2023 was a banner year for WWE. The company saw a rise in interest and the quality of the product crew favorably in tremendous fashion at times. There were plenty of high spots and memorable moments. And as usual, there were also plenty of terrific matches.
And so, The Comeback is here to provide you with our Top 25 matches of the year. We’ll be doing this in blocks throughout the week.
The way we came up with this was simple. Rob and I, Chris, took a list of nominations we both came up with. We then blindly created our own Top 25s. Amazingly, we wound up with the same matches on our lists besides just a few. I averaged out the rankings and we have our list to unveil.
First up, we have 25 through 21. There’s one added qualifier here. The matches we disagreed on will come first, in an order we agreed to.
25, Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre (Crown Jewel, November 2023)
24. 5-Way North American Championship (NXT Stand & Deliver, April 2023)
Rob’s choice was Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre from Crown Jewel, and the 5-Way North American Title match from Stand and Deliver earlier this year was my choice. Both these matches certainly were worth their own recognition. McIntyre and Rollins have great chemistry with each other and it showed again in this outstanding match. The two will once again wrestle at ‘Day 1 Raw,’ which could prove to be a great way to ring in 2024.
The 5-Way from Stand and Deliver was an epic onslaught of a match. Five great talents went at it in a flurry that ended with Wes Lee coming out on top. Dragon Lee made his WWE debut in this match and has had a scorching year since. Axiom, Ilja Dragunov, and JD McDonagh have all also gone on to have varying degrees of success, but there was plenty to be had in this match.
23. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair, Raw Women’s Championship Triple Threat (Raw, February 2023)
The Top 25 kicks off with one of the most star-studded matches of the year. Bayley, Becky Lynch, and Bianca Belair collided for a high-stakes Triple Threat Match in Brooklyn in February. This match was super fun and gets recognition here for the fact that it’s always great to see matches where the starpower is obvious. Bayley, Becky, and Bianca are three of the biggest women’s wrestling stars in the game. And so, the fact that they got together for a really good match made for a super fun time on the way to WrestleMania. — Chris Novak
22. IYO SKY vs. Asuka, Smackdown Women’s Championship (Smackdown, September 2023)
This long-awaited first-time matchup proved well worth the wait, as IYO SKY defended her WWE Women’s Championship in a 19-minute victory over Asuka. Since this match took place on Smackdown instead of a Premium Live Event, it left the door open to revisit the story on a bigger stage down the line. — Robert O’Neill
21, Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker, World Heavyweight Championship (NXT, June 2022)
Seth Rollins went down to Florida shortly after winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Rollins went up against NXT super prospect Bron Breakker, who has wrestling lineage and prestige in his background. The two had an enthralling television main event on NXT, which also helped the show get one of its biggest audiences of the year. Rollins and Breakker are two guys that you can see working together again someday. Hopefully on an even bigger state. When they do, they’ll have this match to live up to, and they set quite the standard. — Chris Novak
Tomorrow: Matches 20-16!