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The 2012 MOTYC thread

340K views 3K replies 192 participants last post by  Alan4L 
#1 ·
#684 ·
It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. Tensai is looking good so far, the crowd doesn't seem to care about him at all yet. I kind of wish they had just debuted him as Giant Bernard, but the japanese gimmick is something fresh in terms of recent years. I like that he uses the green mist, gives him that real foreign/heel wrestler feel. I'm not a fan of the claw thing he does though, seems too similar to that silly choke Kane was using recently.
 
#685 ·
RAW Supershow 4/16:
Punk vs. Henry ***1/2
Bryan vs. Kingston ***
Tensai vs. Cena **

Punk and Henry continue to entertain with their ongoing mini-feud. This is a great place for Henry to be, as they can just keep plugging him into big title matches week after week and have him look dominant without ever winning the strap. This feud is very reminiscent of something from the Attitude Era when guys would fight every week but in the background is a bigger angle lingering. Makes for good television.

Bryan and Kofi both do decent work, even if I never really *believe* Kingston.

Absolutely love the Lord Tensai gimmick, in-ring work and all. Great to see him go over Cena and have it treated as a big deal. His slow and methodical pacing is fresh since he isn't Big Show or Kane. Anytime there is green mist in my wrestling I'm a f'n mark again.
 
#687 ·
On the conversation of WWE presenting the best product right now, it's leading everything in Japan by far. The only promotion in Japan that would be beating it only comes out with dvds like 8 months after the show happens.

As far as the States go, WWE beats the pants off of everybody there too.

Mexico is the only one where I disagree, I think CMLL and TXT have been consistently better this year. IWRG looked like it would be at the beginning of the year, but they haven't been that great since the end of January.
 
#688 ·
What standout matches have WWE had this year apart from HHH/Taker, Punk/Jericho, Punk/Henry and Punk/Bryan? Not disputing that it's the best product right now, just wondering if there's anything I've missed. I've seen all the PPVs but I rarely watch TV matches unless they're highly pimped on here.
 
#689 ·
I wouldn't include either Taker/HHH or Punk/Jericho. But both of the Punk/Henry matches, Daniel Bryan vs The Big Show/Mark Henry series up to the Royal Rumble cage match (which I liked more than most.) The Smackdown Elimination Chamber match, John Cena carrying The Rock to a decent match. Plus all the non-wrestling stuff with Brock has been fantastic, the same can be said with all the Daniel Bryan angles. Overall WWE has been really consistent this year, but for me they are still in need of a big time great match.
 
#690 ·
I wouldn't include either Taker/HHH or Punk/Jericho. But both of the Punk/Henry matches, Daniel Bryan vs The Big Show/Mark Henry series up to the Royal Rumble cage match (which I liked more than most.) The Smackdown Elimination Chamber match, John Cena carrying The Rock to a decent match. Plus all the non-wrestling stuff with Brock has been fantastic, the same can be said with all the Daniel Bryan angles. Overall WWE has been really consistent this year, but for me they are still in need of a big time great match.
I'm hoping Extreme Rules can deliver that. Punk/Jericho in a Chicago street fight and Bryan/Shaemus in 2/3 falls have massive potential to be awesome, and Cena/Brock just has that HUGE match feel to it already. It feels like they should be doing that match at a bigger PPV like Summerslam. Still, I'm not going to complain, theres loads of people I would like to see Brock feud with until Mania next year.
 
#695 ·
Re-watched Punk/Henry III. It's really good but it's not as good as their first match and definitely not a MOTYC in my books. Neither was the first one but I'd happily call that one a great match.

Top 5 for the year:

1. The Undertaker v Triple H - Wrestlemania XXVIII (****1/4)
2. CM Punk v Chris Jericho - Wrestlemania XXVIII (****)
3. Raw Chamber - Elmination Chamber (***3/4)
4. CM Punk v Mark Henry - Raw 4/2 (***1/2)
5. CM Punk v Daniel Bryan - Raw 1/30 (***1/2)

Not sure if the chamber match will hold up another viewing but really dug it the first time with Kofi and Dolph bumping their asses off, Punk being Punk, and Jericho's heel performance.
 
#696 · (Edited)
Yeah I didn't think the most recent Punk/Henry was as good as the first either. It was good, and that barricade bump was NASTY, but the first one looked like a match where all the stars were aligning for it to be match of the year-calibre before getting cut short.

I am hating Jericho/Punk. Jericho's promos really don't come off good to me and I don't like the alcohol bullshit twisted into it.

Watched pretty much the whole Raw (said "YEAH RIGHT I AIN'T FUCKING WATCHING THAT" when Marella/Otunga popped up though), and it just bugs me when they have a random Cena match as the main event while the WWE title match gets the first showing. Tensai going over was great. If Cena gets a Losing Streak storyline going he might actually get more sympathy and tolerance from those that usually wish him dead and stuff. Cena needs something different and a string of losses would work. Could build to a another Rock match where he tries to beat him to get his mojo back or something. Lesnar better win.

EDIT- Ah. Sorry. Thought this was the WWE thread b/c I had the tab open for so long. Oh well, enjoy mah thoughts.
 
#697 ·
Yearly 16 Carat greatness

Zack Sabre Jr. vs Jon Ryan - Day 1
Thought their match at Ambition 2 last year was better but this was still really good and Zack's always able to get the type of level of match out of Ryan that nobody else in wXw seems to be able to including Finlay and Nigel. Some great teased finishes at the end and a really great finish.

***3/4

Daisuke Sekimoto & Freddy Stahl vs Big Van Walter & Robert Dreissker - Day 1
Started off slow and uneventful but got better and better throughout until it finally ended up being a great Strong BJ esque tag. Stahl's just a little young kid so naturally he takes a great beating from the 2 fatty Europeans. He plays a good babyface getting his ass kicked though and has some great hope and comeback spots too. The Sekimoto/Walter exchanges build really nicely to their title match. Dreissker looked super in this too.

****

Ricky Marvin vs Tommy End - Day 2
Loads better than anyone would ever think this would be and ended up being one of the best matches of the weekend imo. Really great cruiserweight style and Tommy stepped his game up in a big way to the level of Marvin so he could really go at it with him and not look out of place. Great finish to top it off as well.

****1/4

Zack Sabre Jr. vs Yoshihito Sasaki - Day 2
Great little sprint going around 10 minutes. Plenty of great strikes and you're know you're getting strong strikes with these 2. Finish was a bit rough but that was the only sour point on a bossy little sprint.

***3/4+

Big Van Walter vs Daisuke Sekimoto - Day 2
The best of their 3 wXW matches for me. Sekimoto's really great on the rare chance he gets to work from behind and sell and he continues that trend here. His back selling and general long term selling of a war is great. Walter's improved leaps and bounds in the last year and his strikes are really vicious since he came back from his BJW tour last year. Sekimoto hits really hard too in case you didn't realise too and they really tear into each other with their strikes. Well structured with a great finishing stretch too. Preferred Daisuke's match with Suwama but this is great in it's own right.

****1/4

Finlay vs Johnny Kidd - Day 3
Thankfully Finlay's 16 Carat didn't end up being a total letdown thanks to this. The Callihan match on Day 1 was a let down and the Moss match on Day 2 was bad, plus they passed up the chance to put Finlay with Generico, Sabre, Sekimoto and Sasaki. Finlay and Kidd could realisticly wrestle this match anywhere so I felt a bit sour at first when I saw this was Finlay's 3rd match and he wasn't facing any of the special guests who he'd be unlikely to have the chance to work with again. Nevertheless though this ended up being for me Finlay's best match since his release along with the Steen match. World of Sport rules and these guys know how to work that british style and it's sublime. Matwork is naturally fantastic and tons of fun and they structure it really well leading to the finish. Finlay dances and sells the head shot from Day 2 by going under the ring to look for Hornswoggle. That should be enough to sell you on any match let alone the fact that Finlay and Kidd work a lengthy mat based match that was brilliant.

****1/4

Big Van Walter, Daisuke Sekimoto, 2-Face & Kim Ray vs Axeman, Yoshihito Sasaki, Karsten Beck & Robert Dreissker - 8 Man Elimination Tag - Day 3
When I got to Day 3 and looked at the card and saw the BJW guys were in this match I was initially super pissed because it seemed like a super waste on paper but it ended up being my favourite match of the weekend. First off it's elimination rules and it gets plenty of time to tell enough stories and add plenty of layers to the match. The Walter/Sekimoto teaming together dynamic was really great from them starting off taking cheap shots at each other, to one upping each other and then eventually forming the mega powers of doom to finish off Axeman. Karsten Beck is one of the best characters on the Indies right now and someone in America needs to pick him up so we get more of him. The Walter/Beck segment rocked even if meant no macarena on Day 3 (yes Karsten Beck does the macarena when he wins a match~!). Walter making an example of his own partner and destroying Dreissker to put himself over yet again was great. Gets down to Walter and Sekimoto vs Axeman and Sasaki and then becomes a really great 2 on 2 tag match. Axeman play Shinobu for one night only which means Sasaki gets to beat him up despite being partners. Axeman takes a really great beating from the Mega Powers duo and when Sasaki gets eliminated and it becomes 2 on 1 Axeman was a great babyface hero refusing to die and even teasing pinning one of the Mega Powers. Wouldn't have looked at all out of place on a BJW card.

****1/4+

LDRS Of The New School vs Ricky Marvin & Emil Sitoci - Day 3
You could tell they were trying to recreate the LDRS/FS match from last year and it just wasn't possible against Marvin and Sitoci. It was still a really good tag match in it's own right. Marvin decided he hated Scurll and built superbly to them two killing each other later in the match but it never really happened due to Scurll not really brining the same intensity when he was in the ring. Far less overkill of any kind at the which helped them in this scenario.

***3/4
 
#699 ·
Davey Richards vs Michael Elgin - ROH World Championship - ROH Showdown In The Sun Night 2
As long as you can accept the ROH style for what it is these days then this was great and probably close to the best match you're possibly gonna get from that style. Beginning and Middle portions of the match are basically non existent so the body of the match is just a really long finishing stretch but at least it was a good one. Davey's initial shine period at the start sucked. Felt really flat and the crowd didn't seem to care. There never seems to be an atmosphere throughout ROH matches anymore. Yes the crowd react to the big spots and do their horrible "This is Awesome/Wrestling" chant when they like a match but when they're not doing crazy shit there's always this bored silent atmosphere which always hurts the match for me and it's because they don't make them care about the smaller things in a wrestling match. Transition into Elgin's workover in the middle really sucked and Elgin should have had longer to destroy Davey in the middle of the match before they went to trading bombs. I wouldn't say Elgin came out of it looking like a great worker but he looked incredible on offence and that was what made the match for me. All his moves looked destructful and on the money. Like I said the match was basically a really long finishing stretch but it was an entertaining one and when I was able to accept that's all it would be it was enjoyable because the work and the moves were great and everyone seemed excited about it which made me excited about it. Nigel's not a brilliant commentator but he doesn't need to be in his role. All he needs to get excited and get me excited and HE GOT EXCITED. Kelly sucks though and seemed bored/generic calling it. I don't think Davey was great or even good in this but he wasn't bad and didn't put me off the match which I guess counts as good for a Davey match in ROH right now. Dragon suplex off the top was nuts and looked awesome but if it's not going to be the finish then it should at least be to set up the finish. The scale of the spots should build to the biggest of the lot to finish the match but nothing after it came close to topping it. The suplex/powerbomb combo on the floor looked nuts too and should have been a big turning point into Elgin's control of the match but instead it was kinda just another spot that lead to just another near fall. It was a terrific spot though so I wasn't annoyed. Davey's lack of a credible finish or move really hurts him. I guess his finish is a kick to the head but he does so many of them it's not really a finish. If he'd got the ankle lock over as his finish then the ankle lock spots would have been great (see Angle in WWE) but instead it felt like just another move he pulled out. Loved Elgin selling it by trying to charge at Davey but his ankle giving way and that eventually leaving Elgin open for Davey to finish him off. Davey took a lot of punishment in this and I knew he was winning so I was really worried he'd just hit a few moves and Elgin would look weak because he Davey took way more in comparison but the finish worked really well to make Elgin look a strong loser as well as making Davey look like a strong champ. Glad it didn't go too long and Truth didn't get involved. Didn't think there were any long portions which dragged either and that's maybe where the match being a long finishing stretch actually helped them. Liked this a lot but I didn't think it was a legit MOTYC. Still probably be the best ROH match this year though using their style.

****1/4

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho - WWE Championship - WrestleMania 28
This was really good and by far MOTN. I accidentally caught the start of Raw whilst I was channel hopping and saw Punk holding the belt so I knew the result but I was still able to really enjoy it so that says a lot for the match. Loved the start with them playing to the DQ stip and Jericho antagonising Punk into his trap. Shame that stip seemed like a last minute decision because they never played off it again but I really enjoyed the start because of it. Transitioned nicely into Jericho having control of the match too. That suplex spot looked great. I love that spot even more because the guy doing it doesn't take the fall too like stupid Indy guys do. Bump looked brutal but in a safe way. Finishing stretch with the counters was super and they worked that type of finish really well, plus it meant they could create tons of drama at the finish without kicking out of each others finishers and killing them. Loved the finish with Punk moving away so Jericho couldn't get out of the vice in the same way again.

****

Some NO's to stuff I watched that got brought up. Ki/Generico really let down, i.e every Ki match since he left WWE. Started off like a great match until it hit the floor and then it was every other match you've ever seen with Ki not giving Generico enough. Finlay/Callihan II and III both were decent but not great. Callihan's not very good at all in control of a match and he didn't get his face punched anywhere near enough in either match. That's what made their first match great and they lost it. Plus the finish to III really sucked. Big NO to Taker/HHH as well. Wrote this elsewhere.
I really didn't like Taker/HHH and there were parts that I really hated. I wasn't crazy about last years match but I thought the story was good even if the match as a whole wasn't super. This one felt like they were trying waaaaay too hard to have an epic classic. Thought Taker looked really bossy with the shaved head when he had that coat on. Then he looked more old than badass when he took the coat off. Can't remember anyone else saying this in here (I've only read this site's thoughts on the show btw) but I thought Taker looked really bad in this match. Really sluggish and old and I never thought I'd say that Taker's punches looked bad but they did. First 10 minutes were a killer. I'd gone about 40 hours with no sleep by the time I was watching this and I was constantly nodding off during the opening parts. Both men looked really old and like they shouldn't be working a long match with anyone, let alone each other. Spinebuster on the steps looked like a bitch to take. That and the SCM/Pedigree spots were the only moments of the match that made me take notice. Felt like they just went for so long and then at a random point they said let's do our epic finish. Felt really forced and way less natural than last year. I thought the execution of the story was poor too. Michaels as ref seemed all over the place. Could have done without him being all jolly during his entrance too. Killed some of the drama I thought. He was OTT but he was good in parts selling the match. I liked him curled up in the corner. I just had no idea what was going on with him though. First he was taking pitty on Taker, then he was angry with Hunter, then he tried to screw Taker and at the end they were all buddies and they hugged. THEY ALL HUGGED AT THE END. God I hated that so much. Came across as the biggest ego trip ever with the whole end of an era tagline. "We're better than all the current guys and we're going out by having the greatest match ever and putting each other ever because we rock". Cell was a useless stip and just felt more like they were trying too hard to have the greatest match ever with that and HBK as ref. They could have built the drama up around HBK being the ref way longer than they did but in the end he went off in every direction possible and none of them mattered. No idea why Charles Robinson had to come down and take a chokeslam from Taker. They did the angle on SD with Sheamus getting some stupid fine for kicking a ref but why didn't they care that Taker killed Robinson here? Did. Not. Like.
 
#708 ·
It was just the way he was taking one side, then the other, then screwing the first guy (no ****). It all got a tad too confusing for my liking. I can't really remember much about the match though apart from Shawn, the superkick/pedigree combo and the chair shots, which isn't really a good thing.
 
#710 ·
AJPW 03/01
Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Yamato
****

CMLL 30/03
Volador Jr. vs. Prince Devitt
****1/4

ROH Showdown In The Sun Night 2
Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin
****1/2
 
#713 ·
Kevin Steen vs El Generico - Last Man Standing - ROH Showdown In The Sun Night 1
Liked this but I didn't love it. They didn't go too crazy with the spots which I liked but it still never reached the heights of their 2 PWG matches last year. There was hate in it and it wasn't just hardcore spots but with ROH production it's much harder to really get into the match and pick up on smaller mannerisms which make the match more than just wrestling and spots. As soon as I saw that stage I was praying Generico would do a crazy running dive off it and that spot ruled. All the spots were good actually but none of them really stood out like they did in their Ladder match. Finish felt a bit flat but it was good. Would have been much better if their was more of a relationship between Jacobs/Generico and if Jacobs had a proper run as a babyface rather than doing nothing. Plus the turn should have happened at Final Battle to screw ROH over and get Steen rehired. Instead Steen just deserved to be rehired which was lame. Steen falling completely in sync with Generico at the end ruled.

***3/4
 
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