Free TV Match of the Year

[FromTheSouth]

This is a simple thread. Rack your brains and figure out what you think that the best free TV match has been this year.

I would vote for Christian and Tyson Kidd from ECW.

The match was back and forth, as both superstars reversed, countered, and kicked out to a fever pitch. The crowd was very into the match. Tyson Kidd did more to elevate himself in that loss that he had done in all of his wins combined.

This match put over Christians in-ring skills. He reminded us why we missed having him in the WWE.

The Hart Legacy was done a great service in this match because Kidd came out looking like a breakthrough star.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

EASY

Jack Swagger Vs John Cena at the draft. fucking A. that match was better than any match at Wrestlemania, especially if it would have been for the title with some build. Holy SHIT man. everything you can ask for and more out of a match.


Swagger Vs Cena, absolutely.

 

[matty256]

Kofi vs MVP.
One of the best RAW matches i've seen in a damn long time.
Great reversals and back and forth action. Kofi also nailed an amazing russian leg sweep move that had me in awe.
Kofi and MVP have my vote

 

[tnarage2]

my pick is cm punk vs umaga last friday this match was back and forth and i thought it was going to be a squatch match but it wasnt i was suprised that cm punk could lift umaga over his shoulders

 

[8five]

I think its Morrison v. Bourne from the ECW either right before or right after the draft that match was unreal.
Next I think I would have Swagger v. Cena
Third I think would be the Hardy v Hardy stretcher match, I dont like either really but that match was very good

 

[Sparky]

Oh fuck this is a hard one. I'm going to have to agree with NorCal here, and say that the best was Swagger and Cena. I have always been interested even if it was slightly in Jack Swagger, but this match was what got me thinking he did deserve the championship.

For a guy that hasn't been in the WWE for long, Swagger had a great match with Cena. these two had great Chemistry with each other. He also made it look like he had a chance of winning, rather then getting Squashed. It wasn't a typical WWE match, there was plenty of back and forward paces that made it a great match.

 

[shafe_41]

I think there's co-champions of best free match of the year...so far.

Swagger/Cena... amazing match. One of the only matches where I was actually entertained by what Cena was doing in putting over Swagger...but still not by losing. Hopefully he can do the same with the Miz because it has to happen.

Bourne/Morrison on ECW... just a great straight-up wrestling match with some high flying, unique offense, and a match that really showed all the skills that these two guys have. I'm more of a fan of Morrison than Bourne because while Bourne does to some AMAZING things, he relies too much on the high flying offense. I mean in that match with Morrison...I think I counted like 4 different versions of head-scissors. Each one as plain as the last and the crowd popped for every single one of them. Head scissors are my least favorite move ever. Essentially, The Frankensteiner was kind of a version of this and it was used to finish many matches of The Steiners. Now... they're so commonplace and used so many times in matches, I just wish they'd kinda go away.

 

[Sean Valjean]

This is really, REALLY hard, but I'm gonna go with Cena/Swagger. Great back and forth action and Swagger impressed me even more than he already had. Cean did a great job as well, of course.

Honorable mentions:

Swagger/Christian (I believe it was their second one-on-one match, and Christian lost)

Bourne/Morrison

MVP/Kofi

 

[ztwhite]

First, I find it funny that nearly every single person who's posted in this thread has John Cena listed as one half of the best free tv matches of the year. Kind of strange for a guy who only has "five moves"

The match I'm going to choose was back in January between HBK and Cena. It was during the storyline where HBK was working for JBL and he had to fight Cena two straight weeks on Raw. Their first match was an absolute classic !!! It was the match JBL declared "HBK's Wrestlemania !"

Here's the link of highlights for those who may not recall or want to watch it again.

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/raw/2009/january8-14/9122862

 

[RKO_Legacy]

It would be Jack Swagger vs John Cena after the draft. Both of them have great talent and both proved it in their matchup together. Hopefully we can see more of this soon.

 

[supersayian]

my top 3 are as follows Morrison vs Bourne these two were the example of what we call aspiring and love to see every time they step in to the square circle. reminds me of early 90's.

2 Jack Swagger vs Cena this match was great and just shows how much potential Jack Swagger has in the future. also another thing i noticed was all great matches on free T.V. were on ECW.

1 Y2J vs Cena this match was the last match between these two after the draft. great bout Y2J really made Cena look good here.

 

[Suneeboy]

Are you guys forgetting Cena vs Shawn Michaels on RAW back in January? That was a PPV quality match right there. It was supposed to be Shawn Michaels' "Wrestlemania" because JBL said he is not in the Royal Rumble? The crowd was hot as hell for it, and it had a great finish. If that was late December then forget I mentioned it.

Honorable Mentions:
Cena vs. Jericho (RAW London)
Cena vs. Swagger
MVP vs. Kofi
Christian vs. Tyson Kidd

 

[Suneeboy]

First, I find it funny that nearly every single person who's posted in this thread has John Cena listed as one half of the best free tv matches of the year. Kind of strange for a guy who only has "five moves"

The match I'm going to choose was back in January between HBK and Cena. It was during the storyline where HBK was working for JBL and he had to fight Cena two straight weeks on Raw. Their first match was an absolute classic !!! It was the match JBL declared "HBK's Wrestlemania !"

Here's the link of highlights for those who may not recall or want to watch it again.

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/raw/2009/january8-14/9122862

I didn't see your post, but yeah that's the match I picked also. That match was PPV quality all the way.

I don't know where the Cena hate comes from because the guy puts on some of the best matches, and by the time his career is done he will have some of the best matches in WWE history under his belt for sure. He doesn't have a lot of moves, but the guy knows how to sell and tell a story like only a few others have. Yeah his character may be stale at times, but he puts on damn great matches and makes EVERYONE look good.

 

[mikeRC]

My vote would definitely go with Cena vs Swagger but that's been talked about a lot so i'll try to come up with another great match.

The 10 man tag match the night after wrestlemania. Jeff Hardy, Cena, Steamboat, Punk and Mysterio vs Big Show, Edge, Matt Hardy, Chris Jericho and Kane. This was just a really fun match from bell to bell and the crowd appreciation for Steamboat was great, i loved the "you still got it" chants. I can imagine members of the heel team on the apron were thinking "i really hope i get the tag to work with steamboat".

 

[The Todd]

Since it's Sunday and my mind doesn't want to work properly, I can't think of any I enjoyed more than ReyRey vs Edge on Friday. These two have great chemistry together, their Rumble match from 08 was superb, and Friday's delivered as well. That match highlighted why Smackdown is far and away the A show at the moment, and it built towards the PPV with it's storylines. Plus Rey sells the spear better than anyone so the ending looked sweet.

 

[Coco]

The Undertaker vs. The Big Show; SmackDown before Backlash. What a great match. Really overlooked, but I think this match was better than they're matches last year. Taker gave more away for Show's offense than he normally does for anyone and at the same time looked anything but weak. I give Taker shit quite a lot, but he was an absolute pro in this one and made Show look exactly like he should have for his entire ten year run with the company. Once again, really overlooked. There are a lot of other great choices for this topic as well:

-Cena vs. Big Show (SmackDown before Mania)
-Cena vs. Swagger
-Morrison vs. Bourne (Final ECW before Backlash)
-Bourne vs. Kidd
-Mysterio vs. Edge (Just when I'm convinced Edge isn't what he's built up to be, Mysterio works his magic yet again)
-Ten Man Tag on Post-Mania Raw (Pure fun)
-Punk vs. Jericho (Superstars)
-Punk vs. Regal (in Chicago)
-Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy (Stretcher Match)
-Christian vs. Swagger (Not Christian's return, but the free TV title match where Swagger retained)
-Hardy vs. Swagger (Swagger wins the belt)

A very good year for action on free TV.

 

[RVDgurl]

EASY

Jack Swagger Vs John Cena at the draft. fucking A. that match was better than any match at Wrestlemania, especially if it would have been for the title with some build. Holy SHIT man. everything you can ask for and more out of a match.


Swagger Vs Cena, absolutely.

Absolutely. The Bourne v. Morrison match would be the only other match that could come close. Did anyone really expect Swagger v. Cena to be that good? I certainly didn't. I'm a huge fan of Swagger, but Cena's matches are usually just ok for me. I have to say that Cena's performance was flawless and, although he got the pin, he put Swagger over in a huge way.

Great match.

 

[TSG]

i'd vote for Morrison vs. bourne on ECW. that was one heckuva match it was straight up, back and forth, high flying, and technical. it reminded of what those technical srait up matches in ECW used to be like. u know the cruiserweight ones and the benoit/guererro/malenkos and all of them. it personified what ECW USED to be and what it SHOULD be all the time today. That match was 4-5 Star for a match on a one-hour C-Show, period.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena - Raw January 12th

There's something about these 2 which always makes them put on a great match. Wrestlemania, Raw, it doesn't matter where it is, they work really well together. They're both amazingly talented wrestlers and that shows in their work. This is better than their Wrestlemania match of a few years ago in my opinion, although not as good as the match on Raw the night after. This match had everything, and had me cheering on the edge of my seat throughout. Great work by both.

 

[Sasori]

Tyson Kidd vs. Christian!
This match was awesome! It made me proud to be Canadian! It showed how great of an in ring story-teller Christian Cage is! And Tyson Kidd looked like a wrestling genius! That loss was greater than any of his wins! His win over Finlay didn't mean shit coz people really don't care much about Finlay these days. BRAVO! CANADA ROCKS! And that match was SOLID proof!

 

[Mr. TM]

ECW comes on Friday nights at midnight here for me. It is a horrendously shitty time to have a TV show, but its the best they got. My friend and I were wasted, and we had been watching a movie. Movie ended, and we just wanted to see what was on TV. Tuned into ECW to catch the tail end, and we got to watch the very match that started this thread.

Tyson Kidd took on Christian in a fantastic match. I really don't want to spoil Tyson's build ,because I want it to be slow burning, and long lasting, but that fucking guy puts on a great show everytime he gets into the ring. Not only does he do well in the big spots, but he also does well in all the small things.