The 10 Best WWE Matches of 2017

#1 Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne (NXT TakeOver: Chicago)

The match of the year.

It's not often that the sequel surpasses the original, especially when it's as high in quality as the UK Tournament final between Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne was. This time, we saw the exception, and boy was it a treat.

The electricity was palpable even before the match began with the addition of JR on commentary. The Chicago crowd was overjoyed to see him.

The action started a bit slow with some technical wrestling, but these were no boring re-holds, as Bate managed a series of creative reversals. Things picked up rapidly when the action went outside, with a series of stiff shots from both men until Dunne hit a vicious suplex on the apron. From there, Dunne took control. His small joint manipulation just looked particularly nasty, adding to the gritty atmosphere the match had already taken on. Tyler Bate then tanked some vicious blows from Dunne to come back with a suplex, only then collapsing in pain. The psychology was good, adding yet more grittiness to the encounter.

Then came a series of blows and reversals ending with Pete Dunne reversing a standing shooting star press into an armbar/triangle choke, with some added punches to the joint and head for good measure. I erupted in laughter when first seeing it - never had I seen such a reversal! But it didn't take because Tyler Bate just showed off his strength and delivered a powerbomb.

For once, chants of "this is awesome" reflected reality.

A series of high-impact moves and reversals from both followed until we got what was the best exchange of blows in a WWE match I've ever seen. Both men's punches looked stiff to the max. Bate got the better of the exchange, but that wasn't enough to end it either, as we saw beautiful impacts and reversals, including both men escaping each other's finishers. The crowd was going nuts.

The game may have been given away when Dunne kicked out even after taking a moonsault and a 450 corkscrew from Bate, but no one seemed to mind. I didn't. Dunne soon hit the Bitter End for the win.

The greatness didn't even end after the pinfall, as you really felt for Tyler Bate after taking such a loss, much as you felt for Pete Dunne during his victory.

Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne was everything that a great match should be, and it showed that it isn't necessary to have endless finisher kick-outs to have a compelling contest. It was in many ways what things used to be - guys going all out and avoiding their opponents' finisher until one of them finally pulled the move off. Other contests should take note of this.