This was the first month of full-blown Coronavirus. About a week and a half in, there were suddenly no fans at the matches. Stuff got weird. There were a ton of matches that sound amazing on paper (New Day/Usos, Bryan/Cesaro, Andrade/Rey, Gulak/Nakamura) but without a reaction they’ll probably end up curiosities more than anything.
1. Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak (Elimination Chamber 3/8/20)
Sometimes, once in a while, before a global pandemic consumes society, it is just nice to see a couple fellows having a fake grappling contest using only their holds and reactions to their fellow man’s hold. It was a ballsy move having Daniel Bryan and the re-introduced Drew Gulak open a show doing matwork, but they delivered.
2. NXT Cruiserweight Title: Jordan Devlin [c] vs. Travis Banks (NXT UK 3/26/20)
Devlin always rules, Banks occasionally rules, and here they delivered a high-end match whether it’s an off month or not. Championship match chain wrestling, limb work, confidence, topes directly into the barricade – all the good stuff.
3. Steel Cage Match: Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai w/ Raquel Gonzalez (NXT 3/5/20)
Not as wild as their Street Fight but still fun stuff – heated brawling, bumps, and a creative if not very WWE finish.
4. Winners Face The Miz & John Morrison for the SmackDown Tag Team Title at WrestleMania: The New Day vs. The Usos (SmackDown 3/27/20)
The joy of New Day vs. Usos matches is usually the several times they get seas of people to lose their minds over near falls, so seeing them do their thing with no fans present was interesting. The match didn’t really peak but had some quality wrestling with a near fall or two that definitely would’ve caused people to lose their minds.
5. RAW Tag Team Title: The Street Profits [c] vs. Seth Rollins & Murphy (Elimination Chamber 3/8/20)
The Street Profits are getting better, and Rollins blending in with all these youngsters was the most interesting he’s been in a while. Lots of wild topes here too, just all kinds of wild flying around.
6. Rey Mysterio & Humberto Carrillo vs. Andrade & Angel Garza w/ Zelina Vega (RAW 3/2/20)
Takes a bit to get going, but these Lucha bros went out and fit a bunch of impressive wrestling into a WWE tag team match.
7. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Joaquin Wilde (205 Live 3/27/20)
It’s 205 Live at the Performance Center with no fans, why not let Swerve and Wilde run wild and pull out more cool stuff than usual? Had people been around to react there might even be a little buzz. Even the stuff that didn’t work was adorably creative.
8. Ricochet & Cedric Alexander vs. Andrade & Angel Garza w/ Zelina Vega (RAW 3/23/20)
Outside of the finish being one of those where it’s supposed to be a 2-count but the guy doesn’t kickout so everybody cringes live on screen as the 3 is counted and the bell rings, this was just a random half hour of guys who are fun to watch.
9. 10-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Tyler Breeze, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch & KUSHIDA vs. Brian Kendrick, Tony Nese, Mike Kanellis, Jack Gallagher & Ariya Daivari w/ The Singh Brothers (205 Live 3/13/20)
Good, solid, another match that could’ve used a crowd of people watching it in person. It was a proper tribute to 205 Live at least, with a bunch of solid exchanges mixed with the occasional boring beatdown. Gallagher, Swerve and KUSHIDA stood out.
10. NXT UK Title: WALTER [c] vs. Bomber Dave Mastiff (NXT UK 3/6/20)
Ten minutes of clobbering and signature moves, a disappointingly fine match but a fine match all the same.
11. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish (NXT 3/4/20)
Pretty generic TV tag, but more quality than usual thanks to a bunch of European uppercuts and kneebars.
12. Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong (NXT 3/25/20)
Riddle and Strong are always stuff when their matches Really Get Going, but they adapted well to the empty arena environment by going all credible matwork mixed with a bunch of cool counters.
13. Daniel Bryan w/ Drew Gulak vs. Cesaro w/ Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown 3/13/20)
Daniel Bryan and Cesaro wrestling at the Performance Center with no fans, what a concept. These guys baseline at pretty good and had a pretty good low key match, outside of Bryan going up SO HIGH for a pop-up European uppercut.
14. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade (RAW 3/16/20)
Rey Mysterio and Andrade wrestling at the Performance Center with no fans, what a concept. These guys baseline at pretty good and had a pretty good low key match, outside of that incredibly smooth suplex counter into a 619 setup.
15. NXT North American Title: Keith Lee [c] vs. Cameron Grimes (NXT 3/11/20)
Another disappointingly fine match. I like these two and it had the usual beats of an NXT TV title match match – including a wild German suplex hold by Grimes on the big guy – but after it was over I just thought, Well that was quick.
16. Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter vs. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner (NXT UK 3/26/20)
Very solid tag match with a better than usual hot tag from Smith and better than usual hot finish.
17. Rey Mysterio vs. Angel Garza w/ Zelina Vega (RAW 3/9/20)
Brief, too brief, but still Rey Mysterio wrestling Angel Garza.
18. Daniel Bryan & Drew Gulak vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro (SmackDown 3/20/20)
A ridiculously appealing match on paper at some point in time, though maybe not this one. Solid wrestling with fun pairings.
19. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Oney Lorcan (205 Live 3/20/20)
Rock solid empty arena wrestling from two pros. Again – would’ve been nice to see if a crowd would’ve reacted to some of the stuff they did towards the end.
20. If Gulak Wins, Daniel Bryan Receives an IC Title Opportunity at WrestleMania: Drew Gulak w/ Daniel Bryan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura w/ Cesaro (SmackDown 3/27/20)
A dream match if I’ve ever seen one, but unfortunately this only went 5 minutes and ended with Daniel Bryan of all people cheating. Fun grappling, but 5 minutes.
21. Kevin Owens & Street Profits vs. Seth Rollins, Angel Garza & Austin Theory w/ Zelina Vega (RAW 3/30/20)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: solid match. There were a couple moments where Owens and Ford seemed to had found the secret to the WWE empty arena era, with Ford being loud and expressive while Owens was loud and throwing the nastiest chops. Not there yet though.
22. Aleister Black vs. Leon Ruff (Main Event 3/18/20)
Aleister Black soundly defeats Leon Ruff in under 60 seconds in a match where Ruff showed great trepidation. Loved it.
23. A-Kid vs. Noam Dar (NXT UK 3/26/20)
A decent but forgettable match, mostly one I appreciate because they didn’t go 15 minutes like every NXT UK midcard match seems to.
24. NXT Women’s Title #1 Contender’s Ladder Match Qualifier: Io Shirai vs. Aliyah (NXT 3/25/20)
In her return from injury, Io Shirai made quick work of Aliyah. Quality squash match.
25. Kenny Williams vs. Kassius Ohno (NXT UK 3/19/20)
Didn’t really like the match, but it ends with an absolutely spectacular elbow from Ohno.
Honorable Mentions: There is no honor here.
