WWE's Top 25 Matches Of 2011

[Jack-Hammer]

Earlier today, WWE.com listed what WWE considers to be the 25 best matches of the year. Some matches took place at ppvs, some on Raw & SD! and maybe a few from NXT. The list reads as follows:

25. Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes from WrestleMania 27
24. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd from WWE NXT
23. Edge vs. Kane - Last Man Standing Match from Smackdown
22. CM Punk vs. The Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio from WWE TLC
21. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes - Street Fight from Smackdown.
20. The Miz vs. John Morrison - Falls Count Anywhere WWE Championship match from RAW
19. Smackdown Elimination Chamber match
18. Randy Orton vs. CM Punk from Extreme Rules.
17. Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE Championship from RAW
16. Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton from RAW
15. Mark Henry vs. Daniel Bryan - Steel Cage Match from Smackdown
14. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett from WWE TLC
13. Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk from Capitol Punishment
12. John Cena vs. The Miz vs. John Morrison Steel Cage Match from Extreme Rules
11. Mark Henry vs. Big Show from Vengeance
10. Smackdown Money in the Bank Match
09. Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler from Royal Rumble
08. John Cena and The Rock vs. Awesome Truth from Survivor Series
07. The 40-Man Royal Rumble Match
06. Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio from Extreme Rules
05. Rey Mysterio vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship from RAW
04. RAW Elimination Chamber Match
03. Randy Orton vs. Christian from Over The Limit
02. John Cena vs. CM Punk from Money in the Bank
01. Triple H vs. Undertaker from WrestleMania 27

Overall, I think it's a good list that highlights matches from throughout the year. I'm surprised by the addition of some matches and disagree with where others fell on the list.

I was surprised to see Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd on the list. I never saw this match but I did hear about it.

I'm surprised to see Cena vs. Mysterio for the WWE Championship on Raw ranked so high. It was a great match, but I think it's too high up on the list.

I thought the SD! Elimination Chamber match this year was the better of the EC matches and should've ranked higher than the Raw EC match.

I'm glad to see The Miz vs. John Morrison made the list. It was the first WWE match of 2011 and a damn good one.

I don't think Henry vs. Show at Vengeance & Orton vs. Barrett at TLC should've made the list. Same with Cena & The Rock vs. Awesome Truth. Solid & enjoyable tag team match but hardly the barn burner to make it into the top 10. All three were good matches overall but I don't think they really compare with most of the others listed.

I'm glad to see Orton vs. Ziggler from Raw was listed, though I thought it should've been higher up and I'm disappointed to see that Punk vs. Ziggler didn't make the cut.

Nice to see Henry vs. Bryan made it onto the list as it was not only a great match but the only thing that saved the SD! holiday special from being a complete flop.

Del Rio vs. Mysterio for the WWE Championship was a great match and took place right after Del Rio won the title. During that week, he scored wins over Mysterio & Daniel Bryan in great matches and it looked like he was going to be a great champ.

I'm not surprised to see Taker vs. Triple H and Cena vs. Punk at 1 and 2. I figured those would be ranked the two top matches when I first saw the announcement for the list. Arguments and cases can be made for either one but I have to give the edge to Cena vs. Punk. It was just a match that ultimately exceeded any reasonable expectations, it was part of a more intriguing angle that had the wrestling world on its ear. In terms of action, I'd also have to give Cena vs. Punk the edge while I'd give Taker vs. Triple H the edge in storytelling.

 

[HoHo]

It's a solid list but some of them I scratch my head.Number 6 Del Rio vs Christmas should of been 3, due to his first World Title run in the WWE, I can't even remember the Chamber match from Raw for 2011? Who won it, I forget? Looking at this list, makes me want to see if every match and make my list who how it should be in my opinion.I should do that..I'm guessing these matches on this list, are easily the choices that will be put into their best matches of 2011 DVD?

 

[Nate DaMac]

I like what I see for the most part. All of the matches listed that I've actually seen are decent matches. There's just one glaring issue I have here; in what fucking world was HHH/Taker better than Punk/Cena? It was not by, a long shot. Hell, Christian and Orton had better matches than the WM match Taker and Hunter had.

It was a hell of a match, and I could understand it being argued as the second best match of the year, but Cena/Punk was head, shoulders, waist, and knees above it and pretty much everything else this year.

EDIT: Reading a bit closer, I also think it's a bit shit that the Orton/Christian match from Summerslam isn't on the list. That was an excellent match.

 

[Psychopathic Savior]

I agree, orton vs christian had some good matches and ziggler vs punk was a classic. I think hhh vs taker was a top 5 but not one or two. Punk vs cena from money in the bank was the best and i think morrison vs miz at the beginning of the year was a top 5

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

I agree with most of the list, with one of my main gripes being the 40 Man Rumble Match being ranked so high. I thought this years RR Match it self was one of the worst in the history of the PPV.

 

[#hamler]

WWE's judgment when determining the top anything is somewhat questionable. Although there are a few matches I do not agree with, it's one of the better lists I have seen the WWE come up with in a while. Like Nate, I do suggest that Orton vs. Christian from Summerslam should be on that list. It was arguably better than half the match presented on that list. John Cena vs. CM Punk was light years ahead of Triple H vs. Undertaker at Wrestlemania and just about everything else on that list. I believe the sole reason this match was placed ahead of Cena/Punk is because of the slight chance we may see it again at this year's Wrestlemania. With that said, there’s really nothing to complain about other than a select few matches. It's a damn good list for the most part.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

I am one of the people that don't have a problem with Taker/HHH being picked #1. No it wasn't a mat technicians classical bouts but damn there was a lot of emotion conveyed in that match. I mean I might be having my opinion swayed by the fact that I was there watching live but it was the match that I enjoyed the most at WM27.

 

[xsKiitz]

2 problems.
#1 Punk/Cena not being top of this list is fucking stupid. Assumed that was the obvious choice.

#2 John Cena vs. The Miz vs. John Morrison Steel Cage Match from Extreme Rules should have been higher than it was IMO. That was a spectacular match and I was on the edge of my seat when I thought JoMo was on his way to winning the title. Fantastic match.

Apart from that the list seems pretty solid and accurate.

 

[XXJJ]

Its a good list but they are missing the first Orton vs Christian. The one after extreme rules.. IMO that was the best tv match of the year. And their match at Summerslam and in the steel cage were also excellent. But I understand they probably dont want to fill up their top 25 just with Orton vs Christian. Punk vs Ziggler was another very good tv match they left off.

The 40 man Royal Rumble shouldnt be on the list. I dont feel like Rock/Cena vs Awesome Truth should even be on that list. No way that was a top 25 match. But I guess with Rock returning they were going to include that match.

They definately got the top 3 right. Some people would change the order of the 3. But I would think most people would agree that those were the 3 top matches of the year in the WWE.

 

[sanefan_har]

Why is the Rock/Cena vs Miz/Truth match even in the Top 10?

That was the worst match of that night. To be honest if it wasn't the for the Rock the match would've been boring as hell. And he didn't even put up an 'awesome' performance to singlehandedly make that match one of the best.

Thankfully WWE's no.1 match wasn't Twitter Wars.

But most of the list was good. Atleast they acknowledged the awesome match between Kidd and Tatsu. That was a really good match. Kidd and Hawkins just need to improve on mic skills(They'll be awesome, I'm telling you ).
The Royal Rumble match was good, just that Alberto winning it made a few IWC assholes go apeshit about how he shouldn't have won it.

 

[Brewski]

Why is the Rock/Cena vs Miz/Truth match even in the Top 10?

That was the worst match of that night. To be honest if it wasn't the for the Rock the match would've been boring as hell. And he didn't even put up an 'awesome' performance to singlehandedly make that match one of the best.

True story. That wasn't a match that was the rock kicking ass for 15 mins to prove he's physically able to still have a match. What a Joke.

 

[TJ Matics]

Seems like a really good list, granted I've only seen a handful of the matches.
Hopefully they'll put all these matches on a DVD set

 

[localcompetitor]

I made my own list up and 16 of these matches feature in it, not sure about The Rock/Cena/Awesome Truth match making the Top 10 and the but I suppose they have to promote their Wrestlemania main event.
Glad to see the Yoshi Tatsu/Tyson Kidd match making an appearance but surprised at the lack of Punk's matches with Ziggler from RAW and ADR from Survivor Series.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

Pretty solid list as usual from WWE.

There are a few problems I see here though, but the list in general seems to have plenty of similarities to what the majority of the posters on here would have written in their top 25 matches list.

I think that the SD chamber was much more entertaining than it's Raw counterpart. Basically that is due to my lower initial expectations for SD chamber since it was filled with guys that in general had slower paced styles of wrestling (excluding Rey) that at first glance wouldn't entertain us much. The Raw one on the other hand had guys that were faster and more Finisher/Signature moves based rather than the pacing of the SD competitors. The SD match blew me away with the intensity shown from McIntyre, Kane and Barrett. Edge, Mysterio, and Show had a performance you would expect out of them which really is not a bad thing. The match was a different kind of EC, it was more storytelling based than the usual "OMG moment" Chamber matches that we usually see. The Raw chamber fits the repetitive high spot/ finisher based matches that we have always seen in the EC over the years.

The Rock/Cena vs Awesome Truth Tag match was decent for what it was but not top 25 material. The match served it's purpose in testing the waters in terms of the Rock's in ring ability, in simpler words it was a match for the Rock to dispose of ring rust after 7 years of absence. It was a fun tag match but there are more deserving matches that happened in 2011 like Punk/Ziggler and Orton vs Christian at Summslam. However there is a match that I really think should be on there in place of the tag match and more deserving that the matches listed above: Daniel Bryan vs The Miz on the 2/15 Raw.

It was one of the better Raw TV matches this year. Although not on par with the Cena/Mysterio championship match, or the Morrison/Miz FCA match at the start of the year, it reminded me of the Jericho/DB match from NXT last year. Albeit very short, it was one hell of a contest from start to finish and really showed us that DB could hang in the main event.

Those are basically my only gripes with the list, other than that WWE really knows how to rank their matches.

 

[The Eighties]

I disliked the Taker/Triple H match greatly so it wouldn't have been close to #1 on my list. The rest of the list is ok, the tag match from Survivor Series is there to promote Mania not because it was any good, there have been better tag matches on Raw and SD this year. Some matches have been left off simply because they don't want the list to be full of the same pairings, but how Orton vs Barrett got on at all mystifies me.

 

[amazing_blue]

Can someone explain to me why on this list the WWE has SmackDown MITB match, yet on their "Best PPV Matches of 2011" DVD they have the RAW one? It makes no sense to me at all.

And just my two cents, but this list is pure crap. The Falls Count Anywhere match was WAY better than half of the shit they ranked ahead of it, and the Last Man Standing match was even better than that!

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The top 10 should feature several Christian vs. Orton matches. It doesn't, therefore it isn't worth paying attention to. I enjoyed Orton/Cena and HHH/Undertaker so I'd place them high. I'd probably place the Smackdown MITB and Raw Elimination Chamber matches in high spots and a few Ziggler matches would be high. Other than that I'd be making up the list with good but not spectacular TV and PPV matches. None spring to mind immediately but I can guarantee they wouldn't feature guys like Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry, Wade Barrett & The Miz.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Obviously Triple H/Undertaker shouldn't be number one. You know - on account of the fact that it wasn't match of the year. I'm not even sure I'd put it in my top two, my top three, my top four, my top five-- the more I think about it, the further down my list it slides.

I gave a pretty good account of what must have gone down in the spam zone: http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=198289

The best match of the year was, quite plainly, Cena and Punk's battle in Chicago. If you wanted to argue that, say, an Orton/Christian match was match of the year, or maybe something with Rey Mysterio in it, then I might hear you out. Huntertaker? Nah.

Otherwise, not an awful list considering it was spawned by WWE.com. A couple of more obscure matches peppered throughout the list gives it almost an air of legitimacy. Almost.

 

[#heel]

Defo cena/ punk in Chicago 1st time as I thought about 20% chance of punk winning... Plus, I don't like cena for some reason

 

[mrbreezy]

i think that 1 & 2 should be switched i just think because the taker match happened at wrestlemania and because it had to deal with the streak but it was more of just a brawl than wrestling match..i just think the entire atmosphere of MITB in Chicago should have moved it to the #1 spot

 

[Dagger Dias]

All that list really did for me was remind me of how bad 2011 honestly was. Most of the matches and angles were not thqt great other than a few gems along the way. Most of those gems made the list. I have no disagreement with Taker VS Trips winning. It saved an otherwise terrible Wrestlemania and was a great match. It completely exceeded my own expectations when I wasn't even sure if I wanted to see it or not. My main problem with that list is that more of the Orton VS Christian matches should have made it on there, given how they stole the show at several PPV's in a row. I would also have moved the Cena/Rock VS Awesome Truth match up a few slots. Other than that I more or less agree with the list though.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

25. Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes from WrestleMania 27
24. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd from WWE NXT
23. Edge vs. Kane - Last Man Standing Match from Smackdown
22. CM Punk vs. The Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio from WWE TLC
21. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes - Street Fight from Smackdown.
20. The Miz vs. John Morrison - Falls Count Anywhere WWE Championship match from RAW
19. Smackdown Elimination Chamber match
18. Randy Orton vs. CM Punk from Extreme Rules.
17. Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE Championship from RAW
16. Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton from RAW
15. Mark Henry vs. Daniel Bryan - Steel Cage Match from Smackdown
14. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett from WWE TLC
13. Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk from Capitol Punishment
12. John Cena vs. The Miz vs. John Morrison Steel Cage Match from Extreme Rules
11. Mark Henry vs. Big Show from Vengeance
10. Smackdown Money in the Bank Match
09. Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler from Royal Rumble
08. John Cena and The Rock vs. Awesome Truth from Survivor Series
07. The 40-Man Royal Rumble Match
06. Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio from Extreme Rules
05. Rey Mysterio vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship from RAW
04. RAW Elimination Chamber Match
03. Randy Orton vs. Christian from Over The Limit
02. John Cena vs. CM Punk from Money in the Bank
01. Triple H vs. Undertaker from WrestleMania 27

Looking at the list, I wouldn't even have had HHH/Taker in my top 10. I still don't get what people saw in that match so I hope someone can enlighten me.

I thought the Smackdown EC was better than the Raw EC and I saw nothing special about the Royal Rumble match. I'm also surprised that Orton vs. Christian at Summerslam didn't even make the list.

The ones I bolded would be in my top 10 with Orton/Christian at Summerslam and Rhodes/Mysterio at Extreme Rules as well.

 

[theBusiness]

this list is a joke, plain and simple

first of all, cena/punk at mitb should be number one NO DOUBT IN MY MIND. Taker-HHH is a very fair second place. Orton-Christian at Summerslam is top 10 without a doubt, arguably top 5 and it isnt even on this list! The Smackdown elimination chamber was extraordinary and its ranked so damn low. And as mentioned previously, the Orton-Christian steel cage match was a four star match imo and should be near the top 10, maybe even breaking it. Mark Henry-DB on this list? Are you kidding me? It may have been the best match of the night, but overall quality, it was not very good at all. I can think of at least 10 other TV matches that were better. I'm working on my list, I'll put it up in the next couple days.

 

[Spunky]

I can't really see anything too major with this list. I wouldn't have had Taker vs Triple H at the top of my list, that spot would be for Cena vs Punk, that match(Taker vs HHH) would be my 4th. Christian vs Orton at Over the Limit is a fiar pick for second, I've read that some of you prefer the SummerSlam match I liked this match more. Edge vs Ziggler at the Rumble is definetly top 3 in my eyes, a great, great match.

The rest of the list I wouldn't really change except for the Miz vs Morrison match should be higher than it is.

 

[theBusiness]

The rest of the list I wouldn't really change except for the Miz vs Morrison match should be higher than it is.

definitely agree. i just recently rewatched this match along with the orton-christian steel cage match and the cena-mysterio match. After watching all three, I think I can confidently say the Miz-Morrison title match was the best TV match of the year. Orton-Christian cage match being a VERY close second.