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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 25, 2015 14:09:11 GMT -5
91. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan vs. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa – NXT 10/28/15 |
| He hasn’t been around for a while, but Chad Gable is already one of my favorite wrestlers. The guy just gets it and has picked up wrestling incredibly quickly, making the various Kurt Angle comparisons kind of accurate. His dynamic with Jason Jordan and their chemistry is just so good already. They’ve only just started teaming, but they work more smoothly than almost any other current tag team. This match gave everyone a little bit of something. Gable was a wiz on the mat while Jordan threw his opponents around. Gargano and Ciampa were no slouches either, getting their stuff in which got pops from the fans who know them well and from the people just being introduced. There were some cool little things like Gable casually asking Jordan if he should break Johnny’s arm like it was nothing. Despite never working each other, the match goes at such a breakneck pace, you’d think they wrestled countless times. The back suplex double team finisher got Gable and Jordan the win after 11:58 in the best tag team match on NXT all year. ***¾ |
*This is the last appearance on the list for Chad Gable, Jason Jordan and Tommaso Ciampa.
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Post by Rule 30 on Dec 25, 2015 14:13:53 GMT -5
I loved that match. I always loved Gable for his character and personality, but that match is what really showed how he can go in the ring. Jason Jordan, too.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 25, 2015 14:18:09 GMT -5
I loved that match. I always loved Gable for his character and personality, but that match is what really showed how he can go in the ring. Jason Jordan, too. Unfortunately, it's the only Gable match on the list.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 25, 2015 20:49:08 GMT -5
90. No Disqualification Match: Adam Page vs. Jay Briscoe – ROH TV 10/21/15 |
| At the start of the year, if you would have told me that Adam Page would appear on my Top 100 Matches list, I don’t think I would have believed you. However, this was very well built up, with Page targeting Jay Briscoe for a long time. This was a ballsy move since Jay had only been pinned once in about 1,000 days. These are the kind of No Disqualification matches I like. It wasn’t just a stipulation added to be there, instead they made sure to take advantage of it from the start. There was no adhering to the Code of Honor and rightfully so. While Cero Miedo is the most violent match on the list, I’d put this in the top five. It is just two dudes trying to hurt each other, as it should be. I saw a DDT on a chair, a double stomp through a table, a neckbreaker with a chair around Page’s neck and even a damn Jay Driller off the apron and through a table. Somehow though, Page kicked out of that, providing me with one of the more surreal near falls I saw all year. A second Jay Driller kept Page down at 16:21, but I’d say it was a star making performance for him. ***¾ |
*This is the last appearance on the list for Adam Page.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 7:40:57 GMT -5
89. Hell in a Cell: Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker – Hell in a Cell 10/25/15 | | I’ve been very vocal about the fact that I wanted nothing to do with this program. After their matches in 2002, I never really cared about it. Sure, when Brock Lesnar broke the streak I was shocked, but the build to the match didn’t interest me. When they decided to revisit it over a year and a half later, I cringed. To my surprise though, their match at SummerSlam was pretty good, but had a stupid ending. That of course led us to this. The final encounter, in the same structure were they had their very best match thirteen years earlier. In an era where blading is a big no-no, both men did so in this match pretty much because they have the stroke to do so. I’m a big fan of their original Hell in a Cell and this honestly nearly matched it. It was a physical war between two of the best in history. In a creative move, Brock ripped the mat and exposed wood. He ate a Tombstone on it but kicked out before putting down his rival with an F5 on the wood at 18:08. It was a fitting end to their feud, which is the only one I can remember Undertaker having where he never cleanly beat his opponent. ***¾ |
*This is the last appearance on the list for The Undertaker.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2015 8:18:25 GMT -5
Wait the summerslam match didnt make the cut? That match was AMAZING especially this part!!
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 10:07:41 GMT -5
Wait the summerslam match didnt make the cut? That match was AMAZING especially this part!! Nope. It wouldn't even be an honorable mention for me. Also, I'm gonna be posting more matches today than usual. Expect number 88 within the hour.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 10:56:13 GMT -5
88. Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada – NJPW G1 Climax 8/1/15 | | The IWGP Heavyweight Champion vs. the IWGP Intercontinental Champion. This wasn’t Shinsuke Nakamura as IC Champion either. When he beats an Okada or a Tanahashi, it’s not much of a surprise because he’s also one of the top guys. Hirooki Goto is a bit different and isn’t held in quite as high esteem, though he is a very talented performer. There wasn’t anything personal about this match or anything like that. It felt like exactly the kind of match it should have felt like. The two guys with the top belts in the company, vying to see who is better. I got the feeling that more was at stake than two G1 points. They went back and forth, having each other well scouted and they seemed to have counters for everything. My favorite thing about this was that Goto won cleanly. Just 16:45 of pure action and the top guy lost clean. No bullshit. Unfortunately, after winning the Tag Titles, making the finals of the New Japan Cup, beating Nakamura twice, winning the IC Title and beating Okada cleanly, the rest of Goto’s year kind of went nowhere. ***¾ |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2015 11:37:50 GMT -5
Bummed to see the SummerSlam match not on the list. I'm guessing the finish what the nail in that proverbial coffin for you.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 13:29:26 GMT -5
87. WWE Tag Team Championship 2 Out of 3 Falls: New Day (c) vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro – WWE Payback 5/17/15 | | My favorite WWE tag team match of the year. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro formed as a team on December 1st, 2014 and found instant chemistry that some teams of a few years could only dream of. The New Day struggled to get over as faces, but once they turned heel and got to let their personalities shine, they took off. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a heel turn save someone as much as it did for New Day. They dethroned Kidd and Cesaro in a solid match at Extreme Rules the month before this one. They upped the ante for the rematch, throwing in the Two out of Three falls stipulation. The first fall saw Cesaro and Kidd run absolutely wild. They did some things that wowed me, which you wouldn’t expect considering how often I’ve seen them work. They won the first fall before Kidd started to play the face in peril. They did a good job in seeming like the hot tag would come, only for Cesaro to not be there because he was taken out by Big E. That led to New Day evening the score. The third fall played back into Kidd and Cesaro’s strengths, but Xavier Woods snuck in and got three on a roll up to win at 11:55 despite not being involved in the match. The finish was the worst part about this as it just made the referee look like a fool. However, they did well in having a really fun match that played into the “New Day could only win with the numbers advantage” angle. ***¾ |
*This is the last appearance of Tyson Kidd on the list.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 15:34:20 GMT -5
86. WWE and United States Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. John Cena (c) – WWE SummerSlam 8/23/15 | | Outside of a pretty dreadful feud with Rusev, John Cena spent 2015 having some of the best matches of his career and making the United States Championship important. With that title at its peak importance, he put it up against Seth Rollins and his WWE Championship in a match with huge implications. Seth busted out some near attire, adding to the big fight feel. He had the crowd firmly in his corner and proceeded to deliver. The night before, Seth was in the front row at NXT TakeOver and was brought to tears by the performances of Bayley and Sasha Banks. It seems like that motivated him to try and steal the show even more than usual because he was absolutely on fire here. The angle was similar to the one ROH ran earlier in the year, and even a spot where Seth did two suicide dives and then a third dive also reminded me of the Lethal/Briscoe match. While Seth was on his “A” game, I don’t really think Cena was. Parts of this were great, while others weren’t. The thing that kept this from reaching four star territory was the ending. Jon Stewart showed up to hit Cena with a chair, allowing Seth to hit the Pedigree and become a double champion at 19:26. There was potential for something special here, but the finish killed it. ***¾ |
*This is the last SummerSlam match to make this list.
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Post by c-scope on Dec 26, 2015 15:41:38 GMT -5
Good job kev your going at a much better pace now. Lol
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Terp City
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Joined on: Mar 19, 2014 6:17:27 GMT -5
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Post by Terp City on Dec 26, 2015 15:41:54 GMT -5
86. WWE and United States Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. John Cena (c) – WWE SummerSlam 8/23/15 | | Outside of a pretty dreadful feud with Rusev, John Cena spent 2015 having some of the best matches of his career and making the United States Championship important. With that title at its peak importance, he put it up against Seth Rollins and his WWE Championship in a match with huge implications. Seth busted out some near attire, adding to the big fight feel. He had the crowd firmly in his corner and proceeded to deliver. The night before, Seth was in the front row at NXT TakeOver and was brought to tears by the performances of Bayley and Sasha Banks. It seems like that motivated him to try and steal the show even more than usual because he was absolutely on fire here. The angle was similar to the one ROH ran earlier in the year, and even a spot where Seth did two suicide dives and then a third dive also reminded me of the Lethal/Briscoe match. While Seth was on his “A” game, I don’t really think Cena was. Parts of this were great, while others weren’t. The thing that kept this from reaching four star territory was the ending. Jon Stewart showed up to hit Cena with a chair, allowing Seth to hit the Pedigree and become a double champion at 19:26. There was potential for something special here, but the finish killed it. ***¾ |
*This is the last SummerSlam match to make this list. Seth should have won cleanly here, especially if Cena was to just win it back the next month like he did, a clean win would have cemented Rollins as the man for real.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 16:17:47 GMT -5
Good job kev your going at a much better pace now. Lol Haha I have some plans tonight but may be able to post a few more. Also, Cena/Seth was the last ***3/4 match listed. We're getting into four star territory now.
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Post by Jonathan Karate on Dec 26, 2015 17:31:17 GMT -5
86. WWE and United States Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. John Cena (c) – WWE SummerSlam 8/23/15 | | Outside of a pretty dreadful feud with Rusev, John Cena spent 2015 having some of the best matches of his career and making the United States Championship important. With that title at its peak importance, he put it up against Seth Rollins and his WWE Championship in a match with huge implications. Seth busted out some near attire, adding to the big fight feel. He had the crowd firmly in his corner and proceeded to deliver. The night before, Seth was in the front row at NXT TakeOver and was brought to tears by the performances of Bayley and Sasha Banks. It seems like that motivated him to try and steal the show even more than usual because he was absolutely on fire here. The angle was similar to the one ROH ran earlier in the year, and even a spot where Seth did two suicide dives and then a third dive also reminded me of the Lethal/Briscoe match. While Seth was on his “A” game, I don’t really think Cena was. Parts of this were great, while others weren’t. The thing that kept this from reaching four star territory was the ending. Jon Stewart showed up to hit Cena with a chair, allowing Seth to hit the Pedigree and become a double champion at 19:26. There was potential for something special here, but the finish killed it. ***¾ |
*This is the last SummerSlam match to make this list. Something about being there live and the crowd reaction for seth make me view this match in a much higher regard then most. Even with the goofy ending i think it was an amazing match. The atmosphere was amazing.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 21:24:56 GMT -5
85. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – NJPW Dominion 7/5/15 | | At New Japan’s Wrestling Dontaku event, Hirooki Goto defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Nakamura has lost the title four times, usually gaining it back before the new champion makes any successful defenses. This was Goto’s first defense of the title. Nakamura came out dressed like a ing ninja. That’s right, ninja vs. samurai. I was pretty sold once I saw that. The match itself started slowly as they chose to build to something bigger with 22:40 to play with. Honestly, if this was kept to a shorter length, I think it would have been a bit better, but their G1 match was shorter and I preferred this so maybe that isn’t always the case. Still, the final third of this match delivered big time, like it was a Kazuchika Okada match or something. Once this started going, it was pretty awesome. Goto had the Boma Ye very well scouted, and was able to counter it multiple times before retaining his belt. Granted, Goto would never make another successful defense as he lost the title to none other than Nakamura in September. **** |
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Post by c-scope on Dec 26, 2015 21:37:12 GMT -5
Kev i gotta ask, how much time a week do you spend writing reviews? I think its cool I'm just curious.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 21:52:39 GMT -5
Kev i gotta ask, how much time a week do you spend writing reviews? I think its cool I'm just curious. A few. I get to about a show or two a week. So like 6 hours or so.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2015 23:25:32 GMT -5
84. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito – NJPW G1 Climax 7/26/15 | | Early on in the G1 Climax, the “A” Block was my preferred block (though that would change as the tournament went on). This was the fifth night of the tournament and proved to be one of the better ones. In the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi faced Tetsuya Naito in a rematch of the finals of the G1 two years earlier. I’ve never seen that match, but I heard it was a pretty big disappointment. This was a very different Naito though, fully immersed in his new heel persona. For me, it was in this match that Naito really started nailing it. From his mannerisms early on to his actions during and after the match, he was a total dick. On the Tanahashi side of things, the guy once again proved that he is nowhere the end of his road. They worked a smart 24:14 match that did a great job in establishing this Naito heel gimmick. A win over the top guy in the company was absolutely a big way to show everyone that a new and improved Tetsuya Naito had indeed arrived. **** |
83. Global League Finals: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shelton X Benjamin – NOAH Global League Finals 11/8/15 | | The stakes were high at the end of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global League Tournament. Shelton X Benjamin represented the Suzuki-Gun faction, led by current GHC Heavyweight Champion Minoru Suzuki. Naomichi Marufuji was the NOAH guy. The winner would earn a shot at the GHC Heavyweight Title. Marufuji is the guy that has to save NOAH from Suzuki-Gun and their hostile takeover. I mean, throughout the year, Suzuki-Gun had a firm grasp on every single belt in NOAH. He’s the last hope for the company and the crowd reacted to this match as so. They were completely invested in the entire 24:06 of the match. Marufuji got out of the gate quickly, with some early near falls and a series of superkicks. Shelton came back as the monster heel that he’s become pretty good at playing. It’s a role I never envisioned for him, but he nails it from what I’ve seen of him in NOAH. The interference from Suzuki-Gun during this made sense and wasn’t overdone, so it worked. Benjamin survived Shiranui Kai, but fell to Tiger Flowsion. It set Marufuji up as the top contender for Suzuki’s belt in a showdown for not only the title, but NOAH as a whole. **** |
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 27, 2015 7:39:42 GMT -5
82. Ricochet vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – PWG Battle of Los Angeles 8/29/15 |
| Of the three Battle of Los Angeles matches to make the list, this was the longest at 23:04. Ricochet won the tournament the year before but he faced a favorite for this year, Zack Sabre Jr., in the first round. Ricochet is known for his freakish athleticism while Sabre is known for being arguably the best technical wrestler on the planet. That clash of styles is usually hit or miss and on this night, it hit. First things first, Ricochet dedicated the match to Lil’ Sebastian of Parks and Recreation fame, instantly getting a pop from me. Anyway, despite not being a highly touted technician, Ricochet did a fine job in holding his own on the mat with Sabre. When he got on offense, things were exciting though to be honest, Sabre is exciting even when he’s just working the mat. The finishing stretch is pretty great, as Ricochet pulls out a trio of suplexes and the 630 but can’t win. Sabre is able to score the three on a bridging prawn hold, letting everyone know that there would be a new BOLA champion this year, which would turn out to be Sabre himself. **** |
81. NXT Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte – NXT 7/15/15 | | The Monday prior to this episode of NXT, Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks made the jump to the main roster to Kickstart the “Divas Revolution”, so the spotlight was really on them here. Sasha ran into issues with Dana Brooke and Emma, needing a partner. Charlotte came to her side, but with the condition that she receive a shot at the NXT Women’s Title. Now, these two had some good to great matches in the past, with this being about on par with their best efforts. I saw NXT live in June and they basically had a carbon copy of this match. Even though I saw it before, I was still really enjoying this contest. Their chemistry is nearly always perfect and that’s part of the reason I think the WWE is waiting to give these two ladies a big match on a relatively big stage. The final few minutes of this are among the best stuff they’ve ever done together, including a great spot where Charlotte has the figure four locked in and Sasha reaches the ropes. Instead of breaking the hold, Charlotte holds on, falling outside while the referee counted to five. It was pretty much the old Bret Hart ring post figure four spot, but on the apron. Sasha would make it through that though, getting Charlotte to tap out at 13:28. Sasha’s fantastic run in NXT would produce two more top notch matches you’ll see later on the list. **** |
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