Jump to content

"It all blurs together" - forgotten gems from this decade


air_raid

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

 OK, simple premise. Plenty of us that have been watching WWE forever are jaded to fuck. Since the turn of this decade several factors have caused special/memorable matches to become heavily diluted by an abundance of product that either doesn't resonate or is easily forgotten.

The advent of the "part-timer"/special occasions only star hasn't helped, with 2011 starting the scaling back of Triple H and Undertaker to less than full time then the return of Rock to occasionally wrestle and Brock Lesnar with his limited dates, and the gradual winding down of John Cena. Combined with an inability of anyone but Reigns to be afforded a sustained push of being broken out of the midcard, there's a stark difference between who/what is a huge star/match and "the rest." Everybody just wrestles everybody else, hardly anything is preserved or presented as special and most occurrences outside the Big 4 shows, Chambers and occasionally Money In The Bank are forgotten by the next ppv/special, never mind year to year. Even within the Big 4 I'm sure things are forgotten. For instance, I'd completely forgotten how much I'd enjoyed The Bar vs Ambrose and Rollins at last year's SummerSlam until the review thread came around.

There have, of course, been exceptions within the time period. The Hall of Pain, Shield vs Wyatts, Daniel Bryan's ascent to the top, Roman's great matches with AJ, Jericho's list. It's not ALL been mediocre. But the amount of stuff I could rattle off that stuck with me since 2010 pales in comparison to the 80s, 90s and 2000s, if I discount Taker, Brock and Hunter matches, Big 4 top matches and cash-ins.

So.... what you got for me? What matches might be forgotten from 2011 onwards, either from minor shows or even from Big 4 undercards, that people might have forgotten. I'll go with an example and the match I stumbled upon that prompted this thread ;

Sami Zayn VS Kevin Owens, Battleground (2016)

0e69118ad27e46b44609642a091bdff1.jpg

So, you'd be forgiven for thinking the history of these pair on the main roster has essentially been "Owens beat the shit out of Sami on and off, they eliminated each other in at least one Rumble but possibly more, and then they ended up on SmackDown together as heels." So, here's a match the pair of them had that has some really great storytelling for Zayn getting some vengeance and them blowing the feud off properly. For a bit. But I think Kev got to beat Sami again on a PPV not long later, maybe when he was I champion. Or US champion. I really don't know, it all blurs together. BUT this match is really rewarding and I'm glad I watched it, in isolation from the huge beige mess of forgettable.

So..... recommend me this kind of stuff. What might I have forgotten that's worth digging out on the Network? No Ziggler, if you can help it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 52
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Paid Members
3 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

Bad News Barrett vs Big E at Extreme Rules 2014 for the IC title is a nice little gem of a match 

This must be from a Big E babyface run then, between the Ziggler (ugh) and AJ association and the formation of New Day... yeah, I have utterly no memory of any of that. Smashing. Except a vague guess that E was the unfortunate babyface that had to drop the belt to Curtis Axel during his misguided push? Is that right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, air_raid said:

This must be from a Big E babyface run then, between the Ziggler (ugh) and AJ association and the formation of New Day... yeah, I have utterly no memory of any of that. Smashing. Except a vague guess that E was the unfortunate babyface that had to drop the belt to Curtis Axel during his misguided push? Is that right?

E actually won the title from Axel in November 2013 on an episode of Raw.

Axel won the title from Barrett at Payback 2013 when he won the triple threat also including Miz when pinned Barrett when he was in the figure four, quite a novel finish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally think the 18 second Bryan loss was The best thing that could have happened to him. Would anyone have remembered a match with them if it had been 20 mins? It paid off perfectly the arrogance he had built since cashing in, and then led to more stories with Kane etc, that then led to his big win as fans took his side after he had his mania moment “stolen” but having a quick loss. Which in actual fact was a massive mania moment that people remember amongst a parade of nothingness we get in most mania cards these days 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Sheamus and Big Show feud from 2012 was a lot of fun. You had the slugfest inside Hell in a Cell, the solid match at Survivor Series and of course the match at TLC with the amazing GIANT CHAIR!

AJ/Balor from TLC as well when that show got messed about. Precisely 0 build, and we've not seen them interact since, but it was a really fun match which just proves sometimes it's the best option to just allow your talent to go out and wrestle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
33 minutes ago, Briefcase said:

Kalisto/Corbin chairs match at TLC a few years ago I really enjoyed. For one I don't particular like either of them and two I thought it was going to he the drizzling shits but it massively surprised me. 

I bet that was a surprise. I do have a faint memory of Corbin attacking Kallisto at Survivors and being deflated to hell since he's crap and it proved they weren't interested in cruiserweights doing their own thing. Unless its on their own show where they can ignore it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The best of seven series between Sheamus and Cessaro had some great matches and has left us with one of the better Tag Teams of the last decade. Even the though the final match of the series ended in a draw I bloody loved it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, TheTonetta said:

On the topc, TLC 2017 had Sexy Kurt and The Shield team up, it hasn't aged well, and is very forgettable, now, but at the time, it was super fun

The Shields/Kurts entrance was rotten though. I remember being excited for Kurts big entrance and then all of a sudden there he is standing behind Ambrose and Rollins looking like a right plug. Ruined it a bit for me that did. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...