Match of the Year

Here are the first two matches from my "Match of the Year" list. I picked them randomly by choosing two of the matches that attracted me the most when reading the list - I'd like to kow your opinions on them, by the way.


Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way (12:04)

A good promo from Jericho before the match starts. If I remember correctly it was the only match on the Fatal 4-Way card that wasn't announced beforehand. It was still the best match of the night, but some reviewers lowered the rating because it was neither build up nor was there any real story to it.

I'm not going to give a review of this match because there were so many spots and turns you lost count on some time and simply restricted yourself to watching those two work their magic. I counted ten 2-counts and I don't know how many reversals during this twelve minutes it was overwhelming.

Some of the high spots were Chris Jericho doing a picture perfect German Suplex, Bourne doing an impressive hurcanrana like thing on Jericho, who was sitting on the turnbuckle, from a standing position (Cole described it as a "6 foot vertical leap" and it very well could have been), Jericho rolling through a knee press form Bourne and turning it into the Walls of Jericho and Evan Bourne going for the Air Bourne, missing, landing on his feet and walking directly into a Codebreaker from Jericho.

The crowd was really into the match and gave a few "Y2J" as well as one "Let's go Jericho! Let's go Evan!" chant. Their reaction, in my opinion, made it even more exciting to watch. 

My opinion: I actually watched that match after the Mysterio/Taker one (because it took forever to load) and thus seemed even mroe impressive. Untaker and Rey Mysterio worked good, but we saw nothing really new from either of them while we got a lot of different moves and back and forth action from Chris Jericho and Evan Bourne here. It was great to watch and had everything I want in a match.

Rating: ***3/4 - ****

MotY: Still in. Watching it again made me remember why I thought this match was so awesome in the first place.

Rey Mysterio vs. The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble (11:07)

The story here was the same as in most Mysterio-matches. Rey is the underdog but shows no fear in front of The Undertaker and says that he will defeat him despite the seize difference and all.

They start off with The Undertaker throwing Mysterio out of the ring seemingly effortless. Nice show of strength by Taker. Rey stands outside looking uncertain for a moment before he tries to get back in the ring. He jumps over the top rope only to be thrown back outside by Taker with a right hand. They brawl at ringside and Undertaker sets Rey up for the legdrop but misses ... and hits the second with Mysterios head between the third and second rope.

Back in the ring Undertaker tries to chokeslam Rey but he counters and sets up Taker for the 619 who catches him and tries a tombstone which Mysterio again counters. An attempted crossbody from the ropes is met by a big boot from the Phenom. They are outside again, Taker hits on Mysterio but then rans into the ringpost with on leg inside the ring. Mysterio dives Takers knee into the ringpost. Still outside the ring they go at each other once more with Rey landing a moonsault on Undertaker off the ropes. In return Taker throws Rey into the barricade.

In the ring the Phenom goes for the cover but it's only a 2-count. We now see that Takers nose is bleeding profoundly (I'd like to note that no one lookes after Undertaker and that the match isn't stopped because of the blood - something that seems unimaginable three-quarters of a year later). He picks Mysterio up and throws him onto the top rope what is followed by another cover and another kickout. But the underdog does a comeback and nails Taker to the mat who promptly sits up with the usual expression on his face. Mysterio is on the offence now, but get's only a 2-count.

The end comes when Undertaker goes for the tombstone the second time of the night. Rey wriggles out, sets him up for the 619 and hits home. Because that's still not enough Taker get's another (springboard) 619 directly after. The Undertaker though is still standing. Not giving up Mysterio jumps him again and in by getting a Last Ride. 1-2-3 and au revoir Rey Mysterio.

My opinion: A good relatively fast-paced match. It was a typical Rey Mysterio match but that doesn't mean that it was boring. I enjoyed watching them and there were a few good spots like Takers legdrop and the chokeslam-619-tombstone combo. They teased their finishers early on but didn't actually hit them until the end. What I disliked at little was the end: Mysterio was a good enough opponent of the Undertaker to be worth a Tombstone or at least a Chokeslam instead of a Last Ride. It's a superficial thing and looks only so I won't overly complain about it.

Rating: ***

MotY: Out. It was one of the (few) better matches of the year but to me it's no MotY candidate.

9/27/10 Raw

Hell in a Cell is this Sunday, plus this Monday's episode of Raw was taped, but it was still a fairly good show - better than last weeks at least. There actually were seven (7) matches on the card. Okay, one of those matches wasn't an actual match but Sheamus beating down The Great Khalie, but still. That was dubble the amount of matches we usually get on Raw and most of them were actually good too. Scary.

The Miz (with Alex Riley) started this weeks show. I like the Miz and I have nothing against Alex Riley, but I think both their ring attires look utterly dumb. Not that I particularly liked Miz's shiny black trunks, but they were leagues above his new blue/white stuff. The Miz doesn't look good in white and Riley reminds we of a schoolboy in his sports vest or whatever it is (I admit that my vocables left me on this awful piece of clothing).

Bryan's music is horrible. I said it and I mean it. The music by itself may not be bad, but (as I said on Youtube) in my opinion it absolutely doesn't fit as an entrance for a wrestler. The titantrons are meant to make wrestlers look like serious competitors, not living jokes (they're anyway, but that's another topic entirely).

Bryan Danielson Daniel Bryan can virtually sell everything. It looks like he is hurt even if the blow itself didn't look that impressive. Reminds me of Shawn Michaels a little.

LayCool came down for the Divas Battle Royal and everyone was like "Hell no, not the bitches again." The girls looked annoyed by their mere presence and I pity Lawler and Cole for having to endure them on commentary for the whole match. I liked how Natalya blow them a kiss from the ring later, though. Got get 'em, Nattie!

Did about every employee of WWE get a new haircut / new dye for this show? And why didn't I notice this last week? Michael Cole, Edge, John Cena, Sheamus, Justin Gabriel...

Cena will never lose to Nexus at Hell in a Cell. Won't happen. No way in hell. I'd freak out if he did, but it's simply not going to happen. It's the same as in the Cena vs. Edge match: Edge pinned Cena and I was like "Wtf Cena lost!?" ... then the GM restarted the match and Cena won. Cena can't lose (clean) - it's like the 1st commandment of wrestling in the WWE.

Goodbye Chris Jericho. See you again some time next year. Raw won't be the same without you.

Sign of the day

Looks familiar? They appeared before at Raw 8/23/10 and NoC + Raw 9/20/10 each.

Match of the Year

We are in the last quarter of the year now and it's time to start collecting entries for this years Match of the Year. Usually this means that everyone nominates a few matches he thinks are the best and picks apart the ones other people named. There were and will be only few matches where about everyone agress that they are great (and even with those you'll still find somone who thinks they are absolute crap).

To me a Match of the Year has to be a match I remember off the top of my head. If someone tells me about a match and I have to search it up because I neither remember the date or the occasion it is no match of the year. A MotY has to something virtually everyone or at least most people are aware of, something on the line of "Do you remember this match?" "Yeah that was the one where they had that Moonsault..."

Because of that I will post two lists of matches: The ones I remember to be good/great from the top of my head and the ones that were suggested as Matches of the Year on some other sides I visited recently - readers of course are free to add their own recommendations down below.

I will (re)watch all matches listed and hopefully choose my Match of the Year until somewhere in December. The matches that don't quailify will be crossed out little by litte. Have fun everybody.

Important Info: I only work with matches from Smackdown, Raw, NXT and Impact (+ FCW). No indies matches because I don't watch any indie shows. Furthermore there won't be many matches from before Wrestlemania because I actively started watching wrestling shortly after WM XXVI.

My candidates for MotY thus far

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXVI (3/28/10)
Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne at WWE Fatal 4-Way (6/20/10)
Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money Inc. at TNA The Whole F'n Show (8/12/10)
The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan at WWE Night of Champions (9/19/10)
Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me at TNA Impact somwhere before No Surrender (9/5/10)

Other candidates for MotY
TV matches
2/07 FCW - Daniel Bryan vs. Kaval
2/12 SD - CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
2/23 NXT - Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan
4/19 RAW - The Undertaker vs. Jack Swagger
4/26 RAW - Chris Jericho vs. Christian
5/17 RAW - Edge vs. Christian
8/09 RAW - The Miz vs. Evan Bourne
8/23 RAW - The Miz vs. John Cena

PPV matches
Rey Mysterio vs. The Undertaker at WWE Royal Rumble (1/31/10)
Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me at TNA Destination X (3/21/10)
John Cena vs. Batista at Wrestlemania XXVI (3/28/10)
John Cena vs. Batista at WWE Extreme Rules (4/25/10)
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio at WWE Extreme Rules (4/25/10)
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio at WWE Over the Limit (5/23/10)
Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money Inc. at TNA Victory Road (7/11/10)
D-Generation X vs. JeriShow at WWE TLC (12/13/09)
...

9/13/10 Raw

Another week, another Raw. School is on again so I don't get to enjoy live shows anymore, but I hope you enjoyed watching it.

I came to like that anonymous General Manager angle somehow. It is dump, but it also draws a lot of heat every week and pushes Cole as a heel in the process. There will be an end to it in the near future, but it's still fun too watch - because the thing that draws more heat than any mid-card wrestler is a damn MacBook Pro.

When it was announced that Miz would have a match it was pretty obvious who he would face. Then we got to know that is was a submission match. Did anyone doubt that it would be Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz afterwards? We got to see Bryan so I won't complain though.

The Miz, Bryan Danielson and Alex Riley where in the same ring and it drew a smile on my face. Why? All three of them are the same age (twenty-nine) with Miz beeing the oldest and Bryan the youngest. There are mere months between them in age but leagues if you compare their wrestling ability. The youngest of them is the veteran and the middle one isn't anywhere near the other two - age means shit in wrestling.

Bourne vs. Edge? Really? Where does that need ot burry Evan Bourne come from? The guy never did anything wrong (in the ring at least) and still is de-pushed back into jobber-land. I'm sorry for him. Edge looked a little stoned in the beginning by the way. More than a little actually.

You didn't the see the paper on the laptop for the first time in probably six weeks or so. I was astonished to say the least - it's like they suddenly started to care. Scary.

I for once agree with Ted DiBiase, this sing and dance contest was utter shit - and Americas got no Talent if their performances were any indication.

The first real match of the night was John Morrison vs. the Irish fella Sheamus. One of the best matches I've seen from Mofo Jomo in a long time (the one with Chris Jericho was good too, but that's not Morrisons credit).

While watching Jericho smack a chair on Morrison I suddenly realized it: ... no Nexus. Yes, you read right, no f***ing Nexus the whole evening! I won't complain but it startled me there for a second.

Chris Jericho shouting at Cole was classic. "Of course you have an e-mail!" "Just shut up and read it!" That's why I love this man. Thanks Y2J for doing what everyone of us wanted to do for months now - it was long overdue.

Sign of the day

I didn't get a better shot, but this really made me laugh. Kudos!

Crowd Manipulation

Subtitle: The Phenomenon that is Jeff Hardy

There are different aspects and ways of manipulation a crowd. I watched Chris Jericho make crowds want to kill him seconds after they cheered him on, I watched the likes of CM Punk and Edge talk entire stadiums into doing exactly what they wanted, I saw John Cena divide crowds into groups who battled each other with chants of “Let’s go Cena!” and “Cena sucks!”, I follow the recent oddity that has crowds chanting for Randy Orton no matter what he does as long as he gives them an RKO at the end of the show and I watch the way people cheer for the Undertaker every new week on Smackdown… but no none of these men matches Jeff Hardy.

Wrestling has showed that one person can manipulate thousands of people, that if one is able to say the right words, behave the right way, people will react exactly the way he wants them to. I wasn’t there when The Rock and Steve Austin were big in the business so I can say nothing about them but I still saw enough of guys like Jericho and Punk to know what one individual can be able to do to entire stadiums. What they do is fascinating on one and downright scary on the other side. Yes, it is scary, because their way of toying with the masses shows how much power one man can gain over thousands if he has the ability to “pull the right strings” so to say.

Above all of them however there is one man who is better than all of the others: Jeff Hardy. The thing most special about him actually isn’t his ability to manipulate crowds, but the ease he does it with. I watched Extreme Rules 2009 and Backlash 2009 today and could only stare in awe at the way Hardy gets the crowd to go nuts by simply lifting his arm, waving his hand in the air, bowing to the crowd… He does these things like they are natural and I think to some extent they actually are.

 

Jeff Hardy was always extreme, a – not so – little daredevil. He did and occasionally still does stunts no other wrestler would dare to do. No move is too extreme for him and no ladder too high. Was it that that made him so special? …I’m save to say it at least played a big part in his extraordinary fame. The other is the fact that Hardy, like few other wrestlers, appeals to people because they can relate to who he is – a man who lost his mother as a little boy, was raised by his single father and made his long term dream of becoming a wrestler true when he made it into the WWE. We see ourselves in him, in the way he lives his dream, struggles with drug-problems and still never gives up.

If wrestling fans would be any indication true to which motto people wanted to live, it would most likely be “Live for the moment.”. That is probably the one thing everyone wanted to do at least once in his life, to just live and not care about what will be tomorrow or the next week or even the next year. Living in the moment gives people the freedom of not having to care about others, their health, their future… it is wrong, because it means not taking responsibility for anything, but we still dream we could do it.

That is why stadiums go crazy when they see Jeff Hardy perform: He does what no one dares to do, crosses boundaries that aren’t meant to be crossed … and he invites everyone around him to watch him do it, to take part in the way he breaks the rules. Hardy gives people a glimpse into something they themselves will never experience and they love him for it. He seduces viewers in his own special way and proves time and time again that there is a indeed reason people go nuts about the Extreme Enigma.

Undertakers Streak at Wrestlemania

I re-watched Wrestlemania XXVI last night and there it was once again: The Streak. It’s one of the most discussed things in wrestling, at least every time another Wrestlemania comes around the corner. Because the question wrestling fans all around the globe ask each other every March is whether the Undertaker will win once again at the upcoming Wrestlemania. If you have to bet, put your money on the Deadman –the odds are 18:0 that you’ll be right.

The Streak started at Wrestlemania XII – that was in March 1991. 19 years passed since then, accompanied by 18 wins of a single man against 16 different opponents. The only two men The Undertaker faced twice at Wrestlemania were his storyline-brother Kane (XIV and XX) and Shawn Michaels (XXV and XXVI). Another interesting fact is that no one has participated in as many Wrestlemanias as The Undertaker has.

It seems The Undertaker is unbeatable. But the question if he will ever lose or retire undefeated is still there. Because, honestly, who could defeat the Deadman at Wrestlemania? And, more importantly, who could defeat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania and survive?

That’s the problem with the Streak: Whoever defeats Undertaker at Wrestlemania will most likely receive the biggest push of his lifetime. The Streak his legendary, something that survived in the business for nearly two decades – and It’s still going. Wrestling changes constantly and currently we have arrived in a time were title regains are outstanding when they last more than half a year. Nothing lasts as long as it did in the past; that includes feuds, pushes and winning streaks. The only thing you could count on when watching the last few Wrestlemanias were two things: that The Undertaker would and win and that Shawn Michaels would put up one hell of a show. Now Michaels has retired. The only men people believed could beat the Deadman at his own game lost. Twice.

So whomever you send in there to defeat the Undertaker has to carry a heavy burden on his shoulders. He will have to live up to having beaten the man who never lost at Wrestlemania before. Because Undertaker defeated Randy Orton, Batista, Triple H, Shawn Michaels … the one who wins against him effectively has to be better than all of them to actually win and that borders on impossible.

Vince could try to use the Streak to give an über-push to a young wrestler he wants to make into a main eventer fast. But this could go very wrong very fast. Letting a no-name win against The Undertaker would be plain suicide. The fans love the Streak and they would not take seeing Undertaker lose to some wannabe kid kindly. Bottom line: Whichever rookie defeats the Deadman will be hated for all of his life – for sure. And I don’t mean the good heel heat but the fuck-off-loser-throwing-things-in-ring kind of heat. There may be a chance for this to work, but it’s about 2% and that’s not worth gambling for.

Even if the WWE would book some established guy to win against The Undertaker it most likely still wouldn’t work. Because really, he is The Undertaker. He is a veteran, the veteran – the only guy remaining from the good ‘ol days. Yes, there’s still Triple H but he is not the same as ‘Taker. Because the Undertaker has been there forever. Wrestling without the Undertaker will be even worse than Wrestling without Shawn Michales – because only when Shawn retired did it fall into place that the Deadman is now the last man standing, so to speak. Losing him will be hard for the business.

After I said all this there are four guys I think could survive to win against the Undertaker career-wise. Two of them would for sure and two are shaky candidates. The four men we are talking about are Kane, Triple H, John Cena and Chris Jericho.

Before anyone starts to object, let me explain first.

Kane has fought the Undertaker many times before. The two of them have a history together what isn’t the worst thing to build a Wrestlemania match upon. Kane is a veteran who would survive to win for sure without being booed forever. He however already lost twice against the Deadman at Wrestlemania – but hey, they say the third time is the charm.

Triple H too fought against the Undertaker at Wrestlemania before but that was looong ago (I admit, I had to look this one up. It was in 2001). Like Kane he is a veteran and even if some people would not like him winning against the Undertaker most would still accept it. But Triple H is in for a feud with Sheamus and a heel turn (I revert to that later on).

John Cena is without doubt the face of the company. I am however still unsure about the fact whether the fans would accept him winning over the Undertaker nor not. The kids may love him but many adults don’t and there are a lot of people who criticize his wrestling-ability. Ending the Streak could be Cena’s downfall and that would be bad for the company.

Chris Jericho some of you probably didn’t expect in this list. But he has been in the business for 20 years now – that’s more than twice as long as Cena and longer than both Kane and Triple H. He proved that he can deliver good matches against all kinds of opponents and while the kids probably wouldn’t be happy with him winning I don’t think the same applies to the older fans.

Now something about what a match has to have for the Deadman to lose.

First of all there is the question if a rematch of any sort would be a good idea. Why would someone win against the Undertaker when he already lost once (or twice in Kane’s case)? Everyone knows that there were previous Kane vs. Undertaker matches and not a small number of these. I’m not saying that a match between the Brothers of Destruction couldn’t be great when done right but my trust in the WWE isn’t good enough to believe that they won’t fuck it up. Triple H also had a match with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania before but if I hadn’t read it up I honestly wouldn’t know about that one – was it that forgettable? John Cena and Chris Jericho both never faced the Undertaker at Wrestlemania and that, especially in Cena’s case, could be a huge plus. John Cena vs. The Undertaker would be a match many fans would want to see.

Another important fact is if the challenger is a heel or a face. Because we all know that the Deadman is the über-heel, the darkest of them all (as seen in his matches with HBK). So does any heel have the right to win against the Deadman? …yeah, I think there is indeed one, and only one, and that man is Triple H. We all know that his heel turn his long due – he only remained a face as long as he did because of Shawn and DX. He is the only bad guy who is actually bad enough to not lose to the most vicious of them all. Kane is a heel too, but for him it doesn’t matter much in a match with the Undertaker. Their feuds never needed a real face before and this one won’t either. I on the other hand can’t see the heel Jericho winning against Undertaker. He is too much of a coward and not dumb enough to actually fight the Deadman willingly. But the guy seems to be in for a turn anyway. Jericho has been one of the bad guys too long and you notice that the fans want to cheer for him. Plus he is funny no matter on what side he is. Cena is a face and will remain a face – he sells too much merchandise for the WWE to turn him.

The match quality is another valid point to argue about. Because what we saw in the last two years is what the next matches in the Streak have to live up to and I pity the guy who has to try to top the performance Shawn Michaels delivered. I’m honestly not sure if anyone can surpass what they did at Wrestlemania XXV and XXVI but I am sure that John Cena can’t. I don’t hate his in ring performance per se like so many others do but he can never be as good as Shawn Michaels was – hell, he won’t even come close. Cena may have the right vibe for a Streak match but he lacks in the skill area. Triple H is better than Cena no doubt about that but I doubt if he and the Undertaker can actually put up a really breathtaking performance together. Maybe but I wouldn’t vouch for it. Kane and the Deadman have been opponents many times in the past. They know each other and can put up a good match but you have to doubt if you’ll see anything new when they meet at Wrestlemania. That’s not necessarily a bad thing (as we have seen in the second Taker/HBK match) but it has to be considered. Chris Jericho on the other hand is known to be a great in-ring performer. His idol was Shawn Michaels after all and even if he didn’t draw level with him in the skill department he surpassed him promo-wise. Jericho won’t deliver a match as good as Shawn’s but he is as close as you can get in the WWE these days. I can see him and ‘Taker doing a fine match.

Now we have the problem that there isn’t one guy who is outstanding in every division. If I wanted the best match I would go with Jericho, Cena is the one who would bring the best atmosphere, Kane and Triple H both are veterans and wouldn’t have to be afraid of being hated for the (brief) rest of their careers. None of them however has the same feeling as Shawn Michaels and to be honest I don’t want to see any of them winning.

It’s not that I wouldn’t grant them a win against The Undertaker, but … Shawn Michaels put on one hell of a show at Wrestlemania XXV and (at least in my opinion) an even greater one at Wrestlemania XXVI. Mr. Wrestlemania gave everything he had and it still wasn’t enough, he still lost to the Deadman. If Shawn couldn’t win then no one can. It’s as simple as that.

If the Undertaker has to lose I’d go with Chris Jericho as his final opponent. I don’t want to see either Kane or Triple H in that match no matter if they’re his long time rival and the top heel of the company. Cena honestly would make the crowd go nuts about that match, but it would destroy him. He may be the current face of WWE, but The Undertaker is the (last remaining) face of the old WWF in all but name. It’s a lose-lose-situation for John Cena here.

So I think that the Streak should remain as it is: undefeated. After Shawn Michaels there is no one who truly deserves that win as he did. I’m not against another two matches to make it 20:0 but I really hope that I’ll never have to see The Undertaker lose at Wrestlemania – hell, Undertaker wiping the floor with John Cena and having a high quality match against a hilarious Y2J would be epic. I’d kill to watch either one of those two matches. I can see these as Wrestlemania main events in the future. So Jericho and Cena lose in the end – who cares? Shawn Michaels lost too, it ain’t no shame. In the end it’s all about a great match. Let ‘Taker win and retire with the Streak intact, no one will begrudge him for it.

9/6/10 Raw

I typed my thoughts of Raw about an hour ago... meanwhile blogspot decided to log me out and not save what I wrote down. I don't have the time to do it again though (at least in lenght).

It was one of the better shows. There was some good wrestling with Jericho vs Morrison and a Cena vs Justin Gabriel match. The Divas where in there too, some Edge & Khalie for the fun and Randy Orton and Wade Barrett did the "main event". Chris Jericho and John Morrison did a good 10 minute match that Morrison won with a Starship Pain that actually connected AND looked quite painful.

Chris Jericho got a rather loud Y2J chant when he left the ring. He is a really good actor, the guy looked actually done with. He had another segment later that was backstage with Josh Matthews and Morrison. Jericho starred into nothingness quite convincing.

We had some nice action between The Miz and Daniel Bryan. 19 minute promo by Miz with good work on both sides. I'm excited for their title match at Night of Champions.

The Miz and Alicia Fox both goofed their lines. It surprised me because it's rare for Miz to blow his promos. Miz said to Daniel Bryan that he "stole his place on Smackdown" (obviously meaning SummerSlam) and Alicia talked about becoming the "undefined" Women's Champion (meaning unified of course).

Can Randy Orton be any more over then he is currently? Cena has nothing on Orton if you compare crowd reactions. Best example was the battle of "Let's go Cena!" and "Cena sucks" chants later in the show. Randy got a huge pop when he delivered his RKOs at the end of the show. No mixed reactions for him.

Sign of the day

I got it from The Wrestling Blog. Not mine.