[djmathers1207]

It probably would be Raw MOTY if it were not for Punk/Bryan

[TaylorFitz]

Originally Posted by Segunda Caida

I've always considered both HHH matches to be great in person where the near falls can hook you much more, but I definitely feel they lack the ability to hold up on a rewatch compared to the Michaels matches (26 especially) as there's just not enough behind some of the engrossing near falls to love about them compared to the HBK series where Taker in particular was incredible with his selling and facial expressions.

I loved their match at 27 when I watched it again on DVD. I still thought both Shawn/Undertaker matches were better but as the actual wrestling was incredible while the Triple H matches have been all about telling a story in the ring. When Wrestlemania comes out on DVD I'll rewatch and everything and see how it all holds up. Kind of hard for me not to feel nostalgic for the match though as it was probably the best wrestling experience that I can ever remember. There were 78,000 there and 99% of the crowd was standing and marking the fuck out during that match. I saw grown men jumping up and down like children when it was happening. Really hard to forget all of that and look at the match objectively.

I'll give it a shot but if the story comes across as well on DVD as it did in person I'm probably going to rank it at the top of my MOTYC list and give it a super high rating.

[MF83]

Kojima/Naito I rated ****1/2 which is probably a solid **** for most of you. Suzuki/Nagata is around there as well. I really should recalibrate my ever consistent scale...

[Bubz]

Suzuki/Nagata sound like something I have to see, and I'm a lot more excited for Naito matches now after his performance in the Okada match.

BJW 26/3 Strong Climb Final - Daisuke Sekimoto vs Yoshihito Sasaki
I loved the start with Sekimoto going straight in with his game plan of going after the neck and hitting a backdrop driver. It set the tone for the rest of the match, and Sekimoto was awesome and very methodical going after the neck. I loved Sasaki's first comeback attempt hitting the spear only to sell the neck amazingly allowing Sekimoto to get back up first and continue laying down the law. Again, Sekimoto was so great in this match, I loved how he changed the powerbomb/boston crab combo into an STF so as to go right after the neck again. Sasaki's comeback was well done, but my only problem with the match was that he seemed to forget about his neck in the finishing stretch even though Sekimoto didn't and continued hitting moves all directed at that body part. The actual finish was great with Sasaki throwing everything he had in his striking range and completely laying into Sekimoto who's selling was absolutely incredible. Some of the exchanges were so awesome, I do think the headbutts were way to much though, I mean they were fucking sick and you could clearly hear them legit headbutting eachother. I wish that hadn't had happened, I genuinely couldn't tell if Sekimoto was legit fucked or if his selling was just amazing, but I think and hope it was the latter. Great match though, I just wish Sasaki had sold his neck a lot better in the finishing stertch as it could have elevated this to true greatness, but Sekimoto's performance was legit incredible here.
****1/4

Sekimoto is easily front runner for my WOTY so far by the way.

[septurum]

I think people are overrating Punk vs Henry a bit seeing as the finish was less than satisfying. I'd give it a solid *** 1/2.

[Bubz]

I'm going to re-watch it since when I watched it live, I wasn't expecting anything good to happen because it was a tv match and I was expecting it to be a lot shorter, so I wasn't concentrating much.

[Saint Dick]

Wrestlemania XXVIII
The Undertaker v Triple H - ****1/4
CM Punk v Chris Jericho - ****

Originally Posted by Walk-In

What was your favorite part? The slow, plodding beginning? The fact the Cell didn't matter at all? All the constant camera zooms so you could get POV facial expressions and hear the wrestlers yelling at each other? The group hug at the end? Shawn Michaels' terrible B-movie horror acting? Triple H's cheesy Castle Greyskull playset entrance?

It was WWE main event masturbation at its finest.

The beginning was slow and plodding, but that was just about the only drawback. The Cell wasn't necessary but it didn't detract from the story so whatever. The camera zooms? Really? Talk about nitpicking. Shawn didn't add much with his acting but his role as referee in conjunction with his relationship with both guys made for good drama and storytelling elements.

And if you didn't realize I obviously wasn't serious when I said "fuck anybody who didn't like HHH/Taker". Just my way of saying I enjoyed it bro.

[WOOLCOCK]

Originally Posted by septurum

I think people are overrating Punk vs Henry a bit seeing as the finish was less than satisfying. I'd give it a solid *** 1/2.

For the story and structure of the match they went for there wasn't a better ending they could have done. Punk took too much punishment at Mania and during the Henry match to conclusively beat Henry on that night without damaging Henry, about the only finish they could have worked would have been an out of nowhere rollup from Punk to retain by the skin of his teeth but to me they built so well to him finally weakening Henry that that sort of finish wouldn't have gone over as well.

And of course Henry wasn't winning the belt so they had to find of way of making Punk look good in surviving the beating whilst ensuring Henry didn't win...and the match ended at just the right moment. Punk had finally reeled off some stiff offence that wobbled Henry and had him on the ropes but he was still hurt from the beating and so an over the top rope bump to the floor was enough to put him down for a 10 count. And of course Henry taking the time to sell the kicks and strikes to the head as dazing him ensured he looked like a man who didn't know what city he was in rather than an idiot for letting Punk be counted out. Sets up a future rematch well with Henry having a valid claim that Punk didn't beat him and allows them to work a similar match again with the story there being has Punk got a way to beat Henry.

Really for WWE TV booking this was about as good of a screwy finish as they could have done.

[enlightenedone9]

I really need to see Sekimoto vs. Sasaki. Sekimoto has had such an amazing year it is hard to imagine him doing any wrong.

[Bubz]

A PPV re-match with no commercials and more time between Punk/Hnery would be fucking amazing to say the least. When you've got two guys who seriously know how to tell a story in the ring like Punk (who can sell better than almost anyone imo) and Henry (who is amazing at character work and cutting off comebacks) you are going to get something great. Surely they will realise how good that match will be with the added story of the RAW match and Punk needing to find a way to overcome Henry. It looks like the Jericho feud will continue for a while though which isn't a bad thing at all.

Satoshi Kojima vs Tetsuya Naito (NJPW 01/04) New Japan Cup
Very good match but not great. Naito was impressive going after the leg again, but I've never really been impressed with either guys long term selling and it was the same here especially for Kojima as he was selling the leg really well after Naito had done only one hold on it at the start, and then later in the match when Naito went back to the leg Kojima was just completely no selling it. The finishing stretch was good though with Naito trying to avoid the lariats and getting the win with some pinning combinations which eventually paid off for him. ***3/4

Minoru Suzuki vs Yuji Nagata (NJPW 01/04) New Japan Cup
I mark for MiSu. This is pretty much a slug fest from the get go with Suzuki constantly getting the upper hand. Nagata was hardly ever in control here apart from when he went after the arm for the armbar for about a minute(which I still don't think I've ever seen anyone submit to by the way). MiSu was awesome trying to get the crowd behind Nagata using all kinds of heel tactics to get the advantage. I loved when he took the womans sign from the crowd (who had been taunting him at the start)and screwed it up and stamped on it. He was awesome constantly faking out Nagata too. The strugle for Nagata to hit the explder when MiSU had him in the guillotine was great and the finish was also really unexpected, although slightly anti-climatic. This match was so one sided which I didn't expect but I loved it because MiSu is an awesome heel in control even though he's so small, he always comes off as a legit badass while still using heel tactics like distracting the ref while his mate (can't remember his name) lays in to Nagata on the outside. Really enjoyed this but I was expecting a longer finishing stretch, but I guess thats not really a bad thing and I also really like how MiSu's piledriver is being made to look so strong, I think the only person to kick out recently was Tanahashi at WK. ****