WWE Best Of The Year

[Eivion]

how did Henry vs Cena match up to some of the other good ones like Punk vs Cena on Raw in February

Good, but not really close to the same level. Felt like the two had something better in them. Still its worth catching.

[Big Fresh]

I was at Extreme Rules with Triple H/Brock in a cage. It was great. But I think I liked the Shield/Team Hell No Tornado Tag match even better.

[Greggulator]

I'm prone to hyperbole and emotional but Rhodes Boys/Shield from tonight tops everything right now. And I'm super bad with remembering matches from last year or previous years but if there are five Raw matches better than that in the history of the show please let me know.

[Eivion]

Honestly, I didn't think the match was all that amazing outside of the last five minutes when they finally started to incorporate the no DQ aspect. Before then it was just a solid tag with a somewhat shitty crowd. Its good, but I'm not sure its better than the Battleground tag.

[Go2Sleep]

Honestly, I didn't think the match was all that amazing outside of the last five minutes when they finally started to incorporate the no DQ aspect. Before then it was just a solid tag with a somewhat shitty crowd. Its good, but I'm not sure its better than the Battleground tag.

Pretty much. If the entire match was like that last 5 minutes, yeah, serious MOTYC. That first 10 minutes was the epitome of "filler," though. Plus it's hard to take any No DQ tag seriously when guys are tagging in and out. It goes back all the way to those Dudley table matches (except the one against the Hardys which was not surprisingly the best by miles), and it is without a doubt one of my biggest WWE pet peeves. The ref ordering one member from each team to the apron at the start of this match made me wince. In that moment, I would've given an absurd amount of money for either Shield guy to say "Or what? You'll disqualify us?" Then both of them attack the Rhodes brothers so a proper tornado No DQ tag could begin.

[Brandon Bones]

Yeah, but they don't know how to do tag matches with out a hot tag sequence. So it is what it is.

[Greggulator]

I thought they needed a tag because you still need a legal man to make a pinfall. You won't get DQ'd for doing crazy stuff, but someone still have to make the pin. That's not a DQ rule, either.Aside from that -- the reason why I think this is my MOTY is because it fits a puzzle piece better than any match has in decades. This was a match that was built up after a few months of storytelling and angles. HHH wanted to take the belt off of Daniel Bryan right after SummerSlam. That has now led to The Big Show punching Roman Reigns in the face so The Rhodes Boys beats The Shield in a ridiculously great match, the sequel to their other amazing match. And the celebration involved Daniel Bryan's chant.I'm sure there's some nitpicks to be found, like there are in any match, but this match was the result of some really great planning and storytelling. It was so ridiculously cathartic.

 

Almost every great match exists in a vacuum of sorts -- feuds involve two parties and almost never have anything to do with the rest of the league. Everything exists in essentially its own universe. Bryan/Cena was that. Punk/Lesnar was that. Those were great, fantastic matches. But this was an amazing match set up by a few other fantastic matches. The greater context and how they set that all up so marvelously gives this a bump in my eyes. And the work itself was great, too.I was the biggest ECW mark imaginable. The one single match I remember more than anything else was Raven/Richards vs. The Pitbulls. There were so many talented guys in ECW. I would venture to guess that, in the history of ECW, both Pitbulls would certainly rank in the bottom half of the talent in the roster. But you have a crazy brawl, great character work from Stevie, and the lapping stories of Dreamer Hates Raven, Bill Alfonso Heel Ref, The Chokeslam Has Been Lifted makes it so much better. This match was the 2013 version of that. A++++.

[Big Z]

Punk/Jericho from Payback was decent, but I much preferred the Extreme Rules match last April (which I actually think is hurt by the awesome Sheamus/Bryan and Cena/Lesnar matches overshadowing it from the card). Dolph/Del Rio though was really good from that show and it is a shame that neither guy capitalized on the momentum that match potentially could have built. This is easily the best WWE in ring year in at least a decade, and I think we are on the verge of another sustained strong period for the company.

[Cristobal]

Big Z's post brings this to mind: Think about the quality of matches Dolph and ADR regularly put out there with a variety of opponents. Now think about the fact that most people wouldn't put either of those two in a WWE top 5 workers list right now. How long has it been since that would have been true? Since Eddy and Voldemort were around?

[Joe Fixit]

It might be true that they had a better roster at various points in the past but I don't think WWE has ever given it's wrestlers so many chances to have good matches before as they do now. Definitely not on Raw and developmental.

[MORELOCK]

I don't think anyone would have put together a top 5 workers in WWE list when those two were around without them on it.

[Greggulator]

Gotta throw in Shield/Usos on this ever growing list. The Shield are having the best year any stable has had in WWE history. I don't even think it's close at this point. Just constant classic. Great Shield formula match. Reigns not talking as much trash was more than made up for by The Rhodes Family on commentary. Jae Uso tried to emulate the insane Rollins skull fracture bump from a few weeks back. Rollins continued his march to an early grave by pancaking himself on the floor. Great hate filled ending. This was so good. Are the Usos still secretly good or have we as a planet come to collectively love them yet?Bryan/Ambrose was great, too. These guys have a major PPV match in them at some point in time. This was real good and another keeper.

[The Natural]

Honestly, I didn't think the match was all that amazing outside of the last five minutes when they finally started to incorporate the no DQ aspect. Before then it was just a solid tag with a somewhat shitty crowd. Its good, but I'm not sure its better than the Battleground tag.

 

I also preferred the Battleground tag.

[The Natural]

I’ve done a top five WWE Match of the Year list since 2008. With the year the WWE’s had and it isn’t over yet, I’ve expanded it to ten and here it is:

 

1. Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena. WWE SummerSlam, 18th August.

2. Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk. WWE SummerSlam, 18th August.

3. Daniel Bryan vs. Antonio Cesaro. WWE RAW, 22nd July.

4. The Undertaker vs. CM Punk. WWE WrestleMania XXIX, 7th April.

5. The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio. WWE Smackdown, 11th January.

6. Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio. WWE Payback, 16th June.

7. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho. WWE Payback, 16th June.

8. Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian. WWE SummerSlam, 18th August.

9. Goldust/Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns. WWE Battleground, 6th October.

10. Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro. WWE Main Event, 1st May.

[Skelemania]

The Natural - Did you just forget about the John Cena Vs. C.M. Punk RAW match from February, or do you not think it's in the top 10? Just curious.

[Chaos]

The Natural - Did you just forget about the John Cena Vs. C.M. Punk RAW match from February, or do you not think it's in the top 10? Just curious.

 

I know I did not love that match to the level of some. It was the weakest of their PPV Caliber matches to date, and that one was treated like a free PPV match.

[Greggulator]

It might be time to update this because it's been a while.

I just wanted to throw up Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville from this week's NXT up there. It's going to get lost in the shuffle because of the holiday weekend. But this match was just fantastic. The set-up for it was marvelous. The week before there was a "Beat The Buzzer" tournament to determine the new number one contender for the world championship. Neville and Zayn both won in the same exact time. It was really well executed. They follow it up this week with an interview between the two where they talk about their friendship and rivalry through the years that gets fairly heated. But it's an interesting heated -- it doesn't come to blows, or even close to blows, but you can tell both of these guys just really want to beat the other dude's ass.

The match itself was terrific. It's a terrific 90s WCW/00s US indie spotfest. And the spots look TERRIFIC. Both guys do crazy dives to the outside. Zayn busts out this ridiculous powerbomb counter thing that is NASTY. The end comes when Zayn is struggling to keep Neville from getting into position for the Red Arrow. Neville gets a boot to the face to put Zayn prone and he hits it in what's probably a mild upset -- maybe not since Neville has been a long-standing tag champion, but Zayn's held his own against a bunch of main roster dudes AND nearly beat Bo a few weeks back. Just a very solid, fun and entertaining 10 minutes of wrestling and another check in the "Sami Zayn: Top Five Guy On The Roster" column.

This shouldn't take away from Neville. The dude brought his A game and hit his spots. But Sami's charisma, selling, likability, etc. really made this a top-flight match.

[KidKash202]

It might be time to update this because it's been a while.

I just wanted to throw up Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville from this week's NXT up there. It's going to get lost in the shuffle because of the holiday weekend. 

 

I was about to come in here and say that same thing. I personally feel that match was better than the Cesaro match. Let me not say that, I enjoyed the faster pace of this match more than the Cesaro match.

 

My favorite Bryan vs. Orton match was the no DQ match I think. Can't remember. I know Bryan finished Orton off with the Yes Lock while he was using leverage with the Kendo Stick.

[Greggulator]

That final hour of Smackdown was INSANE. This was absolutely perfect. It starts with The Rhodes Boys and The Shield bringing down the house. The four of those dudes have just magical chemistry together. They work absolutely perfect. This match was on par with their first two matches, only it didn't have the storyline/emotional impact those first two did. This was just a GREAT MATCH as opposed to high water marks for what the WWE can deliver to an audience. Then this morphs into Punk's involvement once Dean gets the jump. That was a really fun few minutes and then you add in The Wyatts being all creep show at ringside, with them assaulting the faces, leading to The Usos and Rey making the save. That 12-man match was a lot of fun. So much good work. Luke Harper RULES. Bray RULES. The final chaos section was insane -- a spear, Uso kicks/dives, a near Sister Abigail, the 619/GTS combo that was sold very well by Rowan.

Yes, please. This was amazing. MORE TAG TEAM WRESTLING THANKS!

[DreamBroken]

The nominees for WWE's Match of the Year Slammy Award this Monday

 

- The Undertaker vs CM Punk (WrestleMania 29)

- John Cena vs The Rock (WrestleMania 29)

- Triple H vs Brock Lesnar - Steel Cage Match (Extreme Rules)

- The Shield vs The Rhodes Brothers (Battleground)

 

Out of those, I'd probably go with Shield/Rhodes but I imagine one of the WM matches will take it.

[Go2Sleep]

Probably goes to Taker/Punk. 

 

Cena/Rock is a candidate for worst match of the year. Really shouldn't even be on a WWE-agenda list. 

[Greggulator]

No Bryan/Orton? Damn...

On that list, it's Rhodes Boys/Shield in a walk.

[Brian Fowler]

There are three very good matches on that list, and one that....  um, isn't, but will quite likely win because of the names.

[Gonzalez]

Punk Vs. Brock, Punk Vs. Cena, and Cena Vs. Sandow should have realistically made the nominations, but the slammy's are Kayfabe anyway. So who really gives a shit?

[NintendoLogic]

I like the tacit admission that HHH/Lesnar at Mania was a swing and a miss.