2022 has been an… interesting year in pro wrestling. There has been an insane influx
of news, some good, some the opposite of good. But I don’t want to end this year on a down note, so
with the final week of the year coming to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to draw
attention to some of the amazing things in this world of wrestling that may have been overshadowed
by the bigger, more negative headlines this year. 2022 was a fantastic year for wrestling,
the quality of in-ring performances continue to get better and better all over the world,
and there has been no shortage of incredibly emotional, highly dramatic moments to remind
us all of why we fell in love with this thing called wrestling in the first place. This list
is going to heavily focus on wrestling that would have taken place outside of WWE and AEW,
so some of these you may have seen, and to you I say well done, but to the rest of you, I’m
Tempest hailing from partsFUNknown and these are 10 Awesome Wrestling Things You Missed In 2022.
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Honourable Mention: Denise Eliminates Sean
Heheh Denise hit Sean right in the dick. In case you needed more reason to believe
that Joey Janela’s Spring Break is indeed a ridiculous display and also
a damn good time. Here is friend of the channel and GCW announcer Denise
Salcedo hitting friend of the channel and dirt sheet boy Sean Ross Sapp in the nads
and eliminating him from the clusterfuck battle royale. I do indeed love wrestling.
10. The Wrestling Club
Speaking of loving wrestling, there are few things more special than the genuine excitement
of a child. At least that’s what Luke Owen D.A.D. tells me. But if you have been around
on wrestling Twitter you will know that there is a very special group simply known as The
Wrestling Club run by Victor Taylor Perry, where a group of kids get to be shown some
of the best wrestling of today and days gone by. The excitement from the kids is touching,
seeing them all so invested in this thing called wrestling, getting to meet people like
Sasha Banks, Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, it’s all just so heartwarming. Perry’s a good dude,
spreading the love of wrestling and helping to foster the passions
of a bunch of middle school students in a way that I would have loved when I was their age.
9. Darby Allin Offers Nick Wayne A Deal
A lot of fans have been exposed to many of the independent and international scene’s best in
2022. Whether it be Konosuke Takeshita, AR Fox or Willow Nightingale, loads of stars got eyes
on them for the first time with crowds getting more and more behind them each time. And let me
just say, you ain’t seen nothing yet until you see Nick Wayne. The teenage prodigy of the northwest,
son of Northwestern wrestling legend Buddy Wayne, Nick has already made a name for himself as one
of the best there is on the independent scene with unbelievable matches with the likes of Will
Ospreay, Billie Starkz, and so many others. This dude was born in 2005! And he is one of the most
impressive wrestlers I have seen all year. And I must not be the only one who thinks that way,
as fellow northwestern star Darby Allin presented Nick with an AEW contract after
Nick’s match with Christopher Daniels in Seattle for Defy Wrestling. The pop when
Darby’s music hits is so cool and then you get the moment Darby pulls the contract out
to huge You Deserve It chants and you get one of the coolest indie wrestling moments of the
year. Just wait until this guy turns 18, you AEW fans will really get to see something special.
8. Giulia’s 5 Star Grand Prix
There are few promotions who had a more consistently excellent 2022 than STARDOM. The
undisputed rulers of women’s wrestling, home of the best women’s matches bar none the world over,
and the biggest all-women’s tournament of the year, the 5 Star Grand Prix. Giulia has been
a fantastic performer for quite some time now but when I asked on Twitter what everyone’s favourite
wrestling moment of the year was, so many people said Giulia’s journey to winning the 5 Star Grand
Prix. The tournament is a round robin with two blocks akin to New Japan’s G1 Climax,
and it was during this run of matches against some of the best names in women’s wrestling,
Mayu Iwatani, Suzu Suzuki, Starlight Kid, Mina Shirakawa,
that Giulia managed to garner 16 points to make the final where she delivered maybe
her best performance of the whole tournament against Tam Nakano. I truly cannot emphasize
enough that STARDOM has had an incredible year and if you want a gateway into the promotion,
watching all of Giulia’s tournament matches will be a great place to start.
7. Suzuki Gun Breaks Up
It’s not often that you see a group so despicable garner such an emotional reaction from an
audience. The most recent moment on our list, in December 2022 Minoru Suzuki revealed that after
over a decade together, Suzuki Gun would all be going their separate ways at the end of the year.
Suzuki Gun was never the top faction of New Japan Pro Wrestling or Pro Wrestling Noah, honestly much
of the time their heelish antics detracted heavily from people’s enjoyment of New Japan, but in more
recent years with the addition of Zack Sabre Jr., the vast improvements of Lance Archer and TAICHI,
and El Desperado’s emergence as one of the best juniors in his division, the group has
become much more beloved than anyone could have suspected. As such, in their departing addresses,
you had TAICHI and Miho Abe say their touching goodbyes, Minoru Suzuki, the murder grandpa
himself, said they didn’t need his help anymore and together this group of villains rode into the
sunset to search for new horizons. Goddamn if I ain’t getting misty eyed just thinking about it.
6. Mina Shirakawa’s Emotional Promo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWN08ATQ2dQ
I mentioned Mina Shirakawa a minute ago as one of the great opponents that Giulia had
to face in her stellar 5 Star Grand Prix run this year. However maybe the most emotional
moment of the year in STARDOM has to go to Shirakawa herself. In 2022 Mina went
from the one most likely to be pinned in her faction, to one of the most over babyfaces in
the entire company. How did she do that? Well by being goddamn amazing for one,
her 5 Star Grand Prix was filled with great matches as well, but the most incredible moment
of her year came in this post-match promo following her match with Saya Kamitani. Mina
sits in tears with her teeth missing and her jaw broken, and gives the babyface promo of the year,
saying that every time she has thought to herself that she can’t do it anymore that’s what she uses
to keep going because her dreams are her hope and if she doesn’t keep going then she’s not a
pro wrestler. Inject this babyface fire IN TO MY VEINS. This is one of the most incredible
promos of the year and at just a minute and 20 seconds you have no excuse not to check it out.
5. Villano IV Loses His Mask
There are few things in wrestling quite as spectacular as a truly monumental mask vs.
mask match. We got one of those indeed at AAA’s TripleMania XXX event, an excellent display of
Lucha Libre that anyone wanting to check out the style must see. Villano IV was going to be near
the end of his career no matter what the outcome of this match was going to be. He is 57 and a true
legend of lucha libre and on this night, he had the unenviable task of trying to wrest the mask
away from AEW World Trios Champion Pentagon Jr. Pentagon would ultimately get the win but there
are two lasting images that truly make this one of the most awesome wrestling moments of the year.
Villano standing unmasked before weeping peers and fans, and this shot of Penta holding his mask,
covered in blood. Are you going to tell me that this is not the most metal thing you have
seen in wrestling all year because holy shit. Tell me when we get this Penta in AEW please.
There have obviously been better matches in lucha libre this year but you will not find
a more emotionally significant moment maybe in all of wrestling than this one in 2022.
4. Will Ospreay vs. Michael Oku
I’ve strayed away from including specific matches on this list,
especially ones that were included in last week’s list of every five star match of the year,
but there will be a few exceptions. One of which is this match here. Will Ospreay’s
2022 was filled to the brim with great matches. The man was having five star classics at your
local indie just because he could. But while I could talk about Ospreay’s stellar G1 Climax,
complete with the final match with Kazuchika Okada, I would like to highlight this match with
Michael Oku from RevPro High Stakes. While I was writing said list of 5 star matches,
no match completely floored me and had me on the edge of my seat quite like this one. Some people
may not be a fan of Will Ospreay and his style and that’s fine, but you then have to watch this
match for the performance of Michael Oku. In the ring, this is probably the babyface performance
of the year. From Ospreay attacking Oku’s family at ringside, bloodying him and sending him flying
into the timekeepers table, this is the match at the top of Tempest’s recommendations for 2022.
3. Jun Kasai’s Promo To El Desperado
For those unfamiliar with the name Jun Kasai, first of all watch our list of craziest places
matches have taken place because he pops up in there, but he is one of the biggest icons
of the deathmatch style still working in wrestling today. On September 12,
he and El Desperado capped off years of rivalry with the best deathmatch of the year,
and that even sounds a bit diminutive because this was one of the best matches of the year full
stop. What may have been better though, was the post match promo from Kasai. Both men bleeding,
Desperado’s mask completely ripped off, and Kasai delivers my promo of the year. This is translated
of course, but I will read this word for word. “Before we fought, you said you didn’t care if
you lived or died in this ring. Don’t be a fool! Death should be welcomed by no man. There are
countless who yearn to live but are doomed to an early death. Here you are, surrounded by friends,
cheered on by this massive audience, you’ve fulfilled your dream of joining New Japan,
rose to the highest ranks of the junior division, you’re living your best life possible! So don’t
tell me that you’d gladly risk it all, you fool! We, pro wrestlers, may not fear death or pain.
We accept that every time we step into this ring.” Fucking. Chills. This promo to cap off this match,
it truly emotional and one of the best complete performances of the year. Anywhere. Any style.
2. FTR vs. Aussie Open
The other of two matches to be listed here is the tag match that people will probably have been
least likely to see but absolutely must go out of their way to watch. FTR vs. Aussie Open was the
featured match from New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Royal Quest 2 from this October. As such,
it aired on New Japan World some time later, meaning you can go right now and watch this
classic and you will be missing out if you don’t. FTR were by far the tag team of the year in 2022
and most people will point to their excellent trilogy of matches with The Briscoes in Ring
of Honor as their best work. Rightfully so, those matches were indeed excellent,
but that 2022 portfolio of theirs also included this gem and you could absolutely make the
argument that it is the best of all of them. The Briscoes matches featured a bit more plunder,
tables, chairs, dog collars and the like, but this was just a wrestling match between
two of the best teams in the world. Some people might prefer the plunder approach, some people
might like the more straightforward style, but either way you slice it you have excellent FTR
matches to always enjoy from 2022. Just make sure this is one that you make time to see.
1. ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey’s Entire Year
Somewhat buried beneath all the wrestling news in 2022 has been IMPACT Wrestling chugging along with
casual greatness. Masha Slamovich and Jordynne Grace had a great match at Bound for Glory, Josh
Alexander has basically put Mr. IMPACT Wrestling on his resume with an excellent World title run,
but the biggest standout to me and the most important bit of wrestling to check out in
2022 if you haven’t seen it has been the work of ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. Mike Bailey was stuck
for a long time not being able to wrestle on big stages because of the state of the world,
but thank god that changed because it doesn’t matter if it was your local indie show,
or a super indie or IMPACT itself where he reigned for most of the year as X Division Champion,
you will not find a more consistently excellent wrestler in the world this year than Mike Bailey.
This was perfectly exemplified by his hour long match with Josh Alexander recently that could
easily stand as IMPACT’s match of the year, but Bailey’s body of work has just been so stellar I
cannot put my appreciation of his skills into words. He was in the main event of the only
show I got to do commentary for this year and he tore the roof off there too. If we’re all lucky,
2023 will be another year of great things to come for ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey,
but until then, something tells me you have a lot of wrestling to catch up on from 2022.
And that’s our list…