1. Gauntlet Match: Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins vs. John Cena, Seth Rollins vs. Elias, Elias vs. Finn Balor, Finn Balor vs. The Miz, The Miz vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 2/19/18)
An insane undertaking that completely delivered. A two-hour Gauntlet Match is wild enough but one guy working over an hour in it is something else, especially on Monday Night RAW. There was so much good here, but what really stood out is how WWE of all places decided to tell a story and get a guy over from an almost purely in-ring perspective. And it WORKED. It might have sputtered a bit after iron man Seth Rollins went down, but what an hour of professional wrestling from that guy – he went even brilliantly vs. Reigns, played underdog brilliantly vs. Cena, and was doing some of the most jaw-dropping strength spots after a freaking hour of wrestling. Seth is re-established as The Man, Big John continues to question himself, Elias gets bragging rights, Strowman scares Miz = amazing pro wrestling.
2. Johnny Gargano’s Career on the Line – NXT Title: Andrade “Cien” Almas [c] w/ Zelina Vega vs. Johnny Gargano w/ Candice LeRae (NXT 2/21/18)
These two have a special chemistry. This wasn’t a big epic TakeOver match like they had last month, but it was a perfect ending to their NXT feud, a quieter match that still managed to be spectacular and tell a compelling story. I feel like Gargano allows Almas to be the worker he wants to be – everything is so fast and so smooth that even weirdo high-flying wrestling moves feel completely legitimate. Great angle at the finish too.
3. WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Round 1: Mustafa Ali vs. Jack Gallagher (205 Live 2/20/18)
So much complex professional wrestling goodness. Ya don’t see something like this in WWE all the time. I loved how it went from sweet hold-trading early, then moved into a shoving match, then moved into good guy getting worked over by bad guy, then moved into a match that seemed like it might end by ref stoppage. Gallagher played just a mean piece of trash heel so well while Ali is such a great likable underdog, selling and firing up like a professional and also taking some insane bumps to the floor.
4. WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Round 1: Kalisto vs. Lince Dorado (205 Live 2/6/18)
This was so much god damn fun. It felt as close to a WCW cruiserweight match as 205 Live has gotten – not everything hit, but the stuff that did was gorgeous and the rest of the chaos was incredible to watch. That springboard reverse rana, man! It got real hectic towards the end too, like both guys really really needed the win.
5. If Nia Jax Wins, She Enters the WrestleMania RAW Women’s Title Match: Asuka vs. Nia Jax (Elimination Chamber 2/25/18)
Asuka the Destroyer is great, Asuka the Underdog is something better than that. These two have a magical chemistry… you’ve got Asuka ducking and diving Nia and not able to get any momentum, while everything feels just a little bit stiffer and reckless than normal. Such a great dynamic. Loved Asuka trying to take big Nia down with submissions too.
6. WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Round 1: Hideo Itami vs. Roderick Strong (205 Live 2/6/18)
This started a bit suspect but got so good – intense, snug work and counters that just willed the quiet crowd into This is Awesome chants. And these weren’t some bullshit This is Awesome chants – on 205 Live, you’ve got to work for those. Roddy’s selling here was tremendous and made this feel like a match he absolutely needed to win.
7. RAW Tag Team Title: Cesaro & Sheamus [c] vs. Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins (RAW 2/5/18)
Love a good tag team professional wrestling match – The Bar can do a solid tag in their sleep, but Reigns and Rollins are total superstars and had the crowd going bananas for everything, which brought this way up. Seth tore it up with Cesaro & Sheamus, The Shield did some cool babyface double teams, The Bar did some cool cut-offs, and Roman sold his ass off on the beating which led to the crowd on the edge of their seats for the Seth hot tag.
8. If Cena Wins, He is Added to the WWE Title Match at Fastlane: John Cena vs. AJ Styles (SmackDown 2/27/18)
That this isn’t in the top 3 really speaks to how good the top tier stuff this month was. It’s a great match though, not high-end like their Rumble match and the whole finisher kickout thing between these two kind of jumped the shark with that match, but Old Man Cena vs. AJ Styles was a great dynamic and they fired off some incredible near falls, including a great countout tease. Cena’s anger at not being able to finish Styles off was so great too.
9. Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus w/ Cesaro (RAW 2/12/18)
The professional wrestling fan in 2018 is absolutely spoiled rotten by Roman Reigns. That this thing can be described as “just another great Roman Reigns match” is kind of ridiculous. But here we are. This was beautiful, glorious, toughman pro wrestling. It was a match in which Sheamus put Roman in a hold and just kneed the shit out of his ribs. It was a match in which Sheamus held his EAR when he got knocked outside. Like I said – beautiful.
10. Elimination Chamber – Winner Faces Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Title at WrestleMania: John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Elias (Elimination Chamber 2/25/18)
Delivered as a fun Elimination Chamber… maybe not much beyond that. Took a while to get moving. But, man. Braun Strowman wrecking people is still the most fun thing. He kicked out of the AA at one! He kicked out of the Spear! He pinned John Cena clean as a sheet! So cool. Once it got revving it got legitimately great, with the Reigns vs. Braun finish being so awesome.
11. Elimination Chamber – RAW Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss [c] vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Mickie James vs. Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville (Elimination Chamber 2/25/18)
Another one that delivered as a fun Elimination Chamber – there were some real dead spots, but the elimination spots and Sasha freakin’ Banks ruled. Loved Sonya’s crazy bumps, Alexa climbing away from Sasha and Bayley like she was Super Mario, and Sasha betraying Bayley. Sasha vs. Alexa at the end was SO good too. That Twisted Bliss off the pod, maaaan.
12. Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt (RAW 2/5/18)
So, remember that Tag Team Title match I wrote about earlier? This match right here happened on the SAME NIGHT. And it’s another great Roman Reigns singles performance – sells his ass off, times the big spots right, makes Bray look like a superstar, and the crowd is going NUTS.
13. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley (RAW 2/12/18)
A tight, well-worked babyface vs. babyface match that built in intensity and hit all the notes it needed to. It had a particularly awesome performance from Sasha Banks. She was out there acting all cocky and taking some crazy bumps that made Bayley’s comebacks really pop.
14. WWE U.S. Title: Bobby Roode [c] vs. Rusev (SmackDown 2/6/18)
This thing just came together, man. Because it’s SmackDown, the crowd was suspect early, especially since you’ve got a babyface who’s not really over as a babyface against a heel who is super over as a babyface. But they got 10+ minutes and just worked this sucker into something special. The fact that this crowd not only went wild for Roode’s comeback but popped for his win over Rusev Day is a testament to just how good this was.
15. WWE U.K. Title: Pete Dunne [c] vs. Roderick Strong (NXT 2/14/18)
Not sure if Roddy Strong ever felt like a legitimate contender but this was too fun. You got some mind-altering strikes. You got Dunne trying to fuck up Roddy. You got a perfect dropkick counter of a top rope dive. You got a sweet-ass heel finish. Well done, gentleman.
16. If Corbin Wins, He Enters the WWE Title Match at Fastlane: Kevin Owens vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 2/13/18)
No idea where this one came from as for the past year these guys have been in like my bottom five WWE wrestlers, and they are that way because they always follow the WWE heel formula where they do an extra boring beatdown and slap on a couple chinlocks. Here they couldn’t do that bullshit because they’re BOTH heels! So they just beat the hell out of each other and don’t let up. Lots of action, lots of intensity, lots of fun.
17. WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Quarterfinals: Kalisto vs. Roderick Strong (205 Live 2/27/18)
10 minutes of greatness – Roddy takes Kalisto’s stuff like he was born to take it and they bust out a bunch of neat Power Guy vs. Lucha Guy spots, highlighted by Roddy pushing Kalisto into the apron and x-plexing him onto the table, which got the second ever 2-0-5 chant.
18. Asuka vs. Bayley (RAW 2/5/18)
Asuka moving on from squashes to working all the RAW gals has been such a treat. Sweet pea Bayley trying to bring the pain to Asuka was a fun dynamic and I totally bought a near fall that would’ve ended Asuka’s streak.
19. NXT Women’s Title: Ember Moon [c] vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT 2/14/18)
A very short but very good match, not as heated as their TakeOver match but a lot like it in that they kept it simple: Ember goes after Shayna and just wrecks her with slaps and kicks and an amazing tope, then Shayna takes over and locks Ember in a submission that looks like her arm is legitimately going to snap. And then Kairi Sane runs out to set up another match that appears later on this list Cool!
20. Mixed Match Challenge – Round 2: Finn Balor & Sasha Banks vs. The Miz & Asuka (MMC 2/27/18)
Two teams of SUPERSTARS having themselves a Mixed Match Challenge. Asuka scared to death that Miz would end her streak and any time she locked up with Sasha Banks was good stuff – seems like those two were laying it in for that sweet Facebook audience.
21. If Ziggler Wins, He Enters the WWE Title Match at Fastlane: Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler (SmackDown 2/13/18)
An attempt at an epic match by two cold characters that kind of sort of succeeded. There’s a Zig Zag near fall here that is kind of incredible.
22. Winner Faces AJ Styles for the WWE Title at Fastlane: Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (SmackDown 2/6/18)
We’ve seen this match over a hundred times and it’s possible this was the worst one, thanks to the garbage story surrounding it. Regardless, it was still good fun.
23. Second Chance Fatal 5-Way Match – Winner Qualifies for Final Opportunity in Elimination Chamber: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. Woken Matt Hardy vs. Apollo Crews w/ Titus O’Neil vs. Bray Wyatt (RAW 2/12/18)
Hey! It’s a WWE Four Corner Survival! Except with five guys! This was fun fast-paced stupid stuff, and another freakish Seth Rollins performance – guy looked like he was both going after a big Mania spot AND asking to be re-injured.
24. Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler (SmackDown 2/20/18)
These guys had a series of good matches a couple years ago and this was a match that reminded me of those simpler times, when Owens was a fresh face in WWE whose body wasn’t shaken by a full-time WWE schedule and Ziggler still thought he had a shot at being a top guy. Real brutal superkick at the finish.
25. Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT 2/28/18)
I dug this a lot – it didn’t overstay its welcome, everything felt legit, and the finish was clean and straightforward. Baszler’s style is so cool in WWE.
Honorable Mentions: Gran Metalik vs. Tony Nese (Main Event 2/21/18), Seth Rollins vs. The Miz w/ The Miztourage (RAW 2/26/18), Loser Enters Elimination Chamber First: John Cena vs. The Miz (RAW 2/12/18), Mixed Match Challenge – Round 1: Goldust & Mandy Rose vs. Jimmy Uso & Naomi (Special Guest Referee: Daniel Bryan) (MMC 2/6/18), Tornado Tag Team Match: SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe) vs. Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) (NXT 2/7/18), WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Round 1: Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese (205 Live 2/13/18), Charlotte Flair w/ Becky Lynch and Naomi vs. Sarah Logan w/ Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan (SmackDown 2/13/18), WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Round 1: Buddy Murphy vs. Ariya Daivari (205 Live 2/20/18), Triple Threat Match – Winner Enters Elimination Chamber Last: John Cena vs. Braun Strowman vs. Elias (RAW 2/5/18)
2/3 Falls – RAW Tag Team Title: Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Apollo & Titus O’Neil (RAW 2/26/18), RAW Tag Team Title: Cesaro & Sheamus [c] vs. Apollo & Titus O’Neil w/ Dana Brooke (Elimination Chamber 2/25/18), Finn Balor & Karl Anderson vs. The Revival (RAW 2/5/18), AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 2/20/18), Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak & Tony Nese (RAW 2/5/18), WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Round 1: Akira Tozawa vs. Mark Andrews (205 Live 2/13/18), Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Apollo Crews w/ Titus O’Neil and Dana Brooke vs. The Miz w/ The Miztourage (RAW 2/5/18), Mixed Match Challenge – Round 1: Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair vs. Apollo & Nia Jax w/ Titus O’Neil and Dana Brooke (Mixed Match Challenge 2/20/18), Mixed Match Challenge – Round 1: Elias & Bayley vs. Rusev & Lana (MMC 2/13/18), The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Local Talent (SmackDown 2/6/18), The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Local Talent (SmackDown 2/20/18)
