From Kofi Kingston’s journey to a WWE Championship victory at WrestleMania 35 to Rhea Ripley’s emotional title win over Shayna Baszler in December, there were plenty of great wrestlers putting on memorable performances throughout 2019.
There may not have been a more impactful title in the decade than Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship win at WrestleMania 35. Both Daniel Bryan and Kingston, who put on a classic at the Show of Shows, find themselves in the top five of this year’s top 10 list.
Another feature of this top 10 is that all four of the Horsewomen made the list. Well, technically five Horsewomen made the list…but we’ll get to that later.
10. Adam Cole
It’s been a wonderful year for Adam Cole and The Undisputed Era, who have put on some of the highest-quality matches in WWE. As NXT Champion, Cole has become one of the faces of the company, and he and Rhea Ripley are great main singles champions for the brand to have heading into a massive 2020.
Cole has al the traits of a top star for a brand, and he has the right mix of charisma and smugness as a heel. You want to see him get his lights punched out and he can wrestle at a level below that of the babyface, yet he can turn it up to 11 both in the ring – and in the charm department – to remind you why he’s the champion.
His matches with Johnny Gargano were some of the best in NXT history, and his recent bout with Finn Balor on NXT television was also a masterpiece. Any criticisms of his in-ring ability are absolutely blasphemous.
9. Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins was arguably the MVP of 2018, and he was also excellent in 2019. Few wrestlers in the world have Rollins’ all-around ability, and while fans grew tired of his babyface act, he naturally turned back into a sniveling heel in December. In just the brief weeks that he’s been a heel, Rollins has reminded wrestling fans why he’s on another level as a villain. His rivalry with Kevin Owens in 2020 should be off the charts.
As far as accolades go, Rollins picked up one of the biggest honors imaginable. He beat Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship to fire up the WrestleMania 35 crowd in the show’s opening match, and then he beat The Beast Incarnate again at SummerSlam. To defeat Lesnar in two title matches at the biggest Pay Per Views in the same year is simply unheard of.
But perhaps that, combined with how strongly he was booked against The Fiend, led to fans souring on him. (Oh, and his Twitter, apparently.) It didn’t take long for fans to get back to praising Rollins while still booing him as a villain.
8. Kevin Owens
If this were a list solely based on match quality, Kevin Owens wouldn’t sniff the top 10. But this is about match quality and character work, so Owens has to be on the list. His babyface work while going toe-to-toe with Daniel Bryan, Shane McMahon, and Seth Rollins in promos has been fabulous. Hell, he even had a great face promo on Sami Zayn and his manager Mojo Rawley on Raw, which is a sentence I never thought I would type two years ago.
Owens has taken to a babyface role perfectly and looks like a real sleeper to win the Royal Rumble on Jan. 26. The Prizefighter works perfectly with The Stunner as his finisher, and it’s been a joy to see WWE embrace him as a face. We’ve been waiting a long time to cheer for Owens.
7. Charlotte Flair
Charlotte Flair is right there with Roman Reigns and The New Day as the most consistent performers in WWE. Whenever Charlotte takes a backseat, the product doesn’t feel quite the same, because The Queen makes everyone around her better.
All of her title reigns seem to be about somebody else. She picked up two SmackDown Women’s Championship victories in 2019, but she quickly lost the title to Bayley both times. It is, therefore, no surprise that Bayley ranks even higher on this list in what was the best year of her career post NXT.
Likewise, Becky Lynch’s path to WrestleMania 35 frequently featured Charlotte, who received more heat than any superstar at one point. Her heel work was sensational and is overlooked. There’s a reason why she had the most-disliked YouTube video when Vince McMahon put her in the title match. But she was as much a part of that story as anyone, even if the first women’s ‘Mania main event match needed to be Becky’s crowning moment as a babyface.
Charlotte gets a bad reputation from some fans, who conflate her heel character with reality. And the reality is that she’s one of the most talented wrestlers in the world and works hard to shine a light on others in the division.
6. Shayna Baszler
When Shayna Baszler puts the NXT Women’s Championship on the line, you know you are in for a great match. Baszler is one of the most complete performers in wrestling, and it’s remarkable to track her rise to prominence in the company since being a standout at the first ever Mae Young Classic.
She had some fantastic matches this year, including a barnburner with Io Shirai at NXT TakeOver: 25. But no match meant more than her passing of the torch to Rhea Ripley, who won the title off Baszler on the Dec. 18 episode of NXT. That match showed just how good Baszler is at getting babyfaces over. Her matches are laid out perfectly to get a face over, even if they lose.
5. Daniel Bryan
The American Dragon is back, thanks to Bray Wyatt’s supernatural ability to restore wrestlers back to their best state. Daniel Bryan had an incredible 2019, and while he heads into 2020 with a throwback character, he flourished as The Planet’s Champion.
His heel work in the build to Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship victory at WrestleMania was absolutely brilliant. Bryan even moved into the tag team division with Erick Rowan to help make the SmackDown Tag Team Titles feel like an even bigger deal, and then he ended up in a wild Whodunit storyline with Rowan and Roman Reigns.
Bryan’s match quality remains on the highest possible tier. When Bryan is on his game, there isn’t a better wrestler in the ring. We witnessed another tremendous year from Bryan, but what really puts him in this category is his character work in 2019. It was resplendent. And it says a lot about the quality of wrestlers in WWE that Bryan was “only” fifth.
4. Sasha Banks
If Sasha Banks didn’t take a much-needed break in the middle of the year to reset, she would have been in the top three. The Boss is arguably the best overall wrestler in the company, and she showed it on multiple occasions this year.
Her match with Becky Lynch inside Hell in a Cell was the second-best of the year behind Bryan vs. Kingston at WrestleMania 35, and her Royal Rumble bout with Ronda Rousey was arguably the third best of the year, too. There’s no doubt it has been Rousey’s best match of her career to this point.
But that’s what Banks does; she gives others their best matches. Banks was the perfect rival for Becky as Raw Women’s Champion, as she elevated Becky’s reign by returning to feud with her. Banks’ heel turn, partnership with Bayley (including an Elimination Chamber Women’s Tag Titles win), and cutthroat promos make her a sure-fire top five wrestler this year. Words can hardly describe the difference in the product when she’s booked prominently.
3. Bayley
I hope wrestling fans don’t overlook Bayley’s consistency in 2019. She was an absolute workhorse over the first half of the year and has been a tremendous SmackDown Women’s Champion in the second half of the year.
Bayley picked up her first SmackDown Women’s Title win on the same night she won her first Money in the Bank briefcase, cashing in on Charlotte Flair. Although WWE dropped the ball on this, Bayley did everything in her power to put over the other women on the roster, such as Ember Moon.
And as a heel, Bayley has stepped her game up to an MVP level. She has immersed herself into every aspect of her new character, forming a two-woman power trip with Sasha Banks, whom she won the Women’s Tag Titles with at the Elimination Chamber.
Basically, she did it all and was incredible throughout the year. She’s carried on the prestige of the SmackDown Women’s Champion.
2. Becky Lynch
The winner of both women’s titles in the main event of WrestleMania 35, Becky Lynch has confirmed her spot atop WWE this year. Lynch started 2019 with a jaw-dropping match against Asuka at the Royal Rumble and finished it with a brutal Tables, Ladders, and Chairs main event against Asuka and Kairi Sane with Charlotte Flair as her partner.
Lynch’s best match, though, was the Hell in a Cell instant classic against Sasha Banks that was easily one of the top three matches of the year and one of the greatest in the PPV’s history.
But more than anything else, Lynch has raised the Raw Women’s Championship to a standard we haven’t seen since Charlotte and Sasha had one of the best rivalries of the decade. Becky carries herself like a champion, and when she defends that title, she puts it ALL on the line. We have to start talking about Lynch as one of the best “big match” wrestlers in the company.
1. Kofi Kingston
Who else could be ranked first? It would have been a mistake for me to place anyone above Kofi Kingston on this list of WWE’s best wrestlers of the year. He had the best three-month run of the year heading into WrestleMania 35, the best match of the year at the PPV itself, and a great run with the WWE Championship.
His title win will go down in history as one of the most important and emotional victories ever. It went beyond wrestling. We’ve needed better representation in wrestling and more Black wrestlers holding titles in WWE, so seeing a Black man holding the WWE Title at WrestleMania was a wonderful, moving sight for so many fans.
As disappointing as it was to see Kingston lose the WWE Title in seconds to Brock Lesnar on the first episode of SmackDown on FOX, he didn’t miss a beat afterwards. Kingston put on some more brilliant performances in the tag team division with Big E, including a show-stealing opener against The Revival in a Ladder match at TLC.
There’s this myth that Kingston was an underwhelming champion, and it’s perpetuated by the lowest common denominator of fans. Kingston had exceptional programs with Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton and was one of the best WWE Champions of the decade. After watching AJ Styles bore us to death as a babyface champion, Kingston’s babyface run was a much-needed upgrade in 2019.
Kingston was in a class of his own this year. Go back and watch his two Gauntlet Match performances and the Elimination Chamber match to see why. In an era where being a genuine babyface is the hardest thing in wrestling, Kingston makes it look easy. He cuts amazing promos, sells like crazy, and is a master of in-ring psychology. And as a person, he’s one of the most wonderful in the business and a shining example for so many fans.