Wrestling Half-Year Review

[Kiffy Lube]

I'm going to do this in top 5 fashion and explain my reasoning and thoughts for each one. I may even update this thread when new shows come out with things that I think were better. I am only going to do matches, PPVs and wrestlers. I would have done weeklies too but that would require me rewatching most of the year instead of just rewatching a select few things to refresh my memory on the good stuff. Now let's get this started.

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Top 5 Matches:
1. WWE Over The Limit: WWE Championship Match- Daniel Bryan v.s CM Punk.
-I'm sure most wrestling fans have this as their top match as it's been getting tons of great praise for being just a technically solid back and forth match. I heard people complaining that it better not be like their TV matches earlier in the year before it happened. I was like why? Those matches were great and represented their styles perfectly. This was just them upping the ante on those and it sure as hell delivered. It's even better than every match they've had in ROH. However, it's not like they actually feuded like this in ROH so that is a bit of an unfair thing for me to say. So currently and with A.J. being the referee Sunday I think this will stand as my favorite match of the year for good while. The finish of this was a cop out but the match had to end sometime. ****1/2

2. ROH Best In The World: Hybrid Fighting Match- Adam Cole v.s Kyle O'Reilly.
-This match as far as I'm concerned proved to me that both would fit in well in ROH's main event scene. They kind of remind me of how Eddie Edwards just emerged but with more charisma. Well, I'm not sure about O'Reilly outside the fact he's already a better talker than Davey Richards ever was. Adam Cole, I've seen in other Indies as face, as a heel, it didn't matter he played the role solid. Of course, I didn't expect Cole to take the beating of his life like this and loosing teeth the process so he impressed even more than I ever imagined. This match had some odd moments, though. I think with more seasoning with the current upper talent these two are going to be the forefront of ROH for great while with the likes of Michael Elgin still rising. Then after this hell of a fight we get a finish of O'Reilly even being the ruthless bastard tapping out and giving in himself. It reminded of the end of the Flair/Funk I Quit Match. Truly a bright spot for the future of wrestling was this. I'm going to have to watch it again soon to make sure I'm not going overboard, though. ****1/2

3. ROH Showdown In The Sun Day 2: ROH Championship Match- Michael Elgin v.s Davey Richards(c).
-Now this one caught a few off guard especially with the way ROH booked this weekend. The second day's show after the overbooked triple threat the night before led to some interesting match ups. They were already lined up but the title match could have been one of three different matches. I'm glad it was this one as Elgin showed the world once again that he can hold his own with anyone. This match completely ended up overshadowing everything else from those other 2 matches and being for the ROH title well that is exactly what should take place. Elgin actually being a powerhouse kind of made Richards sell a lot more than he usually does. It's sad that it takes this to make Richards look like that. I would complain more if the match itself didn't deliver on ten folds. Gotta to give it up to ROH for letting Elgin shine here. I hope he gets another shot at the belt and this time at Steen in the near future. ****1/4

4. WWE Extreme Rules: 2 out 3 Falls Match for the WHC Title: Daniel Bryan v.s Sheamus(c)
-After that tragedy at Wrestlemania, WWE made up for it here in my opinion. The match flow was better than a couple matches I named above this. WWE worked better with the 2 out 3 falls concept here then they did with the finish of Punk/Bryan from OTL. However, it doesn't keep at the pace of that with Sheamus being obviously slower. Sheamus torn Bryan apart, though. I guess that makes up for it with how vicious the Brogue Boot looks. Bryan's leg work was just as vicious before finally getting caught with the one move he tried to avoid the entire match. What an encounter this turned into. Thanks, WWE for giving us this damn match after ripping us off at Mania. ****1/4

5. WWE Wrestlemania 28: Hell in a Cell, Referee Shawn Michaels- Triple H v.s The Undertaker.
-Now, I'm not as high on this as others are because I feel the crowd inflated this entire thing. At least Taker was in better shape this year as these two beat the hell of each other. Even if it does feel kind of the same as last year with them just recovering to hit another big move to get another huge awe from the crowd and a fun reaction from HBK himself. This is pretty much what I felt about the match and then we got an emotional ending that should not be undersold. Nice job WWE makings this actually worthwhile. I wish they'd stop pumping Taker out like this but those are personal feelings. ****

Honorable Mentions: Ziggler/Punk RR, SD! Elimination Chamber, Punk/Jericho WM28, Punk/Jericho ER and Richards/Steen BW


Top 5 PPVs:
1. ROH Best In The World 2012.
-Top to bottom this card had something for everyone. It may just be fresh on my mind but I think the variety hasn't been matched by either TNA or WWE for that matter. Odd for me to say that about an ROH PPV but they becoming a very well rounded product with a tremendous main event angle with Kevin Steen. This was a continuation of the Steen Era and his first PPV as champion. I want to see if this will hold up as the year goes on.

2. WWE Wrestlemania 28.
-I'm sure just about everyone else would have just put this as one just based on crowd reactions. Of course, why would someone rate crowd reactions? I don't know unless they can get a performance or the emotion of the Taker/HHH match out of someone I don't think crowd reactions should have any part whatsoever. So this is where this PPV stands for now.

3. WWE Extreme Rules 2012.
-I didn't mind Lesnar/Cena but this more here for the undercard of Punk/Jericho and Bryan/Sheamus rematches from Wrestlemania for me. Pretty much it. I guess I'd like to mention that as much as I liked Punk and Jericho's Street Fight it felt like something "Dirty" Dick Slater would have been apart of, not these two.

4. ROH Showdown In The Sun.
-Since this was a two day event and I think you got the second day free if you ordered the first, I'm going to group them together. I don't know doing this matches it feel cheap if I put it ahead of Extreme Rules but I still think it should be on this list and this is as good as spot as ever considering after this I'm kind of picking up scraps.

5. WWE Elimination Chamber 2012.
-I was either going to choose this or OTL, I guess. It's just Jesus Christ I can't condone adding Ace/Cena main eventing a PPV to this list. I'd rather talk about Cena/KANE ending this but this is more about the Chambers that were rather solid heading into Mania this year. Also, Santino deserves another mention for how awesome he was during his Chamber match.


Top 5 Wrestlers:
1. CM Punk.
-Since the beginning of the year I don't think anyone has a better consistency with matches on TV or PPV. Every PPV match he's had this year has been over ***+ in my mind. Opening with Ziggler leading up to the triple threat at No Way Out he's having a great run with the championship. I got to say he's totally on top of his game running the title scene on Raw.

2. Daniel Bryan.
-If Punk is #1 then this has to be #2 right? Pretty much they've gone hand and hand over the past couple months and if it wasn't for Bryan's RR match and that crap at Mania, I may have been able to slip into the top spot but that would still have took quite a bit of work. Keep it up, Bryan I am glad you have got this far in the business just based off raw talent.

3. Kevin Steen.
-I'm sure you saw this coming if you read the rest... I'm big on Steen's title reign right now. I'm not sure match-wise he compares to the first two this year but he has his moments. A few good encounters with Edwards and Richards is about the most I can mention. Not much more I can say other than KILL STEEN KILL.

4. Robert Roode.
-It took me until now to get TNA into this. Roode deserves this spot and I think he would be ahead of Steen as well if he didn't have to deal with Sting in TWO PPV main events this year. You can't do that to me... I'm hoping Austin Aries can jump into this list now that he's on the verge of something.

5. Dolph Ziggler.
-As far as this year goes this guy has been the most talked about talent on Raw that isn't getting the respect he deserves. He's had lots of great matches with upper-midcard guys this past half-year so I gave him the nod here. Disagree if you want.

Honorable Mentions: Austin Aries, Eddie Edwards, Roderick Strong, Sheamus, Bully Ray and Chris Jericho.​

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If you agree, disagree or think I missed something speak up.

 

[Chris]

Love this, agree with almost all of it except I would put Extreme Rules over 'Mania.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

Damn, I just remembered I have Generico/Steen from Showdown In The Sun Night 1 at ****1/4 but for now I'll keep Taker/HHH on the list.

 

[John McHenry]

I agree Extreme Rules was actually better then Mania this year for me.

 

[Chris]

I agree Extreme Rules was actually better then Mania this year for me.

And that really is saying something about how good Extreme Rules was because I thought this 'Mania was one of the best in quite a few years.

 

[The Cork]

I can't agree with anything you said, but we have different tastes so it's to be expected.

You've probably heard the question "if a tree falls in the woods but nobody is around to hear it, did it really make a noise?", well if two guys had a match in a promotion nobody watches, can it really be a match of the year?"

Taker/Trips had everything and more on the biggest stage you can get, favouring Adam Cole vs Bill O Reilly over it is like shunning the Superbowl to watch a CFL game.

 

[Chris]

And I always thought that if the tree made a noise saying was one of the stupidest. You just proved my point.

 

[The Cork]

I just used it as a segue, no need to get so uptight everytime I badmouth precious Ring Of Honor.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

I'm not mad, I understand Cork. I just feel to acknowledge talent whether it's in the minor leagues or the big leagues. I'd rather watch a CFL game instead of watching another NFC team stumble into the Super Bowl and win, too. Well... at least if the CFL game is close.

 

[The New F'n Show]

Very nice read. Only major change for me would be Aries over Ziggs in the top 5.

 

[PHX]

Enjoyed that really good breakdown of your choices. Guess main thing I don't agree with is Taker/HHH being top 5 I really think that match got overhyped like their match last year. Even more so this time around cause it was hitc, at mania, HBK as ref and a hot crowd. But in terms of actual quality of the match I thought it lacked and didn't buy into the emotion of the match as I did with Taker/HBK or HBK/Flair for example. Still thought it was a good match just wasn't as good as made out to be to me personally.

 

[AF.]

This year's been up and down. Right now, down. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the RTWM and Extreme Rules. Also think the RAW after WM was one of the best RAW's I've ever seen. Rock and Brock helped the first half of the year, but now that they're gone, it's been relatively downhill.

Top 5 WWE Matches
1. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena - Extreme Rules
2. CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan - OTL
3. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk - Extreme Rules
4. Triple H vs. Undertaker - WrestleMania
5. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk - WrestleMania

Top 5 Wrestlers
1. CM Punk
2. Daniel Bryan
3. John Cena
4. Chris Jericho
5. Sheamus

Ps. need to watch Sheamus/DB from ER.

 

[Lewb]

The top 5 matches should all be Ryback matches.



Nawwwwww, I kid. Great 6 month review. I think Roode is a bit high at #4 wrestler of the last 6 months but it's opinion that makes forums go round so it's all good. Rep comin!

 

[The Cork]

The thing about Punk at #1 as well...

No doubt he's had a hell of a lot of good matches, but his character has fell off a cliff since MITB 2011 and while his reign as champ hasn't been bad by any means, I do forget who is champ a lot of the time......is that the mark of a great run, that people forget about you? IMO if we are talking the last 6 months then Austin Aries has had a way better run rising to the top of TNA...

 

[Kiffy Lube]

If you read my top 5 other than Roode it was pretty much based off match quality... Aries rise has had some solid ***+ matches in the X-Division but most of those matches don't touch anything Punk has done on PPV.