10. Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly – NXT TakeOver 31
This may be the only suitable NXT match to make the list, but for many, this was The game to watch under the WWE banner. After blinking like “The Prince” for almost a year, Balor finally regained the NXT championship after an hour-long Iron Man match and a tiebreaker with Adam Cole. His first challenger was O’Reilly, another member of Undisputed Era who didn’t have a chance to shine like a singles star, despite his claim to fame in Ring of Honor, PWG and New Japan. Balor won the blunt confrontation, but not before O’Reilly broke his jaw in several places. Don’t be shocked if their rematch in New Year’s Ill is on next year’s list.
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9. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley – WrestleMania 36
At the time, this match seemed like a big deal. Rhea Ripley had the rocket firmly strapped to her back and was the first NXT champion to defend her title at WrestleMania. And although the match itself is solid, what happened next angered many fans. Flair won, made only a few appearances on the NXT, did not place a single fighter and lost the title at the next TakeOver (without being immobilized) before being deflected back to Raw. The reserve has encouraged Flair’s loudest critics and Ripley has not yet been able to regain his momentum in the eight months since.
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8. Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov – NXT UK
The British brother of NXT doesn’t get much attention, but this NXT United Kingdom Championship clash was so good that it caught the attention of the entire WWE fandom.
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7. Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton – Clash of Champions (Ambulance Match)
This is easily the strangest choice on the list. Doorbell to buzzer, McIntyre and Orton matches in Survivor Series and the fight for the title on Raw was better, and the support that this fight initially received was centered on the idea that this was the final chapter between McIntyre and Orton. It clearly wasn’t, so the only real highlight is seeing legends like Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair get involved briefly.
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6. Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles – Friday Night SmackDown
Sami Zayn’s prolonged absence from WWE television prompted WWE to withdraw him from the Intercontinental Championship in May. SmackDown then hosted an eight-man tournament to crown a new champion, culminating in a match between Bryan and Styles. Even though the two didn’t have a big storyline, they ended up having one of the best fights of the year.
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5. Sami Zayn vs. Jeff Hardy vs. AJ Styles – Clash of Champions (Ladder Match)
Each of these three made a name for themselves in their youthful days with death-defying matches. And despite the average age of this match being 40, it ended up being one of the craziest ladder matches in recent memory.
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4. Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre – Survivor Series
Roman Reigns’ heel turn and Universal Championship reign as “The Tribal Chief” was undoubtedly one of the best stories of 2020. And while his confrontations with Jey Uso and Kevin Owens were more exciting, none of these fights came close to your champion vs. Champion fights McIntyre when it comes to absolute brutality. This has all the ingredients of a main WrestleMania event if and when WWE wants to host it again.
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3. Edge vs. Randy Orton – Backlash (the greatest wrestling match of all time)
“The Greatest Match Ever” wasn’t even the best match of 2020 …
Jokes aside, Edge vs. Orton II ended up being a love letter for professional wrestling thanks to all the extra wrinkles that have been added. The only real blow against him was Edge suffering from a torn triceps during the shot of the match, an injury he has not yet returned from.
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2. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley – Hell in a Cell
The long-awaited implosion of Bayley and Banks was everything their fans expected it to be, culminating in an almost perfect Hell in a Cell Match.
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1. The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles – WrestleMania 36 (Boneyard Match)
It seems almost poetic. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced WWE to change its plans in the past 10 months, including what it wanted to do with Undertaker vs. AJ Styles at WrestleMania. Instead of a game inside an empty Performance Center, fans were presented with something that looked like something out of an action movie. This new type of game – a Cinematic Game – ended up being part of WWE programming for the rest of the year. This one in particular remains because a) it was the first, b) many think it was the best WrestleMania 36 fight and c) it ended up being the Undertaker’s last fight in his WWE career.
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