WWE: 5 best matches of 2019

Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan – WrestleMania 35

It was hard to come up with a match other than Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan that hit me in a way to make me say “that was the best match I’ve seen all year from WWE.” That’s the thought that came to my mind as soon as this one was over when it first aired and truthfully, I was hoping to find another match to make me relive that same thought.

Like chasing the dragon, I watched every MOTY candidate I saw this year hoping for that same thought, that same feeling, but alas, it never came. Not like it did at WrestleMania 35, no.

At Mania, I felt a special kind of emotional resonance with this one that I have yet to feel with any match since. It helps that the entire KofiMania storyline was so intricately layered and so well told that myself and fans alike connected with it to the point that they needed to see Kofi pull off a miracle.

Watching him scratch and claw for an opening to win this as Bryan made him work for that win was nerve wracking to watch on a first watch. Nerve wracking that there was any chance at all that Kofi could lose this and all of this effort to produce KofiMania would’ve been all for naught was a scary thought. Even on a rewatch, those feeling resurface for a nail biter.

Thankfully, the proverbial emotional rollercoaster ride of a match that this was reached a satisfying conclusion that allows the viewer’s heart to breath a sigh of relief and for some, makes us shed a few tears.

Any match that kind of reaction and that kind of emotion is a beautiful match to behold and, in my opinion, the best match WWE put on all year.