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WWE Best Of The Year


Greggulator

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There's two months left so this might be a bit premature, since there's a really long way to go. But I think we should start talking about this list, especially since there are sooooo many insanely great matches this year.My favorites off the top of my head:1) Cena/Bryan -- An absolutely amazing classic that ended one of the handful of best PPVs of all-time. This was a real landmark of a match. Who knows what it will mean in the really long term, but it marked the beginning of an incredibly stretch of matches and angles, since Bryan's win led to HHH and Orton's epic turn, which has dominated the whole promotion in Cena's absence. Cena put on yet another all-time classic, this time with his arm looking like it was going to melt. And Bryan cemented his status as number one and the best.

 

2) Rhodes Family/Shield -- Just an absolutely perfect match ending with arguably the best moment the WWE has had since Savage proposed to Elizabeth. Four world-class guys busting ass in the ring, Ambrose being an amazing sleaze on the apron and Big Dusty hitting the elbow we all knew was coming and needed in our lives. I took this down a slight peg because this match could only have this emotion and intensity because of number one. But in five years or so, I wouldn't be surprised to remember this match more than any other I can think of since I was a kid.

 

3) Punk/Lesnar -- Another passion play with a great story. Punk fights gamely as the underdog with absolutely nothing to lose but his hatred of Heyman consumes him.

 

4) Zayn/Cesaro -- NXT's shining moment and a sign of what the future holds, since the minor league is consistently the best put together hour on television. Hopefully that influence will seep more and more into the big shows, especially if production folks and the like also get promoted like the talent does. An epic 2 out of 3 falls with a lot of hate and spite, built wonderfully after a few weeks of a feud. There are so many great moments in this -- Zayn's corner dive into a tornado DDT on the floor is one of the all-time great spots. And the end was maybe the best move to end a match since Shawn Michaels brained Shelton Benjamin. Antonio Cesaro is one of the two or three best workers in the WWE, which is saying a lot.

 

5) Santino/Emma vs. Fandango/Summer Rae -- One of the best comedy matches of all-time. Those matches count, too.

 

6) Bryan/Rollins -- The match with the German off the top rope. Seth Rollins has been ridiculously great this year.

 

7) Punk/Cena from Raw in January -- Capping off their epic struggle, with Cena finally figuring out the code.

 

8) Jericho/RVD from Raw in Brooklyn -- I'm not a fan of either of these guys. But they put on a really good Legend Vs. Legend match that had the live audience bugging out. Us hardcore smarks could pick this apart a lot for its flaws but f that -- it was a total blast and a great throwback to a previous era.

 

9) Kassius/Regal -- Regal tries to break a ton of fingers.

 

10) Dolph/ADR -- The best three minute match ever. The second best post-match moment of the year, behind The Rhodes Family.

 

I know I'm missing a toooooooooon.

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How about Dolph vs. Del Rio from Payback? Double turns are one of the hardest fucking things to do in wrestling, and this is probably the 2nd best one ever done in WWE. People were crying for Ziggler. That's impressive.

Also, Punk vs. Undertaker.

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The Bryan gauntlet, and especially the Bryan/Cesaro classic in the middle of it.

 

The one really long Bryan/Rollins RAW match.

 

Several other Shield six-man tags.  The EC one against Sheamus/Ryback/Cena with Cena's epic Face in Peril segment was probably my favorite of them, but there isn't really a wrong answer when it comes to The Shield vs. 3 Faces.

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I really loved that 11 on 3 Shield match, too. The booking of an 11-3 match is really odd but The Shield beat the right dudes and looked like world beaters despite losing with four men left on the apron.

 

I whiffed on that Gauntlet match. The Cesaro section was terrific. I didn't see a lot of PPVs early in the year so I'm playing catch-up on those.

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How about Dolph vs. Del Rio from Payback? Double turns are one of the hardest fucking things to do in wrestling, and this is probably the 2nd best one ever done in WWE. People were crying for Ziggler. That's impressive.

Del Rio was awesome in that match, loved how he managed to make every kick to Dolph's head more vicious than the last. The whole match was so well executed.I'd also mention Del Rio/Christian from Summerslam, which I thought was match of the night until the main event. More vicious bodypart work from ADR, great selling and comebacks from Christian...just wonderful stuff
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God, Suummerslam was insane. 3 MOTYCs in the top 3 matches.

 

I thought ADR/Christian was a step down from the other two, but that was only because the feud didn't carry the weight of Punk/Brock and Bryan/Cena. But it was two of the smartest workers going putting together a match in a perfect formula. ADR is a master of finding a body part and working it. Christian is a master of selling an injury to a body part and making comebacks. Those two could wrestle every single week and find something to keep it interesting.

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From Main Event:

Ziggler/Del Rio. From early in the year, with reversed alignments. Very fast paced and Dolph bumps around like crazy for a b-show match.

Cesaro/Sheamus. Before Summerslam this would have been an easy top 5 match from me. Great armwork from Cesaro and it's a total slugfest.

Sheamus/Barrett. They stiff each other for 20 minutes. Might be inclined to call it Barrett's best match.

Cesaro/kofi. Cesaro/Orton. More examples of Cesaro's greatness. Orton's had a peak year as well.

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Cesaro on Main Event has been great. His match with Orton definitely deserves a mention. Crowd was really hot for it as well. When Orton is motivated and the crowd response is there, he really steps his game up. I'd add Orton Cody and Orton Bryan no DQ as some RAW matches worth some consideration.

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Oh, Bryan/Barrett in a cage. Such an awesome match. Barrett's bump from the cage was crazy. That match felt like a test run for Wade. I think when he gets repackaged he's in line for a major push. The guy is really solid.

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Punk/Taker and Punk/Lesner are my top matches from the Big 2 shows.  Punk/Lesnar is my match of the year.  So chaotic. Lesnar matches are events.  Love Cena/Bryan from SS as well, but I think they have a better match in them.

 

So hard to pick an MVP from WWE this year.  Bryan is the obvious choice, but Cena and every Shield member has a strong case as well.  Cesaro would totally get my vote if he was in a different place on the card, but it's hard to get excited for his stuff like I do with the other guys mentioned.  That being said, Cesaro/Zayn is in my top 10 for the year. If they used Cesaro on the main show like they use him on NXT he would probably get my MVP vote.

 

I think I would go with Seth Rollins.  Cena is probably the only guy who has done more for Daniel Bryan's career. Rollins makes him look like a world beater like no one else can, though.  He seems like the glue that holds those 6 man tags together.  I would throw the first Shield loss on any MOTY list.  Bryan hot tags were the best thing in wrestling all year.

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Oh, depending on how long the list is, the Uso's vs. The Shield from the preshow of... Was it Summerslam? Money in the Bank?

Summerslam. GREAT match.
It wasn't Summerslam because I was bummed we didn't get a six man with Sheild vs. RVD/Show/Henry. Instead we got Ambrose RVD on the pre-show, with the rest of those guys mentioned at ringside.
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Daniel Bryan vs. Antonio Cesaro during Bryan's Gauntlet match on RAW, John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk at SummerSlam are my contenders for the WWE Match of the Year. I want to rewatch them to see which gets it or it might be matches I haven't seen since they happened: John Cena vs. CM Punk on RAW, CM Punk vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIX and CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho at Payback.

 

Two others matches which don't get the mentions as much as the above, The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio in their first Last Man Standing match on Smackdown and The Shield vs. The Undertaker/Team Hell No on the RAW held in the UK.

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1. Punk vs. Lesnar (Summer Slam)

2. Del Rio vs. Ziggler (Payback)

3. Del Rio vs. Show - LMS (SD 1-11)

4. Bryan vs. Rollins (Raw 6-10)

5. Bryan vs. Cena (Summer Slam)

6. Bryan/Usos vs. Shield (SD 9-20)

7. Punk vs. Taker (Wrestlemania)

8. Hell No/Kofi vs. Shield (Raw 5-20)

9. Cena/Sheamus/Ryback vs. Shield (Elimination Chamber)

10. Bryan vs. Orton - No DQ (Raw 6-24)

11. Del Rio vs. Christian (Summer Slam)

12. Punk vs. Cena (Raw 2-25)

13. Usos vs. Rollins/Reigns (Money in the Bank, pre-show)

14. Orton vs. Christian (Raw 8-19)

15. Cody/Dustin vs. Rollins/Reigns (Battleground)

16. Bryan vs. Swagger/Cesaro/Ryback - Gauntlet (Raw 7-22)

17. Cesaro vs. Kofi (Main Event 5-1)

18. Del Rio vs. Big Show - LMS (Royal Rumble)

19. Orton vs. Big Show - Extreme Rules (Extreme Rules, the ppv)

20. Hell No/Orton vs. Shield (SD 6-14)

 

If you can field a top 20 that strong by the beginning of October, you know it's a good year. The individual MVP has to go to Bryan for his overness and consistency, but I think Rollins and Del Rio both deserve mention. Rollins is the best individual in the Shield which as a whole, has been a super-important act for WWE this year. His bumping and athleticism really provides most of the "flash" in Shield matches that takes them to the next level. Del Rio, while not only having two of the absolute best matches this year that will probably end up in MOTD discussion, has provided tremendous stability to the World title. While the belt has plummeted in value relative to the WWE title, Del Rio has kept it afloat and left the window open for a full recovery down the road. And of course, this entire conversation would be drastically different if Lesnar were full time.

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If you can field a top 20 that strong by the beginning of October, you know it's a good year.

 

 

I was thinking about the year again after my post and where it would rank in recent years. I'd say this year so far is the best the WWE has had in a while.

 

 

The individual MVP has to go to Bryan for his overness and consistency, but I think Rollins and Del Rio both deserve mention. Rollins is the best individual in the Shield which as a whole, has been a super-important act for WWE this year. His bumping and athleticism really provides most of the "flash" in Shield matches that takes them to the next level. Del Rio, while not only having two of the absolute best matches this year that will probably end up in MOTD discussion, has provided tremendous stability to the World title. While the belt has plummeted in value relative to the WWE title, Del Rio has kept it afloat and left the window open for a full recovery down the road. And of course, this entire conversation would be drastically different if Lesnar were full time.

 

 

My top five from the WWE this year would be Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Antonio Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio and Seth Rollins. I struggled which of the three Shield members should be represented. Best WWE stable in years. I had Brock Lesnar in at one point for his Extreme Rules and SummerSlam matches not forgetting his performances in segments.

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My top two matches are Cena/Punk from Raw and Lesnar/Punk from Summerslam. I think Daniel Bryan is MVP though I don't think he ever quite managed a match as good as those particular two matches. I like the Cesaro match, but didn't find it amazing and still think there is a much better match in the future with Cena than what we got at Summerslam which was still pretty good. I think the Shield lacks something as individuals as I haven't been a big fan of any of their singles though I have generally enjoyed Ambrose. I do think as group they are great. The recent tag against the Rhodes Family is probably my favorite match of theirs this year alongside the Cena tag from Elimination Chamber. I still need to watch Taker/Punk and Cesaro's matches with Kofi and Zani. Right now though if I were to make a list it would mostly be comprised of Shield matches vs. Daniel Bryan and co.

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