Kevin’s Top 100 Matches Of 2021 (#60-51)

60. Women’s Royal Rumble Match – WWE Royal Rumble

Credit: WWE

There’s no question that this year’s Royal Rumble event was a weird one. Having no live crowd just took away from a lot of what makes the match so much fun. Thankfully, both of the titular matches manages to deliver in spades. The women have now had four Rumbles and all of them were what I would consider legitimately great. This one started with Bayley and Naomi before Bianca Belair joined the fray to put on a record setting performance. In between the great action, there was comedic stuff from Billie Kay asking everyone to be her partner, which even included a short IIconics reunion. There were things I wasn’t expecting, including Alexa Bliss getting eliminated in about a minute and there were whiffs like the camera missing Bayley’s elimination. I loved the use of Bianca’s hair to save her and Naomi from elimination too. The finish was where things really became special. Belair and Rhea Ripley got rid of Charlotte Flair, allowing things to come down to the division’s two future stars. Their back and forth was pretty epic, with Belair winning out. She was in for all but 90 seconds of the 58:50 runtime and used this momentum to make history at WrestleMania. [****]

59. War Games Advantage Ladder Match: Dakota Kai vs. Kay Lee Ray – WWE NXT 11/30/21

Credit: WWE

The new version of NXT hasn’t been one designed to put out great matches but they’ve delivered a handful of times. The build for War Games this year was mixed at beast, yet this ladder match was excellent. We live in a time where ladder matches are hard to nail because they’re done to death but often, even lesser ones are still pretty great. What made this one work was that these ladies were all about the violence. Before the bell even rang, Dakota Kai and Kay Lee Ray were beating each other’s asses. They kept that up throughout the 14:08 runtime, with KLR hitting a vicious tope suicida and a front suplex onto a ladder in the opening minutes. Even the moves without weapons or high spots, like Dakota’s running kicks, felt like they had something extra behind them, making it more violent. They fought through a commercial break and saved some big stuff for the back half, including a diving double stomp off a ladder by Kai. The finish saw Kai get hung upside down on the ladder and eat a superkick before KLR brought down the briefcase. A great match with a surprise ending since heels usually get the War Games advantage. [****]

58. IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Texas Death Match: Jon Moxley [c] vs. Lance Archer – AEW Fyter Fest Night Two

Credit: AEW

AEW kicked open that forbidden door and a lot of it involved the partnership with NJPW, which mostly centered around Jon Moxley being the IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. The title was given the biggest spotlight when it headlined Fyter Fest as Moxley defended against Lance Archer in a Texas Death Match. They actually had this gimmick match back at Wrestle Kingdom 14 and it was really good but just shy of great. Here, they managed to best that with an absolutely wild match that lived up to what I knew they were capable of. They brawled through the crowd early with Moxley hitting Paradigm Shift and Archer throwing random dudes at him. There was bloodshed and even Moxley biting at that bloodied skull. He’s pretty much a madman. They also added in the stuff you don’t expect from a mainstream main event like barbed wire boards and a fork. The stipulation also worked well because when Archer hit a chokeslam off the apron and through tables and boards, Moxley stayed down for the 10 count. So, after 16:34 Moxley wasn’t pinned so he was protected in the loss. Meanwhile, Archer got the big win that he has deserved for a while. [****]

57. CM Punk, Darby Allin and Sting vs. FTR and MJF – AEW Holiday Bash

Credit: AEW

It’s Sting in Greensboro, so of course it ruled. He and Punk rocking paint to honor each other was cool. A lot of this match was about teasing the future Punk/MJF encounter but always having MJF bail. Sting got a massive ovation whenever he did anything. Darby took the heat until Sting got the hot tag and the fans ATE UP everything he did. He played the hits and that’s exactly what he should be doing. He took the next heat through a second break after MJF interrupted the Scorpion Death Lock. The new hot tag went to Punk who lit up FTR. MJF was shown to be hiding during this time. He snuck back in and Sting cut him off before dumping him over the top onto FTR and he landed AWFULLY on his head. FTR immediately checked on him and he seemed to be okay. Sting also did a damn cross body off the top to the outside. Inside, MJF was left with the three faces so Dax sacrificed himself for his buddy. He ate the GTS into the Scorpion Death Drop into the Coffin Drop, losing after 25:53. That was a blast. Such a fun trios tag and MJF managed to avoid taking the beating he deserved, preserving that for down the line. [****]

56. New Japan Cup Quarterfinals: KENTA vs. Shingo Takagi – NJPW New Japan Cup 3/16/21

Credit: NJPW

I came into this so goddamned hype. These are two guys who I really enjoy who have similar styles and will beat the hell out of each other. It’s wild to me that I first saw these dudes killing it in ROH in 2006. There’s something enjoyable about two tough dudes just beating the shit out of each other. They did just that, trading plenty of forearms, lariats, and straight up slaps. I loved that although KENTA remains as cocky as ever, he met his match in Shingo, who would just send him back with a vicious strike. Shingo could shut KENTA up at the drop of a dime. KENTA held serve at points but often just pissed off Shingo. It worked because sometimes KENTA just needs to get his ass kicked. Whenever they used actual offense, it was worth it because they’d throw out a big bomb. One thing I really appreciated was that this closing stretch wasn’t what is typical in NJPW. There weren’t tons of counters or anything like that. This became more intense as time went on, which made the finish mean more to me. Shingo won with Last of the Dragon after a hard fought 23:47 that ruled. [****]

55. Jeff Cobb vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW Dominion

Credit: NJPW

There’s something about a match on a PPV that doesn’t have a title on the line or any gimmicks behind it that I just appreciate. New Japan does it from time to time and Dominion had a doozy in Jeff Cobb vs. Kota Ibushi. Basically, it was an athletic freak of nature against one of the strongest dudes on the roster. I was a little wary since their G1 match in 2020 disappointed me but they more than made up for it. In fact, this actually felt like a G1 Climax outing since it only went 14:54 and was just two dudes beating each other up for that runtime. Cobb threw him around like he weighed nothing even though Ibushi is basically built like a god. Ibushi is so wild to watch because of how he can change gears. His deadlift German failed against the bigger opponent, so he pivoted to a top rope rana for similar effect. Cobb responded with an F5 that looked better than almost every single one Brock Lesnar ever hit. He spun the shit out of Ibushi. Though things looked dire for him, Ibushi managed to counter Tour of the Islands and win with Kamigoye, pretty much earning a title shot in the process. [****]

54. NXT Women’s Championship: Raquel Gonzalez [c] vs. Dakota Kai – NXT TakeOver 36

Credit: WWE

I wasn’t big on a lot of Raquel Gonzalez’s NXT Women’s Title reign but this match was different. I came in with a major interest because I love Dakota Kai and because the rivalry had been built up well. Their history allowed for something that felt personal and the match followed through with that concept. Dakota slapped her to start and then bailed but whenever they actually interacted, this was physical and felt like two people who had real animosity. There wasn’t any goofy wrestling exchanges for the sake of it. There were elements of a real fight in here, which is important. The crowd was behind Dakota for most of this 12:25 and it added to the atmosphere. Raquel had a bad shoulder, which might explain the dangerous looking bump Dakota had to take on an alley-oop bomb into the corner. No matter what Dakota threw at Raquel, the champion managed to survive and come back with something big. Dakota had the Chingona Bomb well scouted, countering or avoiding it several times. However, when they fought up top, she couldn’t do that and fell victim to an avalanche Chingona Bomb, allowing Raquel to retain. [****¼]

53. WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Cesaro – WWE WrestleMania Backlash

Credit: WWE

Roman Reigns was on a different level from almost everyone else in wrestling throughout 2021 and matches like this were why. On paper, you knew that it would be really good but you also understood that Cesaro wasn’t going to win. Even though he beat Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, he wans’t going to beat Reigns, yet they hooked me throughout. Cesaro came out hot and forced Reigns to regroup outside before he got overwhelmed. Even when he turned the tide a bit, Cesaro remained on a roll. Once Reigns got going, he made sure to include his signature trash talking. To play off of Daniel Bryan and Cesaro saying he didn’t like wrestling, he talked about how much he loved it. Top-tier stuff here. He also addressed Bryan a few times during some of his offense. As they neared the end of this 27:32 encounter, they didn’t do any of the finisher kickouts or near falls that so many matches rely on. Instead, they opted for a closing stretch with some big moves and slick submission counters that were must-see. Finally, Reigns was able to win with the Guillotine Hold, continuing his impressive run as the top guy in all of wrestling. [****¼]

52. NXT UK Women’s Championship: Kay Lee Ray [c] vs. Meiko Satomura – NXT UK 3/4/21

Credit: WWE

The NXT UK Women’s Title reign of Kay Lee Ray was pretty fantastic. Obviously, a major reason why it was stretched out so long was due to the pandemic but whenever she got to defend the gold, she proved time and time again why she was so good. Meiko Satomura felt like the biggest threat to her gold. Considered the “final boss,” Satomura was a big signing with experience who might be able to take down the brand’s top female star. When they clashed in this main event, they impressed everyone for 16:40. The strategy from the champion was to use her quickness advantage to stay one step ahead but Satomura could level her with a stiff shot that would totally rock her. KLR delivered her signature Gory Bomb down the stretch but couldn’t cover in time so that didn’t result in the finish. She made a mistake by missing a swanton bomb and then we got a great series of counters where the Gory Bomb was turned into Code Red for a tremendous near fall. Ultimately, KLR managed to roll Satomura into the Gory Bomb, retaining and seemingly putting a damper on Satomura’s title hopes, at least for the time being. [****¼]

51. Big E vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Roman Reigns – WWE Raw 9/20/21

Credit: WWE

Having Roman Reigns on Raw made for some of the better matches of the year for the red brand. After the Bloodline battled New Day in a very good opening contest, WWE Champion Big E was in action against Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the main event, competing for a second time. With them was Bobby Lashley, another top star who is a big dude that hits hard. You honestly couldn’t ask for all that much more. I liked how early on in this 20:10 match, Roman Reigns kind of just sat back and let the other two guys go at it. He isn’t someone to fight unless he needs to and given the Big E/Lashley feud, this made sense. He got involved at the perfect time and took control heading into a commercial break. The match was a case of tough guys throwing their biggest offense at each other because they understand just how much it’ll take to beat the others. Of course, it’s a Roman Reigns match so you know he came out on top, hitting Lashley with a Spear after Big E was leveled with a steel chair. A rare great match for Raw in 2021. [****¼]