WWE Matches of the Decade: 2010s.

[The Natural]

Early June 2014, I chose my top five WWE matches as we were halfway through the decade. I posted an updated version in January 2017 with a top 20 list. In the final year of the decade, I thought it was time to do a top 30. I've used spoiler tags for size. You may want to do a list or talk about your picks instead.

 

30. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair. Evolution 2018.

29. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks. RAW, 28th November 2016.

28. Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles. Survivor Series 2017.

27. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane vs. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Wade Barrett vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Sin Cara. Money in the Bank 2011.

26. Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan. Extreme Rules 2012.

25. Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles. Extreme Rules 2016.

24. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream. NXT TakeOver: WarGames II 2018.

23. Sasha Banks vs Bayley. NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 2015.

22. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks. NXT TakeOver: Respect 2015.

21. Antonio Cesaro vs. William Regal. NXT TV, 25th December 2013.

20. Daniel Bryan vs. Antonio Cesaro. RAW, 22nd July 2013.

19. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins. Royal Rumble 2015.

18. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet vs. EC3 vs. Velveteen Dream vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan. NXT TakeOver: New Orleans 2018.

17. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn. NXT TakeOver: Dallas 2016.

16. AJ Styles vs. John Cena. Royal Rumble 2017.

15. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa. NXT TakeOver: New Orleans 2018.

14. Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Batista. WrestleMania XXX.

13. The Undertaker vs. Triple H. WrestleMania XXVIII. 

12. Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne. NXT TakeOver: Chicago 2017.

11. Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan/Kane/Ryback. TLC 2012.

10. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn. NXT TakeOver: R-Evolution 2014.

9. The New Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles. TLC 2018.

8. Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder vs. Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano. NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2016.

7. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins. WrestleMania XXXI.

6. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar. Extreme Rules 2012.

5. Andrade Almas vs. Johnny Gargano. NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia 2018.

4. The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. WrestleMania XXVI. 

3. John Cena vs. CM Punk. Money in the Bank 2011.

2. Bray Wyatt/Luke Harper/Erick Rowan vs. Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns. Elimination Chamber 2014.

1. John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan. SummerSlam 2013.

[Brian Fowler]

I don't have a full list, but DIY/Revival 2/3 in Toronto is far and away number 1. Actually, it's my match of the decade, period, not just WWE.

[The Natural]

4 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I don't have a full list, but DIY/Revival 2/3 in Toronto is far and away number 1. Actually, it's my match of the decade, period, not just WWE.

Thanks for replying. Surprised you've a WWE match from the decade over Undertaker/HHH from WrestleMania XXVII knowing the regard you hold for it.

[Brian Fowler]

That would be way way up there on my list for sure, but Revival/DIY was just perfectly up my alley.

[The Natural]

9 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

That would be way way up there on my list for sure, but Revival/DIY was just perfectly up my alley.

Cena/Punk from Night of Champions 2012 be another? 

I can understand why Revival/DIY 2 out of 3 falls would be your #1 and for others too. 

[The Natural]

[Brian Fowler]

God damn that Cena/Punk match was a thing of beauty. I wish it had a decisive finish, but it was something. @Matt D and I were marking out over it in messenger that night. IMO, it blows away the Money in the Bank match, and I really liked that one.

[The Natural]

1 minute ago, Brian Fowler said:

God damn that Cena/Punk match was a thing of beauty. I wish it had a decisive finish, but it was something. @Matt D and I were marking out over it in messenger that night. IMO, it blows away the Money in the Bank match, and I really liked that one.

Need to watch that again.

[The Natural]

Those photos from John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2013 are my two favourite things from the match. The promo between the two on RAW, Daniel Bryan said in Japan wrestlers slap one another to fire themselves up but he can't to John Cena as he's an entertainer. Come the match, Cena slaps Bryan who doesn't want to respond in kind but he does winning that exchange.

The match debuted Daniel Bryan's running knee and what a way to do that to the top guy for the clean as a sheet pinfall victory. Losing a night's sleep was worth watching the event live and I bought it on DVD. SummerSlam 2013 also gave us Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian.

[Brian Fowler]

The way the announcers completely missed the whole story with the slaps drove me insane.

[The Natural]

16 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

The way the announcers completely missed the whole story with the slaps drove me insane.

Same here.

[The Natural]

59 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I don't have a full list, but DIY/Revival 2/3 in Toronto is far and away number 1. Actually, it's my match of the decade, period, not just WWE.

Here you go:

[Chaos]

I thought I was in the minority who thought the Cena/Punk match from Night of Champions was their best match from a pure "match quality" perspective. The one that received too much praise at the time was the one they had on RAW around Wrestlemania 29.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012 is surreal.  I don't think you can point to another match this decade and compare it to what that turned out to be. 

[Go2Sleep]

7 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012 is surreal.  I don't think you can point to another match this decade and compare it to what that turned out to be. 

This is definitely true.

That match, Shield/Wyatts, the first Brock/Roman match, and Sasha/Bayley are the true "Holy shit, this is something special" feeling matches WWE has turned out this decade. All would rank highly on my list, but I would probably insert some other matches that may not have had that unique vibe, but were technically excellent (lots of NXT stuff). ADR/Ziggler from Payback 2013 is always the hidden gem of the decade.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I assume that is the ADR/Ziggler match where they had basically a double turn.  AJ Lee's concern for Ziggler and ADR just bombing away at his head and playing up the whole concussion thing.  That was as close as Ziggler ever got to full Shawn Michaels.

[Greggulator]

I have to work this out. My number one is Shield/Wyatts. Are we counting 2010 or is it from 2011 on? A few other things off the top of my head: Sasha/Bayley, DIY/Revival, Sami/Neville, Punk/Cena, Rhodes Brothers/Shield, Bryan/Bray, Bryan/Cena and I'm sure there is a whole bunch else.

[John from Cincinnati]

3 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

Are we counting 2010 or is it from 2011 on?

The 1990s would include 1990. So... 

[The Natural]

On 2/18/2019 at 11:30 PM, Niners Fan in CT said:

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012 is surreal.  I don't think you can point to another match this decade and compare it to what that turned out to be. 

 

On 2/19/2019 at 6:49 AM, Go2Sleep said:

This is definitely true.

That match, Shield/Wyatts, the first Brock/Roman match, and Sasha/Bayley are the true "Holy shit, this is something special" feeling matches WWE has turned out this decade. All would rank highly on my list, but I would probably insert some other matches that may not have had that unique vibe, but were technically excellent (lots of NXT stuff). ADR/Ziggler from Payback 2013 is always the hidden gem of the decade.

I watched John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules 2012 on Tuesday for the first time in ages. That match has a vibe to it that makes it stand out. Cena's busted open at the start, Brock batters Cena, ref bumps but Cena prevails. 

I did consider Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio from Payback 2013 but counted it out partly because of the involved, more so ADR as a POS.

20 hours ago, Greggulator said:

I have to work this out. My number one is Shield/Wyatts. Are we counting 2010 or is it from 2011 on? A few other things off the top of my head: Sasha/Bayley, DIY/Revival, Sami/Neville, Punk/Cena, Rhodes Brothers/Shield, Bryan/Bray, Bryan/Cena and I'm sure there is a whole bunch else.

2010-2019, mate. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn from NXT R-Evolution 2014 seems to be underappreciated. I was guilty of that at a time.

[Brian Fowler]

On 2/20/2019 at 3:28 PM, Greggulator said:

I have to work this out. My number one is Shield/Wyatts. Are we counting 2010 or is it from 2011 on? A few other things off the top of my head: Sasha/Bayley, DIY/Revival, Sami/Neville, Punk/Cena, Rhodes Brothers/Shield, Bryan/Bray, Bryan/Cena and I'm sure there is a whole bunch else.

I like a whole lot of this, but I don't remember Bryan/Bray being nearly on that level. Am I just sleeping on it?

[Phil4126]

All of the matches listed are solid selections, but if I had to throw one out that's not on the list yet it would be Moustache Mountain against the Undisputed Era from the NXT weekly TV show. Not sure of the exact date, but its the match where the Era are being shit heels of epic proportions just destroying Trent's knee. Tyler Bate does such a great job with his expressions wanting to throw in the towel but not wanting to give up on Trent, who in turn would rather get his leg snapped off then give up the match. Just a great, great tag team match. I would put it at the lower end of the spectrum, but I love the hell out of it.

My top 5 would be: (1)Shield vs Wyatts at Elimination Chamber

                                   (2)DIY vs Revival-2 out of 3 falls

                                   (3)Daniel Bryan vs John Cena at Summerslam

                                   (4)Taker vs Shawn in the retirement match

                                   (5)Almas vs Gargano

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

I like a whole lot of this, but I don't remember Bryan/Bray being nearly on that level. Am I just sleeping on it?

I haven't seen Bryan/Bray since. Main thing I remember from it is the Sister Abigail to the barricade and it's Bray's best singles match.

[The Natural]

47 minutes ago, Phil4126 said:

All of the matches listed are solid selections, but if I had to throw one out that's not on the list yet it would be Moustache Mountain against the Undisputed Era from the NXT weekly TV show. Not sure of the exact date, but its the match where the Era are being shit heels of epic proportions just destroying Trent's knee. Tyler Bate does such a great job with his expressions wanting to throw in the towel but not wanting to give up on Trent, who in turn would rather get his leg snapped off then give up the match. Just a great, great tag team match. I would put it at the lower end of the spectrum, but I love the hell out of it.

My top 5 would be: (1)Shield vs Wyatts at Elimination Chamber

                                   (2)DIY vs Revival-2 out of 3 falls

                                   (3)Daniel Bryan vs John Cena at Summerslam

                                   (4)Taker vs Shawn in the retirement match

                                   (5)Almas vs Gargano

Thanks for your submission and seeing how similar our top fives are. I revisited Almas vs. Gargano last Tuesday and it holds up. Sometimes when you go back to something your opinion can change for better or worse or remain the same.

[Brian Fowler]

3 minutes ago, The Natural said:

I haven't seen Bryan/Bray since. Main thing I remember from it is the Sister Abigail to the barricade and it's Bray's best singles match.

I mean, I remember it being good, but not anything more than the standard "Bryan got 15-20 minutes on PPV so of course it was good" kind of thing.

Best Bray singles match isn't really high praise.

[Sky Blue Sam]

For my money, Almas/Gargano at Takeover: Philadelphia was the best WWE match since Bret/Piper at WMVIII, so it's the easy pick for #1 to me. Top three would be:

1) Andrade Almas vs Johnny Gargano (NXT Takeover: Philadelphia 2018)

2) Roman Reigns vs Daniel Bryan (Fastlane 2015)

3) The Shield vs The Wyatt Family (Elimination Chamber 2014)