May
5/4/2015
WWE: WWE Monday Night Raw – John Cena vs Sami Zayn – WWE United States Championshionship Open Challenge Match
I’ll take this match over any of the Cena and Owens fights, which relied on a too many rest spots to heighten the drama. This match had a non-stop work-rate and showed off how skilled and crowd-pleasing both Cena and Zahn can be.
Honorable Mention
5/17/2015
WWE: Payback – John Cena vs Rusev -“I Quit” Match
WWE has been criticized lately for concentrating on a family-friendly product in the PG era. So you have to admire them for putting their most bankable star in the most brutal match I’ve seen in WWE in the last few years. This match’s hardcore nature hearkened back to the Attitude Era.
5/20/2015
WWE NXT: NXT Takeover: Unstoppable- Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks – NXT Women’s Title Match
A common complaint is how fake Pro wrestling looks and how their submission holds are sloppy that don’t look painful at all. This match looked like a legitimate submission battle that you might see in the UFC.
June
Lucha Underground: Lucha Underground Episode 32 – Prince Puma vs. Johnny Mundo – Lucha Underground Championship – No DQ match Iron Man Match
This title match highlighted not only the great parts of Lucha Underground but also what makes it different from WWE and TNA. Puma and Mundo used the entire arena in this match. The entire hour episode was devoted to this one match. And Puma and Mundo are great examples of how Lucha Underground mixes the acrobatics of Lucha Libre with the storytelling and more standard moves of American Pro Wrestling.
Honorable Mention
6/7/2015
NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors XXII – – KUSHIDA vs. Kyle O’Reilly – Best of Super Juniors Final
When seeing cruiserweights or “Super Juniors” perform you would expect more aerial attacks. There were some of those in this match, but what really set it apart was the impressive gymnastics from both opponents and multiple submission maneuvers that looked actually painful.
6/14/2015
WWE: Money in the Bank – Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose – WWE World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match
This match was a simple story of Rollins strategy versus the heart of Dean Ambrose. It was simple but well-executed.