By Michael Klink (@michael_klink)

December 28, 2018

The Brothers of Discussion are awarding a few different “Match of the Year Awards.” We’re awarding a Multi-Person Match of the Year award, which takes into consideration Royal Rumbles, Money in the Bank, Elimination Chamber, Triple Threats, Fatal Four-Ways.

Mostly, it’s an opportunity to acknowledge all of these great matches that will (honestly) never measure up to the beauty of a one-on-one contest.

We are also awarding a Weekday Match of the Year. This is an award that can’t be won on a Pay-Per-View or a TakeOver event. These are usually a surprise when they happen, but we do get quite a few contenders with 52 weeks of programming.

We’ll also be awarding an NXT Match of the Year. This is important because there is a unique atmosphere and distinct vibe at NXT shows that RAW, SmackDown Live and Pay-Per-View will never be able to live up to.

Main Roster Match of the Year is also an important distinction, due to the differences in direction and programming. This includes every match on the main roster. There are no qualifiers. If you did it on RAW, SmackDown Live, 205 Live, or a Pay-Per-View then you can win this award.

With that, let’s get down to it!

NXT Singles Match of the Year

Planet Earth has the perfect conditions to sustain carbon-based life forms. Choosing a match to represent the best 1 on 1 encounter on NXT in 2018 is a lot like picking between 20 different Earths: an impossible (but welcome) luxury. Just a few of the many viewing points you should check out include the Adam Cole Superkick/Ricochet Springboard spot at Takeover Brooklyn, the final pinning sequence between Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler at Brooklyn, the storytelling wizardry of NXT 460 where Johnny Gargano’s interference cost Aleister Black his title against Tommaso Ciampa, and many many more.

But in this writer’s humble opinion, one match was able to achieve excellence while avoiding pitfalls like outside interference, leaning on eye-popping spots, and weapons, and that match was the classic between a returning from injury Aleister Black and the man responsible (storyline wise) for his injury, Johnny Gargano.

Black v Gargano at NXT War Games II

The NXT War Games mid-card match was one of the most fluid, violent, and compelling in-ring segments that all of WWE produced. Logically, after a bit of offense that leads to your opponent being prone in a supine position, the wrestler on offense dives into a pinfall to earn a victory.

This match featured at least 6-7 sequences where the two combatants swung and connected on consecutive attacks like a pendulum, seesawing blows with jaw-dropping aggression.

The contest was totally devoid of rest holds and the two experts of the squared circle masked all of their in-ring communication, making it nearly impossible to find instances where the two of them were planning the next move.

NXT Does it Right

A great counter-example to this match occurred at Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, where Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins squared off in a grudge match for the Intercontinental Title. While the bout should have had a reasonable heightened sense of urgency with championship gold on the line, Ambrose raised the stakes even higher by betraying Rollins as a tag team partner and abandoning him in a Tag Title match.

What this match needed, that Gargano and Black had in abundance, was that fluidity. Rollins and Ambrose took turns using their tried and true formulas and wrestling what I would call a “comfortable” match. The magic of excellent performances isn’t so much that we need risks to be taken, but that we need to feel like the two competitors are in a fight, and not a dance.

Gargano and Black exchanged thunderous knee strikes, knife edge chops, kicks, punches, and offense that contextually catered to whichever part of the ring they were in.

Aleister Black Prose to his Con

Another detail that needs to be noted is Black’s ability to make the in-ring banter memorable. Only a select number of sports entertainers verbally taunt their opponents in the ring, and even fewer make that dialogue memorable.

Black’s “I absolve you of your sins” may not have the emotional tug of Shawn Michaels telling Ric Flair “I’m sorry, I love you.” But it’s definitely up to par with the way Black acknowledged Velveteen Dream’s name (in their feud the year before), or the way Brock Lesnar smugly spat “Suplex City bitch” to a decimated John Cena.

To sum, for 20+ minutes, Gargano and Black gave us strikes that could be felt from home, mat offense that never felt “staged,” and memorable dialogue that demonstrated how emotionally charged the rivalry indeed was.

If you’re reading this as a wrestling fan, I hope you agree, and if you’re the uninitiated, who rolls their eyes at wrestling being fake, please give this match a view and tell me you don’t feel something real.

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