20 Greatest Matches In WWE's Empty Arena Era

Edge’s 2020 was a bittersweet year. His Royal Rumble return was a moment for the ages, but the subsequent WrestleMania clash with Randy Orton was way too long and often dragged. Luckily, his Backlash bout against The Viper righted a lot of those wrongs.

The “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever” was stupidly hyped, but the two superstars did everything they could to live up to the impossible billing. They built on 15 plus years of work as friends and foes, with fantastic chain wrestling, nods to other stars of their era by way of purloined finishers, and a legitimate big match feel heightened by early use of pumped in crowd noise and referee Charles Robinson cosplaying as an ‘80s official.

It was quite the technical marvel, too, a pre-taped match subtly edited in a manner that only elevated the finished product, and never made it look like any corners were cut.

The storytelling was magnificent, and the finish, seeing Orton resort to a punt kick to put Edge away, set the stage for the rubber match. Unfortunately an injury to the Rated R Superstar kiboshed this. Another stroke of bad luck, but this encounter was something to be truly proud of.