2011 Match of the Year

[Airfixx]

Sometimes anticipation gets in the way of perception, so I rewatched HHH/Taker and admittedly I enjoyed it more the second time around, but the biggest and somewhat 'fatal' flaw with it was that after saying he'd "die trying" to end the streak, HHH fucking tapped out! ...And for me this dented the storytelling aspect (which is notably what's getting all the props) massively.

Austin/Bret @ WM13 says and very loud & poignant hello.

 

[Luke Flywalker]

Sometimes anticipation gets in the way of perception, so I rewatched HHH/Taker and admittedly I enjoyed it more the second time around, but the biggest and somewhat 'fatal' flaw with it was that after saying he'd "die trying" to end the streak, HHH fucking tapped out! ...And for me this dented the storytelling aspect (which is notably what's getting all the props) massively.

Austin/Bret @ WM13 says and very loud & poignant hello.

Yes, but even WM was PG... implying that he was killed trying to win his match is not a PG product. And honestly, the touch of Taker using every last bit of strength he could muster to make HHH tap was incredible, both men pushed to their limits, and setting up a potential rematch, which leaves the world wondering how much more they can possibly do... seriously, how much more is there? The only thing I would have changed about that match would have been to have both men carted off...

 

[PeepShow]

Sometimes anticipation gets in the way of perception, so I rewatched HHH/Taker and admittedly I enjoyed it more the second time around, but the biggest and somewhat 'fatal' flaw with it was that after saying he'd "die trying" to end the streak, HHH fucking tapped out! ...And for me this dented the storytelling aspect (which is notably what's getting all the props) massively.

Austin/Bret @ WM13 says and very loud & poignant hello.

Yeah, I completely agree with that. He should have just passed out when in Hell's Gate. Would have made the story so much better and might have even made it 5 stars from that aspect. Still a fucking awesome match though.

 

[...god...]

How many finishers were used in that match? I'm guessing 3+ each if memory serves.

3 Pedigrees, one Tombstone (not counting Triple H's). The pedigrees set up the most epic moment of the match though, when Triple H tombstoned Undertaker himself.

 

[Airfixx]

Yes, but even WM was PG... implying that he was killed trying to win his match is not a PG product. And honestly, the touch of Taker using every last bit of strength he could muster to make HHH tap was incredible, both men pushed to their limits, and setting up a potential rematch, which leaves the world wondering how much more they can possibly do... seriously, how much more is there? The only thing I would have changed about that match would have been to have both men carted off...

I'm sorry, but PG has NOTHING to do with it.

(Look back to when Ziggler was using a sleeper hold as a finisher... That was PG and we didn't see people tapping out to it; they 'went to sleep'... Same when you consider the cartoon-ism of Brutus Beefcake in the 80's.)

I'm not saying HHH should have (kayfaybe) died, but he SHOULD have passed out a la Austin.

As it is, he QUIT.

I don't particularly see what there is to provoke a rematch either.... It's as clear/clean/decisive an outcome as one could hope for.


(I know we had the rematch from HBK - which didn't immediately seem likely straight after WM25 either - but that was somewhat his storyline for the coming year; that he couldn't get over the loss and became obsessed with it, so much so that he gambled his career on it.)


Please be clear either way, I'm not shitting on it... HHH/Taker was clearly head and shoulders above anything WWE typically churns out.


I'm a huge fan of their WM17 match too which leaves me baffled as to why their matches in 2002 were so "meh".

 

[straight_edge76]

The first few minutes of Taker/HHH were very similar to HBK/Taker I, all the way down to the countout tease. But as the match went on it became it's own match and honestly I will go as far to say it's BETTER than HBK/Taker II, and comes very close to the first one. For the first time I legitimately thought that HHH was going to be the one to beat the streak. With the tombstone and the sledgehammer I remember standing up and saying 'holy shit'... I do agree the ending was kind of a killer to the story build but still a phenomenal fucking match.

 

[PeepShow]

My updated top 5 matches of the year

-Undertaker/Triple H (Wrestlemania 27): ****1/2
-Christian/Randy Orton (Over The Limit): ****1/4
-Christian/Alberto Del Rio (Extreme Rules): ****
-SD Elimination Chamber (Elimination Chamber): ****
-Bully Ray/AJ Styles (Slammiversary): ****

 

[Rell]

lol buh buh ray dudley was in a MOTY candidate?

I refuse to believe it

 

[PeepShow]

Watch the match.

edit- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GVYICBT2

 

[Luke Flywalker]

The finish of that match dropped it to **1/2, *** TOPS. Horrible way to end it. Bully Ray manages to resume after AJ leaps 20 feet out of the sky through him? He kicks AJ in the ass to send him through a prop and AJ can't recover? It was a good, GOOD match all the way up until that point... horrible finish though...

 

[Rell]

AJ muthafuckin Styles!

I can't front, they're holding it down. Good match...

the ending did ruin it a bit, but you can't completely ignore everything prior to that. 3 1/2 stars. AJ's selling is top notch.

 

[PeepShow]

The finish of that match dropped it to **1/2, *** TOPS. Horrible way to end it. Bully Ray manages to resume after AJ leaps 20 feet out of the sky through him? He kicks AJ in the ass to send him through a prop and AJ can't recover? It was a good, GOOD match all the way up until that point... horrible finish though...

rofl

Axis and I were talking about this yesterday and he was arguing the same point I am. If you get elbow dropped from 25 feet in the air, your chest may hurt, but it's not going to knock you out, especially when there's a table there to great the fall and landing. Getting your head driven through a wall (kayfabe) would knock you out. It was a very unique way to end the match as I didn't see it coming and it would have been very easy to just end the match after the elbow dry, but to me, that made it all the more better. Even if the wrong person won.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

Saw the match, fucking awesome brawl with a very stupid ending. Luke, you're terribly under rating this match, even with the incredibly stupid finish it's a 4 star brawl. I'm not going to argue the validity of what some are calling 4 star matches these days, but dumb finish be damned, that was fine fucking match.

Bubba is the fucking man. He's the best thing TNA has going right now, which doesn't say much, but he is a very competent worker with incredibly under rated mic skills.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

Don't really care for Cubes for all the penis envy comments he's made about San Antonio and the Spurs, but this is EPIC:

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

This too is EPIC: