CESARO vs. SANTINO

 

RHODES vs. JUSTIN GABRIEL

This is the only one I feel confident enough to vote on without thinking it through first.

Tough second round draw for Cody. Is this a career year for him?

Cesaro swings Rhodes outta March Madness 2014.

When this is all said and done, someone needs to go back and see if Cesaro moves through this tournament with the highest percentage of votes ever. I really feel like he has it in him to have that kind of a run.

Tough pull for Cody, but there are few in the tourny that can stop Cesaro.

Tough second round draw for Cody. Is this a career year for him?

I'm a huge fan of Rhodes, and I'd say probably, yeah. His Dr. Doom run was my favorite stretch before this. 

 

This year he put on a little more bulk, got a little more swagger, and managed to go from smarmy heel to a solid babyface character. I think he's been, for a while now, hellaciously good at pacing matches and general timing. He was the glue in those tags against Hell No, and I'd say he did more than his share with the Shield guys.

Can we vote on Adam Cole v. Cody Rhodes? I think that would be closer and more interesting. For What it's worth, I think Cole had a better year. 

I think we all sleep on how good Rhodes is. Because he's REALLY good. The tag stuff with Sandow was really fun stuff. The Authority vs. The Rhodes Family stuff was a high-water mark for a rasslin' storyline. The two matches against The Shield were my favorite matches last year and textbook pro rasslin'. (It's crazy to think that 2014 has already had three matches better than those two.)  He provides the sizzle in The Brotherhood. Dustin's one of the best wrestlers ever but Cody gives the team its sizzle.

This is closer than I'd think it would be. I'm going to go with Cesaro just because he's filled so many roles to perfection -- The Next Big Thing against Cena and Orton, a company ace in NXT, a solid mid-card tagteam act and in comedy stuff. But Cody is a very, very good professional wrestler.

I like Cody a lot but he really does come off as wooden. It's his facial expressions and it's most noticeable during the springboard dropkick. There's this look of frozen concentration when he hits a lot of his stuff. It's almost the opposite of Ambrose and it really stands out when he's teaming with Dustin. 

I generally think "What ifs" are a little silly, but it is crazy to think about how different the second half of the voting period would have been if Cody had won Money in the Bank (which was the prevailing thought at the time). 

I like Cody a lot but he really does come off as wooden. It's his facial expressions and it's most noticeable during the springboard dropkick. There's this look of frozen concentration when he hits a lot of his stuff. It's almost the opposite of Ambrose and it really stands out when he's teaming with Dustin. 

you're making things up.

Cody is bland in ways few are.

This is the only one I feel confident enough to vote on without thinking it through first.

I had a momentary lack of weakness.  I am really warming up to Cody.  But this is Cesaro we are talking about "The UberAmerican"

Cody had a good year, but Cesaro is the best guy I have seen all year. I'm voting for him all the way to the end. 

 

Look at that face.

 

Look at that face.

 

Look at that face.

This might be the most silly criticism this tournament has ever had. What is a guy executing a springboard dropkicks facial mannerisms supposed to convey other then "focusing really hard to make sure I hit this springboard dropkick"

You just don't understand the fine art of the missile dropkick, friend.*

 

*This is totally not my plan to get people to post 30 pictures of completely random guys doing missile dropkicks with constipated expressions, nope.

Matt you're embarrassing yourself.

It's more endemic than just the dropkick. Check out the expression on the Alabama Slam here:

 

http://youtu.be/5qheSLcginQ?t=23m57s

 

I don't know if it's because he's doing stuff that is more challenging than what he can process or if he's just thinking about what comes next but he loses the emotiveness more than most guys in the WWE and since that's something very important to Vince I think it helps create a ceiling for him.

Hey, Cody and Goldust lurk on the board.

And I will say that I'm nitpicking. It might just be because Cody gets such great air on the springboard but I can't help but look for it now.

 

That said, I think that he's probably one of the three most entertaining guys in the WWE in the last twelve months just for his appearance on JBL & Cole Shows

 

If you haven't seen this two parter do yourself a favor and watch it now.

 

 

It's probably my single favorite thing WWE's produced all year. 

 

Still kind of wooden in the ring sometimes on those hot tags though.

Cody really doesn't deserve this much of an ass-beating.

He doesn't but he just got a bad seed. He is going against a guy who looks good against nearly everybody. 

You just don't understand the fine art of the missile dropkick, friend.*

 

*This is totally not my plan to get people to post 30 pictures of completely random guys doing missile dropkicks with constipated expressions, nope.

The fine art of the missile dropkick is a topic worthy of its own thread.