Ring Crew Reviews: Top 54 Matches from 2014 (Part I: 54-43)

• As a general principle, I tried to see as many matches from as many different promotions as I could, though I hope it goes without saying, that I didn’t see every great match and may have left out your favorite in the process.

• There’s nothing magical about the number 54 other than that I kept watching and reviewing different contenders and finally felt I had an adequate representation for some of the quality matches of the year.

• ***1/2 matches

• 54. Lumberjack Match: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose. WWE Summerslam 2014. Rollins turned on the Shield back in the spring of 2014. Reigns went after the title and Ambrose went after Rollins. At MITB, Ambrose almost got revenge, but Kane cost him and Rollins won the briefcase. At Battleground. Ambrose would attack Rollins pre-match and then get banned from the building. Finally, they have a one-on-one matchup.

• Lumberjacks that I can make out: Sin Cara, Kofi, RVD, Fandango, Bo Dallas, RybAxel, The Wyatts, The Usos, Big E, Goldust, Cody Rhodes, Slater, Gator, Cesaro, and Sandow who is dressed like Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation.

• They come out swinging and Ambrose gets the early advantage with an elbow. He stomps a mudhole in the corner and hairtosses Rollins across the ring. Rollins can’t get out of the way and is clotheslined out to the floor. The jacks bring him back in, so that Ambrose can steal Orton’s stomp and pulls Rollins around by the hair. Rollins cuts him off with a kick and shitcans out Ambrose. Ambrose starts a fight with the lumberjacks and crawls back in the ring before much can come of it. Rollins with a Downward Spiral into the turnbuckle and he dropkicks Ambrose out again. The jacks put the boots to him and toss him back in for some GnP from Rollins. Cole: “Rollins called Ambrose, ‘El Captain Rabies’ and ‘A bi-polar nutjob.'” Thanks for that. ANYWAY, Rollins drops a knee for only 1. Ambrose tries a rally, but Rollins catches him in a Tree of Woe and stomps away. Rollins locks in a Million Dollar Dream as a resthold. Ambrose comes back with a burrito but whiffs on a crossbody. The jacks give him enough space to suplex Rollins and himself OVER the top rope to the floor on the jacks. Nice. It’s a melee on the floor with the jacks trying to get them back in the ring. They get some space and Ambrose backdrops Rollins into the crowd. Ryback, Gator, and Cesaro pull Ambrose back into the ring. He dives on them and then gallops over the announce tables to dive on some more jacks. Crowd is eating it up as Ambrose drops Kofi and Bo Dallas like bad habits. Ambrose chases down Rollins and proceeds to kick his ass through the crowd. BUT WAIT! CORPORATE COOLER KANE HAS COME OUT! He corrals the jacks and is all GO GET ‘EM, YOU JABRONIS! Meanwhile, Rollins preps a piledriver off a balcony or some shit and the sickos boo as the lumberjacks break that up. Rollins fights off Cara and tries taking a walk as Ambrose and carried back to the ring. Finally, The Usos and Cody corner him in a cool spot and Rollins is involuntarily body surfed back to ringside for the Ambrose dive into the bowling pin jacks. Good stuff. Crowd is all in now as Ambrose wants DIRTY DEEDS! NO! ENZUIGIRI! NO! NIGEL-LINE! 1, 2, 2.999. Ambrose gives Seth the kiss of death to set up the CURB STOMP! 1, 2, Kane ices that finish to everyone’s dismay but no one’s surprise. Goldust tries to parley with Kane but gets waffled down. That spurs all of the jacks to get to lumbering on each other. The Wyatts clear the ring, but Ambrose lays them out. Rollins blindsides him with El Kabong De Samsonite for 1, 2, 3 to steal another at 10:54.

• An entertaining, overbooked spectacle, if not an entirely satisfying match. Still, this is arguably the best lumberjack match ever. Usually, it’s a tired affair with minimal work and lots of throat clearing from the lumberjacks. Everyone basically clubs each other for a few minutes, and the lumberjacks figure into some telegraphed non-finish. That’s more or less the start and ending of this match, but the difference is the middle brawl through the crowd, the dives on everyone in sight, and an electric crowd. This coasts mostly on personality and a hot feud. ***1/2

• 53. The Wyatt Family vs. John Cena, Sheamus, & Big E. WWE RAW. 04/07/2014. This is the night after Mania 30 where Cena emerged victorious over Bray Wyatt, soul intact. Sheamus and Big E were losers in the Andre battle royal, but E is still IC champ. The faces rush right into the ring still donning their gimmick t-shirts and clear the ring. Cena and Bray are the ones left to start, and Bray floors him with an uppercut and a falling headbutt. LET’SGOWYATT! Cena fights back to boos and tags in Sheamus after a bulldog. Sheamus with a shoulderblock, and the crowd wants no part of him. He stomps a mudhole on Bray in the corner as Cole relates Sheamus’s tweet on the crowd: “See y’all on the other side of sanity fella.” Thanks for that. ANYWAY, Rowan tags in. Cole: “Two redheads clashing.” King: “A redhead and a red beard.” It’s going to be a long match with these fuckers. Sheamus eggs on the crowd in their hatred for him as he blocks a hiptoss and bowls over Rowan with a FINLAY RIPOFF HAMMER! Rowan shoves him down to a big pop, and Sheamus goes low to take over and follows up with a knee. Big E with a harpoon, and even E can’t get a pop. E with a few backbreakers on Rowan and that brings the crowd around for him. 1, 2, no. Harper in as E leap frogs him and then takes him down with a shoulderblock. Cena and Harper now. ProtoBomb and a premature 5KS. Harper no sells for a facebuster of his own. 1, 2, 2 1/2. We take a break and are back to Harper working a chinlock on Cena. LET’SGOHARPER says the crowd. Cena tries an FU, but Harper plants him with a DDT to another pop. 1, 2, kickout. Rowan busts out a SCOOP SLAM! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ANYWAY, the crowd sings “He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands” to entertain themselves until Bray tags back in. Cena no sells for a pop up clothesline. The crowd gets all over Cena with JOHNCENASUCKS to the tune of his music which is awesome, of course. Bray ChokeSlams Cena back down for 1, 2, nearfall. Harper pounds him around until Cena Hulks up for a backdrop and a tag to Sheamus. It’s the Big Red-off again, and Sheamus cleans house with a Finlay Roll of Harper onto the fallen Rowan. Sheamus with a double flying shoulderblock on both and mocks Bray’s taunt to big heat. The crowd boos him out of the building as he continues clearing the ring. Rowan levels him with a clothesline to take over. Bray back in, and E destroys him with a belly to belly suplex and the Warrior splash. E drops the straps for the Big Ending. Harper breaks it up with a superkick.Cena tries to come in, and Rowan plows him over. Tope suicida from Harper on Sheamus. Crowd is loving every minute. Bray spider walks out of the corner, and it’s Sister Abilgail for E. 1, 2, 3 for the Wyatt Family to take it at 10:27.

• A good match, but nothing you haven’t seen a dozen times from practically everyone involved. The nuclear crowd elevates it maybe a 1/2 star as does Sheamus heeling it up a bit which is always appreciated. ***1/2

• 52. Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Wrestlemania XXX. Participants include Big Show, Yoshi Tatsu, Brad Maddox, Brodus Clay, The Great Khali, Zack Ryder, Darren Young, Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, Heath Slater, Mark Henry, Titus O’Neil, The Miz, Santino Marella, Damien Sandow, Justin Gabriel, David Otunga, Big E, Fandango, R-Truth, Tyson Kidd, Goldust, Cody Rhodes, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus and lastly Big Show, Sin Cara and Xavier Woods. So this should be interesting to recap. No one gets entrances except Show and Sheamus.

• Big donnybrook to start and somehow Tyson Kidd manages to find room for a slingshot senton. Yoshi is tossed out first. Kofi starts his skin the cat gimmick as does Cody. They both escape to the apron and survive. Khali chops Brad Maddox to the floor. Titus tries to slam out Cody again but no go. Khali tosses Brodus Clay to the apron and then chops him to the floor. 3MB dumps out Khali to avenge Funk. Show toys with Fandango as 3MB tosses Zack Ryder next. Dolph lands on the apron again as 3MB continues cleaning house on Darren Young. Mizark sets his sights on Mysterio but can’t get him out. Henry hinders Jinder and future endeavors Drew to the floor. He also 1MB’s Slater to join them. Show ends the rally though and dumps out Mark Henry. Titus still can’t get Dolph, so Show ChokeSlams Titus over the top. Santino breaks out the Cobra on Miz but Xavier Woods saves him. Half of the jobber roster gets to the apron in a skirmish and Santino Cobras Miz out. ADR follows up on Santino and he’s gone. Sandow shitcans out Woods. TAKE THAT, WIKIPEDIA! ANYWAY, Sheamus and Cesaro Euro each other into a rivalry in the fall but still can’t eliminate each other. Cody destroys Rhodes Scholars again and Sandow is out. Big E powerbombs Justin Gabriel to the floor. Mysterio and Sin Cara tumble to the apron to set the mask record but no one cares. Otunga is tossed out. E and Fandango battle it out on the apron to his theme music courtesy of the crowd and Fandango wins that exchange. Sheamus grabs Fandango for the CLUBBINGBLOWS to end the crowd’s fantansy booking. Sheamus shoves out Fandango. Show press slams Truth down to the floor, while ADR stomps Cara. Mysterio begs off from Show in the corner and ADR dropkicks Cara off the apron, off-camera. HUZZAH! Tyson Kidd kicks ADR and lands on the apron, but gets enzugiried out for his trouble. Cesaro works his way through the Rhodes Brothers and ADR enzugiris Goldust out. Cody heads up top and ADR shoves him to the floor. Now, we only need for ADR to fire Dusty to complete the Authority’s achievements from 2013. ANYWAY. Mysterio ranas ADR for the 619. Rey tries the same on Cesaro, but Cesaro catches him and EURO UPPERCUTS HIS ASS TO THE FLOOR! Show grabs Cesaro as does Ziggler but that ends poorly for Dolph with the SWISS DEATH FROM BELOW! Kofi tries a charge and gets pole vaulted over the top BUT HIS FEET STAY ON THE RING STAIRS! Crazy spot. Kofi comes back in to a pop and has kicks and burritos for everyone. He tries Trouble in Paradise on Cesaro, but gets caught in THE BIG SWING! Show ends the party with a ChokeSlam. Pump Kick on Show and another for Kofi to eliminate him. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-FELLA! Dolph fires up with a few DDTs, but ADR rings up his concussion with another enzuigiri and Dolph is out.

• Final Four: Cesaro, ADR, Sheamus, and Show. Sheamus and ADR reignite their 2012 feud that set nowhere on fire. ADR pulls him into the armbreaker, so Sheamus stacks him up for the RampageBomb. They get tangled up and shitcan each other out. The crowd comes alive realizing we’re down to Cesaro and Show. Show goozles him to big heat. Cesaro goes to the Euro uppercuts but Show no sells. Show no sells the clotheslines too and goozles him again. Cesaro avoids the shitcan to the apron. Cesaro heads up top but Show swats him away and says it’s over. Cesaro ducks behind for another Euro uppercut and PICKS SHOW THE FUCK UP OVER HIS HEAD IN FRONT OF ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND SCREAMING HULKAMAN–errr. WETHEPEOPLE-ITES, BROTHER! CESARO TAKES IT AT 13:26!

• This isn’t a great match or a great battle royal, but holy shit, what a moment. It’s quite a shame this seems to have completely been erased from history, except for the WWE Twitter account it appears. Hopefully, Cesaro gets another run this year at being showcased at Mania. This was solid with some strategery in the form of groups like 3MB and the Rhodes Brothers teaming up to eliminate some people. The hosses of Show, Khali, Mizard, and Brodus working on each other. You had Fandango ruling the world again for a brief spell and another Kofi elimination tease spot. And, of course, the hottest of hot endings with Cesaro eliminating Show with the most legit scoop slam of all-time. ***1/2

• 51. IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. AJ Styles (c). NJPW Return to Yokohama. 05/25/2014. Okada is looking for a measure of revenge after AJ beat him for the IWGP strap just a few weeks before with the help of Bullet Club interference and a Takahashi heel turn. AJ grabs some dap from the Bullet Club at the bell as the crowd chants for OKADAOKADAOKADA. They fight for a hammerlock before Okada armdrags him and AJ grabs the ropes. AJ’s all HEY, HE SAID ROPE BREAK, CAN’T YOU HEAR?! Back to work, AJ grabs a headlock and Okada chains through into his own. Okada grinds it as AJ switches back to his own headlock.Okada sends him off for another armdrag, and AJ rolls to the floor. The crowd is booing AJ audibly as he buys time and tells them to SHADDUP. Back in, Okada tries to send him off, but AJ grabs the hair to hang on to the headlock. They do it again and AGAIN AJ HOLDS ON TO THE HAIR! THATNOGOODBASTARD! Okada flips out of a suplex and they trade armdrags. AJ tries another but bites the dust as Okada stops short. AJ wants the Styles Clash, but Okada counters to the RAINMAKER! NO! ECW standoff at 4 minutes in. Okada goes to the elbows in the corner, and AJ is reeling. AJ tries a counter but eats a backdrop. Cover gets nothing as it’s still too early. Okada grabs a chinlock to slow things down for an already leisurely pace for these two. I’m beginning to wonder if these two just don’t have the chemistry together. AJ elbows out, and they fight over a suplex before Okada drops him with a slam and a senton for 1. AJ goes to the Hogan karate shit, but Okada yakuzas kick him off and out to the floor. Okada tries a plancha but AJ avoids, so Okada hits a slingshot senton back in. Okada hits a neckbreaker and Anderson from the BC trips him up. AJ takes over with a spinebuster. The ref ejects the Bullet Club to a round of applause. Back to the match as Okada rolls through an MDK bomb only to eat an anti-Newtonian rana. He drops a knee and goes to MOARCHINLOCK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! FEEL THE WORKRATE! Well, he does follow it into a Bret Hart backbreaker, so there is that. Okada comes back with strikes but eats the Bluechipper dropkick. AJ shits on his gimmick and steals the taunt. He tries a suplex back in but Okada blocks. AJ lands on the apron and SUPLEXESOKADA ON THE APRON! BRUTAL! The ref starts the count and Okada beats it back in at 17. Back in, the deadly chinlock reappears. Okada tries to Hulk up and AJ ragdolls him down for more. Okada punches his way free, but AJ goes to the eyes and puts him up top. Okada counters and dumps him with a gordbuster and knocks him across the ring with a dropkick. Okada fires up with a flapjack and he kips up. The crowd likes that, and he dropkicks AJ off the top to the floor. He tries to send AJ in the guardrail but AJ jumps OVER the rail and springboards back in with a PHENOMENAL HAMMER! Slick. Back in, Okada avoids a splash for a single arm DDT. Cover gets 1, 2, no. Okadatries to head up top, but AJ cuts him off for a Buckleplex. There’s been a ton of cutoffs but nothing memorable so far, other than the suplex on the apron. AJ tries the suplex int the neckbreaker, but Okada counters to the RED INK! BUT WAIT! THE BULLET CLUB HAS COME OUT! Okada knocks them off the apron, but Takahashi tries to decapitate him with a backdrop, neck-first on the apron or some shit. BUT WAIT! MY GOODNESS, IT’S ISHII! He and Takahashi brawl to the back, and the refs eject the Bullet Club again. Lot of good that did the first time. AJ tries a School Boy with a handful of tights for 1, 2, 2 1/2. AJ tries another springboard but gets caught in the Schwein Redline neckbreaker and a brainbuster for 1, 2, 2.999. Okada heads up for the Macho Elbow and hits it. Okada does his taunt and wants the Rainmaker. AJ elbows out, and they go to the strikes. They FINALLY start pasting the hell out of each other and mocking the strikes of each other. Okada winds up and levels him with a few stiff forearms. AJ ties a strike combo, but Okada cuts him off for forearms. AJ shakes it off for the Lionsault into the Scorpion Death Drop. Okada recovers to try a dropkick but no go. He no sells the strikes again to try a Tombstone, but AJ slides out for an enzugiri. AJ TNAs up but runs into the Bluechipper dropkick. Tombstone and Okada hooks him up for the Rainmaker. AJ avoids a few times and then shoves the ref in the way. Pele and Bloody Sunday follow. AJ says it’s over, but Okada counters out of the Styles Clash. AJ rolls through and hooks him up again. Styles Clash and AJ retains at 26:08.

• Another subpar match, given the abilities of both guys. The layout was ***** material, but the execution left something to be desired. Okada and AJ just don’t mesh together well in certain sequences, and it’s not crisp enough to really merit a huge recommendation. There was too much general lethargy and chinlocks in the early going. The BC interference was at least brief and lead to some storytelling with Ishii/Takahashi. I thought it would perk up with the backbreaker and the suplex on the apron, but that went nowhere and instead was just a lot of signature move exchanges and rote cutoffs that didn’t seem to build or connect. ***1/2

• 50. Fatal Four Way Match for the #1 Contendership to the WWE Intercontinental Championship: Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus. WWE RAW. 03/24/2014. The winner of this match would go on to face Big E on WWE Main Event the next night. Christian and Sheamus are coming off losing in the EC. Del Rio is coming off an extended squash against Batista. Dolph is coming off a no show at EC but trading free TV wins with everyone in the match.

• Sheamus and Christian brawl to the floor. ADR works over Dolph in the ring. Sheamus sends Christian into the barricade and then springboards in with a shoulderblock on ADR. Sheamus clubs down Dolph and drops a knee for only 1. Dolph avoids a slam for a Bluechipper dropkick. Christian and Berto slide back in to join the party. Christiandumps out Sheamus and tries a plancha but gets caught for a SNAP AB SUPLEX INTO THE BARRICADE! NIIIIIIIIICE! Dolph dropkicks Berto off the apron only to get caught in Sheamus’s Battering Ram. Berto tries to break it up with an enzuigiri but they botch it. Dolph instead dumps him with a Stun Gun. Another dropkick from Dolph gets 1, 2, no. JBL: “Big E is a lot better on commentary when he doesn’t say anything.” Thanks for that. Christian pulls Dolph to the floor and takes him out. Sheamus takes over with a Cactus clothesline on Christian into the crowd. We take a break and are back to Dolph and Berto in the ring. ADR drops Dolph with a flapjack but gets tripped up for the Finlay Roll on the floor from Sheamus. Christian posts Sheamus and then flies onto Dolph with a crossbody but Dolph rolls through for 1, 2, no. Crowd chants for ZIGGLERZIGGLERZIGGLER in Brooklyn. Christian continues his heel lean from EC by grinding his boot into Dolph’s head and shitcanning him out. Sheamus gets Christianalone for IRISH HAMMERS and a knee lift. Berto in for a half nelson backbreaker. Christian gets dumped out to work on his jaundice tan. Sheamus goes to the CLUBBINGBLOWBARRAGE and ADR falls to the floor to sell. Sheamus heads up top but Dolph catches him with the POP UP, TOP ROPE FAMEASSER! 1, 2, 2.99999999. Dolph mounts for the GnP in the corner on Christian and hits a neckbreaker. ADR tries to interrupt but eats a DDT for 1, 2, NO! Christian chokes Ziggler from behind to counter and powerbombs Dolph for 1, 2, BROKEN UP WITH A SUPERKICK HOMICIDA! Sheamus breaks up that and wants the Texas Cloverleaf but ADR tries to fight it. Finally, Sheamus rolls him over. Sheamus releases for a Bulldog powerslam on Christian. He wants the Pump Kick but ADR cuts him off with the FLYING ARMBAR! Sheamus no sells for the Rampage Powerbomb. NO! ZIG ZAG! UNPRETTIER ON DOLPH! 1, 2, 3 and Christian wins it at 8:26.

• Fast and frenzied more or less the whole match, but especially once Sheamus started his go-home which led to even more cutoffs. I didn’t realize how over Dolph back at the beginning of the year because he was EASILY the crowd favorite. Berto was heel, Christian was leaning heel, and Sheamus should have been a heel. A good frenetic match that likely didn’t match much of a dent but deserves better than that. ***1/2

• 49. Steel Cage Match: Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle. Impact Wrestling: Genesis. 01/23/2014. After Styles won the belt and threatening walking from the company, Dixie went batshit and started going after the entire face locker room, including Kurt Angle. She strong-armed her choice Magnus into the world strap and then made it her mission to make all of AJ’s supporters lives a living hell. The previous week, Angle managed to defeat Bad Influence in a handicap cage match, but Al Snow with Dixie’s marching orders goaded Angle into believing his family was hurt in an emergency and thus left the arena, leaving Sting all alone to get picked apart by Roode and Dixie’s henchmen in another cage match. If Angle ever wanted to get into the TNA HOF, he had to defeat Roode in the steel cage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnMsgf3Qho

• Pre-match, Taz and Tenay put over how Roode has had Angle’s number for months.

• We start with Roode going to the headlock and they exchange some chain stuff. Angle gets the advantage but gets elbowed back by Roode. Angle comes back with rights but gets kicked. Roode rushes in to a belly to belly suplex and a clothesline. Angle stomps away in the corner and chokes. Angle with a few rights and mounts in the corner for the 10 but only gets to 7 before Roode gathers him up for a CAGEBOMB! Roode drops a few elbows for a fleeting 1 count. Roode sends him across for a corner clothesline.Roode hits a hanging vertical suplex for 1, 2, only 2. Roode now chokes for a spell as they try to out… choke each other. Roode wants a piledriver but Angle blocks and catapults him back into the cage. Rolling Germans time. Only 3 and Angle wants AngleSlam. Roode floats over and armdrags out and then sidesteps Kurt and shitcans him into the cage. Angle runs out into a flash spinebuster for 1, 2, 2 ½. Roode wants the RoodeBomb but Angle shoves him off into the cage. AngleSlam at 5 minutes in and he hits it. Roode kicks out at 2. Angle goes to the AnkleLock but Roode escapes out with an enzuigiri and then takes out Angle with a clothesline to the neck/back of the head to stay on the neck psychology. Roode tries to talk a walk to win by escape. Angle grabs his leg to cut him off only to get tossed into the cage again. Angle collapses in front of the door as Roode begins planning to scale the cage to escape instead. Angle lumbers over and chases him down. They jockey for position on top, trading cage shots. Roodeloses the battle and falls to the mat. Angle heads all the way up and rather than climb out, he gets caught in the high spot tractor beam and shimmies over to the corner for the SUPER MOONSAULT! Of course, Roode moves and Angle eats canvas. Fans have seen enough and declare it awesome. Roode crawls over to try and escape out. He makes it to the stairs but Angle drags him back in to the ring. Tenay: “SUPERHUMAN EFFORT!” Taz: “HE’S A FREAKIN’ CYBORG!” Kurt pulls Roode to the middle butRoode counters and kicks him off. They redo it and Angle grabs the leg to pull him back in for the ANKLELOCK! Roode is close to tapping but again counters by kicking Angle into the cage. RoodeBomb gets 1, 2, 2.99. ANGLEANGLEANGLE! Roode tries to climb out but Angle no sells to bum rush him for the pop up, super AngleSlam. It’s awesome, but it’s been done before, which is how a lot of this match feels. Delayed cover gets 1, 2, shoulder up. Double KO spot as Angle recovers first and starts the climb again. Taz: “I think this time Angle will just try to escape. Rather than try another moonsault, just get out of here.” Roode is up as well and he catches Kurt at the top. They slug it out and Angle wins that with a flurry and crotches Roode on the top rope. Angle gets the leg over and starts the climb down. Roode crawls over toward the door. Angle drops down first and sells the knee on impact to win it at 14:19.

• This is good, but it’s about the same as 100 other Angle matches over the last 5-10 years. He same complaint could easily but lobbed at Flair, Bret, etc. but with Angle, it’s almost more egregious because it’s high spots. I don’t really think Flair is expecting anyone to jump out of their seat and be amazed when he flopped or flipped. Amused, but not amazed. Ditto for Bret and the backbreaker, second rope elbow drop, Russian leg sweep, etc. But Angle’s repetition is all high impact, high spots – the Germans, the moonsault, the pop up German/AngleSlam, etc. It’s just hard to get as excited about that stuff when you’ve seen it plenty of times. They worked in a bit of psychology on Angle’s neck but it was abandoned down the stretch for cage match drama. ***1/2

• 48. Triple Threat Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship: Cesaro vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler. RAW. 09/29/2014. Let’s see. Miz returned to little fanfare in July and soon after, hit the JTTJTTS circuit losing to Jericho, Ziggler twice, and Sheamus. He would snag the IC title at Battleground in a battle royal, spending most of the match getting dumped to the floor and selling but still outlasting Ziggler at the very end. Ziggler would regain the belt at SS only to drop it back to the Miz at NOC and get it returned the next night on RAW. Cesaro, on the other hand, won a battle royal on Smackdown the week before and faced Zig Zag in the main event but got counted down even though he had the ropes, so it’s a triple threat tonight.
The heels corner Ziggler at the beel and put the boots to him. Miz and Cesaro fight for their right to beat up Ziggler individually, but can’t decide who gets to go first. Miz school boys Cesaro for his uppity-ness for 1, 2, kickout. Cesaro responds by tossing him into Ziggler and then gutwrenching him with a Karelin lift for 1, 2, 2 1/2. Ziggler charges in on Cesaro and it’s time for the BIG SWING! NO! Miz breaks it up and the chain reaction ends with Dolph launched into the turnbuckle which he sells like a meteorite crashing. Miz covers him for 1, 2, kickout. Miz and Ziggler go through some strikes so Miz can set up the double neckbreaker. He only hits one though before Ziggler shoves him off into the TILT-A-WHIRL BACKBREAKER! Cesaro shitcans Ziggler out and he’s fired up. Sandow talks some trash from the apron which draws the ire of Cesaro. Cesaro press slams Miz but Ziggler with the Bluechipper dropkick to take him down from behind. We take a break and are back to Cesaro throwing around Ziggler with a Masterlock. He drops him like a bad habit but Miz baseball slides through for a cover attempt. Cesaro blocks so Ziggler joins the party with a slick sunset flip on Cesaro… on Miz. Cover gets 1, 2, Miz school boys Ziggler for 1, 2, no. Another school boy on Miz for 1, 2, Ziggler breaks it up with a wheelbarrow roll up for another nearfall. Miz tries ANOTHER school boy but they’re too close to the turnbuckle. Ziggler fires up for a DOUBLE DDT! TRIPLE KO SPOT! All up at the same time. Ziggler ducks a short arm clothesline attempt to hit a Stinger Splash on Miz. BLUECHIPPER DROPKICK ON CESARO! NECKBREAKER/DDT COMBO ON BOTH! 1, 2, 2 ½. Sandow distracts long enough for Miz to try the billionth small package for another nearfall on Ziggler. Ziggler slides out to the floor to take out Sandow and Cesaro. He tries a Fame-asser but Miz catches him so Ziggler rolls him up for 1, 2, 2.99. Ziggler heads up top and jumps off into a FIGURE FOUR! NO! Ziggler shoves him off into a SWISS DEATH FROM BELOW! YAKUZA KICK ON ZIGGLER! Cesaro tries a sunset flip but Miz hooks the top rope. Ziggler grabs his feet and slingshots Cesaro into a nutshot on Miz. Ziggler then puts the ugliest Figure Four ever this side of Ricky Steamboat on Miz. Miz to his credit/detriment sells the hell out of it. IS MIZ GOING TO TAP OUT TO A SHITTY VERSION OF HIS NOT-SUBMISSION MOVE!? Thankfully, Cesaro ends the charade with a VICIOUS double foot stomp on Ziggler. Cesaro covers Ziggler for 1, 2, kickout. He covers again with both legs for 1, 2, shoulder up. Miz nicely sells the leg as he stacks up Cesaro for the corner clothesline. He sells even better as he goes up top for the MIZ-TAKEN HAMMER! Like Flair, he whiffs and Cesaro cuts him off with another Swiss uppercut. Ziggler in to put down Cesaro with a superkick. Ziggler covers Miz for 1, 2, 3 to retain at 6:10.

• One of the most fun matches all year long just from the perspective of trying something different and succeeding wonderfully at it. It’s almost like they started with a hypothetical question (How good could a match be if it was entirely just pinning combinations for nearfalls?) and then answered it (Awesome.). There’s some nifty move/counter/move into other guy/signature move, etc. sequences for the entirety and 1000 pinfall variations are actually a lot of fun. This match will probably get sucked into the forgettable vacuum that is post-Summerslam to Royal Rumble and be forgotten forever. But it doesn’t deserve that. ***1/2

• ***3/4 Matches.

• 47. Daniel Bryan, John Cena, & Sheamus vs. The Shield. WWE RAW. 01/27/2014. Each member of the winning team will be in the EC main event going after Orton’s strap. We are coming out of the RR where Orton retained over Cena after some interference from the Wyatt Family. DB lost clean as a sheet to Bray Wyatt. The Shield is showing signs of dissension after Roman Reigns went crazy but also had to eliminate Rollins and Ambrose. Also, Punk walked out leaving the WM picture in limbo; thus, possibly necessitating this matchup.

• Cena and Ambrose to start. Ambrose grabs a side headlock as the crowd starts up with the pro/anti Cena chants. Cena with a leap frog and a shoulderblock that sends Dean reeling back to the heel corner. Rollins tags in as Cole puts over Rollins’s 48-minute performance, second only to CM Punk (RIP)(not exactly). Cena and Rollins trade some chain with Rollins grabbing a headlock to take advantage. Rollins avoids the leap frog, but Cena gives him a haymaker to send him back to the corner as well. Reigns tags in to a ROMANREIGNS reaction from the crowd. Reigns bowls over Cena with a shoulderblock and stands tall. They go it another go with the same ending for Cena. Cena tries the FU, and Reigns slides out for a stalemate. Sheamus tags in to a POP! Crazy, what a few months off will do for a guy, and then what a few months of repetitive, annoying booking will do after that. ANYWAY, Reigns and Sheamus lockup and go nowhere, so Reigns pounds him down in the corner. Sheamus comes back with CLUBBINGBLOWS and a back elbow to another pop. The idea of Sheamus getting pops against the Shield is just blowing my mind, considering how dead in the water he was by the summer and he was winning all the time, unlike Cesaro. Rollins tags in and Sheamus kicks him down and hits the Finlay Roll. Sheamus hits the CLUBBINGBLOWBARRAGE, but Rollins slides out of a fireman’s carry to clip the knee. Ambrose in, but Sheamus cuts him off to tag in DB. YESYESYESYESYES as DB kicks Ambrose around and puts him up top for a super rana. 1, 2, no. Rollins in and he immediately gets dropped into the Mexican surfboard. Sheamus tags back in for an Atomic Leg Drop for 1, 2, kickout. Cena in for a double suplex for another nearfall. Rollins hits a clothesline on Cena to come back for 1, 2, no. We take a break and are back to Ambrose putting heat on Cena. Rollins in and he talks trash and hits a BLOCKBUSTER! Nice. 1, 2, nearfall. Reigns tags in to hit the leaping Batista kick which is still a transition move at this point. 1, 2, no. Reigns tells the face corner to suck it and preps the Superman Man punch. Rather than cover, Reigns is all OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and goes for the Spear. Cena sidesteps and shitcans him out. Reigns though recovers to cut off the hot tag with a back elbow. Ambrose in and he whips Cena across for the hard bump into the turnbuckle. Rollins tags in and holds Cena away from the tag by the Reebok. Cena is almost loose, so Rollins distracts the faces long enough to pull Cena back to the heel corner. Nice. Ambrose goes to a chinlock while Cena sells partial facial paralysis and lockjaw. Cena no sells tuberculosis to ram Ambrose into the corner. Ambrose comes back and plants him with a SWEET DDT! 1, 2, 2 1/2. Cena no sells all of it for a FU and makes the tag to DB. He’s a house of running dropkicks. He flips up and over Rollins and hits a suicide dive on Ambrose. Missile dropkick on Rollins. KIP UP! YESYESYESYESYESYES! DRFG enzuigiri is broken up by Reigns. Sheamus tries to come in and eats a SPEARSPEARSPEAR! Reigns avoids a FU for another SPEAR! BUSAIKU KNEE ON REIGNS! O’Connor Roll from Rollins for 1, 2, 2.999. Crowd chants for DB as he flips out of a German suplex but eats a BuckleBomb for 1, 2, kickout. Rollins tries a super Curb Stomp but whiffs and eats a German suplex THAT FLIPS HIM! DB tries the IED but can’t still get it. He rolls Rollins into the YesLock. Ambrose breaks it up but eats the Pump Kick from Sheamus. Flying knee on Sheamus from Rollins. Rollins and DB collide on crossbodies for a double down. Second hot tag to Cena. He drops Reigns into the STF, but Reigns powers out. BUT WAIT! THE WYATT FAMILY HAS COME OUT! They pounce Cena for the DQ at 21:00.

• That ending sucks hard and this was only a usual Shield 6-man tag with very little making it stick out. The first 10-ish minutes is fine but basically feeling out with each face and heel rotating for a bit. The heat on Cena was workmanlike and his selling as usual leaves something to be desired. There were the standard cutoffs to prevent a hot tag. It’s only standout moments are DB’s rock solid go-home that just takes over the crowd like a tidal wave and the second hot tag to Cena that could have been something but was killed by the finish. ***3/4

• 46. Unlocked Match: Gunner vs. James Storm. Impact Wrestling. 03/27/2014. Iron Mike, the professor, has long been decried for losing a step on his fastball, but he’s ready to show that he’s still got what it takes to be the top analyst in the business as he talks up this feud. Tenay: “There’s crossing the line, then there’s crossing the line.” Thanks for that. ANYWAY, these two had a makeshift tag team back at Slammiversary and they won the tag belts. Going into the Feast-or-Fired match in Dec. 2013, they had a mutual agreement to work together, but Gunner went into business for himself and took the last briefcase that had the world title shot in it. Storm felt betrayed and they battled for the briefcase at Genesis and Gunner won that match, too. They remained tenuous allies going into Gunner’s cash-in against then-world champ Magnus, but Storm gave him the Last Call costing him the match. They would meet at Lockdown where Gunner would defeat him, but Storm would attack his father and that sent Gunner over the edge. TO THE MATCH!

• Gunner comes racing out of the back and Storm tries to cut him off by meeting him in the aisle but it erupts into a brawl with Gunner on top. He tosses Storm into the stairs and gets a table. Storm cuts him off with a burrito and he smashes him into the stairs. Storm sets up the table, but Gunner knocks him into the apron. Gunner starts bringing in the chairs and snap suplexes Storm on the floor. He rakes Storm’s face on his boot. Storm shakes it off and dukes under to trip Gunner into the stairs again. He gets a Coke for the vaunted PLASTIC BOTTLE WAFFLE! Storm pulls a tag rope out of his pants for reasons that escape everyone and he just drops it to drop Gunner with a Batista kick on the apron. He preps and lands a suplex on the ramp. They fight over another stair shot and Gunner wins it. He blasts Storm to the ribs with a chair and… gets some more chairs. I keep waiting for this to develop into something other than step bumps and getting chairs. Thankfully, back in, Storm plants Gunner with a DDT OFF THE TOP! We take a break and we’re back to Gunner hitting a running knee in the corner and landing a rebound suplex. Cover gets 1, 2, 2 ½. Gunner wedges a chair in the corner, but they counter each other until Gunner lays him out with a trash can lid. Storm no sells and fires right back with one of his own. Now, it’s slug it out time with trash can waffles and no selling the whole way. Gunner fires up with several in a row but Storm Hulks up and lands the TRASH CAN LID WAFFLE HAYMAKER! Gunner no sells that for a Spear. Cover gets 1, 2, shoulder out. Taz: “THIS IS LIKE THROWBACK NFL FILMS STUFF!” Thanks for that. Storm retreats to a corner but takes over with the BLATANTTHUMBTOTHEEYE. Gunner gets the elbows up and tries a sunset flip but Storm rolls through and catapults him into the chair in the storm into a BACKCRACKER! MACHO ELBOW! Nice sequence. Cover gets 1, 2, 2.99. Storm gets a beer bottle for a repeat of the attack on Gunner’s father, but Gunner is all FUCK THAT AND SPEARS HIM OUT OF THE RING THROUGH A TABLE! Back in, Gunner hooks the leg for 1, 2, no. Both men are drained and showing the effects of the match. Gunner sets up two chairs next to each other in the ring. He puts Storm up top and SUPERPLEXES HIM OFF THE TOP THROUGH THE CHAIRS! THAT’S HOW HE BEAT HIM AT LOCKDOWN! ONE, TWO, THREEOHNOHEALMOSTGOT’IM! Storm counters out of a Gun Rack with a Codebreaker. LAST CALL! ANOTHER LAST CALL! 1, 2, KICKOUT! This has really picked up. Gunner crawls to the corner and gets the beer bottle but Storm doesn’t see it. BEER BOTTLE TO THE HEAD! HANGER 18! 1, 2, 3 and Storm wins it at 10:34.

• A hard-hitting brawl that really picked up after the commercial break, but as is the nature of TV matches, the break also cuts through the build. Just like with the Storm/Roode cage match at Lockdown, so much of the opening brawling is just generic as hell with no energy or zeal to it. Their running to meet in the aisle was effective but didn’t really match the blasé street fight that followed for a few minutes. I’m not crazy about the slug it out with trash can lids either as it’s just too much no selling of weapons shots for my taste. But Storm’s catapult into the chair sequence was dynamite as was everything in the last few minutes. ***3/4

• 45. Money in the Bank Ladder Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns vs. Kane. WWE Money in the Bank 2014. 06/29/2014.

• Big brawl to start. Orton shitcans Del Rio first to foreshadow later events but neglects to comment on his ethnicity as he does so. Orton and Kane now double team Reigns. Reigns sells in the corner while ADR gets shitcanned out again. Reigns and Cesaro are tossed too as Orton and Kane are holding court early. Bray rolls to the floor and now it’s the Authority’s goons alone with Cena. Kane tries to bring in a ladder but Cesaro and ADR dropkick it back into him. They also knock over Orton with theladder but then can’t agree who should stand it up. Bray runs into the ladder and knocks over both. Cena tries an FU but Bray counters and drops Cena on the ladder. Reigns quickly disposes of Wyatt with a Samoan drop. Sheamus waffles him from behind. Kane is back in to tussle with Sheamus. Reigns tries to sneak a ladder in and the voices in Orton’s head tell him to stop it. Reigns with a clothesline and Orton is back out. Sheamus and Roman sandwich Kane with ladders in a weak spot. They set up both ladders and now it’s ADR, Reigns, Sheamus, and Cesaro climbing. Kane revives to shove over both ladders and clear the ring. KANEKANEKANEKANEKANEKANEKANE! Not so much. Thecrowd perks up for a ChokeSlam on John Cena. Kane goozles Orton and helps Orton to climb up. Reigns ain’t having it and Orton takes a nasty gash in his head hardway. Reigns is up, but there’s Bray. ChokeSlam on Reigns and Cena is back in to cut off Bray but gets Euro uppercutted to death by Cesaro. Cesaro and Sheamus up and they slug it out on top of the ladder. Bray Nexuses up and shoves over theladder as Sheamus and Cesaro are left hanging. Sheamus bites the dust and Cesaro can’t hang on either. Senton on Cesaro from Bray. Orton gets stitched up and he’s ready to go. He attacks ADR and gets another ladder. Sheamus cuts him off and bridges a ladde between theannounce table and the apron. Sheamus tries the catwalk but Orton trips him up and DDTs him off the ladder onto the floor. Back in, it’s Orton-Cena part 74838829292023940203948. Thankfully, they are joined by everyone not named Sheamus. No one can get very far in theconfusion. ADR whiffs on a step up enzuigiri and gets shitcanned for the 4th time in as many months. Sheamus cuts off Kane with a half-assed Stun Gun to the chest and goes to the CLUBBINGBLOWBARRAGE. Sheamus’s fire up time as he blows through Orton and ADR as well. He taunts to mostly disinterest, but gets the pop of his life as he pump kicks Cena to the floor. He wastes time, so Kane pulls him to thefloor. Kane gets disposed of into the stairs. Cesaro decides to break the glass ceiling by building a bridge off the top rope. Cesaro and Sheamus again at the top. ADR shoves the ladder bridge through the upright ladder and knocks over Reigns. Reigns no sells to Yellowjacket up and PICK UP THE ENTIRE LADDER STRUCTURE AND BOTH GUYS! That’s pretty damn cool. They ladder is wedged on the bottom part at an angle. Cena decides to one-up Reigns and do the same thing. Bray suplexes Cena on the ladder and he’s out. Everyback in and Kane tosses ADR, Bray, and Cesaro into ladders.Sheamus is about to win but no one cares and he almost destroys his knee like RVD in thelast match and still no one much cares. Reigns in to SPEAR Kane, but Orton is still around and waffles him. Reigns shoves off the RKO for a Superman punch. Sheamus tries to stay front and cena and Reigns Superman punches him out too. Reigns sets up Bray on the announce table and hits back-to-back leaping Batista kicks on ADR and Bray. SPEAR ON CESARO ON THE FLOOR! Now, it’s Cena-Reigns face-to-face in the ring. BOO/YEA ends in a Spear on Cena. Orton pulls Reigns down from behind for the neck/backbreaker off the ladder. Bray cuts off Orton with Sister Abigail as the crowd comes alive yet again for something resembling new. ADR ends that hope to boos, despite both being heels. Superkick Homicida sends Bray to the floor. Hmm. Something’s missing. JBL: “Mexico’s greatest export.” Now, we’re talking. ADR climbs up, but Sheamus drops him with the Pump Kick. Cesaro ends Sheamus’s run with the Swiss Death from Below and theNeutralizer. Orton slingshots Cesaro off the ladder into the RKO…. OUTTA NOWHERE! ORTON’S GONNA DO IT! BUT WAIT! Reigns has him from behind again and Orton’s gets busted hardway again and wipes out. Kane ChokeSlams Reigns to kill the crowd. Has Kane pioneered the cooler gimmick? Cena won’t be upstaged in crowd derision and FU’s Orton onto Kane (in an identical finish to next month’s Battleground) and climbs up to become 15-time champ at 26:30.

• It’s matches like this, the 2014 RR, the Elimination Chamber, the Survivor Series main event, and the 4-way at BG that feel like a battle for the company’s soul and future direction. The fans reactions aren’t split along face/heel lines, but along old and new lines. For anyone relatively fresh, the crowd is into it – Bray, Cesaro, Reigns – and for almost anyone else, the crowd is either actively antagonistic or just bored – Cena, Kane, Orton, Sheamus, ADR. That doesn’t mean the New Breed, so to speak, should win across the board, but that occasionally they need to be thrown a bone. Note, this same divide didn’t extend to the other MITB match; no one was openly revolting against RVD, Swagger, Dolph, or Kofi. Longevity isn’t the issue; it’s the constant push and exposure that oversaturates guys like Cena and Orton into seeming like they have been around forever, when it’s barely a decade.

• As a match, I kept waiting for it to develop into something exciting, and it just never gets there. It’s well-worked and structured as these types of matches in the Fed always are. They gave every guy the “potential winner” tease pop, which is always smart, but can fall flat when the crowd likes different guys than the company does as winners. From another perspective though, the money match for WWE in 2K14 after Mania was always going to be Brock-DB and when DB went on the shelf, there was only one suitable replacement for Summerslam: Brock-Cena. They didn’t have to get there with Cena going over the entire main event in this match, but the outcome was logically at least from that standpoint.

• A marginally disappointing match, if for no other reason than, because it was tame and lacking high spots or clever arrangements – outside of Cesaro’s ladder bridge. The spot of the match was the RKO off the ladder and that’s hardly a highlight for the gimmick’s history. Maybe next year. ***3/4

• 44. Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose. WWE RAW 07/07/2014. After sweeping Evolution, The Shield appeared untouchable. Rollins saw it otherwise and decided to adapt and break up the unbreakable, The Shield. Rollins’s betrayal particularly drew the ire of Ambrose. Reigns would break off and use some Jedi Mind Tricks to get Vickie Guerrero fired and himself put in the title picture. Ambrose/Rollins were on a collision course that took a pitstop at MITB where Ambrose came within fingertips of winning the briefcase only to have Authority lackey and nonfactor, Kane, take him out. Rollins won the briefcase and segued into teasing cashing in on Cena for a few weeks. With the Authority out on vacation, they gave their handpicked face of the company, Orton, explicit instructions to make sure that Ambrose be taken out.

• Ambrose is sporting a shoulder wrap to put over the worked injury from MITB. These two also wrestled the previous week on Smackdown on July 4th. That match ended in a DQ when Rollins blasted Ambrose’s bad shoulder with the briefcase.

• Crowd gets behind Ambrose as he talks trash to Orton. Orton backs off to a neutral corner because even he isn’t ready for the madness that is Dean Ambrose. They lockup and that goes straight into the ropes for a CLEAN BREAK! Orton rolls to the floor and then gets a raucous tongue lashing from the crowd. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FUCK YOU FOR PLAYING BY THE RULES WITH A CLEAN BREAK! ANYWAY, back in, Ambrose goes to the arm and quickly grounds Orton. He works a Fujiwara armbar. JBL: “I live in Bermuda, I don’t need a vacation.” Thanks for that. Orton gets to his feet and elbows free and returns the favor going to Ambrose’s bad shoulder. That goes nowhere as Ambrose drops down to counter and floats into top position smearing Orton’s face across the mat. Ambrose works the shoulder surges and gives Orton a taste of the PIT STOP! NASTY BOYS FTW! Ambrose then uses the point of the elbow to get the advantage. Short arm clothesline and Ambrose stomps away. He chokes Orton before Orton pulls him into the turnbuckle. Orton mounts in the corner for 5 and Ambrose is pissed and trades places for some mounted punches of his own. He rakes the eyes, smacks Orton, hooks the arm in the ropes, and then dropkicks him down. It’s time for the battle of the planted boots to the chest. Ambrose first and then he rolls Orton into a half STF. Orton tries to escape, so he gets hooked into a straitjacket. Orton rolls under and cuts him off with a LARIATO AND NOW WE GO TO SCHOOL, RNN STYLE! Orton pounds away in the corner and then eggs on the boos. He hits the destiny pose only for Ambrose to shoot on him with a double leg and clothesline him to the floor. We take a break and are back to Orton working the bad shoulder. During the break, he trashed Ambrose into adjacent ringsteps to get the advantage. Ambrose tries a rally but runs into a Bluechipper dropkick. Orton stays on the arm, smashing it into the canvas and torquing the Fujiwara armbar as well. Cover gets 1, 2, only 2. Orton relentlessly stays on the arm but telegraphs a backdrop and Ambrose hits a desperation DDT. Ambrose sells the arm trying to get some life back in it. They slug it out and Ambrose wins that with a few burritos and a crossbody into side control. Orton comes back and slowly…. applies the neck/backbreaker, but Ambrose counters for the FIGURE FOUR! Orton panics and tries breaking the hold but Ambrose torques it. Orton tries to break the hold, so Ambrose GRABS HIS FINGERS! YEAHHHH! WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Orton finally escapes to the ropes to more boos for that perfectly legitimate wrestling. Ambrose heads up top but apparently Orton has been watching that Vader/HBK SS 96 match on repeat because he doesn’t move. Thankfully, Ambrose doesn’t throw a tantrum like say Orton has against Kofi, Kennedy, etc. ANYWAY, Orton turns around to hit another Bluechipper dropkick. Cover gets 1, 2, 2 ½. Orton is out of ideas and stalls by posing some more. Finally, they’re ready for Ambrose’s recliner Nigel-line. He wants Dirty Deeds but Orton shoves him off only to get dumped out. Ambrose is fired up and trashes Orton into the barricade. It’s plunder time as Ambrose gets 1, 2, 3, 4, FIVE chairs. Orton walks him around ringside to buy time and then cuts him off at the pass and tosses him bad shoulder-first into the post. NICE! Orton shoves him into the first row setting up the apron DDT on the floor. These two are in a PPV groove tonight. Orton works the count but Ambrose slides in to beat it at 9. Orton has HAD IT and wants another apron DDT. NO! SCHOOL BOY! ONE, TWO, THREEOHNOHEALMOSTGOT’IM! BACKSLIDE! NEARFALL! JAWBREAKER NIGEL-LINE! NO! RKO! 1, 2, 3 and Orton takes it at 18:00.

• A lot of awesomeness here for free TV. The shoulder psychology, the finisher counters, and the finish itself was a callback to earlier when Ambrose managed to hit the jawbreaker lariat. I love that Ambrose is single-handedly bringing nagging injury psychology back to wrestling. Amidst a slew of guys who can’t even sell during a match, much less bridging selling from match to match, Ambrose is trying his best to remind us that, gasp, guys get hurt and it affects them later. Also, Orton is awesome when he keeps it to the smarmy asshole heel that initially got him over during Evolution the first-time around. He had a slew of awesome free TV matches last year against Cody, Goldust, Daniel Bryan, and The Shield, so this is hardly a surprise, but a welcome continuation of the trend. ***3/4

• 43. The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family. WWE RAW. 03/03/2014. Coming out of EC, the Shield would show even more signs of dissension. Reigns would square off against Bray Wyatt but mostly lag behind in the numbers game with Rollins and Ambrose nowhere to be seen. Finally, Ambrose came to his rescue by one that landed Reigns a DQ loss.

• The Wyatts trie to saunter in by are met by DIVING USOS–err… I mean–ROLLINS AND AMBROSE! Samoan drop from Reigns on Bray and the Shield are fired up. Rollins and Harper to start. Dropkick from Rollins. Harper tries to come back but they repeat the EC spot with Rollins landing on his feet out of the super suplex. They up the ante by Rollins dropkicking Rowan off the apron, Tope Con Hilo-ing Harper, and then CORKSCREWING TOPE CON HILO-ING ROWAN! ROLLINSROLLINSROLLINS! He preps a dive on Harper but Bray breaks it up and the Wyatts take over. In case you didn’t watch the EC match, they just cut off the first 8-10 minutes of quick tags and cut straight to Rollins’s high spots and the heat. We take a break and are back to Harper working a chinlock on Rollins. Harper clotheslines him down much to Ambrose’s disgust. Rollins cuts him off with a dropkick. Rollins reaches for the tag but Ambrose is too chaotic and Reigns has to pull him back to their corner preventing the tag. Rowan tries to capitalize but Rollins hits the Downward Spiral into the turnbuckle. Rollins considers a tag but Harper BOOT OF FEARS Reigns off the apron in boss fashion. Tag to Ambrose and he goes into GnP on Rowan. Burrito follows and he dropkicks Rowan’s knee. DSLW and it’s F4 TIME! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Harper breaks it up with a double foot stomp and Reigns shitcans him out and into the crowd. CHOKESLAM ON AMBROSE! GnP from Bray as he piefaces Ambrose into the mat. Harper in to choke and Rowan in to stomp. Top shelf henchmen, those guys. The Chicago crowd hasn’t seen a tope in LITERALLY minutes and decides they must chant for CMPUNK. Ambrose goes to the SlaughterLock. Ambrose pulls his beard and tries to make him eat it so Rowan drops him with a sideslam for 1, 2, no. Harper in to work over Ambrose and the crowd chants for ROMANREIGNS. That’s more productive. Harper casually wails Ambrose into the ropes a few times nicely building up for the RECLINER NIGEL-LINE! Tag to Bray who waffles Reigns off the apron. DDT FROM AMBROSE! TAGTAGTAGTAGTAG! He reaches but ROLLINS GET OFF THE APRON! ROLLINS IS TAKING A WALK! Reigns is all YOLO, BRO! And Rollins says that they missed the tag earlier and now have to figure it out for themselves. Bray hits the crossbody and covers Ambrose for 1, 2, broken up by Reigns. Samoan drop on Rowan and a SUPERMAN PUNCH ON HARPER AND BRAY! Ambrose tackles Rowan and gets clotheslined out. Ambrose holds down Harper for the leaping Batista kick. SPEAR ON ROWAN ON THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! BOOT OF FEAR FROM HARPER ON AMBROSE! TOPE SUICIDA ON REIGNS! MICHAEL COLE TOLD US THIS WOULD BE ARMAGEDDON! ANYWAY, Bray posts Ambrose and now the crowd thinks it’s awesome, but crowdsourcing is too late. Sister Abigail on Ambrose for 1, 2, 3 at 11:00.

• Good stuff but not EC good. More angle advancement than a full fledged match, especially with the Rollins walkout. These guys don’t need 20 minutes to be awesome, but when it’s only a few weeks since their epic collision, it’s hard to feel satisfied with the 10 minute free TV version. It does have some callbacks with Rollins’s high spots being a bit more involved and needing more planning to get over on the heels and the dissension finally affecting a major match outcome. Also, Reigns’s hot tag at the end continues to be awesome, but just not enough firepower to get into that upper tier. ***3/4

10.0

The final score: review Virtually Perfect

The 411

10.0 is a default rating for best of the year.