Hell in a Cell was the final PPV to take place inside WWE’s ThunderDome, as July’s Money in the Bank takes place in front of an actual crowd.
While Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair shined bright at WrestleMania, the Raw Women’s Championship match between Asuka and Rhea Ripley didn’t quite live up to expectations.
Rhea Ripley retained her title, but expect more matches including her and Charlotte to be on this list by the year’s end.
Drew McIntyre was the champion of the pandemic era, winning the WWE Championship off Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 and holding it, with a few interruptions, until February.
You can roll your eyes at interference in a Hell in a Cell match, which is a fair point, but that doesn’t stop this from being a 2021 highlight.
Dunne used his joint manipulation techniques to break Balor down, but The Prince fought back and retained his title with a gnarly finishing sequence that saw him rip Dunne’s mouthguard out and destroy him with a shotgun dropkick, Coup de Grace and a 1916.
Cesaro did a tremendous job of selling the arm that Reigns worked over throughout, and the execution was as effective as you’d expect between these two.
This year’s Royal Rumble match seemingly had the deck stacked against it — after all, it’d be the first ever with no fans.
It included some great action, like an excellent sequence between Daniel Bryan and Matt Riddle, as well as the notable surprise return of Christian.
Elimination Chamber 2021 may be remembered as the ill-fated event that ended with The Miz winning the WWE Championship, temporarily dragging the title’s prestige.
Cesaro, Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens were all possible victors, and the fact that they were all equally plausible winners made the match more dramatic.
Johnny Gargano defended his North American Championship against Kushida in a fantastic wrestling match.
Edge’s fairytail return didn’t come true though, as he ended up being stacked atop Daniel Bryan and pinned by Roman Reigns.
That meant Daniel Bryan was the babyface, even though you could tell in this match the crowd wanted to cheer Edge.
It’s unusual to see the bad guy stand so unambiguously tall at WrestleMania, which tells you all you need to know about who WWE sees as its future.
Their match went on last at Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, and WWE has called it the first one on one women’s match to main event The Show of Shows, but the wrestling community as a whole hasn’t figured out how to classify the “main event” of a two-night card.
Sasha Banks reminded everyone why she’s considered the best by many, and it was a star-making night for Bianca Belair, who has the potential to be a superstar that transcends the genre of professional wrestling.
While the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches on this list were nonstop stimulation, with daring stunts and constant high-pace, this was closer to an old-school wrestling match .
It was diminished somewhat at the end, as we ultimately saw two referee bumps and interference from Jey Uso and Edge.
The best WWE match of the year wasn’t on the main roster, it was on NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night 1.
It’s a testament to the addage that bigger isn’t always better, as the bout was under 17 minutes long and featured no weapons or death defying stunts.