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

Honorable Mentions

• D’Courage vs. YAMATO, Naruki Doi, & Dragon Kid (Dragongate 6/1/23)
• Katsuyori Shibata vs. Alex Coughlin (AEW 6/1/23)
• Katsuyori Shibata vs. Lee Moriarty (AEW 6/2/23)
• Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Shota Umino (NJPW 6/4/23)
• Atlantis, Stuka Jr, & Gran Guerrero vs. Soberano Jr, Euforia, & Valiente (CMLL 6/9/23)
• Yuji Hino & HARASHIMA vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Takeshi Masada (DDT 6/10/23)
• Strong BJ vs. Violent Giants (AJPW 6/17/23)
• Violence is Forever vs. Miracle Generation (DPW 6/18/23)
• Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada (AEW/NJPW 6/25/23)
• Gunther vs. Sami Zayn (WWE 6/26/23)

Mio Momono & Takumi Iroha vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Saori Anou (OZ Academy 6/11/23)

Mio Momono was already the best women’s wrestler in the world before this, so adding blading to her repertoire feels almost like an unfair advantage. Mio’s been a delight all year, but she feels at home in this kind of match in a way she hasn’t since the Sendai Girls/Marvelous feud. Her underdog fire gets put to perfect use against the bullying force of Mayumi Ozaki & Saori Anou. I’ve never seen Anou work closer to heel, and she acquits herself well here. Anou’s whip is a great weapon that provides a great visual on offense, but outside of that, she’s throwing real meaty elbows to Mio.

One mustn’t ignore the efforts of one of wrestling’s great little shits and nuisances though: Mayumi Ozaki. Some of the old magic still remains in her—pure spite funneled into things like stretching and tying up Mio while taunting her with a nearby rope break. She’s so mean in little ways like tossing a dog collar chain down onto Mio’s hand repeatedly or pulling Mio’s shoulders off the mat repeatedly in the finishing stretch. Even the meandering outside interference and crowd brawl in the middle couldn’t detract much from this match’s charm.

Rating: ****

Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler YUTA vs. Hangman Page & The Young Bucks (AEW 6/14/23)

2023 is for trios wrestling. Here we have the best of the Elite/BCC tags of the year—yes, even better than Anarchy in the Arena. This is perfect TV tag wrestling here with the hot start from the Hung Bucks, making good use of their speed and risk taking to get an early jump on the BCC. I love how much care the BCC puts into sneaking their way back into the advantage, never allowing themselves to outshine The Elite, but always coming across dangerous and credible in the process. Does it turn into more of a big bombfest by the end? Sure, but this is a combination of guys extremely well suited to getting the most of that.

Rating: ****