5 best wrestling matches of 2011

2011 was a year mired in controversy for WWE, especially thanks to questionable booking of its core storylines. On SmackDown, Edge announced his retirement, which left the show without a top babyface star. Although most fans wanted to see Christian win the title, the events that actually occurred spoke volumes to both Christian and his fans: of the Edge and Christian duo, Christian was very much the Marty Jannetty to Edge’s Shawn Michaels.

RAW wasn’t much better, as the top brass still insisted on pushing John Cena over everyone else. But most of that changed thanks to a man named CM Punk, who cut arguably the single-greatest promo in RAW history. After this, he set the wrestling world on fire, and became the centerpiece of the hottest wrestling storyline in years and one of the best WWE matches ever. Unfortunately, as WWE is wont to do, backstage egos messed that storyline up before it could reach its logical conclusion, leaving fans disappointed instead of elated.

Now, this isn’t to say that 2011 didn’t have great matches. There were a handful of these, which we will discuss below.

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#5. Randy Orton vs. Christian - Over The Limit 2011

This was one of the most fun matches of the entire year to watch. The crowd was split evenly between supporting Christian and Orton. They were abnormally loud for a WWE crowd, cheering very loudly at even the most unrealistic near-falls. The wrestlers showed great storytelling and athleticism in the ring (including an interesting submission hold from Orton that he had never done before).

But most importantly, there was an underlying feeling of anticipation because Orton could hit the RKO out of nowhere. Because of the successful presentation of the RKO, the match came off as an unpredictable contest that could realistically end at any moment. You couldn’t turn away or zone out at any time; things happened so quickly that missing a single second would ruin your entire viewing experience.

While many people still bemoan what happened to Christian’s world title run, at least he got to have this great match with Orton, which ended up being one of the best matches of Orton’s career.

#4. Jun Akiyama vs. SUWAMA - AJPW Pro Wrestling Love In Ryogoku

For the first time since 1999, All Japan Pro-Wrestling makes the list with this traditional grappling match for one of the most prestigious titles in history.

In this battle, champion SUWAMA defended the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship against Jun Akiyama, one of the best wrestlers of 1990s Japan. Akiyama had never won the title, and after struggling in NOAH in the 2000s, he made an appearance in his old stomping grounds.

Of course, this is Akiyama, an AJPW alumnus, so you know what that means: this is a match filled with classic mat wrestling, dramatic reversal sequences, teased big moves, devastating out-of-the-ring spots, and ‘fighting spirit’ segments in which both wrestlers show off their toughness by no-selling each other’s offense. All of those things could be seen in this match, which made it fun to watch.

Finally, this was important because Akiyama finally won the Triple Crown Championship, 11 years after he left AJPW in the 2000 exodus. SUWAMA fought well, but he couldn’t overcome Akiyama, who had been wrestling some of the best wrestlers in Japan since 1992.

#3. Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards - ROH Best In The World 2011

This was a fantastic wrestling match between two former tag team partners fighting for ROH’s top prize. There were no faces or heels in this match; it was simply two wrestlers wanting to prove to each other and the fans which of them was the better wrestler.

For over thirty-five minutes, Richards and Edwards tore into each other with classic ROH-style athletics. You had vicious strikes (including several wince-inducing head-butt exchanges), horrifying moves from the apron to the ringside, and a lot of impressive technical wrestling.

That last point is the most important one: the commentators noted that both wrestlers had many moves with which they could end the match. Because of that, every submission hold and pin-fall attempt had an aura of believability that isn’t seen much in today’s WWE.

Although both of these are ‘smaller’ wrestlers (Edwards is the taller one at only 6 feet tall), they made up for that lack of size by showing off their masterful grappling ability. In that sense, this felt like a smaller version of the famous Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog match from SummerSlam 1992, only with smaller wrestlers and more grappling.

#2. The Undertaker vs. Triple H - WrestleMania XXVII

Ten years after their first WrestleMania encounter, Undertaker and Triple H delivered another show-stealing performance. They didn’t bother starting off with basic moves or building anything up. Instead, they went nuts from the opening minute, breaking ringside equipment and hitting as many big moves as possible.

That became the central story of the match: two wrestlers kicking out of each other’s finishers. Each of these kick-outs was seen as huge deals since both Undertaker and Triple H’s finishers were – and still are – two of the most protected moves in WWE. Few wrestlers, if any, had ever kicked out of so many Pedigrees and Tombstones, yet both of these men did.

The story between these wrestlers – that HHH was willing to do anything to win – was believable and incredibly dramatic. They even broke a cardinal sin in WWE by doing a chairshot to the head, which is something that had been banned years prior. Even without the dramatic reversal sequences in the Taker-HBK matches of earlier years, this epic encounter was amazing in its own right.

That drama was especially true when Triple H hit Undertaker with a Tombstone of his own, only for Undertaker to kick out of it. It goes to show you that sometimes you don’t have to do much to tell a great story. All it took was a handful of different moves and some subtle storytelling and you had one of the best matches of the year.

#1. John Cena vs. CM Punk - Money In The Bank 2011

This match is in a league of its own. It’s something mythical, famous for its amazing story, masterful blurring of the line between real and scripted, and for one of the hottest crowds ever. If you were a Cena fan in Chicago on this night, you were walking into the arena with a death wish. The crowd was so overwhelmingly in Punk’s favor that anything Cena did led to a torrent of boos.

This crowd wanted to see their hometown hero Punk win SO badly. He was seen as such a maverick and mirror image to John Cena and Vince McMahon that the possibility of him winning would’ve been a dream come true for the many fans out there that were tired of the ‘corporate’ and sanitized John Cena character.

Cena showed far more technical skill and selling in this match than ever before, doing headlocks, arm locks and hitting big moves that hadn’t been seen in his matches before. Because Punk was built up like a credible opponent, there was significantly more drama than in any of Cena’s biggest matches to date. The fans were captivated for the entire thirty-minute match.

Not only was the in-ring story great, but the final moments and post-match were legendary as well. Vince McMahon attempting another Montreal Screwjob, Cena’s determination to win the match clean, and the additional attempt by Vince to steal the title back all made for an outstanding moment.

Although the in-ring wrestling might be in the four-star range, the drama and story surrounding this match is definitely worth five stars. The build-up and execution of this storyline was superb, and led to one of the most memorable moments in WWE history.