2015 MOTY contenders

[stomperspc]

 

Watched this today and while I didn't see Sin Cara botch a whole lot, I'm not sure where it was anything beyond an okay TV match, and well below anything Cesaro would usually produce when give time in the past. He got more time here than he's generally seen of late, but this didn't really build much despite that.

 

 

Yea, this is how I saw it. Sin Cara didn't botch anything and the match was above average/good, but I didn't think there was anything that pushed it to the next level. I enjoyed the fact that it got time to breathe but I didn't think they did much with that time to make the match stand out in any significant way. It was the sort of solid match I'd expect from these two when given the time. The arm work was good. Sin Cara's comebacks and high spots were solid. It was a solid TV match. It wasn't so much that there was anything wrong with it as there was not anything exemplary about it.

 

I didn't like the way they set up the stage spot in Harashima/Ibushi at all, and can absolutely see why it would take the match down a peg for some. Still preferred it to Honma/Ishii on first watch, but not sure if that would hold up on a second go around.

 

The way the stage spot was handled was a big momentum killer for me. I loved everything before that and I liked everything after it. The stage stuff, particularly the way they got to it, was so disconnected from the way the rest of the match was worked that it brought it down a notch or two. I watched both Harashima/Ibushi and Honma/Ishii twice. I definitely liked Harashima/Ibsuhi more despite the stage segment. Could have been a potentially great match had that part been handled differently.

[GOTNW]

The botches were pretty apparent. I could time code them. I'm not a fan of the Mistico tribute act in general and the sloppy execution doesn't help it. "The match built well"-to what? The armwork went nowhere-and the "build" was lackluster. Cesaro wasn't wrenching and bending Sin Cara's arm, he was putting on Randy Orton "get up and make your babyface comeback" restholds. " Sound psychology doesn't have any merit in itself (I'm sure someone will attack me for that but it's an easy point to defend) and the big spots weren't there.

[Dylan Waco]

The match built well to the finish. It had a natural progression to the work that most WWE matches lack. I still have no clue what the botches were, but I haven't gone back and watched the match a second time. Perhaps they'd be more apparent if I were looking for them, but I can't characterize them as obvious if I missed them the first go around. It's possible that I overrated the match on first watch because it's been so long since a WWE C-Show had a match of that length, with that much meat to it, but I'd fairly shocked if I thought it was anything less than very good even on a second watch.

 

I might watch that tag match you loved a second time too, though I can't imagine being terribly impressed by it on a second go around, as I've tired of Bryan worship, and the "tag team partners don't get along!, but still get one over on the regular teaming champs" concept is something that is so transparently shitty it's hard for me to look past even if the work is good.

[Jmare007]

Shuji Ishikawa vs Yuji Okabayashi - Big Japan 2/2/15

 

I'm too biased towards Yuji and Strong BJ in general so take this with a grain of salt: this is my MOTY at this point.

 

 

Heard great things about Go vs Zeus so maybe this will change quickly.

[GOTNW]

The match built well to the finish. It had a natural progression to the work that most WWE matches lack.

This would be a good knock against WWE style but not a solid case for a match being blowaway great, though I agree with you. The progression *was* there, it just wasn't very interesting.

 

 

Bryan vs Reigns was a WWE MOTYC. An excellent performance by Bryan and the best Reigns has looked yet, his punches and forearms came off really well. Loved how snug and calculating Bryan's work was. His desperation submissions looked great and were a nice refreshment in WWE's "use x moves in y situations" setting. Unfortunately the attempted drama near the end was completely unconvincing and the finish was overly transparent. ***3/4 in my book.

[pol]

I was practically falling asleep while watching it (for unrelated reasons) so maybe it's not a fair assessment, but Shiozaki/Zeus did very little for me. Shiozaki is just so, so dry. Zeus had some pretty awkward moments including a comically mistimed bump through the ropes to the outside off I think a dropkick.

[stomperspc]

Ultimo Guerrero/Hechicero/Magnifico vs. Trauma I/Trauma II/Negro Navarro from the 1/31 Cara Lucha show was really good and a borderline MOTYC for me. Great mat work from UG and Trauma II. The match was focused around those two and all of their stuff was excellent. Hechicero paired up with Navarro and that was good too. Longer first fall with shorter 2nd and 3rd falls which was also the case for the good 1/1 Cara Lucha trios (Carta Brava Jr., Drago & Super Fly vs. Fly Star,Guerrero Mixtico Jr. & Rayo Star).

 

Los Guerreros del Infierno (Ultimo Guerrero/Neibla Roja.Euforia) vs. Super Sky Team (Mistico, Volador Jr. & Valiente) from the 2/13 CMLL Arena Mexico show was also very good and a match I'd have as a borderline MOTYC. It it was easily the best CMLL trios in a long time. First fall got a ton of time to breathe and featured great ground work with UG and Valiente. UG is having a resurgent year. Still a really small sample size, but he's off to a good start for WOTY consideration. Mistico looked excellent. He hit some high difficulty moves relatively flawlessly. The near falls in the third fall were the one part of the match that kind of faltered. Felt like they maybe went to the save well a few too many times which sort of messed up the flow of that section. They might have been better served throwing a few more kick outs in there to break up the monotony. Small nitpick though as this was very good and a rare CMLL trios that stood out from the pack structurally. The match was not entirely built around big spots and flying like the ROH trios, but the big spots and flying that the match did I have were better than the big spots/flying from the ROH match.

 

I also have Reigns/Bryan has maybe my second favorite match of 2015 so far. Loved the structure and all the little things that Bryan is so good at.

[Dylan Waco]

Have you watched Go v Zeus yet? I thought it was hurt badly by the poor and uninventive hope spots of Go, but I thought Zeus was shockingly good, as was the match for the most part.

[stomperspc]

Have you watched Go v Zeus yet? I thought it was hurt badly by the poor and uninventive hope spots of Go, but I thought Zeus was shockingly good, as was the match for the most part.

 

Not yet. Wasn't too eager to get to it given the wrestlers involved, but I'll check it out.

[pol]

Shuji Ishikawa/Yuji Okabayashi was really good as far as the 'fat Japanese guys going back and forth hitting each other really hard, yelling a lot and not selling much' genre goes. Ishikawa is up there with Kohei Sato as far as wrestlers I dislike the most based on appearance alone, and his work doesn't exactly set me on fire either, but he was fine and the Rainmaker setup into a headbutt is a fun spot. I really dig Okabayashi's charisma and intensity, but I wish he would expand his offensive repertoire a little. He does what he does very well, though. The match had an exciting layout but probably got a little too my turn/your turn at the end.

 

I enjoyed the CMLL trios title match, but not on the level of a near-MOTYC. I'm not even sure I liked it more than the Kamaitachi/Dragon Lee trios from the All Elite show. I thought each fall felt rather flat, in the sense that while there was escalation between falls, a sense of escalation within the falls was lacking. They went to the dives too early in the tercera and had nowhere else to go from there, but still had 10 more minutes to fill. That's definitely a match I would be willing to give another look, though.

[Dylan Waco]

I watched Ishikawa v. Okabayashi last night. I enjoyed it and would recommend it for sure. To me it was the best I can remember seeing Ishikawa in a singles setting, and Okabayashi - who I generally think is entertaining but wildly overrated by some - put in a better performance than I would have guessed. I actually thought the pacing and selling was better than could have been expected if you were just looking at this match up on paper. They made rare good use of a 1 count, and even though I thought Okabayashi's loopy legged selling at the finish was a little hokey, I think the spirit of what he was going for added to the finishing stretch. I can't call it a MOTYC with a straight face, but if you are someone really inclined toward either guy you might disagree.

[stomperspc]

I watched Zeus/Go and it didn’t do much for me. The match was emotionless which was especially a problem given the way it was structured. Zeus dominating and Go selling big time for him, throwing in a few well timed hope spots, and then making a spirited comeback would have worked. Zeus dominating and Go showing frustration/anger by bailing out of the ring, making a pissed off comeback or whatever else would have worked. Zeus dominating the match and being a prick would have worked. Instead, what we got was Zeus controlling the match almost robotically while Go just took the offense and gave no reason at all to care about his comeback. It was sort of like they took an outline of a Lex Luger match if neither Lex nor his opponent were heel or face. If a match is going to be structured around a comeback and a guy fighting from behind, they actually have to build to that comeback in a meaningful way. They didn't at all.

 

On the plus side, I would agree that it was a relatively good performance from Zeus in as much as his offense was well executed (I loved the dive) The fact that he simply had enough semi-interesting offense to fill a long match like that surprised me.

[donsem43]

Io Shirai vs. Koguma - 2/22/15 - Stardom High Speed Title: Koguma, 17 with 15 months experience, brings a nice mix of highspots. Most of what she does is simple, but when she does bust out something flashy it stands out. Io was just phenomenal here. She played a great base for Koguma while mixing in her own stuff.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

Is there any where I can watch Ultimo Guerrero/Hechicero/Magnifico vs. Trauma I/Trauma II/Negro Navarro online?

[Tim Cooke]

Black Terry Jr. taped that. Shoot him some money via PayPal and he'll hook you up

[shoe]

I'm going to put up the Young Bucks vs reDragron from the ROH 13 Anny show 3/1/15

 

This was I wrote abbout it the night of the show.

 

The Young Bucks vs. reDRagon

My match of the night. I thought the UFC gal was fine doing distraction spots, We start out with a ridiculous pace. Just so many hot moves. Young Bucks are positioned as babyfaces here. We even get a FIP. It wasn't super long but long enough to get the point over. Matt Jackson got caught in a hanging arm bar by O'Reilly. Jackson put that over big and sold it the rest of the way. Major props to him. We get this super hot finish with so much action.The FIP really allowed the action to take a breath and then kick it into high gear. 4 1/4*

[shoe]

Another Low-End MOTYC comes from TNA.

 

EC3 vs. Superstar Spud.3/13/15

 

The main event was pretty damn good. I see Dylan's Lawler comparison and raise him a Ricky Morton. It had A Ricky Morton vs. Nikita feel. This was a throwback match based on story telling. Even the run ins had kind of a Memphis feel to it. It had a nice punch base beginning . The blood came and it was about Spud's selling. He really carried it. EC3 has a good look, but his offense is pretty pedestrian, but the way Spud sold made the match. 4 1/4*

[tim]

I wouldn't even say low-end. I loved that match and don't even follow TNA and only vaguely know the angle. But it was a kind of match I don't think we've had in a long time. It was a piece of art in terms of working the crowd, both guys performances were perfect, it was laid out perfectly, everything done was great. For a hair vs. hair match it was even awesome looked at as an apuestas match with a big blade job, a huge dive and a great heel beat down segment. Crowd was out of control too. I have it as my #2 match of the year, behind just Nakamura/Ibushi.

[benjaminkicks]

Two of my favorites of the year that I haven't seen listed yet are Dangan Yankees vs. TMKD from NOAH 1/10 and Dangan Yankees vs. Kohei Sato & Daisuke Sekimoto from ZERO1 3/1.

 

Maybe I'm just blind from my love of the Dangan Yankees as a team, but I have both of those matches at like 4.25 or 4.5 stars.

[Jmare007]

I thought that 3/1 tag was good but not close to a MOTYC.

[goc]

Another Low-End MOTYC comes from TNA.

 

EC3 vs. Superstar Spud.3/13/15

 

The main event was pretty damn good. I see Dylan's Lawler comparison and raise him a Ricky Morton. It had A Ricky Morton vs. Nikita feel. This was a throwback match based on story telling. Even the run ins had kind of a Memphis feel to it. It had a nice punch base beginning . The blood came and it was about Spud's selling. He really carried it. EC3 has a good look, but his offense is pretty pedestrian, but the way Spud sold made the match. 4 1/4*

I expected this match to not live up to the hype but sure enough this was a damn good match. EC3 doesn't really have any offense that looks all that impressive but Spud sold the hell out of everything and totally made this match with his selling and fire. I like Lucha Underground more than I like TNA but this match was definitely better than anything I've seen so far in my LU watching. And I'd put it just behind Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan from Fastlane as probably my 2nd favorite match from this year, with Cena/Rusev in 3rd.

[Dylan Waco]

The thing about Spud v. EC3 it was that it was a completely unique match by modern standards. You simply don't see well built feuds, in big match atmospheres that build to the big time bloodbath finish anymore. I agree that EC3's offense isn't super compelling or interesting, but Spud was so,so good selling here. Really everything Spud did was good as his big spots were great, his timing was excellent, his facial expressions and body language dead on, et. If you have followed the feud at all this match is better than if you watch it in isolation, but even in isolation I think it's really hard to deny that it's a great match. I know some people didn't like the interference, but hard to complain much with the way it was used, and I actually think it made the near falls seem bigger than they would have otherwise. I'd recommend people watch this with the pre-match (Spud's "God Save The Queen" singalong with the crowd is awesome) and post-match to get the full effect. I've watched it three times already, and I'm starting to convince myself it's my MOTY.

[goc]

I'd recommend people watch this with the pre-match (Spud's "God Save The Queen" singalong with the crowd is awesome) and post-match to get the full effect. I've watched it three times already, and I'm starting to convince myself it's my MOTY.

This got me really pumped for the match as I could tell how much the crowd cared. Very nice moment. So glad they let it breathe and TNA no longer has Motormouth Mike talking over every second of the show.

[stomperspc]

Two of my favorites of the year that I haven't seen listed yet are Dangan Yankees vs. TMKD from NOAH 1/10 and Dangan Yankees vs. Kohei Sato & Daisuke Sekimoto from ZERO1 3/1.

 

I thought the 1/10 match was a decent and average match. Not a big fan of the back-and-forth forearm/elbow changes that take up a lot of Sugiura (and to a slightly lesser extent) Tanaka matches, but I thought they kept that to a minimum here. TMDK is generally a good babyface tag team and Tanaka's stuff in this one was fine.

 

Didn't think much of the 3/1 match. I am not totally down on Sekimoto but his bad tendencies have been more on display recently (the no-selling for the heck of it, ridiculous power moves, ect.) while downplaying what I like most about him which is using his size to apply painful looking submissions and normal power moves. Thought the 3/1 match was just too much in terms of of no selling and ridiculous stuff.

 

Another Low-End MOTYC comes from TNA.

 

EC3 vs. Superstar Spud.3/13/15

 

If Perro Jr. vs. Myzteziz from the 2/8 AAA TV taping had the heightened crowd emotion of a hair vs. mask match, I think I would have enjoyed it significantly more than EC3 vs. Spud. As it is, I am not sure I still didn't enjoy the AAA match more. I think that's an apt comparison because both matches leaned heavily on blood, a long rivalry and hatred. Both matches had very good heat. The AAA match stood out even more so in that regard because it was a feud builder and not a feud ender (nor did it have the advantage of a hometown hero as the babyface) and got just as good if not better heat. They also got as good or better near falls than the Spud/EC3 match. Spud's babyface performance was better than Myteziz's certainly but I am I didn't think it was out of this world. The point being, I didn't see this as an extraordinary great match because I am not sure it was significantly better worked than a AAA, non-blow off TV main event.

 

I agree with some of what Dylan said. Spud gave a traditional and strong babyface performance. The heat was excellent and blow away by TNA standards. You don't get bloody feud enders (or blood period) much anymore and it added a lot to the match. I thought the finish was exactly as it should have been. I also thought the offense was relatively weak. Spud's comeback was in line with his gimmick but it wasn't any less hokey in a bloody blow off than it is when done in a regular match. The Borash stuff was Shawn Michaels-level eye rolling pageantry type stuff. I look at MOTYC matches (at least normal to strong contenders) as being the total package which includes (at the very least) okay announcing. The call of this match (particularly Taz's stuff) was pretty bad.

 

I did like the match. For TNA, it was a huge breath of fresh air. As others have said, there were some elements to the match that were a breathe of fresh air in 2015 wrestling, period. When compared to some current matches from other promotions and definitely when compared to similar historical matches, I just don't see this as being particularly close to a MOTYC. I'd probably have it at *** 1/4 give or take, where **** is a lower end MOTYC in a normal year and **** 1/2 is a surefire MOTYC. It was a fun and good match given the circumstances, but I didn't see it as a MOTYC.

 

(FWIW, I have followed the entire feud and watched TNA on more or less a weekly basis during the time the feud ran on TV. It was an appropriate way to end a competently booked feud.)

[Dylan Waco]

This will sound like bullshit piggybacking now, but I was originally going to compare Spud/EC3 to the Myzteziz v. Aguayo Jr. To me I thought Spud v. EC3 was clearly better. In part that's because it had a definitive, and in my view great, finish. I really am a fan of the finish where you have the valiant face kick out of one kill shot, only to go immediately down for the next. It's a nice way of protecting someone, without denying the fans the finality of a real finish. I would say this was absolutely that sort of finish and I would compare it to the finish of RR00, with Foley kicking out of the pedigree, but falling to the pedigree on tacks. By contrast Aguayo v. Myzteziz had the low blow finish, which was fine for a non-blowoff, but also felt kind of ridiculous in a match as violent as that one (and yes I know what how low blows are treated in lucha, it still feels lame when two guys are bleeding, there is brawling all match, et.).

 

I also thought the Spud performance was the best individual performance I've seen all year. That perception may have been aided by my less than favorable view of TNA and the fact that the match came out of nowhere (though I was looking forward to it). Even still I thought the work put in by Spud absolutely smoked the performance of both Myzteziz and Aguayo. In theory the run-ins should have hurt the match, but they had no bearing on the finish, and actually set up some very good near falls and moments. To that end I can't even be really critical of those. I actually thought the close up of Aguayo's blood spurting face with him sitting there like a bobblehead doll was a more hamfisted "this is drama!" moment than anything in Spud v. EC3 (and I liked that moment, I just thought it was REALLY melodramatic).

 

In any case I would recommend people watch both matches, but I didn't think the AAA match was near MOTY level, and I thought Spud v. EC3 absolutely was