Go2Sleep

To be clear, I don't hate all "smart crowds," as they've done some productive and entertaining things over the years, but the reaction to the women's segment really bothered me. If you want to be a "smart crowd," shouldn't you actually demonstrate some forward thinking ability? How does shitting on the women's match increase the chances of getting more Sasha or NXT-style women's matches? That segment was bad, yes. From not playing to strengths of the people you want to get over, to no payback on the Miz, to a mediocre match, it was one of the lesser women's segments over the past month. Still, if you think it can get better, don't give it "go away" heat. Have people not realized over the past 2 years that "go away" heat actually works? How did Batista and Roman's main event pushes go again? Smarky crowds have had way more reach since the social media boom, and more and more people are emulating those reactions weekly. It's one thing to use that very dangerous weapon against people you truly don't want to see, but using it out of boredom or spite towards a 50% of those involved is just embarrassingly short-sighted and counter-productive in the long term. That being said, I think WWE has too much invested to scrap everything after one show, but for so-called fans of Sasha, Becky, Charlotte, and Paige to potentially jeopardize their future in exchange for a shout-out from JBL strikes me as not being as smart as they think they are.

Sasha/Bayley is totally my MOTY on re-watch. The structure, execution, and story arcs were all spot-on. The match gets off to a quick start and never really lets up. Bayley in particular really upped the stiffness, and both of them did a good job struggling for some big moves to make them look more important, while hitting new stuff out of nowhere (Sasha's Rey-dive over the ref, Bayley's tree of woe elbow). The hand work segment was brutal and efficient. They basically established that part of the story with about 4 moves and no restholds. The wrap-up to that part of the match with Bayley recklessly shoving Sasha off the ropes was believably desperate and equalizing. Sasha's bumping was in top form and was a perfect match for Bayley's new vicious offense. The finishing run was as heated and great as anything I've seen this year. The Bank Statement sequence was something you'd expect from high-end Bryan match. The way Sasha bumped for the turnbuckle exploder and the B2B's made them look absolutely devastating. The counter to the rana was nasty and the way Bayley stumbled around looking completely out of it right into the double knee made for the second best nearfall of the year (behind Neville overzealously pulling Rollins' feet into the ropes after the red arrow) that I totally bought as the finish. They both continued to struggle for every little thing down the stretch and the avalanche reverse rana into the B2B was a perfect finish. Also I don't know if it counts towards the match itself, but Sasha's entrance and the curtain call homage post-match both added greatly to the spectacle. It was everything I liked about wrestling.

I wouldn't fault anyone for listing Brock/Taker, but I can't do it. The finish is the most important part of the match because it's presumably what you've spent the entire match (and angle) building towards. Sometimes a match can build to a good screwjob finish (Austin/Angle Summer Slam 01 for example), but this was not a good screwjob finish. Rollins/Cena would be more likely to get a nod from me just because Rollins tore shit up, but it's still not making the list. Another bad finish and Cena was off. However, Bayley/Sasha will move into my #1 spot. When I look for high-end MOTYCs, I look for matches that can elicit some type of emotional response via character work and storytelling as well as move for move action. This match really had it all.

I was going to post at length about how there's absolutely zero precedent for the timekeeper ringing the bell before the ref calls for it unless there is some kind of screwjob, but this one sentence sums up how stupid the Brock/UT finish was far more succinctly. Have to agree that the 4-way tag was the MOTN. Everyone brought it, and New Day went to the next level. Enjoy this moment before the writers start forcing the face act and they become terrible again. I thought Rollins looked great in the title match. He's gotta be one of the best athletes in the company. His roll-through AA to Cena was amazing, and he was just killing it with the high spots and bumps. Have to agree with Niners Fan that he really outclassed Cena here. Finish was laughably bad, both in concept and execution, but at least Rollins won. The women's match was very oddly structured. Granted if Sasha's getting a de facto night off, that leaves the 3 best remaining workers on one team which sort of messes things up. Sasha can't get away from Naomi and Tamina fast enough. I don't mind the Bellas as the weasly heels atop the division at the moment and I'll give them props for enduring the growing pains of the "revolution" before it officially started, but the division will be undeniably better when they're out of the way. Kevin Owens is a freakin' beast for having this match the night after a ladder match. I wish they just sprinted the whole way and cut out the rest holds, but it was a good match. If you could combine the body of this Brock/Taker match with the finish of WM 30, you'd have a MOTD candidate. If you did the opposite, you'd have a WMOTD candidate.

Absolutely not. It was an homage to the curtain call in MSG, and legit feel-good moment in a post-kayfabe world. Just call all the nasty stuff in the match "heat of competition" if you feel like kayfabe needs to be kept 24/7 (which I don't know why anyone would in 2015). That said, I'm not interested in them joining forces on the main shows because then they can't wrestle each other. Maybe when a couple more classes of NXT women hit the main roster, they can do an "old guard vs. newcomers" stable war (though those tend to be shitty), but definitely not right now.

That was a great show. I'd say the second best NXT show ever behind R-Evolution, and the leading candidate for WWE show of the year. Liger/Breeze was exactly what it should've been. Lots of Breeze stooging and Liger hitting his spots, plus Breeze's entrance ruled. Tag title match had a surprising result. I thought that was the token heel win on the card for sure. I've always thought Gotch could do a lot more than he usually shows, and it was nice to see him get to let loose somewhat here. He really owns the gimmick. These two definitely deserve at least a short run with the straps for the work they've put in the last year plus. I suspect it won't be long before another team is ready, willing, and GABLE to win the titles, though. Joe/Corbin was a fun slugfest. Not really a typical WWE formula match. Corbin showed some really great bumping ability we haven't seen out of him here with the sell of the running drop kick and the guardrail spot. Wonder if Joe is up next for Balor. Not much more can be said about Sasha/Bayley. That's a legit MOTYC on first watch. There were some great spots and tremendous nearfalls, and everything just flowed perfectly. The hand stomping in the Bank Statement was some ROH-Bryan level shit, and the double knee drop off the ropes totally made me bite. The "curtain call" moment was pretty damn sweet too. Very much deserved. And as far as Sasha's case for WOTY goes, I don't think anyone would dispute the other 3 horsewomen are all reasonably talented, and they all had their best WWE matches by a wide margin with Sasha Banks, and their second best is likely 4-way. Brock's really her only competition for that honor, but she's pouring on the volume being full-time vs. part-time. The ladder match was solid, definitely had a tough act to follow. I liked the pace and Owens had some great cutoffs. The fisherman tease at the top of the ladder made my butthole clench. I liked the decisive finish for Balor, who I think will be holding the belt for some time.

Kemper Arena (Nitro, several Raw/SD, New Years Revolution 07, I was not at OTE 99) - Definitely nostalgic since some of my earliest wrestling memories were there, but once the Sprint Center came along, it really highlighted how dumpy Kemper was. Sprint Center (several Raw/SD, MITB 2010) - I love the Sprint Center. Easy to get in and out, comfortable seats and great views. Wish they did more big shows there. Savvis/Scottrade Center (Raw, Judgment Day 2007, Royal Rumble 2012, Extreme Rules 2013, Survivor Series 2014, Battleground 2015) - WWE loves St. Louis a lot for some reason, but it's an easy drive and the shows are usually solid. There are some bad seats, so you have to be selective when buying tickets and it took a while to find the best spot to park, but now it's like my second wrestling home. Best memory is being completely surprised by Sting's debut. The Raw I saw there was terrible, though (fake Rosie vs fake Donald). Family Arena (Lockdown 07) - Smaller arena in the suburbs of St. Louis. I'll never forget the horrible electrified cage sound effects for 3D/LAX. TD Banknorth Garden (Summer Slam 2006) - Seemed nice enough, but I think anything would when WWE comps you front row seats, hotel, and airfare at age 19. Bring back WWE Fantasy! Silver Super Dome (Wrestlemania 30) - Solid venue, but I'm glad I forked over the extra cash for good seats. There were some that looked REALLY far away. Easily the best overall show I've ever attended, the Byran win and streak ending memories will last a lifetime Smoothie King Center (Raw) - Just another arena. Above average food, though. My first post-Mania Raw experience. Levis Stadium (Wrestlemania 31) - Really nice stadium, but that sun was blinding the first 2/3 of the show. SAP Center (Raw) - Seemed like an older arena, but the seats were comfortable. San Jose State arena (NXT) - Once they turned the stage lights pointing right at my face down, it was a nice view. Great show too. I've been to a variety of warehouses and convention centers that I can't remember the names of for indies too. I liked the visual side of the place ROH did their New Orleans show (which was a very good one), but the acoustics were shit. Had some good experiences in Bumfuck Missouri (aka Eldon and Sedalia) with Harley Race's promotion WLW. I got to see them when they were working with NOAH, so I got to meet KENTA, Marufuji, Sasaki, Nakajima, and Morishima. The place WWN and Shimmer ran at Mania weekend this year was kinda cramped, but Johnny Gargano and Drew Galloway brawled right next to us. TNA also did a shitty show up in St. Joe one time.

Owens calling the crowd "the John Cena of wrestling fans" was definitely expert-level trolling, but Sasha saying "There's a reason Takeover's in Brooklyn and not here" out of the blue was much more subtly harsh. Sasha and Bayley's segment was really good. There was the Brooklyn comment and "Bayley Wayley" (which I found hilarious for some reason), and the way the whole thing escalated was beautiful. A lesser angle would've stopped after Bayley's cheesy promo, a good angle would've ended with Bayley left trying not to cry in the ring after Sasha's brutal smackdown, but going all the way to Bayley trying not to cry while being held back by the refs after her impotent rage sneak attack was the best. I can't say I've been too invested in Bayley, but this promo alone made the match mean something to me.

Is there any reason people neglect Rollins, Ambrose, Reigns, and Big E when talking about NXT success stories? Or are we just talking post-network here? Yeah I know most of their developmental time was under the FCW banner, but for all intents and purposes it was the same system that's in place now, just in its infancy. Big E is more of a solid single in baseball terms, but the Shield guys are all varying lengths of home runs.

You sure? I'm not sure Bayley will get a full-on Cena reaction, but given the likely demographics of that crowd, I bet Sasha will be very popular.

Thank you. Can't stress enough that everyone should watch this. Hopefully they do these once a month or so.

They were absolutely right to push Bryan when they did (and they should've done it sooner) given that he was the most over guy and best worker on the roster for quite a while there. The initial wave of injuries was just bad luck, though blame can be spread for the delayed surgeries and coming back too soon. Punk is a little more debateable since there was some indication that he'd leave to pursue other interests at some point. That said, there was definitely money to be made with him following the pipebomb/MITB angle, and WWE completely pissed that one down their leg and couldn't get the ball rolling again until it was too late. The big thing to me, though, is that regardless of what happened or happens with Punk and Bryan, they did some serious groundwork for the next generation. I doubt NXT is where it's at now without those two bridging the gap between talent-rich yet unrefined 2000 NA indy scene and WWE. Maybe it's Cesaro, maybe Zayn, maybe Owens, but someone's gonna have great opportunity to be the man down the road now that the "indy stigma" has pretty much been erased.

Sasha on Team BAD is like Anthony Davis on the Pelicans. The team may be surprisingly fun with cast-offs and re-treads filling some roles, but they're both destined to be all-time greats and clearly deserve more. Girl's gonna push 'em all out the way.

Can Tucker and Drew replace Brennan and Saxton? "No, a mechanical koala! "Mega Wedgie Drop!" "More like Cry Dillinger!" But the part where Graves asked if they watched Rocko's Modern Life and they were like "No, you're old!" was

Jesus, Baron's promo was one of the worst this year. The content was fine, but he emphasized the wrong word in like every sentence and the cadence sounded like some cheap GPS. This is a rare time in WWE where the writing for the character is perfect, but the guy they picked for the role isn't delivering. Also on the rough mic night front, Sasha's guest commentary wasn't so hot either. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to be a hot shit celebrity or respectful hard-working champion. Not that she was getting any help from the other announcers, Brennan and Saxton ignored her for long stretches and Graves was trying to be JBL and doing the least convincing "We totally hang out all the time" routine ever with her. I'd believe Dolph and Lana were a real couple before I believed Corey parties with Sasha and Jay Z. On the positive side, there was Marcus Louis shielding his face from Balor's spotlights, Tye Dillinger getting an over gimmick out of nowhere, Alexa Bliss being awesome, and a good Becky/Bayley match.

If they want Reigns/Lesnar 2 next year, Roman should win the belt at Survivor Series and Brock should win the Rumble. Also, they need to dispose of Sheamus at some point so that there's a guarantee of no Mania 31 repeat. I'm not convinced at all that it's a given Brock is losing at Summer Slam either. He's on a new deal and should be protected way more than Taker. Taker's entrance and presence will always pop the crowd and get attention. He doesn't need a win here to stay over, and Brock's holding the biggest "rub card" in the company right now. Spending that on a guy who probably has less than 5 matches left in his career would be horrible even by "WWE blown opportunity" standards.

Is this SD or an NXT tribute show?

I know a dude who, upon seeing Kevin Owens for the first time at Elimination Chamber, said it was cool to see someone "who looked like him" making it in WWE. He immediately bought an Owens shirt and later made a pic of KO's tron his facebook banner pic.

Cold Tag The moment towards the end of a Japanese tag match where a vet/high ranked guy tags in a rookie/low ranked guy and the crowd groans because the finish is imminent and it's obvious who's going over. Like when Kobashi tagged in Go Shiosaki when freakin' Sasaki or Tenryu were still in the ring.

Alex Riley

Yep. If it makes you feel better, in 20 years some kid not even born yet will be like "Daniel Bryan? Pffft..." and they will experience the same emotion Bazzil is now.

Did some re-watches today to update my list. I'm very comfortable with my top 5 as is. Forgot how good Bryan/Reigns was. It looks so much better 6 months down the line when you can forget what a shitty hand they were dealt at the time. No one wanted to see Bryan lose his spot, but the match told the story perfectly. The top 2 are as hard-hitting and action-packed as you want, Brock is pretty easily WOTY in WWE for me. No one has presence like him. Every match, every segment he's been in feel like they're on another level. Owens/Zayn seems like the forgotten great match of the year. Perfect character clash and Zayn's bumping was ridiculous. If you like matches where the heel looks strong, this has to be among your faves this year. Sasha/Becky is a respect match second only to Zayn/Cesaro in recent memory with an impact in wrestling beyond MOTY lists. There was some shuffling and adding outside of the top 5, though. The first Owens/Balor tv match is a really underrated fighting spirit match. It was the biggest mover for sure. I also realized I short-changed the NXT women by not including the 4-way from Rival on my list. Upon re-watch, that was very well put together, and had great torch-passing finish. Definitely belongs on any MOTY list this year. I added Ambrose/Show for the good pacing and creative finish. Neville/Rollins from Raw moved into the top 10 immediately, on first watch it's easily the best "open challenge" match this year, but I will need to re-visit Cesaro/Cena 2 and the Cesaro/Owens/Rusev 3-way when they hit the network.

Echoing Rollins/Neville being insanely good. Neville busted out some cool shit. Rollins used his balance and agility for bumping purposes, which made Neville's moves look even better. The finishing run was really strong without any real finisher kickouts. It had a "real sports feel" where the likable underdog almost pulled off a big win over the obnoxious dynasty team, but a terrible ref call and a bad bounce at the end cost them. Like if that match was a football game, the gameday thread would be littered with "fuck these refs," "fix is in," and "*insert team* is such overrated garbage" shit posts. Two weeks in a row that Raw has produced a MOTYC. Only thing missing was not using this prime opportunity to have Rollins ditch the terrible forced pedigree and debut some sort of knee-to-the-face finisher. The tag division might be the most underrated thing in WWE right now. Every week is just really solid output. That dive sequence was really well done. PTPs come across as real champs in the ring and on the mic. Submission Sorority is an ok name, I'm just glad they came up with something that doesn't start with "Team." Also debuting that team name and giving them two submission wins was such sensible and good booking, I was a bit surprised to see it, although everything with the women thus far has been on point. I think WWE is missing the boat by not using the name "Bella Club." Owens/Cesaro promo was good too. Cesaro looked like a boss, a nice contrast to Owens DILLIGAF backyarder look. It was also the best he's sounded on the mic in WWE. His smirk when he ad-libbed that rib on Owens getting stuck in his chair was nice. Kind of an odd choice for the main, but that's the kind of match that needs to close the show more to get different guys that exposure. I liked Sheamus' uncomfortable laugh when he was included in the Wyatts' promo.

And the world's most dangerous (and unrealistic) giant swing.

How did the "improvised finish" match play out live? It was stupid and confusing with the announcers trying to explain it.