Fab Five WWE Matches of the Week 9/7-9/13

1. William Regal v. Christian Breaking Point 9/13

Just a tremendous match, really one of the best things I have seen all year. The match between these two a couple of weeks ago was damn good, but I thought it felt a bit like a Regal one man show. Not this match though as Christian was right there along for the ride. I especially dug how he was constantly firing back with body punches, that is something which isn't used much in wrestling (although a lot on this card) and it looked great here. Regal was truly awesome here, he is a guy with some really big strengths. He is a great seller of impact and pain, a combination of facial expressions and body movement. We had a couple of really nice moments here of agony. He is one of the better mat wrestlers in the world, and this had some great points, where Regal would hit a move and wrench in a hold, Christian showed some nice countering here too, and ended up not looking smoked on the mat. Regal also is one of the hardest hitting wrestlers in the world, there were some shots in this match that looked like they belonged in BattlArts not the WWE, his forearm smash where he exploded out of the blocks like a linebacker was especially nasty, as was all of his short knee strikes. Your constant countering of finishers is a pretty tired match trope especially in the WWE, but I loved all of the ways Regal avoided and countered the Killswitch here, when Christian finally hit it, it deservedly felt like curtains. Man I am loving this Regal run.

2. John Cena v. Randy Orton Breaking Point 9/13

I really enjoy these kind of spectacle main events. This was a match based around individual moments rather then a coherent wrestling match. You could tell this was a match put together in the back, still great performances by both guys. All of the big moments were pretty awesome, some people may have found both Cena and Orton a little hammy, but I bought Cena as a beaten man and Orton as a crazed nut. I loved the section with Cena hanging on the turnbuckle while Orton slammed him with brutal body shots like Rocky working a slab of beef. I also really dug Orton hanging the handcuff key around his neck to taunt Cena. Finish with the tug of war leading to the handcuff assisted STF was great too. This is pretty much the definition of a match that could have used blood though, Inoki and Saito did something similar in New Japan and the spectacle of it was really helped by the spigot coming out of Saito's head. Still those ropey red bruises on Cena's ribs were a nice conciliation prize.

3. Finlay v. Mike Knox Smackdown 9/8

This is another nasty little installment from the most violent feud in wrestling. Both guys were great in this, I loved the way Finlay kept trying to get to his feet only to be knocked down by another garbage can shot, the garbage can shots are something that doesn't normally look good, here they looked really nasty and violent. Knox was also taking some big bumps for such a bulky dude. Finish might have been the finish of the year with Knox going for the bodypress and getting shot out of the air like a plane hit by a missile.

4. Matt Hardy v. C.M. Punk Smackdown 9/8

Pretty solid match which did what it was designed to do, get over the Anaconda Vice before the PPV. Hardy looked good, he was winging that right hand, and his butterfly body vice submission was awesome looking. This was another really solid Punk performance, he was doing a lot of nifty little things, punching Hardy in the back of his neck, rubbing his knee and limping a little after knee strikes, putting on his little cockish smirk after a good blow. Still I thought the finish was a bit abrupt, it got the move over, but I thought it made Hardy look kind of weak. Punk's post match celebration ruled though, what an amazing douchebag he is turning out to be.

5. Undertaker v. C.M. Punk Breaking Point 9/13

Dogshit ending aside, the actually work in this was pretty good. For a pair of guys who work "dangerous striker" gimmicks neither Punk or Undertaker normally have good looking strikes. Here both guys seemed to be laying it in a little more then usual. Punk's high kick counter of the chokeslam was especially nice looking. I also thought he did a nice job bumping around for the Undertakers stuff. Still this fucking finish again. Talk about diminishing returns. We are going to get another couple of weeks of promos for Punk and he should really portray Undertaker as a lamer metal guy who isn't really Punk Rock. Feels like Undertaker would make a fine Glen Danzig in the indy rockifying of Smackdown.