Best Match of the Year

[JGlass]

Get me in there. I won't scoff.

Someone needs to explain to me why they prefer Cena-Bryan to Punk-Lesnar. I don't feel compelled to argue. But I need to understand what the other side is seeing.

I had a hard time suspending my disbelief for that match. Brock Lesnar demolished Cena when they faced. Triple H gave him all he could handle. CM Punk had more success mounting offense against Lesnar than either of the two larger men. Were they trying to tell me that CM Punk had an advantage against Lesnar because he wasn't 280+ pounds of pure muscle? I don't buy it.

I get that the same can be said for Cena/Bryan, but Cena wasn't booked to be as ridiculously dominant as Lesnar, especially at this point in his career.

I also thought Bryan beating Cena was way more surprising than Lesnar beating Punk.

 

[Coco]

I had a hard time suspending my disbelief for that match. Brock Lesnar demolished Cena when they faced. Triple H gave him all he could handle. CM Punk had more success mounting offense against Lesnar than either of the two larger men. Were they trying to tell me that CM Punk had an advantage against Lesnar because he wasn't 280+ pounds of pure muscle? I don't buy it.

So it was an inferior match because you couldn't stop yourself from using WZ Tournament logic?

Okay then. Thanks for the perspective.

Edit: I guess I should start trying to compose a defence of my point of view. 'Cause I've got nothing.

 

[JGlass]

So it was an inferior match because you couldn't stop yourself from using WZ Tournament logic?

Okay then. Thanks for the perspective.

How dare you.

I understand where you're coming from, but it just made no sense to me. I never thought CM Punk had a shot, and the WWE's attempts to make it look like he had a shot fell well short. They just booked that feud really weirdly, and it lead to a match that reflected that.

 

[Coco]

I'm with you 0%. I figured Lesnar had the win, but I felt Punk's scrappy-aggression played well against Lesnar. Couple that with Lesnar being an over-achieving beast whose matches feel like events, and I felt it was something very special.

I liked Cena-Bryan, but I only watched it once. The night of SummerSlam. Shortly after Punk-Lesnar. No match exists in a vaccum, and I was spent after the first main event. I love both guys. I loved both matches. But Cena and Bryan failed to top what had come before them. Simple as that.

Subjectivity, eh? I can't begrudge anyone their preference. I just wish I understood the other side. That's all.

Of course my biggest HOLY SHIT of the night went to Cena nearly dropping Bryan on his head and paralysing him. Though I don't think that's to either man's credit.

 

[Father Uncle Oscar]

I started watching wrestling agasin about a month ago. I'm watching Punk/Lesnar for the first time. I regret voting against it.

 

[JGlass]

I'm with you 0%. I figured Lesnar had the win, but I felt Punk's scrappy-aggression played well against Lesnar. Couple that with Lesnar being an over-achieving beast whose matches feel like events, and I felt it was something very special.

I liked Cena-Bryan, but I only watched it once. The night of SummerSlam. Shortly after Punk-Lesnar. No match exists in a vaccum, and I was spent after the first main event. I love both guys. I loved both matches. But Cena and Bryan failed to top what had come before them. Simple as that.

Subjectivity, eh? I can't begrudge anyone their preference. I just wish I understood the other side. That's all.

Of course my biggest HOLY SHIT of the night went to Cena nearly dropping Bryan on his head and paralysing him. Though I don't think that's to either man's credit.

After doing some back checking on myself, apparently I thought Punk/Lesnar was the superior match on the night of SummerSlam, but I thought that the ending dragged on and I thought Cena/Bryan's ending was too abrupt. I came around on the ending of Cena/Bryan as brilliant. I haven't come around on the ending of Punk/Lesnar yet, but it doesn't help that I can't actually remember how it ended.

First impressions count for a lot, but when you can't even remember the first impression a few months later, that has to say something too.

 

[Coco]

I'm with you 0%. I figured Lesnar had the win, but I felt Punk's scrappy-aggression played well against Lesnar. Couple that with Lesnar being an over-achieving beast whose matches feel like events, and I felt it was something very special.

I hate writing like this. You can attempt all you want to quantify what makes entertainment and art great. But it's ultimately a futile endeavour. It's so easy to take what you like about one thing and find pieces of entertainment that do all of those things, but with less effectiveness. This difference is an impossible thing to define in useful terms because it's out there in the ether. It can't be measured scientifically. Entertainment doesn't exist on paper (well books do; but still...). It's a living, breathing thing. It's an experience everyone has all on there own. You know it when you see it, even if you can't explain what it is.

Yeah. When I'm boiling end of year awards down to this, it's time to go to bed. These are the "nothing really matters" thoughts that make discussions like this boring. And yet I'm the one who started the discussion. Awkward.

 

[Coco]

I hate writing like this. You can attempt all you want to quantify what makes entertainment and art great. But it's ultimately a futile endeavour. It's so easy to take what you like about one thing and find pieces of entertainment that do all of those things, but with less effectiveness. This difference is an impossible thing to define in useful terms because it's out there in the ether. It can't be measured scientifically. Entertainment doesn't exist on paper (well books do; but still...). It's a living, breathing thing. It's an experience everyone has all on there own. You know it when you see it, even if you can't explain what it is.

Yeah. When I'm boiling end of year awards down to this, it's time to go to bed. These are the "nothing really matters" thoughts that make discussions like this boring. And yet I'm the one who started the discussion. Awkward.

Go home. You're drunk.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

I know it's a bit late but Merry Christmas buddy.

I would ask to have the votes reset, but it would register like, two votes.

Thanks though, brotha

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

The only problem with the Punk/Lesnar ending is the same thing that plagued the entire Punk/Heyman feud and that is Punk grabbing him by the collar and playing to the crowd for thirty seconds instead of doing anything worthwhile.

I still don't know which one to pick between the obvious big two of the Summer. Mostly because I refuse to waste an hour nit picking. That being said there are some criminally underrated televised match ups that go unaccounted for due to lesser variations being shoved down our throats too often.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Two things spring to mind:

Firstly, I laugh in the face of anybody who thinks Punk is overrated. Not literally of course - I don't have the nerve to laugh in anybody's face, not even the most feeble and unassuming of keyboard warriors. Yes, his elbow often looks awful, the GTS looks like it connects only about two thirds of the time and I don't think it's ethical to call that thing he does a moonsault. At the same time, he has three matches on this list and they're all matches which I don't think anybody can claim don't belong here.

Secondly, I still want credit for saying Daniel Bryan could be big. "But Sam, it was obvious!" Yes, it was obvious - that's the point. Even when he started exploding, there were a considerable amount of naysayers. There still are; monstrous people with sloping brows and uneven teeth. A sort of half-human, half-Ryback hybrid. Come on, give me some props.

Two further things spring to mind:

Sami Zayn versus Antonio Cesaro (the third one) and Sami Zayn versus Jack Swagger were two brilliant matches which everyone should watch. Cesaro's bandwagon is obviously full to the brim right now, but the latter match is proof of how good Swagger is - and he gets so much undeserved shit.

Speaking of matches not in the poll, Kaitlyn versus AJ Lee at Payback was a lovely surprise, and maybe the best match on what's the second best WWE pay-per-view (to SummerSlam) this year. I've often thought that women's wrestling was tantamount to dead air; an absolute waste of time. There are still huge problems with how women's wrestling is treated in WWE, but matches like that have made me think it's well worth fighting for. AJ Lee will never, ever be a heel in my eyes.

I'll be voting for the match which gave me the most satisfaction: John Cena versus Daniel Bryan.

 

[SpoodBeest]

Well looks like we have a joint winner for match of the year shared between the two Summerslam main event matches. Split 50/50