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411’s Match of the Week 08.08.11: Year One, Week 18
Welcome to Week 18, Year ONE, of 411’s Match of the Week. A quick overview of the rules to kick things off for us …
Each writer chooses THREE matches from any promotion and each match gets a point total attached to that ranking. It looks a little like this…
1st – 5
2nd – 3
3rd – 1
Then we tally up the votes and the official 411 Match of the Week is crowned. But wait, there’s more! Each week, the TOP THREE MATCHES are eligible to make the Year-End Ranking.
The week according to this column will go from Sunday to Saturday, with the column being posted every Monday.
Upon rating matches, writers will assign them with a star rating, and the average star rating amongst writers will be what that match is listed with if it makes the Year-End Standings.
Independent shows WILL be included, but since it takes some time for the DVDs to come out, voting on them will take place retroactively, in which the writers who have seen the shows in question will have the opportunity to vote for matches from them into the Year-End Standings. For an Indy/International match to make the Year-End Standings, it must break an average rating of ****. Nothing will be added retroactively unless at least 3 staff members deem it worthy so there is a consensus.
At the end of the voting year, the match with the highest average star rating will be crowned 411 Match of the Year. In the event of a tie, 411 writers will vote in a tie-breaker.
THIS WEEK’S ELIGIBLE MATCHES
WWE Raw
13-Diva Battle Royal: Beth Phoenix vs. Natalya vs. Gail Kim vs. Kaitlyn vs. Alicia Fox vs. Tamina vs. AJ vs. Eve vs. Rosa Mendes vs. Maryse vs. Melina vs. Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella
R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison
David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty vs. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder
Alberto Del Rio vs. Evan Bourne
WWE NXT
Vladimir Kozlov vs. JTG
Titus O’Neil & Matt Striker vs. Derrick Bateman & Darren Young
WWE Superstars
Alicia Fox vs. Kaitlyn
Brodus Clay vs. Pat Silva
Vladimir Kozlov vs. Primo
Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters
Impact Wrestling
Miss Tessmacher vs. Madison Rayne
Devon vs. AJ Styles
D’Angelo Dinero vs. Samoa Joe
Street Fight: Hernandez vs. Bobby Roode
Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley
Rob Van Dam & Crimson vs. Gunner & Scott Steiner
WWE SmackDown
Sheamus vs. The Great Khali
Natalya vs. AJ
Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd
Ezekiel Jackson vs. Zack Ryder
Mark Henry vs. Vladimir Kozlov
David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty, & JTG vs. Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, & Trent Barreta
Christian & R-Truth vs. John Morrison & Randy Orton
Michael Ornelas
1) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (***1/2):
Go figure, Daniel Bryan and Tyson Kidd were given about ten minutes and put on a great match. Very worthy match this week and continues to show that Bryan is THE GUY when it comes to putting on excellent matches. His selling of the leg in this encounter was perfectly done, and the bout just flowed so well. Easy first pick for me.
2) 08/01/2011, WWE Raw – R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison (***): Man, my second place and third place decisions were tough this week, as I though three matches were worthy of the 2 spots. I had this, the SmackDown tag, and Masters/Swagger from Superstars all at ***. Either way, this won out because it made all the participants look really strong. Very good stuff here.
3) 08/04/2011, WWE Superstars – Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters (***): This was Masters’ last match in WWE, and he was definitely the reason this match was so fun. Superstars is always a great little show that lets you see the actual talent possessed by the midcarders. It’s matches like these that make me think WWE is making a mistake in letting Masters go, but they also weren’t pushing him in any capacity, so I can understand why they did what they did. In honor of the guy’s WWE tenure though, you should really check this out.
Nick Bazar
1) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (***1/2):
I really enjoyed this. Smartly worked match that made great use of the 10 minutes it was given. Also cool to see Bryan start using those sick-looking elbows to fight off a submission and that head kick to set up the guillotine. This felt like a fight.
2) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Christian & R-Truth vs. John Morrison & Randy Orton (***): Good main event made better by a crowd that was hot for the finish. The heels really worked the heat during the face isolation period, and it resulted in a great comeback when Orton finally tagged in.
3) 08/01/2011, WWE Raw – R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison (**3/4): Pretty straightforward stuff here with Morrison taking the blunt of the heel’s offense before coming back and making good use of his athleticism. He hasn’t won very much since returning, but has put on good performances in spite of being away for months.
Colin Rinehart
1) 08/01/2011, WWE Raw – R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison (***)
This was just your basic formula babyface in peril tag with high spots thrown in, but the crowd was red hot and everything was being executed so crisp and cleanly that the whole thing came off like a great old school tag battle. Really solid stuff and worth looking into. I may be underrating this one even.
2) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (***): Just the kind of rock-solid match you’d expect out of these two guys when given 10 minutes to do their thing. Really, I’d be pretty damn shocked if you gave these two guys ten minutes and it didn’t crack into the *** territory.
3) 08/04/2011, Impact Wrestling – Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley (***): This is just the kind of X-Division match that TNA should (and has been) delivering every week to whet the fan’s appetite for more of this kind of action come PPV time. So many little touches in this one made it just a joy to watch, from Aries mimicking Shelley’s babyface routine with his MCMG vest to the finish showing us yet again that Aries is only interested in winning by any means by hook or crook, it all added up to an extremely enjoyable little sub-10 minute contest between these two. More of this TNA, please.
Greg DeMarco
1) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (***1/4)
This match deserves some serious praise, and the WWE deserves praise for giving them time. I’d love to see the development of a cruiserweight division, as they have the talent to put out a division with many different styles. I hope they notice the talent in Tyson Kidd, as he can definitely deliver in the ring. And we all know that Daniel Bryan is awesome.
2) 08/01/2011, WWE Raw – R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison (***): Great tag team match that played to the strengths of four performers. I’d love to see them booked in a rematch or even a 4-way at SummerSlam, it would be a welcome change from throwing two singles matches out there.
3) 08/04/2011, Impact Wrestling – D’Angelo Dinero vs. Samoa Joe (***): You might be wondering how such a short match can make this list, but it was brilliant storytelling. Joe looks dominant in getting his first BFG Series win, and gets 10 points in doing so. Except he doesn’t release the hold, and we have our first DQ finish of the series. Now, Joe is stuck at -10 points–this was a 20 point swing! This is the type of storytelling we need from the BFG series as we enter the final month.
Tony Acero
1) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (***1/2)
I don’t think either of these men have had a bad match all year and for those that don’t know, Tyson Kidd has been tearing up the ring on NXT and Superstars consistently for months now. These two got 10 minutes of tv time to put together a hard hitting, technically sound match that made me an extremely happy fan. This wasn’t just cruiserweight, this wasn’t just brawling and it wasn’t just submission. These two men show you that versatility could be just as fun and entertaining as “signature moveset.”
2) 08/01/2011, WWE Raw – R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison (***): When the weakest link is R-Truth and even he puts on a great showing, it deserves to be somewhere on the Match of the Week list, I think. As I said in the RAW R’s (Which you can read Here), it’s nice to see Morrison back in the ring because he’s got the talent. Much credit goes to Miz and Mysterio who seem to have a chemistry that doesn’t get talked about enough. Good job from all men involved.
3) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Christian & R-Truth vs. John Morrison & Randy Orton (***): Christian and Orton can seemingly do no wrong when they are in the ring together and SmackDown’s main event grew off of that with the addition of Morrison and Truth. Props to both of those men who essentially pulled double duty being in the Main Event of RAW and SmackDown back to back. Working Monday and Tuesday didn’t stop Morrison or Truth from taking a majority of the match on their backs and they did well. This was both a good match and storyline driven which helped big time.
Jeremy Thomas
1) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (***1/2)
Easily the best match of the week from me. Kidd’s been on fire with his NXT work with Yoshi Tatsu and he worked great with Bryan here to put on a good, solid TV Match that showed he doesn’t need to be on the developmental show to look motivated.
2) 08/01/2011, WWE Raw – R-Truth & The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio & John Morrison (***1/4): Both of R-Truth’s tag matches were great this week, but this one gets the edge for being just a little bit crisper and technically solid.
3) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Christian & R-Truth vs. John Morrison & Randy Orton (***): The Truth had a great week this week, picking up wins on Raw and Smackdown over major faces. He did great work here and Christian, Orton and Morrison did their usual quality stuff.
Aaron “Hey Michael, Can You Make My Name Anonymous?” Hubbard
1) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown– Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (***1/4)
Any time these either of these two have a match that goes more than three minutes, it’s a likely contender to be the best match of the week. So putting them together and given them ten minutes to work was great. Kidd showed some impressive leg submissions right out of the playbooks of Bret and Owen Hart as well as some impressive kicks. But Bryan was able to persevere and take advantage of little flaws in Tyson’s game, and hit harder with vicious elbows and kicks. Kidd had the LeBell Lock scouted, but Bryan was able to surprise him with the guillotine choke. Pure, straight up wrestling; this is how it’s done; and I was almost tempted to go ***1/2.
2) 08/04/2011, WWE Superstars – Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters (***1/4): This looks to be Chris Masters’ swan song in WWE, but he sure went out with a bang. If you haven’t been watching Superstars for the last few years, you may be surprised to know that Chris has been one of WWE’s most consistent performers. His power offense is crisp and varied, he knows how to pace a match and get the crowd involved, and his selling is top notch. Don’t believe me? Watch the way he makes Swagger’s body scissors mean something in this match. I’d like to Chris get a chance to shine somewhere in the near future.
3) 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Christian & R-Truth vs. Randy Orton & John Morrison (***): One of two very solid tag team matches on WWE television this week, this gets the added bonus of Orton and Christian. Seriously, these two can do no wrong when they are competing against each other, and I for one am thrilled to see this main event program between two of my favorite guys in the business. Christian finally got a clean pinfall victory over the Viper, so we’ll have to see if he can pull it off at SummerSlam.
THIS WEEK’S WINNERS
Christian finally pinned Orton in a great SmackDown main event.
These four men put on a fantastic bout that was arguably the only match worth watching on a very promo-heavy Raw last Monday.
Two of WWE’s better workers got ten minutes to tell a story, and they accomplished that and then some!
YEAR END STANDINGS
The top 50 matches will be displayed in order of average star rating until they are knocked out. Come back next week as we get one week closer to figuring out the 411 Match of the Year! In the case of a match with more votes getting a lower star rating, it will go down as Match of the Week, but will be lower in the Year-End Standings.
1. 07/17/2011, WWE Money in the Bank – CM Punk vs. John Cena (4.83/5.00)color=blue>
1. 06/26/2011, Ring of Honor Best in the World 2011 – Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards (4.83/5.00)color=red>
3. 05/06/2011, Ring of Honor Revolution: USA – The Kings of Wrestling vs. The American Wolves (4.33/5.00)color=red>
4. 05/22/2011, WWE Over the Limit – Randy Orton vs. Christian (4.29/5.00)color=blue>
5. 04/03/2011, WrestleMania XXVII – No Holds Barred: The Undertaker vs. Triple H (4.28/5.00)color=blue>
6. 04/17/2011, CHIKARA King of Trios: Night Three – El Generico vs. 1-2-3 Kid (4.25/5.00)color=maroon>
7. 04/05/2011, CMLL en Cadena Tres – 2 out of 3 Falls: Valiente vs. Pólvora (4.17/5.00)
7. 04/03/2011, NJPW New Dimension Tour 2011 – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata (4.17/5.00)
9. 07/17/2011, WWE Money in the Bank – SmackDown Money in the Bank: Daniel Bryan vs. Sin Cara vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Heath Slater vs. Kane vs. Wade Barrett (4.14/5.00)color=blue>
10. 05/03/2011, NJPW Wrestling Dontaku – Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (4.13/5.00)
11. 05/06/2011, RoH Revolution: Canada – Eddie Edwards vs. Chris Hero (4.08/5.00)color=red>
11. 06/18/2011, AAA Triplemania XIX – Mask vs. Hair: LA Park vs. Mesias (4.08/5.00)
11. 05/05/2011, Dragon Gate Dead or Alive 2011 – Captain’s Fall Elimination: Dragon Kid (Captain), CIMA, Gamma, & Ricochet vs. Shingo Takagi (Captain), Cyber Kong, Taku Iwasa & KAGETORA (4.08/5.00)
11. 04/16/2011, CHIKARA King of Trios: Night Two – Team Osaka Pro vs. F.I.S.T. (4.08/5.00)color=maroon>
15. 05/27/2011, CMLL Forjando un Idolo – 2 out of 3 Falls: Angel de Oro vs. Pólvora (4.06/5.00)
16. 06/26/2011, Ring of Honor Best in the World 2011 – Four Team Elimination: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. The Kings of Wrestling vs. The All Night Express vs. The Briscoes (4.05/5.00)color=red>
17. 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Last Man Standing: Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (3.96/5.00)color=green>
17. 04/17/2011, TNA Lockdown – “Ultra Male Rules” (2 out of 3 Falls): Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle (3.96/5.00)color=green>
17. 04/04/2011, Ring of Honor Wrestling of HDNet – Davey Richards & The Briscoes vs. Roderick Strong & The Kings of Wrestling (3.96/5.00)color=red>
20. 04/03/2011, WWE WrestleMania XXVII – Randy Orton vs. CM Punk (3.95/5.00)color=blue>
20. 07/10/2011, TNA Destination X – Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion vs. Jack Evans vs. Low Ki (3.95/5.00)color=green>
22. 05/01/2011, WWE Extreme Rules – Ladder Match: Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio (3.92/5.00)color=blue>
23. 05/01/2011, WWE Extreme Rules – Last Man Standing: Randy Orton vs. CM Punk (3.88/5.00)color=blue>
24. 07/25/2011, WWE Raw – John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio (3.85/5.00)color=blue>
25. 07/10/2011, TNA Destination X – AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels (3.83/5.00)color=green>
25. 06/26/2011, Ring of Honor Best in the World 2011 – El Generico vs. Christopher Daniels (3.83/5.00)color=red>
27. 07/17/2011, WWE Money in the Bank – Raw Money in the Bank: Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne vs. R-Truth vs. Alex Riley vs. The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio (3.75/5.00)color=blue>
27. 05/06/2011, WWE SmackDown – Randy Orton vs. Christian (3.75/5.00)color=blue>
27. 04/17/2011, TNA Lockdown – Lethal Lockdown: Fortune vs. Immortal (3.75/5.00)color=green>
30 06/19/2011, WWE Capitol Punishment – CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (3.65/5.00)color=blue>
31. 07/10/2011, TNA Destination X – Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn (3.63/5.00)color=green>
32. 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett (3.60/5.00)color=green>
33. 06/19/2011, WWE Capitol Punishment – Randy Orton vs. Christian (3.50/5.00)color=blue>
33. 04/28/2011, WWE Superstars – Trent Barreta vs. Tyson Kidd (3.50/5.00)color=blue>
35. 05/26/2011, WWE Superstars – Tyson Kidd vs. Trent Barreta (3.44/5.00)color=blue>
36. 05/15/2011, TNA Sacrifice – Kazarian vs. Max Buck (3.40/5.00)color=green>
37. 06/03/2011, WWE SmackDown – Randy Orton vs. Sheamus (3.38/5.00)color=blue>
38. 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (3.36/5.00)color=blue>
39. 06/20/2011, WWE Raw – CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio (3.35/5.00)color=blue>
39. 05/12/2011, WWE Superstars – Tyson Kidd vs. Trent Barreta (3.35/5.00) color=blue>
41. 06/10/2011, WWE SmackDown – No Disqualification: Sheamus vs. Randy Orton (3.33/5.00)color=blue>
42. 04/18/2011, WWE Raw – Randy Orton vs. CM Punk (3.30/5.00)color=blue>
43. 07/26/2011, WWE NXT – Leg on a Pole: Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd (3.19/5.00)color=blue>
44. 05/13/2011, WWE SmackDown – Sin Cara vs. Daniel Bryan (3.17/5.00)color=blue>
45. 05/30/2011, WWE Raw – CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (3.13/5.00)color=blue>
45. 05/09/2011, WWE Raw – The Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio (3.13/5.00)color=blue>
45. 04/15/2011, WWE SmackDown – 20-Man Battle Royal: Christian vs. Brodus Clay vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kane vs. The Big Show vs. Curt Hawkins vs. Wade Barrett vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater vs. Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters vs. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Tyler Reks vs. Trent Barreta vs. JTG vs. Ezekiel Jackson vs. Kofi Kingston (3.13/5.00) color=blue>
48. 06/03/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase (3.10/5.00)color=blue>
48. 07/07/2011, Impact Wrestling – Rob Van Dam vs. AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Christopher Daniels (3.10/5.00)color=green>
50. 07/07/2011, Impact Wrestling – Jack Evans vs. Jesse Sorenson vs. Anthony Nese (3.08/5.00)color=green>
MATCHES OF THE WEEK
Week 1: 04/03/2011, WrestleMania XXVII – No Holds Barred: The Undertaker vs. Triple H (4.28/5.00)color=blue>
Week 2: 04/15/2011, WWE SmackDown – Rey Mysterio vs. Drew McIntyre (2.96/5.00)color=blue>
Week 3: 04/17/2011, TNA Lockdown – “Ultra Male Rules” (2 out of 3 Falls): Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle (3.96/5.00)color=green>
Week 4: 04/28/2011, WWE Superstars – Trent Barreta vs. Tyson Kidd (3.50/5.00)color=blue>
Week 5: 05/01/2011, WWE Extreme Rules – Ladder Match: Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio (3.92/5.00)color=blue>
Week 6: 05/12/2011, WWE Superstars – Tyson Kidd vs. Trent Barreta (3.35/5.00) color=blue>
Week 7: 05/15/2011, TNA Sacrifice – Kazarian vs. Max Buck (3.40/5.00)color=green>
Week 8: 05/22/2011, WWE Over the Limit – Randy Orton vs. Christian (4.29/5.00)color=blue>
Week 9: 06/03/2011, WWE SmackDown – Randy Orton vs. Sheamus (3.38/5.00)color=blue>
Week 10: 06/10/2011, WWE SmackDown – No Disqualification: Sheamus vs. Randy Orton (3.33/5.00)color=blue>
Week 11: 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Last Man Standing: Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (3.96/5.00)color=green>
Week 12: 06/19/2011, WWE Capitol Punishment – CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (3.65/5.00)color=blue>
Week 13: 06/26/2011, Ring of Honor Best in the World 2011 – Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards (4.83/5.00)color=red>
Week 14: 07/07/2011, Impact Wrestling – Rob Van Dam vs. AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Christopher Daniels (3.10/5.00)color=green>
Week 15: 07/10/2011, TNA Destination X – Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion vs. Jack Evans vs. Low Ki (3.95/5.00)color=green>
Week 16: 07/17/2011, WWE Money in the Bank – CM Punk vs. John Cena (4.83/5.00)color=blue>
Week 17: 07/25/2011, WWE Raw – John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio (3.85/5.00)color=blue>
Week 18: 08/05/2011, WWE SmackDown – Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd (3.36/5.00)color=blue>
OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS – RETOOLED!
1. Randy Ortoncolor=blue> – 8 (3.67)
2. CM Punkcolor=blue> – 7 (3.73)
3. Rey Mysteriocolor=blue> – 7 (3.43)
4. Christiancolor=blue> – 5 (3.72)
5. Tyson Kiddcolor=blue> – 5 (3.37)
6. Chris Herocolor=red> – 4 (4.11)
7. Christopher Danielscolor=green> – 4 (3.63)
8. Alberto Del Riocolor=blue> – 4 (3.54)
9. Daniel Bryancolor=blue> – 4 (3.44)
10. Trent Barretacolor=blue> – 4 (3.36)
Mysterio loses some footing as some of the bottom matches are falling off, while Daniel Bryan’s average improves despite keeping the same number of matches on the list because he had a match fall of AND added.
Matches/Performers from WWE programming are represented in BLUE.color=blue>
Matches/Performers from TNA are represented in GREEN.color=green>
Matches/Performers from Ring of Honor are represented in RED.color=red>
Matches/Performers from any other US Independent promotion are represented in MAROONcolor=maroon>
Matches/Performers from any international promotion are represented in BLACK.
Do you watch all WWE and TNA shows every week? If so, contact Michael Ornelas at [email protected], and there’s a chance you might be included in the column next week! Please stick to the format used above. Overwhelming negativity probably won’t make the cut, so keep things positive! Submissions due every Saturday by 11PM.
