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The 2012 MOTYC thread

340K views 3K replies 192 participants last post by  Alan4L 
#1 ·
#1,655 ·
AR Fox vs. Dave Crist- CZW World Jr. Hvt/CZW Wired TV Championship- Title Unification Ladder Match
CZW Down With The Sickness 2012: Crist vs. Fox


-Damn was this match insane, started off hot with multiple dive spots and stayed at a solid pace for a majority of the match. Lots of great back and forth and they kept the ladder in play. Despite all of the chaos, they managed to top it down the finishing stretch and the crowd bought into everything. Easily top 5 CZW MOTY if not top 3, Dave Crist and AR Fox get mad respect for their efforts.
 
#1,657 ·
I haven't seen the PWG ladder match yet but I was saw this one live and it was totaly insane what they did in the ring. I'm not sure if I would put it here because it was just a huge spotfest but they do deserve credit for taking the risks that they did. There are a few different times in the match where I was saying to myself, "They really can't be thinking if doing this." And then they went and did it. My biggest problem with this was really just how much time they spent setting up for the spots. I'll get over those things I didn't like about it because I was in shock most of the match. I mean when the match was over and Fox/Crist had left the ringside area a lot of the fans just stood there in shock. I mean we all knew the show was over but everyone just kind of stood there thinking, "What the fuck was that."

I really need to see that PWG ladder match now. I'm wondering if it was on the same levels of insanity as this one.
 
#1,660 · (Edited)
No Surrender 2012:
-Jeff Hardy vs Samoa Joe **3/4
-Bully Ray vs James Storm ***
-Knockouts Championship: Miss Tessmacher vs Tara *3/4
-Austin Aries Challenge **1/2
-X-Division Championship: Zema Ion vs Sonjay Dutt ***1/4
-Rob Van Dam vs Magnus **1/4
-World Tag Team Championship: Daniels & Kazarian vs AJ Styles & Kurt Angle ****
-Jeff Hardy vs Bully Ray **1/2
 
#1,669 ·
PWG Threemendous III - Young Bucks vs. Super Smash Bros vs. Future Shock

Finally got around to watching it. It was crazy to say the least. Some fantastic spots and the stuff with Knox is just pure gold. PWG built him vs The Bucks to perfection. Reminded me of the three team guerilla warfare and that's a good thing. ****1/2

Have to watch Steen/Mack yet and can't wait to see Cage/Edwards. Cage is 2012's breakout star , a great all rounder. Hopefully PWG put the belt on him soon.
 
#1,670 ·
I'm glad I wasn't the only one that thinks the Ladder match was fucking marvelous. It has to be in PWG's top four if you ask me(Steen vs. Dragon, Generico vs. Steen ladder, Richards vs. Hero). I am saddened I'm the only one that adored Shiozaki vs. Morishima though.
 
#1,676 ·
I thought it was. The story wasn't more of Go tossing Shima around with some bitching counters but actually coming up with unique offense and the near falls or suspense are extremely well built(Morishima's comeback is pretty rad). Shima's selling could of been better but Go was just awesome in this minus two sloppy bits. Great facial expressions, great random selling, and all their ideas worked. Thousand times better than KENTA/Fuji if you ask me. My favorite part in the match :

Go getting mad speed from ducking all of Shima's lariats and instead of lariating Morishima(The 2009 finish to the Global League finals), he lariats the leg. That makes his submission seems like a done deal and incredibly believable considering a upper lariat might have won him the match but he opted to continue going for the leg. I haven't watched allot of Tanahashi matches recently, however his cloverleaf hasn't had me buying like Go's submission did. That says allot for a guy who isn't a consistent leg worker. Go also Marufujing out of Shima's Backdrop driver surprised the shit out of me and the Go Flasher nearfall was awesome. Simply because Morishima lost the lariat off gave the feeling that he was done.....that Shiozaki had finally climbed that hill. Great great storytelling.
 
#1,679 ·
The Finals of the KOT is my #2 MOTY behind HHH/Undertaker HIAC. One of the best indy matches that I've ever seen. I'll give more thoughts once the DVD has been out for a while so I don't spoil anything but I will say that the Finals were the best match of the weekend.
 
#1,680 ·
CM Punk vs John Cena - WWE Championship - Night Of Champions 2012
Match of two halves. First half I thought was really great and seemed to be progressing towards MOTYC territory if it carried on that way. It really didn't though. Positives out of the way first because yay for negatives. This felt like a major title match. Crowd probably didn't match Punk and Cena in that aspect but they worked a really good top dog vs top dog match. Played nicely off their history too with them both having counters for the others trademark stuff and being forced to bust out new stuff. Punk just kicking Cena's arm to counter the 5KS was sweet and Cena dropping the theatrics and just concentrating on landing the punch later was maybe the highlight of the entire match. Either that or Cena busting out a desperation suicide dive when the opening arose. Heyman's reaction to it was the absolute best. Heyman added a ton to this I thought. Looked like a manager thinking strategy on the outside rather than a cheerleader like Vickie is. There was a spot later on when Cena started taking control when Punk looked to him for a different game plan and Heyman just yelled "I'm thinking". Heyman's the best non wrestling character ever for me and he just continues to push forward ahead of anyone else. Punk's stalling at the start was really bossy and definitely intensified his heat. Then Punk hit a GTS and the match fell apart. Top dog vs top dog PPV main event so you know they're both gonna kick out of a finisher each. At least make them good stand alone near falls. These fucking sucked. Made both the AA and the GTS look like secondary moves the way they just threw them out there and they had no effect on the momentum of the match. Cena sells nicely during the first two thirds of the match but once the heavy artillery comes out he sells nothing. Finishers came out of nowhere and if you're doing a finisher kick out then it needs to be fought over and built to rather than just throwing one out there. The stuff they kicked out wasn't 100% the problem, it was the way they did the finisher near falls. They didn't even sell for a bit and then make a late pin to kinda protect the move. That moonsault. Holy cow. It's no secret that Punk isn't a very graceful wrestler but that took the biscuit. Knew as soon as he went up and had Cena positioned where he was that it wouldn't turn out well. Got nowhere near Cena with it and it looked ugly as fuck. Rock Bottom spot was neat. Crowd actually reacted to this time unlike during the Lawler match. I was fine with that not getting a 3 and that was actually a good near fall. Cena popping right up from it like he was playing possum sucked though. Actual finish wasn't that good either. Feels like they've done that double pin copout finish with Punk way too much this year. You could see it coming too. Cena never does a suplex from the middle rope so why is he going to that now? Shouldn't he have been going for an FU off there. Double small package would have been a lot better and had the same outcome. Remember when Shawn and HHH did the double pin finish in 03 I think and it ruled because it was a legit finish but Shawn just so happened to have his shoulders down too, rather than being an actual double pin spot. I think Shawn kinda did that pin risking his shoulders being down in the build to that match too. Would have been cool if Cena had started doing the suplex from the ropes in the build to the match and hadn't quite mastered it yet. Punk's reaction to keeping the title got pretty damn close to making up for the shoddyness though. That was amazing. Real shame that they ruined what was building to a really great match but there was still enough great stuff prior to the first GTS for me to still really like it.

****
 
#1,681 ·
Punk vs Cena was an odd one for me. I seriously thought for the first two thirds it was going to my new MOTY. They kind of lost me towards the end, but not because I actually thought anything was bad. Punk working on top is where he really shines, and working from the bottom is where Cena is best, so that structure really worked and it played off their two PPV matches last year. Punk's facial expressions throughout while he constantly one upped and cut Cena off were amazing. Loved how he had a counter for everything, and basically wrestled a perfect match but still couldn't put Cena down and got gradually more and more pissed about it. The interactions with Heyman outside (who was amazing btw) reminded me of Austin/Rock @ WM 17 with Austin getting so frustrated and looking to Vince for advice etc. Really added a lot to the match imo and it was a great story. Match really made both guys look like the top guys in the company and I loved them both having to bust out new shit because they couldn't get the job done. Cena's suicide dive was surreal and awesome and wonderful. Punk's moonsault was atrocious, but that didn't bother me because the way he did it looked as though he knew he couldn't do it, but was prepared to do anything by that point. What brings the match down for me is the way they went about the near falls towards the end. The fact that there were a lot of them didn't bother me because it worked in the context of the match, but they weren't believable. I never thought Punk was losing to the first AA and I never thought Cena was losing to the first GTS etc. Rock Bottom was fucking awesome though, and Punk's face after he hit it was amazing. There were also parts you could clearly see them talking to eachother and working out what to do next and that really took me out of it a bit towards the end. When Cena put Punk up top I knew something stupid was going to happen, and yeah, that finish was just weird because when has Cena ever attempted a normal German before let alone a middle rope one. Just seemed unbelievable that Cena would do that for some reason. Punk's reaction to hearing the decision had been reversed and he still had the belt was pure gold though. What a smarmy little dick. Seriously thought Punk was BITW material in this tbh with his character work and little things he'd do like really sell the leg after the STF. How many people do that? I can't think of any, but Punk does it and it's what makes me like him so much. Cena was great too though, being worked over he's great here. Annoyed me when he popped up straight after a GTS (I think) and went for the AA but that's to be expected form his character. So yeah, I adored a lot of this tbh, but the last run kind of just felt flat to me. Still, what came before was legit MOTY material imo, and I can't really ignore that. It's not like I even thought it was that bad in the home run, just kind of zoned out of it and I really want to re-watch it. It definitely felt 'epic' and had a huge feel to it, something that only these two guys could do with the current roster imo.

Think I'm going to wait untill I watch it again later to put a rating on it.
 
#1,682 ·
Damian Steele & Giovanni vs Pee Wee & Johnny Jack Spade - NSPW Kickoff 2012
THIS. WAS. AWESOME. Might be my favourite Indy match this year outside of PWG. I kinda jokingly said to myself during this Steele and Giovanni were the best tag team on the Indies based on this and it's not as far from the truth as it sounds. They're fucking killers. Super stiff strikes that make you genuinely sorry for the guy on the receiving end. Awesome control segment workers which is such a rarity these days anywhere, nevermind on a little show in Canada. Babyfaces are decent but they have some fun aerial spots that get over and one of them takes a great beating. This is the Steele/Giovanni show though and I need to track down as much of these two as I can. KO by Lariat is my favourite finish ever too. THIS is how you fucking hit a lariat my son.

****
 
#1,684 ·
The thing is, it looked terrible and the move was only used as a way to have both guys shoulder's down. Why wouldn't Cena go for an AA from the ropes like he's used as a big match finish before? Just didn't make sense to me that he'd go for that instead of going for something from that position that he's used quite a few times before to win matches. I don't think they planned that finish well enough and they fluffed the move too which only took more away from it.
 
#1,688 · (Edited)
Why wouldn't Cena go for an AA from the ropes like he's used as a big match finish before?
because he was behind punk, and really you're looking way into this! you could ask "why so and so would do this" just about every spot in nearly every match. where i come from, a german suplex from the top rope is a pretty powerful maneuver. dont see why he has to go with the AA, just because.

i mean why would someone go for a rock bottom, when you can go for a go to sleep? it's just as illogical, only backed by the theme of them trying out new maneuvers.


while we're on topic, I think their Summerslam match from last year is still their best. But this one was pretty cool, really liked CM Punk's acting. Didn't think they did a good job no-selling though.
 
#1,687 · (Edited)
Yeah Seabs Punk's reaction was great reminded me of how Bryan looked after finding out that he won by DQ a little while back. Minus the actual 'yessing'

Think from now on Punk's gonna have a reign similar to JBL's and Bobby Roode's where he finds ways to win no matter what but he doesn't care because he's still the champion. Also like that fans reaction in this gif he's like "ohhh"

Enjoyed reading through the writeups above.
 
#1,689 ·
top rope german is definitely a credible finish, but after all of those kick outs and shit it felt really deflating. It was like a little downtime in the finisher stretch, and I looked away for a second.......match is over. It was confusing as hell and on a replay it didn't even look good.
 
#1,690 ·
I greatly preferred Ziggler/Orton to Punk/Cena. The break may come down to preferring build over spots - they spent that whole match making the Landslide DDT look dangerous, hit it once and it was huge. Meanwhile Punk and Cena doing their finishers over and over, and sometimes just hulking up to hit one yet again, got ridiculous to me. I'll take Ziggler desperately chasing Orton and leaping for the Sleeper Hold over anything from the main event.

Still liked Punk/Cena, but by the point at which Cena had taken two straight finishers and charged across the ring to herc Punk into a Fireman's Carry, it had jumped the shark for me. I agree with Seabs that the first half of that match was pure class, though, very akin to their MITB and Summerslam matches.
 
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