NJPW: 20 Best Matches of 2023 (Part 4)
Over the past several days, I have been combing through the best of the best that NJPW had to offer in 2023, and the time has come to finally reveal the best match New Japan Pro Wrestling produced in the past year.
The company has recently kicked off their 2024 with Wrestle Kingdom 18 and New Year’s Dash!!, with their next event being Battle in the Valley on Jan. 13th. So before the year truly gets underway, let’s celebrate the greatest matches NJPW put on in 2023!
5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito [G1 Climax 33 Final] – G1 Climax 33 (Day 19):
The final of the G1 Climax is always going to rank on a list like this given the amount of storytelling that leads to the match, combined with the amount of action the match contains. The 2023 final was a meeting between two men who didn’t want to win the tournament, they needed to win. Okada knew that the G1 was his best way to getting his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship back from SANADA, while Naito knew a win would take him one step closer to doing the famous “LIJ roll call” in the Tokyo Dome.
It’s been no secret that Naito’s body has been breaking down over the past few years, and Okada looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else than in the ring with Naito, almost looking at him as if he were beneath him. However, through copious amounts of fan support and his sheer hatred of The Rainmaker, Naito reached new levels in this G1 final. He rolled back the years to the delight of people around the world, and became a big reason why this will go down as one of the greatest tournament finals in New Japan history.
4. Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [IWGP United States (UK) Championship] – Royal Quest III:
If there was a place outside of Japan that not only appreciated the stars of NJPW just as much as the fans in Japan, it’s the United Kingdom. This is also aided by the fact that the company’s two top “gaijins” are English, and after Zack Sabre Jr. laid down the challenge to Will Ospreay after RevPro’s 11th Anniversary event, the main event of Royal Quest III was set: The battle to see who was the best English wrestler in the world.
Zack was coming off his technical classic with Bryan Danielson in AEW, while Ospreay had recently bested Yota Tsuji, so ZSJ had something to prove to the man who had become more of an international star in the eyes of the fans. It’s safe to say that these two can’t have a bad match together, but this was a bout that reached new heights. In front of one of NJPW’s biggest international crowds in London, Ospreay notched another outrageous title defense at the expense of Sabre Jr., while Zack proved that when Will eventually leaves New Japan, the title of “foreign ace” will firmly belong to him.
3. Will Ospreay vs. Shota Umino [IWGP United States (UK) Championship – Power Struggle:
Taking place at one of New Japan’s final major events of 2023, this was a match that was just as much about the future as it was about the present.
The bout was set up following this list’s previous entry, and was a chance for Shota Umino to prove that he belonged in the main event scene for years to come. The young “shooter” had a stop-start year when it came to his push, with enough misses to warrant people potentially being worried about the future of NJPW with Umino in the title picture.
However, all of those doubts were quickly washed away when the Power Struggle main event kicked off. Shota gradually became more unhinged throughout the match, much to the delight and concern of his mentor Jon Moxley who was at ringside.
Umino was literally brought to tears by the end of the match as he knew that he had given everything he could, and still couldn’t get the job done. Another feather in Will Ospreay’s cap for 2023, which also acted as the final IWGP United States Championship match in New Japan history.
2. Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito [G1 Climax 33 Semi-Final] – G1 Climax 33 (Day 18):
It’s quite amazing that Naito was able to be as good as he was in the G1 final considering that he wrestled in the best match of the tournament the previous night. Much like Naito and Okada, who did reach the finals, Ospreay had a goal of his own for 2023: Get to the main event of the Tokyo Dome in 2024 and become a double champion.
Of course, to do that, he would have to win the G1 and keep hold of his IWGP United States Championship, and this was one of his final steps in achieving the former.
Many people look to Will’s feuds with the likes of Okada and Shingo, or Naito’s feuds with Okada and Tanahashi as their best, but the trilogy of matches that these two men have had in New Japan could be classed as one of the greatest trilogies in company history. Naito was able to withstand the onslaught of punishment his younger opponent dished out, overcoming the odds with a finishing stretch that the kids nowadays would class as “cinema.”
It set the bar so high for the G1 that no match could top it, and it would have been the match of the year had Will not already set the bar even higher at the start of the year.
1. Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega [IWGP United States Championship] – Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome:
It had to be. The relationship between New Japan and AEW had been regarded as one-sided by many NJPW fans. Fans in the United States got an entire pay-per-view dedicated to the two companies being pitted against each other, while fans in Japan got the odd cameo from an All Elite Wrestling midcarder here and there. However, that all changed with this match, the match that fans around the world had been demanding for years: Ospreay vs. Omega.
With it taking place at the start of 2023, it’s easy to forget just how good it really was. Will and Kenny are guilty of packing too many moves into their matches for the sake of a reaction from the crowd, but here, the moves were warranted. Omega busted out anything and everything he could think of as both a show of dominance, the proverbial “you’re not on my level” narrative that dominated the bout, while also showing the audience that Will was tougher than a lot of people thought.
An instant classic that will be forever named as one of the greatest matches of all time. Omega looked like the ‘final boss’ that his fans had always painted him as, and Ospreay proved that he was able to match that energy and then some. For my money, it’s up there as one of the best matches any company produced in 2023, but when it comes to New Japan Pro Wrestling, it was their best match of the year.
AND THAT IS THAT! What was your favorite NJPW match of 2023? Let us know in the comments section below! Don’t forget to follow myself and Vendetta Sports Media on all your social media platforms.
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