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Best Of The Year 2014


Greggulator

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SAMI ZAYN VS. ADRIAN NEVILLE -- Sami Zayn is my favorite wrestler in the world. I can't believe in this, the era of Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins and Cesaro, I am saying this.

 

But he's an absolute genius at professional wrestling. He's the one true Good Man (kayfabe) in professional wrestling. He has a moral foundation and stands up for what's right. He also wants to be the best. He's had his ups (his big win against Cesaro, Bo Dallas) but has mostly had a Sisyphean challenge trying to stay true to his values while chasing professional success.

He believes Adrian Neville shares these values. He should have learned differently in their four way match, but Sami's a trusting person who doesn't any cynicism in his soul. Adrian Neville, though, does have that cynicism. He's largely done the right thing in his career. However, he's now, on a few occasions, dipped into a dark spot in order to get what's most important to him -- the NXT Title.

Sami's the absolute best storyteller in professional wrestling right now. He's a great technician in the workrate sense, but he's next level in the story part. He's the best face in NXT, but EVERYONE comes off better after interacting with him. It's insane. For instance:

1) CESARO. We all know how amazing Cesaro is, but he hasn't come close to looking anywhere as good on the big roster as he had in his brief run in NXT. In NXT, he played the role of cocksure bully perfectly. He has the same exact character, mostly, in the big leagues but it doesn't come off as real. In NXT, he had Sami to feud with, who put over Cesaro's jerk side like no one else. (Regal's an exception. But Sami's of the Regal school.)

 

2) RENEE YOUNG. Renee's the best sideline reporter in wrestling since "Mean" Gene Okerlund and is slowly becoming a really good color commentator. She's so good at her job that networks have supposedly approached her. Her first real stand-out work was with Sami. Her interactions with Sami were so natural and charming that if I was inclined, I'm sure I could find fan-fiction about their relationship together. Renee's very gifted at what she does, but it really takes a certain something to stand out in the position of mic-holder. Her chemistry with Sami is what made that happen.

3) COREY GRAVES. Corey was a total snooze. Then he became an awesome dick heel kicking Sami's eyes into his skull. It's a shame Graves got hurt because he was about to make the leap because of Sami.

4) BO DALLAS. Bo's one of the best character actors in the WWE. In the big show, Bo's just a really lame dude who thinks he's inspirational. In NXT, he believed he was a hero. But we had Sami to compare him to. Sami's a nice guy with a sense  of humor rooted in reality who takes what he does professionally seriously. We have no idea if Bo is a nice person or not because of how serious he takes himself and how that warps his ego and self-awareness. Bo Dallas, as we knew him, would probably have worked no matter what because he's so good. But the dude became one of the highlights of the year because we had Sami to stand him up against.

5) TYSON KIDD. Tyson's become the NXT success story. He was a talented bore for much of his career. He's now on the short list of most entertaining heels alive. So much of that had to do with Sami. Tyson slow-burned his way into heeldom. We saw his corruption slowly unfold as he chased the title -- doing things like using an injury to Nattie to get ahead. Sami kept a stiff upper lip the entire time. He finally gained his sense of vengeance in a one-on-one match where he made Tyson tap out immediately to his submission, taking the ultimate shortcut.

6) TYLER BREEZE -- Breeze is really good and has been since the character debuted. But Sami put him over in their live match and made Breeze look like a future main event PPV character.

7) ADRAIN NEVILLE -- And this is the big one. Neville is really awesome in the ring. He's superb. He's beyond athletic. But he's a non-expressive Geordie who might need captions to decipher. Mic work isn't his strength. Neville's stuff from earlier in the year against Bo and the like is really hard to watch. But against Sami? It's natural. He doesn't have to do a lot, since Sami's so good at being Sami. All Neville has to do is a few subtle things -- a little stiffer with the kicks, more exasperated during pins, etc. These don't require him to do what he's not good at.

Tonight, Neville looked like the biggest dick in the world by rolling up Sami after getting hurt. And Sami's stare into the abyss told the sort all that much. The match itself was technically amazing and great. But I don't know when the last time I was so emotionally affected by the outcome of men pretending to play fight. It was probably something with Eddie.

And now we get a great story for the rest of the year: Does Sami have it in him to do what it takes to win the belt? Is winning the belt worth sacrificing his morality?

This match tonight was amazing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

SAMI ZAYN VS. ADRIAN NEVILLE -- Man, this is written immediately after the match happened so I have no time to sleep on it. This might be my third favorite match of the year. The match from a technical standpoint was perfect -- guys executed everything absolutely perfectly.

My favorite wrestling match in 2013 was the match where The Dust Brothers beat Reigns and Rollins on Raw to take the WWE Titles. It intertwined a whole bunch of stories into one -- the culmination of The Rhodes Family against The Authority ended when the tortured Big Show got payback (after he was forced to knock out Dusty) while surrounded in Daniel Bryan's YES! chant.

This match is like that for me in 2014. Wyatts/Shield I is better.Bryan/Bray is better. Maybe Wyatts/Shield II is better or a few things I'm forgetting. But this had one years worth of a payoff. This was the best feel good moment since Bryan won the title at WrestleMania. A+ from everyone.

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I don't think they'll have a choice. Other than Harper/Ziggler, what on that TLC(S) card has a shot at being top 15 this year? Ambrose/Wyatt has an outside shot, but Bray hasn't really shown much since before the Jericho feud. Cena/Rollins is a good pairing, but the table stip is very inhibitive to being a MOTYC.

 

NXT just had three matches that will all make my list, but I'm not sure where yet.

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Watching Becky and Bayley on NXT this week made me think of a little sub-category here. What's the best sub-5-minute match this year? My list:

 

1. Cesaro vs. Kofi (SD 5/30)

2. Bayley vs. Becky (NXT 12/18)

3. Lesnar vs. Show (Royal Rumble)

4. Shield vs. NAO/Kane (Wrestlemania)

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The WWE.com MOTYC List: Top 25 Matches of the Year

 

25. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane (Extreme Rules Match) (Extreme Rules, 5/4/14)

24. Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella (SummerSlam, 8/17/14)

23. Cesaro vs. Randy Orton (Smackdown, 2/14/14)

22. Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus vs. Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio (RAW, 3/24/14)

21. Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Jack Swagger (MITB Ladder Match) (Money in the Bank, 6/29/14)

20. The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (WrestleMania 30, 4/6/14)

19. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena (SummerSlam, 8/17/14)

18. John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt (Last Man Standing Match) (Payback, 6/1/14)

17. El Torito vs. Hornswoggle (WeeLC Match) (Extreme Rules, 5/4/14)

16. Bad News Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler (RAW, 6/23/14)

15. Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Christian vs. Sheamus vs. Cesaro (Elimination Chamber Match) (Elimination Chamber, 2/23/14)

14. Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose (Lumberjack Match) (SummerSlam, 8/17/14)

13. John Cena vs. Cesaro (RAW, 2/17/14)

12. Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan (Royal Rumble, 1/25/14)

11. Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro vs. Tyson Kidd (Smackdown, 11/14/14)

10. The Usos vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan (2/3 Falls Match) (Battleground, 7/20/14)

9. Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn (NXT ArRIVAL) (2/27/14)

8. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H (WrestleMania 30, 4/6/14)

7. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista (WrestleMania 30, 4/6/14)

6. Charlotte vs. Natalya (NXT Takeover, 5/29/14)

5. The Shield vs. Evolution (Extreme Rules, 5/4/14)

4. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd (NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way, 9/11/14)

3. The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family (Elimination Chamber, 2/23/14)

2. Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn (NXT R Evolution, 12/11/14)

1. Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Ryback, & Erick Rowan) vs. Team Authority (Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Luke Harper, & Rusev) (Survivor Series, 11/24/14)

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Wow that WWE.com top 25 list is so NOT out-of-touch its amazing. Its obvious that the person who made the list doesn't hate wrestling based off his/her (their? ) number 17 choice as I am sure that's not going to make the DVDVR top 20 when its all said and done. I think the Nattie/Charlotte match is ranked way too high and I'm surprised the WMXXX battle royal cracked the top 25 as I don't even think it would crack my top 50. I didn't like the 21st choice when it happened (stupid stunt spots have me shake my head more then POP) and I couldn't honestly put that in my top 25 unless I feel under pressure to do so because its one of those matches that the internet is 'suppose' to like.

 

Four of the matches in the top ten (5-6 if you want to count the Wyatt/Shield matches) had great stories behind them and people were emotionally invested. Because of the investment, I would go with Charlotte/Bayley for the title instead of Nattie/Charlotte.

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Last add of the year (most likely): Cesaro/Kidd/Ziggler (SD 11/14)

 

Only match I hadn't seen on WWE's list, plus a friend recommended it out of the blue a few days ago, so I went to check it out on the network and I'm glad I did. Really strong 3-way match that was fast paced and mostly stayed away from the old "2 in 1 out" formula. Each guy had a simple, distinct character (Ziggler the survivor, Kidd the egotist, Cesaro the wrecking ball) that they stuck to throughout which kept a coherent story underneath a mostly moves-y match. The timing and execution was great from all three guys, and the pace was perfect. Even after it got down to the one on one stage, Kidd and Ziggler kept it moving with high-impact spots and good counters. For what could've been a pretty routine match, everybody stepped it up and made the absolute most of it.

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Wow that WWE.com top 25 list is so NOT out-of-touch its amazing. Its obvious that the person who made the list doesn't hate wrestling based off his/her (their? ) number 17 choice as I am sure that's not going to make the DVDVR top 20 when its all said and done. I think the Nattie/Charlotte match is ranked way too high and I'm surprised the WMXXX battle royal cracked the top 25 as I don't even think it would crack my top 50. I didn't like the 21st choice when it happened (stupid stunt spots have me shake my head more then POP) and I couldn't honestly put that in my top 25 unless I feel under pressure to do so because its one of those matches that the internet is 'suppose' to like.

 

 

I have a lot of mutual friends with Zack Linder, who wrote a bunch of this list. He's involved with UCBW, which is the UCB Theater's comedy wrestling show. There's also a bit of a Chikara crossover with UCBW, too. It's a lot of fun. Trust me when I tell you that the UCBW folks are OBSESSIVE wrestling fans just like all us.

 

I loved that list. I have a few things different. Shield/Wyatts I is my MOTY and one of my favorite matches of all-time. It's the peak of the WWE Six Man format that was so incredible. The rematch was almost as good and should have been on the list. I love the Survivor Series match and Sami/Neville, too. Those in the Top 3... I've got no problem with those. I thought Bray/Bryan should have been a lot higher and Charlotte/Natalya was nowhere near as good as Charlotte/Sasha. But, yeah, awesome list.

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Which is odd, because Charlotte/Sasha was the movesiest divas epic ever (which is a good thing, btw). It felt like a legit WWE main event match, whereas Charlotte/Nattie and Paige/Emma were more along the lines of a midcard mini-epic kind of like one of the better Sheamus/Barrett matches on the men's side. The latter two divas matches had some big moves, but felt more restrained overall. Charlotte and Sasha went full throttle from the opening bell, and the big spots were even bigger by the end.

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I never got the whole nomination thing, but people should watch this:

 

Sheamus vs Cesaro <fancam> - May:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkuHlFuNO-s

 

It gets about 20 minutes and if it wasn't the main event of the show, it sure felt like one. It's a cross between WWE Main Event style and sort of a hometown hero babyface spotlight match. They still hit each other as hard as in the PPV match but it's given more room to breathe, which has both pros and cons. I think it has more pros than cons though, especially when you factor in how thoroughly the crowd is in to Sheamus. It gets a little big-move kick-out-y at the end but that's the style and a lot of the matches in this thread have that.

 

There are a few more fancams I intend to watch, including something like three Rollins vs Cena matches from the November Europe tour, but this is one people should see. 

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Which is odd, because Charlotte/Sasha was the movesiest divas epic ever (which is a good thing, btw). It felt like a legit WWE main event match, whereas Charlotte/Nattie and Paige/Emma were more along the lines of a midcard mini-epic kind of like one of the better Sheamus/Barrett matches on the men's side. The latter two divas matches had some big moves, but felt more restrained overall. Charlotte and Sasha went full throttle from the opening bell, and the big spots were even bigger by the end.

 

True. I just thought about it again, perhaps this is a better explanation:

 

I feel that in both the Sasha and Bayley matches everyone in the ring wanted to win. They are good wrestlers and there is a style to adhere to so of course there are going to be moves, etc. No issue with that. The MOVES~! of Nattie/Natalie took me out of the match (and its not in my top 20) because I feel that both were in Dolph Ziggler mode in trying to have the best performance of the night. It was even more obvious with Nattie actions/reactions/etc. in-the-ring and so it took me out of it. Ziggler is a good face in peril and can get people truly invested in his plight (look at Survivor Series 2014), but Nattie doesn't have that same natural charisma or that underdog character people truly care about. It was Dolph Ziggler performance lead by a woman cosplaying Ziggler (while missing everything that makes Ziggler-Ziggler) and another woman (who is good and doesn't need to 'steal the show') being forced to keep up.

 

The match had heat and technically it was good, but at no time did I think Nattie honestly wanted to win the match or the title.

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My two problems with the match:

1) The Figure Four Segment. I liked it in theory. But it didn't look good.

2) Bret Hart's apron work was awful. They wanted the match to have a family rivalry type feel, which is awesome and what it should have had. Flair brought it. Bret just stood there like he couldn't have been bothered.

 

I don't want to slag on that match, though. It was a really good match. It just wasn't nearly as great as a bunch of other NXT Woman's matches. Sasha/Charlotte and Charlotte/Bailey were both absolutely great.

There was also a Sami/Tyson Kidd match from a NXT episode in the fall I would put on the list. I reviewed it here. It's a great match that Sami wins via submission, which really puts over the difference in character of the characters.

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  • 4 months later...

I forgot to post my final top ten when I returned:

1. Bray Wyatt/Luke Harper/Erick Rowan vs. Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns. WWE Elimination Chamber, 23rd February. *****

2. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena. WWE SummerSlam, 17th August.

3. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista. WWE WrestleMania XXX, 6th April.

4. Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan. WWE Royal Rumble, 26th January.

5. Bray Wyatt/Luke Harper/Erick Rowan vs. Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns. WWE RAW, 3rd March.

6. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H. WWE WrestleMania XXX, 6th April.

7. John Cena vs. Cesaro. WWE RAW, 17th February.

8. John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt. WWE Payback, 1st June.

9. Sheamus vs. Cesaro. WWE Night of Champions, 21st September.

10. Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose. WWE SummerSlam, 17th August.

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