Top 50 Matches Since 2000: 20-16

#20

WWE Championship Match

Kurt Angle (c) vs Chris Benoit

Royal Rumble 2003

This is one of the few matches near the top of my list that doesn't benefit from some great storyline. This was simply a picture-perfect display of technical wrestling between two of the very best of all time. Angle and Benoit hit each other with their fair shares of stiff strikes, swapped submissions and mat wrestled to the best of their vast abilities. This is one of the most "pure" professional wrestling matches I've ever seen in my life.

#19

Street Fight

Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk

Summerslam 2013

 

My favorite match of Lesnar's run since his 2012 return, both he and Punk were at the very top of their game on this night. As great as the match would have been under normal rules, the street fight stipulation allowed for more brutality as well as more involvement from Paul Heyman, who was the driving force behind the story of the match. Punk's persistence ultimately led to his downfall, as Lesnar brutalized him with a steel chair before connecting with an F5 for the victory. This was Brock's first real big win upon his return, and it began his run towards becoming the completely unstoppable machine we know and love today.

#18

Elimination Tag Team Match

The Shield vs Evolution

Payback 2014

 

If I really wanted to, I probably could have included both Shield/Evolution contests. But I decided that they were too similar to include both of them, and in deciding which one to use for the list, I had to take this one. The clean sweep victory for The Shield put them over even further than they had already been put over. It also gets the benefit of being a special moment, for it was the final Shield match before their breakup the following night. The storytelling in this match was superb, and the moments are very memorable. The Passion of Roman Reigns, Rollins' stage dive, and the final sequence with Triple H trying to use his sledgehammer to gain the upper hand only to be thwarted by the young up-and-comers. If this ends up being The Shield's last real match as The Shield, there were worse ways for them to go out.

#17

Career Threatening Match

Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair

WrestleMania 24

 

If you took away the rest of this match and made it just the ending, it would still be right where it is on this list. There is nothing more that needs to be said about this match than the moment where Shawn Michaels tells Naitch "I'm sorry. I love you." Before kicking his teeth down his throat and effectively ending his career... kinda. Even though Flair has completely ruined this storyline by wrestling elsewhere, this moment by itself is incredible. If you've never cried while watching this match you are soulless and I don't like you.

#16

Street Fight

Kurt Angle vs Shane McMahon

King of the Ring 2001

 

WWF/E's brand of hardcore wrestling has always been drastically different than that of, say, an ECW or CZW style hardcore match. While they aren't quite as brutal, they find other ways to make up for it. This match is a perfect example. The match didn't have a million different weapons, no light tubes, no glass tables. But the use of the environment and the unique KOTR stage set led to one of the most iconic moments in WWF history, as Kurt Angle fails to suplex Shane through the glass, and Shane insists on being thrown through it twice. Shane was always great at making up for his lack of wrestling prowess with great moments and better storytelling, and there are instances of that all the way throughout this match, like when he denies Kurt's invitation to mat wrestle with him, and simply punts him in the ribs. This was definitely my favorite Shane match, and hopefully we get to see him back in a WWE ring one day (probably not for a match).