10 Biggest Non-WWE Matches Of The Last Decade

On paper, an ROH World Title match between Jay Lethal and Michael Elgin, two of the company's most reliable and well-known performers of the last five or more years, seems almost nondescript. Brilliant, of course, but nothing necessarily to write home about on its own.

The twist here, however, is that this match took place at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom, giving the rare opportunity to a pair of North American wrestlers to benefit from the Tokyo Dome's magical, star-adding powers.

Joking apart, this really was a pretty big deal. It marked the formalisation of the partnership between two of the world's greatest promotions in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, a development that is up there with the most exciting in pro-wrestling since the fall of WCW and ECW more than 15 years ago.

Any time one company's belt is defended on a rival show, there's cause for excitement, but when it happens at Wrestle Kingdom - one of the biggest non-WWE shows of them all - it's just about as special as it gets.