MOTYs by year

[NintendoLogic]

Made my final picks for 2017.

[NintendoLogic]

A new selection for 2006 from out of nowhere. Like the Diamond Cutter, I never saw it coming.

[Tetsujin]

I'm currently working on a personal project to find my MOTYs, so this'll be a nice thread.

Right now, this is all I've got:

1980: Roddy Piper vs Buddy Rose (PNW, 13/9)
- Rick Martel vs Buddy Rose (PNW, 26/4)
- Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey (JP, 28/1)

1981: Stan Hansen vs André the Giant (NJPW, 23/9)
- Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk (CWA, 23/3)
- Jim Breaks vs Jon Cortez (JP, 2/2)

1982: Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich (WCCW, 15/8)
- Dutch Mantell vs Jerry Lawler (CWA, 29/3)
- No more runner ups this time, weak year in terms of MOTYC

1983: Bill Dundee vs Jerry Lawler (CWA, 6/6)
- Nick Bockwinkel vs Wahoo McDaniel (AWA, 28/8)
- Roddy Piper vs Greg Valentine (NWA, Starrcade)

1984: Rick Martel vs Nick Bockwinkel (AWA, 20/9)
- Américo Rocca vs Mocho Cota (EMLL, 27/1)
- El Satánico vs Shiro Koshinaka (EMLL, 30/7)

1985: Ric Flair vs Rick Martel (AJPW, 21/10)
- Jim Duggan vs Ted DiBiase (MidSouth, 30/3)
- Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee (CWA, 30/12)

1986: Nick Bockwinkel vs Curt Hennig (AWA, 21/11)
- Buddy Rose & Doug Sommers vs Midnight Rockers (AWA, 30/8)
- Ric Flair vs Barry Windham (JCP, Battle of the Belts 2)

1987: Ric Flair vs Barry Windham (JCP, 20/1)
- Carlos Colón vs Stan Hansen (WWC, 6/1)
- Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (WWA, 18/7)

1988: Espanto Jr vs Hijo del Santo (UWA, 10/4)
- Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard vs Barry Windham & Lex Luger (NWA, Clash of the Champions I)
- Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 16/12)

1989: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 5/6)

- Masakatsu Funaki vs Tatsuo Nakano (UWF II, 24/7)

- Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair (NWA, WrestleWar)

 

1990: Ángel Azteca vs El Dandy (EMLL, 1/6)

- El Dandy vs El Satánico (EMLL, 14/12)

- El Satánico vs El Dandy (EMLL, 26/10)

 

1991: Masahiro Chono vs Keiji Mutoh (NJPW, G1 Climax)

- Naoki Sano vs Minoru Suzuki (PWFG, 26/7)

- Wayne Shamrock vs Naoki Sano (PWFG, 19/5)

1992: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai (AJW, DreamRush)
- Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude (WCW, Beach Blast)
- Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW, 25/5)

1993: Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 29/7)
- Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori (AJW, DreamSlam I)
- No more runner ups this time, weak year in terms of MOTYC

1994: Aja Kong vs Yumiko Hotta (AJW, 24/01)
- Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota (AJW, 20/11)

- Owen Hart vs Bret Hart (WWF, WrestleMania X)

 

---------

The following is my current "list" (I don't really have one, but you know), the years I have more or less clear, but could change throughout the project)

1995: 9/6/95
- Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 15/4)
- Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 25/10)

1996: Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW, G1 Climax)
- Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels (WWF, WrestleMania XII)
- Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama (AJPW, 6/12)

1997: Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 20/1)
- Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (WWF, WrestleMania 13)
- Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (EMLL, 19/9)

1998: Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 31/8)
- Burning vs Stan Hansen & Vader (AJPW, 5/12)
- Mankind vs Undertaker (WWF, King of the Ring)

2002: Low Ki vs Bryan Danielson (ROH, Round Robin Challenge)
- Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker (WWE, No Mercy)
- Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs Rey Mysterio & Edge (WWE, No Mercy)

2003: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (NOAH, 1/3)
- Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (WWE, Royal Rumble)
- Akira Taue vs Yuji Nagata (NOAH, 6/6)

2004: Samoa Joe vs CM Punk (ROH, World Title Classic)
- Samoa Joe vs CM Punk (ROH, All Star Extravaganza II)
- Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (NOAH, 10/7)

2005: Samoa Joe vs Kenta Kobashi (ROH, Joe vs Kobashi)
- Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle (WWE, WrestleMania 21)
- Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (TNA, Unbreakable)

2013: Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW, G1 Climax)
- CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar (WWE, SummerSlam!)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, Invasion Attack)

2014: The Shield vs The Wyatt Family (WWE, Elimination Chamber)
- AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, G1 Climax)
- Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn (NXT, Takeover R Evolution)

2015: Bayley vs Sasha Banks (NXT, Takeover Respect)
- Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, G1 Climax)
- Sasha Banks vs Bayley (NXT, Takeover Brooklyn)

2017: Kazuchika Okada vs Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, Sakura Genesis)
- Tetsuya Naito vs Kenny Omega (NJPW, G1 Climax)
- Trevor Lee vs Chip Day (CWF, 25/3)

Work in progress. I'll be editing the list very often, 'cause I've not watched most part of the 90s/00s/10s matches in a while and my tastes may have changed since then; and 'cause I need to watch a lot from the years I didn't picked; and yeah, I definitely need to watch a lot from the 70s.

[Microstatistics]

Added picks for 2018

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19741-motys-by-year/?p=5812530

[Tetsujin]

After a couple of months disconnected from this project, I finally came back. Updated with 1990 (aka el año del Dandy) and going through 1991 as we speak.

 

The toughest part of 1990 was the big disapointment both Fujiwara/Takada were, and having to take back the 5* rank from Dandy/Satánico apuestas match; on the other side, Azteca/Dandy was near-perfect and Kong/Nakano cage match was holy shit levels of amazing (and still not enough for top 3, what a year).

[Boss Rock]

Updated mine to round out the early 80's.

[NintendoLogic]

I've finally made selections for 2018. I also updated my top three for 1973 and 2016.

[superkix]

Still have a ton of 1990s to watch/rewatch, 2002-20012 is more of less a blank spot, and I need to fill in some gaps but here's a running list:

• 1967: Giant Baba vs. Bruno Sammartino (JWA, 3/7/67)
• 1968: Giant Baba vs. Bruno Sammartino (JWA, 8/7/68)
• 1969: Giant Baba vs. The Destroyer (JWA, 3/5/96)

 

• 1970: Antonio Inoki vs. Dory Funk Jr. (JWA, 8/2/70)
• 1971: Antonio Inoki vs. Jack Brisco (JWA, 8/5/71)
• 1972: Giant Baba vs. The Destroyer (JWA, 12/11/72)
• 1973: Animal Hamaguchi vs. Mighty Inoue (IWA, 9/26/73)
• 1974: Mil Máscaras vs. The Destroyer (AJPW, 7/25/74)
  • Verne Gagne vs. Billy Robinson (IWE, 11/20/74)
• 1975: Billy Robinson vs. Antonio Inoki (NJPW, 12/11/75)
• 1976: Billy Robinson vs. Giant Baba (AJPW, 7/24/76)
  • Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, 6/11/76)
• 1977: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Billy Robinson (AJPW, 3/5/77)
• 1978: Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Backlund (NJPW, 7/27/78)
  • Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go (NJPW, 11/30/78)
• 1979: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go (NJPW, 10/2/79)

 

• 1980: Nick Bockwinkel vs. Billy Robinson (AJPW, 12/11/80)
  • Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (NJPW, 2/5/80)
• 1981: Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW, 9/23/81)
• 1982: Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan (NJPW, 4/1/82)
  • Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, 9/11/82)
• 1983: Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (AJPW, 8/31/83)
  • Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, 4/14/83)
  • Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (NJPW, 8/4/83)
• 1984: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (UWF, 12/5/84)
• 1985: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (UWF, 7/17/85)
• 1986: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (NJPW, 6/12/86)
  • Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 1/28/86)
  • Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 3/26/86)
• 1987: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu (NJPW, 6/9/87)
• 1988: Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 12/16/88)
  • Nobuhiko Takada vs. Akira Maeda (UWF, 6/11/88)
  • Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Antonio Inoki (NJPW, 8/8/88)
• 1989: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 7/24/89)
  • Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW, 8/10/89)
  • Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 12/6/89)

 

• 1990: Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW, 1/31/90)
  • Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 10/25/90)
  • Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 9/1/90)
• 1991:
• 1992:
• 1993: Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 2/28/93)
• 1994: Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS, 12/24/94)
• 1995:
• 1996:
• 1997: Volk Han vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS, 9/26/97)
• 1998: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS, 6/27/98)
• 1999:

 

• 2000:  Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW, 2/27/00)
  • Toshiaki Kawada vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 10/28/00) 
  • Kazunari Murakami vs. Yuki Ishikawa (BattlARTS, 11/26/00)
• 2001: Minoru Tanaka vs. Takehiro Murahama (NJPW, 4/20/01)
  • Alexander Otsuka vs. Takashi Sugiura (ZERO1, 4/18/01)
  • Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuya Nagai (AJPW, 3/3/01)
• 2002:
• 2003: Kenta Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda (NOAH, 4/13/03)
• 2004:
• 2005: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Jun Akiyama (WRESTLE-1, 8/4/05)
• 2006:
• 2007:
• 2008:
• 2009:

 

• 2010: 
• 2011: Dick Togo vs. Antonio Honda (DDT, 1/30/11)
  • Hideki Suzuki vs. Josh Barnett (IGF, 12/31/11)
• 2012: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, 10/8/12)
• 2013: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW, 8/4/13)
• 2014: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, 7/26/14)
  • AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, 8/1/14)
• 2015: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW, 1/4/15)
• 2016: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW, 8/6/16)
  • Yuji Okabayashi vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani (BJW, 7/24/16)
  • Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW, 8/13/16)
• 2017: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, 4/19/17)
  • Hideki Suzuki vs. Yuji Okabayashi (BJW, 5/5/17)
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, 8/8/17)
• 2018: Hideki Suzuki vs. Takuya Nomura (BJW, 6/20/18)
  • Hirooki Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, 1/4/18)
  • Shotaro Ashino vs. Manabu Soya (W1, 3/14/18)
• 2019: Yuji Okabayashi vs. Takuya Nomura (BJW, 7/21/19)
  • Yuki Ishikawa vs. Timothy Thatcher (wXw, 3/10/19
  • Masashi Takeda vs. Jon Gresham (Bloodsport, 4/4/19)
• 2020 (current): Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (wXw, 3/7/20)

 

[NintendoLogic]

Added Tanahashi/Ibushi to the 2018 list. I'm counting on Park/Rush to live up to its potential, because it's shaping up to be the only thing standing between New Japan and a clean sweep of the top three.

[Cap]

Updated my list

 

8 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Added Tanahashi/Ibushi to the 2018 list. I'm counting on Park/Rush to live up to its potential, because it's shaping up to be the only thing standing between New Japan and a clean sweep of the top three.

Yeah, that was a fantastic match. Doesn't top my list though.  I am assuming Park v Rush is going to run away with it. If it hits 75% of its potential it will walk with the MOTY.  That said, I hate when my expectations are this high because there is almost no chance it can really live up.

[Tetsujin]

Updated with my 1992 picks. And, as I expected, nothing changed! Those three matches are among the ones I enjoy the most watching them over and over, and DreamRush is a clear GOATC imo. The crazy part is that I left behind Casas/Dandy, Piper/Hart, Pegasus/Villano III... Holy shit 1992 was a hell of a year in terms of excelent matches.

[Boss Rock]

New picks for 2005, 2010, and 2018 (as of now). Daisuke Ikeda has been a tremendous discovery.

[WingedEagle]

On 8/18/2018 at 10:07 AM, Boss Rock said:

New picks for 2005, 2010, and 2018 (as of now). Daisuke Ikeda has been a tremendous discovery.

You kids updating things need to link back to the original post!

[Boss Rock]

Haha, finally figured out how to do this. Like I said, Daisuke Ikeda is kinda good.

[Tetsujin]

Updated with 1993! Hansen/Kobashi may be a boring pick, but some things are obvious 'cause we all know they're true. Freeza is the greatest DB villain. Messi is better than Cristiano. And Hansen/Kobashi is the 1993 MOTY, an instant classic that has become inmortal.

The happiest surprise for me was how fucking awesome Hokuto/Kandori was, because I saw that match a couple of times a few years ago and I didn't think it was THAT great. Holy shit, holy fucking shit. If there's a match I can describe as 'larger-than-life', it's 100% this match.

And the craziest part of all this is, neither one of those two matches are ***** on my book! But they define pro wrestling perfectly and they both deserve to be the highest picks from 1993.

[NintendoLogic]

I revised my 2018 selections after going on a rewatching spree today. I don't think we'll be getting anything with MOTY potential before Wrestle Kingdom, so I'm going to go ahead and close the book on this year.

[Boss Rock]

New updates.

[NintendoLogic]

So much for closing the book on 2018. In fact, I ended up going full contrarian with my MOTY pick. NOAH the Reborn, indeed.

[Boss Rock]

Update for 2009.

[Tetsujin]

Finished with 1994, what a fucking hell of a year. So many great matches, and more elite stuff than I thought. Aja Kong was no doubt the WOTY and the top two spots of my MOTY podium are two of the greatest matches of the decade. The Hart brothers gave us the rivalry of the year and one of the most clever matches ever produced by WWE. Imagine how good this year is, Misawa/Kawada, while still tremendous, didn't even make the top 3! That's my biggest revelation thus far in this mini project of mine.

 

Looking forward to 1995 now. 9/6/95 is one of the only few matches I'm seeing myself giving it GOAT treatment, but everything can happen and maybe, just maybe, something else can take the #1 spot. We'll see...

[WrestlingFan]

It's extremely hard and in constant change but nonetheless I can try.
 

Spoiler

 

1974 : Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jack Brisco (AJPW, 1/30)

1975 : Billy Robinson vs Antonio Inoki (NJPW, 12/11)

1976 : Billy Robinson vs Giant Baba (AJPW, 7/24)

1977 : Terry Funk vs Harley Race (Houston, 7/1)

1978 : The Funks vs Abby and The Sheik (AJPW, 12/9)

1979 : The Funks vs Abby and The Sheik (AJPW, 2 out of 3 falls, 7/15)

1980 : Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey (WOS, 1/28)

1981 : Terry Funk vs Jerry Lawler (CWA, Empty Arena Match, 4/6)

1982 : Andre The Giant vs Killer Khan (NJPW, 4/1)

1983 : Roddy Piper vs Greg Valentine (JCP, Dog Collar Match, 11/24)

1984 : 5X5 Gauntlet (NJPW, 4/19)

1985 : Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee (CWA, No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, 12/80)

1986 : Nick Bockwinkel vs Curt Hennig (AWA, 11/21)

1987 : Four Horsemen vs Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes and Paul Ellering (JCP, War Games, 7/4)

1988 : Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada vs Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy (AJPW, 12/16)

1989 : Ric Flair vs Terry Funk (WCW, I Quit match, 11/15)

1990 : Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue (AJPW, 11/15)

1991 : Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior (WWF, 3/24)

1992 : Vader vs Sting (WCW, 7/12)

1993 : Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen (AJPW, 7/29)

1994 : Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 6/3)

1995 : Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW, 6/9)

1996 : Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW, 12/6)

1997 : Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 1/20)

1998 : Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 10/31)

1999 : Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 6/11)

2000 : Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 4/1)

2001 : Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs Shinya Hashimoto/Yuji Nagata (Z1, 3/2)

2002 : The Rock vs Hulk Hogan (WWF, 3/17)

2003 : Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (NOAH, 3/1)

2004 : Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH, 4/25)

2005 : Genichiro Tenryu vs KENTA (NOAH, 10/8)

2006 : KENTA vs Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH, 10/29)

2007 : Shawn Michaels vs John Cena (WWE, 4/23)

2008 : Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels (WWE, 9/7)

2009 : Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker (WWE, 4/5)

2010 : Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker (WWE, 3/28)

2011 : CM Punk vs John Cena (WWE, 17/7)

2012 : Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito (NJPW, 3/4)

2013 : Daniel Bryan vs John Cena (WWE, 8/18)

2014 : AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, 8/1)

2015 : Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (WWE, 3/29)

2016 : The Revival vs DIY (WWE, 11/19)

2017 : Kazuchika Okada vs Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, 4/9)

2018 : Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega (NJPW, 6/9)

 

 

 

[NintendoLogic]

Made my first pick for 2019. I'm going to hold off on top 3 until after Wrestlemania unless some matches blow me away before then.

[Boss Rock]

Yet another update, this time for 2011.

[NintendoLogic]

Top three for 2019 is up with the caveat that I  still have yet to see a match from this year that really knocked my socks off. I also made a major revision of my selections for previous years. To wit, I revised my top three for 1974, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013, and 2015.

[NintendoLogic]

New #1 selections for 2008 and 2009 (in the OP).