Kevin’s Top 500 Matches Of The 2010s (#460 – 451)

460. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Marty Scurll [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12

At the time, this was basically NJPW throwing their three biggest stars in the junior heavyweight division and the champion into one huge match on their biggest show of the year. They don’t often run these kind of multi-man matches, which added to the special factor of seeing this. While this particular Wrestle Kingdom was a consistent good one, it didn’t have that standout MOTYC we’re used to. Instead, this was the best thing on the card. These guys are all really good and know each other well. That meant this moved at a ridiculous pace with some huge spots. None of those spots felt like they were just happening for the sake of it. Everything seemed to matter. The guys did a good with spots that included everyone. In the end, it was Willy the Ospreay who took home the title after 21:18. The second of three Jr. Title matches from the Dome on this list.

459. Money in the Bank: AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – WWE Money in the Bank 2017

If there’s one WWE match you can usually count out for greatness each year, it’s Money in the Bank. This was another loaded field, with only Ziggler as an uninteresting performer. One of the biggest questions coming in was how Nakamura would fare in a Ladder Match, but Corbin jumped him during his entrance, taking him out of the equation. As usual, there were plenty of bumps and spots throughout this. Sami hit a particularly great sunset flip bomb, and AJ Styles took a scary fall while hanging from the briefcase. We also got a renewal of the fantastic Zayn/Owens rivalry for a bit. Owens was the MVP, being involving in so much and taking wild bumps like an USHIGOROSHI onto a ladder bridge. Around the 20:00 mark of this 29:50 match, Nakamura returned and was at the best he’s been since the Takeover: Dallas debut. He ran through everyone, leading to a showdown with Styles that was better than their lackluster feud the following year. In the end, Corbin took them both out and got the briefcase to win. It ran a bit long, which keeps it from reaching the levels of some prior MITB matches, but was still good enough to make this list.

458. Mae Young Classic Semifinals: Meiko Satomura vs. Toni Storm – WWE Mae Young Classic 10/24/18

In 2017, Toni Storm was my pick for the Female Wrestler of the Year. Her 2018 didn’t have as many highs but was still great. One performance that caught everyone’s eye was in the semi-finals of the Mae Young Classic. The prior year, Toni lost in this round to eventual winner Kairi Sane. This go around, the obstacle in her way was the legendary Meiko Satomura. This started at a slow pace, with Toni not wanting to make a mistake and lose out again just before the finals. Meiko picked it up with a slap and that quickened the pace and added some intensity. Following some submission work, they just began throwing bombs at one another. Meiko survived a Storm Zero, while Toni kicked out of a Death Valley Driver and Scorpion Kick. The fans were jumping around and out of their seats for the final few exchanges. Toni managed to advance by hitting a second Storm Zero at 13:06, capping a fantastic match filled with emotion.

457. WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Neville [c] vs. Austin Aries – WWE WrestleMania 33

Moving this match to the Kickoff Show was probably for the best. Instead of getting rushed on a ridiculously loaded and long main card, it was given time to breathe on the pre-show. Austin Aries was the rare cruiserweight to get a great reaction on most nights, while Neville was in the midst of a spectacular run as the “King of the Cruiserweights.” With 15:37 to work with, they didn’t go for the traditionally spotty cruiserweight match. Instead, they started slow and built to something more. Aries was confident early. He felt like the one guy in the division who could hang with Neville. They constantly had an answer for one another, but there was the sense that Aries had Neville’s number. Neville started dropping Aries on his head with German suplexes, but couldn’t put him away. Neville survived his fair share, including kicking out of the 450 splash. Aries applied Last Chancery and Neville knew he was done. He resorted to raking at Aries’ recently reconstructed orbital socket. That got him free and he won via Red Arrow. People don’t talk about this much, probably because Aries is a shitty person.

456. Last Man Standing Match: Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena – WWE Payback 2014

There aren’t all that many fond memories of the Bray Wyatt/John Cena rivalry from 2014. That’s understandable since the feud itself only had a few highlights. The WrestleMania XXX outing was good but people soured on Cena winning. The Extreme Rules cage match was a travesty in how bad it was. However, this final encounter actually proved to be their best work together (until this year’s Firefly Funhouse). They went to war and had one of the better Last Man Standing matches in recent memory. The Usos got involved to help neutralize Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. Cena launched steel steps at Bray in a massive spot. This was everything it needed to be, even if some weren’t fans of the finish in the end.

455. Grave Consequences: Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma – Lucha Underground 11/9/16

In the main event of Ultima Lucha in season one, Prince Puma’s lengthy reign as Lucha Underground Champion ended at the hands of Mil Muertes. They stayed away for the most part in season two, but after some struggles, Puma was directed (by Vampiro) to focus on Muertes. Puma evened the score with Muertes with a win a few weeks before this. Twice in LU, a Grave Consequences match was held, both involving Muertes. Puma attacked from behind during Mil’s entrance to start 16:26 of war. He dove into the crowd on Muertes and they battled throughout the Temple. The coffins came into play several times as weapons. There were several great spots throughout this including a tremendous springboard 630 splash from Puma. Vampiro kept making comments about Puma going to the dark side, hinting at their behind the scenes interactions. To start the show, Mil’s manager Catrina warned him that if he lost another Grave Consequences match, she wouldn’t bring him back again. Mil dug deep and chokeslammed Puma through a table outside. In a fitting end, he brought out the coffin that was used to kill Puma’s old manager (Konnan) back in season one. A Flatliner later and Puma was locked away to end a great rivalry.

454. Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio – WWE Smackdown 1/22/19

One of the best things to come about Rey Mysterio’s return to WWE this year was his rivalry with Andrade. The two put on an instant classic in their first meeting a week prior to this one. It was so well-received that a Two Out of Three Falls rematch was booked here. Could they recreate the magic? Not quite but dammit if they didn’t try. While their first meeting built to bigger stuff, this one was kind of nuts out of the gate. Rey was trying Code Reds in the opening couple of minutes. I liked it because some matches with this stipulation get off to slow starts but they weren’t holding back. Andrade’s first fall victory on a super powerbomb was outstanding, as was Mysterio tying things up with a sick modified Destroyer. For the third fall, both men still had their finishers in their back pockets. The exchanges were great but it was like neither could hit it. Andrade added to the emotion by doing an Eddie Guerrero style taunt at one point. Unfortunately, we were kept from getting a clean finish to this one. Samoa Joe ran in and attacked both men, resulting in a disqualification at 22:14. Up until that point, this was tremendous.

453. Gift of the Gods Championship: Fenix [c] vs. King Cuerno – Lucha Underground 1/27/16

Lucha Underground season two was a pretty fantastic string of wrestling television. Fittingly, it began with a bang. At Ultima Lucha, the season one finale, Fenix became the first ever Gift of the Gods Champion. The title gives the winner a shot at the Lucha Underground Championship. Mil Muertes, Fenix’s arch rival, was the champion and his manager, Catrina, was running the Temple. She forced Fenix to defend his title right off the bat. With Muertes watching from his throne atop the Temple like a final boss, these two put one hell of a performance. At 7:47, this thing pretty much moves at a frantic pace for the entire duration. Fenix and Cuerno busted out moves I’ve never seen before. Fenix hit an innovative diving double stomp and followed it with a springboard 450 splash. When Fenix was able to kick out of Cuerno’s Thrill of the Hunt, Cuerno had to dig deep into his bag of tricks. He hit a spinning tombstone variation that got him the win and gave us a surprising title change to kick off season two. Their rivalry continued for a Last Lucha Standing and ladder match. Both were damn good but neither reached this level.

452. NXT Women’s Championship: Ember Moon [c] vs. Shayna Baszler – NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

At TakeOver: Philadelphia, Ember Moon retained her title against Shayna Baszler in what felt like a stroke of luck. That match was good but never got into great territory. They made sure to fix that in this high profile rematch. At 12:55, it only went about two minutes longer than their prior match but did a ton more with it. They immediately played off the past. Ember tried to start with a dropkick like she has before, but Shayna sidestepped it. She had done her homework. In fact, the way they played into the storyline of the feud made this click better than most (it’s a staple of TakeOver matches and why they work so well). Ember got beat up, but turned the tide on Shayna by stomping on her arm. It was a dose of her own medicine and something that could potentially humble the challenger. In one of the coolest things you’ll see anywhere, Shayna banged her shoulder into the ring post to pop it back into place. That’s what winning meant to her. They’ve sold the Eclipse as a match ender, so it worked that the only time Ember hit it was outside. She couldn’t win that way. Her next attempt at one inside got countered as Shayna powered her into the Kirifuda Clutch. Ember fought as hard as she could and lasted a while, before passing out. Shayna was champion and Ember was off to Raw. They killed it and Baszler officially entered that top tier of women in NXT history.

451. WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: The New Day [c] vs. The Bar – WWE Roadblock: End of the Line

The New Day entered this match having just become the longest-reigning Tag Team Champions in WWE history. They did so after retaining the straps in two triple threat matches on Raw. All they had to do to keep the reign going was get past the newly formed duo of Sheamus and Cesaro. The Bar actually had prior shots but this was their first time truly feeling like a cohesive unit. They pulled out some incredible moves during this short 10:00 battle. Xavier Woods got involved multiple times to desperately try and save the titles but the Bar kept overcoming the numbers disadvantage. The finish was clever but came off awkwardly. Sheamus blind tagged in and Cesaro took Trouble in Paradise. Sheamus cradled Kingston, outsmarting him to win the gold and end the historic reign.