1. NXT Title: Andrade “Cien” Almas [c] w/ Zelina Vega vs. Johnny Gargano (NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia 1/27/18)
Just a marvel of a wrestling match… angles and stories are fun, but when the in-ring hits a peak like this you’re reminded all over again why this stuff is amazing. This match had smooth beautiful intense hold-trading that made me go “Oh wow, wrestling is good,” hyper-speed counter and strike-filled wrestling that made me go “Oh wow, this is incredible,” and a wildly dramatic finish with some all-time great near falls that made me go “Oh fuck, this might be the best wrestling match I’ve ever seen.” Johnny’s selling and timing + Almas’ aggressiveness and desperation = excitement, drama, WRESTLING. An absolute war for a championship, pro wrestling perfection.
2. Unsanctioned Match – Johnny Gargano’s NXT Career on the Line: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT TakeOver: New Orleans 4/7/18)
The wrestling fan tolerates a lot of trash to get to this type of match, but when it happens it all makes sense. This had it all: the story, the atmosphere, the crowd, the emotion, the action, the viciousness, the everything. It was the perfect end to a blood feud without one drop of blood, a 30+ minute brawl that never wavered, never had a moment where it seemed like these guys didn’t want to hurt each other, never had a moment where the crowd wasn’t hanging on every moment and pulling for Their Guy, Johnny Wrestling.
3. Mixed Tag Team Match: Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon (WrestleMania 34 4/8/18)
This is one of those WWE sports entertainment big event matches ala the first WrestleMania main event that was laid out for maximum fun. Ronda Rousey looks like a wrestling phenom, Stephanie goes all goofball MMA person, and Triple H goes back to 2000 with Kurt Angle briefly before selling his ass off for Ronda which was so good it hurt. Had a great chaotic feel to it too, with the crowd hanging on everything. A great match, both for longtime wrestling fans and folks who might be checking this weird thing out for the first time.
4. Chicago Street Fight: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT TakeOver: Chicago 6/16/18)
In which the Gargano vs. Ciampa feud got its’ Empire Strikes Back moment. They might’ve gotten a little stunt-showy at the start, but this thing delivered: an untouchable heated atmosphere, both guys being all intense, big nasty spots, the ring being torn up, and Gargano’s selling all came together to deliver something wild. The cinematic last 10 minutes and stunned silence at the brutal finish are keepers. This is a special feud.
5. SmackDown Women’s Title: Charlotte Flair [c] vs. Asuka (WrestleMania 34 4/8/18)
A big huge great god damn stadium wrestling match. These two went hard and brought a pro wrestling that just felt on another level from anything else: fast-paced, stiff, realistic, intense. The crowd was locked in from the bell and didn’t let up. They brought some of the coolest hold-trading I’ve ever seen in WWE, and Charlotte’s moonsault leading to Asuka’s triangle was an all-timer.
6. 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.
7. RAW Women’s Title: Nia Jax [c] vs. Ronda Rousey (Money in the Bank 6/17/18)
The pro wrestling is at its’ finest when it feels real. What a great god damn wrestling match this is. Nia Jax doesn’t always hit but from the matches with Asuka we know she is capable of playing a perfect monster when put in the right situation. Here she is put in a situation with Ronda Rousey, who after two matches I am ready to call an elite wrestler. Her stuff here felt more realistic than anything in WWE right now – the strikes, submissions, and selling were all great, and little stuff like the quick “whoa” as she found her balance on the top rope added to the presentation. The judo throw on her comeback was incredible too.
8. WWE Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins [c] vs. The Miz (Backlash 5/6/18)
Intense, dramatic, smartly worked, spectacular – these boys went 20 minutes and tore the house down. Rollins is having the run of his life and here he was opening up a pay-per-view with a guy who after 10 years of greatness still seems like he has something to prove. The crowd was biting on everything for the epic finishing stretch, complete with some brilliant work around Seth’s hurt knee, and I swear I saw tears of joy at the 3-count.
9. Kairi Sane vs. Lacey Evans (NXT 5/23/18)
A phenomenal wrestling match with not a second wasted, just 5 minutes of smash mouth to-the-point action. This had intensity times a million, Lacey just forcing Sane into holds, Sane throwing elbows any chance she got, and each lady at one point just grabbing each others jaw and chopping each other in the tits. Incredible stuff.
10. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor (RAW 4/2/18)
Witness Rollins and Balor having the match everybody was sure they could have, even if it hadn’t been delivered on just yet. These two are just athletic freaks of nature and were flipping the crowd out with cool spots and counters that all felt like legitimate attempts to win a wrestling match. Some insane near falls towards the end too.
11. WWE Intercontinental Title: The Miz [c] w/ The Miztourage vs. Roman Reigns (RAW 1/29/18)
Roman and Miz have such good chemistry and their matches are a total throwback – great characters, crazy hot crowd, minimal bumps, and every big moment counts. Tons of great little things made this all the better, including Miz’ reactions to Reigns no-selling his stuff, Reigns’ deadlift spots, and Miz’ leg work paying off. A couple of absolutely insane near falls put it over the top. So much wrestling fun here.
12. NXT Tag Team Title: The Undisputed Era (Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) [c] vs. Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) (NXT U.K. Championship 6/26/18)
All these fellas have some excellent chemistry and it resulted in an epic wrestling match. Strong and O’Reilly are in a groove as a team and got to do their thing on this occasion against Moustache Mountain who are as over in London as prime Dusty Rhodes in Florida. It started well with Seven selling big, got great once Bate got the hot tag, and got beautiful as they headed home. Some of the saves at the end here gave me Real World Tag League flashbacks. So good.
13. Ladder Match – NXT North American Title: Ricochet vs. Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Velveteen Dream vs. Killian Dain (NXT TakeOver: New Orleans 4/7/18)
This had all the craziness of a big WWE multi-man Ladder Match but with the added aura of TakeOver opener buzz and the fact that all six of these guys come off as fresh, future superstars. There is just so much to flip out about in this match, and the three big bumps towards the end are mind-altering.
14. If Roman is DQ’d, He Loses The Title – WWE Intercontinental Title: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Samoa Joe (RAW 1/1/18)
I am trying to think of a non-problematic way of saying that this was so awesome because it was two Samoans beating the crap out of each other but I just can’t think of it. That’s what it was though. This is main event heavyweight wrestling, baby. Joe is a beast here, just wrecking Roman and trying to goad him into a DQ, while Roman just sells his face off. Some amazing sequences of wrestling leading to amazing near falls towards the end here too. All of their matches are high quality but this is the best so far.
15. 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.
16. WWE Title #1 Contender’s 5-Man Gauntlet Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Big E, Daniel Bryan vs. Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz, The Miz vs. Rusev (SmackDown 6/19/18)
Witness the spirit of the American Dragon return, having two great matches in a row with Big E and Samoa Joe that were all about his selling and fired up comebacks. This 40-minute match has got Big E and Bryan exchanging wristlocks, Big E chucking Bryan around, and Samoa Joe chopping Bryan’s chest until it looked like ground beef. Seriously man – Bryan’s selling here. All-time great stuff. Miz vs. Rusev at the end lost a little steam, but a solid 75% of this match was some absolutely captivating work by Daniel Bryan.
17. WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Semi Final: Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 3/20/18)
One part great cruiserweight match, one part straight-up brawl between two fellas who wanted to go to WrestleMania. It had all the mesmerizing professional wrestling these two are capable of with the added bonus of a bunch of punches to the head. Gulak beats ass, Ali bumps like he’s some kind of modern day Sabu, and they throw a bunch of epic moments in there and get the most out of every single one, from Ali’s big somersault plancha to Gulak just chucking Ali around on the floor.
18. NXT Women’s Title: Ember Moon [c] vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia 1/27/18)
Told a simple story, executed it perfectly, and had a crowd completely losing its’ shit – what up, pro wrestling. Shayna Baszler as Minoru Suzuki was great, Ember Moon struggling for like 20 minutes in a cross armbreaker and the crowd being on the edge of their seat for it was special.
19. 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.
20. WWE Cruiserweight Title Tournament – Semi Final: Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong (205 Live 3/13/18)
This had a Dream Match feel with both guys showcasing everything they’re capable of, but it didn’t feel empty like some Dream Matches do. Sweet hold trading and mat wrestling, big time urgency, and a couple epic moments to top it off. They did the whole “he has an answer for everything” thing so well and every big spot they did looked and felt spectacular. Cedric strung together so many moves here that all his flying around looked like completely legitimate offense too, like he could’ve won a bar fight with a springboard clothesline. The crowd was pretty quiet for a lot of this but there’s an insane bump Cedric takes that you can just feel everybody go “Oh, I should probably pay attention now” all at once.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) (WWE U.K. Title Tournament 6/25/18)
A match filled to the brim with wonderful content, a classic 6-man tag with the London crowd treating British Strong Style like GODS. This has Dunne kicking Strong’s ass, Bate flipping everybody out with his strength, and as they are to do, everybody throwing bombs at the end and the crowd losing their shit. An absolute blast.
27. Ricochet & Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) (NXT 6/27/18)
NXT’s visit to the U.K. brought all kinds of Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain and Friends stuff, including this match that happened a week later at Full Sail. This was a classic 6-man tag that did a great job of getting Ricochet more over. Fun early run by the good guys + an insane Ricochet hot tag + a big crazy finish with everybody throwing bombs and Ricochet almost pulling out a win over Adam Cole = awesome.
28. Mixed Match Challenge – Round 1: Braun Strowman & Alexa Bliss vs. Sami Zayn & Becky Lynch (MMC 1/30/18)
Sometimes your tag match doesn’t need a heel beatdown; sometimes all you need is interesting characters interacting. This is a pure character-based match with a lot of greatness going for it: Braun being an over as hell monster, Alexa being over-confident because Braun is at her side, Becky Lynch being the super over birthday girl, and Sami Zayn being a cowardly jackass who alternated between rallying the crowd with HAPPY BIRTHDAY chants and pretending to not be able to tag in to help Becky because he was scared of Braun. Braun would just get more and more frustrated as he couldn’t get to Zayn, and when he did get a hold of him – oh MAN. A match that made me think, “All wrestling should be like this.”
29. John Cena vs. Triple H (Greatest Royal Rumble 4/27/18)
Classic professional wrestling, just a bunch of good clean basic fun from two extra-professional professional wrestlers. It was so cool to see these two take advantage of a crowd that was ready to pop for shoves and test of strengths. They took their time, built up a comeback, hit their over signature spots, and didn’t kill themselves doing it.
30. Men’s Royal Rumble Match (Royal Rumble 1/28/18)
What an incredible thought: an actual crowd-pleasing Royal Rumble from start to finish. WWE has such a strong, varied roster right now and everybody got a moment to shine and was used was used to their fullest here, from Jinder Mahal vs. The New Day to Heath Slater vs. Everybody to Almas and Balor as the Iron Men to the New Guard vs. Old Guard finish. Possibly the best Rumble final two ever as well, Nakamura vs. Reigns was a wonderful dynamic and Philly was hot for it.
31. Women’s Royal Rumble Match (Royal Rumble 1/28/18)
Another perfectly booked Royal Rumble match – surprises, cameos, moments, showdown. A moment in history type of match, one that spanned generations of the WWE women’s division but still had you knowing the stars of today are the real stars. So much fun.
32. WWE Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins [c] vs. Finn Balor (RAW 4/30/18)
The sequel to their excellent match earlier in the month – similar deal with both guys just being athletic nutjobs, but also did a really cool job of putting over how much they know each other now, with counters for all their signature stuff. Real hot finish with both guys just blasting each other, and the Montreal crowd was on fire too.
33. NXT Tag Team Title: The Undisputed Era (Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) [c] w/ Adam Cole vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch (NXT TakeOver: Chicago 6/16/18)
This was a great match that would have been downright incredible had the crowd been less into chanting Adam Cole Bay-Bay and more into Oney and Danny. They brought the awesome tag team wrestling, but boos or indifference for the good guys at key moments was a bummer, especially when they brought the pain – a nasty headbutt on Kyle here, a somersault bump from the top rope to the apron there. Despite all that, the performances were great, and the finish is a certified epic.
34. Extreme Rules: Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole (NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia 1/27/18)
As far as the overplayed Extreme Rules gimmick goes, this was incredible. Violence, crazy bumps, and just fun as hell. Black was a bump machine and delivered on the intensity, while Cole finally showed why he’s here with a pretty amazing acting and selling job. At the end of this match, there were no ECW chants – it was N-X-T.
35. WWE Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins [c] vs. Dolph Ziggler (RAW 6/18/18)
This was a match all about the selling – they had some cool stuff planned, but in between everything took their time and sold their asses off. Rollins’ struggle as he tried to climb the top towards the end, Ziggler’s big bump off the Ripcord knee, Rollins taking a Fameasser on his head, and just their general exhaustion as the match went on… tremendous.
36. WWE U.K. Title: Pete Dunne [c] vs. Kyle O’Reilly (NXT 6/13/18)
This is basically a 15-minute sprint with non-stop grappling and grabbing limbs and headbutting and kicking limbs and countering, all with the crowd 100% into it the entire time. Katsuyori Shibata approved. So good.
37. Triple Threat Match – WWE Intercontinental Title: The Miz [c] vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor (WrestleMania 34 4/8/18)
Great match with an exciting WrestleMania opener atmosphere. They pulled off so many well-timed complex multi-man spots that all hit beautifully. Big time performances from everyone too, with everything having a little extra on it.
38. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Cedric Alexander [c] vs. Buddy Murphy (205 Live 5/29/18)
Just two fellas tearing the house down and making a eerily quiet 205 Live crowd go, “HEY! These two are really good!” Great counters, great build to Cedric’s comeback, great strikes. Really intense and desperate finish. Plus Cedric’s mom is in the front row and she’s wearing a purple homemade Cedric Alexander t-shirt.
39. Mustafa Ali vs. Buddy Murphy (205 Live 5/8/18)
And here’s another example of Buddy Murphy getting the silent 205 Live crowd to give a crap. Some jaw-dropping spots by Ali too – the tilt-a-whirl rope DDT and backflip to the floor are incredible. Buddy powerbombing Ali and just killing his arm dead at the finish is special stuff as well.
40. AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan (SmackDown 4/10/18)
I still can’t believe this match just happened two nights after WrestleMania. You could tell these two were so excited to do this, and it was basically a Dream Match based entirely on the mat. Lock-ups and hold-trading, baby. Some awesome counters towards the end too. Just a pleasure to watch these two guys do their thing.
41. NXT Title: Andrade “Cien” Almas [c] w/ Zelina Vega vs. Aleister Black (NXT TakeOver: New Orleans 4/7/18)
A great, stiff championship match with a crowd that was tentative early eventually just losing their shit. Everything at the end is just do dramatic and frenetic, and this is another incredible Almas big match performance.
42. NXT Women’s Title: Ember Moon [c] vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT TakeOver: New Orleans 4/7/18)
Here is a match completely based in reality. It wasn’t fancy, didn’t exactly have the crowd early, but everything made sense in the confinements of the cool story they were telling and by the end I was loving it. I mean this was a WWE women’s wrestling match that built to a spot where a gal popped her shoulder back in on the turnbuckle post. C’mon! Incredible!
43. If Owens and Zayn Win, They Are Rehired to SmackDown: Daniel Bryan (return) & Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (WrestleMania 34 4/8/18)
This is a fun as hell event match with an all-timer hot tag by Daniel Bryan. Bryan going down early was some weird stuff, but it’s not like you still didn’t have Shane McMahon doing crazy shit.
44. Kalisto vs. Buddy Murphy (205 Live 4/3/18)
An excellent match that’s even more impressive because it was between two guys with no real story. It felt like a classic 2005 ROH match, just two guys going buck wild to get noticed and doing a bunch of cool junior heavyweight shit along the way. Buddy is a beast and Kalisto is an insane person.
45. Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – Final: Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne vs. The Authors of Pain w/ Paul Ellering (NXT 4/4/18)
A hell of a professional wrestling match with a great atmosphere, hot crowd, Roddy and Dunne bringing it to the AoP, tons of action, and the crowd just losing their shit over the possibility of their heroes winning.
46. SmackDown Tag Team Title: The Usos [c] vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) w/ Big E (Fastlane 3/11/18)
Like some kind of inverse of an Usos/New Day tag classic, with both teams doing each others moves and managing a match that was just as good as any of their others before The Bludgeon Brothers ran out and killed everybody.
47. NXT Women’s Title: Shayna Baszler [c] vs. Toni Storm (NXT U.K. Championship 6/26/18)
Great story, great drama, great match. Baszler is an excellent character wrestler and Storm’s Euro wrestling being able to match up against her until it didn’t was a fine story to tell. Storm’s selling was great too – her scream of pain after the stomp to her ankle had a feel of “WHY?” to it. Her making a comeback, refusing to lose, still going for the win despite the fucked ankle, and the POP for when she rolled out of the sleeper was special stuff.
48. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream (NXT TakeOver: Chicago 6/16/18)
This wasn’t the star-making banger both guys probably wanted, but it was still a blast of a match between two great characters. It had the insane rope-running, big spots, and a fun thread of both guys trying to out-do each other. Plus there were some wild near falls and a superplex to the floor. Also: THE AURA. The future seems bright.
49. 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.
50. 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.
