Kevin’s Top 500 Matches Of The 2010s (#390 – 381)

390. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto [c] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – NJPW Destruction in Kobe 2015

Nobody had more high profile matches against each other in 2015 than Hirooki Goto and Shinsuke Nakamura. Goto won the first two, at Wrestling Dontaku and Dominion, winning and retaining the IWGP Intercontinental Title. During the G1 Climax, Nakamura got one back, making Goto tap and setting up one more rematch. While none of their matches were bad, they did suffer from some issues. While they usually finished very strongly, the first two-thirds of the match could be considered dry. It was on this night that it clicked completely, resulting in their best effort for a complete match. Still, their strength has been the finishing stretch, with this possibly being the best they put together. They called back to previous matches and countered each other seamlessly. It took multiple Boma Ye knee strikes but Nakamura was able to regain his title at the 22:58 mark and even the score for the year with Goto. They saved their best for last.

389. WWE Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Luke Harper [c] vs. Dolph Ziggler – WWE TLC 2014

Hey, it’s one of the few matches on this list that I saw live. It was the only good thing on this dire show. They kicked things off with a ladder match at the right time for both men. Dolph Ziggler was red hot after a huge win at Survivor Series and Luke Harper had recently won the title as a newly solo singles star. Almost immediately, you could tell how dangerous this would be. Harper nearly broke his arm on a tope suicida into a ladder. It set the tone for a wild match. They went back and forth for 16:42 in one of the better and more underrated ladder matches of the entire decade. It wasn’t filled with a ton of memorable spots but was a case of one really good big man beating on a guy who can bump his ass off and them telling a story that involved the ladder. Plus, the crowd was way into it. When Dolph pulled down the title, they popped crazy hard and I was one of them. I don’t care for Dolph at all at this point but things were different back then.

388. WWE United States Championship: The Miz [c] vs. Daniel Bryan – WWE Night of Champions 2010

I fully understand that some fans may not have loved this as much as I did. That’s okay. It’s a simple case of me being a massive fan of both Daniel Bryan and The Miz. Two of the best to ever do it in a feud that worked expertly for both. The Miz was an ideal choice for Bryan’s NXT Pro because his attitude about his charisma played perfectly off of Bryan’s pure wrestling style. Here, Bryan had returned at SummerSlam to help send back the challenge of Nexus. He didn’t even have proper theme music by this point. The match went on to be way better than expected. The Miz has become an all-time great in my eyes but back then, he wasn’t known for polished ring work. He and Bryan even busted out spots from Bryan’s old matches in ROH with Nigel McGuinness. Michael Cole was annoying on commentary and it’s the biggest negative about this match. Bryan fought from behind and trapped Miz in the LeBelle Lock. He was able to make him tap out after an excellent 12:29. It was the first truly great match in WWE for either man and the rest is history.

387. WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair [c] vs. Asuka – WWE WrestleMania 34

I can admit when I’m wrong. When this match originally finished, I was sour on it. I had it at ***¾ and while I believed it was good, I didn’t see the greatness. That might be because I was just upset that Asuka had her streak ended by someone I don’t care for. I may not be a Charlotte fan but I know how great she is. Watching this back, it’s awesome. It had a big fight feel that is absent in many women’s matches. To be fair, some of my criticisms are still valid. The finish was a bit anti-climactic as they needed to do a bit more work on Asuka’s leg so that I could truly buy into the Figure Eight as a match ender. With that out of the way, there’s a lot to like here. They hit each other hard and busted out some great spots like the superplex off the apron to the outside. Asuka looked great up until tapping out. For example, catching a Charlotte moonsault into a submission was great. Alas, she tapped out and her aura was gone after 13:05.

386. WWE Championship: Seth Rollins [c] vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns – WWE Payback 2015

For his first WWE Championship defense on Pay-Per-View, Seth Rollins beat Randy Orton in a rather dull affair. His title run wasn’t off to a good start, but that turned around on this night. Originally, this was supposed to be Seth against Orton and Roman Reigns. However, a few weeks earlier, Dean Ambrose pinned Seth and was added in. From the start, Seth was a marked man thanks to his history with all three men. Seth’s boys, J&J Security, would get involved though and tried to even the odds. Their interference was a bit much, as was Kane’s, which was the biggest negative about this. Other than that, this is fantastic. The former Shield members gave the crowd a great moment as they triple powerbombed Orton through a table like the old days. Of course, Dean and Roman didn’t forgive Seth, taking him out. Once this Shield moment happened, things kicked into second gear and included a great back and forth between Ambrose and Reigns. This was the match that gave me Austin/Rock/Triple H vibes for Ambrose/Reigns/Rollins. After the dust settled, Seth planted Orton with a Pedigree to retain at 20:42.

385. Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan – WWE Royal Rumble 2014

This was the match that seemed to trick everyone into thinking that Bray Wyatt was a good wrestler. It’s not that he’s bad but he’s certainly not someone who I would go out of my way to watch compete in the ring. Originally, I missed this match live as we were visiting family to watch it and accidentally locked our keys in our old car. It took us about an hour to figure out how to get them out. Anyway, this match came after the storyline where Bryan joined the Wyatt Family to infiltrate them from within. It was good stuff. The crowd was hot for this as Bray was still fresh and Bryan was absurdly over. The match saw Bray want to do things without the help of Harper and Rowan. Bryan was aggressive but Bray felt like a totally different animal at times. The Sister Abigail into the guardrail remains one of the best spots I’ve ever seen from Bray. That marked the beginning of the end for Bryan, who fell in 21:29. It was the first big win for Bray.

384. Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus – WWE SummerSlam 2019

When Trish Stratus retired at Unforgiven 2006, she went out with one of her best matches ever. It turns out that she was truly saving her best for another match in Toronto 13 years later. Charlotte Flair has proven herself to be the top big match female wrestler in the world. Hell, she has a strong case for best big match wrestler regardless of gender. She came into this overconfident. Charlotte didn’t take Trish seriously and fell victim to some surprising offense that overwhelmed her. She never expected Trish to be as good as she was. Being in her hometown meant the crowd could help Trish when she was in trouble. They were loud for almost everything. Seeing Trish bust out a super rana was awesome because it showed that she was doing things she never tried in her prime. She wasn’t just in this match for a paycheck. There was effort and thought put into all of this. She used the Figure Eight in a great moment and the Stratusfaction near fall was perfect. The outcome here was obvious but they made us believe in a close call. That’s hard to do. Once Charlotte trapped her in the Figure Eight, Trish had to tap, ending this after an excellent 16:38. A tremendous way for Trish to go out.

383. WWE Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Kevin Owens [c] vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz vs. Sami Zayn vs. Sin Cara vs. Stardust vs. Zack Ryder – WWE WrestleMania 32

For the second straight year, the Intercontinental Title got thrown into a clusterfuck ladder match at WrestleMania, even though the Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens rivalry was what everyone wanted to see. Sure enough, shortly after this began, the crowd erupted for their faceoff and hockey style fight. Sin Cara, Stardust and Zack Ryder did nothing of note leading into this show and were seemingly added to fill out the match. The true brilliance of this match is that everyone, no matter your position on the card coming in, was given ample time to shine, while still making sure a good focus was spent on the Sami/Owens rivalry. There were all sorts of great spots in this one, including a somersault dive by Sami through an open ladder onto everyone outside, instantly followed by his signature tornado DDT on the opposite side of the ring on Owens. There was a touching moment where Stardust pulled out a polka-dotted ladder in honor of his father. We also got a sick Owens frog splash onto a ladder ridden Sami as well as Zayn hitting a half nelson suplex on Owens onto a ladder. Miz spoiled a Sami win and everyone thought he’d steal it. Ryder appeared, pushed him off and took down the title at 15:23. It was a feel good moment (though it only lasted a night) before giving the fans a night of bad booking decision.

382. WWE Championship Six Pack Challenge: AJ Styles [c] vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn – WWE Fastlane 2018

There was worry coming into this. WWE seemed to just throw a bunch of guys into one match for the sake of it and that often doesn’t work. Luckily, all six men in this one were game to give us the best possible main event. As soon as the bell rang, John Cena began spamming Attitude Adjustments like he gave himself unlimited finishers in a video game. Cena was an interesting part of this match. After failing to win the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, he was desperate to win and earn a spot at WrestleMania. It played into most of his spots. Owens and Zayn got a great story moment where Zayn laid down for Owens, only to roll him up. It led to one of their classic hockey style fights. There was definitely a sense of urgency. The pace never slowed for the entire 21:52 duration and everyone got ample opportunity to strut their stuff. We did get the trope of two guys wrestling while everyone else rested until someone came in to break up the pin and it happened a lot. Thanks to Shane McMahon’s feud with Owens and Zayn, he got involved late and ended up costing both of them the match at different points. The wild closing minutes saw AJ finish it off with the Phenomenal Forearm on Owens to retain. A great main event to the final single brand PPV.

381. WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: Cesaro and Sheamus [c] vs. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins – WWE SummerSlam 2017

The saga of the mini-Shield reunion was an interesting one. The fans ate everything they did up in the build and they were totally invested in this match. A lot of SummerSlam featured a lackluster Brooklyn crowd, but this was different. When the Shield was around, it was usually Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns as a team, but Seth and Dean Ambrose were great here. Their chemistry as opponents carried over to their teamwork. Something about tag matches seems to bring out another level of energy in both men. Their opponents, Cesaro and Sheamus, were just as game and have been one of the best tag teams in the world in 2017. Cesaro hopping the guardrail and popping a beach ball that some fans were using was an excellent improvised moment that whipped the crowd into a next level frenzy. It was there that the match kicked into high gear. The rest of the 18:34 featured great spots, close calls, lots of energy and an awesome finish. Seth hit Cesaro with a super rana, sending him crashing into Sheamus and Dean. The Ripcord Knee followed and Dirty Deeds gave us new champions. I loved this and the moment of Seth and Dean doing the Shield fist bump with the titles was tremendous.