2014 Match of the Year

[soup23]

Have at it. What was the Match of the Year for 2014?

 

My pick: Ultimo Guerrero vs. Atlantis from the CMLL anniversary show.

[Venegas]

Timothy Thatcher vs Drew Gulak from FIP Everything Burns.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

AJ Styles Vs. Minoru Suzuki – NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 7

[BillThompson]

Atlantis versus Ultimo Guerrero from CMLL's 81st Anniversary. There are still a few more matches I want to watch though.

[Fantastic]

Shibata vs. Honma from Day 8 of the G1.

[shoe]

I'm leaning right now at Nakamura vs. Tanahashi 4/6/14.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Styles/Suzuki.

[Grimmas]

Atlantis-UG is the best match of the last three years.

[concrete1992]

Dragon Lee, Carvernario, and Negro Casas vs Virus, Hechicero, and Cachorro from 5/23.

[WingedEagle]

HHH vs. Bryan at Mania

Shield vs. Wyatts at EC

Suzuki vs. Styles G1

Okada vs. Nakamura G1 Finals.

 

Those are definitely my top 4. Not sure about the order yet but I think I prefer all 3 singles to the six-man.

[DR Ackermann]

The Shield vs the Wyatt Family WWE Elimination Chamber

[Phil Schneider]

Here is the ongoing list that Eric and I have been doing.

 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2014/01/2014-moty-master-list.html

 

There is some matches one of us have watched and are sitting in drafts waiting on the other, but I imagine the top 10 is going to be pretty solid

[stomperspc]

In attempting to come up with a "final" MOTY list, I am re-watching some stuff and writing about some matches that I didn't write about during the year. I've done a couple of groups (tags and CMLL) to help organize my thoughts and hope to do a few more in the next few days. For anyone that is interested, here are the two so far:

 

Best Tags of 2014

Best of 2014 CMLL

 

My top two overall are solid, I think (Virus vs. Titan and Suzuki vs. Styles). Everything after that is still a bit up in there air.

[Dylan Waco]

Just did our Wrestling Culture year end show with me, Dave and Tim Livingston. Will post my tentative top ten here when the show drops.

[stomperspc]

I did a preliminary (although almost final) top 50 for 2014. Of course after the top few or so a lot of matches become very similar in quality so the individual placements don't mean much. Instead I assigned star ratings to try to provide a sense of degree and context. I didn't think there were any classics this year but there were a whole bunch of matches that were "good" or better and even more that were average or slightly above.

 

Only match I haven't watched that I want to before locking it up is the Panther & UG vs. Black Terry & Solar match from November that I have, but haven't gotten around to watching yet.

 

 

 

1. Virus vs. Titan (CMLL – 01/28) **** ½
2. A.J. Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW – 08/01) **** ½

3. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H (WWE – 04/06) **** ¼
4. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW – 08/10) **** ¼
5. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma (NJPW – 07/26) **** ¼
6. Negro Casas & Shocker vs. La Sombra & Rush (CMLL – 07/18) **** ¼
7. The Shield vs. Evolution (WWE – 05/04) **** ¼
8. Titan vs. Cavernario (CMLL – 07/29) **** ¼

9. Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt (WWE – 01/26) ****
10. Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Timothy Thatcher (EVOLVE – 09/13) ****
11. KUSHIDA vs. Ricochet (NJPW – 06/08) ****
12. Rush vs. Shocker, hair vs. hair (CMLL – 03/21) ****
13. Virus vs. Dragon Lee (CMLL – 12/08) ****
14. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW – 04/06) ****

15. The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family (WWE – 02/23) *** ¾
16. Matt & Jeff Hardy vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe (OMEGA – 04/26) *** ¾
17. Tommy End vs. Davey Boy Smith, Jr. (wXw – 04/26) *** ¾
18. Superfly vs. Aerostar (AAA – 12/07) *** ¾
19. Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero (CMLL – 09/19) *** ¾
20. Rush vs. Negro Casas (CMLL – 08/01) *** ¾
21. Low Ki vs. Ricochet (House of Glory – 11/30) *** ¾
22. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW – 07/26) *** ¾
23. The Shield vs. Daniel Bryan, Sheamus & John Cena (WWE – 01/27) *** ¾
24. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luke Fale (NJPW – 03/23) *** ¾
25. The Shield vs. Wyatt Family (WWE – 03/03) *** ¾

26. Negro Casas, Cavernario & Dragon Lee vs. Virus, Hechicero & Cachorro (CMLL – 05/23) *** ½
27. HARASHIMA vs. Masa Takanashi (DDT – 02/23) *** ½
28. Chris Hero vs. A.J. Styles (ROH – 03/22) *** ½
29. Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville (WWE NXT – 12/11) *** ½
30. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto (NJPW – 02/11) *** ½
31. Ricochet vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW – 06/22) *** ½
32. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma (NJPW – 05/03) *** ½
33. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Davey Boy Smith, Jr. (NJPW – 07/23) *** ½
34. The Devastation Corporation vs. The Throwbacks (Chikara – 12/6) *** ½
35. Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Hechicero & Cavernario (CMLL – 12/15) *** ½
36. Erick Rowan & Luke Harper vs. Jimmy & Jey Uso (WWE – 07/20) *** ½
37. Yoshinari Ogawa & Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Shiori Asahi & Hiro Tonai (NOAH – 05/03) *** ½
38. J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW – 07/21) *** ½
39. The Shield vs. Evolution (WWE – 06/01) *** ½
40. The Shield vs. Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio & Sheamus (WWE – 01/30) *** ½
41. KUSHIDA vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger (NJPW – 06/06) *** ½

42. Hechicero vs. Negro Navarro (CaraLuchas – 12/25) *** ¼
43. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma & Yuji Nagata (NJPW – 06/21) *** ¼
44. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW – 01/04) *** ¼
45. Green Ant vs. Drew Gulak (Wrestling is Respect – 01/19) *** ¼
46. J. Perkins vs. Bobby Fish (PWG – 08/29) *** ¼
47. CIMA vs. Super Shisa (Dragon Gate – 2/20) *** ¼
48. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton (WWE – 2/3) *** ¼
49. Akebono vs. Go Shiozaki (AJPW – 02/23) *** ¼
50. Volador Jr. vs. Mascara Dorada (NJPW/CMLL – 01/19) *** ¼

 

http://www.crossarmbreaker.com/top-50-matches-of-2014/

[Superstar Sleeze]

Care it elaborate on why you ranked Shield/Evolution over Shield/Wyatt's? The Evolution match was the best possible version of a WWE tag with a main event finish run. The Wyatt's match you a level of grittiness and urgency rarely seen in WWE with the cool story arc of Wyatt's beating Shield at their own game.

[stomperspc]

Care it elaborate on why you ranked Shield/Evolution over Shield/Wyatt's? The Evolution match was the best possible version of a WWE tag with a main event finish run. The Wyatt's match you a level of grittiness and urgency rarely seen in WWE with the cool story arc of Wyatt's beating Shield at their own game.

 

There were a couple of elements holding back the Wyatt match (the PPV one) for me. For one, I didn't think they capitalized on the high pre-match anticipation all that well. The crowd was so jacked for them to go at it and when they finally do, it ended up being relatively normal Shield trios match opening minutes stuff. It felt like that situation called for a more intense, big time opening rather what they went with. Felt likey the left some potential heat on the table with how they handled the opening. While the Shield were defacto faces and Rollins gave an excellent face performance, I preferred the more cut & dry heel/face structure of the Evolution match. I get that the point was to wrestle an even match because you had the two best teams going in the promotion going at it but I preferred the more traditional structure of the Evolution match slightly more. I am also not sure I saw the grittiness element, at least to that extent. It didn't feel substantially different in that regard than any other Shield match.

 

The Evolution match had the better heel/face dynamic. It was structured tighter and as you said, was a really well executed version of your WWE main event tags. The Shield were more established as faces by this point. The opening minutes where the Shield came out strong was a better opening in context than the opening of the Shield match for me. Evolution was good tagging in and out and keeping things moving during their period of control. The initial Shield comeback had as much energy to it as anything in the Wyatt Family match. They worked just as stiff and snug against one another as in the Wyatt Family match (at least Bautista and Triple H. Orton was still Orton). When the match broke down and they started brawling, I thought that was a really well executed WWE out-of-control style brawl that rivaled the best stuff from 1998/1999 when that particular style was at its height (particularly with the Rock/Austin stuff). There was less aimless wandering through the crowd than you usually get in those situations. They had a plan for that segment and executed it well.

 

I liked both matches a lot and this could easily be a case where I watch both back sometime this year and flip opinions, but that was my take. Regardless, both are great matches.

[Loss]

I know this is a blanket statement, and I try to be hesitant these days with blanket statements, but I'm not sure I can call a match great anymore that has a spot involving the ringside announce table, no matter how good the rest of the match is. It's just such an overdone, cliche thing which has been a WWE staple now for 20 years and I think it's time for them to move on from it. So that, along with the way The Shield-Wyatts opened, which I agree didn't capitalize on the heat that was there, took it down some for me.

[peachchaos]

Sheild-Wyatts wasn't perfect, but it felt like the performers went all-in. I remember thinking at the time it set the stage perfectly for a rematch at WM which never happened.

[Superstar Sleeze]

 

Care it elaborate on why you ranked Shield/Evolution over Shield/Wyatt's? The Evolution match was the best possible version of a WWE tag with a main event finish run. The Wyatt's match you a level of grittiness and urgency rarely seen in WWE with the cool story arc of Wyatt's beating Shield at their own game.

 

There were a couple of elements holding back the Wyatt match (the PPV one) for me. For one, I didn't think they capitalized on the high pre-match anticipation all that well. The crowd was so jacked for them to go at it and when they finally do, it ended up being relatively normal Shield trios match opening minutes stuff. It felt like that situation called for a more intense, big time opening rather what they went with. Felt likey the left some potential heat on the table with how they handled the opening. While the Shield were defacto faces and Rollins gave an excellent face performance, I preferred the more cut & dry heel/face structure of the Evolution match. I get that the point was to wrestle an even match because you had the two best teams going in the promotion going at it but I preferred the more traditional structure of the Evolution match slightly more. I am also not sure I saw the grittiness element, at least to that extent. It didn't feel substantially different in that regard than any other Shield match.

 

The Evolution match had the better heel/face dynamic. It was structured tighter and as you said, was a really well executed version of your WWE main event tags. The Shield were more established as faces by this point. The opening minutes where the Shield came out strong was a better opening in context than the opening of the Shield match for me. Evolution was good tagging in and out and keeping things moving during their period of control. The initial Shield comeback had as much energy to it as anything in the Wyatt Family match. They worked just as stiff and snug against one another as in the Wyatt Family match (at least Bautista and Triple H. Orton was still Orton). When the match broke down and they started brawling, I thought that was a really well executed WWE out-of-control style brawl that rivaled the best stuff from 1998/1999 when that particular style was at its height (particularly with the Rock/Austin stuff). There was less aimless wandering through the crowd than you usually get in those situations. They had a plan for that segment and executed it well.

 

I liked both matches a lot and this could easily be a case where I watch both back sometime this year and flip opinions, but that was my take. Regardless, both are great matches.

 

 

Overall, I feel like everything you said about Wyatt's match is what I would say about the Evolution match and vice versa.

 

I agree that when I first watched the Elimination Chamber match that besides the Ambrose match, I thought it started off a bit cold. However, when you really think about it, how many tag team matches in modern WWE actually stress how important cutting the ring off, maneuvering your opponent into the opposing corner and the use of all members of the team. Not many. Just because it is typical Shield. It is still pretty different than the rest of stuff out there. Also it establishes that this is the Shield's game plan: divide and conquer. This is mirrored in the ending when the Wyatts are able to beat the Shield at their own game and seize their torch as the top gang in town.

Now onto face & heel dynamics, I think you are selling Ambrose and Reigns short. Ambrose is a great scrappy face in peril and an awesome firebrand (I love the Ambrose Swarm). Reigns is a kick ass hot tag, I agree the match did not have the same cut & dry face & heel dynamics. I thought it was very 90s All Japan nature and I dig that. Luke Harper stepping on people's heads, clawing their eyes out and kicking people's head off is pretty damn gritty. Luke Harper's performance single-handedly crushed anything from Evolution. Then on top of that pretty much everything Dean Ambrose is just gritty. Watch the rematch on RAW to see them ratchet up the urgency and grit, but they lose a lot on story points.

 

I agree the Evolution had better cut and dry face and heel dynamics going into the match, but I fail to see what they did to really establish that Evolution were the heels. If I was not a fan of wrestling for the past 15 years and I watched that match I would have no idea who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. I know from watching a shit ton of wrestling that the people who beat people up for an extended time in the middle of a match are heels, but really what did Evolution do that was heelish. My main complaint was how sterile Evolution's heel work was. Compared against Luke Harper they are saints. They did not cheat. They were not really arrogant. They kinda got nasty, but Shield got nastier. They were lamer than the Shield so I guess that's a good reason to boo them. This is a problem I have in general with WWE. Besides Luke Harper, everybody is too scared to be a real heel. What really made me think it was lame was that there was no Shield full court press/havoc offense. It was not like Evolution had a plan to contain it. Shield just did not do it. The only reason this was not an average tag match was that they went big on the finish stretch and Ambrose crushed the face in peril segment.

 

I am being harsh on the Evolution match and I do think it was great, but to me the Wyatt match was excellent.

 

Loss, to your point about the ringside announce table, I understand it is your own personal hang up so I am not going to try argue against it broadly. But from a microscopic point of view, the ringside announce table spot was a MUST. The Shield debuted putting Ryback through the announce table. The Shield liberally used the announce table to execute their divide and conquer/havoc offensive strategy. The entire story was that the Wyatts had surpassed The Shield at their own game thus it was only fitting that Wyatts utilize the announce table to take out Rollins and effectively isolate Reigns just as the Shield had done so frequently before. When the Wyatts surrounded Reigns just as The Shield would, that's when I knew this would be my front-runner. I am a sucker for a great match story. Hands down that match was the best in-ring storytelling of the year by playing off the historical context of Shield matches, which WWE almost never does. Great, great stuff.

[stomperspc]

I agree with a lot of what you said about the Wyatt match. Lot of interesting points. I definitely will have to go back after some time as passed and revisit both. In both my viewings this year, the Evolution match just struck me a little more for the reasons listed. Both great matches though and WWE hasn't come close that sort of quality almost since then.

 

On another note, I am not going to redo the above list or anything but two matches I just watched would probably make the list had I waited a few days. Blue Panther & Ultimo Guerrero vs. Black Terry & Solar from 11/15 in Neza would probably slot in towards the end. Probably my favorite of the maestro matches from 2014. Also, people should check out Timothy Thatcher vs. Joe Graves from Premiere this past November (just went up on You Tube). I thought it was by far Thatcher's best performance although admittedly I am not as high on him as others. They go about 15-minutes with only a couple of instances where there is separation for an extended period of time. Good match work and submissions, along with a diverse, fun crowd that added to the action in several ways. Would probably be somewhere in my top 20.

[Dylan Waco]

Thatcher v. Graves is very good, but I thought it was a clear notch behind the best Thatcher matches of the year. I'd put it safely behind the AWO and FIP matches v. Gulak, the Evolve match v. Busick, the Sabre Jr. match from Evolve and the Beyond match with Greshem. Might also have it behind the Evolve match with Gulak, though I do think it's a bit better than the Busick match from Beyond even with the shitty non-finish. Still a strong match, that people should check out.

[stomperspc]

Thatcher v. Graves is very good, but I thought it was a clear notch behind the best Thatcher matches of the year. I'd put it safely behind the AWO and FIP matches v. Gulak, the Evolve match v. Busick, the Sabre Jr. match from Evolve and the Beyond match with Greshem. Might also have it behind the Evolve match with Gulak, though I do think it's a bit better than the Busick match from Beyond even with the shitty non-finish. Still a strong match, that people should check out.

 

At the risk of generalizing, I thought the match was worked in a noticeably different way than most other Thatcher matches. There was more of a give and take, fluid feel to it as opposed to more of a station to station working of holds. I'd definitely have the Sabre Jr. EVOLVE match ahead of this. I would need to watch it again to see if it was better than the Busick EVOLVE match that I thought was Thatcher's second best from 2014. I liked it better than the rest though. I thought the Graves match was more akin to the Oliver John match from Wrestling Cares last year stylistically which is more up my alley. A lot of it has to do with how they filled the space in between the holds/submissions in those matches (as well as the transitions) compared to many of his other matches.

 

Regardless, while it might come off like I am down on Thatcher I'm really not. I seek out his matches and I wouldn't do that if I didn't like him. I just think that more often than not, his matches do not necessarily deliver at the true elite level.

[pol]

I loved all the counters in that Thatcher/Graves match. Felt like a US version of maestros lucha at times.

[Shake Them Ropes]

My 2014 MOTY Top 10, as sent in to Voices of Wrestling for their MOTY Poll:

 

1) Brock Lesnar vs John Cena (WWE SummerSlam)

 

2) Tomohiro Ishii vs Tomoaki Honma (NJPW G1 Climax 24)

 

3) AJ Styles vs Chris Hero (ROH Flyin' High)

 

4) Young Bucks vs World's Cutest Tag Team (PWG Eleven)

 

5) Sami Zayn vs Cesaro (NXT arRIVAL)

 

6) Tetsuya Naito vs Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka)

 

7) AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki (NJPW G1 Climax 24)

 

8) Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville (NXT Takeover: [R]Evolution)

 

9) Ultimo Guerrero vs Atlantis (CMLL 81 Aniversário)

 

10) Adam Cole vs Zack Sabre Jr (PWG Battle of Los Angeles)