It’s that time of year again when ComicBook announces the winners of our annual Golden Issue Awards honoring the best in film, television, gaming, anime, and wrestling. We are gathered here today to reveal the winner of the Best Wrestling Match for 2024 and boy were there some great contenders this year.
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2024 was one of the best years for wrestling as a whole and the product reflected that across multiple companies, namely WWE and AEW. So much has happened that it feels like Sting’s retirement match against the Young Bucks at AEW Revolution happened ages ago. In reality, that was just nine months ago.
Another contender was CM Punk and Drew McIntyre’s Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood. They had perhaps one of the greater rivalries in 2024 save for Swerve Strickland and “Hangman” Adam Page. Toni Storm’s character work this year is leaps and bounds ahead of anything she did in WWE.
That was on total display at AEW All In against Mariah May. A fitting conclusion to one of the best storylines of 2024. While none of these matches won the tallied count, we had to shout them out and give them their flowers anyway.
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And the winner of the 2024 ComicBook Golden Issue Award for Best Wrestling Match is…
Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 for the Undisputed WWE Championship!
It’s hard to articulate how big this match felt in retrospect. It was total vindication for the “Cody Crybabies” as The Rock so eloquently put it.
As someone inside the building for both nights of WrestleMania 40, it was surreal to see these two titans clash. On one hand, Reigns had undeniably made his mark on the wrestling world as one of the greatest to do it. Meanwhile, Rhodes was ready to claim his throne in the Kingdom. In the lead-up to this match, The Rock got involved and created a generational amount of drama amongst wrestling fans. Seriously, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen fans rally behind something as passionately as the #WeWantCody movement (the Rhodes Revolution, as I refer to it).
After the blunder at last year’s show, it felt like WWE had one opportunity to make this right. Fortunately, they did and it became one of the most memorable wrestling moments in history. The ghosts of Reigns’ past came back to haunt him as they helped Rhodes defeat “The Tribal Chief.” First came Jey Uso to defend Rhodes against his brother Jimmy. They’d had their singles match the night before. With Jimmy out of the picture, Solo Sikoa was next, and much like the past, The Bloodline flexed their stronghold on WWE.
Except John Cena’s music hit out of nowhere and changed everything. He has a past with Sikoa, but he also has a past with The Rock who meddled in the match. He and Cena’s rivalry was once in a lifetime, and seeing him hit the “Rock Bottom” on him again took me right back to the 2010s.
The Shield’s music blared through the speakers and despite the mass delusions of all wrestling fans who convinced themselves Jon Moxley would appear, that was not the case. (It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me). Instead, Seth Rollins used it to get back in Reigns’ head, sacrificing himself for Rhodes. If that wasn’t enough, The Undertaker randomly showed up and wiped out The Rock which was completely unexpected but cool nonetheless.
Rhodes is now nearing the 300-day mark as Undisputed WWE Champion. He’s defended against everyone from his best friend Kevin Owens, former Bullet Club leader AJ Styles, Logan Paul, and Solo Sikoa. “The American Nightmare” finally getting that pin after a year of sacrifice and hard work was worth it, even if I was against it in 2023.
And hey … at least there wasn’t a rubber chicken this time.
