I’m not going to lie to you – there were absolutely enough good matches on WWE brands this month for this to go from Top 25 to Top 50 for the first time in a while, but they were also among like seven hundred crap matches. I’m also not sure even the Top 3 are going rank high at the end of the year. It’s a consistency thing though, and there was a variety of good to great if not amazing wrestling going on all through July. If you’re here for a recommendation and have a life to live, you’re probably safe sticking to the Top 15.
1. Aleister Black vs. Cesaro (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
Like some kind of bizarre European BattlARTS through the lens of the WWE Performance Center or some bullshit I just made up, Aleister Black and Cesaro stole the show at Extreme Rules with Black’s incredible strikes and Cesaro just casually reminding everybody he’s a beast of a man capable of very exciting wrestling matches. So many highlights, big and small, from Cesaro legitimately actually catching a Meteora mid-air to Black pounding at Cesaro’s thighs to get out of a Sharpshooter. And while many Black Mass spin kicks have been thrown, THIS may truly have been the best one. The most wrestling match of all the wrestling matches this month.
2. Trent Seven vs. WALTER (NXT UK 7/24/19)
This was all about Trent Seven selling against a MONSTER and the thing with Seven is that he is not always selling pain and exhaustion but always fighting back, throwing a single chop if he can manage. There were points here where Seven was just aggressively, desperately hammering away at WALTER, and other points where WALTER was doing the same. Seven’s Dragon suplex and HUGE lariat on the comeback, followed by Kobashi chops in the corner, had me thinking the weirdest ever Kobashi vs. Hansen had appeared on the WWE Network. Such good wrestling.
3. Chad Gable vs. Jack Gallagher (205 Live 7/16/19)
A match that began with scattered boring chants and ended with the crowd on their feet, two guys having fun with armbars before they went all G1 climax on everybody’s ass with big near falls and mind-blowing counters, including Gallagher’s corner dropkick being somehow caught by Gable with a Dominator. It’s always fun to see two clearly talented but underutilized guys unleashed to just rip it up for 20 minutes.
4. Catch Point Reunion Match: Matt Riddle w/ Curt Stallion vs. Drew Gulak (EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Special 7/13/19)
So this match was treated like wrestling is real or somethin’. The video package pre-match and big time entrances for each guy sure helped too. Gulak is a technical wrestling maestro and it was cool to see him in an environment where he was treated like a big deal, while Riddle is such a bro because he can do all kinds of styles but is also the perfect complement to Gulak. For nearly fifteen minutes they did a bunch of interesting grappling that transitioned into a bunch of crazy strikes and I fell deeply in love with all of it.
5. Triple Threat Tag Team Match – SmackDown Tag Team Title: Daniel Bryan & Rowan [c] vs. The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Heavy Machinery (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
A more spectacular Triple Threat Tag Team Match than usual, mostly due to Daniel Bryan and Big E putting in some WORK but also Heavy Machinery showing off some new new double team tricks. There’s a couple minute stretch here where where I swear Bryan is just frantically running around from spot to spot to just will this thing into something amazing, while E not just continued his run as reliable great tag wrestler but also showed some FACES when he stared down D-Bryan. The setup for the finish is also one of the most impressive feats of wrestling I’ve seen in a long time too.
6. Gauntlet Match – Winner Faces AJ Styles for U.S. Title at SummerSlam: Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro, Rey Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn, Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade, Andrade vs. Ricochet (RAW 7/29/19)
Look at all the contests in this Gauntlet Match. It was great. These gentleman are just outrageous.
7. Jordan Devlin vs. Alexander Wolfe (NXT UK 7/31/19)
A match all about the re-introduction of the black tight black boot Alexander Wolfe, playing opposite a very capable babyface Jordan Devlin and wrestling a very tight match: Wolfe refuses the usual Devlin spots (Spanish Fly, slingshot Stunner), Devlin takes an insane gut-first bump on the top rope off a suplex, Wolfe works that gut, Devlin hits those spots, then Wolfe does an INCREDIBLE German suplex hold and sit-out powerbomb at the finish.
8. Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong (NXT 7/31/19)
The match you expect from two of the finest grapplers going today, a slightly softer version of Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii with extra enzuigiris. There was some dirty-ass matwork here early that I loved, followed by a whole lot of elbow shots to the face and fucking up of hands. It was all really good, even if the sunset flip powerbomb at the end felt like a bit much.
9. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Drew Gulak [c] vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (205 Live 7/23/19)
A great random 205 Live match, both as a showcase for newcomer Swerve but also a showcase of what Gulak brings to the table – the perfect shitbag opposition to this young flyer. Swerve’s spots are impressive, but I think his right hand was the highlight. Tremendous last few minutes too that got both guys over.
10. Last Man Standing: Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
At nearly 20 minutes they probably could’ve tightened this one up just a bit, but otherwise it embraced its’ Philadelphia locale else and provided one strange trip of an ECW tribute match. They brawled all over the arena, provided some good big man high spots, and the finish was out of a movie or something. Crowd was loving the chaos too.
11. Apollo Crews vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown 7/23/19)
This felt like Nak got jealous of his New Japan buds and decided to have a little banger with Apollo Crews. It was your standard solid WWE TV match until suddenly Crews did a fallaway Samoan drop for 2, Nak tried a spin kick, Apollo ducked, Nak hit the spin kick on the rebound, Crews tried to block a charge in the corner but Nak stopped him short and hit the sliding German, Nak setup a Kinshasa but Crews blocked it with an enzuigiri, and Crews hit an Angle Slam for a big near fall with New Day absolutely FREAKING OUT: “Boys… we got a CONTEST.” They kept the surprises coming for another couple minutes with a great back-and-forth finish.
12. Matt Riddle vs. Arturo Ruas (NXT 7/17/19)
I enjoy Arturo Ruas as the man unimpressed that he works for WWE, who simply wants to go about his business and do his job. Here he went at it with Riddle in something that needs to happen more often, a straightforward MMA-influenced match kept things on the ground with some of the coolest matwork you’ll see in WWE and a believable TKO finish. So simple, so good.
13. No Holds Barred Match: The Undertaker & Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
WWE’s usual fun stupid gimmick match with all the tricks, highlighted the best use of The Goddamn Undertaker in forever. He hit all the Greatest Hits while Roman did that thing where he’s the best seller in wrestling. Elias got involved and Shane crashed through a table or two. Great camera shot of Drew ready to strike on Taker later too.
14. Kevin Owens vs. Drew McIntyre (SmackDown 7/30/19)
Despite some Downtime with Drew, an energetic brawl of a match that had the crowd ROCKING, with Owens in full Stone Cold mode kicking ass and hitting signature spots. The whole crowd absolutely freaks out for a sit-out pop-up powerbomb near fall towards the end.
15. The Usos w/ Rikishi vs. The Revival w/ D-Von Dudley (RAW 7/22/19)
A good long tag between two great teams that happened to have Rikishi in his boys’ corner looking concerned for them, D-Von cheering on The Revival for no apparent reason, and Booker T back on commentary. The Usos bumped big, Dawson was hamming it up, and the Revival’s flying uppercut to German suplex double team made for a sweet near fall.
16. RAW Tag Team Title: The Revival [c] vs. The Usos (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
More quality tag team wrestling, it just didn’t have Rikishi as a cornerman.
17. Winner Take All – EVOLVE Title vs. WWN Title: Austin Theory [c] vs. JD Drake (EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Special 7/13/19)
A match that introduced me to both guys and made me a fan of both guys, with Austin Theory looking and working the part of the Future of This Business, like some kind of compromise between being a handsome devil and having the ability to do a roll-through Blockbuster that doesn’t look completely ridiculous. JD Drake did a bunch of fun clobbering and chopping and sold everything like he was in legitimate pain, and they brought it home with a killer finish.
18. NXT UK Tag Team Title: The Grizzled Young Veterans [c] vs. Moustache Mountain (NXT UK 7/3/19)
A match that didn’t reach (or need to reach) the heights of their TakeOver: Blackpool match, but still a very good tag bordering on great before Imperium ran in with their tracksuits and we got a big angle. Gibson and Drake have got a basic tag shtick down and the lads were as per usual great babyfaces, whether on offense or defense.
19. NXT Tag Team Title: Street Profits [c] vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch (NXT 7/10/19)
This felt like a low-end TakeOver match, which is honestly a big compliment for an NXT TV match. It was just a little over 10 minutes but they kept things MOVING. Montez Ford’s spots have such a pop to them, he reminds me of – gasp – Kota Ibushi, in that he does cool moves but they also have this extra THING on top. Oney was running around hitting people, Dawkins threw an amazing spear, Ford did a tope con hilo OVER Oney onto Burch on the floor, and they pulled off a great car crash spot towards the end. Oney Still Rules, but this was the best the Street Profits have ever looked.
20. NXT Breakout Tournament – Semi Final: Jordan Myles vs. Angel Garza (NXT 7/24/19)
A beautiful joyful match, with Myles armdragging and dropkicking and being infectious in his good vibes before he took a nasty chest bump on the apron which led to Garza being a cock as he worked over him. Myles reached down deep for a fire-up and I know I praised that Wolfe German suplex hold earlier but Myles’ deadlift German suplex with a bridge here was on that level.
21. Triple Threat Match – RAW Tag Team Title: The Revival [c] vs. The Usos vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (RAW 7/29/19)
Non-stop action from a bunch of good brothers with an Uso occasionally taking heat, Jimmy bringing the heat to a hot tag, and a legitimately surprisng finish.
22. Falls Count Anywhere: Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley (RAW 7/1/19)
A total smoke and mirrors show, but a smoke and mirrors show that ruled, as outside of walking around in the crowd this was basically just two mammoths straight-up running into each other a bunch of times and colliding like the Greek Gods they are. Bobby leaned into one of Braun’s shoulder tackles SOOOOO hard, I felt it from the TV. Loved it.
23. NXT Breakout Tournament – Round 1: Jordan Myles (debut) vs. BOA (debut) (NXT 7/10/19)
A legitimate breakout debut for Myles, who I knew was a good polished wrestler but was not ready for the TV readiness of this man – the taunts, the timing, the smiling. Plus there’s the fact that he uses these things to carry young and green big BOA to a legitimately good match.
24. Bianca Belair vs. Priscilla Zuniga (NXT 7/3/19)
Incredible squash, which begins when Priscilla Zuniga yells “HIT ME” so Bianca drops her with an elbow and beats the absolute fuck out of here, does a press slam where she does a few squats, catches a dive with a triple powerbomb, and finishes her off with the torture rack face-buster. The absolute CONFIDENCE of Bianca Belair, man.
25. Lucha House Party (Kalisto & Gran Metalik) w/ Lince Dorado vs. Humberto Carrillo & Raul Mendoza (205 Live 7/23/19)
A match between two teams you could tell were amped to work with each other, with a lot of casually incredible springboards and armdrags being done by some of the wildest dudes around. Mendoza does a hot tag here that is so good too.
26. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (RAW 7/22/19)
Might’ve been a little slow, but this read to me like a strong old school match with Reigns’ selling and Joe’s snarling being enough to captivate a crowd.
27. Winner Takes All Extreme Rules Mixed Tag Team Match – WWE Universal Title & WWE RAW Women’s Title: Seth Rollins [c] & Becky Lynch [c] vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
Another fun stupid gimmick match that was laid out for YOU, the viewer, to be sports entertained. They hit the spots they needed to and I had a good time, but there was a haze of pointlessness hanging over this whole thing, which was very quickly enhanced when Brock Lesnar cashed in Money in the Bank during it.
28. Piper Niven vs. Rhea Ripley (NXT UK 7/3/19)
NXT UK had been building to this for so long that when Rhea ran out at the start of the show and called Piper out I wasn’t expecting them to have such a MATCH, especially on TV on their first go. There was a ton of hair-pulling here, but in a good way not a 2006 Divas division way. Rhea kicked some ass while Piper occasionally launched herself at her with a crossbody and a dropkick. By the end they were just throwing short-arm clotheslines and it ruled.
29. Mark Andrews vs. Kassius Ohno (NXT UK 7/17/19)
Impressive flips from Andrews that Ohno was all there for, and a cool spot to setup neck work where Ohno caught an Andrews tope, removed the bottom turnbuckle with one hand as he carried him, and dropped Andrews’ head on the exposed steel. Andrews did a fired up comeback that reminds you he’s still good too.
30. EVOLVE Tag Team Title: The Unwanted (Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy) [c] w/ Sean Maluta vs. AR Fox & Leon Ruff w/ Ayla & The Skulk (EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Special 7/13/19)
This was a high energy tag match where I’m not sure anybody ever really made a tag. It didn’t matter, as for a little under 10 minutes all these boys went at it and had the crowd out of their seats by the end. Fox and Ruff can FLY, and The Skulk adds a great insanity to the whole presentation.
31. Apollo Crews vs. KUSHIDA (NXT 7/17/19)
Just Apollo Crews and KUSHIDA doin’ fun stuff.
32. Unsanctioned Match: Drake Maverick vs. Mike Kanellis (205 Live 7/30/19)
A bizzaro showcase for Drake Maverick: selling big, rallying out of a chinlock, great fired up comeback, and most importantly of all he was wearing kneepads over blue jeans like he was in some Bunkhouse Match.
33. WWE Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura [c] vs. Ali (Smackville 7/27/19)
I like to think Ali walked up to Nakamura excited to lay out their match and Nak asked, “You see G1?” “Of course,” replied Ali with a smile, as Nakamura took a drag of a cigarette and winked: “Not meeee.” These guys had a House Show Match here, though Ali hasn’t been in-ring on TV for a while and it was fun to see him do his thing. His backflip off the top rope and catch of Nak’s leap right after with a dropkick was very cool.
34. Ali vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown 7/30/19)
More fun from these two, a shorter match with some quality kicking to the face.
35. WWE Title: Kofi Kingston [c] vs. Samoa Joe (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
A good old-fashioned simple championship match – nothing complex, just Joe looking dangerous as he wrecked Kofi before he got caught.
36. Big E w/ Xavier Woods vs. Daniel Bryan w/ Rowan (SmackDown 7/2/19)
A very fun TV type of match, which isn’t surprising since these guys seem to have too much of a sense of humor and down to earth-ness to not deliver something like this, as abbreviated as it was. E doing the hip swivels on a Daniel Bryan waistlock is LIFE.
37. Cedric Alexander vs. Robert Roode (Main Event 7/3/19)
A genuine Main Event Worth Watching, with well-timed taunting to start followed by Cedric flying around and being awesome followed by some genuinely surprising counters and strong near falls leading to the finish.
38. Anything Goes Match: Oney Lorcan vs. Ariya Daivari (205 Live 7/9/19)
Oney Rules because who else could have a Very Good Anything Goes match with the quiet hand that is Ariya Daivari!? It’s always fun to see these lower card guys get some gimmicks in a main event, even on WWE’s most irrelevant show. Oney storming out to silence bummed me out, but he and Daivari delivered on all the intensity they built up over the last month and just kinda hurt each other with them gimmicks – chairs, ladders, and CHAINS. And a We Want Tables chant led to… ACTUAL MOTHERFUCKIN’ TABLES.
39. WWE Intercontinental Title: Finn Balor [c] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Extreme Rules Kickoff 7/14/19)
A fine match, just 7 minutes long so not much room to do anything other than get right to it and get all their shit in: kicks, dives, knees, chinlocks. Pretty beautifully laid out finish though.
40. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Drew Gulak [c] vs. Tony Nese (Extreme Rules Kickoff 7/14/19)
Just like Finn/Nakamura, a fine match that only had 7 minutes to work with. Gulak as Hometown Hero made for a nice atmosphere. Nese hit two big spots, both of which looked like they legit hurt Gulak – a moonsault to the floor with Gulak’s legs hanging off the ropes, and a 450 splash that was more of a 450 knee drop.
41. WWE U.S. Title: Ricochet [c] vs. AJ Styles w/ Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
I’m not sure how many times I’m going to say “this felt like the first match in a longer series” about these two. This had its moments, its’ Ricochet going up against AJ Styles for godssakes, but AJ these days is running through spots and feeling a little empty. Given the history and hype and all that, this just didn’t come anywhere close to my admittedly high expectations.
42. Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler w/ Drew McIntyre and Elias (SmackDown 7/9/19)
A good old-fashioned Roman Reigns TV main event, with Dolph flopping around like a champ and making attempts at getting some strings of offense going, never quite succeeding because he was opposite THE BIG DOG.
43. Kenny Williams vs. Noam Dar (NXT UK 7/24/19)
I imagine these two have worked and maybe trained together and they had some fun exchanges worked out, a lot of having-an-answer-for-everything type stuff, and it was pretty neat. Cool finish too.
44. Babatunde vs. Colby Corino w/ Sean Maluta (EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Special 7/13/19)
Colby Corino did some BUSINESS here, playing an incredible wimpy old school heel that was all scrappy early on before he began screaming like a proper gentleman for the giant Babatunde’s offense. The chop on the apron was a god damn all-timer, with an amazing reaction from Corino that could’ve been him being awesome but also could’ve been a natural reaction of legitimate pain.
45. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins vs. The Viking Raiders (RAW 7/22/19)
Heck of a squash, with Ryder and Hawkins making for tremendous competitive enhancement guys.
46. NXT Title: Adam Cole [c] vs. Akira Tozawa (EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Special 7/13/19)
A pretty formula match from these two, but the atmosphere, location, and that main event feel brought it up a bunch… and these two doing formula really isn’t all that bad anyways.
47. Rey Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn (RAW 7/22/19)
Real quick, but an awesome pairing while it lasted.
48. Bayley vs. Nikki Cross (SmackDown 7/2/19)
A great little 5-minute match complete with an awesome Cross fire-up comeback and a finish that felt sudden but also felt like it made perfect sense.
49. Alexander Wolfe vs. Jack Starz (NXT UK 7/3/19)
The Devlin match was the emergence of the new Alexander Wolfe, but this was the official re-debut, where he dominated perennial NXT UK enhancement guy Jack Starz with great-looking moves ranging from a straight-up bodyslam to a Death Valley Driver to a sit-out powerbomb.
50. Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
From bell-to-bell, a match that knew exactly what it needed to be.
Honorable Mentions: Mixed Tag Team Elimination Match: Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Andrade & Zelina Vega (RAW 7/8/19), Tyler Breeze vs. Roderick Strong (NXT 7/3/19), The Viking Raiders vs. Vinnie Bruder & Jackson James (RAW 7/15/19), Winners Are Added to the Triple Threat SmackDown Tag Team Title Match at Extreme Rules: Heavy Machinery vs. Kevin Owens & Dolph Ziggler (SmackDown 7/2/19), Tornado Tag Team Match: Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) w/ Kalisto vs. The Singh Brothers (205 Live 7/2/19), Cross-Branded All-Star Top 10 Battle Royal (RAW 7/15/19), NXT Breakout Tournament – Round 1: Bronson Reed (debut) vs. Dexter Lumis (debut) (NXT 7/17/19), Cedric Alexander vs. Drew McIntyre (RAW 7/15/19), Keith Lee vs. Damian Priest (NXT 7/24/19), Oney Lorcan vs. Tony Isner (205 Live 7/23/19), Braun Strowman vs. Randy Rowe (RAW 7/22/19), Bianca Belair vs. Xia Li (NXT 7/24/19), WWE U.S. Title: Ricochet [c] vs. AJ Styles w/ Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (RAW 7/1/19), Apollo Crews vs. Andrade w/ Zelina Vega (SmackDown 7/2/19), Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown 7/9/19)
