2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

Dean Ambrose v. Randy Orton WWE Smackdown 8/8

ER: Ambrose matches always have this cool sense of urgency to them, not like he's trying to end them as quickly as possible, but that he has an endless amount of energy and he's required to burn through all of it over 15 minutes. Here he's like some glorious combination of Finlay and Roddy Piper in They Live. He never lets Orton rest and tries to fill every moment with work, and just when Orton thinks he has him down Ambrose leaps back in and tries to get him to wear the fucking glasses. The ringwork is just constant and really manages to do go-go-go without ever bearing down on overkill. I love little things Ambrose sneaks in like forearm rakes across the eyes, and lace scrapes, and the way he takes the turnbuckle bump chest first like Bret Hart. I like the way these two fit together as they always hammer home how slow and methodical Orton is, but Ambrose doesn't let anybody stop and think for a second. Really a classic example of one guy keeping the other off his game.

PAS: I really agree about the pacing issues Eric talked about. Orton can sluggish up a match if he gives in to his worst tendencies, but Ambrose isn't a guy who is going to let a match lay there. He is a guy that almost makes me want to get the WWE app, because you know he did three cool things during the commercial. I especially loved him ripping at Orton's ear, but there was a bunch of little cool things like that. Didn't really have any problem with the finish as it was a nasty beatdown and dumping the drink on Ambrose is exactly the kind of thing you would do to him if you whopped him in a street fight. Lumberjack match is a pretty lame stip, Ambrose v. Rollins in almost anything else would be better.


2014 MASTER LIST