Over the past couple of years, there's been a feeling going around that we're in a new boom period for wrestling, and when you look at the lineup of incredible shows and matches we saw across multiple companies in 2024, it's hard to argue against it. WWE is on a hot streak like never before and while AEW has cooled a bit over the past couple of years, their big shows are still guaranteed to have at least one or two match-of-the-year candidates.
That's why cutting this list down to ten entries was simply impossible and I'll instead be listing what I personally think were the 20 best matches that happened in both WWE and AEW in 2024.
20) Women's Iron Survivor Challenge – NXT Deadline
One of the best decisions WWE made this year was the introduction of mid-card singles championships for the women's division on Raw and Smackdown, and the reason why I think these new belts are necessary is exemplified in this match right here.
Most new gimmick matches crash and die, but since its 2022 debut, the Iron Survivor Challenge has proven to be a winner, making for chaotic matches that showcase everyone in them while being able to tell lots of interweaving stories. Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer, Zaria, Sol Ruca, and Wren Sinclair worked their asses off to make this a fast-paced match to remember and every moment of it was a joy to watch.
NXT women's division is the best in the world right now and it's not even close. The five women in this match are an incredible showcase of this but add on top of that the likes of Roxanne Perez, Cora Jade, Gigi Dolin, Fallon Henley, and so many more waiting in the wings, and you quickly realize that WWE's women's roster has an incredible few years ahead of it. Once all of these women make the leap to the main roster it'll be a true golden age for women's wrestling and I cannot wait.
19) Toni Storm vs Mariah May – AEW All In
While the future of WWE's women's division looks very bright, one of the biggest criticisms of AEW since day one has been the lack of investment in its women's wrestler, and while it's still not perfect, 2024 has seen the company take big strides in making it an important feature of its programming. The best example of this is unquestionably the story between Storm and May throughout this year.
May's betrayal of Storm is arguably AEW's best moment of the entire year which led to this great match at Wembley Stadium. Both women showed their full range as performers here, with Mariah May especially being an incredibly entertaining heel who got the big win that everyone wanted and established her as a new top star in the women's division, which AEW desperately needed.
18) Swerve Strickland vs Will Ospreay – AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
I doubt it will come as a surprise to anyone when I say that you're going to be seeing a lot of Will Ospreay later on in this list. There are plenty of vocal people who really don't like his style, but I think he's the best wrestler in the world right now and 2024 saw him showcase that week after week with incredible matches.
Aside from all the great action that this match was always going to have, this was a great match as it achieved some very important things. While Swerve was unquestionably a world title level guy going into this match, this clean win over Ospreay elevated him even further, showing anyone who still doubted him that he could hang with the best of the best – both from a character and workrate perspective.
17) Bron Breakker vs Sheamus vs Ludwig Kaiser – WWE Survivor Series
Bron Breakker has been one of the most exciting performers in WWE since making his way to the main roster earlier this year, and if he keeps having matches like this then it will only be a matter of time before he's knocking on the door of a world championship. Throwing him in there with an explosive bruiser like Sheamus and a crafty technician like Kaiser was a great way to showcase everything great about all three guys.
Breakker performed incredible athletic feats, Sheamus brought the music with his brawling crowd-popping style, and Kaiser played spoiler to both of them. The result was a match that didn't give you a moment to breathe as all three guys beat each other senseless, giving us some heart-stopping near-falls and ultimately the right result at Breakker retained in dominant fashion.
16) The Young Bucks vs Will Ospreay & Kyle Fletcher – AEW Dynamite Grand Slam
There isn't anything complex about this match to say really, it's just one of the best tag team's in the world facing two of the best singles stars in the world and having an awesome match. The Buck's tag title reign this year has had its ups and downs, but this was undoubtedly a highlight, and it helped to further the brewing implosion of Ospreay and Fletcher's friendship.
15) The OG Bloodline vs The New Bloodline – WWE Survivor Series
I think at this point it's safe to say that The Bloodline storyline is one of the greatest pro-wrestling stories ever told. Starting in 2020, it has defined the last half-decade of WWE. I have no idea how close it is to being over, but I do know that this was exactly the match I'd been hoping for since we all started fantasy-booking it back in April.
The action was hard-hitting and a lot of fun as everyone involved made the most of their spots – Jacob Fatu in particular. Add to that the juicy drama triangle between Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and Paul Heyman, and you have a match that made the most of all the mixed elements going in and left us with intrigue about various new directions coming out while giving us a fun WarGames match in the process.
14) Cody Rhodes vs Gunther – WWE Crown Jewel
In this era of WWE, it's much easier to have faith that a match is simply going to be great fun to watch, even if the stakes aren't there. I couldn't care less about the Crown Jewel Championship, and I think champion vs champion matches are a terrible idea, however, I was damn excited to see Cody face Gunther, and they didn't disappoint.
The finish wasn't the best, but what preceded it was roughly 20 minutes of world-class wrestling. Cody is one of the best at the traditional "WWE main event" style of match, and Gunther's unique in-ring style has made him one of my favorites since he first showed up in NXT, so there was no way I wasn't going to enjoy this one.
13) Gunther vs Sami Zayn – WWE WrestleMania 40
When Triple H took over creative in WWE, Sami Zayn was the man I had the highest hopes for. It was clear that Vince just didn't get his style, but Triple H knows what's up and finally gave him the big spotlight going into Mania 40.
As I said before, Gunther is perhaps the best in-ring worker in all of WWE right now, and Sami Zayn's scrappy babyface style perfectly complements the bigger man's clean beatdowns. Combine that with the energy in the building that night of desperately wanting to see Zayn get his big moment and you're in for a bit of magic, which it certainly was when he finally ended Gunther's historic 600+ day reign as Intercontinental Champion.
12) Mercedes Mone vs Kris Statlander – AEW Full Gear
Mercedes Mone has drawn plenty of criticism since joining AEW and I think a lot of it has been unfair. Going into this she'd had a couple of underwhelming TBS title defenses but I knew it was only a matter of time until she reminded us that she was still one of the best women's wrestlers in the world, which is exactly what she and Statlander did in this match.
Freed from the albatross of Kamille interfering on her behalf, Mone and Statlander put on a mat classic at Full Gear full of compelling in-ring storytelling leading to the last half of the match feeling super heated. Statlander's raw power makes her so much fun to watch and Mone's scrappy approach in working over the limbs and waiting for Kris to make a mistake was great. Throw on top of that some believable near falls and you've got a match that even the harshest Mone critics have to admit is a banger.
11) Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher – AEW Dynamite March 6
Ospreay and Fletcher had two fantastic matches this year. We'll be talking about the more recent one in a bit, but I couldn't let Ospreay's Dynamite debut go unmentioned either. Fletcher has had a great ascension into a top star this year, and I see this as the start of it.
As this was a face vs face match there were no reservations about pacing or crowd-popping, the two of them just went all-out right from the word go and it was a sight to behold. Just a few days after his amazing debut at Revolution, you'd forgive Ospreay for taking it a bit slower here, but he did no such thing, performing at the top of his game and making Fletcher look like a million bucks in the process, even in defeat.
10) Will Ospreay vs Pac – AEW All Out
In case you haven't noticed, we've entered the Will Ospreay section of the list and we won't be leaving it for a while yet.
When Ospreay announced he was joining AEW there was a huge list of opponents we wanted him to face, and Pac definitely near the top of that list. The two wrestlers have near identical styles, as they're both high-fliers that also know how to be hard-hitting and it made for a brilliant mirror match that had plenty of variety.
Yes, there were a bunch of flippy counters that looked cool, but on top of that, you had them absolutely battering each other with hard strikes that knocked the wind out of you just watching them. Even though Ospreay winning was a foregone conclusion they worked hard enough to make you forget it briefly, leaving us in awe of what these people are physically capable of.
9) MJF vs Will Ospreay – AEW All In
Much like Fletcher, Ospreay and MJF had not one but two incredible matches this year and this is the first one we'll talk about. The story of the Tiger Driver that had been building since April was a lot more compelling than I expected it to be, and given that the angle was "this move almost killed someone", I didn't expect "hit it on MJF and almost kill him" to be the resolution, but I can't deny that I was one of the people screaming with excitement that night in Wembley Stadium when he hit it.
It was no easy feat to follow up their previous hour-long clash, but they managed it and it's a great example of how Ospreay isn't just the flippy wrestler a lot of the naysayers dismiss him as. His ability to alter his spectacular offensive style depending on his opponent is what makes him so incredible. Not only is able to put on five-star matches one after another, but no two of them feel alike, even if he's facing the same opponent, which is truly something special.
8) Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher – AEW Full Gear
To prove that point, here's Ospreay's second match with Fletcher in 2024 and it felt like the complete opposite of their match from March, yet still a five-star affair. Having now turned heel, Fletcher gets to show a new side of his character and his in-ring style, so once again Ospreay adapts and despite being the bigger star, makes himself seem like the complete underdog very early on in this match.
Fletcher working a much stiffer style knocks Ospreay around a lot, but they're still the familiar competitors they always have been and that same great action we saw in their first match continues here. I also found the finish especially enjoyable, as while Ospreay kicks out of the piledriver on the steps, you can see that he's clearly still completely out of it. That moment when he tries to hit the Hidden Blade but gets absolutely no force behind it is heartbreaking in the best possible way and, yet again, gets Fletcher over huge, this time in victory.
7) CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre – WWE Bad Blood
This feud was definitely one of WWE's best this year, but some wind was knocked out of it after their weird Summerslam match, and while the following strap match was good, playing red-light green-light didn't exactly heat things up.
Thankfully, this final match delivered in a huge way. Not only did it give us a satisfying conclusion to a feud that had been going on since January, but it singlehandedly rehabilitated the image of Hell in a Cell as a nuclear-option stipulation, used only when two wrestlers hate each other so much they want to try and end each other's career – as opposed to something that gets wheeled out because the calendar says we have to.
Some of the images from that match are still burned into the forefront of my mind, like Drew's head gushing with blood, the Superplex through the table, or Drew landing back-first on the steps. It was exactly what both this feud and the stipulation needed, plus, it's nice that Punk got to have an all-time great feud in his first year since returning.
6) Will Ospreay vs Konosuke Takeshita – AEW Revolution
Few men have come into AEW with as much hype as Ospreay did, and to live up to his reputation he'd need to come in and have an awesome match for his Revolution debut. Thankfully, he did just that in a fashion that showcased the best of his flashy style while still making Takeshita look like a world-class competitor. In fact, Takeshita has had a really great year and it all started here. His matches with Omega last year weren't to everyone's taste and he got lost in a shuffle a little bit, but after this match he was impossible to ignore.
Takeshita has a great heavy-handed style while still being able to flip with the best of them, making him the perfect fit for Ospreay, as well as using the character dynamics between the two of them and Don Callis to remind the naysayers that Ospreay does know how to tell in-ring stories.
5) Swerve Strickland vs Hangman Page – AEW All Out
When it comes to intense feuds, you'd be hard-pressed to name any feud in wrestling history that has gone to the ridiculous heights of Swerve and Hangman. After their Texas Deathmatch last year they were going to have to somehow top it here, and the fact that the lasting image before the show was that of Page burning Swerve's house down, this wasn't going to be pretty.
If you didn't enjoy this match, I get it, because it can be a bit much at times. Hardcore wrestling is far from my favorite style, but when I'm invested in the characters as much as I am these two, then I can't help but feel the epic atmosphere as they collide and sincerely try to end each other in a steel cage. It's stupid and violent to the point of pushing the boundaries of what should be considered acceptable in pro-wrestling and while that might turn some people away, it drew me all the way in.
4) Will Ospreay vs MJF – AEW Dynamite July 17
There are only a couple more Ospreay matches to talk about, I promise, but these last ones are the real deal.
After his AEW World Championship run flames out towards the end of 2023, MJF needed something amazing to reignite fan interest during his 2024 return and this match was all he needed. AEW have gone to the hour-long draw well a few times now, so when the clock started ticking down on this match it really seemed like we were getting another. To subvert expectations and give us a perfectly-timed 59-minute and 59-second upset victory for MJF was unbelievable.
It wasn't just the finish that was amazing though. To wrestle for a full hour and make it compelling is an incredibly difficult feat, and yet MJF has managed it on more than one occasion now. With a bunch of Ospreay's matches from this year being face vs face, being able to go full underdog babyface against the dastardly MJF was a great boon for him, plus the continuing thread of his reluctance to use the Tiger Driver gave the whole thing a compelling through-line.
3) Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson – AEW Dynasty
The fact that this match – lauded by many as the greatest Western wrestling match of all time – is only number three is a true testament to how incredible of a year 2024 was for pro wrestling.
When Ospreay signed with AEW, pretty much the only thing anyone cared about was when we'd get to see him fight Danielson, and thankfully we didn't have to wait long. It was simply impossible for expectations to be higher than this. A five-star match would've been an abject disappointment. This had to be one of the greatest matches in wrestling history, and somehow, it was.
Both having explosive and spectacular babyface styles, they meshed perfectly in the ring as Ospreay's high-flying offense was challenged by Danielson's ability to ground him and tear all of his limbs out of their sockets. It had everything: heart-stopping high spots, nail-biting near falls, and a whole bunch of cool flips and creative counters. Plus, it created a great story that both men would use for the rest of the year, with Ospreay putting Bryan's neck and career in jeopardy with the Tiger Driver.
2) Swerve Strickland vs Bryan Danielson – AEW All In
From a pure in-ring standpoint Ospreay/Danielson might be the better match, but there is (almost) nothing that will top the feeling of euphoria I felt that night in Wembley Stadium when Danielson won the world title.
Knowing that Bryan did legitimately plan to retire from full-time wrestling in 2024, when he put his career on the line at All In it really made me unsure of the result and these two men managed to fuel that doubt in every single second of this match. When Swerve hit those three House Calls in a row, I remember truly believing that I was watching the end of my favorite wrestler's career, only for him to kick out in a moment that genuinely winded me.
It was a perfect storm of story elements that combined with stellar in-ring work from both Swerve and Danielson to create a moment that I will never forget.
But there is still one more match from 2024 that was just a bit more special to me.
1) Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes – WWE WrestleMania 40
I was there. I will forever be able to say that I was there in that stadium for what, to me, is the greatest pro wrestling match of all time.
I remember feeling so crushed when Cody lost at Mania 39, and despite all the signs pointing to him getting his grand redemption this time around, WWE had burned us so many times before that I just couldn't quite allow myself to believe it was going to happen. I've never been more emotionally invested in a match than this. I cried during Cody's entrance, I was misty-eyed during Roman's entrance, and you better believe I broke down in tears when Cody got the win.
The match itself was a showcase of all the best aspects of the over-the-top WWE main event style. There were run-ins galore and every one of them had me cheering my heart out, as they also provided a potted history of WWE's biggest stars. Yes, it would've made more sense for Stone Cold to come out instead of The Undertaker, but I don't care because I love The Undertaker and I absolutely lost my mind when the gong hit out of nowhere.
I've praised AEW a lot in this list, but this is the kind of match that is only possible in WWE. Only they have 40 years of history to pull from and tell stories with larger-than-life megastars who will never be forgotten, and use them to create a brand new megastar in Cody Rhodes.
English (US) ·