10 Best WWE Matches Ever (According To The Internet)
2. Ilja Dragunov Vs. WALTER (NXT UK, October 29th, 2020)
WWE absolutely f*cked the pandemic.
The circumstances were less than ideal, but when wrestling insisted that it was as essential as doctors and nurses and carried on fulfilling its television contract anyway, a bar was quickly set by AEW Dynamite's oddly charming adjustment to the new way. Acknowledging the awkwardness but leaning in with wrestlers-as-fans and stipulations filling the spaces left by absent crowds, this was pandemic wrestling without the very phrase being a total paradox.
WWE's attempts first to no-sell it before eventually accepting their fate were either eerie, distressing, or a combination of the two. It was odd - the escapist entertainment that swore blind was needed for its public was in fact one of the harshest reminders of the state we were all stuck in. The exceptions to the rule in 2020 were in single figures, and the best of the lot was this impossibly great sensory overload strike battle.
Dragunov being presented as at least an equal to Walter in terms not just of how hard he could hit but also how much he could take was integral to its success, as was the sheer intensity and brute force of just about everything both men hit. With the sound of silence haunting their pain, the match became more than it would have been in front of fans, leaving memories that carried the heft of the rematch when crowds were allowed back in 10 months later.