1. John Cena vs. Roman Reigns (No Mercy 9/24/17)
It’s not quite Misawa vs. Jumbo, but the atmosphere on this thing was untouchable and they went out and had themselves what I think the kids call a banger. A big physical wonderful main event wrestling match with plenty of classic moments and major near falls.
2. Steel Cage Match: Big Show vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 9/4/17)
A match that encompasses all WWE is good at – a big build-up all show, leading to a match between two monstrous giant men locked inside a Steel Cage. Another Braun Strowman match laid out for maximum fun, with every big spot hitting. Great call by Corey Graves too.
3. Sin City Street Fight – SmackDown Tag Team Title: The Usos [c] vs. The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) (SmackDown 9/12/17)
This is The New Day and The Usos working the tag formula they have perfected within the confinements of a wild-ass brawl. A beatdown PLUS CHAIRS, a comeback PLUS KENDO STICKS. Tons of fun.
4. Oney Lorcan vs. Lars Sullivan (NXT 9/27/17)
“Screw that. Let’s see what Lars will do to Oney Lorcan.” Such an awesome match, just a non-stop 5-minute car crash and a unique environment for Oney, who played scrappy underdog. Oney’s dropkick right to the face and Lars catching Oney’s suicide dive were highlights.
5. RAW Tag Team Title: Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose [c] vs. Cesaro & Sheamus (No Mercy 9/24/17)
A match that lost me a little early but there is a point about halfway into this, where there’s a camera shot of everybody just lying on the floor after Dean Ambrose’s tope, with Dean trying to pop his shoulder back in and Cesaro bleeding from the mouth because his teeth were knocked halfway up his face, that this just felt completely utterly epic. Stayed that way too.
6. Roman Reigns vs. Jason Jordan (RAW 9/11/17)
Genuinely interesting to see Roman Reigns work his Big Physical Match formula with Jason Jordan, who is basically a blank slate of an athletic rookie at this point. And it works!
7. John Cena vs. Jason Jordan (RAW 9/4/17)
John Cena’s out here selling confusion and frustration off of waistlocks, trading counters with a young up-and-comer, creating drama in a wrestling ring. This is John Cena taking young Jason Jordan on a journey, and it is very good.
8. Roman Reigns vs. The Miz w/ The Miztourage (RAW 9/25/17)
It’s Roman Hogan working a Saturday Night’s Main Event match and it feels so good. Reigns and Miz have the weirdest most coolest chemistry… Miz is the little shit, Roman is the asskicker, and Miz uses just enough shortcuts to feel completely credible versus Roman Reigns. Classic sports entertainment right here – cheating, interference, heel beatdown, comeback. The last few minutes of this are legit incredible.
9. Mae Young Classic – Final: Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler (MYC Finals 9/12/17)
Great atmosphere, great characters, great match. Had all the pomp and circumstance of a tournament final, and all the dirty-ass matwork of a Shayna Baszler match and all the pint-sized underdog loveliness of a Kairi Sane match. Most impressive is that this was in a spot on the card normally reserved for a quiet Ariya Daivari vs. TJP match, and they got Dueling Chants and had the crowd going wild for the finish.
10. WWE Intercontinental Title: The Miz [c] w/ Maryse and The Miztourage vs. Jeff Hardy w/ Matt Hardy (RAW 9/4/17)
Ideal TV wrestling – nothing fancy but everything clicked, it built well, each move flowed right into the next, and the crowd was with them the whole time. Might have been Jeff’s swan song for a little while too, and god damnit did he take some nasty bumps.
11. Fatal 5-Way Match – RAW Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss [c] vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Nia Jax vs. Emma (No Mercy 9/24/17)
Very fun match, it’s about as memorable and ground-breaking as any zany WWE multi-person match, with the exception of Nia Jax going balls to the wall. The Double Samoan drop is an awesome spot, and she took some absolutely insane bumps.
12. John Cena vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 9/11/17)
This is mostly Braun Strowman dishing punishment and John Cena selling and that really is the most ideal thing in 2017. There’s a spot here where Cena hits a dropkick and Braun responds with his own that is so god damn cool. A perfect first match between Braun and John.
13. Mae Young Classic – Round 2: Kairi Sane vs. Bianca BelAir (MYC Episode 5 9/4/17)
Kairi Sane matches are at a minimum good because she’s got charisma and takes beatings well and wrestles good. When she pairs up with somebody who can offer more than a standard beatdown, it goes from good to great. That happened here. Bianca BelAir was eager to impress, providing a great heel beating and a freakin’ 450 splash. Very fun match.
14. WWE U.S. Title: AJ Styles [c] vs. Tye Dillinger (SmackDown 9/12/17)
I feel like these guys like to push each other to see who can’t keep up. They just went non-stop here and it was pretty amazing. Great build to a Tye Breaker near fall, great sell by Tye on the Calf Crusher. An awesome match that was like 6 minutes.
15. Dean Ambrose vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 9/25/17)
Braun beatdown + Ambrose selling = good. Very good.
16. Winner Earns WWE Title Match at Hell in a Cell: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Randy Orton (SmackDown 9/5/17)
A good solid professional wrestling match where everything worked, it just wasn’t all that exciting. Finisher teases early, Nakamura escaping Orton’s signatures, a counter of the RKO into an armbar. Like I said, everything worked.
17. Johnny Gargano vs. Riddick Moss w/ Tino Sabbatelli (NXT 9/13/17)
Johnny Wrestling vs. a meathead young boy, such quality stuff. Gargano sells his heart out and Riddick shows that there’s some good stuff going on in that Performance Center. Made me pine for a Johnny Gargano TV Title run.
18. Gran Metalik vs. Neville (RAW 9/18/17)
Love these two, a great short RAW TV match. At one point Neville rips Metalik’s mask basically off and Metalik just starts throwing what feel like shoot punches. And then Neville traps his ass in the the Rings of Saturn. So good. So good.
19. Kassius Ohno vs. Fabian Aichner (NXT 9/27/17)
The closest 2017 has seen to Kassius Ohno vs. Young Scrappy Indy Fella, though I haven’t seen that Joe Coffey match. Great showcase for Aichner who is crazy impressive.
20. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (SmackDown 9/26/17)
Sami and Kevin, doing their thing once again. They’ve had tons of matches but they are always good. Non-stop fun stuff.
21. WWE Intercontinental Title: The Miz [c] vs. Jason Jordan (No Mercy 9/24/17)
I wrote in the Quick Thoughts for this that this was a good use of time that I felt a little cold on. Yeah. That seems accurate. A fun enough Miz vs. young guy match, and to their credit the crowd was into it, just didn’t love it or anything.
22. Fatal 4-Way Match – Winner Faces Natalya at Hell in a Cell: Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Naomi vs. Tamina w/ Lana (SmackDown 9/19/17)
Another zany WWE multi-person match appears on this list, and this is another fun one, it just feels a hair empty, like most of the multi-person matches do. Last few minutes are pretty sweet though.
23. Seth Rollins vs. Sheamus w/ Cesaro (RAW 9/25/17)
Such quality TV wrestling, with Sheamus throwing out all kinds of good stuff: a big bump in the corner, a big kneedrop, a big stretch muffler, a big sit-out powerbomb, a big kneelift. Jeez, fella!
24. Mae Young Classic – Semi Final: Mercedes Martinez vs. Shayna Baszler (MYC Episode 8 9/4/17)
Two folks trading Shots and Suplexes to get to the finals. A super credible match, and the teacher vs. student thing gave it a nice hook.
25. Triple Threat Tag Team Match: Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (RAW 9/18/17)
Oh my god! It’s more zany WWE multi-person fun! And it’s fun! IT’S FUN! It is enjoyable! It is ENTERTAINING!!!!!!
Honorable Mentions: WWE U.K. Title: Mae Young Classic – Round 2: Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler (MYC Episode 6 9/4/17), Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt (No Mercy 9/24/17), Pete Dunne [c] vs. Wolfgang (NXT 9/13/17), Matt Hardy & Jason Jordan w/ Jeff Hardy vs. The Miztourage (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) w/ The Miz (RAW 9/25/17), SmackDown Women’s Title: Natalya [c] vs. Naomi (SmackDown 9/12/17)
Akira Tozawa vs. Tony Nese (205 Live 9/26/17), Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 9/5/17), Johnny Gargano vs. Tino Sabbatelli w/ Riddick Moss (NXT 9/20/17), Mae Young Classic – Round 2: Serena Deeb vs. Piper Niven (MYC Episode 5 9/4/17), Mae Young Classic – Quarter Final: Candice LeRae vs. Shayna Baszler (MYC Episode 7 9/4/17), Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado vs. Drew Gulak & Tony Nese (Main Event 9/27/17)
Lacey Evans vs. Bianca Belair (NXT 9/20/17), Mae Young Classic – Quarter Final: Kairi Sane vs. Dakota Kai (MYC Episode 7 9/4/17), WWE Cruiserweight Title #1 Contender Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match: Enzo Amore vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Gran Metalik vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Tony Nese (205 Live 9/5/17), No DQ Match: Kassius Ohno vs. Hideo Itami (NXT 9/6/17)
