2013 WWE Matches *contains SPOILERS*

[Psycho666Soldier]

Alright, the new year is upon us, and I'd say we have quite some candidates to induct already. With Rock vs. Punk and a very potentially epic Royal Rumble right around the corner, we might as well get this baby started.

For those that don't know the rules: it's pretty simple. Any one of us nominates a match that has taken place this year. Feel free to back up your nomination with reasons why you liked it, why you think it's one of the standout matches of the year, grades, etc., but you're not required to do any of that. It just helps your(and the match's) case. Once a match has been nominated, any poster can come in here and vote YES or NO as to whether they think it's worth making the list. I'll keep a running tally, matches with 5+ points being italicized and those with 10+ being bold. At the end of the year, we'll use the list as a reference for a Top 25 list.

Speaking of which, do not forget to send your Top 25 lists in the thread for 2012 --> http://forums.rajah.com/showthread.php?146115-WWE-s-Best-Matches-of-2012

Now to get this thing rolling, I have two nominations:

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena from RAW 1/7/13

This match was greatness from top to bottom. Whenever Cena and Ziggler mix it up on TV, it tends to produce magic, and this was no different. The spots and sells made this match feel more important than it actually was, and the crowd seemed to actually give a fuck for once, which is always a plus. The only thing that hurts this match for me was the finish did feel like a defeated point. I feel there would have been more impact had Big E's finishing move actually laid Cena out for a pin. I understand it took forever before a ref could come in, but it seems they could have chosen another route. Ziggler still came out looking strong, both men played their roles to perfection, and there at least was a lot of suspense and drama, but the odd finish keeps this match from being damn-near perfect. Still worth a watch.

Grade: B

CM Punk vs. The Ryback from RAW 1/7/13

This match is a treat. Punk and The Ryback seemed to finally come together for a truly well-orchestrated match, and it paid off well. The crowd dug it, Ryback sold decent(though it seemed odd when he sort of forgot about his leg pain once he stood up. I felt he should have sold that at least for a few seconds before beasting through), and the offense from both was wicked. The running knee over the steel steps was precise, and it looked sharp. Ryback tossing Punk onto the inside of an open ladder was insane. Mostly, Punk put this match over with his mannerisms, which as a heel, he does terrifically. I did absolutely love the Powerbomb through the table onto the steel steps from The Shield, though, and how they've built them as unstoppable when together just makes this storyline all the more effective. Not to mention the image of Punk on top of the ladder with the belt in his mouth is hysterical.

Grade: A-


So get nominating and YESing!

Complete List:

January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (8 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/11) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, MAIN EVENT (2/13) - (2 Yes, 0 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 1 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. John Cena, Ryback, & Sheamus, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
The Rock vs. CM Punk, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 2 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. Ryback, Chris Jericho, & Sheamus, RAW (2/18) - (10 Yes, 1 No)
John Cena vs. CM Punk, RAW (2/25) - (19 Yes, 0 No)

March

Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz, SMACKDOWN (3/1) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (3/11) - (1 Yes, 2 No)
Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (3/18) - (1 Yes, 2 No)
CM Punk vs. The Undertaker, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (1 Yes, 6 No)
The Rock vs. John Cena, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (2 Yes, 3 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (4/8) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
William Regal vs. Kassius Ohno, NXT (4/10) - (5 Yes, 1 No)


+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated April 17th, 2013 at 18:12 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[takerson]

Fully agree with your whole assessment of both matches. YES and YES.

[Chris Scott]

I'll go yay to both matches.

[takerson]

I'd like to nominate Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston from the 1/9 episode of NXT. It felt big. Had lots of twists and craziness. Was awesome.

[mth]

I'd definitely YES Cena/Zigs and Punk/Ryback. Especially Punk/Ryback, that match was excellent.

[Psycho666Soldier]

I'll unfortunately have to NO the Rollins/Langston match. It was really enjoyable, but with it only being around 10 minutes, it felt like it didn't have time to develop like it truly should have. At least 5 more minutes would have been nice. Still a very good match, i'd give a B-, which for me is just outside of the range of what I'd qualify for the list.


January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 0 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 0 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (1 Yes, 1 No)

+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated January 11, 2013 at 21:46 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[Badger]

Nominating and Yessing Show/Del Rio Last Man Standing from Smackdown. Great match with a nice ending plus having a hot crowd helped.

[Kdestiny]

Yes to Punk/Ryback. They utilized Ryback perfectly, it wasn't a complete gem, but they made a good story.

i have to say no to Cena/Ziggler. The kicking out of all of Ziggler's big move revealed the finish to me. If they would've let Ziggler kick out of the AA then we may have a different story, but that just pissed me off. I know I may get railed for it, but that is my opinion.

[Badger]

NO to Cena/Ziggler for the same reasons.

Also I'm going to NO Punk/Ryback. It was a fun match and all, but all I could think of was when the Shield would interfere.

[Kdestiny]

I guess that is a good point, I should've expected that too

[Chris Scott]

Yes to Show/Del Rio, was a very good match with a hot crowd for a Smackdown. Made the match have that big time feel about it.

[takerson]

Yep. YES to Del Rio/Show.

NOMINATING & YESSING Antonio Cesaro vs. Randy Orton from this past week's Main Event. Incredible battle, hurt only by the ending.

I'll go ahead and NOMINATE and YES the rematch on tonight's RAW as well. Not QUITE as good, but still very good with a good finish this time.

[Psycho666Soldier]

I'm gonna go ahead and YES Del Rio/Show. I was somewhat on the fence for actually voting the match, but it really did make for an great story, and the finish was imaginative. Grade: B

I'll say FUCK YES to Cesaro/Orton. I was planning to nominate it some time tonight, but takey beat me to it. It's one of those chemistries that is immediately apparent. They both have a similar build, which adds an extra dimension to the fact that they work styles that complement each other well. I was hoping for a bit more acknowledgement of the fact that they both regularly use the European Uppercut, though. Biggest issue with the match is the finish left it undecisive, but even so, the finish played into the angles going on, and allowed Cesaro to get a cheap shot on Miz in the end. Grade: B


I'll unfortunately have to NO the Rollins/Langston match. It was really enjoyable, but with it only being around 10 minutes, it felt like it didn't have time to develop like it truly should have. At least 5 more minutes would have been nice. Still a very good match, i'd give a B-, which for me is just outside of the range of what I'd qualify for the list.


January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 2 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 1 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (1 Yes, 1 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (4 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 0 No)

+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated January 21, 2013 at 21:36 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[takerson]

What about the rematch on Raw as well?

[Tainted Eclipse]

both orton/cesaro - NO.

i love cesaro and love the fact that he got an extended competitive match with a guy like randy orton, but it was a decently worked and fun mid card match and not much more i think. although some of the stuff towards the end got pretty good, too much of it was "random competitive midcard match #238210" for me to have too many good vibes about it when it was over. nothing too special. maybe i need to rewatch it. the main event match that is. the RAW one was just nothing much.

[Psycho666Soldier]

What about the rematch on Raw as well?

I had missed the edit, unless that was part of the post originally and I just barely missed it by not scrolling down.

I'll have to say NO. It was still a fun match, and actually had a decisive finish, but with less time and a bit more laziness from Orton, and even Cesaro, it didn't really compare to the Main Event match. I hope not to see them wrestle again other than in the Rumble and in a PPV bout, before they go the way of Ziggler/Sheamus(still great but a bit played out). Grade: C+[/b}

[B]January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 2 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 1 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (1 Yes, 1 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (4 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 2 No)

+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated January 21, 2013 at 22:28 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[Kdestiny]

Yes to Del Rio/Show LMS. Great match to watch and the electric crowd added to it. Great PPV match on free tv

[Psycho666Soldier]

First italicized match!

January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 2 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 1 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (1 Yes, 1 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (5 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 2 No)

+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated January 21, 2013 at 22:30 (after kdestiny)

[Kdestiny]

I will have to watch the nxt and the other match from Main Event but the Cesaro/Orton match from tonight gets a no from me because it seemed to drag too much to really get me into it

[takerson]

Can't believe it hasn't been done yet. Going to NOMINATE and YES.....

EVERY MATCH ON THE 2013 ROYAL RUMBLE PPV CARD.

Fantastic PPV. EVERY MATCH delivered and then some.

Last Man Standing Match
World Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show

Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes

The 2013 Royal Rumble Match

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. The Rock

[Vice]

Last Man Standing Match
World Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show - NO

Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes - NO

The 2013 Royal Rumble Match - YES

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. The Rock - NO

[takerson]

http://www.abload.de/img/bryannolnekf.gif

[Psycho666Soldier]

I'm finding it hard to YES anything from last night. I really want to YES the Rumble. I'm contemplating the Rock/Punk match....I just hate a lot about last night.

[Brian M.]

YES to Big Show VS Del Rio and the Rumble match itself. Big Show/Alberto played off of their first match and added some nice spots that I haven't seen before in a Last Man Standing match. Yes, the ending was borrowed from a match a few years ago but it fit the storyline just fine. The Rumble match itself was one of the best in recent years. Great surprises, a good pace, never boring, and for the most part the right guys got to shine.

NO to Rock VS Punk and the tag title match. Tag match was nothing bad, just seemed like an average top of the hour Smackdown match more than anything special, which was disappointing given the guys involved. In regards to Rock VS Punk, while I enjoyed the match very much and I think the guys put on a great story, I was put off by how terrible Rock looked in the ring. The guy is completely built for show at this point, and he had a hard time even getting up for a lot of Punk's moves. The thing that saved him is that he's still one of the best sellers in the business. But his general performance was subpar and thus I can't give this match a yes. Close though.

[takerson]

I'm finding it hard to YES anything from last night. I really want to YES the Rumble. I'm contemplating the Rock/Punk match....I just hate a lot about last night.

But there was SO much more to love than hate. The show was so good I was fucking JITTERING after it was over.

[Psycho666Soldier]

The Cena Rumble win killed everything for me. In all honesty it's killing my motivation to watch wrestling in general.

[takerson]

Awe c'mon. That's silly. I wasn't too happy with his win either but the ROAD to the win was so fucking good. It's all about the ride, not necessarily where it stops.

[Psycho666Soldier]

Most of the time, I'd agree, but...I dunno, with Cena/Rock and

RAW Spoiler:
Lesnar/HHH now most likely happening,

the only things keeping me interested are Ziggler/Jericho, Cesaro, and Bryan if they do something good with him. I know it's only been one week, but so far...I'm not looking forward to what's coming up. I know it's dumb, but it's killing my personal enjoyment.

[OD50]

Last Man Standing Match
World Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show - NO

Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes - NO

The 2013 Royal Rumble Match - Hell NO

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. The Rock - NO

[OD50]

The Cena Rumble win killed everything for me. In all honesty it's killing my motivation to watch wrestling in general.

For sure. But did anyone really expect anything else? I knew Rock/Cena II was coming months ago. Cena winning the Rumble and Rock beating Punk was the easiest way to snake around the 'once in a lifetime' tag from last years mania. Kind of like how Lex Luger got another shot at Yokozuna despite signing a contract that said he could never, ever wrestle Yoko for the WWF title again if he didn't win it at SummerSlam..

I thought the Rumble match was really poorly planned and worked. The final three bit was craptacular and the actual finish looked like shit.

[The Rogerer]

Kill the World Championship

[takerson]

My stance on the Rock/Cena thing is this article... I agree 200% with it...
http://papashangoislate.tumblr.com/post/41704501076/papa-shango-is-late-handles-your-crappy-arguments

Also, any reservations I may have with it didn't bother me as much as I was pretty much prepared for/expected this exact scenario. All I know is Punk/Rock was exciting and felt big, and Rock/Punk II at EC should be great too.

[Cewsh]

The Cena Rumble win killed everything for me. In all honesty it's killing my motivation to watch wrestling in general.

Including non-WWE stuff?


Last Man Standing Match
World Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show - NO

Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes - NO

The 2013 Royal Rumble Match - YES

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. The Rock - NO

YES, NO, I DON'T COUNT RUMBLES, YES.

[Psycho666Soldier]

Including non-WWE stuff?

Probably. ROH is blah right now, CWFH isn't enough, TNA blows. The only reasons I'd stick with wrestling would be for NJPW and/or CHIKARA. Though, I guess it'd be a good time to check out SHIMMER.

We'll see.

[Cewsh]

SHIMMER

[mth]

YES to ADR/Show's LMS from the Rumble.

NO to everything else from the Rumble.

[Chris Scott]

Yes to Rock/Punk and Show/ADR but no to the other matches mentioned.

[OD50]

Probably. ROH is blah right now, CWFH isn't enough, TNA blows. The only reasons I'd stick with wrestling would be for NJPW and/or CHIKARA. Though, I guess it'd be a good time to check out SHIMMER.

We'll see.

I agree with this. As much as WWE turns me off where else is there to go? ROH and TNA aren't exactly on fire right now.. And that's putting it nicely.

[Cewsh]

SHIMMER

[OD50]

:lol:

[takerson]

Ermmm.... JERICHO vs. PUNK from RAW. :yes:

[Psycho666Soldier]

So, I wrote a big ass thing about how Punk/Jericho was super amazing and probably their best match yet, but I accidentally reloaded the page and its gone...so just know...that match was stellar, I'm glad Punk got a clean win, even though either man could have won, and the Submission/Rope Break wars in the last few minutes really helped make this match.

Grade: A-


January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 2 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 1 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (1 Yes, 1 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (5 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 3 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (5 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (2 Yes, 3 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (2 Yes, 0 No)

+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated February 5th, 2013 at 14:22 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[chatty]

I'll catch up on the whole of last month:

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - No
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - Yes
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - Yes
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - Yes
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - Never seen
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - No
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - Yes
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - No
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - Yes
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - No

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - Yes

[Atty]

January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 2 No) NO
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 1 No) NO
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (1 Yes, 1 No) NO
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (5 Yes, 0 No) YES
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 1 No) NO
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 3 No) NO
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (5 Yes, 2 No) YES
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 5 No) NO
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (2 Yes, 3 No) NO
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No) NO NO NO

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (2 Yes, 0 No) YES

[Brian M.]

Hell YES to Punk VS Jericho. One of the better Raw matches in a long time. I liked it better than either of the matches they had on PPV last year. Pretty impressive for Jericho's first singles match since his return.

[Psycho666Soldier]

January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (6 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (7 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (5 Yes, 0 No)

+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated February 10th, 2013 at 19:55 (after Brian M.)

[mth]

Big fat YES to Punk/Jericho from RAW. Terrific match.

[Kneeneighbor]

Yes for Punk Jericho

[OD50]

Didn't watch Raw except the main event. YES to Punk/Jericho.

[takerson]

CHRIS JERICHO VS. DANIEL BRYAN FROM RAW TONIGHT.

[Psycho666Soldier]

I'll say NO to Jericho/Bryan. Really solid match that was one of my favorite parts of RAW, but it was missing a little something to be worthy of this list for me. A little more time would have done them wonders. Still, it was a great watch.

January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (4 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (6 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (7 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (8 Yes, 0 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/11) - (1 Yes, 1 No)

+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated February 13th, 2013 at 02:11 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[Punisher]

Del Rio vs. Ziggler from Main Event?

[Kdestiny]

I'll have to find it somewhere and give it a watch, I hear it was quite good

[mth]

I'm going to say NO to Jericho vs. DB from RAW. It was quite solid but not particularly memorable.

[Punisher]

Also on top of Nominating Del Rio/Ziggler from Main Event I'm going to YES that and also YES Jericho/Punk from the 2/4 episode of Raw and NO to Jericho/Bryan from the 2/11 episode of Raw.

[takerson]

Nominating and yessing..... From Elimination Chamber 2013

- The Rock vs. CM Punk II

- The Sheild vs. Ryback/Sheamus/John Cena

- The Elimination Chamber Match

and From Raw the Next night...

- The Sheild vs. Jericho/Sheamus/Ryback

[Peter Griffin]

Yes to all the above except Rock vs Punk 2, and though i may be on my own, id like to nominate and yes big show vs del rio from elimination chamber.

[Kdestiny]

I'll go ahead and yes Shield vs. Team Jericho. It was a lot of fun to watch.

[mr sabu]

ill yes both shield matches

[mth]

YES to Shield's EC match but NO to their RAW match. YES to Punk/Rock II. NO to everything else from EC.

[McBain]

I'll yes the Shield match at EC.

[OD50]

I watched Raw pretty much just for the Shield vs. Ryback/Jericho/Sheamus match.

YES.

[takerson]

YES Del Rio/Ziggler Main Event.

NO Del Rio/Big Show EC

[Peter Griffin]

Only me that liked the Del Rio/Show match then? :(

[mth]

I liked it a lot but not enough to YES it.

[takerson]

I liked it a lot but not enough to YES it.

Exactly.

[Peter Griffin]

Whats your criteria for yessing matches? if i like a match i yes it, but apparently you guys like a match a lot but dont yes it? :squint:

[takerson]

The purpose of the list to to make an ultimate "Must see" kind of list at the end of the year. You're welcome to "YES" whatever you want, but my personal criteria is "so good I want to make sure I remember it at the end of the year."

[Psycho666Soldier]

Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. There are a lot of matches I like that I don't feel really qualify as a "match of the year candidate", and when I say match of the year, I don't mean immediate top 10, but any match that you feel at the end of the year, you'd go back and tell a friend, "You need to watch this match. It was SO DAMN GOOD!" If you thought it was that good, then go ahead and YES it, and really, it's your prerogative on how you wanna judge it. It's just the way a lot of us tend to do it.

I haven't Seen the Del Rio/Ziggler match yet, but if it's better than their match on RAW, then i might be giving it a YES.

[mth]

Part of my criteria is if someone were to mention the match near the end of the year, am I going to remember it? And if I do, what am I going to remember?

My problem is I get hung up on that whiffed kick at the finish. It was a hell of a match but unfortunately, when i think of it down the road, that's gonna be the first thing that comes to mind. I know getting hung up on botches is kind of dumb but it was the climax of the match, arguably the most important part, and when that part goes awry, I can't just ignore it. Had the finish gone smooth or had the botch been some random move in the middle, I'd 'yes' it but it didn't and wasn't, so it's what's stopping me. I think that's fair.

[Punisher]

I haven't Seen the Del Rio/Ziggler match yet, but if it's better than their match on RAW, then i might be giving it a YES.

Definitely better than the match on Raw in my opinion. The Raw match was practically a rehash of the Main Event encounter with less time.

Also a bit late but I'll YES Shield vs. Cena/Ryback/Sheamus from Elimination Chamber.

[Peter Griffin]

I get what all you guys are saying,just seeking a bit of clarification :yes:

[chatty]

Jericho/Bryan No
Rock/Punk II No
EC Chamber Yes
Del Rio/Show No
Shield/Ryback/Cena/Sheamus Yes
Shield/Ryback/Jericho/Sheamus Yes

[Andy]

Alright chaps, can anyone do this? I've really gotten back into it all over the past few months and there's been some good matches.

So I'd like to say YES to the following:

Cena vs Ziggler on Raw
Ryback vs Punk TLC on Raw
The Shield vs Team Cena @ Elimination Chamber
The Shield vs Team Jericho on Raw

[Andy]

Also I thought ADR/Show LMS was at the tail end of last year for some reason. So a big YES to that and a big YES to Punk/Jericho on Raw, forgot about that one somehow.

[Psycho666Soldier]

Yup, anyone's allowed to participate. :yes:

I'll be getting to updating soon. I've still been pushing off catching up on some Main Event.

[mr sabu]

ill yes cena punk from raw

not gonna give a shit about how it ends was entertaing as hell

[Punisher]

YES Punk/Cena from Raw.

[maxxmisery]

YES Punk/Cena

If a newbie is allowed to second a nomination that is.

[takerson]

YES

To CM Punk vs. John Cena from Monday Night Raw 2/25/13. Holy shit.

[Brian M.]

HUGE YES to Cena VS Punk. Very easily the match of the year so far. Want to give it some time before I get too hyped about it, but it may be the best match they've had together.

[Psycho666Soldier]

Yeah, I completely agree. YES to Cena/Punk. HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT! That match was phenomenal. I loved it. I completely agree with Brian M. That match is probably their greatest match yet, and at this point is easily match of the year. Fuck. YES YES YES to that match. GRADE A all the way.

Also, while I'm at it, I'm going to Yes every match nominated from Elimination Chamber(Punk/Rock, EC match, Shield/Super Friends) except the WHC match, and The Shield vs. Ryback/Sheamus/Jericho from RAW. NOW UPDATES!!


January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (8 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/11) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, MAIN EVENT (2/13) - (2 Yes, 0 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (4 Yes, 1 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. John Cena, Ryback, & Sheamus, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (9 Yes, No)
The Rock vs. CM Punk, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 2 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. Ryback, Chris Jericho, & Sheamus, RAW (2/18) - (8 Yes, 1 No)
John Cena vs. CM Punk, RAW (2/25) - (6 Yes, 0 No)


+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated February 13th, 2013 at 02:11 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[Andy]

A huge yes to Cena/Punk.

Gonna do some NOs now.

Everything from the Rumble and everything from EC apart from The Shield match. There was some really solid matches in there but nothing amazing that we'll look back on at the end of the year I don't think. The Rumble itself was average in my opinion. Rock/Punk was good but not great and I didn't really like the finish. Del Rio/Show have had some good battles but nothing that's exceeded the SD match yet.

[McBain]

:yes:

[Peter Griffin]

Yes yes yes! to Cena vs Punk

[Bennedy]

YES to Punk/Cena. This is what every ppv main event should be like. Great pacing, new moves and near falls to keep the crowd invested.

[Vice]

Hell yes to Punk/Cena.

[Cewsh]

Yep.

[Anaconda Sniper]

Chalk another YES for Cena/Punk. What a fucking match that was.

[mth]

Massive YES to Cena/Punk. Helluva match.

[Psycho666Soldier]

January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (8 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/11) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, MAIN EVENT (2/13) - (2 Yes, 0 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (4 Yes, 1 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. John Cena, Ryback, & Sheamus, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (9 Yes, No)
The Rock vs. CM Punk, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 2 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. Ryback, Chris Jericho, & Sheamus, RAW (2/18) - (8 Yes, 1 No)
John Cena vs. CM Punk, RAW (2/25) - (14 Yes, 0 No)


+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated February 27th, 2013 at 16:28 (after mth)

[Hero!]

Cena/Punk yes yes yes yes YES GOD 1000 TIMES YES

[Psycho666Soldier]

DAMN YOU Hero! why would you vote AFTER MY UPDATE POST

[Peter Griffin]

The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. Ryback, Chris Jericho, & Sheamus.......YES

just for you psycho ;)

[Hero!]

DAMN YOU Hero! why would you vote AFTER MY UPDATE POST

(:

[Psycho666Soldier]

I actually want to retract my YES from the EC WHC match after watching it again. It was good, but just not deserving of the yes. I'll fix later.

[Badger]

Holyshitting YES to Cena/Punk, match of the year so far until Taker at Mania probably, YES to the Shield matches too.

Nominating and YESSING Miz/Cesaro 2/3 falls. Outstanding from both guys, actually thought Miz was gonna take it but really happy Cesaro is still champ, could go longer than Punk's WWE title reign.

[Psycho666Soldier]

Holyshitting YES to Cena/Punk, match of the year so far until Taker at Mania probably, YES to the Shield matches too.

Nominating and YESSING Miz/Cesaro 2/3 falls. Outstanding from both guys, actually thought Miz was gonna take it but really happy Cesaro is still champ, could go longer than Punk's WWE title reign.

I'll have to watch that match again. I liked it, but initially didn't think it was as good as their match at Elimination Chamber. I think the commercial breaks kind of killed it for me.

[Andy]

I thought the 2/3 falls was good but not great. NO from me.

Although I would say that I loved that we got a 2/3 falls match. We don't see enough matches like that these days. Not particularly gimmicky but different enough to generate and hold interest. Need more triple threats and fatal four ways too. Some submission matches too.

[Badger]

True Psycho, tthe only flaw was going to break during the second fall. Still though, lots of near falls and plenty action in the 3rd fall.

[Peter Griffin]

I personally liked the Sandow/Del Rio match,not sure whether its worth nominating though.

[Chris Scott]

Defo yes for Punk/Cena from the last Raw.

[chatty]

Cena/Punk Yes
Miz/Cesaro Yes

[chatty]

Bryan/Ziggler Yes

[Andy]

I'm going to say YES to Barrett/Miz/Jericho. Really good fun TV match.

[Psycho666Soldier]

I'm gonna have to say NO to the Triple Threat. It was a really fun match, but it felt like at times, no one but Jericho really knew what they were doing. Still a good watch.

NO to Bryan/Ziggler. Good match, but both have done much better together. I'm still going to reserve judgment on Miz/Cesaro.



January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (8 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/11) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, MAIN EVENT (2/13) - (2 Yes, 0 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 1 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. John Cena, Ryback, & Sheamus, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
The Rock vs. CM Punk, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 2 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. Ryback, Chris Jericho, & Sheamus, RAW (2/18) - (10 Yes, 1 No)
John Cena vs. CM Punk, RAW (2/25) - (18 Yes, 0 No)

March

Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz, SMACKDOWN (3/1) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (3/11) - (1 Yes, 1 No)
Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (3/18) - (1 Yes, 1 No)


+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated March19th, 2013 at 23:37 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[mth]

NO to the Triple Threat. It was pretty fun, though. And NO to Bryan/Ziggler which I would say the same about and if anything, I was actually a bit underwhelmed by given their track record together.

[Tainted Eclipse]

NOMINATE

William Regal vs. Kassius Ohno, NXT 04/10

A legit great Regal match comes out of left field here. This match is incredible, Regal works over the fingers of Ohno so he can't lock on his submission, which I guess is a cravat, and Ohno works over Regal's HEAD. Regal working over a guy for an extended period of time is always a beauty and we get that here, and Ohno brings the hard hitting shots, including a brutal slide-through-the-ropes baseball slide kicking Regal in the head. Ending is awesome with Ohno selling his fingers beautifully, Regal completely out of it due to the head work, and a truly awesome finish. They sort of lost the crowd when Ohno was trying to go for his cravat but couldn't lock it in, which is a shame because it was cool stuff, but that's really the only flaw. I liked this to the point I need to see Cena/Punk again to decide which is my MOTY, but this is at least number 2.

[McBain]

How long was it?

I nominate Punk/Taker.

[mr sabu]

about 13 mins and ill yes it

[Ringo]

About 13 minutes shown, plus ad breaks. Takerson posted it in the NXT thread.

YES to the match. Great stuff there from Regal, stepping and bending his fingers, kicking and stamping on Ohno while distracting the ref. I liked little things like Ohno stepping up to the second rope when getting choked. And the vicious baseball slide/dropkick thing that Tainted mentioned. The simple story of Ohno bringing out the "animal" in Regal gets over here. Regal sells his head, Ohno sells his fingers. The big boot near the end where Regal kicked out was brutal. Pre-match promos and package were good too. "For what you are about to receive... may my children forgive me".

YES to Taker/Punk. Expectations were stupidly high but it still delivered. Crowd was eating it up even though the finishing stretch was reminiscent of previous Taker matches at Mania. Typically great ending but it started off well too with Punk's slaps. I loved that. It might not be as good as any of the last five... or even SIX Taker matches at Mania but was still very good indeed. Punk's standout Mania match so far and I'm glad we got to see a proper Punk/Taker match on the big stage.

YES to Punk/Cena from Feb by the way. Felt big, crowd was great, the nervous Cena vs. confident Punk thing worked nicely, both were booked strong, we got a perfectly executed piledriver when it made sense, the CENARANA etc. Great.

[takerson]

Absolutely YES to William Regal vs. Kassius Ohno. Feel honored to have been there live. But live, you couldn't see that Ohno's fingers were legit dislocated. Cringeworthy stuff there! Just awesome.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RyUhGogFKuk

Big YES to Undertaker vs. CM Punk from WM. Great stuff all around.

I'd also like to NOMINATE and YES HHH vs. Lesnar (Brutal) from WM as well.

[JP]

YES to Punk/Taker

HELL NO NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS IT WAS PLODDINGLY AWFUL to HHH/Brock

[takerson]

:lol: I knew a few would say that.

[chatty]

Yes to Punk/Taker
No to HHH/Brock

[Andy]

Yes to Punk/Taker
No to Brock/Trips
No to Rock/Cena II

[Andy]

I'd also like to say YES to Ziggler/Del Rio. Probably solely because I was there and it was so amazing but it was about as perfect as a two minute match can be. So exciting, so well booked, such a good crowd. It will be remembered for years.

[Kdestiny]

I can yes Ziggler/Del Rio solely based on that fact that it was exciting, it kept Del Rio strong, and it created a superstar.

and yes to Regal/Ohno. Very old school and they seemed to pull out a lot of physicality and some of the best out of each other

[lotjx]

Yes to Taker/Punk. Being there live was what I imagined Ali/Frazier to be like. I was exhausted after the match. I'll give a mild yes to Rock/Cena. Crowd was up for a good chunk of that. Brock/HHH was utter shit and turned out to be the beer match for good reason.

[mth]

YES to Taker/Punk from Mania. Not sure if it's nominated, but I would YES Rock/Cena II. NO to Brock/Trips from Mania. I'll watch that Regal/Ohno match later and vote.

[Psycho666Soldier]

YES to Taker/Punk. I feel like it wasn't quite great like one more kickout would have made it, but it was still REALLY GOOD. They really need a 25+ minute match and they would make something excellent. Sadly, that ship has probably sailed at this point. Grade: B-

NO to Ziggler/Del Rio. It's probably my favorite moment of the year, and it was a good cash-in match...but it was a short cash-in match. Not sure if I can really say YES to it. Grade: C+

I might yes Brock/HHH. It was my favorite match on the card, but I feel like I need to watch it one more time like I did everything else.

I'll NO Rock/Cena II. It started kind of bland with a couple neat spots, started becoming brilliant for the middle duration of the match up until the awkward pacing of the finisher-fest. I love finisher fests, but there needs to be some thought put into it with a few seconds to breath. It just felt disjointed and sudden, honestly. It made the actual finish feel anti-climactic. Grade: B-

I'm reserving judgment on Ohno/Regal, also. I enjoyed it, but I also came away a bit disappointed. I was somewhat distracted while watching it, though, so I've got to watch it again on my own.

[Vice]

Taker/Punk - YES - Very good match, lots of great character work.
Triple H/Brock - NO - Brock was great. Match was fairly boring.
Rock/Cena - NO - Eeeeuuuuuurrrrggggghhhhhh.
Del Rio/Zigger - NO - Great moment, and much more to it than the usual cash-in, but I can't really yes it as a full match.

[Andy]

I don't think I'll watch a match over and over more than I already have with the Ziggler cash in. Make it happen guys.

[Psycho666Soldier]

William Regal vs. Kassius Ohno - NO

On first watch, I just thought the match was something I had to pay more attention to. On second watch, I realized this match is just flat-out boring and disappointing. There's a difference between methodical and slow, and this was much more on the slow side. Regal going after the fingers was a nice touch, and the epic baseball slide from Ohno was pretty awesome, but outside of that, this match just dragged, and they only had roughly 15 minutes to wrestle, so dragging so much was just yawn-inducing. I literally fell asleep trying to watch it the second time. On top of that, the finish was so sudden, and the knee from Regal was sloppy. It killed the moment completely. So, NO, this match was nowhere near one of the matches of the year. At least in my opinion.

Grade: D+



January

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (8 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/11) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, MAIN EVENT (2/13) - (2 Yes, 0 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 1 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. John Cena, Ryback, & Sheamus, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
The Rock vs. CM Punk, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 2 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. Ryback, Chris Jericho, & Sheamus, RAW (2/18) - (10 Yes, 1 No)
John Cena vs. CM Punk, RAW (2/25) - (19 Yes, 0 No)

March

Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz, SMACKDOWN (3/1) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (3/11) - (1 Yes, 2 No)
Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (3/18) - (1 Yes, 2 No)
CM Punk vs. The Undertaker, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (1 Yes, 6 No)
The Rock vs. John Cena, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (2 Yes, 3 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (4/8) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
William Regal vs. Kassius Ohno, NXT (4/10) - (5 Yes, 1 No)


+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated April 17th, 2013 at 18:12 (after Psycho666Soldier)

[chatty]

No to Rock/Cena
Yes to Dolph/ADR - very short but perfect for what it was

[Andy]

Looking at the list so far it seems the top 5 matches of the year so far all involve either CM Punk or The Shield. :yes:

[mth]

NO to ADR/Zigs. Hell of a moment, not a memorable match, though.

[Andy]

Just rewatched the Raw after Mania again. Miz/Barrett is actually a really good match, just overshadowed by everything else. In isolation, it's a good match with a hot crowd and the best IC title match in a while so I'm nominating it.

[Psycho666Soldier]

I actually thought about nominating that match. I'll have to watch it again, but I might throw a YES on it.

[Ringo]

NOMINATING Del Rio/Swagger from last week's Smackdown. Really good match, their best together. Mania match was decent but this was another level. Got like 16 minutes and had the duelling injury stuff going for it. I liked how ADR tried to finish him early with pin attempts but Swagger fought back and it turned into a long struggle. ADR's leg and Swagger's arm are the themes from start to finish (literally the first clash to the ending when they go for their respective submissions). The superkick near the end was lovely. Very good stuff.

[Psycho666Soldier]

YES to Swagger/Del Rio. Completely agree with everything you said. Their best match at this point. My only complaint is I wish with the injury theme, the match would have actually ended on a submission. Seemed like the more profitable pay-off, but it was excellent regardless.
Grade: B

I'd also like to NOMINATE The Shield vs. Taker/Hell No. Really great stuff, and if there's a rematch, the ending was perfect. Otherwise, it was a great way to give The Shield a win over Taker while still looking out of his league. Still wish it would have been a bit more of an epic finish. Regardless, it definitely gets my vote.
Grade: B

[Andy]

NO to Swagger/Del Rio for me. I don't think any of their matches have been more than just decent or quite good. I think it's Swagger to be honest, I've just never found the guy interesting in the ring or on the mic. Don't get me wrong if was a good match, but I don't think I'll have any sort of desire to watch it again at the end of the year.

[McBain]

I'm the same. He's decent enough, but just doesn't have "it". He just seems to go through a bunch of moves and that's it. Like Shelton Benjamin.

[Andy]

Definitely YES to Shield vs Brothers of Hell No. Wasn't crazy about the ending but it was yet another great match for The Shield. Really hope it leads to a rematch at Extreme Rules with some big stipulation.

[mr sabu]

ill yes

man of the year with the brothers vs the avengers

also

Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler another good match from them

[takerson]

Big YES to Taker/Hell No vs. Shield.

Also big YES to Jericho vs. Ziggler.

2 PPV quality matches for free. Loved them both.

[Badger]

As far as the Shield match goes.......YANKEE, ECHO, SIERRA! YES!

[JP]

I'd suggest people watch the Taker/Hell No vs Shield match again.

There are long periods of inaction, a little disjointed, an awful ending and is easily the Shield's poorest match as of yet.

By no means a bad match, but nowhere deserving of a yes to me. So, I vote NO.

[JP]

Sorry, just noticed Ziggler/Jericho get nominated too.

Again, not a bad match, but the bar seems pretty low if that's getting consideration. NO

[Psycho666Soldier]

I'd suggest people watch the Taker/Hell No vs Shield match again.

There are long periods of inaction, a little disjointed, an awful ending and is easily the Shield's poorest match as of yet.

By no means a bad match, but nowhere deserving of a yes to me. So, I vote NO.


Sorry, just noticed Ziggler/Jericho get nominated too.

Again, not a bad match, but the bar seems pretty low if that's getting consideration. NO

I usually go off my grading system. Anything that gets a B+ or higher automatically gets a YES from me. B-grades depend some times. I gave it to the 6-man tag because I found myself really enjoying it and how it was put together. Sure, there were moments of inaction, but a lot of longer matches will have those, especially a standard 6-Man tag match. There a lot of enjoyable moments and spots, and Ambrose and Rollins made the offense look killer. My main complaints are that if it's the only time we're seeing this match, then the finish was terrible and sudden. On top of that I was really hoping for an epic bout like this to get 20-25 minutes. However, if there is a rematch(which I kind of get the vibe we will with the way Taker looked after the match, and he didn't get like a "Well, that was my last match for a while" send-off like someone like him would get), then the finish is perfect. Taker and Hell No can get their win, Shield can look vulnerable for once before gunning right after Hell No for the belts and dominating until WrestleMania. That's good booking.

Though, I might take the YES away if there is never a rematch or a logical follow-up.

For the reasons of my grading system, that is why I will NO Jericho/Ziggler. Really good match, but felt like the finish in particular was not epic enough to push it into one of the best matches of the year. Still great stuff, though.

[Ringo]

***+ is a YES for me.

I'm going to go NO for Shield/Hell No & Taker. I have the match about level with the Mania one but feel as though the novelty of Undertaker's involvement and the fact that it was on Raw for free rather than the super hyped $70 Wrestlemania may have skewed people's perspective a little. That said... I liked Rollins' interaction with Taker and the hot tag - but Bryan was the star of the show. Just seeing him in the ring getting doing his regular routine whilst the crowd popped and the brothers looked on was pretty cool. At Mania there were some memorable spots too though. Two enjoyable matches but neither were overly memorable or reach the heights of TLC or EC.

Also NO for Ziggler/Jericho. Above average I guess. Crowd didn't care too much, minimal drama. Jericho did what was asked of him. Alright.

Also NO for Ziggler/ADR. We had this debate when Jeff/Punk was nominated back in 2009... for me it was a great moment, not a great match.

[Andy]

NO to Jericho/Ziggler. It was decent, no more. Not as good as some of their previous matches and not as good as at least three other Jericho TV matches from this year.

[Ringo]

Throwing a NOM at Cesaro/Neville from this week's very good NXT episode.

Match goes about 8 or 9 minutes. Cesaro is the champion. He's bigger and stronger. Neville is the challenger. He's smaller and faster. You know how a match between these two should play out - and it does exactly that. Cesaro cut a pre-match promo and told everyone to shut up so they were already quite keen to see him lose. Neville is getting over and this may have been his best performance in WWE thus far. I'd love to see a rematch.

[Atty]

Cena/Punk: RAW - YES
Taker/Punk: WrestleMania - YES
Triple H/Brock: WrestleMania - NO
Rock/Cena: WrestleMania - NO
Del Rio/Zigger: RAW cash-in - NO
ADR/Swagger: WrestleMania - NO
Fandango/Jericho: WrestleMania - YES


Does anyone have a YouTube link to Taker/Hell No vs. The Shield? Haven't seen it yet.

[mth]

NO to Shield vs. Hell No/Taker. It was good but for me it was only memorable given who was in it rather than the match quality itself.

NO to Jericho/Ziggler for RAW, as well. It was also good but nothing overly memorable.

[OD50]

Antonio Cesaro/Aaron Neville: YES

Best part was the crowd going 'HEY! HEY" and Cesaro telling them to stfu.

[takerson]

YES to Cesaro/Neville. For the reasons already stated. And yeah, the "HEY!"s were so fun. Never thought I'd have the opportunity to "HEY!" at Claudio. haha.

[Sparky]

Nominating and YESing Undertaker/Ambrose from Smackdown. Enjoyable little main event and it make Ambrose look like a million bucks even in loss. I marked out for Hell's Gate.

[Peter Griffin]

Yes to Cesaro/Neville, watching Taker/Ambrose in a while, shall report back my thoughts ;)

[OD50]

I'll YES Undertaker/Ambrose as well for two reasons; A match doesn't have to be overly long and epic to be exciting and they had me genuinely thinking it was over after the ball kick/DDT sequence.

[Peter Griffin]

Yep, im going to yes the Taker/Ambrose match has well, great stuff. I will also nom and yes Del Rio/Swagger from SD, great match that had a new dimension thanks to the use (but no overly so) of weapons. Im also going to say I enjoyed the Mcgillicutty/Uso match on Superstars, im not nominating it as its not great or anything, but a nice little match, and im really getting on board with Mcgillicutty and his work.

[takerson]

I'll YES Undertaker/Ambrose as well for two reasons; A match doesn't have to be overly long and epic to be exciting and they had me genuinely thinking it was over after the ball kick/DDT sequence.

YES to Taker/Ambrose for OD50's reasons.

[Andy]

I wasn't sure about saying yes to Taker/Ambrose at first, thought it might have been the novelty of Taker wrestling in something other than a 25+ minute epic for the first time in years. But it was actually really good. It told a good little story very well and it was really enjoyable.

My criteria is basically 'will I want to watch this again in 6 months time or more?' And I would happily watch that match again. Also why I nominated Ziggler/Del Rio. It was amazing and I'll be watching that for years to come.

So yeah I'm saying yes to Taker/Ambrose.

[Andy]

So we're a third of the way through the year. What are your top three matches so far?

For me, Punk vs Cena from Raw takes it by a distance, followed by Punk vs Undertaker. Third place is probably The Shield vs Cena, Ryback and Sheamus from Elimination Chamber, although it feels a little harsh to leave out Cena vs Ziggler from Raw at the start of the year.

[Ringo]

1. Punk/Cena

No order:
Punk/Taker
Ohno/Regal
ADR/Show I
Shield 6-Man at EC

Clear top 5 for me. No Room for Cesaro though who may be the best in form wrestler in the company right now.

[Andy]

Yep if I make it up to 5 it would be the 4 I mentioned plus ADR/Show.

[Tainted Eclipse]

1. Punk/Cena
2. Ohno/Regal
3. EC 6-man

The top 2 are the very, very, VERY clear top two for me, and I've got Punk/Cena on the top only by a hair right now, mainly owing to the crowd.

[Andy]

Just watched Regal/Ohno to see what all the fuss is about. I think it was good but not great. It was nice to see a type of match that we rarely see in WWE these days - some pretty brutal stuff in there. It was such a methodical match that the ending seemed a little underwhelming to me though. The whole match was about Ohno being physical and a beast, while Regal was working on the fingers. But the ending was nothing to do with the fingers and was really the first big shot to the head Ohno had taken whereas Regal had already kicked out of a couple of nastier looking ones. It just came out of nowhere a bit, which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the match. I think I would've liked it a lot more had Regal hit that knee then locked in the Regal Stretch and incorporated bending the fingers back again to get a tap out.

I'll say YES to it but I don't think it's anywhere near the top 5 matches of the year so far.

[mth]

What the heck, YES to Taker/Ambrose. It wasn't much but for what it was, it accomplished some good stuff and it was memorable.

[Andy]

I'm going to nominate and YES Cody vs Orton from Raw. Both have been floundering in the midcard for months without much direction but this match made the both look like stars, Cody especially. Started a little slow but it was still great.

Cody's done a great job of quietly getting himself over in the last few months. No Mania match and no singles feud in months yet he gets a reaction every time he goes out. Big fan. :yes:

[Badger]

I'll YES that too, Cody was made to look like a million bucks and the Cross Rhodes counter from the RKO genuinely had me thinking he was going to win. Nice RKO finish as well.

[Slare]

I'll YES Cody/Orton too. I like Raw's where they've got loads of time between PPV's and decide just to put on some good old wrasslin' for three hours. It started off as any normal Raw match but when it hit the ten minute mark you realised they were having a pretty awesome looking match. Nice finish and Cody looked stronger in defeat than he has in months.

I'm also going to nominate Dolph and Kofi. I know these two have had about 100 matches in the past year but I really enjoyed this one. Usually Champion vs. Champion with no build would piss me off or whatever, but the two of them looked amazing, Dolph was treated like a champion getting a hard fought win over a worthy opponent and Kofi looked great. Great match between the two althought it might not have been anything we haven't seen before.

[JP]

I'll YES Orton/Cody too.

A superb match which showed once again what both of them can do when not saddled with the wrong kind of opponent.

But a NO to Ziggler/Kofi. I know this might not go down amazingly well, but I'm getting a little bit bored of seeing the same thing from Ziggler week after week. And I mean the exact same thing.

[Andy]

No to Kofi/Dolph. Not because it was a bad match, just because it's happened far too often. And more often than not for no reason. If you ask me at the end of the year which Kofi/Dolph math was the best I couldn't tell you. In fact I couldn't tell you now. They're all better than average but it's nothing to get excited about anymore.

[mth]

No to Orton/Cody. It was kind of boring. Cody countering the RKO into Cross Rhodes and the finish were cool, though.

NO to Kofi/Dolph. It was good stuff but nothing particularly memorable.

[Ringo]

NO to Orton/Cody. Decent match but I feel like standards have dropped after so many months of short Raw matches. I enjoyed it but nothing too remarkable.

NO to Ziggler/Kofi as well. Same as above only less decent. Bit bored of the roll up near fall bonanza schtick.

But YES to Kofi vs. Cesaro on Main Event. They got like 23 minutes here, which is a bit of a novelty for a US title match these days. But did they fill that time well?

YES!

Cesaro cut a passionate promo before the match accusing Kofi of taking his title, his dignity and his identity. He’s pretty fired up. Cole even referenced the fact that he didn’t yodel on his way to the ring because tonight is all about business.

Kofi’s initial strategy was a little curious. Rather than try to avoid Cesaro’s grip and hit him quick with his high speed offense, he chose to try and match the stronger man and wear him down from behind. Not very smart, I’d say. Eventually it actually looks to pay off though as Kofi scores a nice armdrag and focuses on Cesaro’s arm. Fast forward a little and Kofi is happily running the ropes but Cesaro catches him in mid air and throws him down like a rag doll.

Cesaro is so great in this match. He’s really aggressive but intelligent too. Bigger, stronger guys often end up looking like dumb dumbs. A heel that combines power and intelligence is a daunting prospect.

Kofi does his usual stuff but the crowd is even more into it than usual because Cesaro is doing such a good job at beating Kofi down in a convincing way and so his comebacks feel like a bigger deal. At one point Kofi hits the boom drop and is about to go for Trouble In Paradise but Cesaro rolls under the ropes, hooks Kofi’s leg over the middle rope and pulls his throat down over the top rope. He’s super aware. He also manages to lift Kofi all the way off the apron whilst standing on the turnbuckle to deliver a superplex (which Michael Cole makes a point of mentioning). He’s really strong. He catches Kofi 3 times over the course of a few minutes (off the ropes, to the outside, off the top) showing that he’s got quick reactions to go with his brute strength and power but Kofi has a counter for everything. Cesaro hits Kofi with a brutal uppercut before just fucking JUMPING TWO FOOTED ONTO HIS RIGHT LEG and then follows it up by locking in a boston crab. He’s a ruthless bastard too. Kofi escapes but rather than move onto something else Cesaro is committed to making him submit, focusing on catching the leg and returning to the crab with the help of an aaaairplane spin. Kofi reaches the ropes but Cesaro shows his awareness here too by attempting to grab Kofi’s arm. All of these little touches actually serve a purpose of course – they show that Cesaro is a legitimate threat to Kofi’s title. Kofi is actually in some peril. How is he actually going to come out of this on top?

Finish comes when Kofi reverses a Neutralizer attempt, Cesaro just runs right at him, Kofi ducks and hits a TIP to the back of Cesaro’s head. I think they could have worked something better out, but I guess it does make sense – as JBL said, “Kofi just had one shot and he hit it”.

Crowd was really into it, Cesaro’s facial expressions and body language got over how much the title meant to him, the little touches made him look like an invincible foe and even Cole & JBL were excited!

In 23 minutes a match like this does so much for the title when they can’t be bothered to develop proper rivalries and stories for these belts. It’s a shame that they can’t find time to do it on Raw or PPV but I’d urge you to watch the match. :yes:

And after the match...

Cesaro attacks Kofi backstage, squashes him under a big trunk and rips off one of his dreadlocks! This match and the two book end segments alone could've probably built to to a PPV match that the crowd cares about if they had done them on Raw. Maybe they will at least reference it. Not getting my hopes up.

[takerson]

Well now. Looks like I have to watch that match now.

[McBain]

:yes:

[takerson]

YES times fucking TEN to Cesaro vs. Kofi from Main Event. Holy shit.

[Slare]

Something we should be going out of our way to check out then? Kofi is having a cracking couple of weeks. He better watch himself or he might get over or something mental like that.

[takerson]

Yes. Go out of your way to watch it.

[Slare]

How far out of my way?

[Ringo]

Well I don't think it'll break my top 5 but it was really good. And very cool to have such a notable US title match. Cesaro is already one of the best in the company and it was a particularly great performance from him. Kofi is... Kofi. Which is to say he's whatever you generally think he is. Pre-match promo and post-match dreadlock ripping are also worth watching.

[Tainted Eclipse]

CESARO/KOFI - YES

I'm pretty blown away after having just watched it. Cesaro is the best wrestler in the world. About 5 separate occasions I just lost my shit at something Cesaro did in this match. Leg stuff was awesome, incredible power-spots -- among others -- by Cesaro, and a really cool ending. Kofi was too sloppy in the beginning but it's fine, although it did take some of the coolness away from how he sort of poorly performed his front-flip-roll-up thing after getting his leg hurt, which would have been a neat touch but wasn't as striking since Kofi had already sort of botched a couple things. OH WELL. This is the Cesaro show, I liked him on the indies but never imagined he could be this good.

[Andy]

I've not watched this yet but - from what you guys are saying about the quality of the match, how much the crowd were into it, how much the commentators were into it...I just hope someone takes notice. These are two guys fighting over you're fourth tier title. For christs sake build a feud on one of the main shows. Lets the characters develop, let the feuds build, keep them interacting with others at their level instead of having a US title match then jobbing to someone higher up the card. I hate saying this because it sounds arrogant and almost ridiculous coming from someone with no real knowledge of the business but it just seems SO obvious. It would make the product so much better.

[Badger]

Anyone got a link for this match?

[Ringo]

UPDATE:

January
John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (1/7) - (5 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. Ryback, RAW (1/7) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston, NXT (1/9) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio, SMACKDOWN (1/11) - (8 Yes, 0 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (1/16) - (2 Yes, 2 No)
Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro, RAW (1/21) - (1 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (7 Yes, 2 No)
Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan & Kane) vs. Rhodes Scholars(Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow), ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
30-Man Royal Rumble, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 4 No)
CM Punk vs. The Rock, ROYAL RUMBLE (1/27) - (3 Yes, 6 No)

February
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/4) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (2/11) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, MAIN EVENT (2/13) - (2 Yes, 0 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (1 Yes, 4 No)
Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 1 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. John Cena, Ryback, & Sheamus, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (10 Yes, 0 No)
The Rock vs. CM Punk, Elimination Chamber (2/17) - (3 Yes, 2 No)
The Shield(Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) vs. Ryback, Chris Jericho, & Sheamus, RAW (2/18) - (10 Yes, 1 No)
John Cena vs. CM Punk, RAW (2/25) - (20 Yes, 0 No)

March
Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz, SMACKDOWN (3/1) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (3/11) - (1 Yes, 2 No)
Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Chris Jericho, RAW (3/18) - (1 Yes, 2 No)

April
Fandango vs. Chris Jericho, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (1 Yes, 0 No)
CM Punk vs. The Undertaker, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (11 Yes, 0 No)
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (1 Yes, 7 No)
The Rock vs. John Cena, WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (4/7) - (2 Yes, 5 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (4/8) - (3 Yes, 5 No)
William Regal vs. Kassius Ohno, NXT (4/10) - (6 Yes, 1 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger, SMACKDOWN (4/19) - (2 Yes, 1 No)
Team Hell No & The Undertaker vs. The Shield, RAW (4/22) - (5 Yes, 3 No)
Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler, RAW (4/22) - (2 Yes, 5 No)
Antonio Cesaro vs. Adrian Neville, NXT (4/25) - (4 Yes, 0 No)
The Undertaker vs. Dean Ambrose, SMACKDOWN (4/26) - (6 Yes, 0 No)
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger (No DQ), SMACKDOWN (4/26) - (1 Yes, 0 No)
Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton, RAW (4/29) - (4 Yes, 2 No)
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston, RAW (4/29) - (1 Yes, 4 No)

May
Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro, MAIN EVENT (5/1) - (3 Yes, 0 No)


+5 in italics
+10 in bold
Last updated May 20th, 2013 at 16:53 (after Tainted's Kofi/Cesaro vote)

Couple of noms from Extreme Rules to follow.

[Andy]

There might be a couple more as I watch this but I'm going to kick off with nominating and YESing Kofi/Ambrose.

Short, but really sweet. The full nelson suplex off the top rope was bad ass, plus I liked the Trouble In Paradise to the outside + JBL's logic and the one that caught Kofi up in the ropes. Kofi makes Dean's finisher look great too.

[Andy]

YES to Brock/Trips for these reasons.


I wasn't expecting that much from Lesnar/Trips based on the spoilers and comments on here but I thought that was seriously GREAT. Really loved it. Easily the best of their series and the first that I think will go down as really memorable.

They told a pretty simple story but it just goes to show how much good storytelling and selling does. Busting out sharpshooters and figure fours because Brock's done his knee. So simple but it got a big reaction because it was so well done.

Brock was a fucking monster in this match, in absolutely everything he did. His selling was superb and that allowed the match to be as good as it was. I loved his interaction with Heyman, which displayed both how much of a beast he is and how important Heyman is. "That's my manager" was bloody great.

Brock has been absolutely amazing since he came back and the only man close to him in that time period is Heyman. Absolutely love their work.

Great, great match.

[Ringo]

YES to Brock/Trips. Selling masterclass from Brock, loved Heyman's involvement, loved Brock's mannerisms and comments. Chair used appropriately and while I'm not the biggest fan, that sledgehammer one over weapon. The usual cage match door problems didn't bother me as much as usual. Their best match together and as such Brock's number 2 since his return. Hey, some blood would've been nice but that's just not going to happen these days. Overall, I liked it a lot.

also NOM for Show/Orton. Orton looked more motivated and into things here than he has in ages. It being in his hometown probably played a part there. Crowd was into it. Reason I'm nominating it though - another lovely Show performance. The initial work before the weapons came into play was neat, ladder bump was great, the RKOs not keeping Show down, and finally Orton goes mental once again and we got the return of the punt.

[mth]

Definite YES to Trips/Brock. It did an amazing job making Brock look both vulnerable and unstoppable. Heyman added so much at ringside and HIDDEN HAMMER! I'd have to agree that this was their best match together.

I'm going to NO Orton/Show. But it was rather good and much better than I anticipated.

[Andy]

NO to Orton/Show for me. It was no more than decent. I'm going to give a preemptive no to Cena/Ryback.

Still undecided on the tag match, will need to watch it again.

[JP]

NO for Brock/HHH - Almost said yes based on Brock's sell job alone, but as a contest I don't think it was exciting enough.

YES for Orton/Show - Great, hard-hitting, old school hardcore stuff.

[StoneColdChris]

NOMINATING AND YESSING

SHIELD VS HELL NO/KOFI

Brilliant six man match up

[Andy]

Agreed.

[OD50]

The Shield vs. Team Hell No/Kofi Kingston - Raw 5/20/13

YES! YES! YES!

:p

[Andy]

I think we need a new thread for best Hell No/Shield matches.

Failing that, I nominate and YES Hell No/Rollins Reigns from last night. Brilliant again.

[Ringo]

YES to both last week's Shield 6-man and this week's Shield tag title defence. This is getting silly now. We're getting long, really enjoyable, well-structured tag matches over the 4 and 6 man variety on such a regular basis. I want to watch both again (and the 6-man from Smackdown which I hear was great) but it's a YES for now. The great thing about these matches is how good everyone seems to come out looking.

I've been loving Reigns' role in these matches ever since his performance at Elimination Chamber but Rollins has been great as of late. Really good exchanges between Bryan and Rollins. In some respects I'd rather see that sort of thing than the epic 60 minute ROH matches between the two.

[Andy]

Oh I thought I'd already nominated the SD match. Yes to that too.

My top 5 matches of the year so far include three Shield matches, two involving Hell No. Great stuff.

[mr sabu]

im going to yes

shield vs hell no kofi
hell no vs reigns and rollins

and knee vs kicks from raw

[takerson]

HUUUUGE YES to Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan from Raw.

NOMINATING and YESSING

Kassius Ohno & Corey Graves vs. The Wyatt Family for the NXT Tag Team Titles from this past week's NXT.

Daniel Bryan vs. Ryback from last week's Raw.

[Hero!]

I'm going to YES the RAW match, but I believe it's a spoiler until Wednesday.

[mth]

It is but this thread's got a spoiler warning in the title.

[Andy]

If I have time later I might put together a video playlist of the nominated Shield matches. There's so many of them but I don't want them to just get lost in the shuffle because they're mostly absolutely outstanding.

[mr sabu]

so basically every tag match there in

[Andy]

Exactly.

[Psycho666Soldier]

YES to Rollins/Bryan. That match was just...it was pretty much perfect. Even if not, it was just a stalwart example of a great match. Bryan is the fucking man, and Rollins pretty much rises above his previous shortcomings, altogether making one of the most beautiful matches to take place in a WWE ring. What I think I loved most is that we're seeing Bryan being able to wrestle like he used to, linking submission after submission, absolutely mangling his opponents, and all done in a perfect way that WWE has to love, as the fans go wild for it. Fuck, they go wild for Bryan, and The Shield for that matter, but Bryan in particular is just an amazing human being. How can one man be so damn terrific in the ring?
Grade: A

I also want to NOMINATE the NXT Battle Royal from 5/29/13. It feels like years since I've seen a battle royal put together so well. Everyone played their persona to a tee, and everyone that mattered came out looking good in their eliminations. Mason Ryan cleaning the ring was pretty boss, and then FUCKING NEVILLE WITH THE EPIC REVERSAL, putting him over huge. Actually, he's already pretty damn over with the NXT crowd. Wyatt being the creep that he is, continuing the feud with Ohno and Graves, Bo being...well, Bo, but having it come down to him and Neville fit wonderfully into the story they've been building. And OH MY GOD all those near-eliminations. Neville had me on edge. I haven't been on edge for a regular battle royal like that in forever. Couldn't have asked for more, because even Bo Dallas winning made sense for the time, and they handled it on the best way possible.
Grade: B

A lot of nominated matches I've missed over the last few weeks. I'll be doing more catch up before the night is over. First I am finishing up on a month or so worth of NXT catch-up >.>;

[mth]

Absolutely YES to Bryan vs. Rollins from RAW. Helluva match, great stuff from both guys, they went all out and it was terrific.

[takerson]

I'll YES the NXT Battle Royal. It just came together so well and had a really hot final few minutes in particular.

[OD50]

I'll YES DB/Rollins. Shame that the Chaos Theory didn't work out very well, it's a cool as hell move when done right.

[Andy]

Yes to Bryan/Rollins.

In fact, I think it would be easier to assume that any match involving The Shield or Bryan is a YES unless we say otherwise.

[Badger]

NOMMING and YESSING Cesaro/Zayne from this week's NXT.

A basic story but told oh so very well. Cesaro is on Zayne from the get-go trying to avenge his loss, throws everything at him including the uppercuts of doom but Zayne just keeps coming back. Lots of great near-falls too. The finish is smart too as Cesaro senses another Zayne comeback out of the chinlock so just locks in the Neutraliser before he can get up. The feud looks like it will continue too. :yes:

Oh, and YES to Bryan/Rollins too.

[Andy]

I feel like some of you guys really overrate NXT matches sometimes but that one was really enjoyable. YES

[takerson]

YES to Cesaro/Zayn

[Tainted Eclipse]

NOMINATE

Antonio Cesaro vs. Sheamus, Main Event 6/5

I though this was one of the best WWE matches of the year. Cesaro looked really great and seemed a match to Sheamus. There was a lot of struggle throughout, one of my favorite parts was Cesaro taking down Sheamus and turning it into his deadlift suplex, while Sheamus is actively trying to pry Cesaro's arms from his waist while being hoisted. Plenty of cool struggle like that, especially with the clubbing elbows on the ropes Sheamus does. Lots of cool stuff throughout. Ending was really good. One of the better WWE examples I can think of of a heavyweight match with lots of struggle and power moves.

[mr sabu]

they only way Cesaro is boring is from the shitty gimmick they give him dude is amazing in the ring

yessing the 6 man from smackers

sheild has not had one bad tag math

[Andy]

Yep, notch another one up for The Shield.

Amazingly, I think their Mania and Extreme Rules matches have been the least enjoyable of all. Not that they were bad, just felt a little flat compared to the others, mainly due to lack of time and Hell No being infinitely better than The RKBrogue Show.

[OD50]

they only way Cesaro is boring is from the shitty gimmick they give him dude is amazing in the ring

yessing the 6 man from smackers

sheild has not had one bad tag math

I've heard rumors that Roman Reigns is almost up there with Scott Steiner when it comes to math..

Will check out the smackers 6-man asap. :yes:

And yeah, AC/Sheamus was lovely but I'm still miffed that they are wasting tons of beastly matches like Sheamus/Barrett and Sheamus/Cesaro on free tv.

[mr sabu]

I've heard rumors that Roman Reigns is almost up there with Scott Steiner when it comes to math..

Will check out the smackers 6-man asap. :yes:

And yeah, AC/Sheamus was lovely but I'm still miffed that they are wasting tons of beastly matches like Sheamus/Barrett and Sheamus/Cesaro on free tv.

they made be bad at maths but i am bad at english

but anyway

yessing punk Jericho payback

cause fuck you that's why

[Andy]

Nominate and YES ADR/Ziggler. That was great. :yes:

[Andy]

And saying YES to Jericho/Punk. Very good. :yes:

[Psycho666Soldier]

I will YES the FUCK out of Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio...even if it's heartbreaking to talk about it.

Seriously, that was one of the best double turns with the perfect crowd that ate it up as soon as Del Rio started going after Ziggler's head. Some of those shots looked absolutely devastating. It was hard to watch knowing Ziggler just had a concussion. I'm not sure if part of this has to do with him still being hurt or what, but despite the good that can come with it, I'm so pissed that Ziggler would finally get the belt, lose it with almost no defenses, and have yet another one of his World title reigns be tarnished. Of course, i am biased because he's my favorite, but it's upsetting. Regardless, this could mean huge things for Ziggler in the future, because everyone wanted to cheer him anyway. I just hope this is all about making a star out of Ziggler and not just taking the belt away from him.

Grade: B+

I kind of want to give Punk/Jericho another watch before I yes it, because I find it hard recalling all the awesome bits of the match last night, but I remember it ending with me absolutely loving the match. It was really well put together. I'll probably be YESsing it with a high grade later.

Contemplating nominating the Divas match, actually. That match was damn good.

[JP]

ADR/Ziggler is a no from me. Very well done for what it was, but no.

Punk/Jericho is a HELL YES!!

[Ringo]

YES to Dolph/ADR. Really well worked double turn. Ziggler bumping around and selling his injury like a champ. ADR just gradually turning into supreme dick. Best spots include then ADR dropkicked Dolph in the back of the head (I think?) through the ropes and the zig zag near the end making us think he might pull it off. Loved it loved it.

[Tainted Eclipse]

NO to Punk/Jericho. It was a nice addition to the card and I enjoyed watching it well enough, but I wouldn't recommend anyone go out of their way to see it. Standard sort of WWE workrate type match, boring and meaningless first chunk followed by near falls and counters off signature spots, not really exceptional in any of those respects.

big YES to ADR/Ziggler. Loved the story, and loved Ziggler fighting from below and selling. The outside stuff was tremendous, from the apron kick, the doctor interceding, and ADR MURDERING Dolph through the ropes and responding to a screaming AJ by kicking her belt across the floor. ADR's gradual transformation was especially cool considering he even got some clear face spots early on, like getting Big E thrown out. ADR responding to the crowd booing him was brilliant, and Dolph's final hope spot was really cool, followed by the deciding kick while Dolph was trying to force himself back into it.

[Peter Griffin]

Yes to ADR/Ziggler and Punk/Jericho

[OD50]

Yes to ADR/Ziggler and Punk/Jericho

Same.

[MMH]

Yes to del Rio and ziggler.

I don't get the love for punk and jericho this time. It was good but not great for me.

[JP]

There best match together for me. They were able to just go out there and play their natural roles and just seemed to flow better.
Only minor grump was Punk's reversals of the WoJ, they looked ridiculous.

[MMH]

There best match together for me. They were able to just go out there and play their natural roles and just seemed to flow better.
Only minor grump was Punk's reversals of the WoJ, they looked ridiculous.

See I thought it felt really clunky and didnt flow well. I get that quite often with both guys though. Sometimes i think a match gets rated highly just because of who is involved.

Crowd was great of course.

[JP]

Crowd without a doubt helped a lot.

[mth]

Contemplating nominating the Divas match, actually. That match was damn good.
If you don't, I will.

Hard for me to rate ADR/Dolph and Jericho/Punk as I was having stream issues at the start of the first and at the end of the second. From what I did see of Jericho/Punk, it really didn't blow me away. ADR/Ziggler was very interesting and well done, though, so I'd be tempted to give it a yes on what I did see alone...but I'm not sure that's fair.

[takerson]

I'm gonna YES Del Rio vs. Ziggler, however must heartbreakingly NO Punk/Jericho. I think their best match together was their Raw match a few months ago. This was very good, don't get me wrong, but felt a little flat. The crowd made it more than it was.

[Hero!]

Yes to:

Cesaro/Zain
Bryan/Rollins
Punk/Jericho
Ziggler/ADR
AJ/Kaitlyn

The first three were awesome ground and pound wrestling matches, while the others really excelled because of the stories told within.

[takerson]

I'll be the only one, because it was a house show and nobody else will see it. But I want to set the precedent for Nominating and Yessing a House Show match. Antonio Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler in a No DQ match in Daytona Beach last night was absolutely incredible. Maybe you can base your opinion on the clips I got? If interested, May I direct you all towards the WWE Live: Your experiences thread from my videos of the amazing Cesaro/Ziggler match that should've been on a major PPV...

https://forums.rajah.com/showthread.php?146637-WWE-Live-Your-Experiences/page2

[Andy]

I reckon the reason some of you guys think Punk/Jericho was a bit disjointed is because the commentary is fucking awful. All three of them seemed to drop the ball in that match. There were some brilliantly worked near falls, including a Codebreaker from Jericho out of nowhere that had me fooled for a second. But Cole just said "is it enough" after a few seconds of dead air. A great reversal from Jericho to get Punk into the Walls and Cole just said "uh oh". I actually think Cole gets way too much stick but this was a brutal match as far as commentary goes. Having just rewatched it I do think it was a very good match. Not a masterpiece for the ages or anything, but definitely their best and one I'll happily watch again at the end of the year.

[Andy]

Nominating and YESing Bryan/Orton from Raw.

[Psycho666Soldier]

Daniel Bryan vs. Christian
Dolph Ziggler vs. Antonio Cesaro

Both excellent matches. I don't really have time to grade or go in-depth, but I wanted to nominate them.

At some point over the weekend, I'll be updating the list. I expect we'll have a couple noms after MITB, too.

[mr sabu]

I'll be the only one, because it was a house show and nobody else will see it. But I want to set the precedent for Nominating and Yessing a House Show match. Antonio Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler in a No DQ match in Daytona Beach last night was absolutely incredible. Maybe you can base your opinion on the clips I got? If interested, May I direct you all towards the WWE Live: Your experiences thread from my videos of the amazing Cesaro/Ziggler match that should've been on a major PPV...

https://forums.rajah.com/showthread.php?146637-WWE-Live-Your-Experiences/page2

im going to no this


anyway i yes

smackers money in the bank match
del rio and ziggler
raw money in the bank

and iffey on mizzark and cena

[takerson]

Nominating and YESing Bryan/Orton from Raw.

YES



smackers money in the bank match
del rio and ziggler
raw money in the bank



YES
YES
YES

[JP]

Yes to SD MitB

No to Ziggler/Del Rio

No to Raw MitB

[Andy]

Yes to SD MITB
Yes to Zig/Rio
No to Raw MITB

[Hero!]

YES to WHC MITB
YES to Del Rio/Ziggler
NO to RAW MITB

Nominating:
Jericho/Ryback - easily Ryback's best ever match. Jericho pulled everything out of him last night. I loved it.

[Psycho666Soldier]

YES to the WHC MITB match.
YES to Ziggler/Del Rio

I'm gonna withold on the RAW MITB match.

NO to Jericho/Ryback. I just couldn't really get into it. Maybe I'd change my mind on a re-watch.

oh, and FUCK YES TO ORTON/BRYAN FROM RAW!!

[Andy]

No to Jericho/Ryback. It was ok to good but I have no desire to watch it again and that is basically all my system is based on here.

Nominating and YESing Shield/Usos from the kick off show.

[MichaelC]

YES to Shield/Usos, World title Money in the Bank, Orton v Bryan (RAW) and Bryan v Sheamus from last weeks RAW.

NO to Jericho/Ryback.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Jericho/Ryback - NO
I thought this match was decent but nothing exceptional. Although I did really like the ending, and Ryback's shit eating grin right afterward rolling out of the ring. Ryback's had much better matches with Cesaro and Bryan.

Smackdown MITB - YES
I actually though this took quite a while to get going and was pretty boring for the first many minutes. But when it got good it got real good. Cesaro/Swagger double team stuff was great. I especially loved Cesaro uppercutting the hinge of the ladder to close it while Ambrose was climbing. The ending was just fantastic. It's the most I've ever been into Rhodes. He overcame the Shield interference leading to an awesome bit of overbooked mayhem, was about to climb to victory to a hot crowd with a hardway cut on his face, and then Sandow comes out of nowhere having crawled into hiding earlier. Awesome ending although I think the RAW MITB really might've been better all around, but paradoxically less 'worth watching.'


NOMINATE

John Cena vs. Mark Henry, MITB
Plenty of people have bitched about the ending but hey what was going to happen? WWE seems to want a long Cena reign and plenty of top guys and monsters have tapped to the STF. This was a great match and Henry was at his absolute best beating down Cena. Cena's comebacks were all hot and well worked and Henry, as always during face comebacks, sold and bumped for them perfectly. The botched DDT counter (funny enough the same spot happened, with it being botched basically exactly the same, in Jericho/Ryback) was the only blemish. Cena's crossbody into the WSS was awesome, especially since they had a close up on Cena's face and he had this serious expression as if he knew it was a huge risk but had to try SOMETHING. Pretty much perfect big man/strong not-too-big man match. Probably one of the best WWE matches of the year though I need to rewatch it.

[Tainted Eclipse]

edit: is there any actual reason we're calling them the RAW mitb and the smackdown mitb other than habit and perceived importance?

edit: this wasnt really an edit

[Andy]

That and the colour of the briefcases.

[Andy]

I'll need to watch Henry/Cena again. I enjoyed it definitely, don't think it was anything amazing though.

[Psycho666Soldier]

FUCKING YES TO RVD vs. CHRIS JERICHO!! That match was insanely good! The hot crowd added to the atmosphere, Jericho was looking crisp, and Van Dam proved that he still has the ability to go above and beyond. This was just a classic match that is worth everyone's watch. Excellent stuff!

[takerson]

FUCKING YES TO RVD vs. CHRIS JERICHO!! That match was insanely good! The hot crowd added to the atmosphere, Jericho was looking crisp, and Van Dam proved that he still has the ability to go above and beyond. This was just a classic match that is worth everyone's watch. Excellent stuff!


YUUUUUUUUUUP

[Peter Griffin]

Yessssssssssssssssssss to the aforementioned match.

[JP]

RVD/Y2J - No. Enjoyable, but nowhere near the standard deserving of a yes. I'd honestly give more consideration to Fandango/Orton.

[Andy]

No to Jericho/RVD. It was a good TV match and no more for me.

[Tainted Eclipse]

NO to RVD/Jericho. If this match didn't happen between RVD and Jericho no way would anyone even consider it good. Really awkward for considerable stretches of time, obvious ring rust shown by RVD. There were some cool moments and it was nice to see RVD back on TV doing his signature stuff, but no way was this match at all above average.

[thesamuelcooke]

No to RVD/Y2J. RVD was way too sluggish.
YES to Fandango/Orton though. Great opening match.

[Atty]

NO to Ryback/Cena (Payback)
YES to ADR/Ziggler (Payback)
YES to WHC MITB
NO to WWE MITB
YES to Jericho/Ryback
YES to ADR/Ziggler (MITB)
NO to Shield/Usos
NO to Mark Henry/Cena
YES to Fandango/Orton
YES to Jericho/RVD

[Psycho666Soldier]

NO to RVD/Jericho. If this match didn't happen between RVD and Jericho no way would anyone even consider it good. Really awkward for considerable stretches of time, obvious ring rust shown by RVD. There were some cool moments and it was nice to see RVD back on TV doing his signature stuff, but no way was this match at all above average.
I've honestly been pretty critical of RVD in recent years, and I STILL enjoyed the hell out of this match. It didn't matter that it was RVD and Y2J, it's that they wrestled a damn good match. It didn't even feel like RVD was relying on his signature spots like he normally does, which made this even better. Didn't really see much of the ring rust like at the PPV.

[Psycho666Soldier]

Watching the match again, I will say I can see the sluggishness in RVD's performance, but I felt it didn't really hinder the match except maybe once in the smallest way. It wasn't QUITE as good as the first watch, but still deserving of a YES for me.