Top Matches I Watched in November 2023
By Alex Kalil
2023 is coming to an end soon but wrestling still continues to be amazing right now! WWE gives us some really good matches, AEW starts the Continental Classic as well as giving us one of the best and most violent matches all year! AJPW, Dragon Gate and even CMLL show up this month as well. One more month to go! Can we get to 300 matches on the list?
AEW International Championship Match: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli at AEW Dynamite 11/1/23: An excellent big man vs. small man match. Right from the bell, Claudio easily is able to out-power Cassidy and move him around at will. Cassidy keeps trying to use his speed to take shots at Claudio, but Claudio is able to keep grabbing hold of Cassidy and throwing him around. Claudio starts to pick apart Cassidy's back and midsection as he works the heat. Cassidy starts to fight back more and more and we get an awesome spot with Cassidy going for a Tornado DDT only to be caught in a Giant Swing right into a Sharpshooter. Claudio keeps the pressure on and tries to submit Cassidy but Cassidy keeps fighting out! We get some excellent back and forth as Cassidy fires up and gives it all he's got against Claudio. Cassidy goes for the Orange Punch only for Claudio to pop him up for the Swiss Death like he did in their last match, but this time Cassidy has it scouted! Cassidy stands on Claudio's shoulders and drops into a rana and a pin! 3 count! Cassidy retains! Perfect babyface performance by Cassidy, who took everything Claudio threw at him, but kept fighting back more and more. Brilliant finish with Cassidy able to counter the very move that beat him before to get the win. Great stuff! ****1/4
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre at WWE Crown Jewel 2023: A really good back and forth match. Rollins has to use his speed and quickness to take shots at Drew, who uses his size and power to work over the back of Rollins. Some nice subtle heel work by Drew including dropping Rollins back first on the apron. We get some big exchanges from both men as they look to end things. A big near-fall with Rollins missing a Phoenix Splash and getting nailed by a Claymore. Drew tries to follow-up but Rollins counters into a Pedigree and a Curb Stomp to get the win. Just a good and enjoyable in-ring match. ****
FTR vs. El Hijo del Vikingo and Komander at AEW Rampage 11/10/23: A super fun, fast paced TV match. FTR have the clear size and tag team experience advantage and are able to work on isolating the Lucha guys early on. Awesome spot early on with Vikingo going for a dive only for Cash to direct him into the announcer's table. The Lucha guys start to fight back by going all out on big offense and high risk moves. The match becomes somewhat even as FTR are caught off guard by the quick offense of the two and try to keep slowing the match back down. Lots of big near-falls for both teams before FTR is finally able to hit the Shatter Machine on Komander to get the win. A fun match that was able to become an even match by having the faster and more agile wrestlers go all out just for a shot of winning before the superior teamwork of FTR is able to get the win. ****
Hair vs. Hair Match: Volador Jr. vs. Angel de Oro at CMLL 90th Aniversario: A really good heated match with a phenomenal babyface performance. Volador is jumped by Angel right at the bell and the fight spills to the floor. Angel rams Volador into the guardrail and hurts his shoulder; Volador is now -fighting with one arm. Angel does a nice job milking the injury and getting more heat on Volador. Even with the bad arm, Volador keeps fighting back and trying to stay alive and even risks further injury by going high risk. Angel resorts to going after the arm to try and keep control but Volador hits a Canadian Destroyer out of nowhere to get the win. The match was very good with a lot of fire from both men. But the crowd rallying behind Volador fighting through the pain to come back and win really took it to that next level. ****
The Young Buck vs. Penta El Zero Miedo and Komander at AEW Dynamite 11/15/23: A fun, fast paced tag match. Both teams start off hot with their quick offense. The Bucks try to take over with some cheap shots but Komander and Penta are able to keep the pace fast and the match in their wheelhouse. The Bucks try to fall back on their trademark tag team offense to try and get the win but their opponents have them well scouted and are able to counter out and keep the Bucks on defense. With the match slipping away, Nick kicks both Komander and Penta low and nails a Judas Effect. BTE Trigger allows the Bucks to steal the win. The Bucks were out-classed in speed and agility and when their trademark offense couldn't get the job done, they fell back into their heel ways to get the win. ****
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. at NJPW Royal Quest III: A fantastic back and forth match between these two rivals. We get some excellent mat wrestling and quick counters from both men early on before both settle into their roles of the match. Ospreay is the better high flyer and stronger than Sabre, who looks to ground Ospreay to work over and pick him apart. Incredible back and forth counters all match as both men control the pace of the match from time to time. Sabre starts off going after the previously hurt neck of Ospreay before switching to the arm to try and neutralize some of Ospreay's power. Ospreay stays on top of Sabre and is vicious in his onslaught. A Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker looks to end things but Sabre kicks out! We get an extensive finishing stretch with both men pullings off some amazing offense. Sabre starts to get more and more desperate in his submission attempts; tying Ospreay up in knots to try and get the win but Ospreay keeps countering out. Sabre goes for a Triangle Choke only for Ospreay to drop him on his head with a Powerbomb. Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker finish things this time and Ospreay retains. Just an incredible 30 minutes of fantastic wrestling from two of the best in the world. What a match! ****1/2
Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher at West Coast Pro Whiplash: A really good match up from these old foes. Both men start off slowly working for holds and trying to get the advantage. Hero goes to the leg of Thatcher while Thatcher works for the arm submission. Lots of great callbacks to their past matches and showing how well they know each other. Hero starts to fire off big strikes and shows he can still go against Thatcher. In response, Thatcher stops wrestling Hero and starts dropping Hero on his head with nasty Back Drop Suplexes. But Hero is able to pull a trick from the Thatcher playbook and suckers him in to slap on a Fujiwara Armbar and gets. the tap out win! Another good chapter in this feud with Thatcher losing his cool and playing into Hero's style of match only for Hero to beat him at his own game. ****
AEW International Championship Match: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jon Moxley at AEW Full Gear 2023: A nice follow-up to their first match. Cassidy comes out swinging but is quickly overwhelmed by Moxley's physical offense. Moxley starts to stomp and beat down Cassidy, who does a nice job at trying to stay alive in the match. A nice story unfolds with Cassidy having to be more and more aggressive to match Moxley, even using a backrake and biting Moxley and busting him open with a series of headbutts. Cassidy's trademark offense isn't enough to take Moxley off his feet and Moxley is able to counter him and tries to snuff out his babyface fire. Cassidy is able to shove Moxley into an exposed turnbuckle to stubble him and fires off six Orange Punches! Beach Break finally ends it as Cassidy is able to beat the Final Boss of AEW to retain. ****1/4
Ladder Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship: Ricky Starks and Big Bill (c) vs. The Kings of the Black Throne vs. FTR vs. Rush and Dralistico at AEW Full Gear 2023: A wild and chaotic match. Everyone does a nice job of showing off and getting some kind of highlight: Starks picking his spots to clear the ring and look for an opening, Rush and FTR just beating the hell out of everyone, Dralistico going high risk, Black being vicious with his strikes and Big Bill and Brody being beasts all match. Lots of great spots and close grabs. A nice finish with Dax and Starks falling off the ladder but Big Bill saves Starks and pushes him back up the ladder to get the win. Just a fun watch. ****
Texas Death Match: Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland at AEW Full Gear 2023: A bloody and violent war between these two! Page wastes no time and rushes out during Swere's entrance to jump start this fight and nails a Buckshot Lariat in the opening minutes of the match. Page tapes Swerve's hands together and attacks him with a staple gun! Swerve is pouring blood already! A low blow buys Swerve time to free his hands and attacks Page. A piledriver on the barricade busts open Page and the ring is covered in both men's blood! Barbed wire, barbed wire wrapped chair, broken glass! My God! These two are trying to murder each other! Page drops Swerve onto a barbed wire board and lands bomb after bomb on him! Buckshot Lariat! Nana helps Swerve get to his feet! Brian Cage rushes in and tries to take out Page but Page fires back to get rid of him. Page with a Deadeye to Nana through a table! Page is going after everyone! Swerve with a cinder block to the back of Page's head! Page still beats the count! Swerve uses a chain to choke out Page! Swerve is hanging the Hangman! Page tries to stand but he can't do it and Swerve gets the win. What a goddamn war between these two! Sold the intensity and violent nature of their feud with Page fighting everyone to get his hands on Swerve, only to be beaten by his own method. Glorious Pro Wrestling Violence! ****3/4
AEW World Championship Match: MJF (c) vs. Jay White at AEW Full Gear 2023: A really great rollercoaster match! MJF comes in with one good leg and White knows it and wastes no time going after it. White toys with MJF early and keeps throwing him to the outside for The Gunns to beat him down until the referee sees it and throws them out. From there, MJF keeps trying to fight back with one leg, only for White to keep cutting him off by going to the leg. MJF has to get out of his comfort zone to try and fight back, including a top rope elbow to the floor and a leaping Cutter over the top to the floor! Insane! The toll on MJF's leg finally catches up and White gets a Figure Four on! Cole debates throwing in the towel but MJF is able to reverse it, only for White to make it to the ropes. Cole tries to help by nailing White with the ROH tag belt but White is able to grab it and hits MJF! Two count! MJF kicks White into the referee on accident but Cole uses the opening to give MJF the Diamond Ring! White grabs it instead though! Low blow by MJF! The Gunns try to run in but MJF catches them with punches. White goes for Bladerunner but MJF slips out and nails White with the Diamond Ring for the 3 count and the win! This whole match was a rollercoaster of emotions. Watching MJF fight back with all he's got, White seemingly having the match won, Cole almost costing MJF the match twice but finally MJF is able to beat White at his own game to get one over on him. Maybe a little too long but what a match! ****1/4
WarGames Match: The Judgment Day and Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins and Randy Orton at WWE Survivor Series 2023-WarGames: A really great match with some nicely told story elements. Rollins and Balor start off and we get the classic WarGames style with the heels coming in for the numbers advantage, but when the numbers are even, the babyfaces have control. A lot of good mixed in storylines with Drew going after Jey and Cody and Rollins having a temporary partnership. All 5 members of the Judgement Day team enter and take control. The timer runs out but Orton isn't here. Rhea tries to have Priest cash in but here comes Orton! The tide of the match turns with the babyfaces running wild! Orton teases going after Jey but Jey saves him from Priest with a Superkick and the two work together. Fun finish as every member of the heel team is taken out one by one before Rollins and Zayn toss JD off the cage into an insane RKO! Cross Rhodes to Priest and the babyfaces get the win. A very fun match with a lot of interesting storylines all mixed together and the match peaked and finished at the right time. ****1/4
Falls Count Anywhere Match: Jon Moxley vs. Great-O-Khan at NJPW Power Struggle 2023: A very fun and wild brawl. Khan jumps Moxley before he even gets in the ring and the two waste no time fighting into the crowd. The two fight for so long that they are counted out! Wait! Moxley wants a Falls Count Anywhere match! Match restarts! The two battle all throughout the crowd, throwing guardrails and chairs and anything not nailed down at each other. A whole lot of chaos with Moxley getting busted open, Khan getting his braid cut and the whole time the match never leaves the crowd. A Death Rider on the floor and a choke finally gets Moxley the win. A bit of wrestling chaos which the crowd loved. ****
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Shota Umino at NJPW Power Struggle 2023: An incredible back and forth match! Shota starts off looking better and more confident against Ospreay, even though Ospreay is still able to control the majority of the early portions. A nice little moment with Shota refusing to use a table on Ospreay and wanting to wrestle clean. Ospreay makes him pay for this by going after him with vicious strikes and offense before a superkick busts Shota's nose open. Something in Shota snaps! Shota lights up Ospreay with strikes and gets vicious and violent with his offense! This is the Shota Ospreay wanted to face. We get an incredible back and forth battle between these two with a ton of big near-falls. Ospreay's strikes are finally able to rock Shota and Ospreay pins him to the mat and just starts laying in more elbows looking for a stoppage. Jon Moxley comes out and fires up Shota to fight back! Shota goes all out on Ospreay looking for the win. Shota hits a variety of DDTs trying to put Ospreay away, ending with a top rope Death Rider! Ospreay barely gets his foot on the rope to stay in this! A final Death Rider by Shota but Ospreay with a Hidden Blade to the face of Shota! A Jumping Blade, Death Rider and even a Storm Driver 93 still doesn't put Shota down. A Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker finally do and Ospreay retains. What a star making match for Shota who showed more fire and passion in this match than ever before. Love the story of Ospreay wanting Shota to step up and Shota unleashing his full fury on the champion, only to still fall short against the might of Ospreay. Shota looked like a future Ace here but Ospreay is still the better man for now. ****3/4
Triple Crown Championship Match: Yuma Aoyagi (c) vs. Kento Miyahara at AJPW Raising An Army Memorial Series 2023 Night 4: A very good battle between these two rivals. Yuma comes in as the confident champion this time and lets Kento know it by working him over with some nice suplexes and almost toying and mocking him. Some cocky offense like a People's Elbow just to rub it in that Yuma is in control this time. Kento, coming into the match in a slump, fires up and is more aggressive here, at one point just hauling off and kicking Yuma in the face multiple times. The finishing stretch picks things up as Kento looks for the Shutdown and nails it but only gets two! Yuma kicked out of Kento's best shot! Kento tries for a second but Yuma won't let him hit it this time. A kick rocks Kento and a pair of Rockstar Busters by Yuma gives him his first ever win over the Ace of AJPW. A good back and forth match that really picked up at the end and helped cement Yuma as a top guy. ****
Triple Crown Championship Match: Yuma Aoyagi (c) vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima at AJPW Giant Series 2023 Night 6: A fantastic match with an awesome story. Yuma comes in wanting to protect AJPW from the invading outsider. In the opening minutes, Nakajima starts to light up Yuma with kicks and suddenly the reality comes out: Yuma is out of his depth. Nakajima is on another level and is easily able to work over Yuma with brutal strikes. Yuma gets desperate and tries for the End Game early to try and slow Nakajima down but Nakajima is still able to escape and take back control. Yuma has to go for Hail Marys to try and match the power of Nakajima and hits Rockstar Buster but only gets a 2 count. Yuma tries to follow up but is met with a stiff open hand slap by Nakajima. A pair of ruthless Brainbusters gives Nakajima the easy victory. Yuma goes out on his shield trying to defend AJPW but even if he is the champion, Nakajima is just on a different level and Yuma was not ready to go face to face with him yet. ****1/4
Kzy, Jacky Funky Kamei, Jason Lee, and Strong Machine J vs. D'courage at Dragon Gate The Gate of Evolution 2023 Night 3: A super fun, action-filled match. Bell to bell action with a lot of quick tags and tag team offense. Nice little story of the match with Ryoya being the target of the Natural Vibes team and working him over. Ryoya makes the hot tag to allow D'courage to battle back but once he recovers, Ryoya wants back in to continue to fight back. What a babyface! Ryoya looks for the upset on Kamei but Kamei proves that the young wrestler still has a lot to learn and is able to out-wrestle Ryoya to get the win. Very fun classic Dragon Gate style match. ****
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Gunther (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa at WWE Monday Night Raw 10/2/23: A really good and hard hitting match. Ciampa comes in looking to stick and move on Gunther and looks for the Sicilian Stretch several times early on. Gunther looks to use his power and chops to slow down Ciampa but Ciampa keeps ducking them. Gunther is finally able to get a hold of and slow Ciampa down for a while for some heat. Gunther misses a chop and hits the announcer's table, hurting his hand. Ciampa goes right after the hand and the match picks up. Both men start throwing bombs and try to put the other away. Gunther's hurt hand prevents him from hitting a powerbomb and Ciampa is able to get the Sicilian Stretch on tight, only for Gunther to make it to the ropes. Ciampa tries to stay on the champion but when he goes for a slam, Gunther counters with a brutal powerbomb followed by a second one. Gunther gets the choke locked in and Ciampa passes out. A great match that allowed these two to go big with a ton of awesome offense while also making Gunther just wounded enough to think Ciampa could pull off the upset. ****
Continental Classic Gold League Match: Jon Moxley vs. Jay Lethal at AEW Dynamite 11/29/23: A really great in-ring match. Both men start off with some nice quick wrestling holds before Lethal starts going after the knee of Moxley with a Figure Four, which Moxley rolls out the ring to break up quickly. Moxley starts to brawl with Lethal to get the match back under his control but a dive to the outside has Moxley land awkwardly on his knee. Lethal takes advantage and starts to go after the knee more aggressively to take over. Nice story to Moxley's comeback as he tries various strategies to take back over; standing and trying to throw strikes at Lethal and even going for a quick roll-up but Lethal stays on him. Lethal goes for Lethal Injection but Moxley just drops due to his knee. No! Moxley was playing possum and nails a Paradigm Shift. Lariat and Piledriver followed up for only a 2 count. Moxley gets a choke on and Lethal tries to hammer his knee to make him let go but Moxley traps the arm with his leg! Lethal has to tap and Moxley gets the win. Really great wrestling all match with a good story of Moxley having a clear injury and Lethal doing everything he can to exploit it but Moxley was able to use his experience to pull off the win. ****
Continental Classic Gold League Match: Mark Briscoe vs. Rush at AEW Dynamite 11/29/23: A physical and wild brawl from these two. Right at the bell, both men come out swinging and going all out with chops and stiff strikes. Lots of big bombs and high impact offense all match. Rush looks to hurt his knee at some point and slows down, which allows Mark to take over for a few. Froggy Bow gets a nice near-fall and Mark tries to follow-up with a Jay Driller but Rush fights him off and suplexes Mark into the corner. Rush hits the Bull's Horn and gets the win in a hard hitting match. Exactly what I wanted and expected from these two. ****
Continental Classic Gold League Match: Jay White vs. Swerve Strickland at AEW Dynamite 11/29/23: A really good back and forth counter for counter match from these two. White looks to go after the hurt shoulder of Swerve and pick him apart while Swerve looks to use his quick and unique offense to catch White off guard. We get a lot of great exchanges with these two both trying to utilize their strategies. Great spot with White tries to sneak a low blow on Swerve like he did in his last match but Swerve stops him! House Call and a Swerve Stomp! But only gets 2! Swerve tries to follow-up but White hits a Bladerunner! Swerve rolls out the ring to prevent the pin. So good! Both try for a quick roll-up but neither can keep the other down. White goes for Bladerunner again but Swerve has it scouted this time and rolls White up for the 3! Swerve with a big upset! Super fun match with both men having great chemistry and Swerve getting one over on White with a quick pin. ****
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