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In 2006, the wrestling landscape was still changing as much as ever. WWE was still the unquestioned king of wrestling in North America, as John Cena had risen to the top of the company. But while he might’ve been popular, he had yet to wrestle a match worthy of inclusion on this list.
When it comes to WWE superstars making this list, that honor goes to WWE’s resident wrestling machine, Kurt Angle, who managed to put on a stellar performance against a wrestler who, over the past sixteen years, was more known for putting on bad matches instead of good ones (unless they were gimmick matches).
Outside WWE, things were the same in Japan, with NOAH still on top, riding a wave of relative popularity thanks to a partnership with other companies. But the biggest growth came from Ring of Honor, which managed to showcase one of the best wrestlers in the world: a man named Bryan Danielson.
Bryan, who is now known for his work in WWE, was a star on the rise in 2006, wrestling mainly for ROH. As its top champion, he faced many top stars from both the United States and Japan, which led to some truly spectacular matches. Then again, what do you expect from a man who's such a good technical wrestler that the Wrestling Observer’s ‘best technical wrestler’ award was named in his honor?
So which matches stood above the rest in 2006 and deserve your attention the most? Read on…
5. Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA – ROH Glory By Honor Night 2
It’s Daniel Bryan vs. Hideo Itami back when both men were in their wrestling primes.
This was another example of the great wrestling matches one could find outside of WWE during the mid-2000s. Bryan was a technical genius that actually had a huge mean streak at the time, and did a great job of getting the audience to boo him. As a great example of this, Bryan elbowed KENTA in the side of the head several times, and kept going even as the ref told him to stop.
KENTA, meanwhile, was his usual vicious self, slapping and striking Bryan as hard as humanly possible. His kicks were brutal, and he kept showing that great babyface fire no matter how much Bryan tried to tear his body to pieces with his different submission holds.
The match featured great chain wrestling, including an amazing sequence during which Bryan locked in his Cattle Mutilation submission hold and still kept it locked in despite multiple attempts from KENTA to get the hold released.
This is the Hideo Itami people wish could be seen in a WWE ring. While it’s true that his style is a bit difficult, he could still work well with the right opponent (such as Daniel Bryan). It’s just too bad that WWE put so many restrictions on him that it has rendered his entire WWE run almost completely worthless.
4. Edge vs. Mick Foley – Hardcore Match – WrestleMania 22
This match is not for the faint of heart. It features incredible violence, tons of blood, and enough carnage that might make some people turn away from wrestling. You’ve been warned.
At this point in time, Edge was furious at Mick Foley, blaming the Hardcore Legend for his recent WWE title loss. Edge wanted to brutalize Foley, and decided to beat him at his own game on the grandest stage of them all.
This match makes the list for the unbelievable lengths to which two men (and one woman) went to tell a story and entertain the audience. Clearly intended to appeal directly to a more mature audience, this match featured some of the most violent things ever seen in a WWE ring.
In the span of fourteen minutes, we got to see, among other things: a cooking sheet get smashed into a wrestler’s head three times; a hip toss into steel stairs; Foley doing his clothesline out of the ring with Lita on his back; a traditional piledriver (which had been banned in WWE since at least 2003); a barbed wire 2x4 being smashed into both Edge’s and Foley’s faces; a Mr. Socko Mandible Claw with barbed wire wrapped around the sock to both Edge and Lita; and the most horrifying wrestling spot of the entire year.
Edge immortalized himself as one of the craziest wrestlers in WWE history by spearing Foley out of the ring and THROUGH A FLAMING TABLE.
Let me repeat that: HE SPEARED A MAN INTO FIRE!!
That takes both dedication and bravery to do. It shouldn’t surprise anyone, then, that Edge became such a top star in WWE afterwards. He proved his willingness to sacrifice himself for his craft, which is nothing short of praiseworthy.
3. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenta – NOAH, October 29, 2006
Naomichi Marufuji and KENTA were two of the biggest rising stars in NOAH’s early years. Both were the direct protégés of the company’s biggest stars (Marufuji was Misawa’s protégé and KENTA was Kobashi’s). They were also critically-acclaimed tag team partners for many years, and were known for stealing the show on almost any card.
So when they clashed in singles competition, it was an epic battle pitting two partners and rivals against one another.
Oh, there was also one other caveat as well: Marufuji was the world champion, and KENTA, who suffered from a little man complex, wanted to prove he was more than a tiny junior heavyweight.
This match is out of this world. These two cruiserweights wrestled a heavyweight match, complete with unbelievable reversals and storytelling, as well as some of the craziest offense ever seen in a wrestling ring.
As the challenger, KENTA was trying to show how strong he was, and he did this by kicking Marufuji as hard as possible. While he did this all the time, these particular kicks must’ve been especially painful, because Marufuji was coughing and sounded like he was about to vomit several times during the match. That became a great selling point, as KENTA targeted Marufuji’s abdomen and stomach several times for the rest of the match, which went on for an incredible half an hour.
As was typical of Pro Wrestling NOAH, this match was just as entertaining for its big moves as it was for its storytelling. These two wrestlers showed just how tough they were by hitting terrifying moves on each other.
These included: a Tiger Suplex from the top rope, a diving double foot stomp from KENTA onto Marfuji’s already-destroyed stomach, a Falcon Arrow from the apron to the floor, and a picture-perfect Spanish Fly.
Finally, both men (but especially Marufuji) deserve credit for wrestling such a long match despite a horrible botch occurring. As Marufuji attempted a springboard moonsault into the stands, he landed throat-first on the steel guardrail and kicked KENTA’s face open. Luckily, they managed to cover for this error by putting on one of the best matches of the entire year.
And people say cruiserweights and smaller guys can’t sellout crowds...
2. CIMA, Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito – ROH Supercard of Honor – March 31, 2006
How often do you hear fans cheer ‘please don’t stop’ during a match?
This is the last match to be awarded 5-stars by the Wrestling Observer for a five-year period. For some strange reason, not a single wrestling match anywhere in the world would get that distinction until 2011. Yet this is a match that rightly earned that ultra-rare award.
This was one of the ‘fastest’ matches I have ever seen. For twenty minutes, six men move around (and above) the ring so fast it looks like the match is on fast-forward by default. But the speed isn’t the only exciting thing about this match; this is one of the best ‘spot-fest’ matches of the 2000s.
A ‘spot-fest’ match is one that has a lot of big, crazy moves but little in terms of psychology and subtle storytelling. Much like the Young Bucks of today, these six stars from Dragon Gate put on such an exciting match with so many impressive moves it was almost impossible to keep up.
They managed to cram forty minutes’ worth of power moves, reversals, big power moves, diving maneuvers, double- and triple-team moves and near-falls into less than twenty minutes. It was spectacular. When the match ended, the fans chanted ‘that was awesome’ but this was back in 2006, when that chant was still incredibly rare.
The match deserves all the praise given towards it, and is a must-see match for any fan of cruiserweight action.
1. The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle – No Way Out 2006
This match was astonishingly good. It was so much better than most people expected, mainly because this match featured a different Undertaker from the ones fans had been exposed to previously.
Prior to this match, Undertaker had been involved in a feud with Randy Orton, which, while entertaining, was composed mostly of gimmick matches. In those contests, ‘Taker didn’t show anything exceptional or unique, and stuck to what he knew how to do well.
In this match with Kurt Angle, however, it was the opposite. The Undertaker worked a technical wrestling match for the first time in years. He targeted Angle’s arm for the first ten minutes or so, which was great ring psychology because doing so made it harder for Angle to keep the Ankle Lock for a long time. He focused a lot more on submission holds and mat wrestling, which was abnormal for the striking-centric Undertaker.
He even reintroduced the Triangle Choke (the precursor to the Hell’s Gate), and managed to get the move over as a believable hold in only a single match (thanks in part to Tazz giving the maneuver immense credibility).
While Angle was his usual self here (‘usual’ meaning a technical genius who could wrestle a great match with anybody), the Undertaker transformed into almost an entirely different person. This is easily one of The Undertaker’s best matches, and served as a foreshadowing of the great Undertaker matches that would happen in subsequent years.
