2012 Match of The Year Thread

[Matt D]

I will say that I find it interesting that I hate Davey Richards because of all of the Smark stuff, like the no-selling and killing of moves...and that made him the heel to me, which caused me to become emotionally invested in the match. Weird how that worked.

Meta reactions like that are interesting. For instance, I liked Punk vs Henry (1) more specifically because I was frustrated Punk didn't sell his back in the WM Punk/Jericho match. The second I saw him do that, I sort of marked out for it because it was so blatantly different than what had just bugged me.

[ohtani's jacket]

I think it would be awesome if wrestlers started talking like us after matches.

 

"My use of negative space was superior!"

 

[NintendoLogic]

I somehow doubt that someone who gets on the mic and tells the audience they just witnessed a five-star match is going to be open to constructive criticism.

[KrisZ]

That promo at the end was even worse than the match. You just watched a five star match!!! Go fuck yourself.

Davey is just revolutionizing the business. I'm waiting for someone to come up the concept of ending shows with an in-ring roundtable discussion with wrestlers and fans (those willing to pay $100 for the experience of course) where everyone discusses and critiques the night's performance.

 

That is one of the greatest things I've read in a long while.

[goodhelmet]

That promo at the end was even worse than the match. You just watched a five star match!!! Go fuck yourself.

Davey is just revolutionizing the business. I'm waiting for someone to come up the concept of ending shows with an in-ring roundtable discussion with wrestlers and fans (those willing to pay $100 for the experience of course) where everyone discusses and critiques the night's performance.

 

That is one of the greatest things I've read in a long while.

 

 

I agree but I think OJ is right up there...

 

I think it would be awesome if wrestlers started talking like us after matches.

 

"My use of negative space was superior!"

[KrisZ]

I am imagining guys sitting at a table describing their moods when using weapons and how they weren't really like that in real life.

[puropotsy]

I really wish people would use this thread to talk about their own MOTY picks as well, but that ship may have sailed.

 

By the way Dylan, Richards vs Elgin is my # 1 so far for this year. Discuss.

 

Actually I would like to hear what you liked about the match. I know you thought it was one of the better ROH matches in years and I'm curious why you rate it at the top of the heap now.

 

I second this. My thoughts are at DVDVR but to state again... what a stupid fucking match.

 

Perhaps I will re-watch it again to be able to write my thoughts before taking the big step of defending it here.

 

What do you like about the match? Was it the big moves down the stretch that I listed (all no-sold)? Was it the kicks of death? Was it the crwod reaction the last 5 minutes? The stupid transitions or lack there of?

 

Can I weigh in, because I *liked* that match (as much as I can like any Davey Richards match) and I know exactly why: It made Michael Elgin a star and I believably thought that he was going to defeat Davey Richards and win the World Title. It made me care about the outcome. It made me care about one of the people in the match (so that I was actively rooting for him) and root against another. It drew me in and made me express emotion. It made me care about who had the belt. The moves themselves were pretty business-exposing but wrestling is never really about which moves are used, and never has been, right? I mean, it's dumb because they have raised the bar so high and killed near-falls but by the end of that match, I was standing up and actually counting along with pinfalls thinking that Richards was beat. So that's why.

 

I will say that I find it interesting that I hate Davey Richards because of all of the Smark stuff, like the no-selling and killing of moves...and that made him the heel to me, which caused me to become emotionally invested in the match. Weird how that worked.

 

Also I had more problem with Davey Richards' "Hey guys, glad that match is over. By the way, he's a promo because I'm okay" than I did about anything in the match.

 

That promo at the end was even worse than the match. You just watched a five star match!!! Go fuck yourself.

 

 

Actually, I really did like the big moves down the stretch and the crowd reaction the last five mintues. As was also mentioned, I do think this match made Elgin a star and a lot of people came out of watching the match feeling that way. I have watched him for years and always liked him but he is one of my favorites at this point.

I thought the pace and building of the match was really great as was the intensity. I thouht Elgin brought in a lot of new offense that is not really stuff you have seen a lot from in ROH including a spinning backfast, enzuiguri and a crossface. I do see a lot of the criticisms that have been made of Richards trying to make his matches too long (both Eddie Edwards title matches from 2011 and the Edwards/Cole vs Richards/O'Reilly match from February) but thought he cut himself down to just the right amount in this match. And it really did feel like Elgin was going to win the match even though it didn't seem realistic for him to do so given plans for Steen vs Richards. This was a great match in the style of ROH which is a style I do enjoy.

[puropotsy]

So my Top 10 at this point:

1) Davey Richards vs Michael, ROH 3/31

2) Brock Lesnar vs John Cena, WWE 5/29

3) Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus, WWE 5/29

4) Fit Finlay vs Sami Callihan, Evolve, 4/13

5) Stu Grayson (Player Dos) vs Mike Bailey, C4, 1/21

6) Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuyo Naito, NJPW, 3/4

7) Roderick Strong vs Jushin Liger, PWS, 4/14

8) Chris Jericho vs CM Punk, WWE, 4/1

9) Mike Mondo vs Matt Taven, ROH, 4/7 TV

10) CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler, WWE, 3/9 (Toronto house show I attended)

 

I am going to try to watch:

Blue Panther, Atlantis & Solar vs Ultimo Guerrero, Felino & Negro Navarro 1/15

Hijo del Santo & Villano IV vs Angel Blanco Jr. & Hijo del Solitario 2/25

Angel Blanco Jr./El Hijo del Solitario vs. El Hijo Del Santo/Villano IV, TXT 2/25

Blue Panther vs. Negro Casas, CMLL 3/2

Fit Finlay v. Sami Callihan WXW 3/2

Mark Henry v. CM Punk - Raw 4/2

Black Terry vs. Chico Che, IWRG 1/29

Negro Casas vs. La Sombra, 2/20

Seikmoto/Okabayashi vs. Akebono/hama

[FLIK]

Still have a shit ton to watch but my current MOTY list

 

5/12/2012 Punk vs Daniel Bryan

3/4/2012 Kazuchika Okada vs Naito

1/1/2012 Blue Panther, Atlantis & Solar vs Ultimo Guerrero, Felino & Negro Navarro

4/22/2012 Adam Thornstowe & Luster The Legend vs Virgil Flynn & El Chupacabra

2/25/2012 Hijo del Santo & Villano IV vs Angel Blanco Jr. & Hijo del Solitario

3/2/2012 (Hair vs Hair) Blue Panther vs Negro Casas

3/9/2012 Ayumi Kurihara vs Marcela

1/8/2012 Nanae Takahashi, Meiko Satomura & Emi Sakura vs Ayumi Kurihara, Yoshiko & Tsukasa Fujimoto

5/13/2012 (Hair vs Hair) La Comandante vs Yumiko Hotta

2/12/2012 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada

1/8/2012 (Loser Leaves Town) Sal Thomaselli vs Timothy Thatcher

4/22/2012 (Handicap Match) El Flaco Loco, Sal Thomaselli & The Big Ugly vs Sir Samurai & J.R. Kratos

1/29/2012 (Hair vs Hair) Black Terry vs Chico Che

3/18/2012 Adam Thornstowe & Luster The Legend vs Virgil Flynn & Mike Hayashi

4/22/2012 (TLC ) Bobby Hart vs Cjay Kurze vs D-Torch vs Paul Isodora

3/17/2012 (Mexican Badlands Match) Sheik Khan Abadi vs El Chupacabra

2/23/2012 Fit Finlay vs Mal Sanders

[NintendoLogic]

Finally watched both Punk/Bryan and Richards/Elgin. I wouldn't consider the latter a MOTYC, but I did find it shockingly tolerable. I expected a ton of Wrestler A hits Wrestler B with murderdeathkill move, Wrestler B pops up and goes about his business. There was way too much kicking out of big moves, but they did a respectable job of selling the impact and overall fatigue. Punk/Bryan was really good but not quite a MOTY. The finishing stretch was great, but it took a bit too long to get into high gear. And Bryan's selling of the leg was pretty spotty. I'd still place it in the top 5, which at this point consists of Sheamus/Bryan, Cena/Lesnar, Punk/Henry, Okada/Naito, and Punk/Bryan. I've only seen Panther/Casas in clipped form, so there's a chance it could move up when I see the complete version.

[FLIK]

Anyone besides me really enjoy the Loco Max vs Virus feud from earlier this year? Just finished watching their hair match from 3/12 and thought it was a great little brawl.

 

The Panther/Casas blow off was better but as an overall feud I actually liked Virus/Loco better since their tags building it up were also really good beyond just highlighting the main feud. The Cibernetico match from late Jan with Virus, Cancerbero, Raziel & Euforia vs Loco Max, Arkangel de la Muerte, Skandalo & Nitro is well worth going out of your way to see especially.

[Exposer]

I watched the cibernetico. That was a hell of a match.

[Mr Wrestling X]

I'm not getting all the love for the Punk/Jericho match at WM, it was very sloppy in places and seemed to drag on. I believe their street fight encounter at ER was the superior effort because there was more feud development between the two and it gave the match some much needed spice which was lacking from their WM encounter, and fueled the "dragging" feel that I previously mentioned. I think I was in the minority of those who weren't entirely bothered with Jericho's return, which hasn't really been all that great, as I predicted.

 

I think a lot of the sloppiness is due to Jericho's new character, which isn't exactly that "new" with the only character tweaks being a jacket that lights up and a slightly different hairstyle. Had Jericho actually returned and did something groundbreaking as the hype had suggested, then he might well have been the WWE Champion - to critical acclaim - at this point.

[Badlittlekitten]

Thread needs resurrecting. This has been a great place for me to get recommendations so I would like to see what others have liked recently.

 

Been a lot of good matches this year although that could be partly down to me watching more. I've only started to follow non US mainstream stuff recently and I happen to be out of work with internet access so this is a pretty exciting (lazy) time. I'll add matches and my thoughts on them whenever I get round to it.

Kazuchika Okada © vs. Tetsuya Naito, IWGP title match (NJPW 40th Anniversary Show, 04.03.2012)

Hiroshi Tanahashi © vs. Minoru Suzuki - 10.8

Kyoko Kimura vs. Natsuki Taiyo Stardom X Stardom 2012 [05.08.2012]

El Chupacabra & Virgil Flynn -vs- "Reno SCUM" Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend (SPW 4/22/2012)

Akira Tozawa v El Ligero (PCW)

Suwama vs Sekimoto, All Japan January 2nd

Last Man Standing Match, Mikey Whiplash vs. Jack Jester (ICW)

Chris Renfrew vs. Jimmy Havoc (Scottish World of Sport Rules Match ICW)

AJ Styles vs Daniels - Last Man Standing - (TNA DX' 12 )

I'm watching this at the moment. Love Daniels stooging at the beginning. Daniels might just edge out Bully, Aries and Punk as my favourite heel of 2012. I only started watching TNA regularly this year so Daniels/AJ isn't old news to me. Love AJ telling the ref not to count cos he's not finished with him. Some nasty moments like backdrops onto the entrance ramp, heads on steel steps and some stiff punches. This match of course came from the imfamous Claire lynch angle. Yes, sure it was stupid but Lynch and her acting was so terrible you couldn't help but stare in awe and Daniels was hilarious throughout giving it a much needed sense of irony. It certainly wasn't boring unlike WWE's version of it with the other AJ. I'm guessing most people will prefer the Roode/Storm street fight but this just tops it for me mainly because I find both guys more compelling. And the endings pretty sweet. To be honest though this is a match that may be dropped from the list once I've seen more stuff.

 

CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan (Over the Limit)

Probably my MOTY. I'll add more about it when it's not four in the morning.

 

AJ Styles and Kurt Angle vs Daniels and Kazarian (TNA Slammiversary)

Glorious spotfest. Not always my cuppa tea but these guy can pull it off well.

 

Nanae Takahashi, Meiko Satomura & Emi Sakura vs Ayumi Kurihara, Yoshiko & Tsukasa Fujimoto 1/8/2012

Super Smash Brothers -vs- Future Shock -vs- The Young Bucks (PWG; 2012-07-21)

Nikki Storm vs Alpha Female (ProWrestling Eve)

[rzombie1988]

Kyoko Kimura vs Natsuki*Taiyo from STARDOM should get some consideration as a MOTYC. The pace was quick, they were stiff and the brought the hate. Add a few big moves in there and it's all good stuff.