Joseph Montecillo's Best of the Month (July 2023)

This month was exceptionally busy, between the multiple tournaments in Japan running concurrently plus just a large swell of big shows happening on the same sets of weekends. With that said, this month’s list is busier than usual, and other great matches that normally would have made it have been pushed to Honorable Mentions.

Honorable Mentions

• Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong (AEW 7/1/23)
• Yuji Hino, Jun Akiyama, & Hideki Okatani vs. Kazusada Higuchi, HARASHIMA, & Akito (DDT 7/2/23)
• FTR vs. Jay White & Juice Robinson (AEW 7/8/23)
• Daniel Makabe vs. Artemis Spencer (Prestige 7/8/23)
• Daniel Makabe vs. Cody Chhun (Prestige 7/9/23)
• Cody Chhun vs. Judas Icarus (Prestige 7/9/23)
• CM Punk vs. Ricky Starks (AEW 7/15/23)
• Eddie Kingston vs. Shingo Takagi (NJPW 7/16/23)
• Claudio Castagnoli vs. PAC (ROH 7/21/23)
• Athena vs. Willow Nightingale (ROH 7/21/23)
• Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuki Ueno (DDT 7/23/23)
• Syuri vs. Suzu Suzuki (STARDOM 7/23/23)
• Ricky Marvin vs. Calibus (Lucha Memes 7/23/23)
• Alex Shelley vs. Jonathan Gresham (Prestige 7/24/23)

Jon Moxley & Homicide vs. El Desperado & Jun Kasai (NJPW 7/4/23)

Immense fun, probably more so than any other New Japan match up to this point of the year. In a more focused hardcore setting—a straight 2v2 as opposed to a trio or larger—Jon Moxley’s best strengths really get to shine. The gleeful approach to violence, that irrepressible energy that has characterized the best of his work this decade. On top of that, there’s Jun Kasai. Despy’s great, of course, and we’ll talk about that more soon, but there’s something else entirely about the feeling of Jun Kasai having a New Japan Korakuen crowd in the palm of his hand. His charm and charisma fuels so much of the energy of an already explosive bout. Hard to go wrong with four extremely likeable dudes trying to kill each other.

Rating: ****1/4

Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado (NJPW 7/5/23)

Moxley has spent most of his time since the Hangman feud in tags. That’s not a bad use of the guy, but it’s certainly not how to maximize his strengths either. In this match against Despy, in the main event of Korakuen Hall, the Jon Moxley I named 2022’s Wrestler of the Year was unleashed at full force again. Almost effortlessly violent and ruthless in his approach to wrestling, he is a site to behold. I think the moment that got me really perked up for what was already a great match was Mox taking the shattered remnants of a guitar and stabbing Despy with the shards. Fuck yes.

Despy himself is great in this too, bringing a lot of the fire, timing, and bumping that has made his deathmatch excursions such a thrill. This match doesn’t quite pack the same emotional punch as the Kasai match last year, but there’s a more direct conflict at hand here. It’s as simple as Desperado trying to make his way against arguably the best wrestler going today, and finding that that’s no easy feat.

Rating: ****1/2