The top 10 WWE matches of 2018

#1 Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT TakeOver: New Orleans)

An all-time great

After the ladder match to kick off this show, it was hard to envision anything that would top it, but this contest did. A year in the making, it lived up to the hype and then some. The perfect mixture of an action-packed adrenaline rush and supreme drama, it immediately and indelibly cemented itself as WWE's match of the year, and it remained so, despite the many classics we got in the eight months since. That feat is a testament to the quality of this story and the competitors involved.

High drama was in place before the bell even rang, with Tommaso Ciampa coming down to the ring for a match for the first time since May 2017. His only music was the thunderous jeers of the crowd. Meanwhile, Johnny Gargano came down to his usual uplifting melody, calmly, all too calmly. It was a true calm before the storm.

When the action finally commenced, it was magic from the get-go. Everything was high intensity, with the crowd creating a magic atmosphere by cheering Gargano and booing Ciampa with thunderous enthusiasm.

When Ciampa started to get the upper hand, the first masterful element of storytelling in this match was laid down - he removed the protective padding on top of the concrete floor. He wouldn't use it, though. We were kept in suspense as Gargano fought him off, moving the action to the announcer's table, from which Ciampa would suplex him off.

The pace slowed down, but Ciampa's character work meant that every move would become a sadistic display that had the crowd jeering at the top of its lungs, begging for Gargano's comeback.

The second element of storytelling came into play when Ciampa brought crutches into the ring after stealing them from an enraged fan - the same kind of crutches he was on for almost a year after tearing his ACL and which he used as a weapon on Gargano during his intense rivalry with Andrade "Cien" Almas. Ciampa swung and missed, though, and that's when Gargano came back. We were again kept in suspense, with Ciampa trying to suplex Gargano from the ring onto the exposed concrete. Gargano, however, eventually powerbombed his antagonist onto it. The concrete came back to haunt the person who exposed it! The crowd roared in delight, with booming chants of "you deserve it!"

The two men slowly got back into the ring, staring at one another in shock and pain from opposite corners. Then they crawled toward and struggled over the crutch lying in the centre.

Gargano won the crutch and began swinging in rage at Ciampa, hitting his previously injured knee. The look on his face was a story in itself. He would hit a slingshot DDT for a two count. He then exposed the turnbuckle, but wouldn't get to use it, as the two men struggled with Gargano on the apron. Ciampa would reverse an attempt at a second slingshot DDT with a flying knee and then hit a powerbomb to get a two count of his own. He followed up with a mockery of DIY, bringing back half of their old finisher, only to get another two count.

Following a struggle, Gargano finally locked in the Gargano Escape, and after a thrilling sequence with the crowd roaring for Ciampa to tap, he reversed it in a characteristic way - by raking Gargano's eyes and nose. Another brutal struggle followed, with Ciampa hitting Project Ciampa, only for Gargano to somehow kick out, to the relief of the crowd.

Ciampa gloated in Gargano's struggle, loudly proclaiming that it was "his moment," but the antagonized Johnny Wrestling somehow came back, hitting a superkick, sending Ciampa into the exposed turnbuckle, and then hitting two more superkicks, the last of which saw spit and sweat flying all over the ring. I thought it was over there, but Ciampa kicked out!

The crowd couldn't believe it either.

Shockingly, the two then struggled on the top turnbuckle, with Ciampa hitting Project Ciampa from there.

And then came the second unbelievable kick out of the match!

In desperation, Ciampa took off his knee brace, but that would prove to be his undoing, as Gargano slammed it into his hurt knee, and after one more extraordinary sequence, where it looked like the former DIY brothers might make up, after all, Johnny Gargano used the knee brace in an STF. Ciampa tapped immediately, and, for that triumphant moment, Johnny Wrestling had been avenged.

It had been not only the best match of 2018 but one of the best of all time.