Welcome back folks to another edition of Matches of the Month! I'll be shaking up the format a touch here for the start of the new year, as after running my "Match of the Year" tournament for 2025, I can't help but feel I should be a bit more particular about what I consider in these posts each month. Let me break it down real quick.
In the sidebar of the blog, I will continue to make not of matches I have watched in the month and if they are under consideration as a "Match of the Month" contender. These can be matches from any time, they don't need to be specifically from this month.
But going forward, I will separate the matches from this month specifically and historic/later matches I watched this month. This may not matter to some, but I will be carrying this over to when I make my choices for a match of the year. I will clarify this in my first post next week, but I will only be considering matches that took place in the calendar year for Match of the Year going forward. Makes sense, yeah?
So, you can read about the matches from this month specifically in the first half of this post, and the "historic" matches will be listed in the final half of this post.
Sound good? We all clear? Cool, let's get into this!
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 - 01/04/2026
An early contender for match of the year, Tsuji and Takeshita went to war with both of their titles on the line, delivering a hard-hitting, insanely action packed bout. A make-or-break match for both men, they pulled out all the stops and all but ensured that no matter what the outcome was in this match, both men would be coming out of this match looking better than they were when they went into it. In the end, Tsuji toppled Takeshita to reach the top of NJPW in a blisteringly fun match.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 - 01/04/2026
A tour de force in dramatic storytelling, the final bout of the Ace of the Universe was as emotional as it was long, with both Tanahashi and Okada turning back the clock to do everything they could to come out the victor. Regardless of the result, Tanahashi was going to be riding off into the sunset, but he was doing everything he could to go out with one final win. In the end, it was Okada who dug back into his old bag of tricks, digging out the Rainmaker of old to decisively put Tanahashi away for the final bell. At last, the Ace can rest. A spectacular match that was as story rich as you could hope to find. Fantastic stuff from both men.
Mistico vs. Barbaro Cavernario - CMLL Viernes Espectacular - 01/09/2026
Mistico is already a well known and well established name in the rings of Mexico, walking around like a living deity in CMLL, always received well and beloved by millions. Cavernario, on the other hand, strikes me, a relative outsider, as someone with incredible upside that people are finally starting to see as more than just a weird caveman gimmick. Able to more than just hold his own, Cavernario is able to stand toe-to-toe with the very best CMLL has to offer and give as well as he can take. A stunningly fun match that delivered more than I was expecting, Mistico
The Young Bucks vs. GOA vs. JetSpeed vs. Davis And Doyle - AEW Dynamite - Maximum Carnage 2026 - 01/14/2026
Simply put, this was a blisteringly quick, fun as hell TV tag team match. Sure, it may have been a total mess, sure, it was chaos, sure, it was full of spots into spots, but I enjoyed the hell out of this match. If you can't watch something like this every so often and just smile the entire time, you may be watching wrestling for the wrong reasons, my friend.
Swerve Strickland vs. Kevin Knight - AEW Dynamite - 01/21/2026
After his relative success in the 2025 Continental Classic, getting to see Knight face off against one of AEW's most prominent stars is a lovely change of pace. While Knight was able to do some considerable damage to Swerve and push him to the limit on a number of occasions, Swerve more or less began testing and toying with Knight near the end, being impressed by his toughness and desire to keep going. In the end, Swerve dispatched Knight, but he more than proved he was able to hang with the big dogs.
Andrade El Idolo vs. Swerve Strickland - AEW Dynamite - 01/28/2026
The recent push of Andrade has been really pleasant, actually, getting to see a highly skilled wrestler elevated to a position on the card that he feels deserving of is a nice change of pace. If there's one thing I can say about current AEW, it's that they're making a solid attempt to make the Men's World Championship something people want. But anyways, this match was fantastic. It's easy to forget just how good Andrade is after he's spent so much time languishing in tag teams or with bad booking, but once the handcuffs are off and he's in the ring with someone like Swerve, he's as good as they come. These two were going back and forth with some gnarly counters and near falls, with Andrade picking up, what some may consider, a shocking pinfall! Great stuff. Great way to end a month.
Mark Briscoe vs. Tommaso Ciampa - AEW Collision - 01/31/2026
Featured in Weekly Watchlist 086 - The Psycho Killer is Alive
Matches of the Month - Outside 01/2026
• Mercedes Mone vs. Willow Nightingale - AEW Dynamite - New Year's Smash 2025 - 12/31/2025
• Gran Guerrero vs. Claudio Castagnoli - CMLL Viernes Espectacular - 11/28/2025
• Mascara Dorada vs. Mike Bailey - CMLL Dream Match Friday - 12/19/2025
• Candy Okutsu vs. Rie Tamada - AJW Doumu Super Woman Great War ~ Big Egg Wrestling Universe - 11/20/1994
• Mikiko Futagami & Shinobu Kandori vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Toshiyo Yamada - AJW Doumu Super Woman Great War ~ Big Egg Wrestling Universe - 11/20/1994
• Las Cachorras Orientales vs. Michiko Nagashima & Yasha Kurenai - AJW Doumu Super Woman Great War ~ Big Egg Wrestling Universe - 11/20/1994
• Yumiko Hotta vs. Combat Toyoda - AJW Doumu Super Woman Great War ~ Big Egg Wrestling Universe - 11/20/1994
• Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobuhiko Takada - UWF-I Sudden Death ~ 5th Anniversary Special Performance Final ~ - 09/11/1996
Until next month, take it easy my friends.
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