From Friday, January 16th, through Sunday, January 18th, we saw the likes of Chaotic Wrestling, Game Changer Wrestling, and Limitless Wrestling put on some incredible shows filled with some great action, including an early “Match of the Year” and “Show of the Year” contender for 2026. Here are five must-see matches from this past weekend that every fan of independent wrestling should go back and check out.

5. Milo Mirra vs. Sam Holloway from Chaotic Wrestling’s “Pandemonium”

On Friday, January 16th, Chaotic Wrestling returned to Lowell, MA, for it’s event, “Pandemonium.” The event streamed live on the Chaotic Wrestling Twitch and YouTube channels. The main event saw Mortar put his Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship on the line in the Pandemonium match against Tyree Taylor, Shannon LeVangie, Kalvin Dumont, Armani Kayos, & Ricky Smokes. While the main event certainly didn’t disappoint, my must-see match from this show was the match that kicked it all off. In the opening contest of the night, Milo Mirra met WWE ID prospect Sam “Hardway” Holloway. This wasn’t just an ordinary match; Mirra put his Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship on the line in this one. At Holiday Hijack back in December, Mirra defeated Arcturus to win the Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship for the first time in his career. This was a typical “David vs. Goliath” match where Mirra played the role of “David” perfectly. Once again, Mirra found himself against a much bigger opponent in Holloway. However, if history is any indication, it’s never a good idea to count Mirra out. Mirra put his 32-day reign on the line in this one, as he’s hoping to have a lengthy, and more importantly, quality run with the title. The Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship has somewhat become the workhorse title of Chaotic Wrestling, an idea first put forth by Trigga The OG in his reign. Nonetheless, Mirra is doing the title proud. Go back and check this one out on the Chaotic Wrestling YouTube and Twitch channels.

4. Jordan Oliver vs. Oro from GCW’s “Crime Wave”

On Sunday, January 18th, GCW debuted at Wichita, KS, for it’s event, “Crime Wave.” The event streamed live on TrillerTV+. The main event saw Atticus Cogar put his GCW World Championship on the line against Priscilla Kelly. While the main event delivered on just about every front, the must-see match from this show saw AEW’s newest signee, Jordan Oliver, go one-on-one with Oro. Oliver and Oro complemented each other’s style very much in this one. At times, it felt like we were watching them battle themselves, if that makes any sense. They knew what their opponent was going to do next, and they each threw everything they had and then some at each other. Oliver was fresh off a huge announcement two nights before at the Limitless Wrestling event, “Limitless Rumble,” but more on that later. It was announced that Oliver, alongside Alec Price, had signed with All Elite Wrestling. So, we saw a much more motivated and “on his game” Oliver. Despite achieving a dream, the real work had just begun for Oliver, and that was on full display in his match with Oro. As for Oro, he’s continuing to make a name for himself on the independent scene following his WWE departure. Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen Oro in action yet, I highly recommend you go check out any of his matches. He’s a star in every sense of the word, and he has fully reinvented himself as the “main man.” Go back and check this one out anytime on TrillerTV+.

3. Dezmond Cole vs. Donovan Dijak from Limitless Wrestling’s “Limitless Rumble 2026”

On Friday night, January 16th, Limitless Wrestling returned to The Colisee in Lewiston, ME, for it’s big event, “Limitless Rumble 2026.” The event streamed on the Limitless Wrestling YouTube channel, as well as on IWTV. The main event saw a 30-person Limitless Rumble where the winner becomes the new #1 contender for the Limitless World Championship. However, one of the best matches of the night saw Dezmond Cole put his Limitless Wrestling World Championship on the line against Donovan Dijak. Cole won the title back in August at the Vacationland Cup against Channing Thomas. Since then, Cole has held the Limitless Wrestling World Championship for 180 days, battling the likes of Aaron Rourke, Aiden Aggro, Channing Thomas (again), Joseph Alexander, Charles Mason, Alec Price, and Bear Bronson. However, his toughest challenge was yet to come as he had to go one-on-one with one of the biggest and baddest stars on the independent scene today, Donovan Dijak. Dijak is back with a fury on the independent scene, showing the world what many already knew outside of his work on television: he’s one of the very best. On any other night and any other show, this match could have taken the number one spot on the list and been a main event. However, this night was not like any other night, and this show was not like any other show. There was one moment on the show that was just a little bit bigger, and it was a MOTY candidate, and we’ll get to that shortly. However, I strongly recommend everyone go back and check this one out on the Limitless Wrestling YouTube channel and the Limitless Wrestling VOD channel on IWTV.

2. Atticus Cogar vs. 1 Called Manders from GCW’s “Code of the Streets”

On Saturday, January 17th, Game Changer Wrestling returned to Dallas, TX, for it’s event, “Code of the Streets.” The event streamed live on TrillerTV+. The main event saw Matt Tremont put the GCW Ultraviolent Championship on the line against Otis Cogar. While this was a fun main event, the match that stole the show on this card was Atticus Cogar putting his GCW World Championship on the line against 1 Called Manders. Cogar won the GCW World Championship back in November at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, NJ. Over the course of his nearly 60-day reign, so far, Cogar has fended off the likes of Matt Tremont, EFFY, and Lil Sicko, with two more defenses planned for last weekend against Manders and Priscilla Kelly. Cogar has shown to be a very viable champion for GCW. He’s talented, oozes charisma, and knows exactly how to make the fans feel a certain way, whether they love him or hate him. As for Manders, he’s never been a champion in GCW, but he’s far from a slouch. Manders is a callback to bruisers in professional wrestling, like the old days of Bradshaw in the WWE. I can watch Manders matches for hours. He hits hard, and he can take hits even harder. To put it simply, this match was so much more than a match. It was a fight. These two went to war over the top prize in GCW. We even saw Cogar shove skewers into Manders bare foot. This was a violent fight, but one that was very fitting for these two men. Cogar can go to violent places if he needs to, to get the job done. He did just that in this one. I highly recommend you go check this one out on TrillerTV+.

1. MJF vs. Alec Price from Limitless Wrestling’s “Limitless Rumble 2026”

Let’s head back to the Limitless Wrestling event, shall we? The Limitless Rumble took place on Friday night and was a very early independent wrestling show of the year contender. There were so many fun matches on this show, and so much fantastic wrestling. However, the match of the night, and a very early match of the year contender, saw MJF put his AEW World Championship on the line against Alec Price. MJF won the AEW World Championship back in December at Worlds End. Since defeating Adam Page, Samoa Joe, and Swerve Strickland to win the AEW World Championship back, MJF has successfully defeated Bandido, heading into this one. MJF has earned every bit of the success he has found since joining AEW. He remains one of the very best in the world, and it’s very easy to see why. His match Price in this one was damn-near perfect. Price went up against one of the best wrestlers in the world and had a 20-minute battle with him. Price didn’t go away easily; he put up the fight of his life, and that was very apparent. One of my favorite things about this match was that there were actually moments when I thought Price would win the AEW World Championship. It was that close at times. Price put up such a good fight that MJF announced following the match that he was sent to Limitless Wrestling as a test for Price. MJF announced that Price, alongside Oliver, was officially All Elite. While it’s only January, this was a very early match-of-the-year candidate. Price reminded fans in this one that he’s no slouch and is far more than a “tag team wrestler.” It was great that Jordan Oliver was ringside for the match, as it made the moment that much more special. This match was simply perfect. If there’s any match I recommend that you actually go back and watch, please let it be this one. You can watch it for free on the Limitless Wrestling YouTube channel, or if you subscribe to IWTV, you can find it on the Limitless Wrestling VOD channel.