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Dolph Ziggler has been underrated for a while now2015 has been an eventful year for the WWE – Vince McMahon finally realised his well know desire of having Roman Reigns become champion without the fans booing him out of the building, Charlotte ensured that another Flair would hog the limelight and the New Day established themselves as one of the greatest tag teams of the decade, at least.However, there were some moments which were not held in such high regard, despite delivering something of the same magnitude.The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar match might have been deemed a classic, but it doesn’t compare favourably to the classic triple threat WWE title match that Lesnar, John Cena and Seth Rollins had at the Royal Rumble.This list takes a look at five underrated WWE moments of 2015 P.S: Pretty much everything Dolph Ziggler did in 2015 has been underappreciated, so I am going to leave it at that – plus his Survivor Series performance against Rollins and co was in 2014.
#1 Chris Jericho turns 25 in the world of wrestling
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Chris Jericho may be a part timer nowadays – but it doesn’t mean that he cannot deliver the goods in the ring.
The former WWE Champion would be revealed as the mystery partner for Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose against the Wyatts at Night of Champions and would challenge Kevin Owens for the Intercontinental title at the Live from MSG special event.
The latter match marked the 25th anniversary of Jericho’s entry into the world of professional wrestling. However, there was no build up towards the match and there was barely a mention of Jericho’s feat on WWE programming prior to the event.
Owens and Jericho put together a great match and having some one like Jericho feud with KO rather than his challenger at the time – Ryback – could have done some good business for the WWE.
#2 Finn Balor wins the NXT Championship in Japan
Educated wrestling fans would definitely know about Finn Balor’s history in Japan. Having wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling for eight years, the once Prince Devitt still has a legion of fans in Japan.
So it was smart for the WWE to book Finn Balor to win the NXT Championship from Kevin Owens at the Ryougoku Sumo Hall in Japan as part of the Beast in the East special show. Balor would make his trademark ‘Demon’ entrance that had the audience enthralled like never before.
Owens and Balor would steal the show in a brutal match which would end with the latter delivering his Coup de grace to the champion to claim the title and the live crowd going wild. Now that was all hunky dory – but the match did not close out the show.
Neither did Brock Lesnar vs Kofi Kingston as the name of the show might lead you to believe.
Instead, immediately after the NXT title match, the fans were treated to the main event – a standard tag team match featuring John Cena and Dolph Ziggler against Kane and Wade Barrett.
Balor’s wonderful moment almost felt like an afterthought.
#3 Sasha Banks vs Bayley
The best Divas match of the year and this too happened in NXT. Sasha Banks and Bayley stole the show at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn with a peach of an NXT Women’s title match that featured hard hitting action.
Banks would play the dastardly heel gimmick to a T as she worked on Bayley’s right arm throughout the match. The spots were amazing, like Bank’s running flip dive to the outside and Bayley working through the pain to mount a return offensive.
The ending of the match was truly spectacular as Bayley executed a top rope Frankensteiner to pick up the victory and become the new NXT Women’s Champion. So what did the WWE do on the Raw the following week? – barely a mention of the match or the loss of Sasha’s title.
#4 Paige\'s pipebomb
This was the best mic work a Diva did in the WWE since AJ Lee’s ‘talent isn’t sexually transmitted’ barb at the Bella twins. Paige absolutely tore into Charlotte and Ric Flair, pointing out the fact that everybody watching already knew – that Charlotte was Divas’ Champion because of her famous father.
Paige was fantastic in this segment which effectively ended Team PCB as she swerved Charlotte’s title celebration to start a new rivalry between the duo.
The live audience, who were supposed to boo Paige for her heel comments actually cheered her and proceeded to take her side in the ensuing Divas Championship rivalry.
#5 Randy Orton counters the Curbstomp in to an RKO
Seth Rollins made history at Wrestlemania by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to claim the WWE World Heavyweight title. But his first match of the night was against Randy Orton where he ate an RKO to concede the match.
The match would have been labelled ‘good’ rather than ‘excellent’ if it wasn’t for its mindblowing climax.
Rollins would set Orton up for the Curb stomp and would race from the corner. He would have Orton’s head underneath his boot, but the Viper would pull out an RKO by the time Rollins’ foot reached the mat.
The crowd erupted in awe at the move and Orton was visibly pumped up about successfully executing the move.
Oh – and did it win a Slammy? Hell, no!!!!
