Scott E.'s 2022 Wrestling Recap: Awards, Lists, and More

The best year of in-ring wrestling I've seen from start to finish

I’m confident that 2022 will go down as one of the greatest years in wrestling history in terms of just in-ring performance. When it comes to stories and moments, we already know this year takes the cake. But after watching over 3,000 matches including nearly every prominent promotion in the world to even the smallest Joshi indies, I’m ready to give my awards and lists.

Here’s what will be covered in my 2022 Wrestling Recap:

• Top 5 Promotions of the Year

• Top 5 Shows of the Year

• MVPs of Each Promotion I watched more than five matches for

• Top 5 Tag Teams of the Year

• Men’s Wrestler of the Year

• Women’s Wrestler of the Year

• Overall Wrestler of the Year

• Top 50 Matches of the Year

I think with any year there’s a good discussion about who should win what and why certain matches this year made a list and why others didn’t. After all, everyone watches wrestling differently and looks for something else. For me, it always comes down to my emotions first and everything else second. Some matches may be better in that it’s cleaner but nothing can match the emotion you get from certain matches, wrestlers, and moments. My list and some winners will reflect that while others will reflect an incredible, undeniable year that everyone should be recognizing.

What I say won’t be agreed upon by everyone and that's why wrestling is the best. I’ve said time and time again that the reason pro wrestling is the best form of entertainment is that there are so many different genres for people to connect with. Many lists you will see over these few days/weeks will feature only WWE and AEW — which is fine — but as someone who appreciates the sport the amount that I do, I hope to respect all of it with these awards!

So without blabbing on for too long, let’s get into it! Each award will feature a small description as to why I picked what I did.

I hope everyone enjoys it! What a year 2022 has been!

Scott E.’s 2022 Wrestling Recap

Scott E.’s Top 5 Promotions of the Year

1. STARDOM

2. AEW

3. GLEAT

4. NJPW

5. TJPW

Honorable Mentions: DRAGONGATE, AJPW, Sendai Girls, and IMPACT Wrestling

There was never really a question for me in terms of who would walk away as the promotion of the year — or who would come in second for that matter. STARDOM has done nothing but prove that they are one of the best promotions in the world and deserve to be discussed in the same conversation as any in terms of quality each and every show. The rest of the top five, however, was no picnic.

It came down to my enjoyment of matches more than anything else. Honorable mentions like DRAGONGATE, AJPW, Sendai Girls, and even IMPACT were all included because they will be the companies I fully invest into next year along with my top five.

AEW, despite some faults, had to be number two. Each week they have given us near greatness inside a wrestling ring to go along with enjoyable stories, Forbidden Door moments, and so much more.

GLEAT was tremendous this year. I found enjoyment in every single one of their shows as they offered a little bit of something for everyone. Fantastic main events, bringing in awesome international talent, and a budding Joshi division led by Michiko Miyagi and Maya Fukuda. 2023 will be the year they’re on everyone’s maps.

Picking the fourth was tough but NJPW gets the nod because of the matches they produced. I don’t think they’re “back” just yet, but I’m excited for the product heading into 2023 with some all-timers surely on the way. Here’s to hoping they have a present champion, though.

TJPW rounds out the top five for me this year. I’ve had my problems with the promotion this year and every year, but I can’t sit here and say I didn’t have a good time with their biggest shows and events. Grand Princess was excellent, Summer Sun Princess is a show of the year contender, and the Miu Watanabe run in the Princess Cup is second to only Giulia’s in the 5STAR. They’re going big in 2023.

Scott E.’s Top 5 Shows of the Year

1. STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix Finals (10/1/22)

2. AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door (6/26/22)

3. WWE WrestleMania 38 Saturday (4/2/22)

4. STARDOM Flashing Champions (5/28/22)

5. TJPW Summer Sun Princess (7/9/22)

Honorable Mentions: Hana Kimura Memorial "Bagus!"

There were a lot of amazing shows this year from start to finish but STARDOM, for the second year in a row, delivered more than anyone else with the finals of the 5STAR Grand Prix. Giulia’s journey, Mayu Iwatani and SLK writing another chapter, and other great matches made this the Show of the Year for me.

Forbidden Door was hit with injuries and hurdles up and down but managed to put together one of the best shows of the year. Just imagine how good the next one will be.

WrestleMania has been a struggle for a few years now but this year, WWE actually put together an excellent show for the Saturday edition of “The Grandest Stage of Them All.” Cody’s return and Stone Cold Steve Austin in the main event — that’s so cool. Oh, and Bianca Belair now has the two best women’s matches in WrestleMania history so shoutout to her.

Flashing Champions was tremendous. Syuri vs. Risa Sera, Saya Kamitani vs. MIRAI, and so much more. Easily made the list.

The atmosphere and energy surrounding Summer Sun Princess made this a layup for the list. While the previous four had better matches up and down their card, TJPW put on what may be their best top to bottom show ever with this one.

“Bagus!” will hold a special place in my heart forever. We miss you, Hana.

MVP of Each Promotion

AAA: El Hijo del Vikingo
AEW: Jon Moxley
AJPW: Kento Miyahara
DDT: Kazusada Higuchi
DRAGONGATE: Yuki Yoshioka
Gatoh Move: Mei Suruga
GLEAT: El Lindaman
Ice Ribbon: Saori Anou
IMPACT Wrestling: Josh Alexander
Joshi Freelance: ASUKA
Marvelous: Maria
NJPW: Will Ospreay
NOAH: Kenoh
ROH: The Briscoes
SEAdLINNNG: Arisa Nakajima
Sendai Girls: Mika Iwata
STARDOM: Syuri
TJPW: Miyu Yamashita
U.S. Indies: “Speedball” Mike Bailey
WAVE: Suzu Suzuki
WWE: Seth Rollins

Pretty self-explanatory here. I watched a lot of wrestling this year and these are the names who deserve the most praise from each promotion. Give them attention in the new year no matter how big or small the promotion.

Scott E.’s Top 5 Tag Teams of the Year

1. Black Desire (Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid)

2. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)

3. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)

4. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)

5. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe)

Honorable Mentions: FWC (Hazuki & Koguma), Astronauts (Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe), meltear (Tam Nakano & Natsupoi), and Team 200kg (Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu)

Tag team wrestling took a step up this year. I don’t know why I feel this way but I think it has to do with how many promotions let the best tag teams go out there and have big matches. I’ve always been a tag team wrestling fan but this year was the first in a while where I was as excited as ever to watch it.

Black Desire has the cheat code of being a fantastic duo while also adding Saki Kashima in to be a tremendous trio also. Between their tag matches and trios matches, the number of great matches outpaced everyone. They may not have the best of the best like my number two tag team, but they were consistent from start to finish this year.

FTR had two five-star matches this year. Both with The Briscoes. That alone is enough for them to be at the top of my list but add in the incredible match with Aussie Open, their third match with The Briscoes, and the second clash between them and The Young Bucks and you understand why they are ranked where they are.

The Young Bucks, much like Black Desire, benefit from the greatness of being a duo and a trio when adding in Kenny Omega. They’re as consistent as any team I’ve seen. Probably the GOATs of this.

Aussie Open is phenomenal. They had their coming out party this year despite not getting to win a lot of their biggest matches. 2023 should be the year their in-ring quality turns into accolades and better results.

The Briscoes didn’t have a lot of matches but when they did, they killed it. The FTR Trilogy will go down as one of the greatest in wrestling history. Add in a great match against Aussie Open from House of Glory and honestly, it’s tough to keep them off this list.

Scott E.’s Men’s Wrestler of the Year

Will Ospreay

I cannot sit here and deny the greatness of Will Ospreay. He showed up everywhere in the first half of the year and delivered. His two matches with Kazuchika Okada this year were so good that they are both in my top 15 for Matches of the Year. The few times he jumped in AEW, he did nothing but show out because that’s what he does. The match with Michael Oku in RevPro was fantastic. The list goes on and on for what he did in 2022 and now he heads into 2023 with a match against Kenny Omega to kick him off.

I won’t sit here and say he is my favorite wrestler but his talent and ability is undeniable. He walked away with Men’s Wrestler of the Year for me in 2022 and should be able to put together another ridiculous campaign in 2023.

Honorable Mentions: Kazuchika Okada, Jon Moxley, Kento Miyahara, Konosuke Takeshita, and Rey Fenix

Scott E.’s Overall and Women’s Wrestler of the Year

Syuri

The only person to outdo Will Ospreay in pro wrestling this year for me was Syuri. My 2021 Wrestler of the Year needed to somehow follow up on what I thought was the best year I’ve seen from a wrestler and she did it with grace. Her run with the World of Stardom Championship was unquestionably the best title reign of the year, let alone the world title reign of the year.

The matches with Giulia will be the ones to jump out to many (myself included) but her title defenses against Risa Sera, Tam Nakano, and Utami Hayashishita jump out more than the rest as incredibly special. There was never a bad defense and she walked her way to another Scott E. Wrestler of the Year award by hitting that five-star special at the buzzer against Giulia at Stardom Dream Queendom.

These two years make her an all-timer in my book and I hope she’s still far from done. It’s been a treat to witness.

Honorable Mentions: Giulia, Saya Kamitani, Suzu Suzuki, Mayu Iwatani, and Starlight Kid

Scott E.’s Top 50 Matches of the Year

1. Syuri vs. Giulia - STARDOM (Stardom Dream Queendom, 12/29/22)

2. Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay - NJPW (G1 Climax 32 Final, 8/18/22)

3. FTR vs. The Briscoes - ROH (Final Battle, 12/10/22)

4. The Briscoes vs. FTR - ROH (Supercard of Honor, 4/1/22)

5. Starlight Kid vs. AZM - STARDOM (Cinderella Journey)

6. Mayu Iwatani vs. Starlight Kid - STARDOM (5STAR Grand Prix, 10/1/22)

7. Death Triangle vs. The Elite - AEW (Full Gear, 11/19/22)

8. Mayu Iwatani vs. KAIRI - NJPW x STARDOM (Historic X-Over, 11/20/22)

9. Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe - TJPW (Tokyo Princess Cup Semifinals, 8/13/22)

10. Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay - NJPW (Wrestle Kingdom 16, 1/5/22)

11. Keiji Muto vs. Kaito Kiyomiya - NOAH (DESTiNATiON 2022, 7/16/22)

12. The Elite vs. Hangman Page, John Silver & Alex Reynolds - AEW (All Out, 9/4/22)

13. Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Aoyagi - AJPW (Super Power Series, 5/29/22)

14. Syuri vs. Utami Hayashishita - STARDOM (GOLD RUSH, 11/19/22)

15. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW (Wrestling Dontaku, 5/1/22)

16. FTR vs. Aussie Open - NJPW (Royal Quest II, 10/1/22)

17. El Lindaman vs. Shigehiro Irie - GLEAT (G PROWRESTLING Ver. 25, 5/18/22)

18. Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia - AEW (Dynamite, 8/17/22)

19. Giulia vs. Suzu Suzuki - STARDOM (5STAR Grand Prix, 10/1/22)

20. Tetsuya Naito vs. Will Ospreay - NJPW (G1 Climax 32, 8/17/22)

21. Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins - WWE (Hell in a Cell, 6/5/22)

22. El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai - JUST TAP OUT (TAKA Michinoku 30th Anniversary, 9/12/22)

23. Syuri vs. Risa Sera - STARDOM (Flashing Champions, 5/28/22)

24. Tam Nakano vs. Giulia - STARDOM (5STAR Grand Prix Final, 10/1/22)

25. Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano - STARDOM (Stardom World Climax ~ The Top ~, 3/27/22)

26. Giulia vs. Hazuki - STARDOM (5STAR Grand Prix Opening Night, 7/30/22)

27. Takashi Sugiura vs. Masato Tanaka - ZERO1 (Shinjiro Otani Aid!, 6/4/22)

28. The Elite vs. Will Ospreay & Aussie Open - AEW (Dynamite, 8/31/22)

29. Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne - DEFY (DEFY 50, 2/26/22)

30. MUSASHI vs. Fujita Hayato - Michinoku Pro (Tokyo Conference Vol. 1 ~ Genko Itchi, 7/10/22)

31. Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki - TJPW (Tokyo Joshi Pro '22, 1/4/22)

32. Aoi & Tomoka Inaba vs. Maika & MIRAI - JUST TAP OUT (TAKA Michinoku 30th Anniversary, 9/12/22)

33. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. ASUKA - Sendai Girls (SENJO Chronicle, 7/10/22)

34. Gunther vs. Sheamus - WWE (Clash at the Castle, 9/3/22)

35. Tomoka Inaba vs. Suzu Suzuki - JUST TAP OUT (TAKATaichi Joint 50th Anniversary, 12/19/22)

36. AZM vs. Mei Suruga - STARDOM (Cinderella Tournament 2022, 4/29/22)

37. CM Punk vs. MJF - AEW (Dynamite, 2/2/22)

38. Miyuki Takase vs. Miyu Yamashita - DEADLOCK Pro (No Pressure, 6/11/22)

39. Syuri vs. Giulia - STARDOM (Stardom World Climax ~ The Best ~, 3/26/22)

40. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - NJPW (New Years Golden Series, 2/21/22)

41. Kazusada Higuchi vs. Konosuke Takeshita - DDT (Who's Gonna TOP ?, 9/25/22)

42. Saya Kamitani vs. Natsupoi - STARDOM (Cinderella Journey, 2/23/22)

43. Tsukasa Fujimoto & Ibuki Hoshi vs. Arisa Nakajima & Hikaru Shida - Ice Ribbon (Yokohama Budokan II, 5/4/22)

44. El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Rey Fenix - AAA (Triplemania XXX: Mexico City, 10/15/22)

45. HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno - DDT (Ultimate Tag League The Final, 2/27/22)

46. Starlight Kid, Momo Watanabe & Saki Kashima vs. Hazuki, Hanan & Koguma - STARDOM (5STAR Grand Prix, 9/11/22)

47. Jun Kasai & Masashi Takeda vs. Hayato Tamura & Ryuichi Kawakami - GLEAT (Ver. EX, 10/9/22)

48. Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto - SEAdLINNNG (Golden Moment, 4/29/22)

49. Rina Yamashita & Maya Yukihi vs. Miyuki Takase & Ryo Mizunami - NOMADS’ (Freelance Summit, 5/20/22)

50. Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs. Cody Rhodes - WWE (WrestleMania Saturday, 4/2/22)

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Here’s my 2023 Matchguide to follow along with my journey in the near year!

Scott E. Wrestling Matchguide 2023

Thank you for reading and following along with me through an incredible 2022.

Let’s hope 2023 is somehow greater than maybe the best year of pro wrestling I’ve seen.