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2018 is coming to a close. Even though there have been many negatives, lousy booking and bad matches throughout the year in WWE, there were some brilliant matches. Since NXT has been producing outstanding clashes of its own, we are neglecting these matches in this list. We would be looking at some of the best matches RAW, and Smackdown LIVE have produced this year.
However, we will be skipping some of the multi-man matches like the Royal Rumble or Battle Royales of both men and women. Thus without further adieu, let us get started.
Honourable mention: Gauntlet match - RAW
This bout was one of the best TV matches of all time in WWE. All seven participants of the men's elimination chamber match - Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Elias, Finn Balor, The Miz and Braun Strowman were pitted in a two-hour gauntlet match on the RAW before Elimination Chamber 2018.
Little did we knew that these guys would tear the house apart. Seth Rollins was the MVP in the match as he stood for more than an hour - pinning both John Cena and Roman Reigns in the process. This bout was so good that it even caused a spike in TV rating for the second hour of the show.
Braun Strowman won the whole thing. However, Rollins won our hearts.
#5 Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor - RAW
After losing his Intercontinental championship to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 34, The Miz invoked his rematch clause at Backlash. However, Finn Balor challenged the architect for his title on the RAW before and Rollins accepted the challenge. What then followed was a barn burner of a match between two tremendous athletes. The entire crowd was behind the guys involved.
The last few minutes were high paced which had a lot of counters. One of the must-watch RAW matches this year. Rollins emerged victorious in the end after hitting a curb stomp.
#4 Charlotte Flair vs Asuka - WrestleMania 34
Asuka won the first ever all-women Royal Rumble match at Philadelphia after last eliminating Nikki Bella. However, rather than challenging Alexa Bliss for the RAW women's championship, the empress of tomorrow chose to challenge Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown LIVE women's championship. Although being a RAW star, Asuka began making sporadic appearances on the blue brand before Wrestlemania.
At WrestleMania, these two women shattered all the expectations over the roof as they delivered arguably the match of the night for an overall underwhelming WrestleMania. Although the ending felt a little abrupt, the overall match quality was outstanding. The best spot of the match was when Charlotte used the dangerous Spanish Fly on Asuka - a move which requires immense coordination and balance from both the talents involved.
None of the matches could follow up this performance that night.
#3 Six-pack challenge for the WWE championship - WWE Fastlane
WWE Fastlane 2018 was one of the least built PPV in 2018. Most of the matches were random. However, the PPV was excellent and most of the matches delivered - the Smackdown LIVE women's championship match between Charlotte Flair and Ruby Riott was good, Shinsuke Nakamura vs Rusev was good.
The main event, however, was exceptional. Five talented men, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin, were up against AJ Styles for his WWE championship in a six-pack challenge match.
The match began with quickfire Attitude Adjustments from John Cena. The match told many stories throughout the night, Cena was desperate to book his ticket to Wrestlemania 34, Styles could lose his title even if he is not involved in the pinfall and Shane McMahon continually messing up the chances of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
There were many outstanding spots in the match, most notably Cena's AA on Styles on the announcer's table. Even though Styles pinned Owens after a phenomenal forearm, all six men stood tall and had their moments in the match.
#2 Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan - WWE Survivor Series 2018
This clash is one of the most recent additions to this list. Brock Lesnar was scheduled to face AJ Styles at WWE Survivor Series in a champion vs champion match. However, in the last moment, WWE decided to put the WWE title on Daniel Bryan and shake the cards.
Hence, Daniel Bryan got an opportunity to face his dream opponent in Brock Lesnar. The bout began as a typical Lesnar squash match. The beast incarnate threw Bryan all over the place. However, once Bryan low-blowed Lesnar, the table turned on its head. Bryan showed us why he is still an excellent wrestler.
Lesnar's underrated selling against Bryan elevated this match further. At a point, the whole WWE universe was convinced Lesnar would tap out for the first time since his return to WWE. However, Lesnar managed to nail Bryan with a second F5 to clinch the win.
#1 Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair - WWE Evolution
The rivalry between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch began at SummerSlam 2018 when Charlotte inserted herself into Becky's title match against Carmella and won it. Becky got an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the crowd and was hence turned an anti-hero, rather than a heel. Unlike other feuds, WWE managed to protect this feud from going bland. The result was this? An outstanding match at WWE Evolution.
The rivalry between both the women was at the peak and hence was given the Last Woman Standing stipulation, the first time in WWE main roster. Both women made use of it. Brutal shots with chair and kendo stick were prevalent throughout the match. Becky even dropped herself from top of a ladder to the announcer's table to hurt Charlotte.
The end came when Becky powerbombed Charlotte through a table to the concrete floor - a fitting end to a great match. Matches like these prove how much women wrestling has evolved from the early 2000s.
