5 Best Wrestling Matches of 2006

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.