Here at WrestleWatch, we try to keep things in the ring separate from what goes on behind the scenes; more often than not, the factors leading to a free agency saga are not found within the squared circle.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that we aren’t watching wrestling - we’re not Timeless Toni Storm over here! In fact, last year as part of our internal Best Match of the Year awarding, we clocked in over a dozen promotions we collectively watch regularly. And that got us thinking about not just looking at things as a Match of the Year but breaking it down to each month and dividing by regions to give a shine to everyone.
Our goal with this trial-run of a side-project (or parallel project? — we’ll find out!) is to highlight great wrestling throughout the year on a consistent rating scale based on multiple opinions from those who watch wrestling around the world. Our scale is a hard cut-off of 0 to 5 - no negative points, no stars above 5. We try to rate every match on a card rather than having an arbitrary cut-off for TV matches, but we also are not rating matches that are purely squashes or end due to injury. Our scale is as follows:
0 = Bottom of the barrel, worst ever
0+ = Greatly disliked, actively wanted to stop watching
1+ = Disliked
2+ = Fine, liked it well enough
3+ = Good, actively want to rewatch
4+ = Great, actively want to tell others about it
5 = Match of the Year contender
As mentioned above, we’ll divide things by a promotion’s home region between North America (WWE, AEW, TNA, MLW, CMLL, AAA, MLP, etc) and Rest of the World (everywhere else). This allows more opportunities for certain promotions to shine and highlight matches that might’ve gone under the radar. Looking back every month also gives us just enough time to review the best matches of the month - we don’t care about being first, we care about quality!
Without much further ado, this week’s piece looks back on the Top 5 for North America in January 2025. We have an audio podcast available here to featuring WrestleWatch podcast host Ryan, guest host Luke, and newcomer Chris chatting about these five matches (if hearing folks wax poetic about Takeshita’s mastery of the German suplex is up your alley).
Our next edition will be the Top 5 for the Rest of the World in January 2025, so stay tuned!
#5: Will Ospreay vs Buddy Matthews
AEW Dynamite 01.08.25
Rating: 3.79/5
Ryan: What a way to re-debut Buddy Matthews. This clash was the first foray into highlighting the three remaining Hounds of Hell (né House of Black) for their relaunch of the faction, and the great performance by Matthews set him on course for a Continental Title clash with Kazuchika Okada at Grand Slam Australia. We also got to see the Styles Clash be leveled back up as a potential finisher for Ospreay!
Luke “Feels”: Personally, I’m shocked that a Will Ospreay match only hit #5 when averaging a Match of the Month list, but I also don’t expect him to miss very many of these lists at all, or ever. He and Buddy Matthews showed incredible chemistry and served as a nice reminder that Matthews is one of the best workers in the company. This match set up the beginning of the end for the House of Black, but this is okay since the Hounds of Hell are now alive and doing very, very well so far.
#4: Kenny Omega vs Brian Cage
AEW Dynamite 01.15.25
Rating: 3.88/5
Ryan: Speaking of reintroductions, Kenny Omega’s return into the AEW ring after over a year was against a fan favorite Brian Cage. Competed in the friendly confines of the Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, the crowd was electric for this expert battle between two big meaty men flipping around every which way.
#3: Daniel Garcia (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata for the AEW TNT Championship
AEW Collision 01.11.25
Rating: 3.96/5
Luke “Feels”: For my money, Katsuyori Shibata was the workrate MVP of AEW in the month of January. While he shined in the spotlight during his fantastic bout vs. Konosuke Takeshita (my personal favorite AEW match in January), his match with Daniel Garcia was just as great. This played out like a chess match for Garcia, needing to think five steps ahead of Shibata's next submission hold just to keep pace. It was a type of mat-centric wrestling match that I really appreciated seeing on AEW television, with Garcia's win feeling earned, if not dominant by any means, thanks to a locked-in Shibata making him work for every second of it.
#2: “Hangman” Adam Page vs Christopher Daniels in a Texas Deathmatch
AEW Collision 01.18.25
Rating: 4.21/5
AJ: “The end of an era. The fateful clash between Hangman and the Fallen Angel was nothing short of a spectacle, rife with blood, sweat, and—for some—tears as Christopher Daniels closed his storied career. This nearly 17-minute match was as bloody as the name “Texas Death Match” implies, with liberal usage of barbed wire, tables, and chairs—Daniels bled heavily throughout, and also took a particularly gnarly stomp through a table by Page minutes into the bout—to up the stakes and work to re-capture some of the magic of Page’s previous acclaimed cage match against Swerve Strickland in 2024. The match was constructed in a way where you couldn't help but root for underdog Daniels against force-of-nature Page, and while the outcome was expected, the emotion and heartbreak of the end of the Fallen Angel’s career make this an all-timer and one of my favorite matches of the year to date.”
Honorable Mentions
Before we get to #1, here are a few matches from North America in January 2025 that we wanted to recognize a few matches that didn’t quite make the cut:
Finn Balor vs Damian Priest in a street fight - WWE Raw 01.13.25
Tessa Blanchard vs Jordynne Grace - TNA Genesis 01.19.25
Kazuchika Okada vs Komander - AEW Collision 01.25.25
Mercedes Mone vs Yuka Sakazaki for the AEW TBS Championship - AEW Dynamite 01.29.25
#1: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata for the AEW International Championship
AEW Collision 01.25.25
Rating: 4.39/5
TC: “This is probably the closest thing we've gotten to pre-brain removal Shibata since he signed with NJPW. Turns out all it took was maybe the best wrestler in the world in 2025 to get him there. Stiff strikes, great matwork, what's not to like? Pro Wrestling really is the strongest style.”
Ryan: “We aren't going to focus heavily on negatives here in the WrestleWatch Reviews series. We're not going to every month have a Worst Match list or point out botches or what have you. We're looking to celebrate and recommend things to people. However, looking at Shibata's January 2025, you have to consider the stark dichotomy between his quizzically-structured Wrestle Dynasty "exhibition" draw with fellow musketeer Hiroshi Tanahashi and his AEW International Championship challenge against the double champ Konosuke Takeshita. One match showcased how little one promotion would allow Shibata to do given his injury record, the other exemplified what he's still capable of doing in the ring. Shibata showed in January in AEW he has much still to offer. And Takeshita is of course a fantastic dance partner to highlight just that (I'm sure we'll have much to laud over him in our February update for his match with Bolten Oleg...).”
We hope you enjoyed this article! As mentioned earlier, we plan to release a Top 5 for the Rest of the World in January 2025 soon so stay tuned!
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