Well, the cat’s out of the bag: WWE doesn’t really do “good” matches anymore. At least not enough to have a Top 25 here, and sometimes barely a Top 10. October featured both King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown tournaments running weekly, but other than a trip to Saudi Arabia you had a bunch of variations on a similar match.
1. Triple Threat Match – SmackDown Women’s Title: Becky Lynch [c] vs. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks (Crown Jewel 10/21/21)
They put on the t-shirts and went to work, delivering 20 minutes of fast-paced and well-timed action highlighted by random Banks/Belair pairings and an especially emotive heel Becky Lynch. Probably the best women’s Triple Threat ever.
2. Hell in a Cell: Edge vs. Seth Rollins (Crown Jewel 10/21/21)
There were tables. Ladders. Chairs. Stairs. A Cactus Jack elbow drop with chair on stairs and sunset flip powerbomb off ladder through table. Rollins was game for bumps, while Edge did that thing where he maintained the energy of his entrance by strategically using some signature moves. It’s the kind of commercially acceptable showcase Hell in a Cell WWE does nowadays, an insane effort physically if not always creatively.
3. WWE Title: Big E [c] vs. Drew McIntyre (Crown Jewel 10/21/21)
A big and raucous crowd vs. half-empty and clapping arena helps, but this was very possibly a better example of slow build-up + hot finish than 90% of the G1 Climax. Premium example of a WWE heavyweight main event too.
4. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks (SmackDown 10/15/21)
With Becky headed to RAW and their only other match on tap together a week later in Saudi Arabia, Becky and Sasha delivered a quality WWE TV main event that cut a ridiculous pace. Check Becky’s selling on every Meteora too.
5. NXT UK Title: Ilja Dragunov [c] vs. A-Kid (NXT UK 10/14/21)
A match all about limbs, attempt after attempt to gain the upperhand with legs and arms then feet and… that’s it. It would be a lot more impactful in a less sterile environment that accentuated its’ genius, but there’s still some great wrestling here.
6. NXT Heritage Cup: Tyler Bate [c] w/ Trent Seven vs. Noam Dar (NXT UK 10/28/21)
If it wasn’t for the Heritage Cup rules, this may have been a more enthusiastic version of Dragunov/A-Kid. It had the NXT UK curse, but even in the shadows the lads can still sort of go.
7. King of the Ring – Final: Finn Balor vs. Xavier Woods (Crown Jewel 10/21/21)
8. King of the Ring – Round 1: Xavier Woods vs. Ricochet (RAW 10/11/21)
The emergence of King Xavier in October provided some good wrestling from a guy who knows 10-minute WWE formula like a science but is creative and likable enough to keep it working. The match with Balor stood out on a loaded show, while the match with Ricochet felt like the first spotfest on RAW in a decade.
9. RAW Women’s Title: Charlotte Flair [c] vs. Bianca Belair (RAW 10/18/21)
Charlotte Flair and a 20-minute title match — it is not the most iconic duo, but it is certainly an iconic duo. Bianca Belair no longer just “keeps up” too, but brings her own energy to the party. Then someone got hit with a title belt.
10. Lumberjack O’Lantern Match – NXT Tag Team Title: MSK [c] vs. Imperium (NXT 10/26/21)
Out of many gimmick matches announced last minute this month, this was the best just by virtue of having input from MSK and Imperium.
Honorable Mentions: Fatal 4-Way Ladder Match – Winner Earns a WWE Title Opportunity Next Week: Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins (RAW 10/25/21), Street Fight – SmackDown Tag Team Title: The Usos [c] vs. Street Profits (SmackDown 10/15/21), King of the Ring – Round 1: Rey Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn (SmackDown 10/8/21), King of the Ring – Semi Final: Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn (SmackDown 10/15/21)
King of the Ring – Round 1: Finn Balor vs. Cesaro (SmackDown 10/8/21), Bianca Belair & Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair (RAW 10/11/21), Odyssey Jones vs. Roderick Strong (205 Live 10/15/21), John Morrison & Ricochet vs. Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo (Main Event 10/20/21), Trey Baxter vs. Grayson Waller (205 Live 10/8/21), Big E & Drew McIntyre vs. The Usos (RAW 10/11/21), Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn (SmackDown 10/22/21)
