Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches: #51 The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE WrestleMania 30)

Let me be clear: there is one reason and one reason only that this match is on the list. Spoilers ahead….

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches: #59 Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Batista (Triple Threat WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match, WrestleMania 30)

Just think for a moment: this match was originally scheduled to be Randy Orton vs Batista. But the power of the WWE Universe literally changed the WrestleMania main event. The crowd wanted Daniel Bryan to be in the main event. People power changed the mind of Vince McMahon!!! Just think about THAT for a moment. This triple threat match isn’t the best triple threat match to headline WrestleMania…but the best one involved Chris Benoit and has thus been stricken from WWE records. This triple threat is a fun, exciting match. But it’s on the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches….List for one reason: the incredible rise of Daniel Bryan.

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches: #68 AJ Styles (c) vs. John Cena (WWE Championship Match, Royal Rumble 2017)

AJ Styles vs John Cena from the Royal Rumble 2017 is the most recent match on the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches…List. It’s strange that there’s nothing from 2016…the year that had the mind-blowing match between Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura! However, out of the three matches between Styles and Cena, I’m not sure whether I’d put their second bout on this list instead of this bout. Their first “dream” match as a letdown, their second match was brilliant. But the third match relied on Cena’s attempt to match Ric Flair’s record of holding sixteen World heavyweight championship titles. There’s no denying it was a great match. But I do prefer their second bout…

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #85 Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bayley (NXT Women’s Championship Match, NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn)

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v400412483/?contentId=&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=wwe_nxt

According to the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches…List, this is the best women’s wrestling match on the WWE Network. There are only two women’s matches on the list, by the way. In an ideal world, there’d be far more women’s matches on the list. But wrestling has been dominated by men for a long time, and it’s only in the past couple of years (in the Western wrestling world) that women have risen in wrestling stature. Sure, you can point to Trish Stratus, Lita, etc, but they existed in an era where a women’s assets meant her breasts. Now, women regularly main event Raw and Smackdown (if not PPVs). And, in my humble opinion, Sasha Banks vs Bayley is the peak of modern women’s wrestling. Yes, they may have moved onto the big leagues, but nothing gets better than this match.

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #90 Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Tyler Breeze (NXT Championship Fatal 4-Way Match: NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, Sept. 11, 2014))

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v36306835/?contentId=&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=wwe_nxt )

Is this the greatest Fatal 4-Way match in WWE history? Well, since there are no WWE Fatal 4-Way matches in the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches…List, this is the best match by default! True, I can’t think of many Fatal 4-Way matches from the WWE that are memorable (oh, apart from the Fatal 4-Way match at this year’s Summerslam. But that’s after the time of this 100 Best Matches..List). However, I would try to find space for the Fatal 4-Way match for the NXT Woman’s Championship from NXT Takeover: Rival. Check it out! However, the Fatal 4-Way match from NXT Takeover: Fatal 4-Way deserves to be in the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches…List (but if you’ve watch #100 you’ll know the end of the match!). It’s a culmination of several storylines and the progression of one storyline in particular that manages to highlight all four wrestlers involved.

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #100 Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn (NXT Championship vs Career Match: NXT TakeOver: R Evolution)

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v37044989/?contentId=&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=wwe_nxt )

In the old WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To Watch Before You Die List, #100 was taken by HHH vs Chris Jericho in a Last Man Standing match. In the new List, it’s taken by Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn (HHH vs Y2J has been taken off the list!). Now, if I asked you to name the best underdog story of 2014, you’d probably say Daniel Bryan’s road to WrestleMania. However, that was not planned by WWE. We, the people, forced their hand. Just think, the original plan for WrestleMania 30 was to have Batista and Randy Orton main event…While Bryan’s underdog story was satisfying, Sami Zayn’s underdog story built for over half a year until it culminated in this match. And what a match it is…

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #1 The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Wrestlemania 25)

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31305869/?contentId=31305869&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=wrestlemania )

Finally, after two and a half years, I’ve reached #1 on the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die List! Yes, reviewing each match was the reason I started this blog in February 2014. Of course, I expanded into film and (occasionally) TV, but one night after seeing the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches…List I decided to write about them. I probably could have done it in less than two years, even if I’d reviewed one match per week. But hey, life gets in the way sometimes (as does our natural proclivity for laziness…or mine at least!). Unfortunately, earlier this year the WWE Network updated their 100 Best Matches…List, so after I review this one I’ll have to watch the matches added to the 100 Best Matches…List (click here for my blog explaining what happened).

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #2 Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (Submission Match, WWE Wrestlemania 13)

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31366763/?contentId=31366763&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=wrestlemania )

#3 on the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches…List set the standard for in-ring work during the late 80s period of the WWE. #2 set off something far more important: it at once gave rise to the mighty Stone Cold Steve Austin and thus the Attitude Era (and a boom period for the WWE). However, #3 hasn’t aged well (click here for my review). #2 has a timeless aspect to it. Like Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat did at WrestleMania III, ten years later Stone Cold and Bret Hart stole the show in a mid-card bout. In surely one of the best submission matches in the history of wrestling (not just the WWE), Stone Cold and Bret Hart put on a match for the ages.

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #3 Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (WWE Intercontinental Title, WWE Wrestlemania III)

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31348409/?contentId=31348409&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=wrestlemania )

At #3, we have the WrestleMania classic, Randy Savage vs Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat. Well, I say classic because the general consensus is they put on a classic match. And it’s at #3, for goodness sake! However, it’s one of those “classic” matches that hasn’t matured well with age. It set the bar high for WWE matches back when spectacle and A-list stars (and Hulk Hogan) were all Vince McMahon cared about. It blows anything away in 1980s WWE. But it’s merely very good compared to today’s standards. So, it’s on the WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches…List for what it stands for, rather than what it looks like today…

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #4 Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair (NWA World Title, 2/3 Falls, NWA Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin’ Cajun)

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v32297671/?contentId=32297671&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=clash_of_the_champions )

This is the second battle between Flair and Steamboat in their Holy Trilogy of matches. We saw the third match at #17 (click here for my review) and the first match at #11 (click here for my review). There’ll always be debate about which match is the best out of the three. For me, I’d say it’s a tie between this bout and the concluding part. They’re both on the same high level but a dodgy ending lets this one down a little. After nearly an hour’s worth of quality wrestling, the ending seems like a bad joke. But what happens before is nothing short of spectacular.