10 Biggest Surprises In WWE's 100 Greatest Matches Book

Coming up with a list of 'the top one hundred' anything is an arduous process in the best of circumstances. Given the seldom unanimous voice of wrestling fans, such a list encompassing WWE matches is an excruciatingly and almost impossible task. No-one could ever produce a run-down that doesn't raise the objections of at least some disgruntled readers.

DK's WWE 100 Greatest Matches is no exception; many of it's selections make perfect sense, others are disputable But each can be justified in its own way. After all, no two lists of the greatest ever WWE match is going to be the same. (why not check our own top 100 in our magazine, and see how they compare?) 

There are, however, a number of strange inclusions in the book. From matches one wouldn't expect because of WWE's higher political motivations, to others you'd definitely expect to see for the same reasons, DK's volume is full of surprises. 

Here's ten of them...

After the Chris Benoit murder-suicide incident in 2007, WWE understandably moved to distance themselves from the performer, in the wake of criticism that the company could have been held partially responsible for the tragic events.

To that end, Benoit's presence has virtually been expunged from all WWE media since, a persona non grata whose name cannot be mentioned on the promotion's television output.

Though WWE originally edited all Benoit matches out of subsequent DVD releases following his death, both current and historical, it came as something as a surprise to see his ring-work appear in full on the company's on-demand Network service - albeit untagged and unadvertised.

Nevertheless, the decision was seemingly one to ensure the Network could make claims of archival comprehensiveness: a huge selling point of the service. So to see Benoit not only mentioned, but have a match featured in DK's tome is somewhat alarming.

The chosen match is worthy of any top 100 list - Benoit's ladder match against Chris Jericho at Royal Rumble 2001 - but the question arises: if this one, why not others? The phenomenal tag match pitting Benoit and Jericho against Steve Austin and Triple H from May 2001 is even mentioned in the book, but it is omitted from the list.

It feels like case of containing one Benoit bout for the sake of the book's editorial legitimacy, but not enough to draw too much attention to him. It is telling, then, that his his face is not visible in any of the selected images.