Love a Rumble and the occasional stipulation match, but respect the wrestling.
1. NXT UK Title: WALTER [c] vs. A-Kid (NXT UK 1/14/21)
This had all the ass-kicking a match between WALTER and this small boy man would promise, but they also did an amazing job of keeping A-Kid credible with submissions and a general resourcefulness. It resulted in a great championship wrestling match.
2. NXT Cruiserweight Title: Jordan Devlin [c] vs. Ben Carter (NXT 1/7/21)
The rare straight-up junior heavyweight match on WWE TV, less about popping DX in the gorilla position with spots and more about tight work and little touches between the flying that ensured moment of flying stood out. Finish comes together real great and all that too.
3. Women’s Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble (1/31/21)
As a Rumble without a live crowd the fun outweighs the stupid here, and as far as having a whole narrative this felt like the strongest Women’s Rumble since the original nostalgia trip in 2018. Bayley, Naomi and Bianca Belair brought big energy to beginning and deep into the match, and the running bit with Billie Kay carried a longer portion of this than you’d expect. It lost me for a bit after #10 or so, but closed up real strong too.
4. Last Man Standing – WWE Universal Title: Roman Reigns [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Kevin Owens (Royal Rumble 1/31/21)
Kevin Owens brought all of Kevin Owens here to the rare Thunderdome hardcore match that felt more like a fight and less like a series of comedy bits. He and Roman are great opponents who get the most out of their characters, are willing to hurt themselves for each other, and you just know have the sway backstage to do some of the wildest stuff too.
5. WWE Title: Drew McIntyre [c] vs. Keith Lee (RAW 1/4/21)
Happy New Year, Drew and Keith are hitting each other. A real main event-feeling match and like the only good thing on RAW in months.
6. NXT Title: Finn Balor [c] vs. Kyle O’Reilly (NXT 1/6/21)
Not as good (and dangerous) as their TakeOver match, but Balor and O’Reilly know how to grapple and make it really fun to watch. Watch O’Reilly cover all bases here: strength, selling, credibility.
7. Gauntlet Match – Winner Earns a Universal Title Match at Royal Rumble: Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, King Corbin, Daniel Bryan, Adam Pearce (SmackDown 1/8/21)
WWE is weirdly good at getting things over with these gauntlets and here Shinsuke Nakamura ran one and reminded the folks that yes he can on occasion still go: fun counters with Rey, big babyface energy against Corbin, and bunch of fun wrestling with Bryan.
8. Fight Pit: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher (NXT 1/20/21)
Got a little cute sometimes for a match called Fight Pit, but this environment is tailor made for Timothy Thatcher’s dickish matwork and they put in the work.
9. Daniel Bryan vs. Cesaro (SmackDown 1/15/21)
Short but fun TV match: they locked knuckles and kept grappling bell-to-bell. The monkey flip into the ropes and Bryan’s woozy Knee+ getting caught with a toss-up uppercut were highlights.
10. WWE Intercontinental Title: Big E [c] vs. Apollo Crews (SmackDown 1/8/21)
Another short TV match but this was all-action with everything flowing seamlessly into the next. Also has what might be the first good double pinfall in a decade.
Honorable Mentions: WWE Title: Drew McIntyre [c] vs. Goldberg (Royal Rumble 1/31/21), Men’s Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble 1/31/21), Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles w/ Omos (SmackDown 1/29/21), Bianca Belair vs. Bayley (SmackDown 1/29/21), Triple Threat Match: Jake Atlas vs. August Grey vs. Ariya Daivari (205 Live 1/29/21), Ilja Dragunov vs. Jack Starz (NXT UK 1/21/21), Finn Balor vs. Guru Raaj (Superstar Spectacle 1/26/21)
Finn Balor & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch (NXT 1/27/21), Ricochet vs. AJ Styles (RAW 1/18/21), Ricochet vs. Drew Gulak (Main Event 1/6/21), SmackDown Tag Team Title: Street Profits [c] vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode (SmackDown 1/8/21), NXT Cruiserweight Title: Santos Escobar [c] vs. Gran Metalik (NXT 1/6/21), Daniel Bryan & Otis w/ Chad Gable vs. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown 1/1/21), Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – Round 1: MSK vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott & Jake Atlas (NXT 1/13/21)
