Greetings and salutations, boys and girls, and welcome to the first Rajah main page installment of the most prestigious countdown list of the year, the Rajah Forums Countdown of WWE’s Best Matches of 2014!

Now, many of you have never visited the forums that are connected to this wonderful haven of news and features before, and so you might be unfamiliar with this countdown. The idea is that at the end of the year, dozens of Rajah forum members submitted lists of the WWE matches that they thought were the best. After an exhaustive process of averaging and general mathiness, a top 25 list was composed and over the course of the next few weeks, it will be revealed one match at a time.

If you agree or disagree with the matches on this list, or just wish to give your thoughts on them in a rad place full of skateboarding dinosaurs and charming secret agents, then hop on down to the Rajah Forums, make yourself an account and join the party.

Now let’s get on with the next installment of the countdown…

Despite the amazing parts involved, there had to be some doubt going into the NXT Fatal 4-Way. Whenever WWE crosses that boundary of 3 people, and it’s not elimination, there tends to be an unseen imbalance that impacts match psychology and interest. And surely NXT couldn’t keep up this level of quality for three specials in a row, could they? Well, as Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, Tyson Kidd and Tyler Breeze would tell you, yes they could, as they assuaged all concerns by the time the final bell rings. One of the driving elements of the match is the organic story that developed months prior to this clash: the moment Tyson Kidd stepped foot in NXT in a journey to rediscover his wrestling persona, to Tyler Breeze lighting NXT on fire and defeating Sami Zayn in a barnburner to earn a #1 Contender spot, to as far back as Sami Zayn not being able to defeat Cesaro. All this surrounds Adrian Neville, the man who conquered the “tyrannical” reign of Bo Dallas and has been defining his legacy as the greatest NXT Champion of the time. Now, he had to prove that legacy true in a self-imposed challenge of facing NXT’s greatest contenders at the same time, claiming to come out victorious and leave his reign undisputed. While he manages to do so in dazzling fashion, he has many perils along the way in a shockingly marvelous match that makes everyone look stronger coming out of it than they did going in.

Business starts small, with Kidd and Breeze working together to eliminate Neville and Zayn. It’s an example of true, classic heel work, ganging up to beat down the crowd favorites so they theoretically can’t win the match. But nothing out of the box or impressive happens for the first five or ten minutes, just slowly building a foundation. And it’s a sturdy one, because when the heels can no longer cooperate and Tyson Kidd takes over the ring, the match begins to climb it’s upward slope to magnificence. Kidd displays his complete mastery of the ring as he dominates a large chunk of the battle and keeps the ring empty while punishing Zayn, and provides a lot of the substance for the entire bout. Tyler Breeze ends up spending a lot of time on the outside, but he makes a big splash towards the end, leveling everyone with kicks on different occasions. There are plenty of engrossing moments, like Zayn getting fired up while stomping a mudhole, or Neville gripping Breeze’s arm so he can’t tap when in the Sharpshooter, and countless other near falls and jaw-dropping moment. Even a Tower of Doom that manages to feel fresh.

While I gave much attention to Neville earlier, that is where the true beauty of this match lies. Every story arc going into this match is important despite what’s in the spotlight, but most glaringly is Sami Zayn’s plight of never being able to win “the big one.” This has been his path since the day he popped up on an NXT broadcast. Many attempts at taking the title from Bo were foiled, and then Neville took his shot and did it. The dynamic grows here as Neville is getting all the spotlight now, being regarded as the greatest NXT Champion and trending worldwide when NXT made their promotional appearance on RAW. This was all the talk as we made our way to the match. They build and play up the idea of Neville and Zayn officially colliding, and keep taking it away from us through the whole match. Whenever they get a moment to face-off, the crowd erupts into cheers or “YES” chants, giving Vince the reaction he surely drools for when he tries to do the same thing with Orton and Cena. The two one up each other, like with the beautiful Asai Moonsault that cut-off Sami’s dive to the outside. Every time they engage with each other, it feels incredibly epic. For many people, this could have been Sami Zayn’s night and we would have all loved and accepted it, but the NXT bookers dig deeper.

Zayn goes on a hot run to seal the deal, suplexing Tyson Kidd, lawn-darting outside the ring into Neville and launching him over the guard rail, running and diving through the turnbuckle to DDT Tyler Breeze, and run back in to blast Kidd with the Helluva Kick to put him away. And then they snatch that elusive NXT Championship away from Sami Zayn again as Neville pulls out the ref, in one of the greatest natural acts of heelery and deepest storytelling angle in recent years. One superkick and a Red Arrow later, Neville pins Kidd for the victory to accomplish the goal he set for himself. All the while, the announcers and replays are all focused on the greatness of Adrian Neville, as Sami Zayn sits in the corner in despair. Now that is wrestling storytelling perfection, and that is what we all strive for.