Thoughts On Wrestling: A Blog on Wrestling: February 2011

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Best of WWE 2011 - Elimination Chamber

ADDED: #8

Edge vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Wade Barrett vs. Kane vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Big Show – Elimination Chamber 2/20/2011

I seem to have liked this less than most, but I agree with most of the praise it has received. Rey turned in an amazing performance. Not on par with what he did on the Raw chamber in 09, but not many performances are even close to that. He pinballed around and ate the nastiest things and took lawn dart bumps like it was his job or something. Barrett was fine and had some good stuff; Kane was surprisingly good and threw a bunch of uppercuts. Drew McIntyre had an awesome run when he first came in. Totally murdered Rey and everyone else. Show destroyed Barrett and looked like a beast. I appreciated the booking, which made him look like a giant by having him eat a million finishers before getting eliminated. But the whole thing felt a tad contrived, perhaps because Rey telegraphed it by climbing the pod so early, perhaps because it went on for so long. Granted, it needed that length to give him the giant booking he deserves, but whatever. I also didn't like the decision to give Kane the monster push. He looked fine in getting 2 straight eliminations, but really, why not give that push to McIntyre, who is actually good and has a future? I try to judge matches based on performances rather than booking, but that decision really bothered me, and the match would've been better with more of McIntyre murdering people. His ass-kicking section felt too short. Biggest problems with the match, though, revolved around Edge. He opened the match with Rey and looked fine, except he was a top babyface throwing a long-time friend (Cole even mentioned their friendship later in the match) into the grating and the glass and shoving him under the rope and across the grating into the glass. After that spot, Barrett threw Rey back into the ring rather than torturing him out there, which also didn't make sense. I don't want that to sound like a “babyfaces should play nice” argument, but I had problems with the whole thing. They try to put the chamber over as a career-threatening structure, and then they let one of their good guys-- the top good guy on the show, in fact-- go out there and try to maim an old friend. Throughout Edge's babyface run, he really hasn't spent much time in the moral right and hasn't been a likeable character. Other problem with the match was the finishing run. Folks have praised it, and I'd agree that Rey looked great and made Edge look great, which is no small feat. But it was far too your turn/my turn for my liking, and it went on for quite some time. I dug the drama on the first watch, but on the second, it felt like two guys doing cool stuff for 7 minutes, and whatever to that. So a bit of a mixed bag but more good than bad, and the good was really great.

ADDED: #1

The Miz vs. Jerry Lawler – Elimination Chamber 2/20/2011

Tons of emotion and drama, and great storytelling. Lawler looked amazing. I loved how he went for roll-ups early. He also took a fantastic bump into the ring post. His facial expressions and punches ruled. And Miz more than hold up his end of the bargain, with good facial expressions, bumping, and control stuff. Everything around the ring was great, too, from Riley's interferences to his ejections, to Lawler throwing Miz into Cole, to Booker's reaction to Cole getting smashed, to Cole's reaction to Miz's win. Plus, Lawler hit this great superplex where he turned a bit and made it look like a falcon arrow. And his counter to Miz's first Skull-Crushing Finale attempt ruled. And his fist drop spot was awesome. He dropped the strap before he hit it: amazing. And he forgot to hook the leg, so Miz got the rope, and Lawler's reaction was great. The final near-fall-- a back body drop countered into a sunset flip-- was a truly great moment, and I actually thought Lawler might win. Really dug the finish, too, as it was decisive but allowed us to believe in Lawler, at least for a while. I liked how quickly Miz got up and hit that boot, which looked good. Kinda gave the impression that the younger guy simply out-lasted the veteran: Lawler seemed to be running out of gas at the end, and though he was smart and well-prepared and determined throughout the match, he just didn't have enough to beat a guy half his age.

ADDED: #3

John Morrison vs. Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. R-Truth – Elimination Chamber 2/20/2011

Thought this was the better of the two chambers, though I seem to be in the minority. The main criticism has been that the opening stretches were pedestrian, and I'd agree with that. I thought the opening of the SD chamber was offensive, though, and I'd take “pedestrian” over “offensive.” Morrison and Sheamus's exchanges were fine, and the addition of Orton didn't hurt anything. Punk was probably the best guy even in this section of the match, as his faces were truly outstanding. The whole restart business with Punk was amazingly well done. Totally not something I'd expect to work, but they did it really well. I was gutted and pissed after the quick elimination, and then the GM alert made me smile. Sheamus jumping Cena before Cena could get going was really great. Sheamus rocked throughout here. Didn't deliver a compact and perfect ass-kicking segment like McIntyre, but he got more time and did more and looked great throughout, and he took some great stuff on the steel, including an awesome hip toss from Truth. Truth didn't need to be there, and I think they knew that and got him out quickly. His dodging of Sheamus was cool, and his flurry looked fine, and he allowed Sheamus to hit a nasty nasty brogue kick. Awesome. Punk then came in and his elimination of Orton was great. He also mocked Orton. Duh, that rocked. Like, a lot. Also liked Cena eating on RKO on the steel. I'm not a fan of dudes fading out of these types of matches for a long time, but if you have to do it, use a spot like that. I thought the pod spot with Morrison/Sheamus was good. I would've liked the payoff to deliver more impact, but it was plenty dramatic and dangerous. The finishing three stuff was amazing. Punk ruled, thoroughly, and Morrison proved that it was a perfect scenario for him to bust out cool stuff. He busted up his own knee taking chances and then sold his ass off. Cena didn't do anything great but looked good enough. I was hoping for a bigger Cena/Punk showdown at the end, but they kept Morrison around and he looked great, so it worked out.

ADDED: #12

John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Edge, R-Truth, Randy Orton, & John Morrison vs. Sheamus, CM Punk, Kane, Wade Barrett, Drew McIntyre, & Dolph Ziggler – Smackdown 2/18/2011

Big tag match to build toward the two elimination chamber matches. Should've been mostly forgettable: opening stuff was fine and Morrison worked a solid FIP spell, but nothing spectacular. But Punk and Rey were both so amazing here. Punk's role wasn't huge, but when he was in, he looked like an ass-kicker, and his exchanges with Rey were stellar, and he mocked guys. Punk mocking guys might be the best thing in pro wrestling right now. Acting like he was crying at Morrison after spraying Morrison in the eyes with mace a couple weeks earlier: brilliant. And Rey had a really good FIP segment, bumping around and taking his face-first slide to the outside and onto Punk's knee. Finishing stretch was typical WWE finisher-fest stuff, but I always have fun with those things, and this had two standout moments with Truth taking a dramatic bump off a Barrett black hole slam and Ziggler taking a preposterous bump off an Edge spear. Bunch of fun.

Best of WWE: 2011: THE LIST

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Best of WWE: 2011

Right. I intended to do something like this last year but got a late start and never recovered. Basically, my goal is to keep a running list of the best matches WWE runs this year, with links to the blog post where I talk about all those matches. There'll probably be multiple matches in each post, so if you click the link to Punk/Cena to find me rambling about Miz/Morrison, don't worry: you didn't do anything wrong, and I'd never do anything wrong.

Starting to get rolling with this for real. Going to drop it to a top 25 for now, though as I watch more that I want to keep listed, I might expand to a top 40 or something. Everything the slides off I'll drop into a pile called THE REST, which will basically be a bunch of matches, listed chronologically, that I'd call worth seeing, either because of high quality or surprising quality, as is the case with Striker/Young from NXT 8/9.

THE REST:

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