5 Best Wrestling Matches of 2003

By 2003, the landscape of pro wrestling changed significantly. In terms of popularity and critical acclaim, the best company in the world was Japan’s Pro Wrestling NOAH. There was a higher concentration of phenomenal matches in NOAH than in any other company that year, including WWE.

They had the perfect combination of established legends and rising stars, which allowed the company to become the biggest wrestling company in Japan, despite wrestling in general being behind MMA in terms of widespread popularity at the time.

In fact, not only did NOAH produce the best match of the year by a long shot, but the match in question is also in this author’s mind, the best wrestling match of the entire decade.

WWE wasn’t doing badly by any means, however. They had one of the deepest rosters ever and had a new group of rising stars coming up to carry the company forward. Guys like Brock Lesnar, John Cena and the debuting Goldberg were white hot in the company during 2003, and made for some of the most entertaining matches and moments throughout the year.

However, no single WWE superstar was better than Kurt Angle in 2003. He was on a tear, putting on MOTY-level contests on almost a weekly basis. Whether he was wrestling a fellow ring technician like Chris Benoit or taking on bigger opponents like The Undertaker or Brock Lesnar, Angle was the best thing WWE had that year, no doubt.

So which matches were the best this year? Read on…

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5. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar - WrestleMania XIX

Up until this match, most people viewed Brock as a big man who only did power moves. Then things changed.

Lesnar showed a side of himself that few people had ever seen before. He finally faced Kurt Angle, which meant we got to see Lesnar’s natural wrestling ability on display.

One cannot understate how badass Lesnar looked holding his own in a chain grappling match with Kurt Angle. It was a huge deal because it showed Lesnar really did have the amateur skills to back up all the hype around him.

But Lesnar doing technical reversals was only one small part of the story. The central point here is that Brock Lesnar really was a monster back then. He took a ridiculous amount of punishment from Kurt Angle, including four consecutive German Suplexes and one into the turnbuckle and one that had enough force that Lesnar landed on his stomach. He looked like a real superstar in this match, even as he dragged himself to the bottom rope with Angle holding onto his ankle for dear life.

Of course, Angle was a machine in his own right, dominating most of the match. Not only did his mat wrestling get loud applause from the crowd, but he also showed his own toughness by becoming the first person to ever kick out of the F-5.

Aside from the wrestlers, commentator Tazz did great work selling the realism of the submission holds in the match, making even the rest-holds feel important and meaningful.

Lastly, this match will be remembered for Lesnar’s botched Shooting Star Press. Yes, it was a mistake, but Lesnar was still able to finish the match despite suffering a severe concussion. That in itself makes him one of the toughest people to ever step foot in a wrestling ring.

The only unfortunate thing about this match is we don’t get to see this Brock Lesnar anymore. THIS Brock Lesnar was dynamic and exciting; today’s Brock Lesnar doesn’t seem to care about anything wrestling-related.

4. Kenta Kobahi vs. Yuji Nagata – NOAH, September 12, 2003

Imagine if John Cena had Kurt Angle’s wrestling ability and he was taking on a hybrid between Daniel Bryan and Chris Benoit. That’s what you get with this match. The role of Cena/Angle is played by Kobashi, and Bryan/Benoit is played by Nagata, and Nagata is also hated by the NOAH audience here because he’s the invader from New Japan.

Kobashi had his hands full with Nagata, who was a superior mat wrestler. Nagata destroyed Kobashi’s lariat arm with his array of submissions and stiff kicks, and seemed to have a way out of any situation. He even resorted to underhanded tactics like kicking Kobashi’s legs as hard as possible, hoping to damage his surgically-repaired knees.

But Kobashi is very much like John Cena: no matter how much punishment he takes, he digs down deep into his bottomless pit of ‘Burning Spirit’ and overcomes unimaginable pain to win. Nagata tried and tried to come up with a winning strategy, and came incredibly close to winning on many occasions.

With classic technical wrestling, dramatic reversal sequences, a challenger with enough credibility to be believed they can win, and a champion with superman toughness, this is a gorgeous match that helped prove why Pro Wrestling NOAH was the #1 promotion in the world in 2003.

3. Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle - 60-minute Ironman Match, Smackdown, September 16, 2003

This is arguably the greatest feud in SmackDown history...

This is the best match in SmackDown history. You had two outstanding grapplers facing off in a 60-minute Ironman match (with commercials), showing everyone why they were the best in WWE at the time.

There was much more story to this match than previous Angle-Lesnar matches. Lesnar was far more heelish here, resorting to underhanded tactics more than once. He used an excellent strategy early on: he got himself disqualified willingly by attacking Angle with a chair. It was perfect because it allowed Lesnar to wear Angle down quickly and effectively. Lesnar then scored two falls in the span of less than five minutes, even getting Angle to tap out to his own ankle lock.

As the match progressed, you got to see just how incredible both wrestlers’ conditioning was. For a good 45 minutes, Angle and Lesnar kept wrestling, hitting big moves inside the ring, outside it, and above it. They also didn’t spend much time resting either, they were actually competing for almost the entirety of the match.

There were even references to previous moments in SmackDown history in this match. At one point, Lesnar tried to F-5 Angle so that Angle’s legs hit the steel ring post. This was something he had done to other wrestlers previously, which made him a despicable person. But Angle reversed it and actually hit that very move on Lesnar, in one of the best examples of poetic justice in WWE in years.

Both Angle and Lesnar were in their primes when this match happened, which makes it such an entertaining watch. SmackDown was still great in those days, which makes people hope that the show can someday be as good as when this match happened.

2. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit - Royal Rumble 2003

This match is a wrestling purist’s dream. You had two of the greatest technical wrestlers in WWE at the time showing off their skills in singles competition. You had Chris Benoit (who had been praised for his wrestling skills as far back as in the early 1990s) and Kurt Angle, who was quite possibly the most technically-gifted wrestler to ever set foot in a WWE ring.

And they were also fighting for the WWE Championship, so you knew this was going to be a big match. These two men were evenly matched for the entire match, with the advantage and momentum changing in seconds each time. Both Angle and Benoit were known for their German Suplexes, so they hit several on each other, which brought to the crowd to their feet.

Benoit was an awesome underdog challenger, as he fought savagely to win the world title for the first time. Not only did he hit one German Suplex that was so strong Angle landed on his stomach, but Benoit at one point also flew ¾ across the ring to land his trademark diving headbutt.

This match is so much fun to watch because these two men know each other so well and know how to reverse moves with lightning quickness. That’s a rare skill because it keeps the fans watching intently, and leads to bigger reactions when moves land. All of these things make a match better, which is what Angle and Benoit did.

These two had perfect chemistry with each other, and this match is a perfect example of that. They both did amazing in this match, making it one of the best matches in the world in 2003.

1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi – NOAH, March 01, 2003

This phenomenal contest was voted Match of the Year for 2003 by both the Wrestling Observer and Tokyo Sports, is the best match in Pro Wrestling NOAH’s history, the best match in all of wrestling in 2003, the best singles match between Misawa and Kobashi, and in my opinion, the Singles Match of the Decade of the 2000s.

Even though both Misawa and Kobashi were long past their primes (owing to years of brutal wrestling in All Japan and NOAH), they still put on such a phenomenal match. Moreover, this was the final singles match these two would ever have together, and marked the culmination of a legendary series of matches that had begun back in 1990.

Misawa and Kobashi had faced each other in singles competition fifteen times prior to this one, five of which were world title matches, and Misawa had won in all of those title bouts. This time, Kobashi was looking to finally break that losing streak and surpass Misawa as the better wrestler…which he did.

Everything about this wrestling match was out of this world. The psychology was consistent and logical, especially as Misawa tried to destroy Kobashi’s lariat arm and Kobashi kept hitting neck-targeting moves to weaken Misawa bit by bit.

They showed some impressive chain-wrestling and a greater focus on submission holds, which gave the match more drama and unpredictability.

Of course, this being Misawa and Kobashi, so there were some absolutely brutal moments that would make you think neither man should even be moving, much less wrestling.

Not only did both of them get dropped on their respective heads/neck about a dozen times each (including an absolutely vicious Burning Hammer by Kobashi), but Kobashi showed just how inhumanly tough/crazy he is by TAKING A TIGER SUPLEX FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR!

This match has everything you could ever ask for in a pro wrestling match. Chain wrestling and flawless reversals? Check. Stiff strikes? Check. Fantastic pacing and dramatic near-falls and submission holds? Check. Dramatic come-back sequences and momentum shifts?

Check. Sickening head-drop moves that’ll make you question whether these wrestlers are even human or not? Check. A raucous crowd and commentators that go nuts for all the big moves? There’s that too.

What more could you ask for out of a match?