This year, wrestlers across every promotion were creating career defining moments and matches. Mercedes Moné debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling after a headline making walk out from WWE in 2022. Though her wrestling return tour was cut short due to injury, Moné, ever the statement maker, did exactly that with her first match back in nine months almost to the day against the former IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI. Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes aimed to “finish the story” at this year’s WrestleMania after winning the Royal Rumble.
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The fans were wholeheartedly behind Rhodes to become the guy, the one to finally defeat Roman Reigns and become WWE Champion, the title that his father failed to capture. Everybody remembers where they were when Rhodes was seconds away from winning when he took a Samoan Spike from Solo Sikoa followed by a Spear from Reigns while watching the crowd look on in complete shock. Other nominees within the category include FTR vs. Bullet Club Gold’s Best Two Out of Three Falls match on AEW Collision and the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match. Our annual Golden Issue Awards voted on by the Comicbook.com staff honor the best that entertainment had to offer in the year 2023, including Best Wrestling Match. And while there were some epic matches this year, among the five nominees in the category, one match stood out above the rest.
And the winner for the 2023 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Wrestling Match is…
Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay – AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door!
Sometimes there’s a wrestling match that reignites the passion for professional and what makes it great. Omega vs. Ospreay at Forbidden Door is just that. Fans either love or hate it, and that’s why it will be remembered for years to come. These two rivals met at Wrestle Kingdom 17 inside the Tokyo Dome in January. It was billed as Omega’s big return match to Japan. He hadn’t wrestled in Japan since the formation of AEW, leaving the keys to the kingdom to Jay White and Ospreay.
Omega returned to NJPW for what he felt was rightfully his: the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. He felt as though Ospreay’s legacy paled in comparison to his own, wanting to show why he’s still the greatest wrestler in the world despite his time away and his year off recovering from injuries. Omega came out of that hard-hitting match victorious but it lit a fire in Ospreay, and he was going to do whatever he had to in order to reclaim the title.
Forbidden Door is a yearly pay-per-view between AEW and NJPW where they cross-promote ultimate dream matches. Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada, Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. MJF, CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima, and Omega vs. Ospreay, the sequel. So the stage was set — Ospreay wants to prove himself as the rightful successor to Omega in NJPW and Omega wants to defend it from him, believing that he’s still not worthy of the namesake. By all accounts, it was a hard fought encounter. But there are a few distinct moments in this match: one that divides fans and one that immediately puts this match in the Match of the Year category.
Years from now there is a singular part of this match that people will talk about as they have since the match took place six months ago — the infamous Tiger Driver ’91. Many thought it was brutal, nasty, reckless. That they use wrestling as a form of escapism from the world and seeing their favorite wrestler take a hard bump on their neck directly takes them out of that feeling. But to them, that was the point — both men wanted to invoke emotion from the fans. Wrestling is subjective by nature but it’s nothing if not utterly polarizing.
Secondly, the most iconic, goosebump-raising moment in a professional wrestling match: when a wrestler kicks out of their own finisher. That’s exactly what Omega did when Ospreay got the upper-hand in the final act. Omega’s longtime mentor turned enemy Don Callis interfered in the match, handing Ospreay a screwdriver which he used to stab into Omega’s skull. If that wasn’t enough Ospreay used Kota Ibushi’s (the other half of the Golden Lovers) Kamigoye on Omega. Ospreay then sets him up for the One Winged Angel, Omega’s own finishing maneuver that very few wrestlers have kicked out of. That seemed to be the end of the match as Ospreay went for the pin, ready to take back the IWGP United Staes Heavyweight Championship.
What Omega does next is what puts this match into so many MOTY lists. He kicks out of his own finisher at one. This isn’t the first time he’s kicked out of his own move, it isn’t even the first time he’s kicked out of it in AEW. It remains that the OWA is one of the most protected moves inside of the squared circle, only one wrestler that he’s used it on has defiantly “kicked out” of the move (Ibushi).
What this match does right is it makes you believe that either one of these guys could win this match at any time. A real false finish is rare in wrestling as fans are conditioned to believe that only a handful of moves could spell the end of a match, those few select finishers each wrestler has. Ospreay enters Omega’s home country of Canada as the ultimate heel and leaves having defeated the final boss, one of the greatest wrestlers in the world, in what became one of the most bloody and personal feuds of the year.
The nominees for Best Wrestling Match are:
FTR vs Bullet Club Gold — AEW Collision
Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay 2 — AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door — WINNER
Mercedes Mone vs KAIRI — NJPW Battle in the Valley
Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes — WrestleMania 39
Women’s Money in the Bank
