10 Fantasy WWE Matches That Took Place On Free TV

Paige has massive shoes to fill in her new role as SmackDown Live General Manager, but she got off to the best possible start this week, treating fans to a veritable dream match between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan on night one.

You're always slightly suspicious when WWE decides to give away a potential pay-per-view money-spinner like this on free TV. It's kind of like receiving an email written in broken English from someone claiming to be Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, offering you a refund of £500: you want to believe it, but you're apprehensive at the same time.

Vince McMahon didn't dip his fingers into our wallets on Tuesday, but the fact that he let us have AJ versus D-Bry is alarming in other ways. Does it mean, for example, that these two are going to be kept a safe distance from one another over the next few months (say it ain't so)?

OK, now we're being silly. Let's just appreciate how rare it is for such a mega-match to go out on SmackDown, and celebrate the handful of other occasions that it happened in the past...

John Cena has been the face of WWE for pretty much the last 15 years. Shinsuke Nakamura, albeit to a slightly lesser extent (he is regarded as one of the architects of New Japan's renaissance founding fathers, and certainly the most famous internationally), has been the villainous face of NJPW over the corresponding period.

More than that, these two performers represent schools of wrestling thought often seen to be in conflict. One is a relentless marketing machine, primarily chosen for the role of franchise player because of his ability to shift merchandise, while the other is a wrestler's wrestler, as technically accomplished as they come.

In short, this match was a huge deal. WWE could have closed out WrestleMania with Cena taking on Nakamura and few would have blinked; to give it away on SmackDown, with minimal build, was massive, massive news.

And, surprisingly, it actually goes down as one of the few free TV fantasy matches that actually delivered a clean finish. The King of Strong Style sealed perhaps his biggest main roster win to date after nailing his opponent with the Kinshasa (a few moments after dropping him on his head).