5 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2013

#4 Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata - G1 Climax 2013

This was one of the wildest brawls I have ever seen. As soon as the bell rang, Ishii and Shibata literally charged at each other and started hitting each other as hard as possible.

It was the epitome of the stereotypical ‘stiff’ Japanese wrestling that was both entertaining and terrifying. In a classic ‘tough guy’ challenge, Shibata and Ishii took turns going to one knee and taking full-contact strikes from each other. You don’t see stuff like this often, especially since this was full contact striking between two wrestlers notorious for their brawling styles.

There was also an underlying story here of an underdog overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Ishii, who had spent most of his career on the undercard, refused to give up and kept begging for more punishment. This was technically a bad idea, since Shibata had dabbled in MMA, and was notorious for hitting Kawada-level stiff kicks to his opponents.

When you add all those elements together, you get a fantastic match that you can’t turn away from. Ishii and Shibata hit each other so hard it felt like both of them were made of iron. They absorbed insanely stiff kicks, chops, head-butts, and lariats, even kicking out at one after those latter strikes.

While it’s relatively short for an NJPW match, this crazy brawling, combined with a crowd and commentators that went into a frenzy from the opening bell, is a must-see for fans that love wild brawling and tough-guy contests.