10 Collector’s Items Of Modern WWE Brilliance

5. The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever*

Edge Randy Orton RKO
WWE.com

*The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever that was taped on June 7 2020 and broadcast on June 14 2020.

This was great, improbably great, but WWE is such in 2020 that even its greatness invites scorn. WWE invited a hailstorm of piss-taking memes, but very few were forthcoming. Labelling Edge Vs. Randy Orton the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever - after the abomination that was WrestleMania 36 - was its own punchline.

And yet the match was fantastic - so fantastic that the hysterical tagline couldn't ruin it. It wasn't the greatest match ever. It wasn't close. But it was a tremendous, incredibly mature and elegant effort worked with masterful craft. It was the sort of match that actually justifies tiresome old-timer rhetoric that, realistically, is code for "We go slow because you're thick". They built it so damn well that the explosion near the finish really did mean so much more than it otherwise would in so many other contexts.

You know what was great about this match?

It could only have taken place in WWE. It was - and the echoes of MSG and Howard Finkel lovingly put this over - a quintessentially WWE match.

For the first time in a long time, that was a good thing.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!