While we didn’t know it at the time, 2019 would be the last full year of normal life that we would have for a while.
Seeing WWE from 2019 is eery now but at the time, it was just more wrestling. The product may have been incredibly shaky at times, but they still managed to produce some great pay-per-view matches.
The biggest highlights of the year involved Kofi Kingston finally reaching the WWE mountaintop and Becky Lynch being pushed as the biggest star in the company.
Gone were the days of only a few great pay-per-view matches a year. By 2019, WWE’s calendar was full of them.
These are the 11 best WWE pay-per-view matches of 2019.
11. New Day vs. Heavy Machinery vs. Daniel Bryan & Rowan – Extreme Rules
We kick off this list with a match that many probably would have forgotten. At Extreme Rules, the New Day, Heavy Machinery, and Daniel Bryan and Rowan did battle over the SmackDown Tag Titles.
This was an incredibly fun match filled with popular teams. Otis was getting over with his natural charisma and allowing him to work with Daniel Bryan meant the work was as good as it was going to get.
Add in the New Day and you have the makings of an excellent tag match. One of the highlights of the card, tag team wrestling is still great in WWE when they give it a chance.
10. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks – Hell in a Cell
While WWE’s first attempt at a women’s Hell in a Cell match did not go very smoothly, the second attempt did.
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks brought their history from NXT to the main roster, finally reigniting their feud at Hell in a Cell. The two had a fantastic match inside the cage, one of the best matches of Lynch’s run.
This was also the only good Hell in a Cell match of 2019. Rest assured that Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend will not be appearing on this list.
9. Daniel Bryan vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Kevin Owens – Fastlane
This match was difficult to place on this list. On paper, a match between Daniel Bryan, Mustafa Ali and Kevin Owens sounds fantastic and truthfully, it was.
However, the problem with it was on this night, it was not the match fans wanted to see. The fans wanted to see Kofi Kingston challenge for the WWE title and they did not get it.
What they did get was this stellar Triple Threat match with three of the best performers in the company. The match was chaotic and a real bright spot of an otherwise lackluster card.
8. Raw vs. SmackDown vs. NXT – Survivor Series
Survivor Series has been pretty hit and miss in recent years. However, 2019 was definitely more hit than miss as WWE was intent on putting as much shine on the NXT brand as possible with the launch of AEW.
The men’s three-way traditional Survivor Series match was one of the biggest highlights of the whole show.
While it is absurd to consider how many eliminations took place in a relatively short amount of time, the match had far more good moments than bad.
The final sequence between Roman Reigns and Keith Lee was an excellent example of how to make a new talent look great even in defeat.
7. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins – SummerSlam
Seth Rollins was not a popular lad going into SummerSlam. Poor online conduct and a very lacking run as top babyface on Raw left him without much fanfare ahead of his big match with Brock Lesnar.
Thankfully, the performance he and Lesnar put on in Toronto was enough to win over the crowd by the end.
Rollins had a heroic performance, becoming one of just a small handful of wrestling to beat Brock Lesnar more than once since his return in 2012.
This was the peak of Rollins’ run as a babyface in 2019, and it didn’t last much longer.
6. Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne – Survivor Series
At Survivor Series 2019, we were treated to a rare NXT Championship match on a main roster show.
Pete Dunne had earned the title shot the night before and at Survivor Series he challenged Adam Cole.
This was a very fun match which should come as no surprise considering who was involved.
Dunne and Cole were two of NXT’s best at the time and this was the perfect match to put on a WWE pay-per-view to highlight the quality of the NXT roster.
Cole ultimately retained his title in an expertly wrestled match after Dunne did his typical joint manipulation. One of many very enjoyable matches to come out of this often neglected pay-per-view event.
5. Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Brock Lesnar rushing in to win the Money in the Bank briefcase at the last moment certainly was a decision.
WWE fans had grown tired of Lesnar always being in the title picture, and they weren’t close to being done seeing it in 2019. However, this bizarre finish should not detract too much from an otherwise great match.
The 2019 Money in the Bank match had loads of talent with many possible winners. The likes of Ali, Andrade, Finn Balor, Ricochet and Drew McIntyre populated this match and would have all been acceptable winners.
WWE hit its stride with great Money in the Bank matches with questionable winners around this time and this certainly was an example of that.
4. The Shield vs. Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley & Baron Corbin – Fastlane
WWE was desperate to get as much out of the end of The Shield as they could. There were constant reunion matches and while this would not be the last one, it was the best one.
With Dean Ambrose leaving WWE shortly afterward, The Shield reunited at Fastlane to face the big heel trio of Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashley.
This harkened back to their old matches with The Shield working in their brilliant trios offense. All three men worked their unique styles and dispatched their opponents.
As far as a sendoff for Dean Ambrose goes, this was as good as WWE was winning to give.
3. Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles – Money in the Bank
If you had to book the best possible match for a WWE pay-per-view, Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles is not a bad place to start.
Arguably the two best performers in WWE at the time, Rollins and Styles had their match at Money in the Bank for the Universal Championship.
The work here was as advertised with many fantastic reversals that could only be pulled off by wrestlers of this caliber.
Had Rollins’ title reign continued on this trajectory he would have had a truly brilliant reign. Alas, this was by far the best match he had as champion.
2. Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy – Elimination Chamber
After Kofi Kingston’s career-changing performance in the SmackDown gauntlet match prior to Elimination Chamber, there was only one man fans wanted to see win this match.
AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe all played their roles adequately in this match but the fans were there to see Kofi Kingston become WWE Champion.
Kingston’s one-on-one battle with Daniel Bryan here made this possibly the best Elimination Chamber match ever. Their work was phenomenal with a crowd that was genuinely invested in the finish.
It is rare that you get this kind of investment in a match like this but WWE had it in spades on this night.
1. Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan – WrestleMania 35
While Kofi Kingston was unable to capture the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber, he once again got his chance at WrestleMania 35 soon after.
Daniel Bryan finally returned to WrestleMania as WWE Champion, albeit as a heel but you gotta take what you can get. However, this time he was the one trying to stop a fan favorite from capturing WWE’s richest prize.
Bryan and Kingston had a tremendous match, by far the best on the show, which culminated with Kingston hitting Trouble in Paradise to become WWE Champion.
This was a very special moment for all who had been Kingston fans for the previous decade. However, it was made all the more special by being WWE’s match of the year at the same time.
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