2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Charlotte vs. Rousey

4. Charlotte vs. Ronda Rousey WWE Survivor Series 11/18

ER: I think we were all excited about Becky/Ronda, and really at this point I'm excited for any Ronda. But I don't think anyone was expecting what we ended up getting here. Ronda is nice and tenacious to start and I love her relentlessly going after Charlotte, even jumping right back in after the ref separates them, constantly going after that arm. Ronda's greatest strength may very well be her bumps, she's a crazy bumped whose specialty is flying face first into things. You saw her excellent ringpost bumps in the Nikki match, and here Charlotte gets an opening when Ronda flies fast face first into the bottom buckle, really looked nasty. Ronda gets a busted mouth and Charlotte begins taking over. I really dug Charlotte kicking out Rousey's leg when she was on the top, even though I was dying to know what Rousey was going to do off the top. I'm going to need a Steiner 450 from Ronda. The rolling armbar off the top is a cool spot I hope doesn't start getting overused. Ronda is so great at building drama, great at selling (look at how she stood up with that rolling fireman's carry, look at the emotion she showed) and I don't think anybody has made Charlotte's spear look that great. That spear looked so nasty and Rousey's kickout was so great that I fully bought that finishing the match. Ronda is good at paying service to the work Charlotte has done to the leg, without being obvious and hammy about it, really feels like she has a grasp on complicated selling, moreso than many in WWE. I normally think Charlotte's chops look a little flimsy, but here I loved her firing out of the corner with them. Ronda getting a chest full of bruises only helped with that visual. We get the DQ finish, which is disappointing, but I like that they at least went with a full beatdown and not just a one move DQ. Charlotte beats her with a kendo stick and Ronda takes a great bump into the ring steps, and this is the first time in...I can't even remember, that the kendo stick actually looked like a dangerous weapon. Charlotte looked like a crazed psycho beating Ronda to death with a broom handle, and it took a DQ and made it a moment instead of a way out. I think it's undeniable that this is the best Charlotte has looked in ages, and it's not a coincidence it came against Ronda. Rousey is legit at this point, she's arguably the best salesman in the fed, right up with the best bumpers, and has strong offense. It's pretty shocking how great she is, this quick.

PAS: Tremendous stuff, Ronda is unimpeachable at this point, shocked at how good she has gotten in such a short time. In her first year she has had the best match of Nikki Bella's career, Nia's career, Alexa Bliss's career, Charlotte's career, Helmsley's career and Kurt Angle's career.  Loved the early scrambles in here, felt wild and completely different from your normal opening to a wrestling match. Ronda has incredible body control and she throws out some crazy stuff in the middle of a normal wrestling exchange, her judo arm flip counter of the figure four attempt into a somersault fireman's lift was wacky awesome shit. It actually reminded me of the kind of carny lunacy Ryuki Ueyama and Dokonjonosuke Mishima used to whip out in U-Style, pro-wrestling turned 15 degrees to the side with something unique and different. Ronda went face first into the turnbuckle like it was Holly Holm's fist and we get some real gritty violence. Charlotte is throwing here, she opens up a cut in Ronda's mouth with an elbow, throws some Flair vs. Garvin chops rather then her usual Flair vs. Sting chops, and lays in some big boots. Between this match, Meiko vs. Mercedes, Nia Jax potatoes and a lot of the Shayna matches it appears that WWE Joshi is moving into its Yumiko Hotta phase and I am all for it. Charlotte leaned into her size to narrow the credibility gap and it really worked. Ronda stomping around the ring talking shit only to get wasted by a spear was a great moment. I also loved Ronda mangling Charlotte's arm in the ropes, eleading Charlotte to realize it wasn't her day and wasting Ronda with some Sandman on Mikey Whipwreck level cane shots. It felt a little like they just grafted Becky's character on Charlotte, but I sort of like the idea of all the current WWE Women having to get super extra to keep up with what Ronda brings.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST