There’s more great pro wrestling in 2023 than we know what to do with. So The Ringer brings you a regular cheat sheet with the three best matches of the past week—one from WWE, one from AEW, and one from the rest of the immense wrestling world.
Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe
AEW Dynamite, February 1
Last week had one of the most stacked Dynamite cards AEW has ever run. The show opened with a long, tremendously hard-hitting match between Jon Moxley and Adam Page. Both guys threw reckless, brutal shots, and the finishing run left both mottled with bruises, breathing heavily, and glassy-eyed. We had Bryan Danielson, the best grappler of his generation, take on a debuting Timothy Thatcher, arguably the best grappler of the next generation, in a first-time limb-ripping, joint-tearing mat battle. I figured it would be a tough choice for which match to showcase in this column … and then Darby Allin came out in a thumbtack hoodie, making my decision easy.
Samoa Joe and Darby Allin’s trilogy has really been special to watch. Allin, the ultimate wrestling masochist, has found the perfect dance partner in this ballet of brutality. Joe has been tremendous since turning heel; the cockiness he had as a young champion in Ring of Honor has seasoned into a sneering arrogance. Joe seems irritated that Allin is even getting in the ring with him, much less showing the temerity to face him for a title.
Allin flew down the aisle, jumped into the ring, and immediately threw his thumbtack hoodie–festooned back hard into Joe. Joe fired back with a kick before wrapping his arm in a towel so that he could drill Allin with a clothesline without injuring himself. Joe then went to grab a table from under the ring, only for Allin to careen into the table, driving its leg into Joe’s eye and opening up a nasty, seemingly hardway gash on his eyebrow. Allin then went to set up the steel steps so that he could whip Joe into them, but instead, Allin got reversed and pinballed into the stairs, flipped up into the first row, and nuked his spine on top of the guardrail. This was truly the most frantic opening three minutes of any match I can remember; it felt like Samoa Joe and Necro Butcher’s 2005 IWA Mid-South battle if Necro were a straight-edge skateboarder. (Bryce Remsburg, who reffed Joe vs. Necro and all three Allin vs. Joe matches, tweeted that Allin looked at Necro vs. Joe as an inspiration; he really did that match proud.)
They soon started to brawl up the stairs; Allin got flipped over the stair handrails and landed on his head on the concrete. Joe dragged Allin back into the ring and began brutalizing him with a glazed, contemptuous look on his bloodied face. Allin fired back but got cut off in a pair of punishing ways, first by almost getting hurled through the mat with an STO, and then by being chucked over the top rope as if Joe were tossing a bag of trash into a garbage truck. Joe went to the floor and grabbed a pair of chairs, setting the backs up to face each other, and then sent Allin hard onto them. Joe then went for a powerbomb on the chairs to finish the day, but Allin tossed powder in his eyes and hit a Code Red and a Stunner before grabbing the thumbtack hoodie and hitting a Coffin Drop to nearly steal this bout. Allin then went to the floor, grabbed a box cutter, and cut away the ropes to the canvas and exposed the boards. It wasn’t a smart move for Allin, and it took away time he should have been using to go after Joe. But nothing about Allin screams someone who makes smart decisions; I could easily see his character getting enraged enough to fixate on his plan of ripping off the ring mat, to the detriment of his chances of winning the match.
Allin then went to dive on Joe on the floor, but Joe just walked away, sending Allin crashing through a table. Joe then powerbombed Allin on the thumbtack hoodie and started smothering him with it. Allin responded with one of the most violent thumbs to the eyes I can remember in wrestling; he dug at Joe’s eye sockets as if he’d lost something in there. After some chair shots, Allin went to the top rope, only to be cut off and dropped on the exposed wooden boards with a second-rope Muscle Buster, for a merciful end to the match.
People have complained about Allin losing the title so soon, but I think it works perfectly for his character, a latchkey gutter punk who constantly drives himself into a ditch. Allin is a Harmony Korine character as a pro wrestler, someone who doesn’t plan on sticking around that long, someone who dodged drug abuse, unlike his peers. But instead of shooting heroin, he’s shooting himself full force into the concrete. He isn’t going to make smart, careful decisions while curating a title reign; he’s going to win the belt and smash into opponent after opponent until he doesn’t get up again. In real life, Samuel Ratsch seems to have figured out—through training, stretching, and clean living—how to work a punishing style and avoid injury, but Darby Allin the wrestling character is tiptoeing on a razor blade, and fans have a blast watching him fall and put his body in peril.
Wes Lee vs. Dijak
WWE NXT Vengeance Day 2023, February 4
NXT had its own version of a David vs. Goliath match as the opener of its Vengeance Day 2023 premium live event. Wes Lee has bounced back from being forced to relinquish the NXT tag titles after his partner Nash Carter got fired. He captured the NXT North American title in a five-way ladder match in October and has been defending it ever since. He has really infectious energy and great bounce, and he plays a very effective underdog babyface.
Dijak is in the midst of a career rehabilitation as well. After a run in ROH and on NXT under his real name, Dominik Dijakovic, he was promoted to Raw under the name T-Bar as part of the disastrous Retribution stable. After floundering on Main Event after Retribution ended, he returned to NXT in October of 2022 under the name Dijak in a gimmick seemingly inspired by the 1986 Sylvester Stallone movie Cobra (WWE, always on the cutting edge of pop culture). It is a step up from portraying T-Bar, although nearly everything would be.
I think Dijak’s ring work has improved a lot. During his time in NXT as Dominik Dijakovic, he was best known for working big man highspot matches with Keith Lee in which he would wrestle like a tall junior heavyweight, doing the spots of a man half his size except a bit more slowly and awkwardly. He has toned down that part of his game, has leaned into power moves and hard strikes, and seems to be using his athleticism mainly to bump and serve as a base for his opponents.
There was a cool spot early on when Dijak demanded that Lee lie down and give him the victory. When Lee seemed to comply by lying on his back, Dijak walked into an upkick. Lee sent Dijak flying around the ring with head scissors, only for Lee to leap right into a Death Valley Driver on the floor, with Dijak dropping Lee hard on his head. Dijak then worked Lee over in the ring, chucking him with slams, tossing him over the top rope, and hitting him with solid back elbows and hard stomps on his chest. Lee was able to dodge a corner rush that sent Dijak over the top rope. Lee then worked Dijak’s body with hooks as if it were a heavy bag before hitting a delayed German suplex (a move he’d tried twice before, which made it look great when he finally pulled it off). Lee then hit a backdrop with both guys standing on the ring apron, which mangled Dijak’s finger when he landed (there are some really gross pictures on Twitter in which his finger looks like a Snickers bar that someone sat on), and then Lee did a beautiful Sasuke Special handspring twisting dive.
Dijak was able to catch a Lee springboard and hit a running chokeslam into a powerbomb. Dijak then set him up for a superbomb, but Lee turned it into a midair rana. It was really well done by both guys; most of the time, that spot can look pretty cooperative, but here it looked like Lee forced him over at the last second possible. Lee then hit a Sky Twister Press for a near fall. Dijak rolled to the floor and caught a Lee dive, tossing him into the barricade. He then used a broom to lock Lee into an office chair. Dijak then went to the top and tried a moonsault, only to wipe out Tony D’Angelo and Stacks, who pushed Lee out of the way. Lee then caught Dijak with a superkick and a handspring Pelé Kick for the pin.
I didn’t really think they needed the interference, which is an incredibly odd way for a babyface to get a win, but overall, this was a really exciting match that exceeded expectations on a card where many of the bouts fell a bit short. I am interested in seeing what they do with both guys. Dijak seems like he’ll be feuding with Tony D’Angelo, which has some promise, but I imagine they’ll want to give him another shot on Raw or SmackDown at some point. Lee has a lot of fun possible opponents for the North American title; matches against Tyler Bate, Axiom, Charlie Dempsey, and Ilja Dragunov could all be excellent, and he has done a great job at remaining relevant in a situation in which his career could have easily been derailed.
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii
The New Beginning in Sapporo 2023, February 5
This was the first defense of the NJPW World Television title, a new belt that Sabre won by beating Ren Narita in the finals of a tournament at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January. World Television title bouts have a 15-minute time limit, which forces the wrestlers to push the pace and limits some of the bloat that can mar New Japan singles matches. Sabre is now the leader of The Mighty Don’t Kneel, a faction formed with Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls (who wrestled in NXT as TM-61) after Suzuki-gun disbanded.
This was a fun style clash, with Sabre, who is one of the greatest submission artists in wrestling, taking on Ishii, who is known for his punishing chops, clotheslines, and headbutts. It was like an old-school MMA fight between a striker and a grappler before everyone cross-trained, sort of a pro wrestling Maurice “Big Mo” Smith vs. Mark Coleman.
Ishii threw a curveball early, snatching a cross armbreaker and then transitioning into a kneebar. He was trying to show the technician Sabre that he had some mat skills as well. Ishii then continued to work the arm, grounding Sabre with a hammerlock, avoiding all of his attempts to counter, and causing Sabre to ditch the mat work and try to throw strikes. Sabre was able to get an advantage by sneaking in a neck twister with his legs. Then he backed Ishii into the corner and cracked him with uppercuts, letting Ishii know that if he wanted to play in Sabre’s sandbox and grapple, Sabre was perfectly happy to visit Ishii’s and strike.
Sabre settled into his preferred offense, twisting and pulling at Ishii’s limbs and going for submissions. Ishii, who is built like a statue of Buddha, used his squat base and leg strength to power out of chokes and armbars. Ishii also threw some punishing chops and elbows, and the match soon became a contest to see whether Sabre could break down Ishii’s limbs before Ishii knocked Sabre stiff. There was a great standing exchange when Ishii countered an Arm Wringer with a thudding headbutt; Sabre then responded with a kick to Ishii’s shoulder, only for Ishii to run him over with a big shoulder block, like a middle linebacker meeting a running back at the line of scrimmage. Ishii followed that up with a powerbomb, but Sabre was able to grab hold of an arm from the bottom and nearly tap him with a double armbar.
The match really picked up pace in the final five minutes. Ishii locked on an Octopus Hold (which is currently a Sabre move but is famously the hold of the legendary Antonio Inoki); Sabre was able to relieve the pressure, but Ishii ended up on his back and hit a great-looking Code Red, which is not the kind of move you’d expect from such a squat older gentleman. Ishii then dropped him with two big lariats that sounded like a fishmonger slapping a giant tuna on a cutting table. Sabre sneaked in a couple of roll-ups, but Ishii chopped away at the leg and clonked him with another hollow-sounding headbutt. Sabre ducked a clothesline and whipped off a dragon suplex, but only for a two-count. The last minute was a fast break by both wrestlers: Ishii hit a sliding lariat for a two-count, but Sabre reversed a second attempt into a roll-up. Ishii then tried for the brainbuster, but Sabre spun around him like a satellite and hit his Zack Driver Michinoku Driver variation for the win.
Nifty stuff from two of the best wrestlers in the world, and I loved how the time limit sped up the last finishing run. It was almost like a hockey sudden death, with both wrestlers trying to empty their clips and hit the moves that would finish the match. Sabre seems a bit sidelined in New Japan, joining an already existing tag team, taking its name, and being given his own title away from the focus of the promotion. After he won the New Japan Cup, it seemed like there was a decent chance he might win the IWGP World Heavyweight title. But now he seems completely sidetracked. Still, I love the idea of TV champion Sabre. In the NWA and WCW, that title was the domain of wrestlers like Arn Anderson and Steven Regal, who were able to craft these cool, shorter matches built around time constraints. Given a chance to do a similar thing, Sabre should have some interesting matchups. And this was a great start, as it felt totally distinct from a normal New Japan title bout.
Phil Schneider is a cofounder of the Death Valley Driver Video Review, a writer on the Segunda Caida blog, host of The Way of the Blade podcast, and the author of Way of the Blade: 100 of the Greatest Bloody Matches in Wrestling History, which is available on Amazon. He is on Twitter at @philaschneider.