2017 MOTY Yes/No Thread

[KawadaSmile]

Hell yes to the Summerslam main event. So far it is the WWE MOTY, where every single guy had time to shine, even if Braun did stand out - deservedly so.

[SmartMark15]

So much YES to Lesnar/Strowman/Joe/Reigns. Car wreck in the best way, a real testament to how over and talented all four of these guys are. What a showing from Strowman. Standing by my statement that he's a real dark horse for wrestler of the year. What an amazing match.

[cm funk]

YES to Naito-Omega G1 Finals. ***** and my favorite match of the year so far

[Mad Dog]

Yes to the Summerslam main event.

 

Nominating:

 

Asuka vs. Ember Moon (NXT Takeover: Brookyln III 8/19/2017)

[GOTNW]

I urge everyone to post as much information about a match as they can. This is the format I use for the first post (I'm gonna include this in next years first post and maybe edit it in this year's too):

 

promotion/region/category

wrestler 1 vs wrestler 2 (promotion/show name (depending on whether a promotion has its own category) date in american style (year is redundant)

 

 

wrestler 1 is the higher ranked one before the match, don't let your subconsciousness take over and make you post the winner of the match first

wrestler 2 is consequently the lower ranked one

 

I'm not going to be a dick and pretend I'm dumb enough not to know to cagematch a match and find the date, but I'd be nice of you to save me some time since I update everything. Thank you in advance.

[SmartMark15]

I urge everyone to post as much information about a match as they can. This is the format I use for the first post (I'm gonna include this in next years first post and maybe edit it in this year's too):

 

promotion/region/category

wrestler 1 vs wrestler 2 (promotion/show name (depending on whether a promotion has its own category) date in american style (year is redundant)

 

 

wrestler 1 is the higher ranked one before the match, don't let your subconsciousness take over and make you post the winner of the match first

wrestler 2 is consequently the lower ranked one

 

I'm not going to be a dick and pretend I'm dumb enough not to know to cagematch a match and find the date, but I'd be nice of you to save me some time since I update everything. Thank you in advance.

Will do! Thanks for the heads up.

[Jmare007]

Nominating

Strong BJ vs Naoya Nomura & KAI - All Japan World Tag Titles 8/27/17

Welp, they did it again. This was the Nomura showcase in a Strong BJ formula match, and of course it works like a charm. Fun shine segment with Naoya and KAI getting the upperhand over the two beasts before the young kid gets pummeled by Daisuke, from then on we got the always awesome "small team tries to come back against Sekimoto & Okabayashi" comeback story, with Nomura being the stand out, showing great fire and good offense while a really good Sumo Hall crowd rallies behind him. This had dope spots and nearfalls and kept building drama until the final fall. Fucking awesome tag match, what a year for Strong BJ, best fucking tag team in the world.


Shuji Ishikawa vs Kento Miyahara - Triple Crown match 8/27/17

Match of the year? At least is in the discussion for me. This was a fucking battle for survival, with Shuji doing an awesome job at being the dominant champ and Kento being an outstanding underdog Ace. Better than their match from May, mainly because the first half was way more compelling and fun to watch. Miyahara's selling was fucking great, it made you think "how the hell is he going to overcome this" all match long while at the same time doing enough to give you hope that there was still a chance. Sumo Hall was game for this, specially a lady that sat near the commentary booth who screamed during the whole damn match for her beloved Kento (a lot of women in the crowd and they were the ones starting the chants for the young Ace). This was so good it had the first suplex trading spot I've liked in more than a decade - it fit the story and it was only one move instead of three or four - and a one count kick out that had me thinking "it kinda makes sense". The finish might be the weakest part of this whole thing as it felt a little out of nowhere withing the context of the match, I thought it need one more bomb before the three count. But all in all this was fucking great, go watch this as Miyahara once again shows us you can have an incredible match in a reasonable amount of time (25 minutes). Fuck what you heard, Kento is my performer of the year.

[Boss Rock]

Yes on Ishikawa-Miyahara. Thought it was a step above their previous encounter and a great David vs. Goliath story. There was a bit too much no-selling on the suplex trading and the fact that Ishikawa couldn't put Kento away with three finishers seemed a bit excessive, but Miyahara did a tremendous job selling the accumulated damage and looking all sorts of resilient. An almost perfect match for Miyahara, a guy who I've come to like a lot, to reclaim the title.

[Richeyedwards]

Yes to kento Vs ishikawa ajpw 27/8/17

 

My thoughts from the match thread:

 

Kento Miyahara and shuji ishikawa are my two favourite wrestlers in the world and ajpw is my all time favourite promotion and there was a really hot crowd. So pretty much this match was made for me. I do not expect anyone else to be as high as me on this match.

 

The story for me here was that shuji was going to do what he always does and just brutalise the back and neck of kento in order to set up for his big moves. While kento did not really have a plan outside of just survive.

 

He came out fireing throwing a ton of kicks and tossing ishikawa into the barricades. But shuji takes over with a avoiding a kento dive from the apron and kento landed neck first on the guardrail not unlike misawa in the match 2003 kobashi match. From here shuji targeted the neck with neck holds and even a fire thunder driver on the apron. All through this kento sold like death and it was amazing. After this control segemnts kento made the first of many quick comeback attempts some of which worked but most failed. When he did take back over is where my one criticism of the match came in I think he got back a little to easy without taking a long enough time to get back in with his comeback.

 

They move into a sintilating finishing stretch with an amazing strike exchange that had no parity like when someone like okada does it and has shit strikes, here kento has decent strikes but is completely outclassed by shuji so while he is hitting as many strikes as shuji his are not hurting the monster. It is brutal stiff with shuji just murdering the young ace with elbows and knees lifts a contrast to kento's more elaborate knee strikes.

 

The big moves and kickouts were hot without ever going into the realm of excess, yes there are big kickouts from kento but he is the ace in the biggest match of the year so if there is a time for several big move kickouts it is here. I have seen that some people are annoyed at the finish and that kento did not hit shuji with enough moves and that it was a bit flat. While I do see that opinion as I thought shuji was going to kickout of the shutdown German. But I don't think it was terrible that he did not kickout. I didn't really mind a very minor knitpick at worst.

 

I really loved this match the timing was excellent as was the vast majority of the selling and the transitions made sense (with the one time kento came back to fast) and it was not just your turn my turn. ****3/4 my match of the year so far and the only match this year when even the thought of ***** has entered my mind.

 

 

Nomura Kai Vs strong bj ajpw 27/8/17- yes

 

This was a very strong tag title match to compliment last year's hoss title match. Here it was the case of strong bj being far more experienced as a team while Nomura and kai, a team of guys who lost their tag partners who have barely teamed just desperatly throwing themselves at the mounds of muscle that is strong bj.

 

Nomura in particular was spectacular in this match and was really his commingled out party and made him a star and in one match went from a guy just out of young boy status to kouraken triple crown challenger.

 

The big bombs and brilliant performances in the ending sequence between Yuji and Nomura make up for the fairly dull 5 mins in the early to mid match. ****1/4 one of the tag matches of the year along with twin towers Vs strong bj.

[joeg]

YES-

Lesnar vs Stroman vs Reigns vs Joe Summerslam

 

A 4 way match that featured Lesnar as a babyface in peril? I'm in. Everybody in the match came out looking stronger that they went in. Which is rare for a WWE match, where the status quo is guys usually come out looking weaker.

 

No-

 

Shuji Ishikawa vs Kento Miyahara 8/27

 

The suplex trading spot, some of the over the top aspects took me out of it. I may give it another shot.

 

 

Nominating-

 

Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler Mae Young Invitation Finals 9/12

 

Loved this. Kairi comes in with the dinged up elbow against somebody capable of ripping her arm off. Baszler's ribs get dinged up. They tell a simple story with great limb work and athletic spots that play into the finish without doing anything crazy or dangerous.

[joeg]

Nominating-

Dr Wagner Jr vs Psycho Clown Mask vs Mask 8/26 Triplemania 25

 

Loved this. This is a good ol apustas match. Plenty of emotion, brawling, big dramatic near falls. Lots of blood, mask ripping, etc. Dramatic post match. Great stuff.

[SmartMark15]

YES to:

 

LA Park vs. Rush (Baracal Entertainment 3/11)

 

Great stuff. The brawling was a little iffy for me to start but when it picks up, it picks up. As soon as Park tossed the box of beers at Rush though, I was in all the way. Stabbing Rush with the broken bottle, the attempts at a chair shot, and even all the interference goodness. I thought they upped the stakes on and on with the match and then the pure ridiculousness of the finish. Now, I'm not a fan of lucha and apparently this is a normal thing, but that ridiculous finish actually added to the match for me just for pure entertainment's sake. Loved this.

****1/2

[SmartMark15]

YES to

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kento Miyahara (AJPW 8/27)

Went into this totally cold as I knew very little about both men and by the end of it, they had me completely marking out. Loved Ishikawa as just a badass hoss knocking down Miyahara at every turn with brutal strikes and big throws. The Fire Thunder on the apron got me completely marking out and the match gets incredibly intense and high stakes from there. I enjoyed Miyahara's fiery comebacks but I especially loved that Ishikawa was more than capable of stopping him in his tracks when necessary. Both guys sold really well for what was needed in the match. Going to agree with others who thought the finish seemed a bit abrupt but it still came at the end of an incredibly hot stretch of action so I'm willing to forgive it.

****1/2

[Boss Rock]

Nominating: Kento Miyahara vs. Suwama (AJPW 10/9)

 

Great bomb-throwing title match. Suwama starts working the knee of Kento early to take away his mobility and running knee (he even kicks his knee out to avoid the deadlift German). Kento responds in kind by going after Suwama's knee and we eventually get to a crazy bomb-throwing stretch. Kento is super resilient and keeps Suwama offguard with his speed only for Suwama to cut him off with a huge strike or clothesline. It ultimately comes down to who has a deeper tank and can land the bigger blow. Only issues with this match are that Kento is still able to hit the running knee despite Suwama working it over early and the fighting spirit spots (Kento is basically immune to German suplexes). But other than those, really great selling by both men.

 

****3/4.

[joeg]

YES to

Miyahara vs Suwama 10/9

 

Really enjoyed this. the limb work set up some great stuff as it limited Miyahara's mobility (and he's all about pinballing around) and it took away or limited parts of his offense such as the bicycle kick and the running knee. Miyahara is awesome at fighting from underneath, there sort of is this Miyahara match formula that I enjoy, it involves big bombs and fighting from underneath and a bomb filled yet not over the top closing stretch. The finish caught me by surprise also.

[SmartMark15]

NOMINATING:

Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles - WWE 11/19

This was fucking awesome. Opens up with one of the best Lesnar heat segments in a long, long time with AJ Styles bumping around like an absolute idiot to make Brock look even more dominant than he already does. It's been a really long time since I saw Brock use the belly-to-belly and AJ made it look absolutely insanely devastating. The first half of the match was really an absolute masterclass in bumping and selling from AJ Styles. He really kept the energy of the match up even when just selling down on the mat.

The crowd was hot enough and AJ credible enough that he became an actually believable babyface to pit against Brock Lesnar. For the first time in a long while we had a babyface who could sell and was over going up against Brock and that might have been one of the missing components to his recent matches. Every time AJ tried to find an opening, I could feel myself firing up and the need to see him succeed only grew as the match went on longer. When he finally created an opening by going after Brock's leg, I was losing it.

The simple structure of it and the effectiveness of the transition made all of AJ's offense after that incredibly believable. It also helps that AJ was smart enough to stay on that knee, driving Lesnar into the steel steps to add more money in the bank. The One-F5-Killer looms over the match such that whenever Brock has AJ up on the shoulders, there's actual tension and an expectation for the match to end which only makes it even more satisfying for AJ to counter it. It's been talked about a lot but, yes, the Calf Crusher escape was fucking brilliant. But it can not be understated how well Brock sold the move itself, creating an intensity and even a bit of doubt to it. Hell, Brock's leg selling was pretty much on point for the whole match.

The nearfalls were simple, exciting, and not overdone. And the match ended at a really good time. My rating for now is a tentative one, I see it might have the potential to grow as my original rating for the Lesnar-Cena Extreme Rules match might.

****1/2