8 – Bayley vs Sasha Banks – Hell in a Cell (October 25)
This pay-per-view had three Hell-In-A-Cell matches so one would imagine that it would be hard to do something special within those closely spaced cell matches. Right? Well, not for these two women. They are truly at the top of their game both of them are in contention for the title of the best wrestler of the year. The match was the blow-off to the feud that had been boiling between the two for a long time. The match delivered well with very creative use of foreign weapons and spots that would have wowed an arena full of wrestling fans but at least it wowed us at our homes and those in the Thunderdome. The match told the story of a vengeance-filled Banks looking to take revenge on her former best friend. After a great run as the Golden Role Models, these two topped it off with an extraordinary match. The ending of the match was fitting too as The Boss wrapped a chair around Bayley’s neck and locked in the Bank Statement. If that wasn’t enough, she then went on to repeatedly kick the chair while Bayley’s head was still stuck in it. Sasha and Bayley always deliver when they wrestle each other but this might be the best of their matches. This shows the caliber that these two wrestle at; this is one of the matches of the year yet it might not be the best match these two have had.
7 – Walter vs Ilja Dragunov – NXT UK (October 29)
Brutal. This match was absolutely brutal, but it was undoubtedly one of the greats. Walter and Dragunov beat the shit out of each other and the reason this is on this list is, mainly, because, for about half an hour, I forgot that wrestling is scripted. These two men really wanted to kill each other. There was not a single moment in this match that didn’t exemplify pain and agony. The commentary team also added to the match. Plus, the sound of Walters chops echoing throughout the empty building compensated for the fact that they were wrestling without a crowd, and kudos to the wrestlers for absorbing all that pain without any adrenaline from the crowd to make them feel better. If anyone still says “wrestling is fake”, show them this match. This is a perfect example of what wrestling is meant to be. This is one style of wrestling that is rare nowadays and these two Europeans proved that realism is still alive.
6 – Charlotte Flair vs Io Shirai vs Rhea Ripley – NXT Takeover: In Your House (June 8)
Another absolutely amazing match that NXT put out this year. These three women tore the house down in the main event. Going into this match, people were confused as to who to root for between Io and Rhea (not many wanted Charlotte to win, to be honest). On one side you can give Rhea her win over Charlotte back and complete her arc but on the other hand, you have one of the best wrestlers at the time and you could make her a star. The match was wild and rightly placed as the main event of the Takeover. The action in this triple threat was non-stop as all three participants were involved in almost every single spot keeping the fans constantly at the edge of their seats. All three women looked like million bucks that night, heavily putting over the winner and the future prospect of NXT at the end, Io Shirai who did a crazy dive from the top of the set-up house. The match all in all was tremendous.