You know what show has no good matches anymore? SmackDown.
I reserve the right to make Brock/Rey #1 at any moment.
1. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Lio Rush [c] vs. Angel Garza (NXT 11/13/19)
Put this on PPV and it might be one of the greatest openers ever. Amazing flying, precision, strikes, and speed, enhanced by big bumps and big charisma. Full Sail felt somehow more invested than usual.
2. WarGames: Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox) vs. Team Baszler (Shayna Baszler, Kay Lee Ray, Bianca Belair & Io Shirai) (NXT TakeOver: WarGames 11/23/19)
So much fun, and give me a day to think about it but probably the best WWE WarGames match there’s been. This thing was fun from start to finish, had a big story shift in the middle, and by the end got a bunch of new acts and feuds over. All eight of these ladies came out bigger deals than they were when they came in, and the finish is a star-maker.
3. No Holds Barred – WWE Title: Brock Lesnar [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Rey Mysterio (Survivor Series 11/24/19)
At just 7 minutes long they stayed within their limitations and had the crowd on the edge of their seats more than any enzuigiri or moonsault to the floor. This match will always be known to me as one of the greatest near falls I have ever experienced live. FATHER AND SON 619!!!
4. NXT Title: Adam Cole [c] vs. Daniel Bryan (SmackDown 11/1/19)
Outside of this being a cool first time match up cast in the glow of the NXT invasion of SmackDown, more than anything I loved this because it was the first long Bryan match in forever. 97% of WWE matches that go to commercial return in a hold, but this commercial break returned to a struggle over a BACKSLIDE! They busted out stuff you don’t normally see here too, including actually delivering on the suplex over the top rope to the floor and a Spider German Suplex.
5. WWE U.S. Title: AJ Styles [c] w/ The O.C. vs. Rey Mysterio (RAW 11/25/19)
A simple wonderful wrestling match, with Rey the underdog and AJ the bully mixed with both these old-timers just casually doing incredible spots every few minutes. Rey was working hyper-speed for the finish which was total chaos and basically re-created the Mick Foley WWF Title win with Randy Orton as Stone Cold and Rey as Foley and Dominick as DX holding up his pops. What a redemption story.
6. WarGames: Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic & Kevin Owens vs. The Undisputed Era (NXT TakeOver: WarGames 11/23/19)
The Undisputed Era aren’t my favorite ass-kickers, but this was a wild time at the matches with all kinds of fresh talent doing a lot more brawling and less stunts than I expected of them. Plus stunts. The Owens entrance is great, the finish is insane.
7. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Lio Rush [c] vs. Akira Tozawa (NXT 11/27/19)
This had all the rope-running and kung-fu counters you could ever want done at somehow a higher level of speed than normal. Everything was extra stiff too, from Tozawa’s back crashing into Lio’s knees on a senton bomb or Lio’s Minoru Suzuki-esque elbow to Tozawa’s cheekbone. They actually delivered on a German suplex off the apron too. Psychopaths. Wonderful, wonderful psychopaths.
8. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. The Revival (NXT 11/20/19)
A match that threw the WWE tag formula out the window and just provided a bunch of no bullshit straight tag team wrestling carried by all kinds of ‘tude. You could practically feel Scott Dawson fall in love with the ring again. A very good time.
9. Ilja Dragunov vs. Alexander Wolfe (NXT UK 11/21/19)
Some of the realest snuggest grappling you ever will see in WWE – if you’re into fighting for suplexes and matwork where one guy just chucks another down, this is the one.
10. WWE Universal Title: The Fiend [c] vs. Daniel Bryan (Survivor Series 11/24/19)
A perfect match for what it needed to be, even if it maybe didn’t need to be. Bryan makes the most out of The Fiend character, oozing the urgency of a wrestler making you buy in and get behind not just the underdog winning but putting over the monster he’s up against.
11. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka w/ Kairi Sane (RAW 11/25/19)
Big Match grappling, Asuka just booting away a figure-eight attempt, and a crazy frantic finish reminded the world why these two occasionally absolutely rule. The Natural Selection got COUNTERED, too – what was this, WrestleMania?!
12. Dakota Kai vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT 11/6/19)
Another chapter in what has low key been one of the best long-term feuds in wrestling, with Kai a bit more confident and even cocky than she’s ever been while Shayna made her pay… but not before they made ya BELIEVE.
13. Tyler Bate vs. Kassius Ohno (NXT UK 11/14/19)
I’m not sure this was as charming as they thought it was early, but they built and built this into epic territory. Bate’s kip-up and Tiger Driver struggle and MASSIVE bump off the back body drop that countered it were so good, like best wrestler in the world good, while Ohno is just capable of playing whatever role he needs to.
14. Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest (NXT 11/6/19)
This will be a fun little series to reflect on in a few years, in which grumpy Pete and newcomer Priest just take it to each other with a bunch of stiff strikes and are able to create big drama out of basically thin air.
15. Roman Reigns vs. Robert Roode w/ King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler (SmackDown 11/29/19)
Here’s Roman just going all Saturday Night’s Main Event match with Robert Roode. Check this finishing sequence: Reigns sets up a Superman punch, Roode rolls out, Reigns hits Ziggler, Roode tries to take advantage but jumps into another Superman punch for a near fall, Reigns sets up a spear but Roode blocks it with a spinebuster for a near fall, Roode tries a shot with Corbin’s septer but walks into a spear for 3. INCREDIBLE.
16. 5-on-5-on-5 Elimination Match: Team RAW (Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens, Ricochet & Drew McIntyre) vs. Team SmackDown (Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Mustafa Ali, Shorty G & King Corbin) vs. Team NXT (Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Damian Priest & WALTER)
A big match like this being so low is more an indictment than praise, but here you go. The last five minutes with Keith Lee are gold. Everything else is iffy.
17. Ladder Match for WarGames Advantage: Mia Yim vs. Io Shirai (NXT 11/13/19)
Io Shirai has no fear on any bump she takes apparently while Mia Yim took a ladder to the face that exploded her nose along with an absolutely disgusting bump through tables onto the floor. More an insane match than a good match, but I like insane.
18. The O.C. (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle & Keith Lee (NXT 11/6/19)
Perhaps one day there will be some deeper story here but for what it was it was an absolute trip, AJ and The Club doing their thing opposite an incredibly fresh babyface team. Riddle’s hot tag was phenomenal, even with the dive over the top that almost killed him. Epic ref bump too.
19. Candice LeRae vs. Dakota Kai (NXT 11/27/19)
These two just beat the shit out of each other – Kai throwing kicks, a big powerbomb, Candice fighting back with a passion and laying everything in. They probably could’ve ended it after the Kai-ro-practor but hey we’re on Wednesdays now or something.
18. Winner Faces Lio Rush for the WWE Cruiserweight Title: Tony Nese vs. Angel Garza (NXT 11/6/19)
Poor six-abs Tony has translated well on-screen maybe ten times in his WWE career and nine of those were at Full Sail University and one of those was here. These guys just ripped it up, with Garza playing babyface and delivering on the fun exciting wrestling.
21. NXT Title: Adam Cole [c] vs. Pete Dunne (Survivor Series 11/24/19)
This was good, though it took until the last few minutes to really get cooking. All the armbars and limb-stretching early seemed like a poor choice for a cranky crowd, but MAN did they get it cooking.
22. Fatal 4-Way Match – Winner Faces AJ Styles for the U.S. Title: Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre (RAW 11/25/19)
Fun match that directly preceded the Rey vs. AJ match from above. Ricochet vs. Rey rocked, Drew and Randy slapped the shit out of each other, and you’ve got all these pros out there just doin’ stuff. Crazy cool finish too, a quebrada by Rey on Ricochet that transitioned into not a DDT but an INSIDE CRADLE!
23. Becky Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley (NXT 11/20/19)
There was a lot going on here – Becky Lynch returning to Full Sail, Rhea Ripley on the rise – and it delivered a fun match. Rhea came off every bit of the star WWE is trying to make her to be, while Becky got in a hot comeback and they both generally beat the shit out of each other. Loved the hammering of the back to setup the superplex, that’s my kind of wrestling.
24. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Finn Balor (NXT 11/27/19)
This is seriously a good match but it’s till one of those 2019 matches that feels really cool in the moment then kind of fades away. I’m not sure why you’d run through a top rope Air Raid Crash and a title belt shot just to setup a weak Adam Cole kick and Balor DDT finish, but I really did enjoy the rest.
25. Keith Lee vs. Roderick Strong (NXT 11/13/19)
Tremendous work here by Roddy Strong, a guy I never imagined working in WWE because I am a very stupid person. They probably could’ve kept this a little shorter but Strong was working his ass off to get Lee over – running into him him like he was a brick wall and getting tossed all over the place, but also keeping up with him in a weird way.
Honorable Mentions: Matt Riddle vs. Finn Balor (NXT TakeOver: WarGames 11/23/19), Champions vs. Champions vs. Champions Triple Threat Match: The Viking Raiders vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E) vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish (Survivor Series 11/24/19), Jack Gallagher vs. Angel Garza (205 Live 11/29/19), Lio Rush vs. Raul Mendoza (205 Live 11/1/19), Lio Rush vs. Raul Mendoza (205 Live 11/8/19), Kevin Owens vs. Drew McIntyre (RAW 11/18/19)
Champion vs. Champion vs. Champion Triple Threat Match: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura w/ Sami Zayn vs. Roderick Strong (Survivor Series 11/24/19), Ricochet vs. Matt Riddle (NXT 11/20/19), Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens & The Street Profits vs. WALTER, Marcel Barthel, Fabian Aichner & Alexander Wolfe (RAW 11/11/19), If Andrade Wins, He Replaces Rollins on Team RAW: Seth Rollins vs. Andrade w/ Zelina Vega (RAW 11/18/19), NXT Title: Adam Cole [c] vs. Seth Rollins (RAW 11/4/19), Akira Tozawa vs. Buddy Murphy (RAW 11/18/19), Shorty G & Ali vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro w/ Sami Zayn (SmackDown 11/8/19)
Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre (RAW 11/11/19), The Viking Raiders vs. Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster (RAW 11/11/19), RAW Tag Team Title: The Viking Raiders [c] vs. Randy Orton & Ricochet (RAW 11/18/19), Triple Threat Match – Winner Faces Adam for NXT Title at Survivor Series: Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain (NXT TakeOver: WarGames 11/23/19)
