10 WWE TV Matches That Were Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

Ever since the then WWF decided to stage a weekly televised show called Monday Night Raw way back in 1993, the gift of wrestling has been available for free, every Monday. WWE SmackDown! joined the party in April 1999, as a single televised special, only to become its own brand in August of that same year. Enhancement shows such as Sunday Night Heat, Velocity, Superstars and Main Event have since housed the castaways of the main roster too.

Then there's NXT, which post-reality TV show era, has become the new home of the stars of tomorrow, even recently signing a deal with USA to become a two-hour fixture every Wednesday night. Not to mention 205 Live and NXT UK putting on clinics like it's going out of fashion.

All in all, WWE programming has never been richer in diversity or riper in match quality but we still get thrown every once in a while with how good a TV match actually is. Usually, showcase matches are saved for PPVs and specials as that's what the fans are paying that $9.99-a-month WWE Network fee for. So, when a match (either through lack of build or simply the individuals involved) tricks you into thinking you're watching a Big-Four PPV only to realise it's a weeknight, you have to take note.

They do know we're getting these for free, right?

205 Live has long been one of WWE's best kept secrets; it's fitting then to begin this list with the man who hails himself as that very thing.

After Buddy Murphy had won a fatal four-way between himself, TJP, Akira Tozawa and Kalisto, Murphy and the latter collided for the first time in a one-on-one encounter, heralded by many as one of the greatest in the newly christened show's history.

The two ramped up the intensity from the off-set sizing each other up with uncompromising mat-wrestling, combined with innovative, acrobatic exchanges (Kalisto's near count-out is an education in grinding out tension).

It's quite hard to produce a David vs. Goliath feel in a 205 Live match with both athletes having to be under the obvious weight limit. However, Kalisto's plucky frame meshed well with Murphy's hulking physique making for a story of the underdog trying to conquer the bully he was faced with. Murphy's struggle to hit Murphy's Law only to over-power the luchador into his finishing manoeuvre put the perfect exclamation point on to a world-class contest.

Shifting through the gears of methodical to high-octane in an instant, this match crammed the kind of dramatic storytelling and stakes into 15 minutes as the main roster sometimes struggle to develop in a three month-long storyline. Put this match on a SummerSlam or 'Mania card and we'd be talking about it for years.