10 Best WWE Matches of 2024

2024 was a gift to wrestling fans for many members of the WWE Universe. It was effectively the year in which the company and its product worked its way back into the mainstream, thanks in large part to a monumental Netflix deal and the return of Hollywood superstar, The Rock. The year offered some incredible moments for WWE spectators, but it also offered some incredible matches.

The year of 2024 gave audiences too many matches to choose from in the Match of the Year department, many of which just barely missed the cut. Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky, WarGames, NXT's Iron Survivor, Friday Night SmackDown's Triple Threat Ladder Match, Ludwig Kaiser vs. Sheamus vs. Bron Breakker, and Randy Orton's match with Gunther in Berlin are all examples of honorable mentions. However, the matches that did happen to leave an imprint in the minds of the WWE Universe are ones that are truly must-see.

10 Bronson Reed vs. Braun Strowman - Last Monster Standing

Raw, September 30, 2024

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Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed collided for weeks in some of Monday Night Raw's most destructive moments. After Bronson Reed delivered a devastating Tsunami atop a car, it was decided that this town wasn't big enough for King Kong and Godzilla to co-exist at once, leading to what was promoted as Last Monster Standing.

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This might be the most divisive Match of the Year candidate to come out of 2024. Not every viewer came out of this match loving it, including a vocal WWE Hall of Famer who was disappointed, but it's hard to deny the sheer spectacle of the bout. The sheer hype surrounding what was promoted as a car crash waiting to happen ended up being a match that audiences, whether they loved or hated it, could not turn their eyes away from.

9 Ricochet vs. Ilja Dragunov - King of the Ring Tournament Match

Raw, May 6, 2024

In 2024, WWE brought back the prestigious King of the Ring tournament, with one of the first-round matches pitting Ilja Dragunov with Ricochet. The former NXT Champion was less than a month removed from getting called up to the main roster, this being just his second match following his debut. Meanwhile, Ricochet, on top of nearing the end of his contract, had a stagnant WWE career after losing the Intercontinental Championship to Gunther, never truly regaining momentum after. In their own ways, both men had something to prove, and in the eyes of the WWE Universe, they delivered.

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Dragunov's selling ability is especially on display, showcased in a moment where, drained from a superkick, he falls onto the shoulders of a leaned-over Ricochet, who after a split-second realization (noted in his facial expressions) turns it into a rolling fireman's carry slam. There's a lot of that spontaneous back-and-forth match and, for a TV match, it's electrifying.

8 Bayley vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Naomi - WWE Women's Championship Triple Threat Match

WWE Backlash: France

Coming out of WrestleMania, Bayley's first major challenge as the new WWE Women's Champion on PLE came at Backlash, when she faced an old friend in Naomi and a new foe in recent NXT call-up Tiffany Stratton. Naomi had previously defeated Stratton to earn a number one contender spot, but asserting herself as the Center of the Universe, Stratton interfered, causing a No Contest in the April 19th one-on-one title match on SmackDown, leading to this match.

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This produced the same effect as Seth Rollins' breakout performance against John Cena and Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2015. A hungry challenger making a name for themselves against two vets for their division's most prestigious belt, leading to an exciting three-way dance (as called in the ECW days). It is undoubtedly one of the year's best matches and almost took the crown for WWE's best triple threat match of the year. Almost.

7 Josh Briggs vs. Oba Femi vs. Dijak - NXT North American Championship Triple Threat Match

NXT Stand and Deliver 2024

Annually, WrestleMania weekend features wrestling events galore across the globe. Both the big leagues and the indies try to capitalize on the season when fans are at their hungriest to find wrestling. Because Mania is so big, it's easy to overlook anything that isn't WrestleMania, but WWE's developmental brand of NXT nearly stole the thunder from The Show of Shows. It's all thanks to the NXT North American Championship bout between the defending champion Oba Femi and two hefty challengers.

The result is three juggernauts, each weighing close to 300 lbs, moving faster and swifter than any man of such size should move. They constantly use their power to toss each other at one another at a speed that shouldn't be humanly possible. This contest was awarded by WWE for being NXT's Match of the Year in their year-end awards, while many fans praise it as the best triple threat of the year.

6 Sami Zayn vs. Gunther - Intercontinental Championship Match

WrestleMania XL

This storyline had a lot to overcome, as fans were in full support of Chad Gable being the one to face, and hopefully defeat, Gunther for the IC belt due to their compelling rivalry from the previous year (which boasted, itself, a MOTY candidate for 2023). Instead, Sami Zayn was The Ring General's number-one contender. Gable's name hung like a black cloud over this feud heading into this match, hurting the fans' investment, especially when everyone assumed Gunther was retaining.

Sami Zayn works best in an underdog position like this, and by leaning into that fighting spirit aspect of his character, he won the crowd over. He constantly looked at a disadvantage as Gunther chopped and pounded away at him, but small spurts of a comeback, like an eye-popping Brainbuster off the top rope, made the fans erupt in disbelief. Fans went from wishing he'd win this, to believing he actually could defeat the undefeated champion, leading to a shocking upset and riveting WrestleMania moment.

5 Bayley vs. IYO SKY - WWE Women's Championship Match

WrestleMania XL

Some have called the feud between then-WWE Women's Champion Iyo Sky and Royal Rumble winner Bayley disappointing. Viewers waited with bated breath to see the former Damage CTRL leader finally break away from the group as had been teased for months, but the break-up and betrayal happening on the SmackDown after the Rumble may have been too early to pull that trigger, leading to a lot of filler in between. Thankfully, the match made it all worth the wait.

Bayley is a technical wrestler who can offer excellent chemistry with anyone, while Iyo's speed and agility often make a great contrast against any style. This made for captivating chemistry, as Sky brought Bayley down to her level by targeting the knee throughout the match, forcing Bayley to fight from underneath like the NXT underdog everyone fell in love with back in 2015. An eye-popping reversal into the Rose Plant book-ended a great match with a feel-good moment.

4 IYO SKY vs. Bianca Belair - Singles Match

Raw, September 16, 2024

The previous week, an accidental distraction from WWE Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill cost Damage CTRL a match with former champions, The Unholy Union. With a legitimately injured Kairi Sane on the sidelines, a furious Iyo confronts Belair backstage, leading to an impromptu match.

Iyo makes a case for MVP of 2024, having multiple spectacular matches across the year with a bevy of opponents (including Liv Morgan, as their WWE Women's World Title match from Saturday Night's Main Event is a notable honorable mention). This is no different, as it's a case of agility vs. pure power. That's especially evident through an exciting finish, where The EST of WWE lifts Sky on her shoulders from the turnbuckle, only for the Genius of the Sky to reverse into a small package cradle pin.

3 AJ Styles vs. Cody Rhodes - WWE Championship Match

WWE Backlash: France

Due to the current effort to commit to long-term storytelling in WWE, fans admittedly weren't very invested in the early stages of WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and AJ Styles' feud because it simply wasn't a feud. Before things ramped up for their I Quit match at Clash at the Castle, this was between two babyfaces who had the utmost respect for each other hoping to call themselves the best wrestler in the world by claiming the most prestigious wrestling title in the world.

Not the most compelling basis for a feud, but these are really two of the best wrestlers in the world, committing to some of the finest in-ring work of the year. The story of the match itself is that both men are constantly jockeying for position, one counter after the next, trying to out-wrestle each other to prove that "best wrestler" claim, but slowly, each move carries an even more intense bravado as both men work harder to call themselves a champion. The match was bolstered even further by arguably WWE's hottest crowd of the year, rivaled only by those at WrestleMania.

2 CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre - Hell in a Cell Match

Bad Blood 2024

Few would've guessed that a real injury suffered by CM Punk in the Royal Rumble, followed by the frequently meme'd moment of Drew McIntyre admitting that he "prayed for this, and it happened," could've transpired into the most compelling rivalry of 2024. It'd finally culminate in October's Bad Blood, serving as the pair's tie-breaker to their trilogy of matches. Only the grueling, gruesome Hell in a Cell could put an exclamation point on their feud.

This is a dangerously close number two in the Match of the Year category and, truthfully, some can make a strong argument with it being number one. It's a toss-up with the top spot, as the brutality of the match personified a brutal rivalry. McIntyre's missed Claymore attempt sending him crashing into unforgiving steel steps, along with the inclusion of actual blood (a rarity for WWE's PG programming) turned this into an instant, unforgettable classic.

1 Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns - Bloodline Rules - WWE Championship Match

WrestleMania XL

Fans couldn't have imagined that a WrestleMania main event rematch one year in the making could have had any bigger stakes, but the addition of The Rock and Seth Rollins helped push new life into this feud and the overall Bloodline storyline. Per the ramifications of the previous night's main event, the rematch was under anything-goes stipulations, adding a new caveat to the bout that included Avengers-style cameos and a newfound aggression between two heated rivals.

It's hard to argue against this being the match of the year when it delivered one of the year's biggest moments, as well as finishing a story that was already decades in the making. It becomes even harder when considering that when one takes away the run-ins and shenanigans, Cody and Roman's in-ring chemistry was as sharp as it was at WrestleMania 39. WrestleMania 40 offered their best bout together, along with WWE's best of 2024.