It’s that time of the year again. It’s time for us all to argue over which matches in WWE truly were the very best matches to take place all year round.
Heavy emphasis on the word “argue,” as I’m certain that no matter which WWE matches I include on this list, there is going to be heavy debate surrounding what was included, what wasn’t included, which match doesn’t belong, which match should be ranked higher, which should be ranked lower, etc.
The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, this list (like most end of the year lists like this) is just a matter of opinion. My opinion, in fact. And my opinion is just that of a dude who likes wrestling. You, too, I imagine, are a dude (be it male, female, or non-binary) who likes wrestling. And as a dude, not only are you entitled to your own opinions, I respect your right to that opinion even if I disagree.
I implore you to respect mine and “agree to disagree” before you read on to my opinions on the best WWE wrestling matches of 2019.
But first, here are some honorable mentions that absolutely killed me not to include on the list:
Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Mustache Mountain – TakeOver: Blackpool
Aleister Black and Ricochet vs. Viking Raiders – TakeOver: New York
Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair – WrestleMania 35
Cesaro vs. Aleister Black – Extreme Rules
Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano – TakeOver XXV
Buddy Murphy vs. Aleister Black – TLC
5. Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio – Jan. 15 SmackDown
Talk about a match that came out of nowhere. Sure, given the abilities and talent of both men involved, it was not hard to imagine that they could pull off a good match. Hell, they did so a couple months earlier in an oft forgotten Survivor Series Team SmackDown qualifier.
What none of us could have predicted, however, was these two pulling out an absolute wrestling clinic during the second week of the year on a random episode of SmackDown in a match with no stakes whatsoever.
These two set the ring ablaze as they went at it with a lightning rod’s pace. Rey Mysterio wrestled like he was 20 years younger while Andrade’s chemistry with Mysterio mirrored that of the former WWE Champion’s perfect dance partner, the late, great Eddie Guerrero.
It also helped that this one featured a wild Canadian Destroyer out of nowhere, something that no one at the time expected to see inside of a WWE ring. But with or without it, this match was an instant classic.
Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks – Hell in a Cell
What separates this match from the rest of the matches on this list is that this is not so much a great wrestling match – well, it is a great wrestling match, but per say, it’s a little more than that – as much as it is an endurance test for both women.
Prior to Sasha Banks’ return to television, Becky Lynch often challenged the women’s locker room to step up to her level. She demanded a test, so to speak. Someone to test the best of her ability and bring out the best in her to prove that her opponent not only deserve to challenge her for the Raw Women’s Championship, but possibly beat her for the belt.
Sasha Banks offered that challenge in this match, especially at the start of the bout as Banks took the fight to Lynch the moment she stepped foot in the ring. What followed was a sea of weapons that ranged from kendo sticks to chairs to red chain linked fences to actual chains.
Both ladies pummeled the tar out of each other for the right to call themselves champion. In Lynch’s case, when met with a game challenger, it was The Man who was forced to step up to her opponent’s level, in an interesting turn of events.
In a test of who could endure the most punishment and survive, it was Becky Lynch who proved why she’s earned the nickname of The Man.
3. Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles – Money in the Bank
In some shape or form of another, both AJ Styles and Seth Rollins have referred to themselves as the best wrestler in the world. Not just the best wrestler on their brand or in WWE, but on God’s green earth.
Call it fact or call it hubris, both men believe it to be true. Fans, critics and even their peers have gone to bat for both man’s position as the best in the entire world, often stirring up a modicum of debates on the subject in the process.
Rather than a match to prove who was the better wrestler, their contest at the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View over the Universal Championship was a match where both men had the opportunity to prove that they deserved to be in those Best in the World conversations among the wrestling community.
In attempting to prove their worth, going counter for counter by the second in the process, both men delivered one of the best matches in all of the world to take place in 2019. A slick combination between sudden and high octane action with slowly built technical wrestling makes this an instant winner.
Sasha Banks vs. Ronda Rousey – Royal Rumble 2019
Why, how bout that? Sasha Banks is on this list twice, almost back to back. It’s almost like she’s the best wrestler on the roster or something.
As the Best in the World candidate that she is (yes, move over, CM Punk), she used her skills to give Ronda Rousey the best match of her career thus far.
Coming into WWE, within a year’s time, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion managed to be the fastest rising and fastest improving WWE Superstar to join the roster since Brock Lesnar in 2002.
She continued to mow through her opponents left and right since making her in-ring debut, but The Rowdy One’s first real threat to both her undefeated streak and her Raw Women’s Championship was none other than The Boss herself.
The Boss in question, tasked with giving Rousey her best match yet, did just that by crafting a technical masterclass in which Banks targeted Rousey’s arm throughout the match before The Baddest Woman on the Planet could target Banks’ arm, rendering many of her arm-based submission holds nearly useless and forcing Rousey to think outside of the box in the ring.
The match provided some refreshingly smart psychology and a bitter intensity that offered a high stakes, big fight feel in the arena that practically overshadowed the Rumble match itself.
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.