2021 in Wrestling: Review of the Year.

[The Natural]

So a look back at wrestling in 2021, tried to do this in chronological order. I'll likely have missed something:

• Christian returns to the ring for real in the Men's 2021 Royal Rumble match. Edge becomes the third man to win as #1. Let's not mention the second. Christian goes on to join AEW.
• NJPW retired the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and Intercontinental Championship for a new championship and lineage, the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. I hate the fucking thing.
• The Forbidden Door is open as AEW, NJPW, IMPACT and GCW work together.
• WALTER becomes the longest reigning champion of the modern era, over two years as WWE United Kingdom Champion/WWE NXT UK Champion.
• Marty Scurll's short-lived run in New Japan STRONG.
• The ending to the no rope exploding barbed wire death match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley for Omega's AEW World Championship is badly botched at AEW Revolution.
• Sting wrestled his first match in six years at said show and more matches after with Darby Allin. Cool seeing Sting back.
• In a real spectacle, Thunder Rosa beats Dr Britt Baker in a Light's Out match at AEW Dynamite St Patrick's Day. *****.
• Bobby Lashley wins the WWE Championship. Big E goes on to beat Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship later in the year.
• Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair main event WrestleMania XXXVII and it's the best WrestleMania XXXVII match.
• Bad Bunny debuted inside the ring at the above and puts on a great performance.
• Bayley sadly tears her ACL.
• After pandemic delays, AEW puts on Blood and Guts match which divides opinion.
• Daniel Bryan wrestled his last WWE match vs. Roman Reigns on Smackdown Live.
• WWE released so many wrestlers during a global pandemic. Fuck WWE. The Fiend Bray Wyatt was the biggest surprise. Samoa Joe, Karrion Kross, Keith Lee, Jeff Hardy and Aleister Black are also released.
• The Mickie James trash bag incident.
• Wrestlers sadly passed away: Daffney, Bobby Eaton, Jimmy Rave, Reggie Parks to name a few.
• We lost our very own, @OSJ. Love and miss you xxx.
• Roman Reigns holds the WWE Universal Championship for over a year.
• NJPW has a terrible year. Will Ospreay vacated the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship due to injury, Kota Ibushi gets aspirational pneumonia, Tetsuya Naito is injured in the first night of the G1 Climax and the Final has to be stopped between Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi as Ibushi dislocated his shoulder.
• Matt Cardona and Chris Jericho work deathmatches with Nick Gage.
• NXT becomes NXT 2.0.
• CM Punk returns to wrestling after 7 years signing with AEW.
• Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole debut at AEW All Out, one of the best wrestling shows ever.
• The dream match between Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega delivers at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. *****. My MOTY.
• AEW and the Owen Hart Foundation come together which will have two tournaments named after Owen and merchandise rights. What an announcement.
• The Bret Hart Cameo I received from the board. Huge thank you to Bret Hart, @NikoBaltimore, @Craig H, @Sammo~! and any contributors. It's one of the best things anyone has done for me. Love, Paul xxx.
• Out of nowhere, Katsuyori Shibata has an exhibition match with Zack Sabre Jr in NJPW. Shibata goes on to announce he's to wrestle again.
• WALTER vs. Cesaro dream match happens at three WWE Live events in the UK. Two ended in a clean finish and I attended one of them. Best match I've seen in person.
• Adam Page beats Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship at AEW Full Gear.
• Page and Danielson go to a 60 minute draw on AEW Dynamite Winter is Coming. *****.
• Bryan Danielson is the Wrestler of the Year despite missing May-August. Amazing achievement.
• The end of Ring of Honor.

Edited December 27, 2022 by The Natural

[The Natural]

Awards:

Promotion: AEW by far.

Wrestler of the Year: Bryan Danielson. Amazing giving it to someone with eight months than somebody who's had a whole year. The classic vs. Kenny Omega in Danielson's first AEW match I gave *****, ditto for vs. Minoru Suzuki and vs. Adam Page.

Match of the Year: Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson, AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. *****.

Tag Team of the Year: #FTR.

Card of the Year: AEW All Out.

Women's Wrestler of the Year: Dr Britt Baker. Honourable mention to Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb.

Best Promos: CM Punk narrowly over Eddie Kingston.

Comeback of the Year: Sting proved a lot of people wrong myself included when he wrestled. Sting had numerous tag team matches this year with Darby Allin, the best was vs. #FTR at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. Honourable mention to Allin/Sting vs. Scorpio Sky/Ethan Page at AEW Double or Nothing.

Edited December 22, 2021 by The Natural

[twiztor]

5 hours ago, The Natural said:

Awards:

Promotion: AEW by far.

Wrestler of the Year: Bryan Danielson. Amazing giving it to someone with eight months than somebody who's had a whole year. The classic vs. Kenny Omega in Danielson's first AEW match I gave *****, ditto for vs. Minoru Suzuki and vs. Adam Page.

Match of the Year: Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson, AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. *****.

Tag Team of the Year: #FTR.

Card of the Year: AEW All Out.

Women's Wrestler of the Year: Dr Britt Baker. Honourable mention to Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb.

Best Promos: CM Punk narrowly over Eddie Kingston.

Comeback of the Year: Sting proved a lot of people wrong myself included when he wrestled. Sting had numerous tag team matches this year with Darby Allin, the best was vs. #FTR at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. Honourable mention to Allin/Sting vs. Scorpio Sky/Ethan Page at AEW Double or Nothing.

agree with all but the following:

Best Promo: Eddie Kingston. 

Comeback of the Year: i think Christian edges (no pun intended) Sting out. He can still go, and his matches with Omega with both pretty damn good. Sting's been perfectly fine in his role, and i'm happy he's in the company. 

 

adding:

Moment of the Year: CM Punk's return to pro wrestling at The First Dance. 

[The Natural]

6 minutes ago, twiztor said:

agree with all but the following:

Best Promo: Eddie Kingston. 

Comeback of the Year: i think Christian edges (no pun intended) Sting out. He can still go, and his matches with Omega with both pretty damn good. Sting's been perfectly fine in his role, and i'm happy he's in the company. 

 

adding:

Moment of the Year: CM Punk's return to pro wrestling at The First Dance. 

Yeah, Best Promo was the hardest one by far between Eddie Kingston and CM Punk. You make a good argument for Christian Cage as Comeback of the Year. Nice word play by the way. I can understand people picking Punk (check that alliteration out!) as Moment of the Year, it was perfectly done and 7 years in the making. I'd still go for Bryan Danielson though as he's my guy.

Edited December 22, 2021 by The Natural

[Web Conn]

I don’t know if it counts as a comeback but Matt Cardona had one hell of a year. Aside from NYWC I don’t think Ryder worked much Indies before his 15 year run in WWE but dammit if he has made an impact on the scene since being released. 

As cool as CM Punks return was I’d push for Trevor Murdoch winning the NWA World Championship as moment of the year. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy. Full Gear ending with The Hangman on the shoulders of The Dark Order celebrating his title win over Omega was cool too.

Tag Team is a tricky one there was a lot of good tag wrestling this year. I almost wanna go AJ Styles and Omos just cuz Omos didn’t do much but Chokeslams whole dressed as a bouncer and AJ did all the work. FTR is the logical choice they had a hell of a year.

I should just put my votes in.

Promotion: AEW

Wrestler: Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson

Match of the Year: Kota Ibushi vs Jay White

Tag Team: FTR

Card of the Year: AEW All Out

Womens Wrester: Thunder Rosa

Promos: MJF

Comeback: CM Punk

Moment of the Year: Trevor Murdoch winning the NWA World Heavyweight Title in ST Louis.

 

[The Natural]

My Top 2021 for 2021:

21. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15: Night 1, 4th January.

20. Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro. WWE WrestleMania Backlash, 16th May.

19. Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan. WWE Smackdown Live, 15th January.

18. Finn Balor vs. Pete Dunne. WWE NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, 14th February.

17. Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage. AEW Rampage, 13th August.

16. Darby Allin/Sting vs. Dax Harwood/Cash Wheeler. AEW Grand Slam Dynamite, 22nd September.

15. Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson vs. Fenix/Pentagon. AEW All Out, 5th September.

14. CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Full Gear 2021, 13th November.

13. MJF vs. Darby Allin. AEW Full Gear 2021, 13th November.

12. Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Rampage, 29th October.

11. WALTER vs. Tommaso Ciampa. WWE NXT: Stand and Deliver Night 1, 7th April.

10. Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair. WWE WrestleMania XXXVII: Night 1, 10th April.

9. Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan. WWE Smackdown Live, 30th April.

8. Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15: Night 2, 5th January. *****.

7. Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15: Night 2, 5th January. *****.

6. Shingo Takagi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi. NJPW The New Beginning, 30th January. *****.

5. WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov. WWE TakeOver XXXVI, 22nd August. *****.

4. Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki. AEW The Buy In: Rampage, 15th October. *****.

3. Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker. AEW Dynamite, 17th March. *****.

2. Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Dynamite Winter is Coming, 15th December. *****.

1. Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega. AEW Grand Slam Dynamite, 22nd September. *****.

Edited December 27, 2022 by The Natural

[StuntmanCrowley]

Definitely want to chime in with my picks for the Year End

 

Promotion: AEW...this is a no brainer

Wrestler:  The American Dragon.  I saw Dragon for the first time  live at the first ROH show in Philly.  I've watched almost every incarnation of his characters and evolution.  I really think we've been watching the greatest wrestler of all time.  The man is on an absolute other level than anyone else and that's not a knock on anyone.  Everytime i see him wrestle, it's mindblowing.  He might not be my personal favorite of all time, but I recognize that the man is probably the greatest of all time.

 

Honorable Mention:  Matt Cardona, see below.

 

Match of the Year: WALTER v Dragunov II.   Britt Baker v Thunder Rosa Lioghts Out and Page/Dragon or Page/Omega were close seconds, but Walter and Dragunov beat the everloving shit out of each for our entertainment and that match only gets better with each viewing.

Tag Team:  FTR.  It's their tag team world and everyone else is just living in it.

Card of the Year: AEW All Out.  As much as I want to give the nod to Full Gear on the culmination of Adam Page's 2 year chase for the title, All Out was just top to bottom incredible.

Womens Wrester: Britt Baker.  I forget who it was on here that said it, but Britt Baker was the perfect person to carry the AEW woman's division while it got it's feet under it and could catch up with her and goddamn if she didn't improve leaps and bounds and not only is she top of the AEW Women's food chain, but I'd say she is one of the best women in the world in terms of total package.

Promos:   Eddie Kingston.  This is a personal bias, as how open he has been out of the ring with his struggles and mental illness causes me to root harder for him and embrace his character in each promo more than anyone else, but the man is almost unparalleled on the mic.

Comeback:   CM Punk.  Not much to say.

Moment of the Year: Matt Cardona unmasking and becoming the GCW World Champ.  I realize there are bigger moments of the year, i realize that they probably all have a greater right to the "Moment of the Year", but Matt Cardona, in that moment went from WWE lifer/low carder to the best Heel on the indies and in my opinion, this moment anf the match when he retained over Gage was a "World building" moment for GCW and not only elevated Cardona and Gage, but elevated the whole promotion.   Cardona was the best heel on the indies and definitely is in the top 10 of U.S. Wrestling, easily.

[Spontaneous]

Promotion: GCW

Men's Wrestler: Violento Jack

Women's Wrestler: Rita Yamashita

Match: Alex Colon vs Atticus Cogar

Tag Team: Briscoe Brothers

Show: Fight Club: Gage vs Moxley

Promos: Matt Cardona

Comeback: CM Punk

Moment: Getting to meet Masashi Takeda and Rina Yamashita

[Niners Fan in CT]

Promotion: AEW. They are the perfect blend of everything I enjoy about wrestling from the old school blood feuds to mat wrestling classics to heated promo exchanges, etc they are the best doing it.

Wrestler of the Year: Bryan Danielson. No Brainer, too many marches to name.

Match of the Year: Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson, AEW Dynamite Grand Slam. Same as a lot if people here and the atmosphere was simply amazing too.

Tag Team of the Year: Lucha Bros. I've enjoyed them across multiple promotions and the cage match at All Out vs. The Young Bucks would be on my short list.

Card of the Year: AEW All Out.

Women's Wrestler of the Year: Dr. Britt Baker. She had the classic street fight vs. Thunder Rosa on Dynamite and she's easily been the best promo and character in the women's division.

Best Promos: Eddie Kingston and Paul Heyman. I have them tied here. Both have been incredible.

Comeback of the Year: Sting. He has had a tremendous run with Darby. He's been incredible for his age. 

Moment of the Year: Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 37 Night One. This would be on my short list as well and it's truly the best thing WWE has had in a while, two amazing black women in the main event at WrestleMania is certainly something I never thought I'd see. The match itself was also a MOTYC so the whole thing beginning with entrances to the stare down and crowd going crazy was epic even before the bell rang.

Performer of the Year: Roman Reigns. Bryan has the matches but Roman has a very strong list of matches too and the promo/character work has been out of this world. He is the biggest draw in wrestling and deserves the nod. 

[The Natural]

 

[StuntmanCrowley]

This year alone made Cardona one of my active favorites.  His run was/is incredible.