[EVOLUTION SPOILERS] Last Person Standing Match

[Onyx2]

Moe Szyslak stuntman Meltzer says the Charlotte-Becky match "may have been the best WWE main roster match this year."

I really enjoyed it, and it was a clear match of the night (though it should've just been no holds barred as Charlotte couldn't work to the count). But it's strewn with weird botches, awful moonsault, clear ref helping them along, and Charlotte's aforementioned lack of counting.

Can he really not think of anything better? Can you?

I'll start the ball rolling. Seth's Gauntlet match on Raw. 

An incredible bit of work by a guy I'm not that fussed about usually. But he's really great with Cena and his natural communication with Reigns makes it so much fun. Great selling, great story.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

It wasn't MOTY (I've no idea what is, it been a poor year truth be told), but it was the culmination of a hot, well built feud that told a great story and had a satisfying pay off. There's something to be said for that, especially in 2018 WWE where matches fill time and who wins or loses is mostly irrelevant. The botches are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. It certainly will be one of the most memorable matches of the year. 

Only thing that comes to my head now is something like Gargano vs Almas.

[WyattSheepMask]

That wasn’t main roster though, which is what Meltzer specified.

Rollins’ performance in that gauntlet, Braun in the Elimination Chamber, at Hell In A Cell you had McIntyre & Ziggler v Rollins & Ambrose, Wrestlemania opened with that great triple threat of Rollins, Balor and Miz. Come to think, Rollins has probably been the years most consistent performer.

Oh, and Ronda & Kurt v HHH & Steph

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Honestly struggling to think of anything in the main roster that stands out. HIAC tag is a good shout, Miz vs Rollins from Backlash (?) was a cracker. It all blurs together though. AJ Styles hasn’t had the stellar run like previous years (Nakumura feud was average and the family angle in the Joe feud was a turn off for me) and Cena’s winding down.

I might actually go with Rousey/Angel vs HHH and Steph.

[dopper]

I really enjoyed last night’s match but I think I preferred Charlotte’s match with Asuka at WrestleMania.

Angle/Rousey vs HHH/Stephanie is definitely my favourite main roster match of the year though and I’d have the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches complete my Top 5.

[pitseleh]

I thought the gauntlet match was great, but after Rollins gets eliminated, the quality took a drastic step down. Only main roster match that can rival the Lynch/Flair match is Jax vs Rousey at MitB, but I reckon I'm in the minority with that opinion. Rollins vs Miz gets a honorable mention too.

[Supremo]

Ronda and Kurt vs. Triple H and Steph. Gargano has had at least three matches that I’d rate as five stars, both Royal Rumble matches were fantastic and Seth was on fire during the Spring, but none of those bouts made me smile like a dickhead as much as that mixed tag did. Pure joy from beginning to end. Ronda beating up Hunter is one of the all-time greatest spots I’ve ever seen. 

[Max Power]

Another one for the mixed tag at Mania. Pure Sportzentertainment and fantastic from start to finish.

[WeeAl]

It's the Royal Rumble for me. The best Rumble in years. The gauntlet match would have been the years best on the main roster, had Rollins lasted longer in it. He completely stole it and it really dipped once he was eliminated. A phenomenal first half of the match followed by a bang average Raw match in the second half. 

[WeeAl]

Double posting like a moron

[Love-Wilcox]

I think Meltzer is more or less spot on tbh, I think more so because there's been a lack of top quality main roster matches this year rather than because Charlotte/Becky was the most amazing thing ever. That being said I did really enjoy the match and it's certainly up there with the Mania mixed tag as my choice for "main roster MotY".

[Loki]

I don't care about the "botches", good grief.  This match was one of the craziest things I've ever seen.  Absolutely brutal, reminded me of the crazy violent TNA women's cage match between Gail Kim and Jacqueline that really changed things for the women in that company (long before the WWE revolution, I would add).

I too absolutely loved the mixed tag match at Wrestlemania, but this is the best bit of storytelling I've seen in WWE all year, and it's been a good year!  In terms of pushing the envelope, I kept thinking about the Michaels/Razor ladder match or the infamous Piper bull rope match, as something I suspect people will talk about for years to come.

[Guest]

It was a great match that surpassed my expectations, though I think Jeff Hardy v Orton also managed to be majorly better than anticipated, especially as I really can't stand Orton 60-odd% of the time. That screwdriver in the gauge spot is one of my fav things they've done in ages, now I know that messing around with gauges doesn't hurt much at all but it looked gruesome and like skin was about to break. Proper "work". I watch a lot of deathmatch stuff these days so who would've anticipated WWE making me wince as much as anything from BJW/FREEDOMS/GCW/CZW. Ear spot aside the match was brutal and kicked a lot of arse, the finish only suffered because fans had somehow convinced themselves Hardy was gonna swanton off the bloody top lol. Deflation aside the finish they did was fine I thought.

Definitely thought it was better than Shield v Drew & Dolph the same night, which was great but started off pretty boring to me

 

The Gauntlet isn't all that once Seth was gone, but if you count that as his match, he's had some real good ones this year. I find him formulaic sometimes (never caring about the first half of his matches is a flaw) but he's been in plenty of exciting stuff which is good to see, I honestly think he's struggled as a singles wrestler in WWE and has just  recently gotten "it"

[BomberPat]

I don't think Last Woman Standing was even the best match at Evolution. It was good, but I vastly preferred the NXT Women's Title match, and maybe even the Mae Young Classic final.

One of the things that worked in its favour - similar to the Hardy/Orton Hell in a Cell match - is that a lot of the weapon spots felt plausible, and felt like they were part of an actual fight. It rarely broke down into extended periods of wrestlers rearranging furniture for a spot that wouldn't pay off for another five or ten minutes, as most WWE weapons matches tend to. 

That said, I just think the overall nature of WWE's "hardcore" matches doesn't do much for me any more. It's part of a wider problem of how stale and uniform the product always appears, but I'm sick of chairs, ladders, tables and kendo sticks. It makes it hard for me to buy a match as two people legitimately trying to maim each other when they're just cycling through the list of WWE's acceptable foreign objects, like they're in a video game and you just have to search under the ring, then press right on the D-Pad to choose kendo stick or left to choose ladder.