2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Rey vs. Andrade

1. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade WWE Raw 1/6

PAS: These guys are just tremendous dance partners. Andrade is Juvi level great at taking Rey's offense, and it is insane that Rey is still innovating 30 years into his career. I had never seen the roll into the steps before, and the knuckle lock into the Canadian Destroyer actually made that move look credible. I really liked the restart, especially because we got another 5+ minutes of awesome including two of the cooler moves of the match, Rey's rana off the ring apron which Andrade took on the top of his head, and the sunset bomb into the ringpost. The only thing that kept this from an all timer, was the little awkwardness at the finish with Rey getting a stinger or something, and them basically going back to what they were setting up. Still this was just a treat, and Rey just keeps rolling on.

ER: Yeah, go on and just keep matching these two up. This might not have been their best overall match due to the weird finish, but this match definitely had my favorite STUFF between the two. The Stuff Quotient was high in this one, and both guys are perfect at taking each other's stuff. Andrade was a base god here, guy was bumping around for Rey like this was a Rey Mania Retirement Match, bounced off the top of his head no less than 3 times, and really worked with the all time great to come up with cool spins on greatest hits. I saw Bob Dylan live over a decade ago and barely recognized any song he performed. Once he got back into live performance, he maintained personal interest by completely changing the melodies and arrangements of his songs. Here's Rey using the exact same arsenal that's been at his disposal for nearly 30 years now, and keeps finding ways to integrate new trends and new tech in a way that doesn't come off like an old weirdo doing stunners in an armory, but like a guy who can take anything and make it his own. This was all about Andrade finding new ways to crash and burn, taking a rolling cradle into the ring steps, taking a rana head first into the barricade, taking a sunset flip bomb into the ringpost, bouncing off his head for DDTs and a great Canadian Destroyer, just a total megastar performance opposite a megastar. I loved the moments of going back to that well, like Mysterio rolling through an early sunset flip to kick Andrade in the head, leading to Rey getting cocky later in the match and hitting a wild diving sunset flip to the floor that ends with Andrade rolling through and sending those knees into Rey's face. Phil pointed out the knucklelock into the Destroyer, and it's totally true that they figured out a way to build to a position they typically hit a few times per match, with a result that turned an implausible move into something sensical. And this whole thing felt like the best implausible parts of wrestling, made plausible by total pros.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST