TV Recomendations

[Grimmas]

In 2014 there will be weekly polls put up where we vote for the best TV match of the week. There will be a poll put up early in the week with the top matches that aired the previous week.

 

This will be a fun project.

 

This thread is here to recommend matches to go on the poll. If you saw a TV match on some random indie on youtube that nobody else saw that you think is up there with lucha and WWE TV, then nominate it so it is at least looked at.

[Matt D]

This will be a fun project.

You Vill Have Fun.

 

Or Else.

 

[concrete1992]

Like this! Could be a nice way for me to be able to start posting more.

[Matt D]

Smackdown 1/3/14

 

Cody and Goldust vs The Wyatt Family - I'm curious what people will think about this match. There's a smaller Goldust FIP and a longer Cody FIP including an extended Rowan control section. I though Rowan's stuff looked pretty good in general. His clubbering/brawling is a lot better than it used to be (he had a good stretch with Goldust) and he's begun to use a number of unique moves that make a lot of sense for his character and work really well for a heel control section, specifically the fists to the temples, the claw/throw, and the outright face pulling. This is one of the better performances from Cody in a FIP position that I've seen. His emotive selling runs the gamut, though. Sometimes (like in the holds) it's pretty good but the fish-eyes/open mouth when he takes a bump gets a little old. Up until now, Goldust has mainly been using the Code Red as a big late match house-cleaning move or for a near fall but here he used it in order to set up the end of his FIP and I thought that was a great use of it. Cody's flip over sunset flip works best as a hope spot too (and he's mainly used it after a hot tag lately). Harper showed great presence as usual, maneuvering Rowan back into the ring at one point and catching a really nice Cody dive (and the moonsault) perfectly. I think maybe his big power moves can be a little too big; case in point this time, the sitout powerbomb. Goldust broke it up instead of Cody kicking out but I think that's the sort of move to be used more sparingly in the current environment. The gator roll is a really great move to immediately follow a comeback cutoff. Dustin works the crowd like no one in wrestling today. I liked the finish because it felt different than a lot of what we've gotten recently. Good start to the year.

 

Usos/Shield got more time than I was expecting but wasn't as fun as the Usos vs Wyatt's sprint from a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen the main yet.

[Loss]

Smackdown 1/3/14

 

Cody and Goldust vs The Wyatt Family - I'm curious what people will think about this match. There's a smaller Goldust FIP and a longer Cody FIP including an extended Rowan control section. I though Rowan's stuff looked pretty good in general. His clubbering/brawling is a lot better than it used to be (he had a good stretch with Goldust) and he's begun to use a number of unique moves that make a lot of sense for his character and work really well for a heel control section, specifically the fists to the temples, the claw/throw, and the outright face pulling. This is one of the better performances from Cody in a FIP position that I've seen. His emotive selling runs the gamut, though. Sometimes (like in the holds) it's pretty good but the fish-eyes/open mouth when he takes a bump gets a little old. Up until now, Goldust has mainly been using the Code Red as a big late match house-cleaning move or for a near fall but here he used it in order to set up the end of his FIP and I thought that was a great use of it. Cody's flip over sunset flip works best as a hope spot too (and he's mainly used it after a hot tag lately). Harper showed great presence as usual, maneuvering Rowan back into the ring at one point and catching a really nice Cody dive (and the moonsault) perfectly. I think maybe his big power moves can be a little too big; case in point this time, the sitout powerbomb. Goldust broke it up instead of Cody kicking out but I think that's the sort of move to be used more sparingly in the current environment. The gator roll is a really great move to immediately follow a comeback cutoff. Dustin works the crowd like no one in wrestling today. I liked the finish because it felt different than a lot of what we've gotten recently. Good start to the year.

 

Usos/Shield got more time than I was expecting but wasn't as fun as the Usos vs Wyatt's sprint from a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen the main yet.

I want to watch this missed the show. If anyone knows a way I can see it, please send me a PM.

[Mando]

Smackdown 1/3/14

 

Cody and Goldust vs The Wyatt Family

I really loved this. The Rhodes' have been consistent lately but this is arguably my favorite match yet of theirs as a team. I haven't thought much of Rowan previously but his clubbing on Goldust reached Hansen-levels of stiffness and I liked him showing more physicality. Spills to the floor often look overly protected but not here -- Rowan was rolling like a tumbleweed over the top and down the aisle and right after Goldust took a sick splat right on the floor. Enjoyed the pace and how physical it was. Great stuff for free TV.

[rovert]

Really liked Cody and Goldust vs The Wyatt Family too. Cody's selling went beyond your standard FIP given the big brother , little brother dynamic as Goldust despaired at the beating Cody was taking.

[Matt D]

What's the actual week we're looking at, because Zayn/Kruger 2/3 Falls was on the 1/1 NXT I think and is worth a look. It's not as good as the best of the 2013 NXT output but it has weeks of build, is, sort of the climax of years of Kruger's character development, shows that NXT has sort of claimed the 2/3 falls match as a trademark and is totally willing to change it up. The match itself was really well paced with what I thought was a very strong second fall. Good logical transitions, good looking offensive from both guys, nice finish. I don't think we'll remember it much in ten years, but for the week, sure.

[Loss]

Smackdown 1/3/14

 

Cody and Goldust vs The Wyatt Family - I'm curious what people will think about this match. There's a smaller Goldust FIP and a longer Cody FIP including an extended Rowan control section. I though Rowan's stuff looked pretty good in general. His clubbering/brawling is a lot better than it used to be (he had a good stretch with Goldust) and he's begun to use a number of unique moves that make a lot of sense for his character and work really well for a heel control section, specifically the fists to the temples, the claw/throw, and the outright face pulling. This is one of the better performances from Cody in a FIP position that I've seen. His emotive selling runs the gamut, though. Sometimes (like in the holds) it's pretty good but the fish-eyes/open mouth when he takes a bump gets a little old. Up until now, Goldust has mainly been using the Code Red as a big late match house-cleaning move or for a near fall but here he used it in order to set up the end of his FIP and I thought that was a great use of it. Cody's flip over sunset flip works best as a hope spot too (and he's mainly used it after a hot tag lately). Harper showed great presence as usual, maneuvering Rowan back into the ring at one point and catching a really nice Cody dive (and the moonsault) perfectly. I think maybe his big power moves can be a little too big; case in point this time, the sitout powerbomb. Goldust broke it up instead of Cody kicking out but I think that's the sort of move to be used more sparingly in the current environment. The gator roll is a really great move to immediately follow a comeback cutoff. Dustin works the crowd like no one in wrestling today. I liked the finish because it felt different than a lot of what we've gotten recently. Good start to the year.

 

Usos/Shield got more time than I was expecting but wasn't as fun as the Usos vs Wyatt's sprint from a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen the main yet.

Yes, this was excellent. In fact, more than anything at Wrestle Kingdom, this put a smile on my face and made me feel like my attempt to stay on top of wrestling in 2014 isn't going to be a pure exercise in frustration. Harper and Rowan are excellent in the ring, both in portraying the gimmick and as working heels. They also have some really cool unique offense that matches who they are as performers. I'm a huge fan. Cody is not a natural like Goldust, but he is working hard and is athletically good. But it's all in the little things. This match had such great build to the hot tag, but Cody's selling being even more over the top could have taken it to another level. I wish we could have gotten a string of Goldust house cleaning after the hot tag, as that's what I was waiting for. But the finish was a cool one and I really enjoyed this all the same.

[Grimmas]

What's the actual week we're looking at, because Zayn/Kruger 2/3 Falls was on the 1/1 NXT I think and is worth a look. It's not as good as the best of the 2013 NXT output but it has weeks of build, is, sort of the climax of years of Kruger's character development, shows that NXT has sort of claimed the 2/3 falls match as a trademark and is totally willing to change it up. The match itself was really well paced with what I thought was a very strong second fall. Good logical transitions, good looking offensive from both guys, nice finish. I don't think we'll remember it much in ten years, but for the week, sure.

Week 1 will be from the 1st of January to the 4th, a short week. From there it will be Sunday to Saturday each week. So, that Zayn-Kruger match will count for week 1.

 

I will post the first week's after lucha is posted on Wednesday, because there will be something from that, I am sure.

[Dylan Waco]

Since this is for stuff that aired on t.v. and not when it was taped, by far the best t.v. match I've seen this week was Vordell Walker v. Sigmon from Traditional Championship Wrestling. Below is a link and my lengthy review.

 

Vordell Walker v. Sigmon - TCW Iron Man Match 11/16

 

 

Even with a couple of slightly telegraphed spots, Sigmon throwing some really weak forearms at times, and a spot down the stretch that may have been a botch (I didn't think it was, but it could be seen one of two ways), I thought this was a great match, right up there with the best indie stuff of the year. Honestly the front end of this was pretty decent, but there were a couple of moments where Sigmon looked nervous to take a big spot, or sort of tipped his hand a second early on an exchange that would have otherwise been good. I sort of figured this would either peter out, or get badly exposed going this long, but instead this ended up being a rare indie match with long term selling, big spots that actually mattered, a really well developed heat section, lots of surprisingy and effective cut off spots, and a finish where a dopey face was actually punished with a loss for being a dopey face. On top of that I thought all the falls in this were actually quite good, and there every moment where it looked like this might get devolve into spot running, ended up resulting in a finish. Almost the whole match was worked with Vordell in peril after some rib work, including some big post bumps on the floor (to Sigmon's credit he took a crazy over head belly to belly bump on the concrete, and you could argue that at times he came up to quick after some offense, though I didn't think it was jarring). Some of the the hope spots in this were really well done, I especially liked Walker using the ropes to kick off Sigmon and keep him at a distance, and even then it wasn't enough of a flurry to win him any real points. Loved the way Sigmon stole the first fall, thought the flash pin for Walker on the second fall off the missed headbutt was great, the powerbomb theft finish in the third fall ruled, the knee strike finish in the third fall had a set up that might have been a little hokey but it was so well built to that I didn't care, and Sigmon's fifth fall victory coming after a top rope German that actually meant something (has that EVER happened in an indie match before) was awesome. Throughout all of this the selling of the big spots and the ribs from Walker was really good and consistent. I also loved the way Walker made his last gasp comeback, as even Sigmon falling down before he was hit with a lariat felt like less of a botch and more of a "I just got my bell rung/lucking out of avoiding another big blow" spot than anything else. Walker finally going to the leg late, including a nasty looking front side chop block, and an almost desperate figure four sequence to run out the clock leading to the loss really was a cool and surprising way to end this. There were indie matches in 2013 that had fewer flaws than this, but I don't think there were any this ambitious, that were this well developed, and managed to turn some of the worst aspects of modern indie wrestling into positives. This will be really high on my top several hundred match of the year list I hope to get around to soon enough.

[Loss]

Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs Antonio Cesaro & Jack Swagger (WWE Monday Night RAW 01/06/14)

 

Another excellent tag, although the heat wasn't as strong as for the Smackdown tag until the final few minutes. Also, I don't know if this is consensus or not, but I think the Wyatts are a better team than the Real Americans, or at least they were in these two matches. You can tell how much Goldust adds to the team by how dead the crowd is when he's not on the apron to cheer on the hot tag. Cody Rhodes has also improved a ton from the last time I really paid much attention to him. Very good match.

[Matt D]

It's a good question. The Wyatts have developed over the last few months, especially Rowan. I really think Harper is one of the strongest guys on the roster. There are some situations where Rowan still seems, if not a little lost, then certainly lacking. On the other hand, Cesaro and Swagger have started doing some tandem moves that they hadn't before which is enjoyable. My favorite thing about them might be the sort of jockish camaraderie that Cesaro shows for Swagger.

 

I loved the finishing segment of the tag but it definitely felt slighter than the Wyatt's match. I felt like it had less time, which might be part of it.

[Exposer]

I need to re-watch the Wyatt's tag because I thought it lacked something. Although, I still enjoyed it.