5 Best wrestling matches of 2012

Some matches stand the best of time not because of great in-ring work, but because of their symbolism
Some matches stand the best of time not because of great in-ring work, but because of their symbolism

Beginning in 2012, the landscape really began to shift in the wrestling business. WWE’s monopoly was beginning to be challenged by a company that had almost failed completely in the early 2000s: New Japan Pro Wrestling. Since 2009, NJPW had been rebuilding itself slowly thanks to their new ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi.

With him as their top star, that company began an international expansion that hadn’t been seen since the junior heavyweight era of the 1990s. Tanahashi was having astounding wrestling matches with every single wrestler, just like Bret Hart did for WWE in the 1990s. Some of those great matches will even appear on this list because they were among the best matches of 2012.

The five matches listed here are simply the best matches of the entire year. They were the most entertaining, had the most drama, got the biggest reactions, and most importantly, all of them had long-term implications. These matches either made stars out of their participants or signified the end of something big from years past.


#5 Team Hell No & Ryback vs. The Shield - TLC 2012

The Shield was one of the most successful and dominant trios in WWE history. They came in as an indestructible force that wrought havoc wherever they went. And they proved how good they could be in their debut match at TLC 2012.

This demolition derby of a match began as a wild brawl and descended into chaos from there. All six wrestlers hit devastating moves on each other, which got very loud cheers from the fans in attendance. That’s because every single wrestler looked amazing in this match in some way.

Ryback still looked like a monster by hitting a double vertical suplex on Ambrose and Rollins onto a ladder. Kane chokeslammed Ambrose through an opened chair and did his flying clothesline, despite being in his mid-forties at the time. Two Shield members even hit a double superplex from the top rope while balancing on a table. It was just destruction all around and was fun to watch from the opening bell.

But most importantly, the crowd adored the Shield in this match, cheering them for everything they did. This was despite the fact that they were the heels in this match. By the time the match was over, all three Shield members had convinced everyone watching that they were future stars. And now, six years later, that has more than proven true.

#4 Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - NJPW 40th Anniversary Show

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When this match occurred, Naito was a completely different person. He was a beloved babyface that got roaring cheers from the audience and seemed to actually care about NJPW’s traditions. While his character has become much more interesting over the past three years, he was still putting on amazing matches even back then.

In what has become the standard for Okada’s matches, this was a dramatic and unpredictable contest for which it was impossible to predict a clear winner. For almost thirty minutes, Okada and Naito tore into each other with incredible ferocity. Okada was clearly earmarked as the company’s future ace, and Naito was desperate to take that position for himself.

Even though it was only a small crowd of around 2,000 people watching, they roared so loudly during this match that it sounded like ten times that number. This was especially true for the final five minutes, as Okada and Naito kept hitting big moves on each other and reversing out of said manoeuvres. Neither man had a clear advantage, and Naito kept finding a way out of Okada’s killer Rainmaker lariat.

If you ever had any doubts as to why both of these men are now considered the top stars in NJPW, go watch this match.

Watch the match here.

#3 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - NJPW Dominion 2012

Many people will argue that the greatest feud in wrestling this decade has been Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada. That years-long rivalry extended into many spectacular matches awarded between 4.5 stars and 5.5 stars by the Wrestling Observer. This was one of those epic matches that pitted the then-surprise champion Okada defending against established ace Tanahashi.

These two wrestlers had such phenomenal chemistry it was as if they were born to wrestle each other. Even though this was one of the earliest matches between them, Okada and Tanahashi wrestled as if they had known each other for years. That led to some amazing near-falls and submission sequences, which made fans literally scream when big moves were hit and kicked out of.

But most importantly, these two wrestlers both sold exhaustion very well. Neither one of them was a John Cena-style machine that looked like he was completely impervious to pain. The way they wrestled made the match look like two combat sport athletes trying to win a legitimate contest.

You couldn’t tell when or how the match would end, which is critical in a wrestling match. This is why NJPW began over-taking WWE as the hub of best matches: the standard set by these bitter rivals was so high that nothing would come even close to them for years to come.

#2 The Undertaker vs. Triple H - 'End Of An Era' Hell In A Cell Match - WrestleMania XXVIII

This match was symbolic and had historical gravitas to it...at least, until WWE Crown Jewel...
This match was symbolic and had
historical
gravitas to it...at least, until WWE Crown Jewel...

This match had so many great questions going into it. Would both Triple H and Undertaker retire after the match ended? Would Shawn Michaels call the match fairly? What would the Undertaker look like after videos showed him cutting off his trademark long hair? Luckily, those questions and more were answered in this drama-filled spectacle of a match.

This match was far more brutal than their encounter from the year prior, thanks to the addition of the Cell as a weapon.

They told a fantastic story of Shawn Michaels’ conscience playing a role in the match. He ordered HHH to stop hitting Undertaker with a chair, not because it wasn’t allowed (which it was), but because he wanted him to pin the Deadman instead. As the match progressed, Triple H’s brutality began to bother HBK more and more, to the point that he actually threw away HHH’s sledgehammer as he prepared to hit Undertaker with it. That dynamic of ‘friend or referee’ was executed perfectly and made the match so much better.

Then, after Undertaker had locked the Hell’s Gate on HBK himself, Michaels superkicked Undertaker, only for ‘Taker to once again kick out. The pained expression on Michaels’ face coupled with the thunderous roar of the crowd as they cheered is one of the greatest scenes in WWE history.

While it didn’t have the same in-ring action as the Undertaker-Michaels matches from earlier years, the drama and story told between these three men was marvellous. You could feel the genuine emotions from all three of them, and the near-falls were as dramatic as ever. This was easily the best thing to happen at that year’s WrestleMania.

#1 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2012

In 2012, Tanahashi still had many doubters in NJPW, especially from the purists that didn’t like his less ‘realistic’ style. To silence those critics, Tanahashi was challenged by former MMA star Minoru Suzuki, who was as ‘legitimate’ as they came in NJPW.

Tanahashi had to fight from the bottom in this match as Suzuki dominated with both stiff strikes and lightning quickness. Even though Tanahashi usually won in technical exchanges, it was Suzuki who won in this match. Suzuki spent a lot of time destroying Tana’s taped-up arm, which made it almost impossible for Tanahashi to use any of his biggest moves.

So without the use of his arms, Tanahashi had to break out the move that had made him a bit of a controversial star: the High Fly Flow, his Frog Splash finisher.

The reason it was so controversial was that the move symbolized why Tanahashi was such a different star from NJPW’s past. NJPW wrestlers almost always won with submission holds or stiff strikes, while only the junior heavyweights ever used moves from the top rope.

Yet Tanahashi – the company’s heavyweight ace – beat the company’s biggest submission expert with a flying move. It was as big a sign as any that New Japan was moving away from its traditional approach and was heading forward towards something new.

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