2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

4. Sheamus/Christian vs. Real Americans WWE Raw 2/10

PAS: Man WWE TV has been on fire lately, the Wyatt trios on this same show just missed the cut and this was a damn out of nowhere classic. It starts out good with some fun Christian and Cesaro mat work and then just goes into overdrive as Sheamus and Cesaro just start waling on each other, it's like a WAR match broke out in the middle of random TV tag, after that everyone stepped up their game a ton. Christian was a great face in peril, and the Real American's have developed some cool double teams, and then we get a WWEDG finish which was super, loved Christians DDT off the apron, and that finishing kick was tooth loosening. It's like Kip Frye is handing out bonuses backstage or something

ER: I don't really consider myself much of a WWE mark, but whatever they're doing matchwise right now is working pretty great. I used to be able to DVR an episode of Raw and blow through it in about 30 minutes. There have been stretches over the last couple years where a couple months go by without me really digging a match on Raw. And here we are in 2014 and it's become a must-watch show (well, I still fast forward like hell during most of the angles, Orton promos, HHH/Steph scissor sessions, etc.). I'm not sure when it happened but WWE Dragons Gate is the most fun thing possible for me right now. For years a complaint about WWE is that the matches could be too slow or plodding. Well, that talking point is pretty much dead and buried as now WWE is about as go-go-go as humanly possible for guys this size. The tag and trios format is really perfect for this style as you get to avoid a bunch of awful kickouts and keep the action constantly fresh with tag outs instead of rest holds. It's like the best kind of NOAH trios or yes, WAR tags. Match was fun for a couple minutes and then took off and never looked back once Cesaro and Sheamus started trading uppercuts and Cesaro overpowered him with dual left/right uppercuts like some sort of demon Punch-Out! character. Once we go into 5 minutes of Cesaro/Swagger double teams and set-ups I was losing it. The Cesaro double stomp followed by scream into camera, Christian's right hand sucker punch on Swagger on the apron, Cesaro's flapjack uppercut on Christian (Christian always gets crazy height on that kind of stuff), Cesaro leaping out of nowhere with a forearm to stop Sheamus dead in his tracks in the corner, the tornado DDT to the floor, Sheamus' big bump to the floor with Dutch getting in his face. When this match was over I rewound it and watched it all over again. Also, big props to Ryback, Axel, Swagger, Ambrose, really everybody over the last few weeks who are having a weird competition to see who can be first to get their nose pushed into their brain by the Brogue Kick. Everybody has been leaning hard into some stiff shots this year, as if they haven't been shown in HD for a few years now.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST