2023: Wrestling’s Best Of The Year
- Umar Usman
- Dec 29, 2023
- 6 min read
2023 was one of the wildest years in the history of professional wrestling! Join us as we list the best of a PACKED year in wrestling!
Promo Of The Year
Tanner/Prince – “The Son He Always Wanted,” Cody Rhodes & Paul Heyman | WWE Monday Night Raw, February 6th, 2023.
Tanner – “For me this was an easy decision to make. The emotions and words exchanged between Cody Rhodes and Paul Heyman involving Cody’s deceased father felt real and even I nearly shed a tear. This made the show-down between Roman Reigns and Cody at WrestleMania an even more important match, as Paul used a real life tragedy to sneak his way under the skin of Cody. The tears shed by both men made this feel like a real interaction and it only drew more heat onto Paul and his tribal chief Roman Reigns due to the intentions they had telling Cody what they did. Brilliant promo, makes the result even more painful.”
Prince – “Cody’s ‘finishing the story’ angle reached its pinnacle after this promo and it didn’t even have Reigns, the champion, involved! From the emotional turmoil Paul had to go through w/Cody’s words to the cope-up by Heyman without tarnishing his character was absolutely marvelous. There are other segments that came so close (for instance, the recent Punk/Rollins face-off) but nothing topped this war of words in my opinion.”
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MrDCWood – “You out, and I’m out too!,” The Bloodline enters Civil War!
“The Usos. The Bloodline storyline has been one of the most phenomenal sagas in the history of wrestling, and the next thrilling chapter came when The Usos had had enough of Roman Reigns on the 16th June edition of SmackDown. Jimmy and Jey let their feelings for and against each other be known, and then Jey ultimately kicking his own brother out of the family, and then quitting himself by super kicking Roman flat on his arse. An amazing segment!”
Promotion Of The Year
WWE
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Tanner – “Ever since Hunter officially took over, the product has strived to be as interesting and exciting as possible with a roster full of returning stars and a whole new group of developing performers who will hopefully replace today’s stars in the future. WWE gave us a ton of stellar shows, moments, and matches that truly cemented them as the top product of 2023, which is something we as viewers haven’t seen in a very long time…”
Prince – “In all aspects, the promotion held their head high after the recent downfall & controversies it went through. The quality of matches & storylines felt fresh and super engaging and the surprise signings in Jade Cargill & CM Punk added more flavor to the already supreme product.”
MrDCWood – “Under the creative vision of Triple H, WWE has clearly flourished, with a great roster, fantastic storylines that have blossomed over the last year-and-a-half, consistent premium live events and TV shows have definitely given fans more reason to tune-in to the revitalized WWE product.”
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Show Of The Year
Tanner – AEW Dynamite, January 11th, 2023
“This only makes the current state of the product even more depressing to look at. This, to me, was the perfect weekly television program in this entire year of wrestling. From excellent matches involving [e.g. Hangman/Mox, Danielson/Takeshita Elite/Death Triangle,] to storylines reaching new peaks, to Adam Cole’s PERFECT return promo…what a show this was and it was certainly my deal breaker for show of the year!
Prince/MrDCWood – WWE WrestleMania 39
Prince – “Despite a few decently tasted apples, this show didn’t spoil the tree at all in terms of match quality and entertainment factor. Starting from the divisively fabulous story from The Bloodline to the blistering GUNTHER/Sheamus/Drew war, the whole event was a tremendous spectacle to watch.”
MrDCWood – “There were a LOT of great shows this year, but WrestleMania 39 was an untouchable two-night event, with so many classic matches. From an overall standpoint, WrestleMania 39 was still one of the best Manias in recent memory.”
Tag Team Of The Year
FTR
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Tanner – “Dax and Cash have felt like the most consistent and well-rounded tag team not just this year but even years before. There’s never a dull moment with these two and watching their minds for wrestling play out in the ring is magical on all occasions! An awesome tag title reign and a huge catalogue of stellar matches makes them an easy choice for team of the year!”
Prince – “Time after time, I never felt tired of this duo irrespective of their position in the title scene. Their recent rivalries (Starks/Bill, BC Gold & House of Black) create a very interesting mystique and some of their matches were extremely remarkable as last year.”
MrDCWood – “Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have always been one of the greatest tag-teams of the last decade if not THE best, and 2023 was a year that cemented their status as THE best team today. An incredible run as AEW World Tag Team Champs has made them mandatory viewing on AEW programming.”
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Wrestler Of The Year
Tanner – Bryan Danielson
“Approaching the end of his time as a full timer in the wrestling world, Bryan Danielson has somehow managed to become the most consistent performer of the year. Looking back, this was also Danielson’s most eventful year as he took part in a world title feud, went to war with his fellow BCC members, faced the legendary Kazuchika Okada, had multiple match of the year candidates, and put on an awesome performance in AEW’s recent ‘Continental Classic’ tournament. A GIGANTIC catalogue for a man entering the final years of his career…what a f*cking wrestler!”
Prince/MrDCWood – Gunther
Prince – “His Intercontinental title reign has definitely overshadowed the primary champions of both brands despite Rollins & Reigns having some excellent matchups in their repertoire. Apart from that, his herculean stand in the Royal Rumble is another key asset that boosted his value from a prospect to an actual main event contender.”
MrDCWood – “In 2023, Gunther has now made the IC Championship arguably the single-greatest-prize in all of wrestling. So many epic matches all year round, he broke records for longest-stint ever in a Royal Rumble and longest-reign ever as Intercontinental Champion. Surely set to become world champ in the future.”
Match Of The Year
Tanner/MrDCWood – Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn | WWE Elimination Chamber 2023
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Tanner – “The story going into this was perfect and the satisfaction of seeing Sami Zayn getting a main event push in general was enough to make a grown man cry. The match itself is perfect in terms of quite literally everything. In ring quality, storytelling, crowd reaction, I loved every second of this and it went over 30 minutes! Some people have a hard time accepting the finish, but I think it perfectly wraps up the perfect gift that is this match. Well done to the both of them!”
MrDCWood – “After months of sublime build-up, the Bloodline saga exploded into such a heated, magical bout where you were so convinced that Sami could finally do the impossible. What an epic!”
Prince – Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley | WWE WrestleMania 39
“From the build, I wasn’t that hooked initially since it was far from the WM36 spectacular hype. I had my hopes on their chemistry and expected a fantastic outing, but never did I expect these lasses to overdeliver their match three years ago. The torch-passing moment for Rhea & Charlotte’s laser-focused deliverance of action in a very long time left me in awe.”
That concludes our list for the best of wresling in 2023! Do you agree, or would you make different choices? Let us know by making a comment! And don’t forget to subscribe to our blog for more articles just like this!
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