1. Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair
My goodness, was there ever any doubt that this match would top this list? Right after I saw it, I knew that I had watched an incredible match, but that isn’t a surprise given how incredible Kairi Sane is. Everything about her character work screams, “I’m a superstar! Sign me!”, and I wouldn’t blame somebody for ranking her as the best women’s wrestler in the world. The elbow drop is as good as advertised, and the rest of her move-set is also fantastic.
Bianca Belair was plenty impressive, too, and, like Savoy, she did an excellent job of getting heat. She had a devastating hair-whip slap onto Sane and followed that up with some more into the corner. Her strength was highlighted, particularly on a very delayed vertical suplex, and she is undoubtedly a promising athlete. Her work as an arrogant heel in this match was critical, and it was nice to see her dominate the beginning portion of the match.
The character work was even stronger than the wrestling in this match, which allowed Sane’s natural charisma to shine through brightly. Belair displayed her arrogance by blowing a kiss, which Sane caught and proceeded to stomp on. After this, she mimed a kiss of her own back to Belair, which frustrated the up-and-comer.
Next: Three Feuds For Nikki Bella
Another great touch was watching Belair’s reactions to Sane’s kickouts, which were even better than Ripley’s or Evans’s reactions. Like Savoy, I didn’t know much about Belair before the tournament, but she definitely forced me to take notice. She has so much potential, as evidenced by a picture-perfect 450 splash and her acting afterwards. In a couple of months, we could look at the likes of Belair and Ripley as the next young stars in the WWE to come out of this tournament.