Best Of 2010s: Match Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

We’ll wrap it up with this, which is as important of an award as you can have. The name on the marquee says wrestling and at the end of the day, it all comes down to the big wrestling matches that people are willing to watch (preferably after paying to do so). With so many matches over the last ten years, I have a pretty long list of options as there are just so many to pick from.

Honorable Mention

John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan – Summerslam 2013 – Cena was a big part of making Bryan by selecting him for this match, but what mattered more was Bryan going over Cena completely clean. It set up everything until Wrestlemania and was an instant classic in the process. Not bad all around for a dream match.

Ten Man Tag – WrestleCon SuperShow 2017 – I saw this one in person and it changed the way I look at wrestling. Check out the review of the show and then check out the match itself because it’s some of the most fun you’ll have with ten guys going completely insane.

Revival vs. DIY – Takeover: Toronto – It might be the most entertaining tag match I’ve ever seen with DIY working together and FINALLY beating the Revival to win the titles. The last shot of the match is awesome and this is as feel good of a moment as you’re getting this side of the Harts beating Demolition.

Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada – Dominion 2018 – I’m still a bigger story/promo guy so I don’t have the connection to this one that some people might. That being said, it’s incredible and one heck of a showdown. It’s not seven stars or whatever it was because that match doesn’t exist, but it is more than worth the lengthy time.

Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne – Takeover: Chicago – Sometimes you see stars made before your eyes and these two did just that. They went out there and showcased themselves on the big stage with a match for the ages. What else could you ask for from two people who had only been alive for about 45 years between the two of them? And then THEY GOT BETTER!

CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar – Summerslam 2013

A lot of people, myself included, have criticized Lesnar since his return to WWE. He does a lot of things that get on a lot of people’s nerves, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do great things when he’s given the chance. Lesnar was feeling it on this night though and they did a great job of making me care about everything that was going on in the match. It’s an amazing story and that’s what you need in something like this.

What mattered most here was Punk looked like the kind of hero who could take down the Beast once and for all. It took Paul Heyman to stop Punk and when Lesnar finally took him out with the F5, it wasn’t a feeling of dread but rather a feeling of you just saw something special. That’s the kind of thing you don’t get very often and it was an incredible performance on all sides.

John Cena vs. CM Punk – Money In The Bank 2011

I don’t remember the last time I saw a match that made me wonder just how things were going to go. There were so many things going on every step of the way and I didn’t know what was going to happen in the match. The fact that the match worked so well and was an instant classic from bell to bell made it even better. There were so many things going on at once though and there was no stopping this one.

The drama is what made this work so well though, as there was this real feeling of not knowing what was coming. Punk’s stunned face when he won the title and the famous shot of Punk blowing a kiss to Vince McMahon before left with the title are the kind of things you’re never going to forget. It’s a special moment and that isn’t going to be topped for the better part of ever.

Undertaker vs. HHH – Wrestlemania XXVIII

There aren’t many matches that are the culmination of a four year feud and yet they managed to make it happen here. This was the fourth straight match between Undertaker and HHH/Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania, and this time it was technically against both of them at once. It was clear that Undertaker had to take himself to a new level to win and that’s exactly what he did.

There are two spots here that showed you what was going on. First was the spot of the decade with Undertaker kicking out of the superkick into the Pedigree, which is as good of a kickout as I’ve ever seen. Later in the match, HHH reached for the sledgehammer, the only thing that he could use against Undertaker, and Undertaker just stepped on it, showing that it was over. Another beating ensued and it was the Tombstone for the pin. It was an incredible ride and it had the moments to make it work throughout. Incredible stuff, and you have to react to it in some way.

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks – Takeover: Brooklyn

I was tempted to put this on the top as it might be my favorite match of the decade. The storytelling here is top notch, with Banks coming in at the top of her game and having all of the confidence in the world. By the end though, she was barely standing and throwing wild right hands because it was all she had left. Bayley finally put her away with the Bayley to Belly but Banks was dead where she stood before then. It was Bayley not just winning, but rather defeating Banks, which is what they were going for here.

What mattered was making a new star. Bayley had been chasing the title forever and needed to prove that she could hang at this level. That’s what happened here and it’s one of the best performances either of them have ever seen. It’s a great match and a great moment with Bayley moving to the top of the division (and arguably the top of the promotion at the same time). Watch this one again, as I do every now and then just because I love seeing it.

And now, for the final listing of the decade, it’s an old favorite.

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa – Takeover: New Orleans

What else is there to say about this? It’s one of the best displays of hatred and storytelling in recent years and the match that had been nearly a year in the making. Ciampa turned on Ciampa in May 2017 but tore his ACL, meaning he was gone for the better part of a year. That didn’t stop him from haunting Gargano the entire time though, and there was only one solution for the two of them when Ciampa got back: a fight. Not a match, but a fight.

That’s what we got too, with Gargano and Ciampa beating the fire out of each other. The fans made this even better, as Ciampa came to the ring to no music, thereby allowing him to be booed even louder. Later, Ciampa bounced off of the concrete and the fans told him that HE DESERVED IT. The fans wanted to see Ciampa get what was coming to him and that’s what happened after an incredible fight. This is what they had built to and then they gave the people what they wanted to see. It’s great, and there was nothing better in ten years.

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Best Of 2010s: Worst Match Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

As much as people are going to remember the best matches, these are the ones that are going to get people talking more than anything else. The wretched, terrible matches are the kind that stick in your head because you wonder how bad things can possibly get. Sometimes it’s the whole match and sometimes it’s one thing, but these are the matches that you’ll remember for all the wrong reasons.

Honorable Mention

Sting vs. Jeff Hardy – Victory Road 2011 – I’m not putting this as an official one as I don’t consider it a “real” match. Instead, we have another mess where TNA managed to make it even worse, because that’s what they did back then. There’s a reason this keeps getting brought up and it’s not getting topped for a long time.

Kaitlyn vs. Maxine – NXT – October 19, 2010 – Just watch it and try not to cringe.

Royal Rumble 2015

It takes something special to have the fans booing the Rock out of the building. This is one of those horrible ideas that could not have been much worse and it’s a big part of why Roman Reigns never reached the point they were wanting him to achieve. They missed every single point of this whole thing and it could not have gone much worse.

The entire idea of this match was to make Roman Reigns look like a star. They managed to turn it into the biggest disaster imaginable with one mistake after the other. Reigns looked like he had no business being in the ring and was little more than a big WWE logo. His big opponents were Big Show and Kane, plus a surprise Rusev at the end. That’s their big idea to get him to face Lesnar? No wonder he was a failure for so long.

Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole – Wrestlemania XXVII

I named this worst feud of the decade and I’d say that gives it a fast pass on to this list. The match itself wasn’t any good in the first place, including Cole being way too dominant and having Steve Austin and Jack Swagger there to try and make it interesting. Lawler can have a watchable match with a bag of wet mice but for some reason this is the best thing that they had for him to do.

And then he lost, because WWE felt the need to keep the story going on and on. Why should Wrestlemania be the blowoff for some big feud? This was a complete misfire and the crowd just dying as a result shows you how bad it really was. The show never recovered from this because WWE set it up for one possible ending and then we got the complete opposite, presumably just for the sake of messing with us. How lucky we are.

Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton – Wrestlemania XXXIII

I was in the stadium for this one and I’m still not sure what I watched. After a pretty decent build with Orton infiltrating the Wyatt Family to take them down from within and possibly destroying Sister Abigail, we wound up with some bizarre mind game where Wyatt put gross images on the mat to get in Orton’s head. Orton’s response? RKO for the pin and the title….which he lost to Jinder Mahal.

What were they thinking with this mess? It was a bunch of bad wrestling in between their weird ideas. If you want to do Wyatt vs. Orton at Wrestlemania then just do the match. Instead we got something that I’m sure WWE found to be very clever and it wound up being a disaster of other level proportions. How Wyatt survived this is beyond me, but he managed to make it work despite this disaster.

Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal – Battleground 2017

This is the Punjabi Prison match and MY GOODNESS it still manages to get on my nerves. Mahal got to go out there for nearly half an hour before Great Khali came in to save him. The only highlight of this was seeing Orton torture the Singh Brothers, who deserved a big raise after everything they went through with the whole Mahal story.

The problem with this match is the length (in addition to Mahal just being there, because there is little reason for him to be anywhere near the top of the card), as the match just went on and on for WAY too long. It was Orton getting close to winning and then the Singhs interfering and then Orton getting close to winning and then the Singhs interfering over and over and it just never stopped. I hated this match and it was the last straw after Mahal would not go away no matter how much people rejected him.

Those made me mad. This one was mad and sad.

Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend – Hell In A Cell

Over the years, there are very few matches that I’ve seen that actually made me mad. It takes something special to misfire on every point while damaging your hot new character and wrecking your big gimmick match. WWE managed to do this while also getting fans to chant for the competition at the end of the show. Rollins was in a bad place already and this shoved him to the point of no return.

I still can’t fathom how bad this really was. Fiend was the unstoppable monster and while Rollins didn’t completely destroy him, it was one of those nights where you had to wonder how bad things were when they were setting it up. This was the best thing they could do with their monster? In the Cell? I’ve used a lot of words to talk about this one in the last few months and I could continue doing so for a long time to come. The match was another level of awful and I don’t see it being topped anytime soon.

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Best Of 2010s: Major Show Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

You know a great one of these when you see it as they have all of the awesome parts and very few in the way of weakness. Now I know that this is going to include a lot of Takeovers and….well how could it not? Those shows are critically acclaimed and it’s almost impossible to not have have them very high on the list. I’ll try to limit it, but that’s not exactly easy.

Honorable Mention

Summerslam 2013 – This is one of those shows where people remember the one two punch of a double main event but there is so much other great stuff on there. I watched it again last year and sweet goodness it might be the best Summerslam of all time.

Wrestle Kingdom XIII – You have to have some Wrestle Kingdom on here as the shows are often incredible and this one might have been the best one I’ve ever seen. Great matches, great action and how GREAT was it to have this be less than four hours? That’s such an important key as they get out before it loses its welcome.

Takeover: Brooklyn I – This might have my favorite NXT Match ever and that is some pretty high praise. NXT was on the top of the world and got to show what they could do. The fact that it would somehow get even better is almost scary, but that’s just what they do down there.

Takeover: Brooklyn IV – I had almost forgotten about this one and that’s saying a lot. It’s the one with the Last Man Standing match between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, with Gargano taking the injured Aleister Black’s place. On top of that there’s Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era and Ricochet vs. Adam Cole. Isn’t NXT fun?

Wrestlemania XXX

Somehow this was almost added in for the sake of filling in some space on the main list. Wrestlemania XXX is always going to be special to me as it’s the first Wrestlemania I ever attended live. I remember walking into the stadium and seeing some lights flickering through the black curtains. All I could think was “Wrestlemania is behind there.” Then there was the show itself and….my goodness.

Between Hogan, Austin and Rock in the same ring, Bryan vs. HHH, the Streak being broken and Bryan’s incredible celebration, what more could you want? WWE knows how to do these big anniversary shows and that was on full display here, with one great moment after another, all capped off by the feel good moment to end it. This is one of those shows that always makes me smile and that is never going to change.

Takeover: Dallas

This show feels like a lifetime ago and yet it still holds up today. The problem here is how many shows have surpassed it, which is downright scary. For a long time this was the benchmark for what Takeover could be and my goodness it was something special. You had something that showed just how good it could be and it had fans, including myself, who was in the crowd that night, desperate for more.

That night saw everything that you needed, with the incredible Revival vs. American Alpha opener, the perfectly fine Baron Corbin vs. Austin Aries, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn’s nice to meet you/we’ll miss you special, Asuka crushing Bayley and FINN BALOR HAS A CHAINSAW. This is something that blew the roof off the place and it’s still one of the best Takeovers ever, which is some pretty high praise.

Money In The Bank 2011

Sometimes you see a show that doesn’t bother with any pretense and just hits you in the face with one great match after another. That’s what you had here with the two Money In The Bank matches, the underrated Randy Orton vs. Christian feud and the instant masterpiece between John Cena and CM Punk (the reason Orton vs. Christian didn’t get the recognition that it deserved).

It’s a show where everyone is going to remember the incredible main event but there is a lot more to the show than that. With so many great things going on at the same show, it’s hard not to give this show some serious praise. The main event is what matters more than anything else though, and that’s one of the best match ever, which is the kind of thing that moves this all the way to the top of the list.

Takeover: New York

My goodness what a show. This is the kind of event that gives Takeover the reputation that it deserves. The first three matches on here are all instant classics and the main event is the big emotional moment that the fans had been waiting for. It’s one of the best and most entertaining shows that I’ve ever seen and that is hardly shocking given what NXT does on the big stage.

The big deal here is Johnny Gargano winning the NXT Title by defeating Adam Cole. Gargano had been chasing the title from Tommaso Ciampa for months and then he FINALLY got the win that he had been looking for. If this had been Gargano defeating Ciampa for the title to end their amazing feud, it might be the greatest show of all time. As it is, it’s just one of the best ever and that’s saying something given its competition.

Yeah I’m splitting hairs here, and me being in the building might have had something to do with it.

Takeover: New Orleans

What brings this over is the emotion. The big main event here was the first Gargano vs. Ciampa showdown, which was as awesome of a fight/brawl that I’ve ever seen. NXT made the right call by making this the main event. There was nothing else topping it and NXT turned in one of the incredible shows that you knew they were capable of and then some.

On top of that, you have what might have been the best multi-man ladder match since TLC II, which covers quite a bit of ground. These six people fought the heck out of each other for half an hour and everyone looked like a star. Then you have everything else on the show, including the awesome NXT Title match with Aleister Black kicking Andrade’s head off to win the title. This is a special show and I don’t know of anything better in the last decade.

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Best Of 2010s: Moment Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

These are the ones that stick in your mind forever because they’re what people remember more than anything else. Some of these can come at the end of a match, during a segment, backstage, or really anywhere in between. They might not mean much in the long run or they could change everything forever. Either way, they’re the things that people remember the most and that is the case as we enter a new decade.

Honorable Mention

Big E. Langston Faces The Shield – NXT – January 2, 2012 – This is a personal one for me. NXT Champion Seth Rollins was defending against Corey Graves when the Shield interfered. GM Dusty Rhodes sent out the locker room and they all got slaughtered as well. Watching at home, I said out loud “In a good promotion, this is where the monster would come out for a showdown.” As soon as I said it, Big E. came out and the Shield ran. I was hooked.

Sting Debuts – Survivor Series 2014 – Yes, that actually happened after all the years. It didn’t mean anything in the long run, but for an old WCW fan, this was magical.

Daniel Bryan Is Medically Cleared – Smackdown – March 20, 2018 – I never thought I would see the day but it actually happened. This was a feel good story as Bryan was FINALLY back in the ring where he belonged after three long years away. Good for him and he’s still going strong.

Women Main Event Wrestlemania – Wrestlemania XXXV – At Wrestlemania XXVI, the women’s match was a ten woman tag that ran 3:26. XXVII and XXIX didn’t have a women’s match. XXVIII had a women’s celebrity match. XXX was a big cluster match. We’ve come a long way and again, I never thought I would see something like this.

Austin, Rock and Hogan Together – Wrestlemania XXX – Yep.

Undertaker/HHH/Shawn Michaels Hug

This was arguably fifteen years in the making, as the three of them had had so many battles and wars over the years. The last four Wrestlemanias had offered some of the best matches in recent memory as the three legends left it all in the ring and nearly destroyed each other in one classic after another. The final blowoff in the Cell had the best near fall I’ve ever seen. It was a roller coaster the whole way through and it had to end with something special.

That’s exactly what it did too, as all three got together and hugged on the stage, signaling that the wars were over (until Australia and Saudi Arabia needed big matches of course). This would never happen at such a level again and it was amazing to get to watch these things unfold in front of our eyes. They were incredible performers at the top of their game and deserved every second of what they got.

Kofi Kingston Wins

One of the things you hear a lot about in wrestling is the journey that you have to take to get to the goal and that is how things were with Kofi Kingston. He debuted in 2006 and seemed incapable of having a bad match. However, he also never made it close to the main event scene and the idea of him being a World Champion seemed impossible. Then we came to the Elimination Chamber in 2019 and it wound up being Kofi vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.

I don’t remember the last time that so many people snapped to attention so fast. Somehow this felt like something that could really happen and that’s what needed to happen. Kingston could actually do it and while he didn’t make it at the Elimination Chamber, he was suddenly a real threat to the title. That took us to Wrestlemania XXXV and he did it. Kofi Kingston actually did it and won the WWE Championship clean in the middle of the ring. It was a special moment and everyone knew it, because Kofi Kingston had earned every single thing that he was finally getting.

Becky Lynch Bleeds And Stands Tall

There are moments in wrestling where you can feel something is about to happen. When Hogan returned in 1984 to save Bob Backlund. When Austin Stunned McMahon. When Batista gave HHH the thumbs down. You can see the future before you and you know where things are going. The energy spikes and it doesn’t matter what happens next, because you know where it’s going.

That’s what happened on the November 12, 2018 Monday Night Raw when Becky Lynch led the Smackdown women in an invasion of Monday Night Raw. Lynch attacked Ronda Rousey in the locker room and then took the fight to the stage. A damaged Ronda came out but got taken down….as Nia Jax wildly swung and knocked Becky silly, breaking her nose and giving her a concussion in the process. Lynch wasn’t done and kept fighting, eventually being forced to flee into the crowd. The show ended with a bloody Becky posing near the top of the arena and a star was born. It was Becky’s time and everyone knew it, in case they didn’t before.

Daniel Bryan Wins

This one is similar to Kofi but I think it’s just a bit better. Kofi’s run had only taken place over the course of about six weeks while this one was over more than six months, with Bryan being screwed over by the Authority but never giving up (that’s kind of a trend with him) and eventually found his way to the main event of Wrestlemania XXX. Then the magic happened.

The main story here was a major villain, with the Authority constantly telling us that Bryan was never going to reach the top. That gave Bryan a reason to fight, and fight he did, all the way to the highest point that he could with an amazing performance that went beyond anything we could have expected. It felt like a changing of the guard in a feel good moment, which was exactly what they were shooting for. Well done indeed.

CM Punk Wins

There are times in wrestling where you say “That couldn’t happen….right?” That last word is where everything gets interesting, because all WWE has to do is go there and they have their fans right where they want them. That’s what they did going into Money In The Bank 2011, as CM Punk threatened to win the WWE Championship and leave the company with the title. That couldn’t happen…right?

Well that’s exactly what DID happen and it was one of the first times I can remember where I didn’t know what to expect. That’s an incredible feeling to have and it worked like a charm here. While it got brought down a lot by having Punk back two weeks later, it was a special moment and Punk blowing a kiss to Vince before leaving through the crowd is as good as it gets.

And now, as bad as it gets.

The Streak….Is Over

I’ve been a wrestling fan for over thirty years. During that time, a lot of things have come and gone and that is always going to be the case. When I was born, Hulk Hogan was the WWF Champion. Now, Hogan is recently back from being blackballed from the company and only gets to make the occasional legends appearance. For most of my life though, there were only a handful of constants. One of those was taken away at Wrestlemania XXX.

On that night, Brock Lesnar defeated the Undertaker, ending a Streak which began over 23 years earlier (on Undertaker’s birthday actually). It’s something I never thought I would see and I really did believe that there was a chance it would live forever. I was in the stadium that night and I could not stand up or speak. It was that kind of shock: they managed to shut me up, and that’s all the proof you need that this was one for the ages.

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Best Of 2010s: Wrestler Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

This might be the biggest of them all and that makes things all the more interesting. It really depends on what you’re looking for in the best wrestler in the world, as you could go with the wrestling abilities or the talking abilities or some combination of the two, which is really what matters most. There are a lot of great ones in there and several ways to go with the choices.

Honorable Mention

Johnny Gargano – I know he isn’t on the main roster, but you don’t have this many incredible matches at a high level without getting some recognition. The Johnny Takeover name is very appropriate (partially because his name is Johnny) and he has become a guaranteed hit on the major shows. That’s worthy of at least a mention.

Chris Jericho – I’m not sure where to put Jericho because he’s turned it back up to another level since he became a living legend, but there was a big gap in the middle of the 2010s where he was just kind of there. The List brought him back up and then AEW put him back over the moon, but the special attraction nature for such a long time holds him back just a bit.

Hiroshi Tanahashi – This is a name where you kind of have to include him, just because of everything that he has accomplished and continues to accomplish. Every time he seems ready to be put out to pasture he just keeps hanging around, because he really is that good.

Randy Orton

I know a lot of people aren’t big on Orton, but he is one of the most talented people in wrestling history. He has the talent, the resume and the killer finisher to make it work. He’s one of the most consistent wrestlers on the roster and if John Cena hadn’t been around for so much of his career, we would look at Orton in awe.

You’re going to be hard pressed to find someone as good at everything as he is and possesses the kind of talent that almost no one else has. There’s a reason why he is always around and given how good he still can be in the ring, he is going to be around for as long as he wants to be. Orton might not be popular all the time, but he’s around for a reason and had a great decade.

AJ Styles

How can you not have him in there? Styles is the rare breed of wrestler who has dominated everywhere he goes. He’s the most successful wrestler ever from TNA, then he won the IWGP Heavyweight Title and then he won several WWE Titles. Has anyone ever done that? Kurt Angle maybe? Styles really is one of the best of all time and it’s great to get to see him shine on this kind of a level.

What matters the most about Styles is that he still feels special. Styles went from being the huge fish in the small pond to finally graduating to something big in New Japan and then to the main event in WWE. He has been a featured attraction throughout and while his career is winding down, there is still a lot to enjoy about everything he does, which hopefully is the case for a long time to come.

Kenny Omega

This is another name where you have to include him whether you’re a fan of his or not. Omega has done so many things everywhere he has gone and while the style might not be your favorite, he is the rare star to get some nearly universal acclaim. I’m not big on a lot of the video game references and some of his style gets annoying a times, but dang if he can’t have one exciting match after another.

Omega is now considered one of the big stars in AEW and there is a reason to expect him to be there, at a high level, for a long time to come. When his matches get to that next level, there is almost no stopping him and he has the legendary series with Okada, including the IWGP World Title win, to cement things even further. If you can’t get into him at least a bit, you might want to check your pulse.

Kazuchika Okada

It’s very rare that you see someone who feels like he is the best in the world but that’s the feeling you get every time Okada is in the ring. He has size, the look, the completely overrated finisher (I will die on that hill if I have to) and the presence to make you feel like you’re seeing greatness in front of you. If nothing else, he might have the greatest dropkick of all time and that’s always worth seeing.

The problem with Okada is what is he supposed to do now? He’s dominated New Japan for so long now and is still relatively young. What in the world is left for him to do? I mean, other than going back to Impact and beating their heads into a wall for using him as a freaking superhero sidekick instead of LETTING HIM BE OKADA! I know the Rainmaker gimmick wasn’t there yet but put him in boots and trunks and let him do his thing. Anyway, Okada is great, in case you didn’t know that somehow.

Daniel Bryan

This is more my speed as Bryan only started in WWE at the beginning of the decade and then got thrown out almost immediately once he made it to Raw. He was back soon enough through and slowly took the company by storm, being capped off by the absolutely incredible YES Movement and the title win at Wrestlemania XXX. How in the world do you top that? By doing it again.

Bryan winning the title at Wrestlemania XXX may not have been the ultimate surprise, but him coming back to the ring after three years away certainly was. I never would have believed that he could make it back but through never giving up and being near insane in his efforts, Bryan was medically cleared, won the WWE Championship again, and reinvented himself as a psycho environmentalist. It takes someone special to do that and Bryan certainly qualifies.

And now, say it with me.

John Cena

There are very few wrestlers who can be placed on the list of true faces of the WWE. You have Bruno, Hogan, Austin, Rock and then Cena. That’s as elite of a list as you’re going to get and Cena has fought his way to make it on there, which he has certainly earned. The 2010s were Cena’s legendary time as he came in as the top star in the company and then moved on to the US Open Challenge where he would have an awesome match every week just because he could. Couple that with the part time mega legendary status that he has enjoyed since 2016 and what else can you need?

Oh yeah: that whole biggest match of his generation with the Rock. There is very little that Cena has not done yet (save for the Intercontinental Title, which you would think he would have won at some point in his career) and yet somehow you could believe he could still pop in and break Flair’s record. He’s already tied it, and that’s the kind of unreachable star that only a special someone could reach. Cena is beyond special though, and that was made clear in the last ten years.

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Best Of 2010s: Worst Angle Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

This might be the one that is remembered above anything else. Anyone can have a bad match but you can make up for it the next time out. When you have a bad angle though, it can just keep going and going no matter what you do. That can make things all the more frustrating every time you have to see these people and that’s a pretty terrible feeling. There were some bad ones to pick through, but which is the worst? Or is it best here? Eh I don’t think anything is the best out of these messes.

Honorable Mention

Lana/Bobby Lashley/Rusev – I’m not putting this one on the regular list because A, it’s still going and B, I still don’t find it to be as bad as some. It’s not good by any means, but there are far worse choices.

Shane McMahon’s Lockbox – This was a red herring if you’ve ever seen one, as Shane threatened to reveal the contents of a lockbox that would reveal everything about Vince McMahon. The unveiling hinged on Shane vs. Undertaker at Wrestlemania, where Shane lost. Don’t worry though because the next night Shane got to run Raw anyway, making the whole thing one big waste of time.

Big Show Is Broke – Yeah remember this one? Apparently Big Show had fallen on hard financial times and had to work for the Authority, often crying over what he had to do. It was way too similar to Shawn Michaels working for JBL, which wasn’t exactly good either. This isn’t as terrible as some, but it’s pretty stupid and that warrants a mention.

The Authority

Again, it wasn’t all bad, but when it was bad, it was REALLY bad. The problem here was like so many McMahon stories: it went on for so long that it lost any meaning that it might have had in the first place. The Authority were the latest big bads who were telling everyone how to live their lives. That took a long time out of any given show and it kept feeling like little more than a way to get HHH and Stephanie on TV.

Survivor Series 2014 seemed to be the big saving grace of everything with Sting arriving to FINALLY vanquish the Authority….but they were back three weeks later because we just couldn’t live without them. It felt like that for a long time until they were finally gone, only to be replaced by Shane McMahon….with Stephanie joining him a few weeks later. Are you noticing a pattern here?

Anonymous Raw GM

Back in the 1990s, it was decided that wrestling fans were too stupid to get how things were put together and an authority figure was needed. For some reason this has continued for more than twenty years with one boss after another showing up to run things at any given time. That was the case again here, but this time we couldn’t see the boss’ face. Instead, we had Michael Cole reading emails from someone we never saw.

Of course we did wind up seeing him and it was…Hornswoggle, who was apparently a joke as the identity was never supposed to be revealed. It would have been better had no one ever been named, but why would you expect WWE to not follow up on a joke no one was asking for in the first place? This was stupid and got annoying fast, and then the payoff wasn’t something anyone was asking for. Oh and it just led to more HHH as boss because of course.

AJ Styles/Claire Lynch

Remember this one? Apparently AJ, the ultimate family man, had an affair with some woman named Claire Lynch, who cried about him over and over. It was stupid, it wasn’t interesting, it felt out of place, and then the actress playing Lynch quit because fans were yelling at her, mainly because was doing her job of being a heel. Allegedly she didn’t want to be associated with wrestling and if that’s true, I’m glad she’s gone. Heaven forbid an actress get to appear on national television every week. I’m sure any actress would turn down that job in a heartbeat.

It was a bad end to a horrible story. AJ Styles can play a heel just fine and having some bad soap opera story wasn’t the way to go. Let us see what he can do on his own by being the best in the world. Don’t do something stupid that no one is asking to see because you want to have some creative writing deal. There’s nothing good about this story, other than some actress who thinks she’s too good for wrestling being off television.

Kevin Nash Texted Himself

I’m still not sure if this makes sense. So back in 2011, Kevin Nash appeared in the Royal Rumble and got a huge reaction. Then for some reason he interfered in a World Title match at Summerslam 2011 to cost CM Punk the title, claiming that someone had texted him and told him to. It became a whodunit for weeks to see who sent the text, with HHH being a major possibility. It was an interesting twist, even though it wasn’t exactly something that needed to happen as CM Punk was derailed in a hurry.

And then it turned out that Nash sent himself the text so that he could get the spotlight one more time. Uh, ok then. Now of course this set up Nash vs. Punk….or at least it should in a sane world. But no, instead we got HHH vs. Nash as Punk was left out of the entire story. Punk wound up being fine and got the title back at Survivor Series, but sweet goodness what a mess this was to get there, and it really had no purpose other than getting the Kliq together one more time.

What could be worse than that? Oh there’s something in there.

Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler

This was bad for a pair of reasons. First and foremost: THEY’RE ANNOUNCERS! This was one of the featured stories of Raw and the whole thing was a battle between announcers who couldn’t get along because Cole was a super heel who didn’t do anything other than make himself look like a jerk. This went on for months, to the point where Cole even cost Lawler a WWE Championship match.

So the big solution was to have them fight at Wrestlemania (yes announcers fighting at Wrestlemania) where Lawler could destroy Cole once and for all, likely even writing Cole off of TV for a bit. But then there’s the second problem: COLE WON! WHEN THE ANONYMOUS GM REVERSED A DECISION! AT WRESTLEMANIA! This might be the dumbest result I’ve ever seen at Wrestlemania and it was in a match between two announcers who wouldn’t stop fighting because commentators need personalities. It was stupid, didn’t need to happen, and was the death blow to a Wrestlemania. That’s the worst of the decade and one of the worst ever.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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Best Of the 2010s: Worst Major Show Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

There are a lot to pick from here but I think you can remember the worst of the worst. Sometimes you see a show where you know just how bad it is and there’s no way around it. These shows are the worst of the worst and it could be due to one or two individual things or just an overall terrible nature. There’s a nice mix this time around and some of these might bring up some bad memories.

Honorable Mention

Royal Rumble 2015 – This is a show where the big featured match had to be bailed out by the World Title triple threat but even Cena/Rollins/Lesnar can only do so much. The Rumble was so bad and such a disaster that it sank the rest of the show. And then it only got worse later on.

Greatest Royal Rumble – It’s the first time the company had done one of its big Saudi Arabia shows and the card was as stacked as it could have been. There were all kinds of title matches and a huge main event….and I can barely remember anything about it. This was such a nothing show that it wasn’t so much bad as unnecessary, though that would change later.

Victory Road 2011

This is the one where you might only remember a single match (and I use that word loosely) from it because the main event is such a legendary disaster. I guess you can call it a main event as technically it was a match, but only in the loosest of terms. This would be the one where Jeff Hardy was bombed out of his mind and the “match” lasted about thirty seconds with Sting holding him down as the fans called it out for being BS. And yeah, that’s exactly what it was, but so was the rest of the show.

The rest of the card featured Tommy Dreamer vs. Bully Ray, Matt Hardy vs. AJ Styles with Matt in his COLD BLOODED deal, a First Blood match that ended in fake blood, Mr. Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam in a terrible match and wacky shenanigans on Jeff and Karen Jarrett’s honeymoon. Yes the ending is the worst part, but look at what it came after. This is an all time bad TNA show and it’s best that the rest of the card is forgotten.

Super Showdown 2019

Yeah imagine that: we’re back in Saudi Arabia. It’s another case where there was a lot on the card but it still felt like nothing happened. That’s the summary of the problems in general: with so many things going on, you would think that something could be good, but instead it feels like a big collection of house show matches that have been reheated out of the refrigerator (where you keep house show matches of course).

Then there’s the main event and while it’s bad, the injury forgives a lot of the negatives. Goldberg was knocked silly at one point and you can see the match change from a decent power match to a disaster. I can always forgive a match going badly for the sake of an injury, but when it comes at the end of this nothing of a show, there’s only so much that forgiveness can do.

Hardcore Justice 2010

I love One Night Stand 2005. It’s one of my favorite shows ever, even though I wasn’t much of an ECW fan (even less so after watching it back later). However, there was something so special about the reunion show because it felt like a real reunion. The wrestlers were (mostly) there, it felt chaotic and the ending was as perfect as you could have gotten.

Now take everything I just said and throw it out the window for this garbage, which felt like the biggest WAY too late cash-in ever. The wrestling was barely there, the arena looked terrible with the dark lighting, and it made TNA feel like a company years behind the times. It’s like they were trying to be WWE but didn’t realize that five years had passed. Not only was this show terrible, but it was sad. That’s not what you want out of a reunion special and TNA made it worse than expected.

Battleground 2017

Just seeing this on the list of possibilities made me mad all over again. This was one of the worst one two punches of horrible that I can remember in years, with the Rusev vs. John Cena flag match followed by the Punjabi Prison match between Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton (which ran nearly half an hour). I don’t think I can give you a worse two match series to end a show, leaving this one in rare company.

It takes a special night to have AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens and the Usos vs. the New Day in a pair of very good (if not great) matches completely overshadowed with two horrible matches. That’s what they did here though and it remains one of the worst regular WWE pay per views that I’ve ever seen. A lot of the modern pay per views run together for me, but this one stands out as an all time mess.

But then, there’s this one and it is on another level of horrible.

Crown Jewel 2018

I didn’t actually get to watch this one live as I had to take my wife out of town for an appointment. I got to see the first hour or so before we left so a lot of it I got after the fact. On the way back home, I had her look up the results and read them off to me. As she read them off one by one, I rolled my eyes harder and harder. Then we got to the big one and things changed.

This was the show where Shane McMahon won the Best In The World Tournament without actually being entered. When I heard that result, I actually laughed harder than I had in months. It was as dumb of an idea as WWE could have had and I was wondering if the results were a parody. That’s their big idea for this show? More SHANE MCMAHON? Well of course it was, because that’s how WWE worked in 2018. It was so bad that the Shawn Michaels return match with DX vs. the Brothers of Destruction barely warrants a mention (Do you even remember that happening?). This was the runaway winner and it’s not getting topped for a long time.

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Best Of 2010s: Feud Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

This is one of the bigger ones as a good, hot feud can bring in a lot of people in a hurry. If a feud is done right, it can spawn all kinds of other stories and mini feuds without needing the main wrestlers to even keep fighting in the first place. There were a lot of great ones in this decade and they are worth looking back at here.

Honorable Mention

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega – I’m putting this one here as I really don’t follow New Japan closely enough to go into depth about it. I’ve seen all of their matches and while I don’t quite agree with Meltzer’s ratings, they are indeed great and worth seeing, with nothing resembling anything less than awesome throughout.

Shield vs. Wyatt Family – The moment when they had their first staredown, you knew you were in for something. This was one of the most natural matchups WWE could have at the time and then everything wound up going even better than expected. They didn’t fight often and it was over in a hurry, but dang it worked while it lasted.

Rock vs. John Cena

There are very few matches that can live up to the hype of a dream match. That was the case here, because of how different of a path that they took to get here. The night after Wrestlemania XXVII, the match was set up for Wrestlemania XXVIII. That is unheard of in wrestling and it worked at a level no one could have ever anticipated. Cena hung with Rock every step of the way (or defeated him) on the mic and then we got to Miami for the showdown.

During the build, there was a point where I had to see the match. I didn’t know if it was going to be good and I didn’t know if it was going to be bad. All I knew was that I had to see this match. Then it wound up being a great match, though I’m not sure if the right person won. The promos made this though and there have been very few builds on this level. Go back and watch Cena’s promos and see if they’re better than you remember.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan

I was tempted to put this on the top for a bit but the problem was how long it took to finally have the match. Bryan and Miz have one of the best natural dichotomies you’ll ever see with the celebrity turned wrestler vs. the pure wrestler and that is always going to work. The Talking Smack promo was good enough to set up a Wrestlemania main event level match but we had to wait years to actually see it.

The anticipation helped a lot here, as Bryan never gave up on trying to return to the ring. Then one day he was finally cleared and the countdown was on. I wasn’t sure when it was going to happen, but we were going to see this match at some point. If nothing else it would have been incredible to keep Bryan’s return a secret and have him come out to face Miz on the Raw after Wrestlemania, but instead it was at Summerslam. They had a good match, but it was a bit too late for how big the blowoff could have been. It was good, but it could have been incredible.

Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority

This is the kind of feud where it’s hard to not get behind Bryan, and that’s where you have something special. It’s a story anyone can get behind, with the every man Bryan being held back by the Authority, who cared about money and power instead of doing the right thing. It’s a great example of something that was built up perfectly, with fans not being sure if Bryan would ever get to the finish line.

Then we got the Wrestlemania build and while you could see where it was going, the journey might have been the best part. There was something so special about watching Bryan never quit and get there in the end, even after wrestling twice at Wrestlemania. One detail that gets overlooked though is Michael Cole, who HATED Bryan when he started but was cheering for him by the end of the triple threat. It showed just how easy it was to get behind Bryan, who was fighting for the right thing and refused to give up. That’s a special story and belongs in the pantheon of Wrestlemania moments.

Yeah I’m going to have to cheat again as I just can’t pick between the two.

John Cena vs. CM Punk

One of the best things that you can do in wrestling is take two ultra talented people from completely different backgrounds and put them together against each other. Hulk Hogan was the All American superhero and Roddy Piper was the loudmouth who kept antagonizing Hogan over and over with Hogan never really being able to put him away. Steve Austin was the Texas brawler who didn’t care about authority. Rock was the pure athlete who was born to be a star. When you can set that up, there really isn’t anything else like it.

That’s what WWE had with Cena, the All American boy and face of the company, vs. CM Punk, the guy who shouldn’t be here, didn’t look like a wrestling star and messed with everyone’s head. The key to the whole thing though was that, at least at first, Cena couldn’t beat him. Throw in the Summer of Punk story with the stakes at their highest and you had a modern Hogan vs. Piper. Just this time around the matches were awesome to go with the talking.

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

This was a little bit of a different feud as it was based on two guys who hated each other. The backstory was there, the wrestling was there, the violence was there…but the blowoff wasn’t there. Ciampa got hurt (for the second time in the feud) and they couldn’t do the big final match in New York with Gargano taking the title from Ciampa once and for all. If they can do that, it’s an all timer but for now, it’s just one of the best in years.

What made this work was the emotion and everything that spun off of it. Ciampa and Gargano both played mind games with each other, all the way to the point of reuniting in the Dusty Classic before Gargano got one up on Ciampa for a change. It was an epic story, though I can see taking some points off for all of the violent brawls instead of having a regular match somewhere. Anyway, it’s incredible and worth your time to go back and watch again, just like all of these.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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Best Of 2010s: Rookie/Newcomer Of The Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

This is the trickiest of them all because it’s hard to know where to stop. The point of this is not necessarily wrestlers who started their in-ring career over the last ten years but rather someone who showed up on a new show. This one is likely going to be all over the place as a result so bare with me, as I’ve never been quite comfortable with the specifics of how this one worked.

Four Horsewomen

This is a group joined at the hip that you can’t really separate. I know there are a lot of arguments to be had about ranking the four of them and you could go with a lot of combinations, but what mattered is how much of an impact they had. These four came into WWE and showed that there was a future for women’s wrestling. For years before, there was no reason to believe that women were going to be able to do anything in WWE. Now, the better question is what is left for them to do.

This is one of the most important groups of newcomers of all time because of what they meant, though what they can do in the ring is quite the accomplishment as well. Much like the Shield, they are going to be a big deal for a long time but their impact is going to be more historical than anything else. They did something you don’t see by changing the game and that’s not bad for four newcomers.

Bray Wyatt

It’s almost hard to believe that Wyatt has only been in WWE since 2013 as he feels like he’s been around forever (to be fair, six and a half years is forever in wrestling). Wyatt has not been the most consistent performer in WWE, but there is something about him that lets you see just how good he can be. When Wyatt is at his best, he’s one of the best in the world today with the character stuff as you can’t take your eyes off of him a lot of the time.

Wyatt is the kind of person who does all kinds of things and now you have something as awesome as the Fiend to top them all. There are very few characters where you can feel the fans just go silent when they appear because no one knows what to do with them. That was the case when Undertaker debuted and it’s still the case now with the Fiend. I’m curious to see what he can do next and that’s a nice feeling to have.

Pete Dunne/Tyler Bate

With all due respect to Trent Seven, these two outclass him in almost every way and I can’t split them up so we’ll just put them together. Bate, who looked like a kid who got lost to 7^th grade history when he debuted, has put on more instant classics than almost anyone I’ve seen in years, is starting to grow into a star and that bodes very well for the future because he really is that good.

Then there’s Dunne and my goodness. Dunne is the kind of guy where you saw a future World Champion the day he debuted. The guy just had it and there was no denying what he could do in every aspect of wrestling. He looks tough, he has awesome matches, the aura is bouncing off of him, and he’s in his mid-20s. Dunne is as complete of a package as you can get and that’s why it’s always great to see him doing just about anything: you know you’re seeing something special.

Matt Riddle

What is it about former mixed martial artists that make them successful in the ring? Riddle is the kind of guy who showed up and looked like he had been doing this for years. The Bro stuff is a gimmick that you should hate right off the bat but that goofy smile, incredibly physique and the next level that he can reach at a moment’s notice make him impossible to turn down. Riddle is someone who feels like one of the most natural wrestlers you’ll ever see and he hasn’t even been wrestling for five years.

I remember back when Riddle was still wrestling in the indies and would be prominently featured over Wrestlemania weekend. I had heard so much about him that I needed to try to find a way to see him in person but it never could click. That’s how you know someone has some credentials: the hype is so strong that you want to go out of your way to see them. Imagine what he’ll do when he gets some more experience under his belt.

Ronda Rousey

What else is there to say about her? She debuted one year, had her first match ever at Wrestlemania XXXIV and then headlined Wrestlemania XXXV. That’s the kind of run that very few have been able to pull off ever and Rousey did it while looking like she had been doing this for ten years. In a way she had a good base with MMA, but that didn’t change how fast she took to wrestling.

The biggest thing for Rousey is that she wasn’t just wrecking people with the armbar in ten seconds with one move on occasion. She was out there having long matches and looking like a natural with them. That’s the kind of thing that no one not named Kurt Angle could pull off in their first year and she made it look easy. You don’t see that kind of talent ever and I’m hoping we get to see it again.

But then there’s one (kind of) to top them all.

Shield

Yeah like I’m going to try to separate these three. This team may be the greatest trio WWE has ever seen (certainly the one with the most successful individuals) and to this day it’s rare to see them outside of the main event scene. I don’t remember the last time I saw anyone show up and take over like this but the Shield debuted in the main event and took over the company like it was the easiest thing they had ever done.

You can argue for a good while about which one of the three is the best, but there is no denying that the three of them showed up and took over WWE like they weren’t even trying. These guys are going to be near the top of WWE for years to come and you can see how much WWE thinks of what they have with them. Not bad for three guys who just showed up out of the crowd one day.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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Best Of 2010s: Worst Wrestler of the Decade

IMG Credit: WWE

This is one of the trickiest of them all as it’s kind of hard to come up with a criteria of worst there is. A lot of the time the worst is someone who is overpushed and people get sick of them, while other times it’s because of a horrible gimmick. I’m trying to keep that in perspective there, but it isn’t exactly a guarantee to work. Also note that this about mainstream wrestlers, as I’m sure you could find someone in some nothing company that has no business watching wrestling let alone participating.

Great Khali

I know he’s a giant and I know that he had a lot of marketability in India, but at the same time, there comes a point where you have to be able to do something other than chop people in the head and chokeslam them. Khali very rarely got beyond anything resembling that (oh wait he also had the vice grip, as squeezing someone’s head was his third move) and it was hard to watch.

The biggest problem was his lack of mobility, which became a major issue later in his WWE career. It’s the case of putting a turtle on his back. Once you knock him down, there isn’t much else that he can do to hurt you because he wasn’t getting up. The Punjabi Playboy stuff was good for a chuckle, but that’s the extent of his usefulness to most fans.

Joey Ryan

Here’s your controversial pick of the list as some people say Ryan is killing wrestling or that he is doing so many terrible things that he doesn’t belong anywhere near a wrestling ring. I’ll spare you a long rant about how much I can’t stand most of his shtick and don’t want him anywhere near a mainstream promotion, but he has found a way to stay relevant in the business despite a lack of anything making him stand out otherwise.

That’s a big part of where Ryan loses me: he’s the most average in-ring performer ever and his big deal is all of his shtick. It’s not like he can do anything of note in the ring and he keeps getting where he is because of one joke that got tired a long time ago. There are worse wrestlers out there, but few who got on my nerves as much. I know you might see it differently and that’s fine, but I could go for never seeing Ryan doing his thing again.

Lana

This list keeps including people who had something to offer, which is a big part of why this is a harder one to do. Lana can talk with some of the best of them, but that’s about it as far as her talents go from a performance standpoint. She’s a great example of someone who doesn’t need to do anything more than stand around smiling/scowling between promos, which has been the case for a lot of people. Lana has all kinds of talent, but it’s not in the ring.

Again, I’m leaving her away from the top of the list because she hasn’t wrestled all that often, but it’s rather sad to see when she does get in the ring. If they want her to do something regularly in the ring, she should be down in NXT on their house show circuit. It isn’t fair to her to have her thrown out in the middle like that, but that doesn’t make her any less painful to watch.

Jinder Mahal

This is another case where it is more about how Mahal was presented than anything he did, but the other problem is everything he didn’t do. Mahal wasn’t interesting, wasn’t a great talker as he said the same things time after time, and then had the same matches time after time. Yes he was in incredible shape but that’s about the extent of the positives. Other than the match where he lost the title to AJ Styles, I don’t remember a single match where he was entertaining in the ring.

Mahal is a great example of someone with everything needed on the outside and nothing on the inside, as he was not interesting either on the microphone or in the ring. I can completely accept that he was giving it all he had and that’s very commendable, but the idea that he should have been at the top of the company for five months was just a nightmare, with the same match structure every single time. Maybe he’ll be better when he gets back, but for now, it was a lot to take.

Cameron

Now we’re getting to the point where some of people with one marketable skill aren’t having the same impact as others. That’s the case here, as Cameron was the annoying one on Total Divas who could dance with Naomi as the Funkadactyls. That’s the extent of anything positive about her though and it only got worse when we had to watch her in the ring, because it was a nightmare.

Then there’s the one moment that I’m sure you remember, with Cameron not knowing that you have to have someone’s shoulders on the mat to pin them. I know there’s an argument to be made that it’s part of her character, but if the best character that you can have is “she’s stupid”, you might want to try something else for a career.

And now for the one that is going to get more people yelling at me than any other.

Enzo Amore

Now first and foremost, let’s get this out of the way: Enzo can talk with some of the best of them. His promos are very good and some of the lines he has were outstanding. That’s the extent of anything good he could do though, as everything after that involved him either looking terrible in the ring or being out there for no reason other than he spoke well and sold merchandise.

Then there’s EVERYTHING else from when he was out of the ring. Everything after he left was all about getting attention on himself and there’s a reason for that: he can’t do anything else in wrestling other than cause problems so this is what we have to put up with. Either him challenging people or getting in fights with Joey Janela at a concert or whatever, it’s all about Enzo trying to be noticed and bragging about how awesome he is when really, he was a loudmouth who couldn’t have a good match if his life depended on it. I could not stand his time on 205 Live as he killed that show for months, but at least he rhymed while doing it right?

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author- page with cheap wrestling books at:

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