2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

1. Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt WWE Royal Rumble 1/26

PAS: One of the more violent matches I can remember in the WWE, especially for a match without any weapon shots. Really a coming out for Wyatt who is a fun character, but hasn't had an in ring performance like this. Loved the stiffness in this match, the curb stomp by Bryan, the crazy DDT, the big kicks, he felt like he was trying to kill Wyatt even more the he did during the cage match. Meanwhile Wyatt was a brutal force, lots of credit to Bryan who was bumping huge on the clotheslines and elbows, but also Wyatt's ringpost smashes and headbuts felt like the kind of thing that would cause concussions. Plus that ending was truly nuts, felt like the right escalation of a move for this kind of match (alot of time the WWE super move thing comes off forced), and the smoothness of the catch into the barricade Sister Abgail was great, it looked like an organic counter a crazy man would come up with.

ER: Wow this was just an excellent match. WWE can botch characters pretty badly, but they've done a good job with Wyatt. Him working a match felt like a really big deal special attraction to me as he rarely works TV, and in 6 mans he's usually on the apron and only comes in for the finish or just hangs back the whole time. So him finally appearing solo and them wisely having Bryan take out Harper/Rowan at the beginning was smart. Both guys gave each other a lot here. Bryan bumped like a lunatic and made Wyatt look like he had the most crushing back elbows and clotheslines in the business. All the big moves and bumps fit really organically into the match without guys having to awkwardly get into position for stuff. You have the great dive spot set up by Bray talking to Harper, Wyatt chopping Bryan dangerously off the top rope, the masterful set up to Sister Abigail into the barrier (a real holy shit moment), Wyatt getting spiked with that insane tornado DDT to the floor, the nasty shoulder wringer into the apron. It's really rare to have a 20+ minute singles match and not feel at least a little overkill, but there's none of that here. Just a sustained attack from both guys that just keeps escalating and peaks perfectly. So far nothing else this year is even close to this match, and if we end up with even a couple better by the end of the year then it will have been a great year for wrestling. Also, if Wyatt can find a way to do the Exorcist crab walk as a bridge out of a pin, he's gonna be #1 on the 500.


5. Blue Panther vs. Negro Casas CMLL 1/21

PAS: A little disappointing, you want this match up to be an all time classic and instead we get a very fun brawl with a run in finish. Still this is Negro Casas and Blue Panther brawling and it is pretty damn great. The pace they set was pretty impressive for two guys in their 50s as they pretty much went after each other bell to bell. I love all of the headbuts, and the dueling limb work with Casas attacking the knee and Panther wrenching at the arm. Both submission finishes were very cool, and it felt like it was building to something great before the Felino kid run in. I do love the constant Casas singles matches we are getting in 2014, although he hasn't dropped a true gem yet.

ER: A match between two all-time maestros would never be able to live up to your own mental hype, and lucha is weird enough that there's equal enough chance for each of these guys to have an excellent match against Euforia or Maximo as they have against each other. So you see two of your all-time favorites against each other and you basically hope for a bunch of cool moments, and this had plenty of cool moments. All of the submission exchanges delivered (Panther violently twisting into the STF being my highlight) and the rampway brawling set a cool tone for the match. This was never going to live up to the hype, but for two guy who have been favorites of mine for as long as I've watched lucha, it's just fun seeing them do their thing.

2014 MOTY MASTER LIST