Best of WWE: 2011 - First Batch

The Miz vs. John Morrison – Falls Count Anywhere – Raw 1/3/2011

Morrison gets a shot at the title after ending 2010 on a strong note, and these two went out and had a great little match. They start brawling on the ramp: it's fairly pedestrian as neither guy is a great brawler and the big high spot off the WWE logo doesn't look to impressive. But it works fine enough, and back in the ring they have some neat exchanges that lead to Morrison hitting his springboard kick and his running knee, both of which look good. Riley breaks it up, so Morrison murders him. This opening segment worked better in theory than in execution: I like the idea of the brawl and of Morrison roughing up Riley to look like a badass, but Morrison is really erratic with his strikes, and this wasn't one of his better ass-kicking segments. Still, it leads to Miz making this awesome “Holy shit, he's scary” face before the commercial, and it sets up what comes after the break, which is all awesome. We've got a champ who's been booked extremely weak going against a red-hot babyface who happens to be his ex-partner, and this is really the Miz's first time all by himself with the title on the line. It makes the title seem truly at risk, which is difficult to do these days in a match on Raw. They come back from commercial on the outside with a dramatic exchange around a guard rail that leads to Morrison getting tossed onto it. That looked really good. Miz's facial expressions throughout are incredible: he conveys a sense of desperation, and it all seems genuine, which isn't always the case with him. Morrison looks tough for hanging in, and Miz looks tough for kicking out of Morrison's finisher, and the table spot really delivers. Felt like the whole match built toward that, and it was everything I wanted. Morrison staggering to his feet after nearly dying made him look tough but also solidified Miz's legitimacy by allowing him to win with his finisher rather than by a fluke table accident.

I guess this is something that I really dug in spite of its flaws. That's not to say it's a heavily-flawed match: it's still really good, but there are definitely problems that you'll see when you see it. Still, it was great for both guys and characters and did a lot of good for Miz as champion and for Morrison as a rising babyface.

Daniel Bryan & Mark Henry vs. Tyson Kidd & Ted Dibiase – Superstars 1/6/2011

Bunch of fun. Starts with some really cool exchanges between Bryan and Kidd, which left me wishing they decided to give those two a lengthy singles match at some point. Then Dibiase and Henry get a fun turn: Dibiase looks like a punk and tries to slap Henry, which leads to satisfaction. Bryan is a riot on the apron throughout all of this as he looks like a goofy guy who's genuinely having the time of his life and making bank. Bryan gets a good little FIP spell, and Henry does, too, and the finish itself is good except I'm not sure why Kidd pinned Bryan if they weren't giving him a US Title shot. I guess I heard the whole Hart Dynasty got in some sort of trouble, hence the burials.  

Big Show vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Cody Rhodes – Smackdown 1/7/2011

I can't think of many 4-ways better than this. Big Show gets to work like a true giant babyface monster, which he does perfectly. It helps that he has three magnificent heel bumpers to toss around. Beginning sees all of them trying to gang up on Show only to get tossed around like sacks of trash. All three of them were very good, but special credit goes to McIntyre, who tossed himself over the top rope and outside at least a half a dozen times, and he threw some great tantrums out there. Ziggler maybe took the best bump of the match in a spot where Show tossed both Ziggler and Rhodes over the top in the corner and Ziggler really whacked the apron on his way down. Psychologically-sound match, too as everyone seemed to work smart: the little guys tried to gang up on the big guy, which prompted the big guy to try to isolate someone to get a quick pin, which lead to the little guys breaking up pin attempts until they finally threw Show through the barricade. Barrett interference worked fine, and it set up a cool sequence where everyone tried to put Show away only for Show to keep tossing dudes until Ziggler finally came up with a smart plan. Also, props to both Show and Cody for making the Zig-Zag look better than in normally does. Also, it's a bit of a bummer than nowadays Ziggler looks like a goon who can't win the title even with his gf handing it to him, and Show got pinned by a clothesline followed by a DDT a little while back. Granted, it was a ZEKE clothesline, but still.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio – 2/3 Falls – Smackdown 1/7/2011

Plenty of intensity here as both guys put a lot into their strikes. I really dug the structure: Del Rio dodges a 619 early and locks in the cross armbreaker for a quick submission, which showed the familiarity between the two, put over the hold as a deadly finisher, showed intelligence on Rey's part as he avoided a serious injury, and set up the limb focus for the rest of the match. Del Rio constantly goes back to the arm and busts out some nifty counters, the most notable of which is essentially a Codebreaker to the arm, which looks great. He also goes for the cross armbreaker again in the second fall, only for Rey to counter by rolling through into a school boy for a fantastic near-fall, which then led to a fun sequence that resulted in Rey getting the second fall with one of the best-looking roll-ups I've seen in a while. Rey busts out some slick offense in this match, including a diving missile headbutt off the top rope. Set up for the finish was cool, and the finish was clever and would've been great to set up another match, a big-time blowoff. As it stands, we still haven't gotten that blowoff, which makes the finish to this a disappointing feud conclusion. But I'll still hold out hope for a resumption of the feud and a big PPV match, maybe at Mania, though I also want to see Cody/Rey in a match involving masks. Anyway, great little match. Maybe not as good as their best 2010 match (I suck at remembering dates), but still awesome.  

William Regal, Zack Ryder, & the Usos vs. DH Smith, Yoshi Tatsu, Primo, & Darren Young – Superstars 1/13/2011

I was kind of irritated when I first saw this and realized they gave the FIP segments to Smith and Young instead of Primo and Tatsu, but whatever. DH Smith had some fine leg selling, and Young has proven he's willing to eat a bunch of nasty shit. Basically, this is a bunch of fun. Primo usually works heel, so it was refreshing to see him clean house as a babyface because I like him a fair bit. Smith rocks when he's busting out big power moves and tossing dudes for no reason. He should start eating clotheslines like a madman and landing on his head and barking like a dog. Young's FIP spell is better and he really leans into everything. Regal rocks because he's Regal, and Ryder is pretty good. Fortunately, the Usos don't do much, and unfortunately, Tatsu doesn't do much. Awesome chaos at the finish.

CM Punk vs. John Cena – Raw 1/17/2011

Man, this felt like a huge match. Crowd was totally electric. Start is awesome as Cena cuts through all the bullshit and wallops Punk, throwing a bunch of awesome body shots and other punches. Punk's facial expressions are awesome here, as he looks totally taken aback. Then Punk takes control and looks like a legit ass-kicker. Don't want to talk about strictly the spots, but there were a bunch of awesome ones: Cena powers out of Punk's figure-four headlock only to have Punk counter and hit a DDT; Punk busts out a Koji Clutch, which allows Cena to show off some awesome nearly-passing-out selling; Cena counters the GTS into an STF; they battle it out on the corner and Cena headbutts Punk to set up his leg drop spot, which leads to the best near-fall of the year, on a move that he's never won with. Awesome. Finish leaves a bit to be desired, but this was a great match. They showed a lot of stuff we'd never seen before yet left me thinking they have much, much better matches in them, and I desperately want to see those matches.

Tyson Kidd vs. Yoshi Tatsu – Superstars 1/20/2011

I like Tatsu a lot. Not entirely sold on Kidd, but he does a lot of things well and is athletically gifted. They get in some fun exchanges early, and they establish characters: Kidd taunts and grins and looks like a douche; Tatsu puts his hands up and looks like a fighter, all heart. Kidd's shtick will likely divide some, but I'm fine with it. I guess I dig how he busts out athletic spots and then taunts and wears this face that says he's doing it just because he can and he's an ass. Really awesome transition spot before the break as Kidd catches a Tatsu kick from the apron and hits a dragon screw over the ropes. After the break, Kidd goes to town on Tatsu's knee, wrenching and yelling and twisting. Tatsu sells his ass off. Really inspired performance. He hits a spinning kick to the gut with his good leg and then collapses on his bad leg. He hits a northern lights suplex but can't bridge on one leg and loses the pin. Awesome stuff, and an awesome out-of-nowhere finish. Fantastic match that seems to have been slept on a bit.

Daniel Bryan vs. Ted Dibiase – NXT 1/25/2011

Haven't seen any recent NXT stuff other than this, but evidently, they're doing a bunch of whacky camera angle stuff, and Josh Mathews doesn't care much about the matches, and the other pros sit by the entrance area with microphones and talk the whole time. Add to that that Dibiase isn't great, and Bryan has a mountain to climb in this one. He succeeds and has a very good match that opens with fine mat work. Bryan wrenches on Dibiase's arm and it looks good, but we don't see much of it because Mathews is trying to hit on Maryse at ringside. Match takes off when Dibiase starts to work over Bryan's neck. Bryan's selling is top notch, with a couple awesome moments, including a spot where he hits his running elbow and then sells the neck after landing on it. He does the same after hitting his missile dropkick, and then he goes for a pin rather than kipping up. Some really fun sequences down the stretch, and a fairly cool finish.

CM Punk vs. John Cena – Raw 2/14/2011

Not as good as their first match this year, but still a lot to like. “There must be a winner,” so Punk looks focused, and Cena laughs at him early on and then misses a charge and goes shoulder-first into the buckle. They didn't bust out as much cool stuff as in their first match, but I liked how far this match went to establish Punk as a legit guy. He really took it to Cena, and his facial expressions were great as he struggled and clawed to put Cena away. Of course Cena looked tough in hanging in there, and he got in some impressive power spots. I liked the finish quite a bit: Punk cheated and won, but the match still legitimized him and made him look strong and intelligent. Very good little match. Their 2/7 match is much shorter and not really a complete match, but I dug it for what it was and would consider it worth tracking down.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan – Raw 2/14/2011

Not on the level of their NoC 2010 match, but this was still fantastic. Opening wasn't spectacular, but I liked how the Miz silenced a pro-Bryan crowd with a nasty shoulder block. One awkward spot that clearly didn't go as planned, but they recovered quickly and moved to some awesome stuff on the outside, including a great running knee off the apron and onto the floor by Bryan. Plus, there was a fantastic neckbreaker spot on the apron that looked totally devastating, and Bryan ate it like a champ. Everything after the break was great: bunches of awesome near-falls, a bunch of awesome kicks from Bryan, good facial expressions from both guys, good woozy selling from Bryan near the finish. The whole finishing stretch was about as good as their NoC match, frankly, but this didn't have the awesome limb work in the first half to set up the awesome selling down the stretch.  

Best of WWE: 2011: THE LIST