Almost limped to 25 matches this month, but two quality PPV’s, some TV gems in the last half, and randomly great editions of 205 Live and NXT in the last couple weeks got me there and then some. All top 25 here are keepers.
1. Hell in a Cell – SmackDown Tag Team Title: The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) w/ Kofi Kingston [c] vs. The Usos (Hell in a Cell 10/8/17)
The COOLEST match. This and the SummerSlam 4-way are neck and neck for the most fun I had watching sports entertainment this year. Crazy dives (a Doomsday Device tope suicida!), fun creativity (kendo stick jail!), great straight-up tag wrestling from the best tag pairing in the world, and nasty violent use of weapons. An epic performance by Xavier Woods too, who was just the best underdog and took an insane beating.
2. Falls Count Anywhere Hell in a Cell Match: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens (Hell in a Cell 10/8/17)
A big crazy ass Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon garbage fire match. It was two great characters teasing and delivering some crazy, crazy Cell spots. It felt almost like a meta Hell in a Cell, and not in a bad way. The crowd knew what they wanted, buzzed as they thought they were getting it, and freaked when they finally did. Lots of great character stuff too, and an epic angle for the finish.
3. RAW Tag Team Title: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins [c] vs. Cesaro & Sheamus (RAW 10/16/17)
Classic tag team wrestling… The Shield are the freakin’ Von Erichs. Seth sells his ass off, Cesaro and Sheamus have a blast milking the boos, Seth chops the hell out of Cesaro for the comeback, and the crowd explodes for the hot tag.
4. NXT Women’s Title Qualifying Battle Royal (NXT 10/25/17)
A great storytelling Battle Royal… a star-making match for both Nikki Cross and Bianca Belair, if NXT ever followed up on these types of things.
5. “The Demon” Finn Balor vs. AJ Styles (TLC 10/8/17)
Your classic Dream Match – really great stuff if not a little bit empty as there’s no real stakes. It’s two of the more spectacular guys in wrestling going all high-intensity and it’s a lot of fun.
6. Steel Cage Match: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 10/16/17)
A Braun Strowman Cage Match, what’s not to love? And it’s against ROMAN! I wrote in the WWE TV Week in Review that every movement had an extra fuck yeah to it. I stand by that. Lots of chaos around the cage too with The Shield, Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, and eventually god damn Kane.
7. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & AJ Styles vs. The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus w/ Curtis Axel (RAW 10/23/17)
The first 6-man tag that felt like a Shield 6-man tag in a couple of years, and an excellent opposition too – Miz begging off, Cesaro milking boos, Sheamus putting on just the best headlock. Double topes, triple planchas, lots of fun.
8. WWE Intercontinental Title: The Miz [c] w/ The Miztourage vs. Roman Reigns (RAW 10/2/17)
Reigns vs. Miz is going to go down as one of my favorite WWE pairings – both guys are crazy over, and Reigns’ epic selling always has Miz coming off more credible than usual. Miz takes a ton of shortcuts and both guys sell like crazy – Reigns as The Ace selling the tolls of this incredible run he’s had the last couple years, while Miz selling the desperation and exhaustion of facing said Ace. It all results in a couple major near falls towards the end.
9. Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas w/ Zelina Vega (NXT 10/11/17)
Not quite the TakeOver match, but what is? A Diet version of that match is still top 10 stuff. This has a ton of nutty jaw-dropping exchanges and counters that are SO impressive, and some straight epic stuff at the finish.
10. Asuka (debut) vs. Emma (TLC 10/8/17)
It wasn’t the squash everybody wanted, but as a straight wrestling match this was awesome. If you’re going to spend 5 minutes beating up Asuka while everybody waits for the comeback, you better be as nasty as can be and Emma delivers. Great debuting babyface work by Asuka and chain wrestling too.
11. Roderick Strong vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas w/ Zelina (NXT 10/25/17)
Roddy Strong’s best NXT match and another notch in the belt for Almas who has been quietly awesome all year. This is very physical and very fun… lots of urgency and stiffness. The Tiger Driver rana counter followed by a rapid-fire back elbow by Almas towards the end is AWESOME.
12. Winner Joins Team SmackDown at Survivor Series: Randy Orton vs. Sami Zayn (SmackDown 10/24/17)
Two guys that just match up well – Sami’s a little shit, Orton’s working tight headlocks and throwing nasty european uppercuts. Orton takes the diving corner DDT, for goddsakes. Also ends with what might be the best low blow of all-time.
13. 5-on-3 Handicap TLC Match: Kurt Angle (return), Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. The Miz, Braun Strowman, Kane, Cesaro & Sheamus (TLC 10/8/17)
Kind of a mess, with a whole lot of unnecessary gimmicky storytelling, but it’s too bizarre not to love just a little bit. You’ve got Kurt Angle wearing Shield gear, Braun randomly turning on his team then not turning, a DUMPSTER TRUCK, dives off of ladders and trucks. Was half expecting Roman to run out and give everybody the mumps.
14. WWE Intercontinental Title: The Miz [c] w/ The Miztourage vs. Matt Hardy (RAW 10/30/17)
A pitch perfect TV Title match from two of the masters. There’s so much fun stuff here – Miz’ reactions, Matt’s great right hand, Matt avoiding the beatdown trope early until he finally did – wrapped in a neat basic heel vs. face bow. They get a near fall off a BULLDOG!
15. Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox (TLC Kickoff 10/8/17)
Really cool match because they got thrown on the Kickoff and decided the best way to get people to care was to beat the shit out of each other. Both threw hands like they were working BattlARTS while Sasha took some crazy bumps.
16. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss (NXT 10/25/17)
Tino & Riddick are alright, but that Oney had THIS AWESOME of a tag with them speaks an insane amount of Oney. Burch is good, but every moment Oney is in this it feels like the Match of the Year.
17. Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 10/2/17)
A match that worked to each guys’ strengths – Seth is all frantic, moving fast and either countering something or getting knocked down, while Braun dishes out a beating. Very good TV match.
18. Matt Hardy vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 10/9/17)
Pretty much a perfect TV match, short and to the point – Matt wails away at Braun, HAR-DY chants, Braun beatdown, a ONE-COUNT off the Twist of Fate, finish. Everything worked, and it’s always a treat to see a vet like Matt work a game up-and-comer.
19. Gran Metalik vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 10/24/17)
I’m biased towards these two, but this is awesome. It’s a guy who has an arsenal of beautiful moves doing those beautiful moves on a guy who takes beautiful moves so effortlessly and awesomely. The Metalik Driver setup countered with a Dragon sleeper is SOOOOO NICE.
20. Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann vs. Noam Dar & Tony Nese (205 Live 10/24/17)
Stuck in all the 205 Live apathy, you forget why Cedric and Swann got signed by WWE in the first place. This is a great showcase for their new tag team – both guys are so effortless in their movements, with Cedric bringing the hits and Swann bringing the dives.
21. WWE U.S. Title: AJ Styles [c] vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 10/10/17)
Not sure if this is an indictment of Baron Corbin or 2017 AJ Styles that their U.S. Title match was good not very good. It was fun, had its moments. Loved AJ’s dropkick counter of Corbin’s corner lariat, Corbin catching AJ’s slip-out in the corner, and AJ’s INSANE powerslam bump on the floor. It was a fine match, but nothing special.
22. Tye Dillinger vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 10/3/17)
Tye Dillinger vs. Baron Corbin was good solid stuff trapped in a weak feud. This Dillinger run makes you understand why people praised him FOREVER until he finally got called up. He’s not getting pushed or anything, but all the cold matches he gets put in WORK. The matches flow well and get over – he’s a top-tier WWE-style wrestler, for better or worse. And he WON here! Oh Baron. “SHUT UUUP! THAT WAS 2!!!”
23. Trick or Street Fight: Rhyno (Mrs. Claus) & Heath Slater (Santa Claus) vs. Luke Gallows (Tex Ferguson) & Karl Anderson (Chad 2 Badd) (RAW 10/30/17)
Total gimmicky bullshit, but extra extra hammy and for that I loved it. They actually manage a heat segment and comeback in a match based around pumpkin spots. Cole, Graves and Booker on commentary is epic too.
24. RAW Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss [c] vs. Mickie James (TLC 10/8/17)
A good solid wrestling match – it had a babyface, a heel, mat wrestling, arm work that got paid off, a nice near fall or two… it was everything it ever needed to be.
25. Triple Threat Match – WWE U.S. Title: AJ Styles [c] vs. Tye Dillinger vs. Baron Corbin (Hell in a Cell 10/8/17)
A fun zany Triple Threat with the extra bonus of AJ Styles running around trying to show he’s still great. He mostly does.
Honorable Mentions: WWE Title: Jinder Mahal [c] w/ The Singh Brothers vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Hell in a Cell 10/8/17), 2/3 Falls – Winner Joins Team SmackDown at Survivor Series: Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler (SmackDown 10/31/17), WWE Cruiserweight Title: Enzo Amore [c] vs. Kalisto (205 Live 10/24/17), Triple Threat NXT Women’s Title Qualifying Match: Ember Moon vs. Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville (NXT 10/18/17), Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 10/31/17), Rich Swann (dressed as a clown) w/ Cedric Alexander vs. Brian Kendrick w/ Jack Gallagher (205 Live 10/31/17), Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann vs. Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher (TLC 10/8/17)
Apollo Crews w/ Titus O’Neil vs. Samoa Joe (RAW 10/30/17), Asuka vs. Emma (RAW 10/23/17), Sin Cara vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 10/31/17), Finn Balor vs. Kane (RAW 10/23/17), Fatal 4-Way SmackDown Tag Team Title #1 Contender Match: Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. The Hype Bros vs. Breezango vs. The Ascension (SmackDown 10/10/17), Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox (RAW 10/16/17), Jason Jordan, Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews vs. Elias, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (RAW 10/16/17), Asuka vs. Stacie Cullen (RAW 10/30/17)
Lumberjack Match – WWE Cruiserweight Title: Enzo Amore [c] vs. Kalisto (RAW 10/9/17), The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable (SmackDown 10/24/17), Fatal 5-Way Match – Winner is Captain of the Survivor Series SmackDown Women’s Team: Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Naomi vs. Carmella w/ James Ellsworth vs. Tamina w/ Lana (SmackDown 10/24/17), AJ Styles vs. Sunil Singh w/ Jinder Mahal and Samir Singh (SmackDown 10/24/17), Finn Balor vs. Cesaro w/ Sheamus (RAW 10/30/17)
