Top Five Wrestling Matches Seen Live 2024
2024 was yet another year of fun live wrestling events I attended. It was a year of real quality throughout the 4 shows I was able to go to in which the top 5 matches I've seen live was turned on its head and given a new running order. In order to determine the best matches I saw live this year I took a step back from immediate thoughts and rewatched them all recently in order to give a full breakdown on what was the best match. For this list the events I attended (in order) were as follows.
To start with though I wanted to cover a few honourable mentions. If this was a top 10 these matches would've made it:
As mentioned before a banner year for wrestling and just because these don't make the top 5 doesn't mean I haven't rewatched them all. I feel quite bad with JJ Gale vs. Luke Jacobs just missing the cut so will give quick comment on how both men really stepped up in the past year. You could argue very much so that it was the biggest night with the most eyes worldwide on both and they delivered. With Luke getting booking in America through DPW I hope JJ gets the chance to follow suit. From being very unimpressed last year with him against Kosei Fujita I really feel he's grown since then and is well deserving on the higher billing he gets from RevPro. With that out of the way here are the top five.
5th: AEW International/American Championship Match: MJF (c) vs. Will Ospreay - AEW All in 2024
Starting off with the big homecoming for Will Ospreay for the first time since joining AEW full time. A feud really based around giving Ospreay a title win in Wembley Stadium and to build back up to him using the Tiger Driver again. But besides that it is two of the best wrestlers in the world with a real clash of styles doing at it. A basic premise executed as well as expected from these two. I remember first time I saw it not being as blown away as I thought I would be (there's an Ospreay match that I think was worked more to what he fully does later on in this list) but upon rewatch really enjoyed it. Everything for this match was given a big feel and that sometimes helps make a match more memorable.
4th: Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship Match: Michael Oku (c) vs. Luke Jacobs - RevPro 12 Year Anniversary Show
This year RevPro had their biggest show of the year main evented by two home grown British talents and they picked the best two they could for it. Michael Oku had been a tremendous champion for the little over a year since he won the belt and Luke Jacobs was a year removed from his breakout match with Tomohiro Ishii. Given time to show how good they are both men gave it all for a real crowning in Luke Jacobs career. Both men work really well together and it was nice to see Oku really playing the heel role and added to hiw everyone really wanted Luke to win. Not sure why the title changed back to Oku at the end of the year but in the moment a great match and moment.
3rd: Zack Sabre Jr vs. Hechicero - RevPro 12 Year Anniversary Show
Just before the our previous match the semi main event of the card was a homecoming for Zack Sabre Jr in his first match in Britain since winning the G1 Climax in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Hechicero was someone I was only introduced to during the AEW/CMLL partnership and was blown away by how good he was so getting this match live was such a treat. Comparred to everything else on this list it is a real different type of match as expected as it was a real technical affair which made it stand out compared to everything else on the card and throughout that weekend. I'd love to have Hechicero back over for this years Anniversary show.
2nd: Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship Match: Michael Oku (c) vs. Will Ospreay
The final match of Ospreay in Revolution Pro before his full time move to AEW and to end with feud (and trilogy) with Michael Oku. This was a 47 minute epic that watching live it really didn't feel that long. It played off their previous matches showcased literally everything possible from both their move-sets and history and finished with Ospreay tapping out to Oku's signature half crab putting him over as the guy in the British scene. A superb match built on great in ring action and a story built around Oku's climb to the top and climbing the final mountan he needed to.
1st: AEW World Championship Match: Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Bryan Danielson
No other match was going to come close once this match happened unfortunately but man when you get to be attendence for one of the greatest matches of all time it is a special feeling. At the time of writing this is the 21st greatest match of all time rated on Cagematch (Ospreay vs. Oku is 348th) and is the final big triumph of the career of Bryan Danielson. This match told the emotional story of a man running out of time agaisnt a dominant champion. The being told was one of an expectant Daneilson win but the moment that Danielson hit the busaiku knee and Swerve didn't go down and shrug it off man the stadium changed. To be able to creae a story and moments to emotionally hook a crowd in and change how they feel on how a match would finish is the sign of two wrestlers who could be considered best in the world. A superb match that has to be watched to experience and one I rewatch constantly.
All in all a great year of wrestling for me to watch live and I hope 2025 can live up to it. If anything it really shows the strength of the in ring products of what I have seen as well as the top end of the British scene really coming into their own as wrestlers. It will be interesting this time next year to see how 2025 compares.
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