10 Biggest Non-WWE Matches Of The Last Decade

The headline makers.

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NJPW

Ever since the collapse of WCW in 2001, Vince McMahon has pretty much had a monopoly on creating headlines in the world of professional wrestling (and producing toe-curling, cringe-inducing backstage skits).

Every now and then, however, one of the industry's smaller promotions briefly steps out of WWE's shadow to generate some buzz of their own - usually by either making an earth-shattering acquisition or by putting on a game-changing, era-defining match.

Chris Jericho popping up in New Japan for a date with Kenny Omega at this week's Wrestle Kingdom 12 ticks both of those boxes, promising a stellar in-ring encounter worthy of gracing the Tokyo Dome as well as some much-needed exposure for the world's fastest-growing wrestling promotion.

In terms of non-WWE matches over the last decade, this one is right up there. It's just not every day that a WWE veteran of nearly 20 years pops up on the competition, not that far removed from playing a defining role at WrestleMania. It's a huge, huge deal.

But which other matches in the last 10 years have managed to steal a little bit of Vince McMahon's thunder?

10. Kevin Steen Vs. El Generico (Final Battle 2012)

If, after their 201 matches in WWE, the sight of seeing Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn kicking lumps out of each is no longer compelling, then we'd heartily recommend checking out their headline match at Final Battle 2012.

This was an encounter so personal in nature, so brutal and punishing in execution, that Ring of Honor (correctly) decided that it couldn't simply go under the title of a regular old ladder match. Instead, this was a full-on, balls-to-the-wall Ladder War.

Featuring daring and imaginative spots of a the kind that we'll probably never see in a Vince McMahon-owned ring, the whole thing was fundamentally ridiculous; a car crash spectacle from which you just couldn't look away - in the best possible sense.

For ROH, a promotion whose biggest stars are routinely poached by the biggest show in the town, it's also arguably right up there with CM Punk-Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson-Nigel McGuinness as one of the biggest and best feuds they've ever managed to put on (and that's saying something).

Contributor