Promotion of the Year
For this section I will rank all of the promotions that I followed on a semi-regular to regular basis. I will also include some honorable and dishonorable mentions as well from promotions that I did not follow regularly but did see matches or shows.
Here’s the link to my 2019 4+ Star Matches list that I reference many times in this post
Honorable Mentions
SEAdLINNNG - This promotion does not make tape a lot. Most of which did make tape I did not watch. What I did see however was pretty good. My overall match of the year is from this promotion. I will definitely try to watch everything from them in 2020.
Sendai Girls - This is another Joshi promotion that does not make tape a lot of the times. I did see all of Sareee’s matches from Sendai Girls this year. Her feud with Chihiro Hashimoto is one of the best ones this year. Since Sareee is retiring this year I will watch everything I can for Sendai Girls in 2020.
OTT Wrestling - I really only saw like 4 matches from OTT this year. They were good. Nothing to write home about. I included OTT in the honorable mentions because it seems to be the last UK/European promotion that actually gives the fans what they want and are not WWE bootlickers… yet.
GCW - The only GCW I watch every year is the Wrestlemania weekend shows. Bloodsport is always a great show and the Joey Janela Spring Breaks are fun shows. They are the only US indie that actually does their style to perfection. Not my cup of tea and won’t watch any shows in 2020 other than the Wrestlemania weekend shows.
Dishonorable Mentions
Progress - This promotion is terrible in many ways. It did not appear once in my 2019 4+ Stars Matches list. Even bad promotions like WWE appeared on the list. Oh yeah, they’re the floor mat that WWE wiped their crappy shoes on when they entered the British scene. A horrible company that I probably will not watch a single second of in 2020.
Evolve - The Progress of the US indies. One match on my 2019 4+ Stars Matches list. Gabe Sapolsky sucks. Might watch the Wrestlemania weekend shows but that’s it.
Impact - This narrative that Impact is actually good again needs to (as the Brits say) get in the bin. It’s not horrible like Progress and Evolve but it’s a very boring promotion that really does not have anything of note occur. I saw all the Pay Per Views and they all gravitate around average. Sometimes above sometimes below. There were also no 4+ star matches. Might completely drop this promotion to make room for other stuff in 2020.
Now onto the real list of promotions that I closely followed. I ranked them and gave them a grade. I separated the main roster WWE/205 Live and NXT/NXT UK into different “promotions” since even though they are under the same corporate umbrella, they are completely different products. I did the same with DDT and TJP.
13) World Wrestling Entertainment
I mean it’s WWE. It’s garbage. The storylines are nonsensical and downright insulting. The matches for the most part are pretty bad. The wrestlers are the most soulless pieces of product. They are not real people. They are walking, talking billboards for WWE to promote whatever fucking piece of merchandise they’re selling on the website right now or whatever crappy PPV is coming up. Everything is homogenized to the point where everyone’s actions and personalities begin to blend together.
Then there’s the moral aspect of the company. WWE finds itself in a sweet spot where they’re big enough to make a billion dollars but insignificant in the mainstream media that they are able to get away with all of the heinous acts they commit. They’ve regressed with the Women’s Revolution. They keep taking that Sweet Saudi Blood Money. There’s the whole independent contractor stuff. The takeover of the UK scene. These people are fucking shit. What makes it worse is that they act like they are some sort of humanitarians. They actually think that what they are doing is good.
They did however have a number of matches that I scored 4+ stars. But given the size of the roster, the number of shows they run and the length of said shows, it’s impossible not to have a few on that list. I mean it’s just basic statistics. Some of their shit is bound to stick to the wall.
Since I’m not doing worst wrestlers or worst matches or worst feuds, I have to bring up Seth GoshDarnTooting Rollins. He was shit this year. The Fiend was shit this year. Baron Corbin was shit this year. Rusev/Lana/Lashley were shit this year. The booking of Becky Lynch was shit this year. There’s a lot of shit in WWE and I don’t want to spend more time writing about it.
The only reason I watch main roster WWE on a semi-regular basis is because my friends watch it with me. We get together on PPV Sundays, order pizza and make fun of terrible wrestling. If on one Sunday for whatever reason my friends can’t make it, I do not even watch the PPVs. It was a group of four. One of them we already have a hard time convincing to come over on Sundays and now with another of my friends moving away in November, I don’t think I will be watching WWE on a regular basis anymore.
Final Score - 1/10
12) Ring of Honor
ROH in 2019 was some of the worst wrestling products out there. The booking made no sense whatsoever. There was never anything interesting about the promotion. Giving Matt Taven a world title run was one of the worst decisions in the promotion’s history. The Women of Honor division is utter garbage. They had Mayu Iwatani and as great as she is, she could not fix this division. The constant push of Bully Ray makes me want to puke. Their portion of the G1 Supercard took what could have been a historic greatest show of all time down to a pretty good show, which was all thanks to NJPW.
They had a few matches on the 4+ Star Matches list but somehow managed to get less than WWE.
Their business really tanked with The Elite leaving but tanked even harder with their bad booking. They made some great signings throughout the year but it has not stopped the bleeding. I was going to drop this promotion altogether but with the news of Marty Scurll’s new contract that sees him taking over in a booking capacity, I’m going to give Ring of Honor until SuperCard of Honor to change my mind.
Final Score - 3/10
11) Revolution Pro Wrestling
RevPro was easily the most boring promotion of the year. They had the least amount of 4 star matches this year out of the promotions that I follow regularly. There was no interesting storylines this year. The only thing that happened in RevPro that generated any sort of buzz was the Josh Bodom incident.
Michael Oku was the only thing that was remotely interesting. But even he has a lot of work to do to live up to his hype.
There were a lot of bad matches. A lot of their shows were pretty bad. The cockpit shows were some of the most dreadful wrestling shows I’ve seen all year. They felt 8 hours long, even though most of them were around 2 hours. There’s not much else I can say about this promotion and I will not be watching much in 2020. I’m definitely dropping it from my queue.
Final Rating - 4/10
10) Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
TJP is a promotion I got into in 2018 solely because it was included with my ddt universe subscription. 2019 was not a great year compared to their 2018. It is a promotion that focuses more on character work. In that aspect they did pretty good. They did not have a lot of terrible matches like the promotions previously mentioned but they did barely have 1 more match in the 4+ Star Match list than RevPro.
The Misao and Sakisama team was the most enjoyable part of the promotion. They had a lot of good matches and their chemistry was great. Miu Watanabe really started to come into her own this year. Teaming with Miyu Yamashita was also another fun team this year.
Shoko Nakajima’s run with the Princess of Princess title was a little underwhelming. Maybe it was because it followed Miyu Yamashita’s record title reign. The match where Shoko beat Miyu was also a little bad. She wasn’t a terrible champion just a very boring one.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling was still a decent promotion just a little boring. I will continue watching it since it’s basically free to watch for me.
Final Rating - 6/10
9) Pro Wrestling Guerrillas
PWG was a pretty decent promotion to follow in 2019. It is about 10 shows a year and I always binge them at the very end. I didn’t watch Makings of a Varsity Athlete though because as I’m writing this it hasn’t been released yet. That is what makes this promotion a little hard to follow. In the age of easy access, this DVD only formula that PWG uses makes it hard to stay up to date with the promotion.
Their shows were good for the most part. They had some great matches all throughout the year. Theses shows are easy to watch. They don’t require much attention to detail as it’s just about the moves. I know people get very angry about “movez” but this promotion can get away with it. I will continue to watch in 2020 for sure.
Final Rating - 6/10
8) All Elite Wrestling
This is probably lower than most fans would have AEW at. This promotion has only existed since May of 2019. They made a great first impression with Double or Nothing, a legit show of the year contender. The rest of their PPVs and big shows were decent to pretty good. They didn’t have a lot of high level MOTY type matches but they did have a lot of spots on the 4+ Star Matches list.
Their TV started of pretty good and was a refreshing change in the American scene. They were good shows with hot crowds and good matches. After their PPV Full Gear things started to go in a downward direction. WWE-esque storylines started to slowly creep in. All the things that Tony Khan said the promotion wouldn’t be started to become a reality. I usually admire promotions for sticking with their booking plans but AEW’s stubbornness to drop some of their most embarrassing storylines has really slowed their momentum. I will continue to watch in 2020 but if they stay on the same path, I might just drop them.
Final Rating - 6/10
7) Pro Wrestling NOAH
NOAH is one of those promotions that’s harder to follow. I watch most everything that makes tape. Coming off a strong 2018, this year NOAH fell a little for me. The Kaito Kiyomiya reign had a lot to do with it. He had a couple a great matches but overall it was a long and tedious reign that had me wondering who was taking the title off of him and when. That is not the ideal reaction for the supposed babyface ace champion. And although I did not think his title reign was anything special, it was well-booked and it didn’t lose any business at all.
AXIZ was a great tag team that kept things interesting. They had a few great matches. Katsuhiko
Nakajima was the best thing in NOAH this year. The first half of the year was so uneventful that I almost stopped watching NOAH completely but the fall was very exciting and what I saw of the N-1 Victory was great.
I will continue to watch NOAH in 2020.
Final Rating - 6/10
6) NXT
NXT started the year off great. The first two TakeOvers of the year were great shows but things fell off after the New York TakeOver. Everything in NXT was overdone. The matches were the epitome of “Style over Substance” meaning that they were bloated with cool moves with little to no story or narrative. It has truly become, as someone on Twitter said I don’t remember who, corporate PWG. Whereas in PWG the excess in matches works for the little underground promotion, it doesn’t really translate to a national TV show from the biggest wrestling company in the world.
What NXT lacks more than any promotion in the world is identity. It tries to be too many things. It wants to be cool moves and dream matches like PWG, sports entertainment storytelling like main roster WWE and old school territorial wrestling. It wasn’t what it was before they moved to national television. They used to be competent wrestling shows that built up feuds to the TakeOvers and every now and then had matches on the weekly show that weren’t important enough for a TakeOver. It wasn’t the most exciting television show but it was an easy show to get through and it was always moving along. Now everything is done on a whim just like main roster WWE. The shows and the matches lack substantial structure. They now do things just to do them.
The matches for the most part are pretty good. There was a lot of overrated stuff, mainly Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole. Io Shirai was the bright spot of NXT this year. They need to get their heads out of their asses and go all the way with her.
NXT UK was just kind of there. I’m not going to lie, I only watched the two TakeOvers. They were boring at best. The highlight was Walter vs Tyler Bate. I probably will continue watching NXT in 2020 although the 2 hour show might do me in.
Final Rating - 6/10
5) Dramatic Dream Team
DDT was a real fun promotion to follow this year. I get that the comedy stuff might not be for everyone but the comedy is actually well done. The difference between DDT and comedy/irony promotions in the US/UK indies is that in the latter the comedy has nothing to do with professional wrestling. It’s just comedy that happens to occur in a wrestling ring. The comedy in DDT, at the core, is still wrestling. They are still constructing a match with all the elements that make normal matches good but with an added layer of comedy. Plus the comedy is actually clever and funny.
It helps that the wrestling is actually great. When they are not doing comedy the are putting on good matches. The two belts storyline in the fall was well done. Tetsuya Endo’s title reign was pretty good. DDT is great at doing big shows. Both Wrestle Peter Pan and Ultimate Party will finish in my top 3 shows of the year. They had a match in my Top 10 matches of the year. Konosuke Takeshita, Tetsuya Endo and Daisuke Sasaki all had some great in-ring years.
The first quarter of the year was a little bad so I can’t rank it any higher. I will definitely continue to watch DDT in 2020.
Final Rating - 7/10
4) Dragon Gate
Dragon Gate was a promotion that finished pretty low in 2018. This year they really picked up in quality. A lot had to do with PAC’s Open the Dream Gate title reign. He increased the importance and popularity of the title for Ben-K’s eventual coronation. Ben-K’s story was also a highlight of the company. Dragon Gate’s title matches this year are pretty underrated, especially in a year where a lot of promotion’s title matches were pretty stale.
They had a lot of matches in the 2019 4+ Star Matches list. They also had a match in my Top 10 matches of the year. Masaaki Mochizuki had a great underrated year. Shun Skywalker, Ben-K, Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka all had great in-ring years as well.
The Ultimo Dragon stuff was real nice although having Ultimo win so much was a weird choice for sure. R.E.D was great this year. I also enjoyed the Mochizuki Dojo group as well. Every other faction was just there. The change up in the factions at the end of the year makes this promotion more interesting and I’m looking forward to continue watching in 2020.
Final Rating - 7/10
3) All Japan Pro Wrestling
AJPW held up this year thanks to two things: Kento Miyahara’s Triple Crown title reign and the Champion Carnival. There was a large number of top level matches this year in All Japan. Miyahara’s reign was the best world title reign this year by a wide margin. His feuds with Jake Lee and Naoya Nomura were some of the best of the year. The tag division was the strongest in any promotion, not that there’s much competition.
AJPW had 36 matches in my list. Kento Miyahara and Naoya Nomura had fantastic in-ring years.
The booking was a little weak towards the end of the year. There does not feel like anyone is ready to beat Miyahara. Nomura is the best choice to take the title off of him and his booking in the Real World Tag League was very questionable. Of course the junior division is pretty bland and with the unfortunate death of Atsushi Aoki there wasn’t much going on in the division.
The Champion Carnival, the Royal Road tournament and the Real World Tag League provided the best of AJPW in 2019. With the possibility of a working relationship with Dragon Gate, I’m pretty excited for AJPW in 2020.
Final Rating - 7/10
2) World Wonder Ring STARDOM
STARDOM had a great 2019. Momo Watanabe’s Wonder of STARDOM title reign was a great one that saw many 4+ Star matches. The whole promotion had 4+ Star matches all year as they had the second most matches on my list. The 5 Star Grand Prix was a really good tournament. There were also some great feuds this year including the Arisa Hoshiki/Hazuki and Tokyo Cyber Squad against the rest of the roster.
The emergence of TCS was the highlight of the year and if I did a best factions category, Tokyo Cyber Squad would run away with it. 2019 saw Hana Kimura catapult to a new level in the promotion. The tag team of Jungle Kyona and Konami was a great addition to STARDOM’s underrated tag division.
Arisa Hoshiki was another bright spot of STARDOM’s roster. She came back to the promotion in late 2018 and in 2019 she really stepped up. She had great matches and great feuds.
Although Kagetsu and Hazuki retired in 2019, Oedo Tai is in great hands with Natsuko Tora, who really shined this year. Her feud with Jungle Kyona was an underrated feud for sure and one that needs for people to go back and follow again.
The World of STARDOM title was a low point for the promotion. With Kagetsu’s underwhelming run and Bea Priestly’s bad reign, it was yet another world title in 2019 that was uninteresting. The secondary title in the promotion outshined this belt as it has for a couple of years now.
STARDOM’s future looks great. With being bought by BUSHIROAD and having an amazing roster of talented ladies, I look forward to what they can accomplish in 2020.
Final Rating - 8/10
1) New Japan Pro Wrestling
NJPW in 2019 was great. The tournaments this year were some of the best ever. New Japan Cup 2019 was the best New Japan Cup ever. Best of the Super Juniors 26 was one of the best ones ever. The G1 Climax, although did not peak as high as years past, was probably the most consistent tournament of all time. They had other solid tournaments as well like the Young Lion’s Cup, the Super J Cup and the Junior Tag League.
Of course they had a large amount of matches in my 2019 4+ Star Matches list. They had the most with 127 matches on the list. They also had 5 spots in my Top 10 matches of the year. Will Ospreay had an in-ring year that cannot be matched by anyone else. Shingo Takagi also had an amazing year as well. Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr all had under the radar fantastic years. Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, Dragon Lee and Taiji Ishimori also had great in-ring years.
There were some great feuds this year as well. The Naito/Ibushi feud was filled with hate and nasty bumps and the matches were great as well. Sabre/Tanahashi was a more mellow feud but was still competitive. Of course Minoru Suzuki and Jushin Thunder Liger was the best feud of the promotion this year. Just two 50 year olds beating the shit out of each other with a special appearance from Kishin Liger. Other notable feuds include White/Naito, KENTA/NJPW and the four way Ospreay/El Phantasmo/Ishimori/Robbie Eagles.
NJPW’s tag divisions obviously are the low point of the promotion going on for many years now.
There isn’t much to say about them that hasn’t already been said everywhere else. The IWGP title picture this year was very lackluster. Both Tanahashi and White had zero defence reigns at the beginning of the year so there wasn’t much room for excitement there. Okada’s reign was very boring. He won it in April and it felt like just a placeholder reign to get to January. The only great match in the reign was the Minoru Suzuki match at Royal Quest.
Despite its negatives, this promotion always delivers consistently. The booking is seldom questionable and the matches are always great. I am excited for their 2020
Final Rating - 8/10
