So, I’ve been digging up some past matches that I’ve been especially fond of lately — Cesaro/Zayn from NXT ArRival, Bayley/Banks from NXT Takeover Brooklyn, Zayn/Nakamura from NXT Takeover Dallas (yeah, I’m a big NXT mark), and Nakamura/Kota from Wrestle Kingdom 9.
I want to hear from y’all as to what matches from the last several years you think are must-watch classics, and if possible, provide links or at least general directions on how to find such matches online or what show they were part of. I’m in a mood to binge on wrestling.
As an NXT fan, I’m sure you’re already well aware of it, but personally my favorite NXT women’s match was actually Becky/Sasha at Takeover: Unstoppable. I’d also recommend that you take another look at the main event of Takeover: Fatal 4-Way, as Neville’s mid-match fall into desperate heel tactics to retain his championship is a great bit of in-ring storytelling.
A couple of slightly more obscure recommendations:
Zayn/Cesaro’s 2-out-of-3 falls match from the 8/21/13 episode of NXT was the precursor to their Arrival match (and it itself was preceded by a couple singles matches between them), and arguably the superior match, although the emotional closure of Arrival’s show of respect was incredibly satisfying. Unfortunately, the 8/21/13 episode is no longer available on Hulu OR the WWE Network, but you, ah, may be able to locate the match in question… elsewhere.
This one’s incredibly debatable, but for main roster WWE I’m going to bypass the obvious choices and recommend Damien Sandow’s attempted Money In The Bank cash in from the October 28th, 2013 episode of Raw, which is viewable on the Network. While yes, the ending is pure Cena Overcomes The Odds, and yes, Sandow’s loss derailed his momentum, the match itself, and the attack preceding it, were put together incredibly well. It’s one of my personal favorites.
I would add the Triple H/Daniel Bryan match at WrestleMania XXX, as I think it’s one of H’s best matches from any era he competed in. The crowd’s emotional investment in the match is incredible and the stakes of the match – Bryan moves onto the main event of WrestleMania if he wins – are huge. The WrestleMania XXX Main Event has one of the hottest WWE crowds of the past few years and maybe the most cathartic ending in modern WWE history, but I feel like that match is slightly more disjointed in its storytelling. Still a classic though, still worth the rewatch.
Money in the Bank 2011’s main event match of CM Punk/John Cena is another crowd that hotter than the sun, if you’re willing to consider five years within your criteria of “last several years”. For that matter, the D-Bry/Cena main event of Summerslam 2013 is a hot crowd, for most of the same reasons as they were hot for the Punk/Cena match.
The Lesnar/Cena/Rollins Triple Threat for the WWE Championship from Royal Rumble 2015 was top-notch, and (smartly) went on before the Rumble, while the crowd still had goodwill in their hearts.
My favorite match from Wrestle Kingdom 10 was Shibata/Ishii. The Okada/Tanahashi main event is also incredible.
I’d have to watch again, but I remember thinking the Cesaro vs. Cena matches for the US Championship Open Challenge were gangbusters. June 29 and July 6 2015 are the dates for those matches. Looking it up, I forgot that Owens interfered in the first one, and the second was the RAW main event, so I think the second one is the one I’m remembering.
Oh, and don’t sleep on Lucha Underground! These are from Season 1:
Grave Consequences is a great, great match – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icvizxc3UB0
This Johnny Mundo vs King Cuerno cage match is very good – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TJAqqqUuuY&nohtml5=False
There’s a couple matches later in the season that I’ve heard are great but I haven’t seen them yet!
(I keep remembering things) I remember liking the actual match quite a bit, but the sheer novelty and HOLY SHIT factor of Kevin Owen’s in-ring debut vs. Cena at Elimination Chamber 2015 stands out as well.
These are awesome, thank you. Yeah, I’m still working through Lucha Underground’s first season as well. 🙂