quinta-feira, 17 de janeiro de 2013

My Top 20 WWE Matches from 2012

We shall kick off this blog's activity with my YouTube channel's current most popular video - my Top 20 matches from 2012 countdown. Okay, it's not like it's extremely popular at all, but some people know it... and well, some is better than nothing, right? Right. For those who haven't watched it yet, take a look at my top 20 matches of 2012 for the 'E:



Now, you may have had some of your top matches of last year missing, and you may think I'm not doing it right with some of these choices, but remember: this is my personal opinion out here, folks. You don't need to throw a fit if my opinion's different than yours. Anyway, I'll give out some honorable mentions (with star ratings), and then I'll throw a description of each match as far as my opinion goes:

Honorable Mention: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler (Royal Rumble)
Rating: ***3/4
Short Description: This was a very good match, with the expected chemistry and some stiff shots coming out of both of these show-stealers, however I definitely could've done without the John Laurinaitis/overbooking horsecrap. Their match on Raw the night after Survivor Series 2011 is still the most enjoyable match they ever had to me.

Honorable Mention: WHC Title Contract MITB Ladder Match (Money In The Bank)
Rating: ***3/4
Short Description: It would've reached the **** area if the 1st-half of the match hadn't been a sort-of dull botchfest. The very moment the Ziggler/Cara semi-botched spot happened, the match really picked up and the crowd went batsh*t crazy for the insanity that was insuring. The 2nd-half turned this one from one of the worst MITB matches to one of the best. Oh, and Tensai throwing Ziggler over the announce table is still an incredibly awesome spot.

Honorable Mention: Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler (SummerSlam)
Rating: ***3/4
Short Description: I don't feel like this stole the show at SummerSlam, as I feel like the one match I put on the list is better for reasons I'll explain, but this was still a very, very good opening contest for the 25th anniversary of the Biggest Party of Summer (it's actually the 24th though, WWE). The crowd was really into this, there were some cool visuals, and despite not seeming to click at 1st, their chemistry grew over the match to create a truly great contest.

Honorable Mention: Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler (Night Of Champions)
Rating: ****
Short Description: Mr. Show-Off really is a sort-of miracle worker - he pretty much has one of the, if not the best match of the night in every single card he competes in. This was easily the closest HM of them all, given how awesome the matwork and the wrestling here was. And if Ziggler had been put over like he rightfully should've, we can still claim these two came this close to stealing the show in Boston. Oh, and Orton flipped off the crowd for them chanting for Ziggler. Still funny to this day.

With the honorable mentions done, let's do DEM DESCRIPTIONS of DA LIST:

#20
Rating: ****
Description: The most meaningful SS Elimination Match since... well, at least since Team DX vs. Team Rated RKO in 2006. I mean, what did you got from then till now? A bunch of feuding random heels vs. random faces matches, that's what. You could make a case for Team Kofi vs. Team Orton (2009) not being that, given that Kofi had kayfabe heat with pretty much EVERYONE on Team Orton, but still, the idea of Kofi becoming a star after this match became a big time flop, anyway. And while this match was random heels vs. random faces as well, it still felt much more of a Main Event'ish deal than, say, Team Orton vs. Team Barrett in 2011. Not to mention, this match hugely put over guys like Miz, Barrett and especially Ziggler in a big surrounding like Survivor Series. Sure, Kane and Sandow's quick eliminations weren't that great, Foley and Ziggler had no feud with each other at all prior to this match, and Otunga of all people replacing Cody Rhodes was terrible as well, but still, all guys got their highlight, Mick Foley served well as his team's manager/cheerleader, the crowd was into it, and Dolph Ziggler finally got his big win on PPV with a clean victory over Randy f'n Orton. It may be a bit underrated by now, but Team Foley vs. Team Ziggler was an awesome match.

#19
Rating:
****
Description: I looked back at most of Smackdown Main Events in 2011, and I saw how many of them were really awesome - Henry vs. Bryan Steel Cage, Orton vs. Barrett Falls Count Anywhere, the Orton vs. Christian matches... and while the streak was nowhere near as comparable with 2012's matches, there was still plenty to enjoy - Orton vs. Bryan, Orton vs. Barrett No DQ, the Bryan vs. Show matches... and the idea of Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho wasn't bad at all either. If you saw the 30-Man Royal Rumble of 2012 (which was entertaining, but easily one of the worst RR matches ever, PERIOD), you saw that when it came down to Sheamus and Y2J, they delievered quite the goods. Not as good as Taker/HBK in 2007, but close enough to that. They showed off just a little of their great chemistry. They would meet on Smackdown in February, which was good but unremarkable - it wouldn't be until "Zackdown" in July that they would deliever a match so good that made us all wish the Alberto Del Rio feud never exhisted in favor of a Sheamus/Jericho program. You don't see near-20 minutes matches on free TV too often (unless you're a cult follower of WWE Main Event),  but these two went at it on 7/13's edition of the blue brand, and boy, did they ever rocked it. Two Walls of Jerichos. TWO Walls of Jerichos. For a Smackdown match, that's 'nuff said. Sheamus fans/marks, this one's a must-watch for you.

#18
Rating
: ****
Description: Not counting the whole debacle that was their 3rd match on Raw (the one that had like 6 minutes), this right here is their worst match. And it's still ****. As a matter of fact, had not it been for the Laurinaitis/Long shenanigans, this would've been better than their 1st encounter. It had better wrestling than the 1st match, that's for sure. And if you saw the video, you'll know that this was the best Smackdown match of 2012, and for very good reasons. The 2nd best TV match of the year overall, and the worst match of easily the feud of the year. Some awesome storytelling, stiff shots, drama, an intense crowd, and even some funny moments (like Punk mocking the YESYESYES on the outside) were the main ingredients of this awesome Champion vs. Champion match. The ending was to be expected, as it had happened on their 1st match, and neither men was going to be subjected to taking unneccesary defeats going in WrestleMania as World Heavyweight/WWE Champions respectively, and this match was nothing but a storyline fueler for the GM feud, but still, we all should be happy that they got more than just one match on Raw. And after this, two near-30 minute classics on PPV, and a bonus Triple Threat with Kane in the middle which was still awesome. Like I said, the ROH Legends battle is easily feud of the year.

#17
Rating
: ****
Description: If pinning Randy Orton at Survivor Series was the beggining of the REAL rise of Dolph Ziggler (hopefully), than this match more than made his upcoming to Main Event scene a given. Not many can say that they've beaten Randy Orton cleanly, AND John Cena in a gimmick match, in back-to-back PPV matches, but now Dolph Ziggler can say he did. This MITB Ladder Match was the Main Event of the TLC PPV, in which I don't really agree with such decision, given that Ryback & Hell No vs. Shield had more makings of a Main Event than this (and after it happened, it really should've been the Main Event), but still was still an awesome Ladder Match. Granted, the way this was going, it looked more like TLC than just a Ladder Match, but since this was the TLC PPV, it kinda made sense. And TLC elements incorporated in a MITB match hadn't been really seen (except for the chair shots or table moments in previous MITB matches), so it was cool they were let loose like that. AJ Lee screwing Cena was to be seen coming, but Ziggler winning was the best decision, and AJ didn't really click the final button on Cena's panel, as Zigg was the one who Superkicked Cena into finally KO'ing him and climbing the ladder to retrieve the briefcase (yes, I just spoiled you the finish, yay me). I'll admit the Hurricanrana attempt from Cena was quite embarassing, though. But positively, it was still a try nonethless...

#16
Rating
: ****
Description: On paper, it sounded like it was going to be the one-man band with Daniel Bryan carrying the whole thing into something decent at least. Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes weren't enough to make it interesting. Santino Marella was over, but not that great of a wrestler (yes, Orton was in the match card graphic, but he wasn't in the match, Santino replaced him). The Big Show isn't exactly the wrestler of the century either. And do I really need to say anything about Khali? However though, given that the previous year's World Heavyweight Title Elimination Chamber (Edge vs. Mysterio vs. Kane vs. Show vs. Barrett vs. McIntyre) looked bad on paper, but it turned into one of the best Chamber matches ever, I did had a slight manner of hope for this. My hope was dying all along, because the 1st half of this match was a dull, slow and boring piece of shit. Then Santino entered, and it was a complete 360º for the positive side. The crowd was insane for the guy - and by the end of the match, there actually was a moment you'd thought they would actually give Santino the Goddamn World Title. Hell, the Cobra made us all mark out, even despite it was against Daniel Bryan in there. Lots of great nearfalls, lots of your traditional extreme Chamber moments, and one of the best Final Two in Chamber history make this one what it is.

#15
Rating
: ****1/4
Description: Admit it. Please, admit it. Even me, the biggest Kane mark in the world has to admit - pretty much NOBODY wanted this match to happen. Everyone wanted Punk vs. Bryan again. Another one-on-one match, a No DQ Match, a Submission Match, a f*cking Iron Man Match... but did really anyone expect a Triple Threat? We all thought this was just a way to get Kane doing something, as well as a way for the WWE to keep Punk and Bryan's awesomeness down to not overshadow the Cena vs. Show match (which sucked and would suck regardless of what could've happened). And then, when it happened, it was what it was. One of the WWE's greatest Triple Threats ever in my opinion. From Doomsday Devices, to double Diving Crossbodies to the outside, Punk was obviously the workhorse of the match, but not to take away anything from Team Hell No either - Bryan was his usual awesome self, and Kane stepped up his game really badly. As a matter of fact, if we know Kane as a member of the hilarious Team Hell No right now, it's because the WWE randomly decided to throw him into this feud. And if you'd ask me, no I wouldn't want a Punk vs. Bryan program all year long instead of what came out of Hell No. At least in execution terms. And while the Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler match from No Way Out was also another fantastic title match (hell, even Christian vs. Cody Rhodes was great), it's obvious which was the best match from that show.

#14
Rating
: ****1/4
Description: I'm probably in the minority here when I think that this was the best match out of SummerSlam, rather than Jericho vs. Ziggler, so I'm here to explain why exacly do I have Lesnar vs. HHH as my 14th best match of the year - the awesome, awesome storytelling is the main reason, for starters. Wrestling's most resourceful formula for success is combining great wrestling with great storytelling, right? Just ask guys like Bret Hart and Owen Hart, Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat, or Stone Cold and The Rock about that. Well, this huge dream match's wrestling isn't amazing by any means, but the storytelling is. Was this match slow? Yes. Was, at some parts, dull, and even boring? Yes. Did those dull moments have a purpose? Yes. The match was all about one thing and one thing only - reinstating Brock's dead credibility, which the WWE realized that it died a painful death when Cena defeated him at Extreme Rules, and doing so required booking the guy as an absolute blood-hunting monster. Hunter, being the psychology special we know him as, sold the injured arm like damn hell. The atmosphere was very good, too. Lesnar's dominance, as well as his selling, were both excellent. And the ending, where Lesnar no-sold the Pedigree and forced HHH to tap out? Awesome. "You tapped out" chants were a nice addition, but overall, this match did, at least for me, exactly what it was supposed to do. And while a Lesnar/HHH rematch, while totally unnecessary in my opinion, is a given at this point, it's not like it's the rematch of one of the biggest dream matches of the decade for a reason.

#13
Rating
: ****1/4
Description: Ever since the double Elimination Chamber concept started, the only time the Chamber match with the most star-power was actually the better of the night was the very 1st night of the concept, No Way Out 2008. In my opinion, that was until 2012 came around. CM Punk alone may have brought more star power than the guys in the World Title Elimination Chamber. Then you have an interesting twist in Chris Jericho (given that the Punk vs. Jericho feud was already a must at this point), bringing a very little shade of unpredictability to the match. Throw in a big upper-midcard name in The Miz, some solid midcard wrestlers in Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth, and the service-spotsman that usually delievers in the ring by the form of Kofi Kingston, and this match had the makings of a great one. And it was. From the innovative spots like Ziggler showing-off with push-ups on the Chamber's walls, to the Double MIDAIR Clothesline, to Kofi's Tornado DDT off the Chamber's walls, this did brought some cool and innovative moments for the Chamber's legacy. And Jericho bringing the psychology with him was the perfect touch. Yeah, of course, Jericho's "elimination" wasn't the more sense making thing in the world, and being the Final Two Punk vs. Miz it became clear as water who'd win, but other than that, what you have here is an awesome Elimination Chamber to add to one of the best in-ring WWE Title reigns in the history.

#12
Rating: ****1/4
Description: The original. The 1st one. The one that started it all. The big bang. Okay, you get it. You might consider their initial showing at the 2011 Royal Rumble match their real 1st-off, but it wasn't until January of this year - the very end of January - that they finally met one-on-one in a WWE ring... as World Champions. Both World Champions. CM Punk as the WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan (Danielson) as the World Heavyweight Champion. How proud the ROH followers must've been... *sheds a tear for them* Anyways, this match was exactly what you'd expect from these two - pure in-ring awesomeness. Their chemistry was spectacular, the wrestling was great, the storytelling was superb... Ah, yeah. There's really nothing much that can be added out here. May I say that this, being Raw's only appearance in this list, this one is yours truly TV match of the year here, and it just happens to be with the two very guys that had the 2nd best TV match of the year on Smackdown a month later. And unfortunely, it had a similar finish too - as both men were World Champions, I doubt the WWE would risk hurting either of them considering both were locks going into WrestleMania with the belts at this point, regardless of the Elimination Chamber matches. A double DQ finish is what you got here. But still, this match was a really good TV contest that, if you see my top 30 Raw matches ever, might just have a show-up on said list...

#11
Rating: ****1/4
Description: You might note the video reads "#10", that was a typo there, I know. Now, as a wrestling match, The Rock vs. John Cena was plain average, with 10 out of 30 minutes (of what should've been a 20 minute match) being rest holds, submissions and some dull moments. WWE, these two are far, far from technical masters. Sure, Rock may be a decent wrestler, and Cena did have a technically sound display at Money In The Bank 2011 against CM Punk, but then again, Cena's always like that against someone who he has chemistry, or in situations where he does bother to do more and better than "just bring it" (no pun intended). However, the intent of Rock vs. Cena wasn't that one. The intent of this battle of generational icons was exactly that: a battle of generational icons. It writes itself from there. It's not for a reason that this admitedly overhyped match is the reason for WrestleMania 28 being the highest-grossing pro-wrestling PPV in history. The plain thought of "Who's going over? Rock or Cena?" was a mind-scramble for every casual that was willing to pay their bucks to watch WrestleMania. And apart from the average wrestling, what you got here was a showdown between two of the biggest Superstars ever. Of course, for every match of that kind, you have a huge crowd, a huge atmosphere, and just a huge big-match feeling. This was no exception. And those are the main reasons why Rock vs. Cena is #11 on my Top 20 of 2012.

#10
Rating
: ****1/2
Description: With Rock vs. Cena, you expected average at best in pure wrestling-terms, but you headed with the expectative of a crowd and an atmosphere unrivaled by any match this year. It was pretty much just that right there. But with Sheamus vs. The Big Show at Hell In A Cell, you were expecting... anything of good. Granted, we were all still feeling the effects of the Godawful feud that the Celtic Warrior had with Del Rio throughout the summer, but we just couldn't have cared less about a guy now known Super Sheamus at this point. While we all just didn't care and didn't enjoy Big Show. For some, this was actually a worse idea than Sheamus vs. Del Rio again. And when it happened, some people were already YAWN'ing at it. Myself including. How wrong we were... how really, really wrong we were. This was plain superb. Sheamus vs. Del Rio was the anti-chemistry - they had some good matches, yeah, but they suffered from serious chemistry problems. Sheamus vs. Show, on the other hand, felt like both were destined to wrestle each other. They just had that damn much chemistry. The Show dominance periods were very good, with the comeback moments not feeling forced or ingenuine. The Atlanta crowd, which had been beyond terrible throughout this show, suddenly woke up immensely for this. The selling from both men, specially Sheamus, was really good too. And don't even begin on the KO Punch/Brogue Kick trade - some of the best near-falls of the year right there. Their Survivor Series and Chairs Matches would be good too, but none came close of being as good as this one right here.

#9
Rating: ****1/2
Description: It may haven't been the modern day Savage vs. Steamboat we all hoped it would be, but damn me if this wasn't easily the best WWE Title match at WrestleMania since at least John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels at WM 23 in Detroit. We expected Punk vs. Jericho to be the best wrestling match of the card, and it was just that by far. The match could've been built up by using Jericho's "elimination" on the Chamber match in February, since every little detail is always one big messure of help, but what we got was still really good - with Jericho hitting on Punk's family issues and making himself look like the biggest prick in the world, just how only Chris Jericho is capable of. And CM Punk wasn't any bad either as the suffering, angered babyface seeking for revenge in a mat classic on the biggest stage of them all. Despite being a bit sloppy, and the crowd being dead by until half of the match (rightfully so, their energy had been completely sucked out by the batsh*t insane Hell In A Cell Match), this match was a purely amazing display of wrestling, storytelling, and especially psychology. I never enjoy the "You get DQ'ed, you lose the title" pile of crap, but this time it did wonders for the match's psychology (Jericho trying to get the DQ win at the start for example). And some, or pretty much many of the counters throughout are really awesome too, by the way. CM Punk winning in a rather surprising fashion

#8
Rating: ****1/2
Description: It's only not ****3/4 because of the cool down period between AJ Lee's absence, return and whatnot, because this was a phenomenal work of hardcore brawling here. You could literally put these two in a Scaffold Match and still get a good match, they're just that damn good. Kendo stick crossfaces, barricade suplexes, AJ Lee in a hot referee suit serving as a race-starter as both men scrambled for a chair she left at point blank in the middle of the ring, a very hot crowd, back-Superplexes through tables... this match had all of those. It's definitely nowhere as good as Punk's other WWE Title match at the Money In The Bank PPV against John Cena a year prior, but it's serviceable enough to keep you entertained in this hard-hitting stiff fight to the finish. The final point of the Punk vs. Bryan feud (at least on PPV), if the grand finale wasn't their very best match in the feud, it was at least their 2nd best - which, for a feud between two guys the caliber of these men that lives up to the hype, is really saying much. And while this match did suffer from build-up issues, and the fact that it wasn't the rightful Main Event of the PPV either didn't help as well, it was still a very intense No DQ Match that continued the streak of amazing hardcore-type matches on PPV in 2012.

#7
Rating
: ****1/2
Description: How impressive is it that three guys just come into the show and in their very 1st match on the main roster, have immediatly one of the best matches of the year and a very late Match of the Year contender? Well, you can tell Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns succeded in that - since their TLC Match against Ryback and Team Hell No, Daniel Bryan & Kane, is easily one of the year's most flawless matches. At least, for what it was supposed to be, it was pretty much a flawlessly executed concept. Like someone already pointed out in the internet, one of the things I liked the most about this match was that 80% at least of its weapon spots weren't contrived or forced, but rather regular spots that were simply enhanced by the weapons in the presence. E.g. the Chokeslam From Hell through a chair. The top-rope powerbomb off a table, and one through a table as well. A Spear through the barricade, which led to the (literal) burial of Kane. Every guy was used perfectly in this match, since Ryback was mostly selling on the ground and being kept off the scene until the ending moments of the match; Hell No were their awesome selves, in perhaps their best performance ever as a team - especially Bryan, who was over as hell in the Brooklyn crowd; and the performance from the Shield? What more could you ask from these three, really? Even Roman Reigns, who you could tell was the most unexperienced member of the group a mile away, had a terrific showing in this match for what he's worth. 2012 is truly the beggining of the "edgy" PG Era, and this match showed it off, having been, quite honestly, one of the best TLC Matches ever.

#6
Rating: ****3/4
Description: Why did you had to come up with that ending, WWE? Couldn't you, at least for once, give the heel a 1, 2, 3 victory clean over John Cena, for God's sakes? Was it really that hard for them to give Cena a defeat? If the WWE's idea was to continue the feud, they could've still done it with a better finish. And if that was just to have Cena not win the title but not look weak in his hometown either - Boston actually hated Cena out there, WWE. Take note. Another minor complaint about this match is the blatant abuse of finisher kick-outs/false finishers. Asides from all of that, this right here was plain astonishing. Astonishing, really. They were this close, this f*cking close of beating their Money In The Bank classic, had it not been for those complaints I've mentioned. The wrestling here was just spectacular. I mean, you know what I mean when you see a beautiful-looking suicide dive from John f*cking Cena of all people, right? All those little details I've mentioned in previous descriptions really brought a lot here - be it CM Punk mocking John Cena's dad, to the constant attempts at outworking each other, to the facial expressions, to all of Paul Heyman's actions, to CM Punk's busting out of the friggin' Rock Bottom (a little preview of what was to came at this month's Royal Rumble PPV), this was simply great. HHH vs. Cena from 2008, Miz vs. Bryan from 2010, HHH vs. Punk from 2011, all very good matches, but this is easily, easily the greatest match in Night Of Champions history - and one that will set the standard for the in-ring quality of this PPV as long as it runs.

#5
Rating: ****3/4
Description: Despite watching wrestling since 2004, WrestleMania 28 was my real 1st live 'Mania. It was streamed, because in Portugal there's no live wrestling PPV programming, don't blame me for it. But still, WrestleMania 28 was my 1st live. And even now, I still fondly remember how upset I was when I watched the World Title defense live. One of the worst WM matches ever, and easily the worst WM opener in history, in short term - well, at that point pretty much - it was hurting every single partie involved in it, including the fans who were paying money to watch WrestleMania, and were getting that kind of matches on the biggest show of the year. 18 screwing seconds. Really, WWE? Really? Now, it may not be nowhere as bad in long running terms, though - Daniel Bryan was turned to a star, so was AJ Lee, and we got this match at Extreme Rules in the process. A 2 out of 3 Falls Match, and one of the best ones ever - these two wrestled a war out there, without any weapons whatsoever. Just pure wrestling, and a very physical, stiff, war of wrestling. Granted, the finishes for each fall weren't great by any means, in essence the final fall's ending being pretty bland, but the DQ/passing out finishes for the other falls were at least unique for the 2 out of the 3 Falls concept. Easily the best World Heavyweight Title contest of 2012.

#4
Rating: ****3/4
Description: The 2nd of 3 reasons why Extreme Rules was the best PPV of the year (WrestleMania, Destination X and Bound For Glory were up there, but ER was the best overall). A very good Falls Count Anywhere Match between Randy Orton and Kane, an enjoyable undercard, the superb 2 out of 3 Falls Match, and later in the night, we got something even better than Sheamus vs. Bryan, in the form of Punk vs. Jericho Part 2 - but this time, it wouldn't be who says "I'm the best wrestler in the world" with perfectly good reasons to it, since you ain't cocky if you back it up, but this time, it would be straight up personal, if the WrestleMania match itself hadn't been already. Not many times do you get a smarky crowd to boo Chris Jericho, but Chicago was pretty much all over Y2J, who was smirking upon their hate. Of course, that might've had something to do with it being Punk's hometown, but an argument could be made about them really booing Jericho because of him being the prick of a heel he used us to be. And as far as this match goes, you couldn't ask for much more - great psychology, amazing and creative spots, credible nearfalls, an awesome comeback moment when Jericho went for Punk's sister and Punk just went berzerk at him... plain unbelievable. It might not be the greatest Street Fight ever (that belongs to either HHH vs. Cactus at Royal Rumble 2000 or HBK vs. HHH at SummerSlam 2002), but it's surely one of the greatest. A terrific Chicago atmosphere just added to a terrific match itself. Hardcore fans, must-watch for you.

#3
Rating
: ****3/4
Description: Some say it's *****. Some believe it's the greatest pure wrestling match since the final Angle vs. Benoit. Some go as further as to say since Bret vs. Owen. I say that ***** is something that it ALMOST achieves. Almost. It just lacks that one something that it deducts it one quarter of a star, which I don't really know what it is but just takes away that feeling of legit deserving the full five right away. But what the f*ck, this was pure phenomenal. Really. Every major feud solely based on "Who's the better worker? Who was the better skills? Who desires more to be the champion?" has many great wrestling matches, and then there is that one final hurrah that just blows everything else out of the water. Angle vs. Benoit had Royal Rumble 2003. Flair vs. Steamboat had WrestleWar. And Punk vs. Bryan had Over The Limit 2012. Despite it usually being amongst the worst PPV's of the year, Over The Limit did deliever some kick-ass matches already - particularly Punk vs. Mysterio and Cena vs. Batista from 2010, the amazing Orton vs. Christian from 2011, and now this. Not to mention the also very, very good Fatal 4-Way. But this really is the core of greatness for May's (now October) annual event. From the storytelling, to the wrestling, to the selling, to the counters, to the stiffness throughout, to the cool "ROH" chants in a moment of the match alongside a very hot crowd, to the believable comeback moments, to the chemistry, to the nice spots... boy, this had it all. Many people were begging a long time ago for a Punk vs. Bryan program, and this really showed why. For whatever reason, this wasn't the Main Event of Over The Limit, bad decision there because this was by f*cking far the show stealer - and despite a slightly bland finish (maybe that's why 1/4* was deducted away), everything else around here was pretty much perfect.

#2
Rating
: *****
Description: You may think I'm mad by giving this match the full five, but I'll explain you why. It's in a similar fashion as in why is Lesnar vs. HHH on this list and not Jericho vs. Ziggler from the same show (SummerSlam). I've seen almost it all since I 1st saw wrestling in 2004 - I mention that on the blog's homepage, that I've watched WWE/F, WCW, ECW, TNA, ROH, etc., hell I've even taken some time off for UFC and Strikeforce. And I swear that I've never, ever, seen anything like this. Sure, the whole match was just Brock Lesnar being a monster and brutalizing John Cena for nearly 20 minutes, only for Cena to comeback and beat Lesnar with 2 moves. I understand why some people disregard that finish - and therefore, some disregard the whole match itself even. But realize this: Brock Lesnar spends 20 minutes destroying John Cena. John Cena is destroyed for 20 minutes. Busted open within like 5 seconds into the match, and just plain annihilated from point A to point Y (not point Z because he takes over from there), and not really a little blady that would've been sealed quickly, I mean bleeding seriously bad. Lesnar even licked his blood at a point - and all of my shock and surprise because we're dealing with WWE in 2012 here. It's not the Attitude Era anymore, not even the Ruthless Agression era. It's PG now, it's for the kids and women who love some good knockdowns and guys beating down on each other. And considering the booking of Cena in the last few years, the fact that the way this match went by was actually something that happened for real is a legit shock. The atmosphere felt really, really close to the one of Rock vs. Cena. And Lesnar was playing the dominant, sick and monsterous bully part just perfecly. As a matter of fact so well that Cena was getting sympathy and cheers from the Chicago crowd - the same crowd that wanted his head in CM Punk's personal silver platter served with ice cream bars and caviar one year earlier. And for those complaining about the finish - reminding you that Cena won after a midair headshot with a very heavy steel chain, and a AA on steel ring steps. Sure, it did wonders in killing Lesnar's credibility, but it was surely one of the best underdog victories in not just recent memory, but of all time. And so was the match itself. In my opinion at least.

#1
Rating
: *****
Description: What can I say about this match that hasn't been said before? That the arc featuring Taker, HHH and HBK is one of the, if not the greatest arc in WM history? That, in storytelling/psychology terms, this is as close to perfection as you can possibly get? That the Hell In A Cell cage, despite being pretty useless throughout, was pretty much a necessity for the story itself? Or that the match is pretty much one of the greatest matches in not just WM history, but in WWE history overall? Well, I don't think I can add much to this match that hasn't been already said like I already mentioned, so I'll just let the ones who haven't seen it for whatever reason imagine the cool within. And for the ones who have, well they surely know why this is, in my opinion, and in many people's opinions too, the rightful WWE Match of the Year in 2012.

With the list done, I'll see you next time. Piece! ;)

quarta-feira, 16 de janeiro de 2013

Welcome!

My name is André, I'm from Portugal, I'm 15 years old and I've been watching wrestling since 2004. I've watched it all since, from WWF/E, ECW, WCW, TNA, ROH, CHIKARA, New Japan, AAA, NWA, etc., but specially WWF/E, which is the fed I've 1st watched. Some of my favourite wrestlers of all time include huge names like Randy Savage, Kane, Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, Mitsuharu Misawa, El Generico, Jushin Liger, AJ Styles, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and Stone Cold Steve Austin - and I'll discuss many of these on this blog.

This blog isn't made to discuss all of the feds in the world, as the name implies it's mostly, if not all, WWF/E. And even though references to other feds (particularly WCW, ECW and/or TNA) will be very regular, me not think it'll be very likely for non-WWE/F lists or reviews to be posted around here. But yeah, I hope you enjoy what you read and see around here in this blog, and I hope you can appreciate some of the best (and worst) that has been done in this amazing piece of art that is pro-wrestling!

Check out also my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/7DeadlySins2011?feature=mhee