2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

2. The Shield v. Wyatt Family WWE Raw 3/3

ER: Holy lord. This shit was wild. "Wild" isn't really something that WWE does. They're very structured and very micro-managed, so even the wildest matches from the fed tend to have some sort of order and disconnect. But THIS. This match felt like no other WWE match I've ever seen. We start with The Shield doing dives, Rollins dropkicking dudes out of the ring, Rollins hitting a huge flip dive on Harper then sprinting back in to do one on Rowan, then getting launched sideways into the barrier by Harper. There's just so much wild reckless shit in this. People are flying around the whole time working their own angles and stories while other exchanges are happening. Again usually even wild WWE brawls are clearly structured and this one felt like the best kind of sloppy. It came off like all of those great short 80s set matches that always place really highly. It felt like it was constantly breaking down. Harper looks like a beast in this, flying all over the ring (take a manly bump into the timekeeper's pen), big booting everybody off the apron, dishing nasty clubbing strikes, hitting a dropkick that looked like it should have caved Ambrose' chest in. Love Rowan's fist-assisted head vice, and I love Ambrose escaping it by yanking HARD on Rowan's beard. As a man with a large beard, this is a daily fear of mine. Ambrose brings the Nigel rebound clothesline out of the mothballs and LEVELS Harper with it. Harper leans so damn hard into every move every match, he just might have a lumpy Takayama face under that beard by the end of the year. Wyatt hits a Mike Knox cross body (why the FUCK is Mike Knox not rehired in the Wyatt Family yet!?), and then gets planted with a nasty Ambrose DDT that he took basically vertical. Reigns hits arguably his best ever Superman punch (or maybe Harper is to thank for it...) with Harper's head whipping back while his body crumbles in front of him, like half of his momentum was going one way while Reigns knocked the other half the opposite way. Reigns spears Rowan over the announce table and both tumble wildly over it, while Harper kicks Ambrose asshole over elbow back in the ring. This whole thing was just fucking AWESOME and felt entirely unique in a WWE setting. I mean, it felt entirely unique when compared to the 2014 wrestling landscape, and I hate hate HATE that I don't get to watch these two teams feud for eternity, with new members and shifting face/heel dynamics. I still can't decide which match I liked more. The Chamber match had a cool longtime story, and this one was them pissed their own tactics worked against them and just bringing the fight to the Wyatts. My heart says this one...

PAS: I think the Chamber match was slightly better, I am going to take a match with a clean finish over something that is undergirding for an angle when all else is equal. Still this was damn close, the work was great. I love faceish Ambrose he is like a crazy ECW Terry Funk, everything he does is the right kind of intense and out of control. His Thez press looks like a guy on PCP flinging himself at a cop. I loved his bridged figure four, and Harper's double stomp to break it up was disgusting looking. Plus that rebound clothesline looked spectacular, loved when Nigel did it, love it from Ambrose. I liked the 2 on 3 dynamic of the finish, but was a bit iffy on Rollins motivation, and his acting. Felt like he hit his lines a bit hard. Still when your only complaint about a match is the vocal acting, it is pretty damn great


2014 MASTER LIST