Ian Riccaboni's 10 Favorite Matches He Called in 2024
BIG EGG enters the Riccabone Zone!
[Colette here! In my station as the publicist at Merge Records, I asked Ian if he’d contribute to our yearly tradition of staff/artists/friends’ EOTY list. He agreed, then turned in a full-length essay about his year behind the desk at ROH, AEW, and NJPW Strong, which was the last thing I expected. With his permission, I’m sharing it with y’all — have fun, and happy holidays!]
Hi! My name is Ian Riccaboni and I am a professional wrestling commentator for All Elite Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and, from time to time, New Japan Pro-Wrestling. I am the first known professional wrestling announcer to shout out the New Pornographers on live cable television. Pro wrestling is the purest and best form of art: the emotional highs and lows of every match, the diversity and inclusion of its stars, the falls and redemptions, and the pageantry. There’s nothing like it.
I serve as the play-by-play announcer. I tell the fans why the match is happening and describe the moves. My partner, color commentator Caprice Coleman, is the best. He tells you why the moves are happening. But I have had a lot of great partners in addition to Caprice this year, too, like Excalibur who wears a snazzy mask, Tony Schiavone who will take his rightful place in many Hall of Fames before it is all said and done, and Nigel McGuinness and Taz, two more of the best color commentators out there. We got to share some cool matches with you this year and here my ten favorite that I was ringside for.
10-6 are quickies followed by some love for 5-1.
10. ROH World Title: Champion Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong (ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/26/24)
Two men that epitomize what ROH is all about competing for the big one. Just non-stop action from bell to bell with Mark scoring a successful defense on Pay Per View.
9. Hechicero vs. Komander (AEW Rampage 11/30/24)
This one was wild. The Alchemist Hechicero is a powerhouse who does literal magic. Komander flies around the ring, can run on the ropes, and must be seen to be believed. These two tore down the house in nearby Reading, PA.
8. Adam Page vs. Jeff Jarrett (AEW Collision 9/28/24)
Realizing Nigel McGuinness would empty the tank and give everything he had to defeat career rival Bryan Danielson at Arthur Ashe Stadium, AEW officials called me in to join the Collision broadcast team for this special Grand Slam edition that was taped the same night as Dynamite. Much like baseball broadcasters always remember the first time they called a Shohei Ohtani at-bat, I will forever remember the first time I called a Double J Jeff Jarrett match which included the 7’4” Satnam Singh using a leather strap.
7. Winner Goes to the Tokyo Dome: Athena vs. Billie Starkz vs. Red Velvet vs. Leyla Hirsch (ROH TV 12/12/24)
The women’s division in ROH is its biggest strength. Throughout the year, the promotion has been carried by the four principles in this match, as well as Diamante, Queen Aminata, Lady Frost, Kiera Hogan, Harley Cameron, and many more. Athena is in the middle of a reign of over two years as the ROH Women’s World Champion, the longest reign for any champion of any title in ROH history, male or female. But the one thing that has eluded her is wrestling in Japan. By stealing the win from protégé, or “minion” as Athena refers to, Billie Starkz, Athena punched her ticket to the Tokyo Dome on January 5. But will costing Starkz cost Athena her ROH Women’s World Title at Final Battle on Friday December 20 against Starkz on HonorClub?
6. ROH World Championship: Champion Eddie Kingston vs. Mark Briscoe (ROH Supercard of Honor 4/5/24)
In the late 90s, Papa Briscoe took Mark and older brother, the late great Jay Briscoe to the rear entry of the ECW Arena, looking to get his teenage sons an opportunity to wrestle. Following Jay’s tragic passing in January 2023, Mark had served as a beam of light for many, often lifting others simply through his strength but also through his humor, his faith, and his kindness.
Mark was on the first-ever ROH card in Philadelphia in 2002 but had to second brother Jay to the ring because he was not yet 18. Around the same time, Eddie Kingston began to make his name in professional wrestling. The two men’s careers would intertwine until the met in front of a record-setting crowd for ROH in its birthplace. Mark joined brother Jay as the first brother duo to ever each hold the ROH World Championship, and joined Eddie and Jay’s favorite wrestler Terry Funk and Terry’s brother Dory Funk Jr. as among the other brother duos to hold internationally-recognized World Championships.
5. Texas Death Match: Leyla Hirsch vs. Diamante (ROH Death Before Dishonor 7/26/24)
My son was at the first All In in 2018, an event so monumental that it launched a professional wrestling company in its wake that would sell out Wembley Stadium, land major licensing deals, and do things no other companies had done as a challenger brand. My daughter’s first event was Death Before Dishonor in Trenton, NJ in 2023. Nora’s first favorite wrestler was and remains Leyla Hirsch. This one is a sentimental pick but also a well-deserved pick. I may be reverse underrating it to try to make sure that I’m not weighing my daughter’s love for Leyla in it too heavily.
This was a personal issue that had to be resolved in a match type popularized in Amarillo, TX in the 1940s and 1950s by Dory Funk Sr. This match occurred across the great state of Texas in Arlington, just a short walk away from a statue of a man who once knocked down a man half his age and gave the single-greatest noogie of all-time in MLB history (and also holds the all-time strikeout record). This match ruled. Leyla and Diamante had a grudge, beat each other up, and Leyla was able to win despite visible dislocating her elbow. Wild stuff.
4. AEW World Championship: Champion Samoa Joe vs. Hook (AEW Dynamite 1/17/24)
Even when I’m not traveling, I travel a lot. The night before this Dynamite, Tony Schiavone suffered an eye injury and would not be able to make it. I said sure before I was told where I would be going. North Charleston, South Carolina really tripped me up as I had treated it like one of those Jimmy Buffett songs that you know there is a pun in the title that you can’t figure out.
But the biggest I’d be tripped up was sitting next to Taz as he watched his son Hook in the biggest match of his career to that point. Hook was challenging the monstrous Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship. Joe had propensity to drop the pedal like a holy roller at a moment’s notice. As the match went on, I felt for Taz. The closer Hook got to deciphering the champ, the more Joe ratcheted up the violence. Hook is special but Taz wanted me to treat his son like any other world title challenger. But during the match, I had to ask Taz father to father if he was ready to watch and accept the violence in front of him in the name of Hook capturing the ultimate prize. It was a wild night.
3. IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Champion Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino (New Japan STRONG Resurgence 5/11/24)
This was just like Cat Stevens “Father and Son” except if things got really aggressive and violent. Shota, or “Shooter” as he is nicknamed, was a “Young Boy”, or young wrestler training in the New Japan Dojo when international superstar and current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley handpicked him as his protégé. Shota, after years of great success and having come into his own, felt ready to call his shot and try to dethrone his mentor. It was a terrific match.
2. AEW TNT Title Match, Cope Open: Champion Adam Copeland vs. Matt Cardona (AEW Collision 3/30/24)
I got a call at about 7 PM ET the night before asking if I could make it to Collision. Tony Schiavone may not be able to make it the next day for Collision. I’d take a bullet for Tony. I was going to be there. I woke up at 3 AM, drove to Philadelphia, landed in Detroit, got in a car with our Executive Producer Mike and my main man Cluck, fought a Shadow Mewtwo at a Pokemon Go gym at the venue, and called this card with Nigel McGuiness and Tony, who was able to make it.
Matt, now one of the biggest independent, self-made stars in wrestling, broke into the WWE as a young man under the tutelage of Adam Copeland as an “Edgehead”. Copeland was defending the TNT Championship on TNT that night, meaning anyone could challenge for it. Matt always wanted but was never able to get a match with his mentor but got one that night. The building was electric. One of my personal favorites. Cluck and I got some Tim Hortons on the way back to Detroit that same night. I always keep a packed garment bag with a suit and this is why. Matt might find his way onto a revised version of this list if he can defeat Chris Jericho this Friday (December 20) at Final Battle airing live on HonorClub.
1. ROH World Championship: Champion Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle Fletcher (ROH TV from Allentown, PA 6/27/24)
There is no place like home. AEW and ROH came to my hometown in June and the first match out of the curtain was also the first ROH match ever in Allentown.
In a town whose verifiable major wrestling bonafides date back beyond the 1930s, AEW was the first nationally-televised promotion to bring a card to my hometown since ECW did on 4/1/1999, the first non-WWE promotion of its size to run a card in Allentown since WCW ran a card there in August 23, 1990, and the first televised wrestling card from Pennsylvania’s third-biggest city since June 19, 1984, almost 40 years to the day.
Professional wrestling has always had strong ties to Allentown: Cyndi Lauper kicked off the Rock and Wrestling Connection here, some argue Hulkamania started here when Hulk Hogan returned to the then-WWF to save Bob Backlund and chase off the dastardly Wild Samoans, while Afa the Wild Samoan became arguably the greatest trainer of all time with his Wild Samoans Training Facility next to Jordan Lanes on the Allentown/Whitehall border.
While I could recant the entire history of professional wrestling in Allentown, my love for the city and its history of quirky mayors such as the sax-playing Joe Daddona, I won’t bore you with that. Mark had captured the World Championship in the aforementioned World Title Match against Eddie Kingston and this was among his first big defenses against one of the fastest rising stars in the world, “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher. Kyle is rapidly becoming one of the biggest stars in the world but Mark was too much. What an amazing match to have be the first ROH match, the first match of the night in your hometown.
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