10 Most Underrated Wrestling Matches Of 2019

Buddy Murphy’s Cruiserweight title run was one of the most underrated title runs in recent WWE memory, the Australian regularly putting on minor classics on pre shows and half empty arenas. After winning the title from Cedric Alexander in a stadium in his home country and successfully defending the belt on the main card of Survivor Series, it was disappointing to see him relegated to pre-shows for the remainder of his title run. Thankfully, that didn't affect the quality of his matches. The fatal 4 way at the Royal Rumble was well received and is remembered for being KENTA's last major match in the company. However, slipping under the radar was Murphy's incendiary defence against one of the best junior heavyweights in the world, Akira Tozawa.

The storytelling that the two enacted was stupendous, the desperation of Tozawa to have a proper run with a title he never got to make his own is contrasted by the viciousness of Murphy, a man obsessed with the preservation of his reign. The two men stiffed each other with brutal knees, suplexes and incredibly risky spots, going out on a limb to steal the show before it even officially started. They managed to outperform everything besides the Men's Elimination Chamber which is a staggering accomplishment.

Murphy and Tozawa might not have been elevated as further up the card as this match would suggest, with Tozawa being sadly treated as a glorified jobber on Raw as of late, but this match lives forever as one of the best WWE pre-show matches produced in recent memory. It legitimately ranks up there with the best PPV matches of the year, without officially being on the main card! A must watch if you overlooked it at the time.