Match of the Year 2013

[ColinBollocks]

It's a choice of Cena v Punk, Punk v Taker and Cena v Bryan. No other matches this year felt nearly as big during the match and the matches had me jumping out of my chair like an idiot. Nearly impossible to pick which one was superior, though.

 

The TV has suffered when Punk and Cena have not been on the TV. Obviously, Cena not being there creates a wider problem, but Punk has had a cracking 2013.

[Fatty Facesitter]

Cena/Punk for me. Absolute world-beater of a match that I've watched a few times since it's happened and I'm still not tired of it. That was a main event worthy of headlining any PPV, including Wrestlemania.

[Bugsey713]

Cena/Punk for me too, closely followed by Punk/Undertaker. I hope WWE do a similar thing with Cena Punk that they did with HBK Undertaker by having them as the final 2 in the rumble for about 10 mins and then keep them apart for a year and build to a mega Wrestlemania match at WM31.

[honor87]

This year I've loved these lot: cena/ punk, punk/ lesnar, taker/ punk, shield /uso's and shield/ Rhodes boys

[Ric Flair's Divorce Lawyer]

The Shield are the MVPs of the year when it comes to matches, they've had many superb bouts and have helped resurrect tag team wrestling in WWE.

They sure were. I also liked Shield vs Team Hell No and Undertaker (Raw 22/04/13) and Shield vs Orton, Kane and Daniel Bryan (Smackdown 24/06/13).

 

Cena/Punk for me. Absolute world-beater of a match that I've watched a few times since it's happened and I'm still not tired of it. That was a main event worthy of headlining any PPV, including Wrestlemania.

The thing I disliked about the match IIRC was when Cena did a hurricarana, I hate it when he does that move.

[Fatty Facesitter]

Cena/Punk for me. Absolute world-beater of a match that I've watched a few times since it's happened and I'm still not tired of it. That was a main event worthy of headlining any PPV, including Wrestlemania.

The thing I disliked about the match IIRC was when Cena did a hurricarana, I hate it when he does that move.

 

On the contrary, I loved it. Sure, it wasn't flawless, but it signified that he had to throw everything he had at Punk and then some to finally put him away. In the context of the match, that move was both totally unexpected and from a kayfabe perspective it completely bamboozled his opponent, allowing him to gain the victory with the AA immediately afterwards. I hadn't seen Cena do the hurracanrana against Ziggler at TLC either, so for me it was even more unexpected. With or without that spot though, it's a tremendous match.

[Ric Flair's Divorce Lawyer]

Cena/Punk for me. Absolute world-beater of a match that I've watched a few times since it's happened and I'm still not tired of it. That was a main event worthy of headlining any PPV, including Wrestlemania.

The thing I disliked about the match IIRC was when Cena did a hurricarana, I hate it when he does that move.

 

On the contrary, I loved it. Sure, it wasn't flawless, but it signified that he had to throw everything he had at Punk and then some to finally put him away. In the context of the match, that move was both totally unexpected and from a kayfabe perspective it completely bamboozled his opponent, allowing him to gain the victory with the AA immediately afterwards. I hadn't seen Cena do the hurracanrana against Ziggler at TLC either, so for me it was even more unexpected. With or without that spot though, it's a tremendous match.

Its only a minor flaw but the match on the whole was very good.

[The Whole Show]

Bloody hell Cena/Punk seems a long time ago now, That match gets my vote, the WWE's two best performers at their absolute match, I wasn't expecting anything going in but it absolutely blew my mind, This wouldn't of looked out of place in the main event of wrestlemania.

 

Punk/Taker and Punk/Lesnar were both pretty excellent too.

 

They sure were. I also liked Shield vs Team Hell No and Undertaker (Raw 22/04/13) and Shield vs Orton, Kane and Daniel Bryan (Smackdown 24/06/13).

 

Is that the match The Shield finally lost? That was awesome but as others have echoed for a while we were getting a mix of fantastic tag team matches from the combination of The Shield/Bryan/Kane/Orton over the summer months.

[Ric Flair's Divorce Lawyer]

They sure were. I also liked Shield vs Team Hell No and Undertaker (Raw 22/04/13) and Shield vs Orton, Kane and Daniel Bryan (Smackdown 24/06/13).

 

Is that the match The Shield finally lost? That was awesome but as others have echoed for a while we were getting a mix of fantastic tag team matches from the combination of The Shield/Bryan/Kane/Orton over the summer months.

It was the one they lost. I was just throwing out a couple more that immediately sprang to mind. That summer period of great six man matches lead to Daniel Bryan really gaining momentum. The crowd went nuts when he went in there. IMO its the crowd that adds that final something to make it a match even greater. There is nothing worse than a quiet crowd.

[The Whole Show]

It was the one they lost. I was just throwing out a couple more that immediately sprang to mind. That summer period of great six man matches lead to Daniel Bryan really gaining momentum. The crowd went nuts when he went in there. IMO its the crowd that adds that final something to make it a match even greater. There is nothing worse than a quiet crowd.

 

It was a fantastic match, I still think they could of built The Shield final loss up more, on a ppv, or a more hyped Raw would of been better, but the match and the crowd reactions and finished were still utterly superb.

[air_raid]

With heaps of bias due to being there, matches that I've been completely swept up in this year have been Shinya Makabe vs Tomohiro Ishii in the G1 which was a brilliant "beat the shit out of each other" war, the incredibly emotional final between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito where Sumo Hall basically had a collective orgasm at Naito finally winning the big one, and the dynamic brawl between the world's greatest babyface Chris Masters and the excellent and versatile Kris Travis at PCW on June 1st.

 

Others worth mentioning for me are the aforementioned superb matches from the same night in the G1, Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii and Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kota Ibushi, one of the hottest cards I watched this year, and the much-loved Cena/Punk match which was very exciting, the only slight drawback being that the booking around Mania made it perfectly obvious Cena would win, and nothing they could have done would have convinced me there was a chance of that not happening. I did enjoy Cena/Bryan at SummerSlam but I never really got into it because the anticipation for the Orton cash-in was too high. I also really enjoyed Punk/Lesnar but wouldn't consider it for Match of the Year because I was so enraged at the part which made Punk look a moron, which you shouldn't do to your babyfaces. The Elimination Chamber match had my pulse raised from the moment Mark Henry got into the match, and for excitement and caring about the result, I have to mention Henry vs Cena from MITB as well. They had me fooled there.

 

So for me, there's actually only one candidate for Match of the Year, subjective as it is. It was the best match of the year (for me) in the only promotion on Earth that consistently gives me matches that meet my criteria for being top-drawer :

 

• Exciting action.
  
• Not being sure who is going to win.
  
• Actually caring about who is going to win.
  

 

And that match was Hiroshi Tanahashi v Kazuchika Okada from the 7th April Invasion Attack show. The action and drama were excellent, it drew me in completely, I was off my chair during the home straight, and was pumping my fist with glee at the end. It actually completely ruined Mania for me, because it was exciting being kept on edge and caring about the outcome, and not knowing who was going to win, and nothing that was going to happen at Mania 13 hours later was going to come close. The top three matches at Mania suffered massively for predictable winners, and I didn't care who won them. Mostly, because I already knew who was winning them.

[kickin it wit the kliq]

For me it's the Shield vs The Rhodes Brothers at Wwe Battleground.

 

I love tag team matches and I honestly don't think there's been as good a tag team match in about 10 years.

 

Goldust has been a revelation this year and Cody has one of the best hot tag's I've ever seen, the two of them just get tag team wrestling, and it's really helped Rollins and Reigns being paired up with them

 

Hopefully when the big singles pushes come we get to see a lot more of Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns

[Amazing_Red_Fan]

Punk vs Lesnar for me. Just had that big fight feel and engaged me more than any other match this year. Punk/Taker and Punk/Cena aren't too far behind. Considering he's not exactly one of my favourites, Punk has produced in some high-profile matches this year.

[Mr. Levity 84]

Both Tanahashi vs. Okada matches (Invasion Attack and King of Pro Wrestling) are utterly fantastic, with the KoPW bout being slightly better in my opinion.

 

Other worthy mentions are:

 

Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe from Dominion, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba from Wrestle Kingdom, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata - both from this year's G1.

 

Can't go wrong with any of those really.

[air_raid]

Both Tanahashi vs. Okada matches (Invasion Attack and King of Pro Wrestling) are utterly fantastic, with the KoPW bout being slightly better in my opinion.

 

And their match in the G1? What did you make of that?

 

For me, suffered badly from the fact the draw was obvious, given that they were 3-3 at that point and a group stage G1 match was not the right stage to break that parity. As soon as Tana started his leg work, it was clear what direction they were taking.