WWE's 10 best matches of February 2019

In many respects, February was a month that overperformed. While January is usually much more exciting because of the Royal Rumble, February was the month which had better match quality, giving us five match of the year candidates within its four weeks.

That's a great percentage rate. In fact, given that it was the shortest month of the year, we can say that this time around, it had the highest per capita rate of excellent matches, all despite a mostly lackluster build to WrestleMania 35.

Aside from those four match of the year contenders, there were many other notable matches, some of which performed well above the way they appeared on paper, so ranking them all wasn't easy, but here we are on the last day of the month, with a proper pecking order all lined up.

If you're going to go back over the month of February 2019 in the future, these are the 10 matches that you're going to want to check out.

#10 Randy Orton vs. Mustafa Ali (SmackDown, February 5th)

The newcomer Ali put up a valiant fight against the 13-time world champion, laying stake to his claim of being "the heart of SmackDown live." Ali almost got the better of the Viper, after the action had spilled outside the ring.

Ali's one of the best guys in the company when it comes to taking bumps, so that aspect made the match more memorable, especially at the end of the match. Orton countered a move from the top rope into the RKO and just like that, it was over.

Unfortunately, this match gave Ali some injuries which forced him to miss the much more monumental gauntlet and Elimination Chamber matches, but it was a great performance from him which put his name on the map as someone to watch in the future.

Ali will just have to wait for his next chance.