Ranking the 10 Biggest WWE moments of the past decade

WWE is another 10 years older, and there has been plenty of change within the company and the wrestling business as a whole. The past decade has been a fun one. While there are certainly plenty of criticisms to send WWE's way, they've managed some of the biggest and best moments in pro-wrestling over the past 10 years, and while we all may look back on the glory days of the Attitude Era, the period of 2010-2019 has been quite fun as well.

From huge debuts to retirements to incredible and surprising match results, this decade, while not WWE's best, has still given a lot to love to all fans. We do hope that the next 10 years raise the bar, but before we get ahead of ourselves let's sit back and read along as we take a fond look back on the decade that was, and analyse the top 10 WWE in the past decade.

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#10 Mark Henry's "retirement" speech

This is a very underrated moment, but looking back on all the great twists that happened in the past 10 years, we had to include it because of just how shocking and well done it was. Mark Henry was coming to the end of a very long career (or so we thought), and he decided to give a very emotional retirement speech. The crowd was eating it up -- but there was a catch -- Henry wasn't retiring. He used all this emotion as a ruse to fool not only the WWE Universe, but WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena too.

It was one of the best promos WWE during this past decade, and probably the decade before as well. This moment made Henry one of the most hated heels in the company. To many, it's unfortunate that they didn't put the championship on him immediately. If you haven't seen this one in a while, check it out below, because it's one of the best promos of the past decade.

#9 The Shield crash the party at Survivor Series 2012

The Shield and it's 3 members (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) defined this past generation, so their debut at Survivor Series 2012 has to be on this list. During a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship between Ryback, John Cena, and CM Punk, the 3 NXT rookies came from nowhere and brutally assaulted Ryback, signalling that they were here to make an impact.

In their 3 years as a group, The Shield did everything imaginable, cementing their place as one of the greatest trios in WWE history. The moment of their arrival near the end of 2012 was shocking and incredibly refreshing. We'll get to the moment that the shattered the group later on, but from this point until mid-2014, these 3 men ran roughshod over all of WWE, and bringing up 3 new performers from NXT was done perfectly by WWE, making this one of the biggest and most important moments of the past decade.

#8 Women Main Event WrestleMania

Before this past decade, women were still treated as lesser than men in WWE, but due to the surge of talent coming through NXT, they were finally given a chance, and WrestleMania 35 was the biggest example of that. After years struggling to get to this stage, women finally closed the show at WrestleMania. While it wasn't the best match on the card, it was a significant moment for women in WWE, all of sports and entertainment, as well as young girls and women all over the world.

Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey were the right to choice for the spot, as they all brought their own quality and star power to the match. After the year she had, there was no better option than to have "The Man" Becky Lynch come out victorious. The finish was a surprise, but WWE did the right thing closing WrestleMania with the Irish star standing tall, signifying that women are here to stay as major players within WWE.

#7 Occupy RAW

Daniel Bryan's rise to the top is one of WWE's greatest ever storylines (we'll get to the payoff later), but it was this moment from the lead up to WrestleMania XXX that people often remember best. Despite the overwhelming crowd support for Bryan, The Authority didn't want to give him a shot at WrestleMania, even though he earned it many times over. Therefore, until he got the opportunity, Bryan and the Yes Movement completely took over Monday Night RAW.

This is one of the most powerful moments we've ever seen in WWE, showing that overwhelming crowd support can truly help you move up in the company, but it's unlikely we'll ever see something like this again. As we all know, this movement worked, as Triple H was so overwhelmed that he offered Bryan a golden opportunity on the Grandest Stage of Them All, and it's yet another example of how when WWE gets it right, they really, really get it right.

#6 Lesnar breaks The Undertaker's streak

The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak was a huge story within WWE for over 20 years, and while it had to come to an end eventually, no one thought that WWE would allow The Beast to be the man to do it. Sure, he's a physical specimen and has been proven to be a big draw for WWE, but many expected that this spot would have been given to a young, up and coming performer (CM Punk at WrestleMania 29 seemed to be the pick for many fans).

Despite this, WWE decided to do it with Brock Lesnar, and this moment left every single fan in New Orleans in shock, witnessing the end of the greatest streak in WWE history. It's understandable why WWE did this, but this was an average match after 6 straight fantastic matches for The Undertaker, making the moment a little less meaningful, but it was arguably the most shocking moment of the last decade, perhaps ever in WWE.

#5 The End of the HeartBreak Kid

Shawn Michaels is arguably the greatest professional wrestler of all-time. As the years went by, everyone knew his career was coming closer and closer to its end, but when the inevitable happened it was still a huge, emotional moment. He was the man who retired Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV just 2 years earlier, but after failing to defeat The Undertaker the next year at WrestleMania XXV, he became desperate to defeat the Streak. Michaels put his career on the line just to get a rematch.

The two topped the bout they had a year earlier, but despite his greatest efforts, Mr. WrestleMania came up just short, losing to Undertaker and calling an end to an iconic 20+ year career. In terms of retirement matches, this may be the best in WWE history, as fans truly fell for every near fall and big moment. While we miss HBK in WWE, this was the perfect way to end his amazing career.

#4 Punk does the unthinkable

We'll talk about what led CM Punk to get into the position you see above a bit later on in the list, but at Money in the Bank 2011, WWE hosted one of its most iconic matches ever for many reasons. The biggest reason was that CM Punk walked away with the WWE Championship after allegedly refusing to sign a contract that would extend his time in WWE past that exact night. After he sparked a fire under WWE with his "Pipebomb" promo, Punk went on to challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship in his home town of Chicago. It's safe to say that the crowd was on the side of the Second City Saviour.

After over 30-minutes of a back and forth war, Vince McMahon attempted to screw CM Punk out of the title, but John Cena couldn't let that happen and ultimately cost himself what he held most dear. When Punk hit the final GTS for the 1-2-3, the Chicago crowd blew the roof off the building, and while WWE failed to capitalise on this momentum, it was a moment that few will ever forget.

#3 "There's always a Plan B"

We've already talked about The Shield's arrival, so how did the group that took WWE by storm for 3 years end their iconic and unmatched run through the entirety of the company? After defeating the reformed Evolution in a clean 3-0 sweep in an elimination match less than 24 hours prior, The Shield were riding high, which made it all the more shocking when Seth Rollins brought it all crashing down and turned his back on his "brothers".

Batista had quit WWE at Triple H's expense earlier in the night on RAW, which made it seem like The Game was all out of options, before he uttered his now famous line "there's always a Plan B." Rollins would take a chair to the back of Roman Reigns before brutally decimating both Reigns and Dean Ambrose in a move that shot him straight to the main event and broke up one of the most iconic trios WWE have ever produced.

#2 Pipebomb

In 2011, plenty of fans were becoming disgruntled with WWE's less than average product. Perhaps by design, but perhaps unintentionally, the company set forth on one of the hottest storylines we've ever seen when they gave CM Punk a live microphone on TV. WWE allowed Punk to simply go out in front of the WWE Universe and 'air his grievances', which became the promo now known as the 'pipe bomb'. It's certainly one of the best moments in the last decade, and probably near the top of the list of best moments in WWE history.

CM Punk sat cross-legged on the stage and began discussing all the problems he had with WWE in a well timed, amazing rant that had to be cut off at the end due to how personal he was getting with Vince McMahon. "This company will be better off after Vince McMahon is dead" is what most people remember from this, and while you'd expect him to be fired on the spot, this actually led to a WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank, and deservedly so, because Punk finally gave fans a reason to tune in to WWE again.

#1 The Miracle on Bourbon Street

This was one of the best-told stories in wrestling history. After defeating Triple H in the opening match WrestleMania XXX, to earn his spot in the main event later that night, Daniel Bryan would finally get another shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He entered the match between former stablemates-turned-rivals Batista and Randy Orton, turning it into a triple threat affair, as per the stipulation of his match with Triple H. The match itself was fantastic, and when the fans thought Bryan was down for good after being destroyed by two of the four members of Evolution on the outside of the ring (as well as interference from Triple H and Stephanie McMahon) he fought back against all odds, forcing Batista to submit. This sent every single person in New Orleans into a complete frenzy.

This was the culmination of a story almost a year in the making, and proves that sometimes the WWE Universe do know what they are talking about, because this is one of the greatest moments in WrestleMania history. His reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion wasn't as good as the build (it rarely is after stories like this), but this moment is one that will live forever as an iconic WrestleMania moment, and the best moment in WWE this decade.