Arranging the list for this month has been absolutely crazy. Over 40 matches made the **** cut-off point. With Mania weekend having so many companies putting on shows many of them have a match on this list. The honourable mentions for this list are going to be very long so let's get on with it. 


Honourable Mentions

Buddy Murphy vs Kalisto - WWE 205 Live 3rd April ****

Will Ospreay vs AR Fox - Evolve 102 ****

Zack Sabre Jr vs Matt Riddle (Evolve Title) - Evolve 102 ****

Matt Riddle vs Daisuke Sekimoto (Evolve Title) - Evolve 103 ****

WALTER vs Tracy Williams - Evolve 103 ****

Drago, Aerostar & King Cuerno vs Dezmond Xavier, DJZ & Andrew Everett - Impact Wrestling vs Lucha Underground ****

LAX vs The Mack & Killshot (Impact Tag Titles) - Impact Wrestling vs Lucha Underground ****

Austin Aries vs Pentagon Dark vs Fenix - Impact Wrestling vs Lucha Underground ****

Kota Ibushi, Flip Gordon & Shane Strickland vs Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero & Chuckie T - Rev Pro Live In New Orleans ****

Will Ospreay vs Mark Haskins - PROGRESS Chapter 66: Mardi Graps ****

Ringkampf vs David Starr & Keith Lee - PROGRESS Chapter 66: Mardi Graps ****

Will Ospreay vs Dezmond Xavier - CZW Welcome To The Combat Zone ****

Charlotte Flair vs Asuka (Smackdown Women's Title) - WWE WrestleMania 34 ****

Jay Lethal vs Jonathan Gresham - ROH Masters Of Our Craft ****

Kento Miyahara vs Shingo Takagi - AJPW Champion Carnival Day 1 ****

Tomohiro Ishii vs Tao Henare - NJPW Road To Dontaku Night 10 ****

Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs Bandido & Flamita - PWG Time Is A Flat Circle ****

Zack Sabre Jr vs Munenori Sawa - WWN Live Supershow Mercury Rising ****

Toni Storm vs Mayu Iwatani (World of Stardom Title) - Stardom Dream Slam In Nagoya ****

Io Shirai & Tam Nakano vs Kagetsu & Natsu Sumire (Current Blast Exploding Bat Death Match) - Stardom Dream Slam in Nagoya ****

Joe Doering, Jun Akiyama & Yuji Hino vs Shingo Takagi, The Bodyguard & Zeus - AJPW Champion Carnival Day 15 ****

Golden Lovers vs Hangman Page & Cody Rhodes - NJPW Sakura Genesis ****1/4

WALTER vs Tom Lawlor - Matt Riddle's Bloodsport ****1/4

Ringkampf vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Munenori Sawa - Evolve 102 ****1/4

Rey Fenix & Rey Horus vs Bandido & Flamita - Wrestlecon Supershow ****1/4

Daisuke Sekimoto vs Keith Lee - WWN Live Supershow Mercury Rising ****1/4

WALTER vs PCO - Joey Janela's Spring Break 2 ****1/4

Ember Moon vs Shayna Baszler (NXT Women's Title) - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans ****1/4

Young Bucks & Flip Gordon vs SoCal Uncensored (Ladder Match) - ROH Supercard of Honor XII ****1/4

The Miz vs Finn Balor vs Seth Rollins (Intercontinental Title) - WWE WrestleMania 34 ****1/4

Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs Triple H & Stephanie McMahon - WWE WrestleMania 34 ****1/4


16. Jeff Cobb vs Tomohiro Ishii - Wrestlecon Supershow

FUCK YES! Double hard bastard fight. They exchanged forearms for about 90 straight seconds, and I was already sold. They beat the breaks off each other. Stiff strikes, big suplexes, massive enjoyment. I would love to see this again, book it New Japan. ****1/2

15. Andrade 'Cien' Almas vs Aleister Black (NXT Title) - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

This was an excellent match that managed to hit all of the required story beats along the way. Vega constantly got involved to help Almas, and in the end it would be their undoing. Some of the near falls in this match were superb and I fully bought into the fact that, somehow, Almas might be able to retain. ****1/2

14. Matt Riddle vs Will Ospreay (Evolve Title) - WWN Live Supershow Mercury Rising

Considering the injury that Ospreay was dealing with heading into Mania weekend, he put forth a hell of an effort. This match only lasted about 12 minutes but they used all of it to the full. Riddle showed that he would be a ruthless champion, attacking the injury relentlessly. Good stuff. ****1/2

13. Zack Sabre Jr vs Matt Riddle - PWG Time Is A Flat Circle

These two put on great matches every time they face off and while this wasn't my favourite of their matches I did prefer it to the other match they had this month (at Evolve 102). All in all it is well worth a watch. ****1/2

12. Will Ospreay vs Adam Brooks - PWG Time Is A Flat Circle

Back to back matches for PWG. These two have basically been doing a world tour against each other and it has resulted in a number of great matches, of which this is my favourite. They have developed fantastic chemistry and this match was a blast. ****1/2

11. Kota Ibushi vs Hangman Page - ROH Supercard of Honor XII

Page has been having a great start to the year and he may be my favourite part of the Bullet Club tensions. He is now someone I look out for on shows. Ibushi is one of the best, smoothest wrestlers on the planet. They put together a fantastic match, that even manages to outshine a ladder match that involved the Young Bucks. ****1/2

10. WALTER vs Zack Sabre Jr - PROGRESS Chapter 67: Bourbon Is Also A Biscuit

Firstly, that is a brilliant name for a show. Secondly, this was a brilliant match. In my mind, these two are first and second in the wrestler of the year list after the first 4 months. I honestly don't think they could put on a bad match against each other. It isn't quite at the level of their match from PWG last year, but not much is. ****1/2

9. Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii (British Heavyweight Title) - Rev Pro Live In New Orleans

Sabre is back to put on another superb match and Ishii once again shows that not enough talk about him when it comes to the best in the world. Sabre uses his fantastic wrestling skills to try to avoid Ishii's power, but he can't avoid it forever. This was part of setting up Sabre as a full-time New Japan star, as he lost another of his titles, but just like his other matches this was still gripping stuff. ****1/2

8. Kento Miyahara vs Naomichi Marufuji (Champion Carnival Final) - AJPW Champion Carnival Day 15

This is the first of three straight matches from the Champion Carnival. Miyahara is superb here, and it really helps push the match along. Marufuji isn't in quite as good form but he does play his part to tell the story of the new ace of AJPW against the former ace of NOAH. It is well worth a watch for the superb Miyahara performance alone. ****1/2

7. Jun Akiyama vs Naomichi Marufuji - AJPW Champion Carnival Day 13

Akiyama may be 48 years old but the legend is still capable of putting together an incredible match given the chance. This was a very hard-hitting affair that once again showed that while Marufuji hasn't necessarily hit the heights he could have he can definitely be dragged to something spectacular against someone as brilliant as Akiyama. ****3/4

6. Shingo Takagi vs Shuji Ishikawa - AJPW Champion Carnival Day 14

I have long been vocal about my love of big bastards throwing bombs at each other, and this was certainly that. Of course, that matters very little if there is no drama or urgency to it, but this match delivered on that too. Shingo mostly wrestles in Dragon Gate and is used to being the biggest guy there, so it was great to see him in a different role here, and he nailed it. The crowd is fully on board too, and they help push this even further towards greatness. ****3/4

5. Kazuchika Okada vs Zack Sabre Jr (IWGP Title) - NJPW Sakura Genesis

This match was excellent, which is to be expected really. What is great about this Okada title reign is how varied his title matches are, as he can adapt to any opponent with ease. He gets into a hold for hold submission war here, before realising that he will get ruined if he keeps doing that. Both men looked superb here and Sabre Jr did a great job of showing that he belongs in the main event scene. ****3/4

4. Ricochet vs EC3 vs Velveteen Dream vs Adam Cole vs Lars Sullivan vs Killian Dain (NXT North American Title, Ladder Match) - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans


This match was balls to the wall, it started fast and it never really slowed down at any point. You would be forgiven for thinking this would be a spotfest that was devoid of any real psychology and storytelling, but it wasn't. Every wrestler got their chance to shine and not a single person came out looking worse than they entered. This was one of the best ladder matches of the last few years. ****3/4

3. Ilja Dragunov vs WALTER (wXw Title) - wXw True Colors

Just over a year removed from their superb match in the final of the 2017 16 Carat Gold tournament, these two put on another belter. Much like their last match, it was brutally stiff too. WALTER is having an incredible start to the year and he brings out the best in Dragunov. Dragunov once again got chopped raw, and I may have gone the full marks on this if it wasn't for the fact that the false finish hurt the pace a bit. ****3/4

2. Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll (IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title) - NJPW Sakura Genesis

Jesus fucking Christ, there is a Spanish fly from the apron that looked really nasty. As far as the rest of the match goes, it was fucking spectacular. For me this was easily the best match that Scurll has ever had, and possibly the best match I've ever seen from Ospreay. Scurll plays exactly to his Villain persona here, coming across like he is genuinely trying to break Ospreay's neck. The moment when he just starts stomping on the back of Ospreay's neck is pure dickishness. The story that they told was excellent and the in ring work was some next level stuff, with incredibly smooth exchanges throughout. The highest of recommendations. *****

1. Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa (Unsanctioned Match) - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

The story of this match is second to none in current wrestling, hell, current TV, and to say that the pay off was worth it would be underselling this match by a disgraceful amount. In modern wrestling it is relatively rare to establish as clear a heel/face dynamic as the one on show here. Gargano is universally loved, and Ciampa is so hated that he came to the ring with only the sound of the fans booing as music. They wasted no time whatsoever, laying in fists from the off, and they never stopped. The majority of this match isn't about winning, it's about inflicting punishment, and tons of it. It was about redemption, and vindication, and the lengths people are willing to go to attain it. Ciampa had a look of glee as he stole the crutches of a fan, cuz he's a dick. The fans wanted to see Ciampa get what was coming to him, to the point where they chanted 'you deserve it' when he got powerbombed on the exposed floor. That was a crazy spot. This match contains so many moments, both big and small, that call back to the various moments in their WWE careers, and listing them all would be redundant. The finishing sequence and Gargano's refusal to give up no matter what is thrown at him is amazing. That the closing moment mirrors their match at the CWC is just incredible. Make no doubt about it, this is the match of the year so far. *****

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