The 2021 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Wrestling Match

December 27, 2021, 7:00pm

It’s that time of year again for ComicBook’s annual Golden Issue awards! These awards are made to honor the best that 2021 had to offer, including from the wild world of professional wrestling. The industry was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020, but by July of this year, the biggest promotions in the world were back to touring in front of live crowds. Once those fans were back, they were treated to a wave of classic matches. We’ve narrowed the list of best matches of the year down to five and it’s time to announce this year’s winner!

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And the winner of the 2021 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Wrestling Match is…

The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Brothers Steel Cage Match at AEW’s All Out pay-per-view!

This was easily the most debated topic among the wrestling awards this year, as there were easily a dozen matches that deserved nominations. That being said, the Young Bucks and Lucha Brothers’ latest clash was almost always brought up. The pair had two stellar matches during AEW’s first year as a company, most notably the Escalera de la Muerta Ladder Match at All Out 2019, but the dynamic was vastly different this time around. The Bucks opted to revert back into obnoxious heels at the start of the year as members of “The Super Elite,” and consistently found new ways to escape matches with the AEW World Tag Team Championships, usually via interference. The company then decided the pair would need to defend their titles inside a Steel Cage, and the winner was determined via a four-team eliminator tournament. Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo claimed their spot in the match after beating The Varsity Blondes and Jurassic Express.

The match wound up being the standout on what has been named AEW’s best pay-per-view to date. The two teams consistently found ways to one-up the other with death-defying double-team moves. The most memorable moments were easily Penta’s top-rope Canadian Destroyer, Matt Jackson’s usage of a spiked Air Jordan sneaker, and Fenix kicking Nick Jackson off the top of the cage before diving off the roof.

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The luchadores have successfully defended their titles four times since beating the Bucks, taking down The Butcher & The Blade, The Acclaimed and FTR (twice). Meanwhile, The Bucks immediately reformed The SuperKliq upon Adam Cole’s return at the end of All Out and have focussed mostly on six-man tag team matches since then.

Congrats to the Young Bucks and The Lucha Brothers on their Golden Issue Awards win!

The nominees for Best Wrestling Match are: