Featured image by Alecs Ongcal, Rappler
This year, I had the distinct privilege of attending more live wrestling shows than I ever have in the past. Across five different promotions on two different continents, I have been fortunate enough to be far more involved with live wrestling in 2019 than I ever have in my life. This includes three PWR shows (Wrevolution X, Homecoming, and Vendetta), every MWF show barring MWF 10 and the first Aksyonovela tapings, one WUW event, the WWE Live in Manila house show, and even a PROGRESS Wrestling show in Toronto.
And as anyone who watches live wrestling will tell you, the experience is significantly different from watching wrestling at home. It is simply better in every way. For one, you become an active participant in the product as your cheering and chanting joins with the crowd to influence the energy surrounding a show. For another, the impact of moves in person simply can not be matched on footage. There is an immediate sense of awe to live wrestling. Every wrestler is bigger than they first seemed on the screen and all the stakes become immediate.
Because of this, I already have an innately positive bias towards matches that I watch live. The memory of having fun at the show and chanting with the crowd colors the critical faculties that I use to analyze matches. At the same time, my limited viewpoint from my seat in the audience keeps me from analyzing the smaller nuances of ring work that footage reveals. This also means that my memories of the match alone form the basis of how I analyze and discuss these matches.
With that said, here is a ranking of my fifteen absolute favorite matches that I got to see live this year. This list, as I mentioned, is based purely on memory, the initial gut feel that the match left me with, and the critical analysis that I got to apply to the matches both in the moment and in retrospect at home. That’s why I choose not to apply star ratings to matches that I see live. It is a deeply flawed list for all those reasons, but it’s my list because of that.
Also worth noting is that not included in this list are the December 15th MWF Aksyonovela tapings that I attended. As those matches and their results have not been made publicly available yet, I will not be including them in the scope of this list.
Let’s go.
15. Robin Sane & Rex Lawin vs. Frankie Thurteen & Morgan Vaughn (MWF 8: Halalan Special 2019, 5/18/19)
Photo credit to MWF
At the start of 2019, the Youngblxxd pairing of Frankie Thurteen & Morgan Vaughn still hadn’t quite clicked with me. Their gimmick felt strange and incomprehensible and their ringwork still had an air of sloppiness and greenness to them. Their act never quite gelled for me at all this year and I guess it’s fair to say that I just didn’t “get” the Youngblxxd.
Luckily for wrestling fans, Southern tag wrestling is the most universally easy formula to understand.
This match worked for its pure simplicity of an early babyface shine with Rex & Sane thrashing the heels and then Youngblxxd coming back to isolate one of the babyfaces. The crowd was energetic, involved, and responded well to the simple heel-face dynamics. It was a good match that played to the strengths of its players with a classic layout.
14. Imabayashi vs. Cali Nueva (PWR Homecoming, 10/12/19)
Photo by Alecs Ongcal, Rappler
My response to Imabayashi’s live performances previously had been lukewarm to say the least. I had seen three different championship matches of his during his record breaking PWR Title reign and very rarely did I come out of those matches thinking that Imabayashi put in a great performance.
This match from PWR Homecoming leads me to believe or at least speculate that Imabayashi might have slowed down his ringwork for the purpose of being a hateable top heel. Because in this match against the hottest breakout star for PWR in 2019, Cali Nueva, Imabayashi’s offense and work felt energized, snug, and exciting even when just working holds on the mat.
Nueva, of course, brings a fantastic sense of spectacle to all his matches. He might be one of the most naturally gifted high flyers in Philippine wrestling history. Only a few botches and slip ups betray that this is his rookie year in the business. Otherwise, he has a great look, awesome offense, and it’s impossible to see him not shooting up the ranks of the roster if handled properly.
13. Rex Lawin vs. Bryan Leo (MWF 11: Road to Fate 2019, 9/21/19)
Photo from MWF
Rex Lawin’s face turn in MWF just sort of happened in 2019. The impetus for this at the start of the year, turning on Coach Gus Queens, came at the end of a controversial match where the fans in attendance were far more concerned with Robin Sane’s safety than any character development happening in the ring. It wasn’t the smoothest transition there’s ever been especially when something like Khayl Sison’s face turn was around for comparison.
But Rex can always be counted on to bring some of the best looking strikes and offense in local wrestling to match and there’s no better victim for a thrashing than the ever controversial “Classical” Bryan Leo. Leo is hated for many, many reasons both legitimate and in kayfabe, and it is so deeply satisfying and pleasant to see him get hurt.
What elevates this match onto this list, however, is the ambitious turn it took with its ring psychology. A poke to the eyes halfway through the match nearly incapacitates Rex who ends up selling the damage to his eye for the rest of the match as well as weeks down the line on Aksyonovela TV.
The eye poke as a move in wrestling is something we all take for granted and yet legitimate combat sports such as MMA show us how devastating the effects of it can be. To see that element of realism and a unique take on limb psychology be incorporated into a wrestling match was something rarely seen not only in local wrestling but wrestling in general.
And also, Leo lost. So even better.
12. Nigel San Jose vs. Jomar Liwanag (MWF 11: Road to Fate 2019, 9/21/19)
Photo from MWF
NSJ is easily the MWF breakout of the year. Showing flashes of brilliance with some good grappling as a white-shirt clad trainee, he finally got to make his proper debut on the roster in a snazzy singlet and an array of suplexes that call to mind early Kurt Angle. But where Kurt Angle’s smiling attitude was self-important and pompous, NSJ feels entirely endearing and genuine.
On the other end of things, Jomar Liwanag might be the most improved worker of 2019. Every single outing, he got to show great fundamentals in his striking and power game that made him an absolute highlight of any MWF card that he was on.
Having those two meet was a recipe for success. It wasn’t perfect. NSJ still hasn’t put together the intangibles of wrestling together yet. If anything, he’s much closer to a very entertaining spot monkey than a fully complete wrestler at this point. Also, not all of Jomar’s offense hit clean in this outing. But otherwise, both men went at it with a lot of energy and both took some really great suplex bumps that are always a treat to see live. Watch out for these two in 2020, they’re poised to take over.
11. Chris Panzer vs. James “Idol” Martinez (PWR Vendetta 2019, 11/24/19)
Photo from PWR
Short but effective. The classic formula of a comedic midcard babyface getting a shot at the top heel in the company is one that always seems to produce good results. We get great moments like Taka Michinoku pushing Triple H to the limit, Koko B. Ware getting a moment in the sun against Ric Flair, and soon on TNT we’ll see Jungle Boy dance with Chris Jericho for ten minutes.
Idol and Panzer had me chomping at the bit for a title change when any reasonable look at the booking could tell us it just won’t happen. And that’s the magic of pro wrestling. It makes you believe the impossible.
The hope spots in this match played perfectly which made MSG’s heel tactics doubly effective as they did what any good heels should do: take away what the crowd wants. A wonderfully compact notch in the champion’s belt leading into 2020 with all the momentum in the world.
10. Tajiri vs. Fabio Makisig (MWF 8: Halalan Special 2019, 5/8/19)
I’ve spoken about this match before on my Top 10 Hidden Gems video on YouTube but it bears emphasizing just what a moment this was. When Tajiri came through the curtain and the crowd came to their feet, there just wasn’t any way for this not to be well received it.
It doesn’t matter that Tajiri is older and basically working house show spots that he can do in his sleep. It doesn’t matter that even with a slower and more laidback Tajiri, his years of experience in the ring expose Fabio’s relative inexperience. None of these things matter because this match was much more about getting to see a piece of our history, of our childhoods, up close and personal than it was about being a wrestling match.
By the time, Tajiri misted Khayl Sison into oblivion, the crowd had gotten everything they could have realistically asked for and they loved it.
9. Kapitan Tutan’s Dick Pic Battle Royale (PWR Wrevolution X 2019, 5/26/19)
Photo by Czar Dancel
The winner of the battle royale got access to Kapitan Tutan’s dick pic. Need I say more?
Honestly, there’s very little to say about this match. It’s a crowd pleaser. Returning faces like Zayden Trudeau, the comedic tone of the whole match, and the feel good ending. Add in a spot of dueling 450 Splashes from Cali Nueva and Zayden Trudeau and there’s really very little that could have gotten in the way of this match being good.
Cali Nueva was the absolute standout from this match. This was my first time seeing him perform and he left an impression that has seen him become a heavily featured part of PWR booking. I look forward to seeing more from Nueva in 2020 because the sky is the limit.
8. Jordan Devlin vs. Travis Banks (PROGRESS in Toronto, 8/8/19)
Photo from PROGRESS
This match was good.
Of course it was good. It’s Jordan Devlin who’s having the run of his life on the European indies and NXT UK against another luminary of the English independent scene, Travis Banks. This was never gonna be a bad match especially live.
It was doubly significant for being the first ever PROGRESS match I watched while in a different country. My first chance to see these top talents performing at such a high level up close and personal. There was no way I was going to dislike this match.
This match was good. Too good.
The smoothness that Devlin and Banks imbue into their work for this opening match on the PROGRESS in Toronto card robs us a little bit of the gritty struggle that makes the best of pro wrestling so compelling. But it was an opener so that can be forgiven. Its role on the card was to get the crowd going and boy did they get the crowd going.
It was a good time and a lot of fun. Because of course it was.
7. Ralph Imabayashi vs. Quatro (PWR Wrevolution X 2019, 5/26/19)
Photo by Hub Pacheco
This is the match that I struggled to place on this list the most because at its core is a truly excellent match. Unfortunately, that truly amazing match is buried beneath a lot of different tropes, decisions, and directions that I just don’t enjoy in my pro wrestling.
Too many things about this match felt off not only in the moment but especially in retrospect. Imabayashi taking down The YOLO Twins as a face move in the middle of the match, almost stealing the babyface shine away from Quatro. Quatro resorting to trying to straight up drown Imabayashi and drawing boos from the crowd. Unnecessarily extending the finishing stretch to have Ralph kick out of the Destino. There is so much going on in this match and not all of it works.
But at its core, this match is a babyface vs. heel championship style two out of three falls match. It’s the payoff to half a year of storytelling and the coronation of one of the fastest ascents on the PWR card in history. Everyone in that crowd needed to see Quatro leave with the title and the journey, though winding, reached its inevitable and perfect conclusion. The pop for Quatro’s victory was massive and the celebration after was the well-earned crowning of a new player to the top of the Philippine wrestling scene.
6. Khayl Sison vs. Fabio Makisig (MWF 7: Kasaysayan, 4/13/19)
Photo from MWF
A perfect utilization of time in a style that is not often explored in local wrestling. Fabio and Sison went out there and grappled on the mat for ten minutes, keeping bumps and power moves to an absolute minimum. More traditional pro wrestling style tropes only peeked in at the very finish with Sison sneaking in a low blow to set up his submission victory.
This felt like a perfect proof of concept match. It showed that a local crowd can definitely invest and enjoy a more technical bout worked primarily on the mat. Technical wrestling might be some of the hardest kind of wrestling to do well and make compelling as the lack of bumps can test an audience’s patience.
But done right, as it was here, it can be a compelling chess match between two competitors throwing themselves at any opening or opportunity to take their adversary down.
5. Jake de Leon, Quatro, Mike Madrigal, & The Kakaibros vs. Shaukat, Serigala, Harry Ray, Tony Abel, & Cornelius Low (PWR Vendetta 2019, 11/24/19)
Photo from PWR
Despite my complaints about the brutal length of this match (nearly reaching the 60 minute point), this is still a wonder of pro wrestling when seen taken in a bubble.
The layoutting did so much to help manage the crowd’s energy for an incredibly long ride and while things did start to slip towards the end, the action remained incredibly entertaining for most of this match. So much about this match remains memorable to those in attendance. From Mh4rckie’s dogged attempts to stay alive despite the onslaught of Team Malaysia to Quatro’s stubborn refusal to tag in Mike Madrigal (a segment which probably went a little too long), the characters in this match felt so vibrant and entertaining.
The thing about overambition is that sometimes, you get it right and this match felt like they got things right. Sure, you could shave off ten or fifteen minutes to make this match even better but I’m grateful for what we got and there’s no denying the physical effort that Quatro, Mike, & Shaukat put in to stay in the ring for that length of time. In the end, this felt like a mission statement from Southeast Asian wrestling: we’re here to stay.
4. Fabio Makisig vs. Tajiri (MWF 11: Road to Fate 2019, 9/21/19)
Photo from MWF
The MWF match of the year. Tajiri and Fabio leaned into their offense far much more in this match, getting past the lengthy feeling out stages of their first encounter. Because of that, we got far more action with great strikes, cool bumps, and a tight and compact use of time that made for the perfect opener to one of MWF’s best shows of the year.
The fact that this match stood out so well without Tajiri having to lean on his crowd pleasing spots like the mist showed how much progression these two created from their first match. This felt much less like touring-the-world Tajiri and a little more like the murderous Japanese Buzzsaw of 2000.
Of course, it’s unfair to expect Tajiri to reach those heights any longer but for the briefest moments, we caught glimpses of it here. The fact that Fabio overcame that to get the victory in the end only made his win all the more impressive and meaningful.
3. Quatro vs. Chris Panzer vs. Jeff Cobb (PWR Homecoming, 10/12/19)
Photo by Alecs Ongcal, Rappler
Dubbed by some as the greatest Philippine wrestling match of all time, this match had probably the loudest pop I’ve ever heard in my life.
I screamed my throat raw when Jeff Cobb tossed Quatro into multiple revolutions with the F5000. It was the single most impressive physical act I’ve ever seen performed live inside a wrestling ring and the Revo-nation rightfully lost their collective minds when they saw it happen. It’s a special moment embedded into the memories of anyone who saw it as for a moment, Quatro’s body simply ceased to be bound by gravity.
The perfectly molded muscles of Jeff Cobb make a mockery of physics.
But.
Yes, there is a but.
Structurally and tonally, the opening moments of this match completely fail to support the momentous finishing stretch. And I’m going to say it, a lot of the failings of this match fall squarely on Jeff Cobb’s massive shoulders. Despite the awesome displays of strength down the stretch, don’t get confused about which Jeff Cobb we got on this night.
This wasn’t PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb playing to the Los Angeles crowd or the focused ROH Television Champion Jeff Cobb who goes hard in quick bursts of spectacular fashion. Oh no, this was Jeff Cobb fulfilling a booking and saving himself for a New Japan tour down the line.
Just look at his demeanor to open the match. For Quatro and Chris Panzer, this is the biggest match of their lives: a culmination to a bubbling championship feud, a chance to showcase their talents to the world.For Jeff Cobb, it’s just another day at the office.
Nothing in his performance leads the fans to believe that this match matters to him, or that the championship matters to him. The pinnacle, the most prized possession in Philippine wrestling, the PWR Championship: it’s just not a big deal to Jeff Cobb. So instead, he works comedy spots, takes his time enjoying the crowd, tosses our champion around like he’s not all that important.
I genuinely feel sorry for Panzer and Quatro in this situation. They went out there and worked their asses off. Panzer with his old school heel mannerisms backed up by his slimy MSG cronies at ringside, Quatro trying to show that he has earned his spot at the top of the mountain, both men bumping and bumping and bumping for Cobb’s offense to get the crowd rolicking. All of this culminating in a momentous victory: Chris Panzer becomes a three-time PWR Champion, a well-earned and rightful victory for someone who’s been holding down the company from the very beginning.
But Jeff Cobb came to play the hits. And the hits were all we talked about in the end.
EDIT: Some valuable backstage context from Quatro on this match. Check him out at @QuatroPWR on Twitter.
Jeff Cobb missed an ROH date just to compete in Homecoming. He took big bumps even though he didn’t need to. I chose which moves I wanted to take and how to take them and he kept me from getting hurt. And he also didn’t care if he ate the pin, but yea I didn’t let that happen. 😉
2. Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE Live, 9/20/19)
For the first time in my life, I saw the greatest wrestler of all time perform live. I could sit here and talk about the technical mastery he displayed, the Memphis influence he puts behind his much improved punches, the brilliant transitions he utilizes to manipulate the energy of the crowd. I can sit here and pour out hundreds of words intellectualizing and breaking down the happenings of this championship match.
But that’s all secondary.
Two years ago, Daniel Bryan was never meant to wrestle another match in his life. The GOAT had hung up the boots, his body failing to meet the heights of his creativity and ambition.
And yet, this year, there he was. Live in Araneta, plying his craft in a way that I’ve gone on record to say is unmatched to all the other greats in history. Of course, it was a house show match. He didn’t take any wild bumps or do any crazy dives even despite his slow transition to becoming a babyface.
But the GOAT doesn’t need flash to impress. He only needs to get to work and be seen.
1. Crystal vs. Desi Derata (PWR Homecoming, 10/12/19)
Photo by Alecs Ongcal, Rappler
I would be lying if I told you that having a contrarian hot take to top this list wasn’t a factor in my motivation for putting this at number one. Any year end list will always feature matches that are “easy” picks simply because those matches are put in the position to become match of the year candidates. Those matches are easy to spot: championship matches, main event matches, epic matches given lots of time. For a content creator like myself, those matches are safe, easily accepted by the majority of readers or viewers.
They’re also incredibly boring.
But every now and then, something rises up from beneath the easy picks that completely shocks you into distinct clarity. The clarity and magic of great pro wrestling.
Before PWR Homecoming, the name Desi Derata meant nothing to me. The primer material for Homecoming stated that she recently received bookings from Impact Wrestling: a promotion that I pay close to no attention to.
But when she stepped into the ring, in all her size and glory, and started tossing around Crystal–the most important women’s wrestler in Philippine wrestling–my heart knew the fear of Desi Derata.
That may sound hyperbolic but wrestling at its purest surpasses critical thought and fires straight at the emotions. And my internal critic was thoroughly silenced during this match. Derata battered Crystal, slamming her around the ring with what seemed to be genuine malice. As the crowd hollered at her, she heckled back with contempt before taking out her frustration on one of the great trailblazers of our local industry.
There were multiple points in the match that Derata could have ended things. But she prolonged the punishment, taking joy in Crystal’s pain, and in turn the pain it caused the fans. Some of the bumps Crytal took looked so brutal and devastating that I found myself not only cringing but crying out in pure sincerity, “Stop! Don’t hurt her!”
And that’s the magic of pure wrestling. I feared for a women’s safety not because a move was done wrong but because it was done exactly right. Crystal has gone on record to say that both she and NXT coaches believe that she makes a much better heel than a babyface. That may be true but no one on the PWR Homecoming crowd was more sympathetic than she was in this. What a whopper selling performance, putting over the fact that she was out of her depth but fighting anyway.
I don’t think it’s been covered yet how important Crystal’s victory in this match was. On a night filled with international talent of a caliber much greater than Philippine independent wrestling has ever seen before, Crystal pinning Desi Derata put a chink in the armor of the imports. It was a loud and clear message to the fans and the whole world that, hey, Filipino wrestlers can and will reach the international. On a meta level, it also put doubt into the minds of the fans for the two main event matches that night: maybe Jeff Cobb will take the pin, maybe TJP will lay down for the Alipin Drop.
This match achieved so much with so little. It is, in many ways, the most overachieving match of 2019 given its position on the card and the role that it had to play. It’s also one of the most convincing pieces of wrestling to aid Crystal’s case for 2019 Philippine wrestler of the year. She makes the most of every opportunity she’s been given, and more often than not wrestles beyond her spot on the card.
This match is pure magic. I’d hope that one day I can share it with everyone on footage. And it might not translate to you via the screen.
But no matter, I have my memories with me.
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