1. WWE U.K. Title: Tyler Bate [c] vs. Pete Dunne (NXT TakeOver: Chicago 5/20/17)
Best live match I’ve ever seen, one of the best examples I can point to of a wrestling match escalating and building into a crescendo. A perfect blend of the madness of modern day wrestling with the restraint of old school wrestling. Jaw-dropping spots, peaks and valleys, standing ovations – awesome. Right place, right time – a special match that wasn’t just jump-out-of-your-seat awesome, but the emergence of two young superstars.
2. If Brock Lesnar Loses, He Leaves WWE – Fatal 4-Way Match – WWE Universal Title: Brock Lesnar [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman (SummerSlam 8/20/17)
Seriously – what else do you want out of you your wrestling? This is four giant human beasts having a totally insane brawl, total chaos from start to finish… whenever there was a lull, here’s Samoa Joe hitting a tope or something. BRAAUUUNNN somehow becomes an even bigger wrestling superstar, and there’s an incredible sympathetic performance from Brock Lesnar of all people. Just perfect sports entertainment.
3. WWE Title: AJ Styles [c] vs. John Cena (Royal Rumble 1/29/17)
John Cena and AJ Styles’ masterpiece – Cena’s emotion sold this, AJ’s athleticism made it. This was the two best professional wrestlers in the world having themselves a professional wrestling competition, a battle of superheroes for different parts of the fanbase. Every move clicked, felt bigger than usual, had credibility. They threw it all at each other. Cena was coughing. Cena got frustrated. Cena threw one of the greatest laritats ever. AJ Styles inexplicably applied one of the best STFs ever. Counters, near falls, hot crowd – peak WWE.
4. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Final: Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne (UK Title Tournament Night 2 1/15/17)
Another classic by the best pair in wrestling in 2017, both an awesome wrestling match and awesome tournament final. The Dunne/Bate series has felt more professional wrestling than anything I’ve seen this year, and I started watching New Japan again. This one had it all – a tournament final, statement match from the U.K. scene, two great characters, big fight feel, no wild bumps, big time drama, realism, and by the end of it an establishment of two guys ready to lead a company. It had a lot that is great about British wrestling too – chain wrestling, working holds, using momentum to fight out of holds. Bate’s shoulder was hurt going into it and they milked everything they could out of that, and the build and payoff to each guy’s finisher was tremendous. Epic stuff.
5. 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 and most fun wrestling match. 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.
6. Universal Champion vs. WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman vs. AJ Styles (Survivor Series 11/19/17)
A Dream Match that completely delivered – Brock smashed, while AJ flew and bumped around and proved that even with a lackluster first half of the year he’s still one of the best in the world. This is a classic underdog story, with Brock just owning AJ early on and a lot of great cut-offs that were legitimately demoralizing. Some real epic stuff as AJ fought back too, including Brock selling the Calf Crusher like death and an awesome near fall that had actual human beings buying that Brock Lesnar might go down to a springboard jumping elbow smash. So good.
7. SmackDown Tag Team Title: American Alpha [c] vs. The Usos (SmackDown 3/21/17)
The most classic tag of the year, and the cream of the crop in an incredible Usos 2017 run. It was 10 minutes long and everything had a purpose, up to and including the balls out finish: Alpha out-wrestling Usos, a great cut-off, big bumps by face-in-peril Gable, Jordan doing apron work, crowd going crazy for hot tag teases… all good stuff. And then that FINISH. So gorgeously and beautifully compact, they only had a few minutes with it but every second was used and escalated perfectly, leading up to a massive near fall that made the crowd legitimately gasp. A moonsault from the top to the floor by Gable was the cherry on top.
8. WWE Universal Title: Goldberg [c] vs. Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman (WrestleMania 33 4/2/17)
A short action film of a professional wrestling match – a battle right from the bell, old-ass Goldberg taking 10 suplexes, big near falls, crazy hot crowd. Brock Lesnar LEAPFROGGED OVER A SPEAR. BIG TIME WWE WRESTLING can be just the best sometimes.
9. Winner Faces Alexa Bliss for RAW Women’s Title at SummerSlam: Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax (RAW 8/14/17)
Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar in the women’s division – a lovable underdog bumping all over the place, monster used to its’ fullest, fired up babyface comeback, and on top of that a hot hometown crowd. My favorite part of this match was Sasha rolling outside after taking a Samoan drop to avoid Nia’s cover, as it actually got a big pop – a WWE crowd popping for STRATEGY, man! This thing was something special. Also, the Tornado Bank Statement = $$$
10. Drew McIntyre vs. Oney Lorcan (NXT 4/12/17)
You don’t see a match like this in the WWE, ever. A 5-minute statement match from the returning McIntyre, a perfect return opponent in Oney who just does not fuck around, no wasted movements and everything looked legit and stiff as shit. The plancha catch on the outside and top rope belly-to-belly spots are all-time great spots.
11. Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas w/ Zelina Vega (TakeOver: Brooklyn III 8/19/17)
This is as G1 Climax as WWE got so far this year. Big action, crazy near falls, stiff as all hell. It’s a special performance by Johnny Wrestling, the best pure babyface in pro wrestling, and an absolutely insane kickout-fest of a finish that never once felt like overkill.
12. Big Show vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 4/17/17)
A match laid out for maximum fun… popped the crowd a few times, teased a superplex a few times, delivered a superplex, and then the god damn ring broke. GIANTS!!!! WRESTLING!!!!!!! RAAAWWWWRRRR!!!!!!!!!
13. SmackDown Tag Team Title: The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) w/ Kofi Kingston [c] vs. The Usos (SummerSlam Kickoff 8/20/17)
Another Jimmy and Jey Uso classic with perhaps their best opponents – The Usos have certainly got a formula down but it’s a rollercoaster of a formula filled with huge saves, major spots, and great surprises. This match got all the good brothers I was watching the show with to stop bantering and enjoy the WRESTLING.
14. NXT Title #1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Qualifier: Johnny Gargano vs. Kassius Ohno (NXT 12/6/17)
Great chemistry, great dynamic, great example of “indy style” perfectly translated to WWE. This was just non-stop awesome – everything had a purpose, whether building to the next spot or telling the big bro/little bro story. They did a bunch of set-ups of spots, then delivered the spot a couple minutes later and had the crowd going wild. Every strike was delivered in full, every crazy spot executed perfectly. Ohno played the bully, Johnny the small fella who always has an answer. There were so many things here deserving place in the history books of cool wrestling spots too: The slingshot spear catch followed by an elbow of death, the tope tornado DDT, the absolutely insane diving elbow by Ohno to the back of Johnny’s head. Just awesome.
15. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman (Payback 4/30/17)
The best week-to-week feud in professional wrestling paid off here. A fun, big time main event wrestling match – stiff shots, big pops, and what might have been an all-time great sell job by Roman Reigns. The crowd was going nuts for everything, Braun was hitting everything with such gusto – witness Braun grab that brass ring and Roman keep his.
16. Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles (WrestleMania 33 4/2/17)
This is here for sheer spectacle, for being all that is great and a little bit goofy about professional wrestling, for being a perfect WrestleMania opener, and for AJ Styles being the best in the world while working with the boss’ son.
17. RAW Women’s Title: Charlotte [c] vs. Bayley (RAW 2/13/17)
A confident performance by Charlotte (body part work, cockiness when in control, frustration when she wasn’t), great selling by Bayley, good shifts in momentum, great near falls, hot crowd, storybook ending… just top shelf stuff. Amazing heel vs. babyface wrestling. They blew the WrestleMania moment on RAW, but for one night the fairy tale was real.
18. WWE U.K. Title Tournament – Semi Final: Mark Andrews vs. Pete Dunne (UK Title Tournament Night 2 1/15/17)
Sometimes it’s fun when wrestling is silly, but it doesn’t reach its’ highest peaks until it just makes sense. This was pretty much a perfect 10-minute match, with no wasted movements and two characters that perfectly complemented each other: the bruiserweight butthole vs. the flyer with a hurt neck. Every second of this match took that story and told it. Dunne is an absolute beast here, going right after and staying on Andrews’ neck, while all of Andrews flight-based comebacks looked beautiful. Finish is absolutely wild too.
19. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Neville [c] vs. Austin Aries (WrestleMania 33 4/2/17)
In which straight-up junior heavyweight professional wrestling appeared in WWE. A few other matches on this list might pop out as more of a spectacle or have less “down” moments, but this match was one of the most incredible impressive things I saw all year – not go-go-go, but go-go-stop go-go-stop and they had the crowd with them the whole time. Impressive, stadium-worthy movements and bumps by both guys. Doesn’t hurt it was in a daylight stadium, which I am a mark for.
20. NXT Tag Team Title: #DIY [c] vs. The Revival (NXT 1/11/17)
Will go down as the lesser of The Revival/#DIY classics, but this is still another dissertation on the greatness of tag team professional wrestling. Classic good guy vs. bad guy stuff, beautiful complex wrestling sequences, Dawson being Dawson (big bumps, wild swings, great reactions), Revival’s timing and double teaming, Gargano’s face-in-peril selling, Ciampa’s hot tag fire. Incredible match.
21. 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. This is another Braun Strowman match laid out for maximum fun, with every big spot hitting. Great call by Corey Graves too, and an epic bump post-match. This is Big Show’s last gasp as he put over Braun Strowman as the next big thing and it is amazing.
22. No DQ Match – WWE Universal Title: Kevin Owens [c] vs. Roman Reigns (Chris Jericho in a Shark Cage) (Royal Rumble 1/29/17)
A little bit silly, but so much fun, with enough little touches to go from “that was fun!” to “that was great.” Kevin Owens is at his artistic best when he can brawl around the ring, use some toys, and work matches around building to a couple big spots, and damn were there some big spots here – KO going through the Picasso-esque chair setup was complete insanity. Roman meanwhile is just a beast – throwing big shots, brawling, keeping things moving and the crowd buzzing, and just being athletic as all hell.
23. WWE U.K. Title: Pete Dunne [c] vs. Johnny Gargano (NXT 11/22/17)
This is only like 10 minutes but it’s awesome – these guys do all the cool stuff you expect of a wrestler from 2017 (big suplexes, stiff kicks, crazy DDTs), but also with all the cool stuff you expect of a wrestler from 1987 (selling, working characters, getting people to give a shit about them). Always fun when a WWE match has a guy selling his FINGERS.
24. Street Fight: Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 4/4/17)
This match is like that Hulk Hogan vs. “Dr. D” David Schultz classic from 1984, but with more cocaine. Just non-stop chaotic brawling and fun, with Dean upping the intensity to 1000% and Corbin taking a bunch of nasty bumps. Corbin beats down Dean for a bit, including whipping him with a leather belt, and then Dean’s comeback and receipt on Corbin with the belt is SO awesome. The finish is perfection too. This was the match they should’ve had two days earlier at WrestleMania.
25. Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick (205 Live 3/28/17)
This is such a great wrestling match – Tozawa had spent February and March developing a ton of signature moves in his squashes, and starts this out by just BOOTING KENDRICK IN THE FACE and hitting all of them with a ton of intensity. After he does that this match becomes a gritty war, with Kendrick desperately trying to apply the Captain’s Hook and both guys just fighting and fighting for control – elbowing, slapping, whatever they can do. Tozawa hits a pump kick towards the end here that was worth $9.99 by itself.
26. Triple Threat WWE Intercontinental Title #1 Contender Match: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz w/ Maryse (RAW 5/1/17)
Love a good chaotic RAW main event. A match that not only had great action and everyone playing their part well, but one that got over three storylines at once – even if one of those was dropped a week later. The chaos of the finish really puts this one over the top, with Cole at one point screaming, “WHAT THE HELL – NOW WHAT!?”
27. The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) (Survivor Series 11/19/17)
Six guys at the top of their game keeping things fun with awesome sequences and interactions, and then they eventually transition into a wild-ass brawl that felt like both teams NEEDED this win, which is a rare feeling in WWE.
28. 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. This 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.
29. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (RAW 6/19/17)
Roman Reigns had SO many great TV matches in 2017 and this was one of my favorites. It had Roman selling his ass off, Joe with a killer beatdown, and a lot of fun complex wrestling sequences from two big dudes. Roman hits the spear at one point and Joe gets his foot on the rope at 2.9, then rolls outside to sell, which I thought was just incredible. This felt like watching Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night’s Main Event if all the wrestling looked like it actually hurt.
30. Chad Gable vs. Rusev (SmackDown 8/1/17)
A great match, and so impressive considering these are two of the more underutilized guys in WWE having what was basically a cold match, and they ended up getting the crowd to bite on everything. They got like 15 minutes and made every minute count – fighting for holds early, big suplexes, and a finish in which I had ZERO idea who would win. Loved them running Rusev’s normal finish and then tacking on some insanity afterwards.
31. SmackDown Tag Team Title: American Alpha [c] vs. The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton) w/ Luke Harper (SmackDown 1/10/17)
For one night in January 2017, 1980s professional tag team wrestling came back. Amazing tag performance by Bray and Randy with them looking like Cowboy Bob and Dick Slater were tearing up some blowjob babyface tag team in 1983. Both Gable and Jordan took a beating and the Wyatt’s just brought all kinds of purposeful beautiful old school shit with tons of great little touches I wish there were more of (like Randy helping Bray get momentum on a clothesline or stepping on Gable to trap him), along with some great spots where they just wrecked the poor Alpha boys.
32. 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.
33. WWE Intercontinental Title: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Cesaro (RAW 12/11/17)
Fast-paced, physical, intense, great timing, told a story. Just a rollercoaster of a crazy fun pro wrestling match with ALLLL the good stuff – Cesaro arm work, Roman selling, big spots, big moments, impressive feats of strength, a god damn eye poke. And it’s all being done by two guys who might just be in their primes. Reigns’ selling was a damn masterpiece here – treating it as if his arm had more of a muscle tear than a broken bone, still fighting through the pain but always giving big reactions to remind you he’s in pain. And the crowd is with ALL OF IT, even straight-up OOOOOWWAAAAAAA’ing with Roman down the stretch. So many jaw-dropping move highlights too.
34. WWE U.S. Title: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Chris Jericho (RAW 1/2/17)
This is a peak WWE-style TV match, worked all around big signature spots and bringing the crowd up and down with counters. The crowd wasn’t waiting for a big spot – they were buzzing the entire time! Everything flowed so well and moved right into the next thing, all while Reigns sold his ass off. Great countout tease, great Eddie Guerrero tribute spot, great exposed turnbuckle payoff. When he is trying to keep up with a former super indy guy (Rollins, Zayn, Ambrose) Jericho looks like trash, but working a match like this he legitimately looks like the best in the world. Stick to your strengths, Y2J – we will love you more for it.
35. WarGames: Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain w/ Paul Ellering vs. SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe) vs. Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) (NXT TakeOver: WarGames 11/18/17)
Great chaotic fun … it gets a little stunt show-y at parts, but it brought all the entertainment a big crazy ass WWE gimmick match in 2017 promises. Eric Young bumped all over the place, Authors of Pain and Killian Dain suplexed fools, Alexander Wolfe sliced off like half his scalp, and the Ring of Honor folk brought the kicks and the suplexes and all that jazz. Great fun.
36. NXT Title #1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Qualifier: Roderick Strong vs. Lars Sullivan (NXT 12/20/17)
This is a wonderful sprint of a wrestling match with zero wasted moments. Lars was super aggressive while Roddy threw back some wild chops and elbows. The intensity is non-stop – it’s two guys who just stay on each other – one because he’s a monster, the other because he has to. Thought commentary did a good job hard-selling how simple mistakes shifted the momentum too. Towards the end Lars took a SUPERPLEX, kicked out at one, and Roddy did his best-ever acting. Great stuff that was really fun and most importantly just got to the point.
37. 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.
38. RAW Tag Team Title: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins [c] vs. Cesaro & Sheamus (RAW 10/16/17)
This is just classic tag team wrestling… The Shield are the freakin’ Von Erichs, people. 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.
39. Triple Threat Match – WWE World Title: Bray Wyatt [c] vs. John Cena vs. AJ Styles (SmackDown 2/14/17)
Perhaps the last classic SmackDown match from its’ peak September 2016 to February 2017 period. There’s all kinds of wrestling with deeper meaning and more meat to it but this was just non-stop madness with big moves and near falls that had the crowd absolutely freaking out. It went like 15 minutes and felt like they were having a big finishing stretch from the bell. A classic pop song of a professional wrestling match.
40. Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor (RAW 5/15/17)
A tremendous match that would’ve gotten kudos if it was main eventing a pay-per-view, let alone opening the third hour of Monday Night RAW. Great example of a cold babyface vs. babyface match getting over via two guys playing their roles and a slow build leading organically to ACTION! Really impressive selling by both guys here too… Reigns just looked broken down trying to keep up with the young fella, while Balor was great at making Roman look like a monster and seeming just wrecked towards the end.
41. Oney Lorcan vs. Lars Sullivan (NXT 9/27/17)
This is just a non-stop 5-minute car crash and a unique environment for Oney, who played less aggressive monster and more scrappy underdog. Oney’s dropkick right to the face and Lars catching his suicide dive were highlights. God bless Oney Lorcan.
42. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman (Fastlane 3/5/17)
MONSTERS. THESE ARE MONSTERS. AND THEY ARE WRESTLING EACH OTHER!!! A star-making performance by Braun Strowman and a reliably great performance by Roman Reigns. Braun had all the big spots, big bumps, hit everything with impact, and at the end he went to the top rope! Roman meanwhile sells everything like he’s been in a car crash, and his reaction to the spear kickout really put this over the top for me. Awesome finish too – two Superman punches have Braun on the ropes, they do some rope-running that you think will be a spear but BOOM Braun takes Roman out. Then Braun tries the top rope splash, misses, and goes down to a spear. So good.
43. Triple Threat Elimination Match – NXT Tag Team Title: The Authors of Pain [c] w/ Paul Ellering vs. #DIY vs. The Revival (NXT TakeOver: Orlando 4/1/17)
Basically a TLC without ladders or chairs… a classic WWE car-crash type of match, though leave it to The Revival to make a lot of it feel weirdly legit. Lots of fun spots around The Authors of Pain being big fellas. Loved the Authors just throwing Gargano into the CIampa tope. Just a big ol’ blast of a match, capped off by Nigel just going “My god I’m glad I retired.”
44. Elimination Chamber – WWE World Title: John Cena [c] vs. Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles vs. The Miz vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Baron Corbin (Elimination Chamber 2/12/17)
A peak Elimination Chamber, with a great layout and world class performance by AJ Styles. Just non-stop fun; they always had the action and were moving a story forward. Styles was having a blast in there just doing crazy shit and he had a couple mini-epics with Cena and Wyatt, while Corbin looked like a monster and had strangely good chemistry with Ambrose. Cena vs. Styles whenever it happened was great too. Awesome definitive finish to begin the (brief) Era of Wyatt.
45. Ladder Match – NXT Tag Team Title: The Authors of Pain [c] w/ Paul Ellering vs. #DIY (NXT TakeOver: Chicago 5/20/17)
This is bound to be remembered for the turn afterwards, but it was incredible storytelling for #DIY’s swan song… a crazy stupid blast of a match that felt like hometown babyfaces vs. unstoppable monsters, which is a wonderful wrestling dynamic when done right. Great atmosphere, fervent crowd, big spots, dramatic finish. Saw this live and loved it, and it holds up on re-watch.
46. Mustafa Ali vs. Neville (205 Live 3/21/17)
There’s a little 205 Live apathy here, but this was SO good and a great performance from two guys who were quietly a couple of WWE’s best performers in 2017. The early stuff wasn’t your usual hold-trading and wristlocking but worked around Neville being cocky and Ali being all fired up ready to prove himself. Then they take it to another level with big bumps and some glorious high spots. Neville’s sell after a springboard Spanish Fly (yup) is one of my all-time favorites.
47. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins (RAW 5/29/17)
Reigns and Rollins have never had the best chemistry, and I blame Rollins – he’s not snug enough to go toe-to-toe with the Big Dog, and not willing to ragdoll himself to make it really fun. Regardless, they had a blast of a RAW TV main event and the match that officially sold me on Roman Reigns being the best in the world. Everything made sense as it built slowly, the crowd was rocking throughout, and it eventually got COOKING. This match features two of the coolest Superman punches to ever exist too. Plus, it takes a couple of special cats to wake up a crowd that just watched the Alexa Bliss/Bayley This Is Your Life segment followed by a cruiserweight match followed by a bunch of trash on the big screen.
48. Braun Strowman vs. Big Show (RAW 2/20/17)
BIG, LARGE, HUMONGOUS MEN WRESTLING PROFESSIONALLY. Having a MATCH. A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING MATCH. Wristlocks, kip-ups, near falls… Braun was moving like an cat and Show was bumping big to put the new fella over, just so great. They worked this as such a logical Meeting of the Giants type of thing too – exchanges early to establish their power, Show going for the kill and Braun kicking out right at 2 every time, and finally the young giant that taking over. The zoom-out to show the crowd as they teased a superplex was SO cool. Such a dramatic damn finish too. Braun and Show had three matches all year and every one made this list. Thank you, Big Show.
49. Gauntlet Match – Winner Faces Alexa Bliss at Great Balls of Fire for RAW Women’s Title: Bayley vs. Nia Jax, Nia Jax vs. Mickie James, Nia Jax vs. Dana Brooke, Nia Jax vs. Emma, Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks (RAW 6/26/17)
Don’t talk to me about the first 15 minutes, but the last 5 of this were as epic as wrestling gets. Nia ends everybody in short order, then just wrecks Sasha until Sasha has to resort to just choking her out to finish her. Tremendous. Sasha Banks rules.
50. Last Man Standing Match: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 8/7/17)
These guys just have amazing chemistry… two big boys going at it, Roman selling like he’s a supersized Ricky Morton, Braun dishing out punishment, and a ton of great gimmick moments: Roman’s reckless stair shots, Braun lifting Roman for a powerbomb like he was a pillow, Roman selling Braun’s crazy dropkick. And then Braun threw an office chair at Roman Reigns’ face. With these two guys, WWE figured out in 2017 how to make their main events fun again. This was a blast.
