2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Balor vs. Brock

1. Finn Balor vs. Brock Lesnar WWE Royal Rumble 1/27

ER: Talk about an overdelivery. Wow. No sensible person could have been excited for a Finn Balor match, and I saw no plausible way for Finn to look good against Lesnar. Finn has terrible offense and you need someone to lace it in to look like you can dent Brock. But they end up doing it. I didn't expect it to happen, but they did it. They actually have Brock sell his diverticulitis, and I love when they implement that into big Brock matches, and Brock shows what a wonderful salesman he still is. Balor laced in shots more than I've ever seen him do, and while they're not going to look like Ikeda, Balor DOES lay them in as much as possible. And Brock's pale wide body takes damage better than any other wrestler's, reading all shades of pink red and purple. And Balor stomps away at him hard and Brock purples up, and they do some great stuff like have Brock get run large intestine first into the corner of the announce table. Balor avoids the Suplex City trap by playing up his slipperiness instead of his bad offense, so while he ate one monster belly to belly (and it was a great one) he kept floating like a bee, even slipping right into giving Brock an F5. Brock was tremendous at selling his vulnerability, I mean it is amazing how much he made Balor feel legit here. I don't think Balor has looked better in any other match that I've seen, I mean he did everything he could and Brock took it the way only Brock can. Balor looks like he genuinely wants to destroy Brock's large intestine with that final Coup de Grace.....and Brock responds like a wounded python. Can't lift him, can't slam him,  SO JUST SMOTHER HIM WITH YOUR LAND MASS. All the camera angles of Brock taking that Coup de Grace and then smothering Balor with his body, eyes crazy like he was Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the thought crossed your mind while Brock was bending that arm...."Brock might actually break this guy's arm...." Brock brings an aura into the ring that nobody else can, and Balor stepped up to that aura, and delivered more than I could have anticipated. This was great.

PAS: This was tremendous, Balor's career match by a huge margin over anything else I have seen him do. I liked the early flurry by Balor, the cut off by Lenser was big but not super overdone, and Lesnar running full speed kidney first into the corner of the announce table was one of the nastiest momentum changers I can remember seeing. Even without a history of intestine issues that would have been a hospital trip. After that bump everything Balor did looked like it could end a match, Lesnar caught his dives on his back instead of catching them, sold every suplex like he had hernia and that final double stomp off the top was just an awesome piece of violence. I loved the finish too, we hadn't seen the chicken wing hammerlock in a while and I loved Brock too busted up to lift and throw, so he just grabs the arm and tries to rip it off his body. That maniacal look on his face as he was cranking the arm was bone chilling, no one does crazy lunatic anymore convincing then Brcok, he looks like he wants to cripple his opponents, and totally could do, which makes him super scary.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST