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While it has been said hundreds of times throughout 2018, it's worth saying once more- there has never been a better time to be a fan of professional wrestling.
Thanks to the rise of the internet and streaming services, countless promotions are available to wrestling fans at the touch of a button, and as a result, new stars and promotions are able to make a name for themselves quicker than ever before.
This year has seen promotions outside of the WWE continue to grow in popularity, and 2019, with the potential birth of All Elite Wrestling, could see the landscape change even more dramatically.
There have been some exceptional matches put on around the world throughout 2018, so let's take a look at the 10 best non-WWE matches of the past 12 months.
Note: It is impossible to have seen anything throughout 2018, so if there is any match you feel I've missed, please put it in the comments so I can check it out later.
10: Tyler Bate Vs WALTER- Progress: Hello Wembley
2018 has been an incredible year for British Wrestling, and even with the rise of NXT: UK potentially damaging other promotions, Progress has still had an exceptionally strong year.
The company held their biggest show of all time back at the end of September. The main event of that show pitted Progress World Champion, WALTER, against former WWE United Kingdom Champion, Tyler Bate.
The two men put on an incredible encounter in front of a red-hot crowd, with WALTER eventually coming out victorious. Everything that is great about Progress was on show in this match and it was the perfect way to mark such a big occasion.
The match is available to view for free on Progress on Demand right now for anyone who is interested, and there is also a great match between the pair from earlier this year at a Defiant event available on Youtube.
9: Will Ospreay Vs Marty Scurll - NJPW Sakura Genesis
Will Ospreay Vs Marty Scurll- also known as, the match where Will Osereay nearly killed himself in front of the whole world. Ospreay's style is always going to be one that grabs the headlines, and never was it more discussed than when he hit a Spanish Fly on the apron in this match, landing on his head and nearly ending his career in the process.
The match itself is so much more than that though, and the two men involved are among the hottest talents outside of the WWE right now.
These two men have worked together several times during their careers, and the fact that Scrull always seems to be able to be one up his opponent always makes for excellent story-telling.
Despite having performed together all around the world, the two men still manage to find new and innovative ways to entertain their audience and this was perhaps their finest outing to date.
8: Kenny Omega Vs Chris Jericho- Wrestle Kingdom 12
Chris Jericho's NJPW debut was one of the most anticipated events of the wrestling year, and Y2J certainly didn't let us down.
Jericho, who credits DDP's Yoga program for his continued excellence in the ring, rewound the clock about 15 years, bringing a surprisingly aggressive in-ring style to the match, and earning himself his first ever 5 star rated match from the Wrestling Observer.
The match stole the show at Wrestle Kingdom, NJPW's biggest event of the year, even surpassing the much anticipated main-event match between Kazichuka Okada and Tetsuya Naito.
Jericho has continued to impress in NJPW throughout 2018, putting on excellent matches against Naito and EVIL as well.
7: Kazichuka Okada Vs Hiroshi Tanahashi- NJPW: Wrestling Dontaku
Okada and Tanahashi have an incredible history together in the ring, and they put on three exceptional matches against one another in 2018 as well.
Their first encounter of 2018, though, was their strongest. The match, which was for Okada's IWGP Championship, felt like a passing of the guard moment, one which beautifully executed by both men involved.
These two stars know each inside and out, and they worked a beautifully paced masterpiece here. Okada's victory cemented his place as the greatest IWGP Champion of all time, while it was the loss that was needed to help Tanahashi back towards becoming the Ace of New Japan once again.
Exquisite stuff.
6: The Briscoes Vs SoCal Uncensored Vs The Young Bucks- ROH Final Battle 2018
There have been plenty of thrilling matches to take place in Ring of Honor over the last 12 months, but the company saved their most exciting bout until last, with these three teams stealing the show at Final Battle and putting on the best ROH bout of 2018.
The company made the decision to put this on in the headline spot at the event and it more than paid off. The match was pure carnage from start to finish, and everyone involved worked their socks off to one-up the others.
There is every chance that this was The Young Bucks' final performance in Ring of Honor, and the group certainly made sure they went out with a bang.
5: A-Kid Vs Zack Sabre Jr- White Wolf Wrestling, Total Rumble 8
Taking place in an abandoned tobacco factory in the Lavapies district of Madrid, White Wolf Wrestling's match between Zack Sabre Jr and A-Kid grabbed the world's attention nearly five months after it happened, when Dave Meltzer awarded the match five stars.
The bout is available on Youtube and is 100% worth checking out. The two men put on an exceptional encounter in front of one of the hottest crowds in Europe.
White Wolf Wrestling prides itself on its passionate fanbase, and the two men do an exceptional job of whipping them into a frenzy.
ZSJ is on fine form here, hamming up the foreign heel role, while A-Kid, the promotion's star talent, works a more technical style than usual, taking his more experienced opponent to the limits, and showing the world what he is capable of in the process.
4: Kenny Omega Vs Tomohiro Ishii- G1 Climax Night 14
Tomohiro Ishii may be one of the oldest wrestlers working for New Japan right now, but 2018 has been an exceptional year for the former NEVER Openweight Champion.
Ishii's hard-hitting style has not only helped him stay in great shape between the ropes, but it has also helped him develop a solid fanbase over the years. It was the contrast between that style and the high-flying technical approach of Kenny Omega that made this match just a sheer joy to watch.
Seeing these two wrestling pioneers go one on one late in the G1 tournament made for compelling viewing, and Ishii's eventual victory of the IGWP World Champion was one of the best moments of the entire tournament.
3: Golden Lovers Vs The Young Bucks- NJPW: Strong Style Evolved
The fracturing of The Bullet Club was one of the hottest stories in New Japan in the first half of 2018, and the whole thing came to a head at NJPW: Strong Style Evolved in Long Beach, California when Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi took on The Young Bucks.
All four men have been involved in some exceptional matches throughout 2018, but few of them have been quite as exciting as this one.
Not only was the match emotionally charged, and the story-telling absolutely exceptional, but the spots were innovative and the action was incredibly well paced and executed.
As far as tag-team matches have gone in 2018, there have been very few that can compete with this one.
2: Kota Ibushi Vs Hiroshi Tanahashi- G1 Climax Final
This year's G1 Climax featured some absolutely outstanding matches, and it was only fitting that the tournament final was one of the best in its illustrious history.
Tanahashi entered this year's final as the weakened old ace of New Japan, while his opponent, Kota Ibushi was considered by most fans as the favourite heading into the match.
The story of the match was simple, yet incredibly effective. Tanahashi, despite being beaten from the tournament, was determined to walk away victorious and reclaim his place as the Ace of New Japan from Kenny Omega.
This spirit propelled him to put on one of the best matches of his career, while Ibushi, himself one of the best wrestlers on the planet, was more than happy to play his part.
Tanahashi's ultimate victory turned out to be one of the best wrestling moments of 2018, and his match against Kenny Omega is likely to be a very early contender for 2019 match of the year in just a few weeks.
1: Kazichuka Okada Vs Kenny Omega: NJPW Dominion 6.9
Were you honestly expecting anything to be number one on this list? Kazichuka Okada and Kenny Omega are arguably the two best wrestlers on the planet right now, if not of all time, and their fourth, and presumably final, encounter at Dominion 6.9 back in June may go down as one of, if not the, greatest wrestling match of all time.
The two men wrestled in a two out of three falls match which went over an hour, and it was easily the best match put on by any promotion in 2018.
Like Messi playing football, or Roger Federer playing tennis, these two men seem to be performing on a different plane of reality to the rest of the world; their moves are hit with such beautiful precision and timing, and their ability to tell a story through their moves is unrivalled. Both men, especially Omega, have this ability to channel something from deep within them, turning the final few minutes of their match into high art, and high tension drama.
Omega's eventual victory over his opponent was one of the feel-good moments of the year and brought to an end what has been arguably the greatest rivalry of all time.
This match is wrestling done at its finest and is easily the finest match the world was treated to in 2018.
