WWE.com: The 25 Best Matches of 2018

[EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese]

www.wwe.com/article/top-25-matches-of-2018

Always fascinating to see these and see which ones match up to our suggestions and which ones are on there because they're pushing a narrative...

#25: Matt Hardy v Bray Wyatt ("The Ultimate Deletion", RAW 3/19)
#24: Seth Rollins v Shinsuke Nakamura (Survivor Series)
#23: Ricochet v Velveteen Dream (NXT Takeover: Chicago II)
#22: Buddy Murphy v Kalisto (205 Live 4/3)
#21: Roman Reigns v Samoa Joe (RAW 1/1)
#20: AJ Styles v Shinsuke Nakamura (Last Man Standing Match, Money In The Bank)
#19: Adam Cole v EC3 v Killian Dain v Lars Sullivan v Ricochet v Velveteen Dream (Ladder Match, NXT Takeover: New Orleans)
#18: The Miz v Daniel Bryan (SummerSlam)
#17: Cedric Alexander v Buddy Murphy (205 Live 5/29)
#16: Meiko Satomura v Mercedes Martinez (2018 Mae Young Classic Round 2)
#15: Roman Reigns v Finn Balor (RAW 8/20)
#14: Mustafa Ali v Buddy Murphy (No DQ Match, 205 Live 7/3)
#13: Asuka v Becky Lynch v Charlotte Flair (TLC Match, TLC)
#12: Kairi Sane v Shayna Baszler (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV)
#11: Ricochet v Adam Cole v Pete Dunne (NXT 10/10)
#10: The New Day v The Bludgeon Brothers (SmackDown 8/22)
#9: Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey v Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (WrestleMania)
#8: Braun Strowman v Elias v Finn Balor v John Cena v The Miz v Roman Reigns v Seth Rollins (Gauntlet Match, RAW 2/19)
#7: Andrade Almas v Johnny Gargano (NXT Takeover: Philadelphia)
#6: Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre v Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins (Hell In A Cell)
#5: Seth Rollins v The Miz (Backlash)
#4: The Undisputed Era v Moustache Mountain (NXT 7/11)
#3: Brock Lesnar v Daniel Bryan (Survivor Series)
#2: Tommaso Ciampa v Johnny Gargano (Street Fight, NXT Takeover: Chicago)
#1: Becky Lynch v Charlotte Flair (Last Woman Standing Match, Evolution)

Weird that our Golden Snowcone winner, Gargano v Ciampa at Takeover: New Orleans, doesn't even make the Top 25.

[Main Eventer]

I think that's because they only let one match pairing on the list, so since Gargano vs Ciampa at Chicago was already on the list it disqualified New Orleans from being on the list.

[EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese]

Dec 30, 2018 11:56:30 GMT -5 Main Eventer said:

I think that's because they only let one match pairing on the list, so since Gargano vs Ciampa at Chicago was already on the list it disqualified New Orleans from being on the list.

Not just that, though, most here thought the New Orleans match was the best one of not just the feud, but over every match this year. Chicago II was where it started going over that line into getting a bit too overbooked for the sake of dragging it out to a later conclusion, which is how the feud has ended up being so divisive all these months later.

[Citizen Snips]

Miz/Daniel Bryan and Ziggler/McIntyre vs Rollins/Ambrose over the North American title ladder match?

[Mid-Carder]

I laughingly thought to myself this is one year where they can’t put Triple H in one of their lists but look at that, they’ve managed it AND in the top 10 as well! Their dedication to inflating HHH’s importance is impressive.

The Mania match was fun and a big moment for Ronda but one of the best matches of the year? Not even close.

[Bo Rida]

Dec 30, 2018 12:18:13 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

I laughingly thought to myself this is one year where they can’t put Triple H in one of their lists but look at that, they’ve managed it AND in the top 10 as well! Their dedication to inflating HHH’s importance is impressive.

The Mania match was fun and a big moment for Ronda but one of the best matches of the year? Not even close.

Should have been higher. The best of those overbooked pure entertainment matches for years.

[Deleted]

#19: Adam Cole v EC3 v Killian Dain v Lars Sullivan v Ricochet v Velveteen Dream (Ladder Match, NXT Takeover: New Orleans)
#13: Asuka v Becky Lynch v Charlotte Flair (TLC Match, TLC)
#9: Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey v Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (WrestleMania)
#7: Andrade Almas v Johnny Gargano (NXT Takeover: Philadelphia)
#5: Seth Rollins v The Miz (Backlash)

Only ones of these I've seen that I really felt like were anything special.... although a LARGE chunk of these I haven't seen. Not having watched any full PPVs and only one Takeover since June (and for that matter I didn't see that particular Takeover) will do that.

[blscks]

That #1 lol. Baszler vs Kairi was a better match than that.

Even the TLC match is lmao

[Bang Bang Bart]

Dec 30, 2018 12:04:57 GMT -5 EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese said:

Dec 30, 2018 11:56:30 GMT -5 Main Eventer said:

I think that's because they only let one match pairing on the list, so since Gargano vs Ciampa at Chicago was already on the list it disqualified New Orleans from being on the list.

Not just that, though, most here thought the New Orleans match was the best one of not just the feud, but over every match this year. Chicago II was where it started going over that line into getting a bit too overbooked for the sake of dragging it out to a later conclusion, which is how the feud has ended up being so divisive all these months later.

The NOLA match was the perfect feud-ender. Johnny vanquishes his friend-turned-enemy, got his career back, and did so in grand fashion.

[blissified]

Dec 30, 2018 12:47:17 GMT -5 blscks said:

That #1 lol. Baszler vs Kairi was a better match than that.

lol. At least you will stand out cause i'm sure you'll be the only one that thinks that.

[mcstoklasa]

Dec 30, 2018 12:18:13 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

I laughingly thought to myself this is one year where they can’t put Triple H in one of their lists but look at that, they’ve managed it AND in the top 10 as well! Their dedication to inflating HHH’s importance is impressive.

The Mania match was fun and a big moment for Ronda but one of the best matches of the year? Not even close.

That was actually a great match

[Some Guy]

Miz/Bryan over AJ/Bryan at TLC is just flat wrong.

[abjordans]

Damn, I love that Bryan/Lesnar Match.

No Gargano/Black doe? No Mustache Mountain vs UE?

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Dec 30, 2018 13:31:15 GMT -5 abjordans said:

Damn, I love that Bryan/Lesnar Match.

No Gargano/Black doe? No Mustache Mountain vs UE?

The latter came in at #4. 

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Dec 30, 2018 12:18:13 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

I laughingly thought to myself this is one year where they can’t put Triple H in one of their lists but look at that, they’ve managed it AND in the top 10 as well! Their dedication to inflating HHH’s importance is impressive.

The Mania match was fun and a big moment for Ronda but one of the best matches of the year? Not even close.

It's top 5 for me. Wasn't a technical classic by any means, but it was perfectly booked, and everybody involved knocked it out of the park.

[Deleted]

I haven't seen the Gargano/Ciampa Chicago match yet and I know someone here already said they only did one match per pairing(s), but I wonder if the New Orleans match being "unsanctioned" has anything to do with it not being in the top 25, lol.

[Deleted]

Dec 30, 2018 17:43:59 GMT -5 @dax said:

I haven't seen the Gargano/Ciampa Chicago match yet and I know someone here already said they only did one match per pairing(s), but I wonder if the New Orleans match being "unsanctioned" has anything to do with it not being in the top 25, lol.

[Mozenrath]

I don't agree with all of these, obviously, but am honestly kinda surprised that I agree with a decent chunk of them. I was expecting them to be in full shill-mode.

[Deleted]

Dec 30, 2018 17:59:54 GMT -5 @kn said:

Dec 30, 2018 17:43:59 GMT -5 @dax said:

I haven't seen the Gargano/Ciampa Chicago match yet and I know someone here already said they only did one match per pairing(s), but I wonder if the New Orleans match being "unsanctioned" has anything to do with it not being in the top 25, lol.

I SWEAR I'M NOT THAT BALD SON OF A BITCH!

[Steveweiser]

Dec 30, 2018 13:35:20 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

Dec 30, 2018 13:31:15 GMT -5 abjordans said:

Damn, I love that Bryan/Lesnar Match.

No Gargano/Black doe? No Mustache Mountain vs UE?

The latter came in at #4. 

A lot of people slept on the TV match being the first ever WWE TV match to get five stars in the Observer. That mini-series was incredible over the course of the summer.