{"id":22326,"date":"2021-01-04T12:08:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T12:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/?page_id=22326"},"modified":"2021-12-24T19:49:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T19:49:22","slug":"2021-contenders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/2021-contenders\/","title":{"rendered":"2021 Contenders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a new year &#8211; and a fresh list of our Match of the Year Contenders. All of these matches either got ****\u00bc and above in our reviews, our would have (if we reviewed it, for shows we don\u2019t fully cover).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 15 \u2013 Night One, January 04, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 15 \u2013 Night One, January 04, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Jeff Cobb vs. Shingo Takagi (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 15 \u2013 Night Two, January 05, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 15 \u2013 Night Two, January 05, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Jay White vs. Kota Ibushi (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 15 \u2013 Night Two, January 05, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Dominic Garrini &amp; Kevin Ku vs. Anthony Henry &amp; JD Drake (ACTION Wrestling, Matt The Mouth&#8217;s Mysteriously Meaty 29th Birthday Bash Extravaganza, January 08, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Suzu Suzuki (Ice Ribbon, New Ice Ribbon #1095 ~ Winter Story, January 23, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Will Ospreay vs. Satoshi Kojima (New Japan, The New Beginning in Nagoya, January 30, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi (New Japan, The New Beginning in Nagoya, January 30, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>SHO vs. Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan, The New Beginning in Hiroshima &#8211; Night One, February 10, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii (New Japan, New Japan Cup 2021 &#8211; Night Four, March 09, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (New Japan, New Japan Cup 2021 &#8211; Night Eight, March 14, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Thunder Rosa vs. Britt Baker (AEW, Dynamite, March 17, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Chris Dickinson vs. Wheeler Yuta (Beyond Wrestling, Signature Series #4, March 18, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Chris Dickinson vs. Matt Makowski (Beyond Wrestling, Signature Series #6, April 01, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Tommaso Ciampa vs. WALTER (WWE, NXT Takeover: Stand &amp; Deliver &#8211; Night One, April 07, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Rampage Brown vs. WALTER (WWE, NXT UK Prelude, April 08, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Jon Moxley vs. Josh Barnett (GCW, Josh Barnett&#8217;s Bloodsport 6, April 08, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Jay White vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan, Wrestling Dontaku 2021 &#8211; Night One, May 03, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay (New Japan, Wrestling Dontaku 2021 &#8211; Night Two, May 04, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Wheeler Yuta vs. Lee Moriarty (Beyond, Project Reality, May 06, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>JD Drake vs. Daniel Garcia (Limitless, The Games We Play, May 07, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Chris Dickinson vs. Tom Lawlor (New Japan, Strong E42 &#8211; Collision 2021, May 28, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, Dominion 6.6 in Osaka-Jo Hall, June 07, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Meiko Satomura vs. Kay Lee Ray (WWE, NXT UK #143, aired June 10, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi (New Japan, Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, July 25, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Ethan Allen &amp; Luke Jacobs vs. Michael Oku &amp; Connor Mills (Rev Pro, Live at (not) The Cockpit 52, August 01, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Adam Priest vs. Daniel Makabe (Scenic City Invitational 2021, Night One, August 06, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>AC Mack vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Alex Kane vs. Daniel Makabe (Scenic City Invitational 2021, Night Two, August 07, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Daniel Garcia vs. Wheeler Yuta (IWTV 100, August 08, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Danny Hope &amp; Joey Hayes vs. Ethan Allen &amp; Luke Jacobs (FutureShock, 17th Anniversary &#8211; Part One, August 14, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Ethan Allen &amp; Luke Jacobs vs. Mark Davis &amp; Kyle Fletcher (Rev Pro, Nine Year Anniversary, August 21, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER (WWE, NXT TakeOver 36, August 22, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi (New Japan, G1 Climax 31 &#8211; Night One, September 18, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan, G1 Climax 31 &#8211; Night Two, September 19, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Mark Davis &amp; Kyle Fletcher vs. Michael Oku &amp; Connor Mills (Rev Pro, High Stakes 2021, September 19, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Ricky Knight Jr. vs. Will Ospreay (Rev Pro, High Stakes 2021, September 19, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega (AEW Dynamite &#8211; Grand Slam, September 22, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shingo Takagi (New Japan, G1 Climax 31 &#8211; Night Three, September 23, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>A-Kid vs. Ilja Dragunov (WWE, NXT UK #161, taped October 06, 2021\/aired October 14, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Daniel Garcia vs. Alex Shelley (Beyond Wrestling, Uncharted Territory Season 3 Episode 1, October 07, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>KENTA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (New Japan, G1 Climax 31 &#8211; Night Thirteen, October 09, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Michael Oku vs. Will Ospreay (Rev Pro, Live in Southampton 14, October 10, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Jeff Cobb vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, G1 Climax 31 &#8211; Night Eighteen, October 20, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata (New Japan, G1 Climax 31 &#8211; Night Nineteen, October 21, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado (New Japan, World Tag League 2021 &amp; Best of the Super Junior 28 \u2013 Night Seven, November 21, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Mike Bailey vs. Michael Oku (Rev Pro, Uprising 2021, November 21, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Arik Royal vs. Daniel Makabe (ACTION Wrestling, Bangers Only 2, December 03, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Hirooki Goto &amp; YOSHI-HASHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr. &amp; Taichi (New Japan, World Tag League 2021 &amp; Best of the Super Junior 28 \u2013 Night Twenty-Two, December 12, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>YOH vs. Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan, World Tag League 2021 &amp; Best of the Super Junior 28 \u2013 Night Twenty-Three, December 15, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>Cara Noir vs. WALTER (wXw, 21st Anniversary, December 18, 2021)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a new year &#8211; and a fresh list of our Match of the Year Contenders. All of these matches either got ****\u00bc and above in our reviews, our would have (if we reviewed it, for shows we don\u2019t fully cover). Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 15 \u2013 Night One, January 04,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22326","page","type-page","status-publish"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P73vbt-5O6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22326"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25415,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22326\/revisions\/25415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}