Mike Murphy

“Whew, 2014, right? What a year it’s been: There were New Days, Uso craziness, Boo-tista, Bluetista,green Stardusts, Eras of Vacancy, good news, bad news (and Bad News), stunt doubles, evil twins and a vanishing Cody Rhodes (seriously, where’d that guy go?). Raw was occupied, Streaks were broken, Hulkamania ran wild, vigilantes dispensed justice, Kings of Swing were crowned and a full-fledged takeover ran rampant down in Full Sail University. And here we are now, when all the eating, sleeping and conquering has repeated itself to the last day of December, to bury and to celebrate 2014 in extravagant fashion.

No WWE fan needs to be reminded of the bar that in-ring competition set for itself this past year, but with so many classic matches in a single 12-month span, the question begs: Which was the best? WWE.com editors convened to select the cream of the crop (#Madness) and count down the year’s 25 best contests. Here’s how we did it: Several editors convened to select the matches, each of us ranked them on our own and consolidated them into a collective ranking depending on how each match was scored by all the editors. The process was arduous, contentious, and a steel chair may have been wielded at some point, but it was as democratic and collaborative as we get for this annual process. So pull up a chair and relive a hell of a year in WWE competition, presented by Foot Locker, and see what made our No. 1 spot. See you in 2015.”

Link: http://www.wwe.com/inside/top-25-matches-of-2014