February 2019 was a supreme month of WWE in-ring action: Worlds Collide and Halftime Heat started things off hot, and then Daniel Bryan put over Kofi Kingston, tag team wrestling made a comeback, and the WWE Network-only brands stepped up and provided a ton of quality matches. On top of all that the NXT 4 jumped to the main roster in the middle of the month and crushed it in a bunch of fun TV matches. Plus Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic happened for the first time, Ricochet vs. Adam Cole slipped under the radar, and Mike Kanellis competed in an excellent wrestling match. And Kassius Ohno vs. WALTER. And not one but two elite Drew Gulak matches. Whoa!!!
This was also the month of Velveteen Dream, with four appearances in the Top 25, an Honorable Mention, and as far as actual accomplishments he won the Worlds Collide Tournament and the NXT North American Title.
1. Johnny Gargano vs. Velveteen Dream (NXT 2/20/19)
This was an epic indy dream match that remembered to have character from bell-to-bell. From time to time it felt like two Shawn Michaels proteges trying to impress their idol, though not because of the theatrics but because both guys were moving like superhuman athletes and they had ups and downs and brought the match to an incredible crescendo. Dream has had a lot of excellent performances but hadn’t had a match yet where I thought he had reached the potential that comes with his amazing character. Here he had that match. Wild, frantic, beautiful finish too that had all the stuff ya need – last-second kickouts, counters, a tilt-a-whirl deadlift death valley driver. Amazing.
2. Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic (NXT 2/27/19)
Sometimes you just find your dance partner. This is two big heavyweights doing straight-up old school cruiserweight spots, but the thing about this was it wasn’t just jaw-dropping spots, even if jaw-dropping spots rule and my jaw dropped like 15 times. But they also reacted to stuff and sold it… every big spot had a reaction and facial expression to go along with it. The staredown after Lee defied logic and landed on his feet off a monkey flip was everything I want from my wrestling. THE HEIGHT DIJAKOVIC GETS ON STUFF HERE, PEOPLE! OH MY GOD!!!
3. Elimination Chamber – WWE Title: Daniel Bryan [c] vs. AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe (Elimination Chamber 2/17/19)
If Bryan vs. Kofi was the whole match, this is higher. As it is, it’s still so good. Kofi Kingston emerges as a main event superstar while a bunch of great wrestlers run through spots together around him. Then it comes down to Kofi and Bryan and it’s among the finest professional wrestling you ever will see. When a crowd is all in on something, the wrestling gets special. That they were all in on the defeat of Daniel freaking Bryan makes it even better.
4. Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano & Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black, Ricochet & Velveteen Dream (Halftime Heat 2/3/19)
When I saw this I was convinced it was the best thing I’d see all month, and here we are. The Top 3 have more meat, but this is a blast – NXT’s top six guys go all out and get all their shit in, with everything timed and paced and delivered beautifully. The perfect “YOU GOTTA CHECK THIS WRESTLING SHIT OUT” match.
5. Matt Riddle vs. Drew Gulak (NXT 2/6/19)
A match that was prompted by the question, “How about you take your little flip flops off and make my day?” Gulak and Riddle go all BattlARTS on everybody’s asses and it rules.
6. WWE Cruiserweight Title #1 Contender’s Tournament – Round 1: Brian Kendrick vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 2/26/19)
This was wild. Kendrick and Gulak meet a crowd that is just not that into them but they don’t care, putting together a mat-based match that was too rooted in reality to even need a crowd. There were holds, unique counters, fish hooks, and overall just a bunch of mat-based violence before they brought it home with a dramatic finish that had the crowd booing every kickout.
7. RAW Tag Team Title: Bobby Roode & Chad Gable [c] vs. The Revival (RAW 2/11/19)
This was a match that could’ve easily died a death in a late segment on an already long and bad show, but they took a quiet crowd into This is Awesome territory with some good old-fashioned tag team wrestling. Gable went hard as always, Roode stepped up and looked like he was 25-years-old, and The Revival felt completely prepared for the moment when Vince McMahon called them into his office and said, “Alright, I’m going with you motherfuckers.”
8. Ricochet vs. Adam Cole (NXT 2/13/19)
This is The Ricochet Show, in which a man named Ricochet delivers everything with such precision that you’re compelled to not just root for him in this moment but for his existence in general. From a simple dropkick to selling Cole’s leg work, whatever he is doing is effective, and he tops it off with an otherworldly one-legged springboard splash. It wasn’t as big and showy as their Brooklyn match but might’ve been more cohesive.
9. SmackDown Tag Team Title: Shane McMahon & The Miz [c] w/ Maryse vs. The Usos (Elimination Chamber 2/17/19)
This was another great Usos tag held back by some awkward moments because Shane McMahon is old and still feels like he never really trained as a wrestler, but at the same time it was brought up by those awkward moments too because it was less a great cohesive tag match and more of an experience, and I’ll take the experience. Like, the Shane hot tag didn’t work. But also, if it did – is this match as fun? I don’t know!!
10. Gauntlet Match – Winner is Granted Final Entry into the Elimination Chamber: Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston vs. Jeff Hardy, Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe, Kofi Kingston vs. AJ Styles, AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton (SmackDown 2/12/19)
Another match where if it was just Kofi vs. Bryan, it’d be higher. Regardless, this was a hell of an experience – Kofi Kingston goes 45+ in a Gauntlet Match, including an awesome standalone 20 with Daniel Bryan, and it is wonderful stuff. Any match that emits the pure joy shown in the crowd here from time to time is a special match indeed.
11. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Buddy Murphy [c] vs. Akira Tozawa (Elimination Chamber 2/17/19)
This has two of the most incredible spots I have ever seen in my life woven into a good match with a hell of a finish, as Tozawa can get the folks behind him and make the folks think he’s gonna win. But the real story is the bullet tope catch into a Jackhammer and a Dirty Dancing lift on the top rope countered with a frankensteiner. The match was a good one, but those two put it over the top.
12. Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT 2/27/19)
Another Shayna Baszler TV special, this time with Mia Yim. It starts as a fun brawl that they keep moving as if it’s the Attitude Era, and then despite Mia’s very vocal pleas Shayna tries to break her leg. And the leg work here isn’t 10 minutes of pully-grabby things – Shayna fucks up Mia’s leg with like 3 things and then Mia sells the crap out of it as they build to the finish.
13. Kassius Ohno vs. WALTER (NXT UK 2/27/19)
This provides some of what it promised on paper, though in a sub-10 minute exhibition match kind of way. They brought the big stiff nasty shots and built it to a crescendo and WALTER won with a freakin’ powerbomb. The TV version of Ohno vs. WALTER is still Ohno vs. WALTER.
14. Cedric Alexander vs. Mike Kanellis (205 Live 2/19/19)
This deserves some love, great match. Cedric was selling his leg and getting hot spots out of it, and even with body part work they kept a good pace. Kanellis meanwhile is a guy with several matches under his belt that have tanked on TV, but he is also a guy that is clearly really really trying to show his stuff in the confinements of so many pointless WWE TV matches and with a crowd willing to play, he can deliver. Incredible false finish at the end too.
15. Worlds Collide Tournament – Final: Velveteen Dream vs. Tyler Bate (Worlds Collide 2/2/19)
I cannot believe Worlds Collide aired this month. It’s a tournament that might be a victim here of recency bias, as despite a fun atmosphere and loads of talent the memories of a lot of these matches faded as time went by. Regardless, this was the cream of the crop: they got some time to breathe and used that time to put together a well-built, exciting professional wrestling match.
16. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. The Revival (RAW 2/18/19)
The injection of 4 NXT guys in the main roster resulted in a lot of fun TV matches this month, and this was the finest. These two rivals did some very good wrestling in front of a crowd that didn’t care, but also a crowd that couldn’t not pop for a few of the things they did. Even Diet #DIY vs. Revival is top-tier wrestling.
17. WWE Intercontinental Title: Finn Balor [c] vs. Lio Rush (RAW 2/25/19)
This felt like a match where they told them to just do their thing and they delivered. There were flips but it wasn’t just a fun flippy match, as Lio went after Balor’s leg and they made that count.
18. Mustafa Ali vs. Randy Orton (SmackDown 2/5/19)
Loved this match, a perfect example of what Randy Orton can still bring to the table in 2019. It was all in the mannerisms – he was working with extreme arrogance, trying to not sell anything from this young pup but being overwhelmed anyways, and cutting him off at all the right times. It was a match that made Ali look legit and re-heated up Orton – great work, everybody!
20. No DQ Match: Noam Dar vs. Tony Nese (205 Live 2/12/19)
A weirdly good match that felt as gritty as a match can be between a couple of oiled up hairless fellas. Everything they did actually looked like it hurt and the props provided a fun spin on Nese’s usual stuff, which is impressive but gets repetitive.
18. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. The Bar (SmackDown 2/19/19)
Another fun TV match by the #DIY boys, with SHEAMUS in particular having his working boots.
21. Worlds Collide Tournament – Semi Final: Velveteen Dream vs. Jordan Devlin (Worlds Collide 2/2/19)
The very solid and confident Jordan Devlin goes after Dream’s hurt ribs and Dream sells big, so big that it feels like a legitimate triumph when he gets the win.
22. Mark Andrews vs. Ligero (NXT UK 2/6/19)
This is a cool babyface vs. babyface match and with the exception of Andrews’ work with Fabian Aichner, both guys’ best showing on NXT UK. There was a spot outside where they just kept moving and countering and it took a good while for somebody to hit ANYTHING and I found that very impressive. Plus Andrews landed on his feet off a hurricanrana! And they shook hands afterwards!!! Cause they’re good guys!!!
23. Worlds Collide Tournament – Quarter Final: Drew Gulak vs. Jordan Devlin (Worlds Collide 2/2/19)
This was a tough dynamic with two heels, one of whom was likely a virtual unknown to the Axxess crowd, but these guys proved that if you work snug holds and hit real hard the crowd will figure it out. This was a fun one, all physical and hurty with minimal BS. I dug Devlin just punching Gulak repeatedly in the face to escape a submission towards the end. Good stuff.
24. Aleister Black vs. Andrade w/ Zelina Vega (SmackDown 2/19/19)
Aleister and Andrade running ropes and doing armdrags and hitting each other is good stuff whether it’s for the NXT Title at TakeOver or opening SmackDown.
25. Triple Threat Match – WWE U.S. Title: R-Truth [c] w/ Carmella vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade w/ Zelina Vega (SmackDown 2/26/19)
This is like 5 minutes long but sees Andrade counter Rey’s tope baseball slide splash with a dropkick in mid-air AND a springboard hurricanrana Doomsday Device, so I mean – WOW. Plus Truth did some Cena comedy spots in the middle and it all worked.
Honorable Mentions: Kurt Angle vs. Jinder Mahal (RAW 2/25/19), NXT UK Tag Team Title: Grizzled Young Veterans [c] vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch (NXT UK 2/27/19), NXT UK Women’s Title: Toni Storm [c] vs. Rhea Ripley (NXT UK 2/20/19), Finn Balor & Ricochet (debut) vs. Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush (RAW 2/18/19), RAW Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey [c] vs. Ruby Riott (RAW 2/18/19), Aleister Black vs. Roderick Strong (NXT 2/20/19), Kairi Sane, Io Shirai & Bianca Belair vs. Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir & Jessamyn Duke (NXT 2/6/19), Worlds Collide Tournament – Round 1: Tyler Bate vs. Cedric Alexander (Worlds Collide 2/2/19), The Hardy Boyz vs. The Bar (SmackDown 2/26/19)
Worlds Collide Tournament – Quarter Finals: Velveteen Dream vs. Humberto Carrillo (Worlds Collide 2/2/19), Worlds Collide Tournament – Semi Final: Tyler Bate vs. Adam Cole (Worlds Collide 2/2/19), No DQ Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre (RAW 2/25/19), Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy (SmackDown 2/5/19), Ashton Smith vs. Joe Coffey (NXT UK 2/6/19), Elimination Chamber – WWE Women’s Tag Team Title: Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Naomi & Carmella vs. Nia Jax & Tamina vs. The Riott Squad (Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan) vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville vs. The IIconics (Elimination Chamber 2/17/19), AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy & Kofi Kingston w/ Big E and Xavier Woods vs. Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton & Samoa Joe (SmackDown 2/19/19), Mia Yim vs. Xia Li (NXT 2/20/19)
