1. WWE Title: Daniel Bryan [c] w/ Rowan vs. Kofi Kingston w/ Big E and Xavier Woods (WrestleMania 4/7/19)
Here’s a masterpiece. Kofi Kingston’s chase after Daniel Bryan’s WWE Title was the best story WWE told all year, heck outside of Bryan’s own original title chase it might be the best story they’ve told all decade. This was the payoff and a situation where WWE actually paid something off: 20+ minutes of a classic bad guy beatdown, well-placed cut-offs, shit-eating grins, and finally a comeback and finish as epic and satisfying as the build-up promised.
2. WWE U.K. Title: WALTER [c] vs. Tyler Bate (NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff 8/31/19)
Basically twice a year we get these actual World Championship matches in WWE from the UK guys and they are so good. This is a 45-minute professional wrestling main event championship match. It did a lot of what some of Bate’s best matches in WWE have done, and that’s deliver on the new school high impact fast-paced This is Awesome type of wrestling while also staying true to what makes old school wrestling great: stuff is teased and delivered on, everything from the holds to the urgency to win is sold dramatically, and the tale of David vs. Goliath is worked to its max.
3. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Lio Rush [c] vs. Angel Garza (NXT 12/11/19)
This felt like what WWE always wanted the cruiserweight division to be, with a random insane flying maneuver here and there but also an intensity that established these little fellows as just as badass as the heavyweights. This went from two guys throwing hands to two guys doing stuff normal people just can’t do like a rope-to-rope quebrada from Rush or a tilt-a-whirl headscissors that goes on for like four rotations, as well as coming up with counters to all their signature moves. Phenomenal finish too, the type of stuff that puts this at #3.
4. Hell in a Cell – RAW Women’s Title: Becky Lynch [c] vs. Sasha Banks (Hell in a Cell 10/6/19)
All hail Sasha Banks, the new maestro of the Hell in a Cell, the only bad motherfucker in wrestling left willing to embrace the absolute violence of this platform. Vicious strikes, big aggression, scary bumps, and a bunch of well-placed wild spots… Hell in a Cell is overplayed but these two showed it can still be done well.
5. No Holds Barred – WWE Title: Brock Lesnar [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Rey Mysterio (Survivor Series 11/24/19)
There is probably some bias in seeing this live here, but this was a perfectly laid out and delivered Brock Lesnar sprint. 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 seen. FATHER AND SON 619!!!
6. King of the Ring – Final: Chad Gable vs. Baron Corbin (RAW 9/16/19)
Career best match for both guys, with a hot crowd and month-long story paid off bell-to-bell. Great selling by Gable, great cut-offs and taunting by Corbin, and an edge-of-your-seat finish that had the crowd chanting for Chad Gable, which considering how little Gable had been on TV a month prior to this is a real testament to both these guys and the power of a simple, focused month-long story. That moment when Gable cinches in the ankle lock… special stuff.
7. NXT Tag Team Title: War Raiders [c] vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet (NXT TakeOver: New York 4/5/19)
A freak show. The structure is basic, what they do with the structure is insane. Black vs. Rowe and Ricochet vs. Hanson are magical pairings – Hanson going toe-to-toe with Ricochet on the flips was incredible, while Black and Rowe practically had themselves an IWGP Heavyweight Title match finish as the setup to the actual finish. If you’re gonna do crazy, you might as well lean into the crazy. Black might’ve held the NXT Title before, but this was a breakout match for all four guys.
8. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade w/ Zelina Vega (SmackDown 1/15/19)
Not just wrestling impressive, but human being impressive. Rey Mysterio is somehow still getting it done after all these years – he doesn’t just hit spots, but complicated algorithms that result in graceful headscissors and beautiful dives to the floor. Andrade feels like the young guy Rey has desperately both needed and wanted to work with – considering Rey’s run this year, one might say this match sparked his desire to be the Best in the World again. They brought a serious aura combined with some of the craziest spots on WWE TV ever, and that’s not hyperbole. Corey Graves used the word “outrageous” at one point and that really sums this up.
9. Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic (NXT 9/25/19)
These two have special chemistry, and here they were opening up the second ever episode of WWE NXT live on the USA Network. They are heavyweights who treat each other like cruiserweights, and it’s not just fun to watch but somehow comes off as legitimate. This is both a wrestling match and a dick-swinging contest, and while many matches try to be the latter they rarely execute it as well as this match did. Lee throws six-foot-seven Dijakovic around like a baby, while Dijakovic did a great job not just going up high for every move but reacting to them as well.
10. NXT North American Title: Johnny Gargano [c] vs. Velveteen Dream (NXT 2/20/19)
This was an epic indy dream match that remembered to have character from bell-to-bell – a crazy concept that completely delivers. It definitely felt like two Shawn Michaels proteges trying to impress their idol, but not because of theatrics or over-selling but because both guys were moving like superhuman athletes and there were ups and downs and they 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. He had that match here. Wild, frantic, awesome finish too.
11. SmackDown Women’s Title: Asuka [c] vs. Becky Lynch (Royal Rumble 1/27/19)
Just another level of quality professional wrestling, a match that demanded every person in that large stadium was hanging on every move. Everything felt like a struggle, there were brilliant ups and downs, it doesn’t hurt that Becky Lynch is the most over person in WWE. Asuka threw some of the greatest spin kicks of all time here too.
12. WWE U.K. Title: Pete Dunne [c] vs. WALTER (NXT TakeOver: New York 4/5/19)
Pete Dunne as some kind of Antonio Inoki/Mitsuharu Misawa ace opposite this large European man unlike anything WWE has ever seen is a dynamic that just works. WALTER had his biggest showcase on the roster and more than delivered, providing a presence and physicality along with these weird points where he comes off as a scary menace but also a sad little boy that Pete is trying to hurt him. And Pete was a master on defense, doing Inoki kicks and making faces and just beating the shit out of WALTER on his comeback. Great story, great physicality, great wrestling.
13. Harper vs. Dominik Dijakovic (Worlds Collide 4/14/19)
One of the greatest fuck you exit interviews you’ll ever seen in your life. You put this match in any environment – AXXESS, WrestleMania, Wrestle Kingdom, IWA-Mid-South’s King of the Death Matches – and it’s going to flip everybody out. Everything was hard-hitting but registered, everything escalated well, blah blah blah – more than anything there was just so much cool stuff here, all laid out for maximum effect. An endless display of wrestling awesomeness, all the more impressive in that these guys are really really tall. A main event level match a stone’s throw from Curtis Axel signing autographs or something.
14. KUSHIDA vs. WALTER (NXT 10/9/19)
This was a wonderful result of WWE’s Gotta Catch Em All recruitment strategy, two complete product wrestlers from different countries not just delivering but exceeding a main event level match on some random episode of NXT. It’s an extra hard-hitting version of David vs. Goliath, and I always love when poor WALTER has to do leapfrogs to keep up with a guy.
15. Tornado Tag Team Match: Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan (Hell in a Cell 10/6/19)
Sometimes you just need a fight in your wrestling. This is a fight, and it way over-delivered considering they were coming into it thanks to the mess of a story around somebody trying to murder Roman Reigns. Bryan does fired up babyface as good as anyone, Roman throws Superman Punches, and Luke and Erick went full Bludgeon Brothers one last time by isolating a guy on the floor and hurting him with whatever object was around. This has one of the best tag team finishing move setups I think I’ve ever seen too.
16. WWE Universal Title: Brock Lesnar [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Finn Balor (Royal Rumble 1/27/19)
Another great spectacle of an under 10 minute Brock Lesnar match, with non-stop action centered around the ripped but small Finn Balor throwing everything at Brock to the point where it seemed like he may actually pull off the win, only for Brock to keep cutting him off in all the best ways. Finn did three tope con hilo’s in a row here which were perhaps the three most menacing, impactful tope con hilo’s ever done. Perfect finish too.
17. 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)
Kofi Kingston emerges as a main event superstar while a bunch of great wrestlers run through their popular signature moves around him. Then it comes down to Kofi and Bryan and it’s among the finest professional wrestling you ever will see. When a wrestling crowd is all in on something, the joys of this great sport are on their finest display. That they were all in on the defeat of Daniel freaking Bryan makes it even better.
18. Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic (NXT 2/27/19)
Another big time match from these guys – sometimes you just find your dance partner. This is a great mix of jaw-dropping spots and pitch perfect reactions to all of it. The staredown after Lee defied logic and landed on his feet off a monkey flip was everything I want from my wrestling.
19. If The New Day Wins, Kofi Kingston Goes to WrestleMania – Gauntlet Tag Team Match: The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev, The Bar, The Usos and Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowan (SmackDown 3/26/19)
Great story, great wrestling. Big E and Xavier Woods face 5 teams here in 45 minutes and have 5 unique, quality tag team matches: a fun squash with Gallows & Anderson, a straight-up great formula tag with Nakamura & Rusev, a great hot tag and angle with The Bar, a great moment with The Usos, and finally a wild brawl with Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowan.
20. NXT North American Title: Ricochet [c] vs. Johnny Gargano (NXT TakeOver: Phoenix 1/26/19)
A balls out completely insane wrestling match from two of the best going. Johnny TakeOver is real, but Ricochet was the man here, doing like ten things that made me lose my mind. And he din’t just do them, he made them look perfect AND had the time/poise to react to everything and make the most of it. So good.
21. Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong (TakeOver: XXV 6/1/19)
Deadlift suplexes and body shots – what else do you want? Also, a high-end G1 Climax type of finish. Wow. Tremendous opener, tremendous crowd, tremendous spots, tremendous wrestling.
22. Matt Riddle vs. Adam Cole (NXT 5/8/19)
This has a great dramatic finishing stretch from two guys who are very good at that kind of thing, and also a great babyface performance from Matt Riddle. He brought the fun matwork, strikes, and suplexes on offense, then was all exhausted and sweaty and barefoot on defense. Heck of a wrestling match.
23. NXT North American Title: Velveteen Dream [c] vs. Buddy Murphy (NXT 4/17/19)
As these guys wrestle, picture a ring at the Performance Center: these two are running endlessly through sequence after sequence of athletically mind-blowing wrestling as HBK and Red Rooster pop chubbs and tell them to keep going, while Regal looks on from afar, generally popping for the skill and endurance but shaking his head every time Buddy throws a superkick. This is a spectacular wrestling match that builds seamlessly into a dramatic wrestling match.
24. 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. Amazing match, and a great preview of what was to come a month later.
25. NXT Title: Johnny Gargano [c] vs. Adam Cole (TakeOver: XXV 6/1/19)
Lots of elbows and suplexes and superkicks. So many superkicks. One that countered a tope suicda, which was kind of incredible. And the finish was wild. These guys are obviously capable of a big time match, the crowd was going nuts, and this was my favorite of the few they had this year. It felt a little “we will give you what you WANT” but hey evolution of wrestling etc etc.
26. Chad Gable vs. King Corbin (RAW 9/23/19)
This happened a week after the King of the Ring Finals and was nearly as good, with a brilliant layout and brilliant performance from Gable especially. The first quarter is all about Corbin tossing Gable around while Gable tried to rally back in between big bumps. He went all in on one in the corner here, and I loved how many times he sold by just slumping over too. He also kept finding unique ways to counter Corbin’s stuff – you rarely see guys going with creative as a wrestling strategy on WWE so it’s pretty incredible to watch when it happens. This is a great pairing.
27. 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, the best WWE WarGames match there has ever been: compelling from start to finish, a big story shift in the middle, and by the end a bunch of new acts and feuds were more over than when they came in.
27. 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 one of the only 20-minute Daniel Bryan matches this year. 97% of WWE TV 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.
28. 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 moment.
29. Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano & Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black, Ricochet & Velveteen Dream (Halftime Heat 2/3/19)
In a year where NXT finally delivered on Triple H’s endless promise to be a third brand, this was arguably where the path to that started. NXT’s top six guys went all out and got all their shit in, with everything timed and paced and delivered beautifully. The perfect “YOU GOTTA CHECK THIS WRESTLING SHIT OUT” kind of match that something airing during Halftime at the Super Bowl should probably be.
30. NXT North American Title: Velveteen Dream [c] vs. Matt Riddle (NXT TakeOver: New York 4/5/19)
Ultimately this felt like a BattlARTS match with random top rope axe handles. I think that’s a very good thing. TakeOver atmosphere too.
31. Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai (NXT TakeOver: Toronto 8/10/19)
Finally, after months and months employed by WWE, Candice LeRae and Io Shirai got a shot to say: hello, we are major league professional wrestlers. The energy of Io Shirai after landing on her feet off a headscissors or a German suplex from the top rope could replace fossil fuels. Candice is great as an underdog too.
32. Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro (RAW 9/16/19)
Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro on RAW was a surprise, Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro getting over 10 minutes was downright shocking. Outside of a big program this might be as good as we get in WWE from this pairing, and it was really good, packed with amazing complex Rey spots around Cesaro wrecking him from time to time.
33. NXT Women’s Title: Shayna Baszler [c] vs. Io Shirai (TakeOver: XXV 6/1/19)
This ruled, because it always does when Shayna Baszler is defending the NXT Women’s Title at TakeOver. Her matches are so stripped down and I love them for it – they got right to the point here and didn’t waste a second. Realistic struggles, nasty arm work, really fun finish – excellent match.
34. Trent Seven vs. WALTER (NXT UK 7/24/19)
Trent Seven could very well be the best seller on the WWE roster and here he’s matched up with a big scary monster which creates magic. 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 forced into doing the same. I was getting Kobashi vs. Hansen vibes from time to time here, I swear.
35. 2/3 Falls: Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade (SmackDown 1/22/19)
Another bit of magic from these two, and a match that didn’t repeat the one earlier on this list but built on it. It’s also the match where Rey debuted the baseball slide sunset flip powerbomb to the outside. Sit back and take in the beauty.
36. Aleister Black vs. Cesaro (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
This felt like some kind of European BattlARTS through the lens of the WWE Performance Center or something I just made up, but I’m glad I can reference BattlARTS twice on this list – good job, 2019 WWE. This was a show-stealer of a match that paired up Black’s incredible speed and strikes with Cesaro casually reminding everybody he still rules, like WWE’s version of Ishii. Lots of cool things bits that were 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.
37. 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 talented but underutilized guys unleashed for 20 minutes and deliver on it.
38. 4-Way Ladder Match – NXT Tag Team Title: Street Profits vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. The Undisputed Era vs. The Forgotten Sons w/ Jaxson Ryker (TakeOver: XXV 6/1/19)
There are way too many multi-guy Ladder Matches these days but this one stands out, feeling more dangerous than the usual sanitized TLC match. The subplot of Kyle O’Reilly just taking the nastiest falls was incredible, and guys who don’t normally get showcased like Angelo Dawkins and The Forgotten Sons had their moments. Ford and Oney of course took a few insane bumps too.
39. Cedric Alexander vs. Oney Lorcan (205 Live 4/16/19)
This was both Cedric Alexander’s final 205 Live match and a match where he and Oney Lorcan had a PPV-level banger to absolute silence. It felt like they were given the go ahead to have an epic main event type of match because this pairing probably isn’t going to happen again, and I’m glad we got it. So much intensity, so much desperation, lots of smacks to the face that look like they hurt – professional wrestling.
40. NXT UK Tag Team Title: Moustache Mountain vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake (NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool 1/12/19)
This had all the beats of a great 20+ minute WWE tag team wrestling match with the TakeOver Opener atmosphere and Moustache Mountain’s elite babyface team act putting it over the top. You bet your ass there were some chinlocks but Seven’s selling made the middle interesting, while the finish had a bunch of great false finishes where it really could go either way.
41. Triple Threat Match – Winner Competes for Universal Title Opportunity: AJ Styles vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Samoa Joe (RAW 4/22/19)
A Dream Match on paper from 2009 delivers in 2019, as these three old pros just went out and DID IT, working like they were trying to get noticed in Reseda or something. Rey is timeless, AJ went harder than he has in a while, and I wasn’t even aware Joe could move around and bump like this anymore.
42. Tyler Bate vs. Brian Kendrick (Worlds Collide 4/17/19)
These two got 15 minutes in front of a relatively lively WrestleMania AXXESS crowd and they took the occasion to have themselves A MATCH, complete with eye poke shtick, the weasley Kendrick trying to start U-S-A chants, and a big dramatic finish. It was a necessary reminder that Kendrick is one of the greats, as after years of soulless 205 Live participation he was having a blast in a smaller, looser environment.
43. NXT Women’s Women’s Title: Shayna Baszler [c] w/ Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke vs. Kairi Sane (NXT 4/17/19)
This is a tremendous 10 minutes, and from Kairi’s backfist to the face at the start they kept it moving with their awesome good guy vs. bad guy dynamic. Great angle of a finish too.
44. WarGames: Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic & TBD (Kevin Owens) vs. The Undisputed Era (NXT TakeOver: WarGames 11/23/19)
A wild time at the matches, another quality gimmick match from the NXT crew with a bunch of fresh talent doing a lot more brawling and less stunts than I expected. Plus stunts. The Owens entrance is great, the finish is insane.
45. The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) vs. Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley & Baron Corbin (Fastlane 3/10/19)
Forget the Shield’s Final Chapter – this is the real swan song of these guys, and their Greatest Hits are some of the best there are. I wish their opposition was better but the good guys were selling, the bad guys were serviceable, and the crowd was going wild for all of it.
46. NXT Title: Adam Cole [c] vs. Matt Riddle (NXT 10/2/19)
Heated, hard-hitting, suplex-based professional wrestling – Riddle went full Riddle and the champ was game for it. Like a stream of stream of consciousness of badass grappling.
47. 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.
48. Catch Point Reunion Match: Matt Riddle w/ Curt Stallion vs. Drew Gulak (EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Special 7/13/19)
Sometimes wrestlers treat wrestling like it’s actually real and when they believe in what they are doing it can be pretty cool. 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 we know Riddle can go with this. For nearly fifteen minutes they did a bunch of interesting grappling that transitioned into a bunch of crazy strikes and attempts at knocking the other guy out. Such good wrestling.
49. Triple Threat Tag Team Match – SmackDown Tag Team Title: Daniel Bran & Rowan [c] vs. The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Heavy Machinery (Extreme Rules 7/14/19)
The Triple Threat Tag Team Match is a tough match to pull off, but this one ruled as Daniel Bryan and Big E put in some WORK and Heavy Machinery got to charmingly show off a few new tricks. There’s a couple minute stretch here where 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 the evil 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.
50. WWE U.K. Title: Pete Dunne [c] vs. Joe Coffey (NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool 1/12/19)
The first main event of an NXT UK TakeOver as a 35-minute Joe Coffey match and I think I loved it. It was unique in that it was basically built like a 20-minute WWE main event match that wasn’t all that good, but then it kept going and going and it transcended the earlier work and became kind of amazing. A few of the kickouts felt forced but the crowd was molten and the action was great. It was a long match that was a testimonial for matches going long, which is not usually the case. Like an independent film – lots of ideas, some of which worked and some didn’t, but it felt different and I’m glad it exists.
51. NXT Women’s Title: Shayna Baszler [c] vs. Rhea Ripley (NXT 12/18/19)
Big fan of the WWE Machine getting behind somebody, especially when that somebody is delivering. This is a well laid out and well executed match that cemented a wrestling superstar in Rhea Ripley, while Shayna was the glue that made this work – the most straight-up heel badass there is.
52. Fatal 4-Way Match – WWE Cruiserweight Title: Buddy Murphy [c] vs. Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami (Royal Rumble 1/27/19)
A wonderful wild match that just flipped the Kickoff crowd out, with a ton of impressive spots hit perfectly and spaced out well. Murphy, Kalisto and Tozawa all shined doing incredible complex stuff, while Itami found himself a role as the guy uninterested in any of that bullshit. There have been a lot of 205 Live multi-man matches, but they rarely feel like they embrace their potential – this one did.
53. Ricochet vs. Adam Cole (NXT 2/13/19)
This is The Ricochet Show, in which a man named Ricochet delivers everything with such impact and 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 last year but might’ve been more cohesive.
54. WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin (NXT UK 5/1/19)
I hear these two have had a few epics in the past, and you can tell that’s the truth from this 10-minute TV match that probably wasn’t meant to accomplish much more than a tease of something between them in the future, and it ends up being a small epic. Devlin is such a prick early that when he’s finally caught it feels like a huge moment, and they do a great job of making him competitive throughout, which leads to some wild near falls at the end.
55. WWE Title: Daniel Bryan [c] vs. AJ Styles (Royal Rumble 1/27/19)
A strange, beautiful wrestling match in which Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles worked over each other’s limbs for 25 minutes to complete silence, as it took place right after the crowd lost their minds over Becky Lynch entering and winning the Royal Rumble. The work was so transparently good that it really didn’t even matter though. The environment wasn’t ideal, but these two battling for the WWE Title was still really good.
56. WWE Cruiserweight Title #1 Contender’s Tournament – Round 1: Brian Kendrick vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 2/26/19)
This was wild. Like Bryan and Styles, Kendrick and Gulak meet a crowd that is just not that into them but they just don’t care, putting together a mat-based match that was too rooted in reality to even need a crowd. There were tight 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. Amazing watch.
57. 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 to the mat on occasion, this is the one.
58. Trent Seven vs. Noam Dar (NXT UK 10/24/19)
Seven selling a limb is old news at this point but the bearded bastard did it again, creating huge drama via simply gesturing to his arm and leg. There was a ton of each guy just smacking at each others’ ribs as they fought out of holds and that’s always fun too.
59. Triple Threat Match – WWE Title: Daniel Bryan [c] vs. Kevin Owens vs. Mustafa Ali (Fastlane 3/10/19)
This is a match that went from three guys trying their hardest only to get WE WANT KOFI chants to three guys trying their hardest to insane crowd heat because the wrestling was so good it didn’t matter that Kofi wasn’t there anymore. One of the wildest WWE Title matches we’ll probably ever see, with Mustafa Ali doing all kinds of insane things while Bryan and Owens played Very Good World-Traveled Professional Wrestlers. It was also a match that started with Owens bending Bryan’s pinky and Bryan going AHHH.
60. Roman Reigns vs. Robert Roode w/ King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler (SmackDown 11/29/19)
Witness Roman Reigns go all Saturday Night’s Main Event with Robert Roode of all guys, proving all these guys do rule but in some alternative universe. I’m putting this here for the finishing sequence alone: 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.
