{"id":26553,"date":"2023-01-04T11:19:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T11:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/?page_id=26553"},"modified":"2023-12-16T19:23:17","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T19:23:17","slug":"2023-contenders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/2023-contenders\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 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>Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 17, January 04, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 17, January 04, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Adam Priest vs. Anthony Henry (ACTION, Lords of Chaos, January 20, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Yoshinobu Kanemaru &amp; DOUKI vs. TJP &amp; Francesco Akira (New Japan, The New Beginning in Sapporo &#8211; Night One, February 04, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Taichi vs. Will Ospreay (New Japan, The New Beginning in Sapporo &#8211; Night One, February 04, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>YOH vs. Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan, The New Beginning in Sapporo &#8211; Night Two, February 05, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, The New Beginning in Osaka, February 11, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Tristan Archer vs. Will Ospreay (Rixe Catch, Episode 12, February 25, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Dan Moloney vs. Shigehiro Irie (Rev Pro, Live in London 71, March 05, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Trey Miguel, Arez &amp; Fuminori Abe vs. Komander, Senza Volto &amp; Aigle Blanc (wXw, 16 Carat Gold 2023 &#8211; Night Three, March 12, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Black Taurus vs. Komander vs. El Hijo del Vikingo (WrestleCon, Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow 2023, March 30, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Komander vs. El Hijo del Vikingo (ROH, Supercard of Honor, March 31, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Kyle Fletcher &amp; Mark Davis vs. YOSHI-HASHI &amp; Hirooki Goto (New Japan, Sakura Genesis, April 08, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Gabriel Kidd vs. Luke Jacobs (Rev Pro, Live in London 73, May 07, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Mike Bailey vs. Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night One, May 12, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Lio Rush vs. Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Three, May 14, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Taiji Ishimori vs. Mike Bailey (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Seven, May 19, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>TJP vs. Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Seven, May 19, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Mike Bailey vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Eight, May 21, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Dan Moloney vs. Robbie Eagles (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Eight, May 21, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Francesco Akira vs. El Desperado (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Eight, May 21, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Mike Bailey vs. Lio Rush (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Nine, May 23, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Master Wato vs. Mike Bailey (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Eleven, May 26, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Luke Jacobs vs. Shigehiro Irie (wXw, We Love Wrestling #46, May 27, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Titan vs. Master Wato (New Japan, Best of the Super Junior 30 &#8211; Night Twelve, May 28, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Shigehiro Irie vs. Michael Oku (Rev Pro, Live in Southampton 24, June 11, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Callum Newman vs. Leon Slater (Rev Pro, Live in London 75, July 02, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Leyton Buzzard vs. Michael Oku (Rev Pro, Live in London 75, July 02, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Aigle Blanc vs. Michael Oku (wXw, We Love Wrestling #47, July 08, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Jordon Breaks vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Rev Pro, Epic Encounter 2023, July 09, 2023<\/li>\n<li>Leon Slater vs. Will Ospreay (Rev Pro, Epic Encounter 2023, July 09, 2023<\/li>\n<li>Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi (New Japan, G1 Climax 33 &#8211; Night Five, July 21, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Kaito Kiyomiya vs. SANADA (New Japan, G1 Climax 33 &#8211; Night Seven, July 25, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Tomohiro Ishii vs. Eddie Kingston (New Japan, G1 Climax 33 &#8211; Night Eight, July 26, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, G1 Climax 33 &#8211; Night Nine, July 27, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>El Phantasmo vs. Will Ospreay (New Japan, G1 Climax 33 &#8211; Night Fourteen, August 06, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, G1 Climax 33 &#8211; Night Seventeen, August 10, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan, G1 Climax 33 &#8211; Night Nineteen, August 13, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Luke Jacobs vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Rev Pro, 11 Year Anniversary Show, August 26, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay (Rev Pro, 11 Year Anniversary Show, August 26, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Chris Jericho vs. Will Ospreay (AEW, All In, August 27, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Shigehiro Irie vs. Chris Brookes (DDT, Big Bang 2023, September 09, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Icarus vs. Dover (wXw, World Tag Team Festival 2023 &#8211; Night One, September 22, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Mike D Vecchio, Aigle Blanc &amp; Senza Volto vs. Gringo Loco, Arez &amp; Latigo (wXw, World Tag Team Festival 2023 &#8211; Night Two, September 23, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Peter Tihanyi vs. Axel Tischer (wXw, World Tag Team Festival 2023 &#8211; Night Two, September 23, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Takuya Nomura vs. Fuminori Abe (Kakuto Tanteidan, We Are Fighting Detectives, October 12, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii (New Japan, Royal Quest 3, October 14, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay (New Japan, Royal Quest 3, October 14, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Luke Jacobs vs. Ricky Knight Jr. (Rev Pro, British J Cup 2023, October 21, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Luke Jacobs vs. Michael Oku (Rev Pro, Live in London 79, November 05, 2023)<\/li>\n<li>Luke Jacobs vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Rev Pro, Uprising 2023, December 16, 2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><script src=\"moz-extension:\/\/7ec11437-e86c-4047-a2f4-31884d931152\/injectedPasswordless.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\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). Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay (New Japan, WrestleKingdom 17, January 04, 2023) Kazuchika Okada<\/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-26553","page","type-page","status-publish"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P73vbt-6Uh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26553","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=26553"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27472,"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26553\/revisions\/27472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}