Wow

[jmt225]

Tuesday I was watching Smackdown, but fell asleep after the Danielson/Sin Cara match, and after I saw Xfear rated the Orton/Christian match over 4 stars, I made a mental note to make sure to catch the replay on Friday, and man... I'm glad I did because that match really was incredible. The reverses and counters were all just brilliant. Great, great, GREAT fucking match.

Also, I ended up watching pretty much the entire show, and it really felt like a Paul Heyman written Smackdown. I've said for the longest time that Heyamn's run as booker on SD was some of the greatest stuff in WWE history, and it just had that feel again tonight (outside of the shitty, unnecessary HHH movie trailer which took up an entire segment). Awesome show.

 

[¡Roján!]

Yup, 'twas awesome. The shere fact that I had bo idea what was going to happen on an episode of Smackdown made it all the more sweeter.

 

[X]

Hey man awesome, ha, glad to hear you liked the match as much as I did. That match just got better and better and better as it went on and had some of the absolute best psychology and counter-wrestling I've ever seen in my entire life. They played off of 3 or 4 different past matches they had before in this match, man the absolute detailed step-by-step planning they must have had to do going through the whole thing is amazing. Reminds me Steamboat/Savage in that sense that they must have literally planned out whole different segments and sequences move-by-move. That's hard work and dedication man.

Hell of a match, can't say enough good things about it man. Cena and Punk may have match of the year sewn up, but Christian and Orton have feud of the year in the bag in my eyes.

Oh and uh...dig the sig JMT. Dig it.

 

[jmt225]

Hey man awesome, ha, glad to hear you liked the match as much as I did. That match just got better and better and better as it went on and had some of the absolute best psychology and counter-wrestling I've ever seen in my entire life. They played off of 3 or 4 different past matches they had before in this match, man the absolute detailed step-by-step planning they must have had to do going through the whole thing is amazing. Reminds me Steamboat/Savage in that sense that they must have literally planned out whole different segments and sequences move-by-move. That's hard work and dedication man.

Yeah man, I was reminded of RVD vs. Lynn myself, though Orton and Christian came off naturally, not rehearsed (not saying RVD and Lynn rehearsed their moves, they of course did not, but since they were more high impact sometimes it would make it too obvious how planned some counters were, if you get what I'm saying; it's the same problem I have with Ibushi's missed kicked into moonsault move... it's awesome, yet looks fake as fuck). I was very impressed, and it's hard for me to like cage matches when a stipulation is to walk out the door to win. Most wrestlers just don't know how to make that part of the match work, but Orton and Christian played it perfectly.

Hell of a match, can't say enough good things about it man. Cena and Punk may have match of the year sewn up, but Christian and Orton have feud of the year in the bag in my eyes.

I've only seen the SD match and the Money in the Bank match between the two, but regardless I can still understand why you have such a high opinion on their feud. What would you say has been the best match in their series?

Oh and uh...dig the sig JMT. Dig it.

Haha... I already gave you props for it in your thread in the GSD.

 

[The Crock]

I've loved all the stuff Christian and Ortom have put up. They've been tearing the roof off night in and night out, kind of a shame they've been overshadowed by Cena and Punk.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

What I really liked about it was how they maintained the importance of The Cage match. You had Punk and Cena and Del Rio all flying around doing their thing but when it came to those last 20 minutes of the show, Smackdown kept the spotlight which I thought was important.

 

[Y-2-Jay]

Hell of a match, can't say enough good things about it man. Cena and Punk may have match of the year sewn up, but Christian and Orton have feud of the year in the bag in my eyes.

Possible TV match of the year?

 

[.]

The match told such a great story about these guys and their history. Little moments like this just rocked:

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I preferred the No Holds Barred Match, but this was sweet also. Pluuuus, we got big Mizark Henry tearing shit up post match. Is it wrong that I think he's our next World Heavyweight Champion?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Great match, during the LD things got really quiet for a change.

I especially got a kick out of Orton's backwards leapfrog. It reminded me of when he did the celebratory jump-kicks-wacky-toe-touching thing a few months ago on SD but this time it actually served a purpose.

 

[Daniel]

Orton and Christian have incredible chemistry between the ropes. As much as I loved the most recent match, I have to say that my favourite was probably their Summerslam encounter. It was brutal, exciting and told a story - a perfect no DQ match.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I'd lay it has a shot for TV match of the year. I want to go back and watch Miz/Morrison from the first Raw of 2011 and then compare, but both were absolute fantastic title matches. I thought Orton and Christian were going to get stale after their first match because neither are just pop-out, in-your-face charismatic guys, but they have put on match after match and all of them have been amazing! For Orton being one of the more cookie-cutter starts in the industry, he really has carried the World title well on Smackdown, and a lot of that has been Christian as a chaser. Fantastic job.

Also, Orton and Dolph Ziggler from Raw was fantastic in my opinion. Orton with two great matches in one week...who would have thought? Dolph looked like a pro as well!

 

[¡Roján!]

I actually thought their Over the Limit match-up, partly because it stole the show unlike MiTB or Summerslam. And, their Capitol punishment match was average. The cage match is currently TV match of the year. Beating off Edge v Kane from the first Smackdown of the year and Punk v Cena from a few weeks ago. Tough competition! Man, the WWE have put on some absolutely peachy matches, as of late. On Superstars and NXT too!

 

[X]

Possible TV match of the year?

Possibly man. Very well could be, I do believe the ****1/4 rating I gave it is the highest rating I've given to a TV match yet this year. I know I gave Morrison and Miz's Falls Count Anywhere match from back in January **** as well, but this looks like the best. Cena/Rey from a few weeks back could possibly be in the running too (gave that one ***3/4).

The match told such a great story about these guys and their history. Little moments like this just rocked:

Indeed, the small little segments of incredible psychology like that one there is what really pushed that match over the edge for me into downright amazing territory and made me go all fanboy with a big-time ****1/4 rating. It's pretty hard for me to go that high for a 13 minute TV match of any kind, but this deserved it.

I preferred the No Holds Barred Match, but this was sweet also. Pluuuus, we got big Mizark Henry tearing shit up post match. Is it wrong that I think he's our next World Heavyweight Champion?

The NHB was outstanding and told it's own wonderful story as well. The cage match was like the last logical step in that feud though, if you watch all of their matches one after another, you'll see how much subtle psychology and throwbacks to past matches and sequences they threw into each match. I'm still torn man, like I said before, three-way tie for me between this cage match, the No Holds Barred match, and the Over the Limit match all of which I gave ****1/4 to.

Man, the WWE have put on some absolutely peachy matches, as of late. On Superstars and NXT too!

Indeed, people can bitch about the angles or staleness in booking all they want and some of those gripes have good logical arguments behind them, but for me it's always been first and foremost about the quality of in-ring action delivered in every promotion I watch, and the WWE has delivered wonderfully in that regard all year long, delivering must-see matches on all of their TV shows and PPVs right down to the Z-list shows like NXT and Superstars every single week. It's a great time to be a wrestling fan if your thing is great in-ring action. Not to mention the killer angles as of late like the whole Punk program. The business is in way better shape right now than it's been in several years IMO, all the way back to maybe 03-06.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Still haven't had a chance to watch it. Fucking move Smackdown to a Tuesday right when I start my classes on Tuesday nights? Pricks. I'll try to get a hold of it later.

 

[X]

Yeah it's well worth your time man, and unfortunately you might have to deal with that going forward since there's apparently a whole lot of positive talk going around about the possibility of moving Smackdown permanently to Tuesday nights, live. Which would do great for the rating.

 

[Nate DaMac]

I only have 6 weeks of night classes left. I'll get by on less than reputable means of viewing for a few weeks.

I have classes Thursday too, but luckily there's nothing worth watching Thursdays.

 

[The Holy One]

Well they did re-air the show on Friday so maybe they'll continue to do so if they do move SD to Tuesdays. Also, if you have the Universal Channel they re-air SD and RAW 3 times each on Saturday nights. I love the Universal Channel for that reason.

 

[¡Roján!]

The only thing that makes the Over the Limit match better than the cage match was probably the finish. The cage match finishe ended a bit suddenly with no REAL build-up! But, still that would only knock one 1/4 off of my rating.

 

[Rokitka]

The Orton-Christian feud has changed my opinion on Orton completely. I still find his promos dreadfully boring but wrestling wise he's been right up there at the top with Cena.

 

[Coco]

Meh. I so far and away prefer their first SmackDown match, their OTL match, and their SummerSlam match that this thread caught me off guard. Sure, the psychology was there. But it was still fighting against my hatred for cage matches. Maybe I need to watch it again. I probably won't, but maybe I should.

 

[X]

The Orton-Christian feud has changed my opinion on Orton completely. I still find his promos dreadfully boring but wrestling wise he's been right up there at the top with Cena.

Same here man. I started the year practically hating the guy but ever since the Punk and Christian feuds and the move to SmackDown, he's completely changed my opinion of him as a worker. He's really improved exceptionally over the last year and all these great matches show that improvement. Still not a fan of his promo-work either, but he's totally earned my respect as a worker this year too.

Meh. I so far and away prefer their first SmackDown match, their OTL match, and their SummerSlam match that this thread caught me off guard. Sure, the psychology was there. But it was still fighting against my hatred for cage matches. Maybe I need to watch it again. I probably won't, but maybe I should.

I do believe you need to re-watch it. I probably should re-watch their first Smackdown match, that one was great too but I'd rank it only ahead of their Capitol Punishment match on a list of their matches from "least good" to "best". They've all been good though.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I prefer Orton-Christian to Punk-Cena from an in-ring perspective. But I think this is one of those times where the WWE deserve some credit.

They put on a hell of a Summer. Between the great matches within the two feuds already mentioned, the unexpected things like DBD winning the Smackdown MITB, CM Punk's worked-shoot and the entire angle, to HHH taking a role as on-screen COO, it really is nice to see that they stepped up this summer and put a terrific product for those to see.

 

[jmt225]

Meh. I so far and away prefer their first SmackDown match, their OTL match, and their SummerSlam match that this thread caught me off guard. Sure, the psychology was there. But it was still fighting against my hatred for cage matches. Maybe I need to watch it again. I probably won't, but maybe I should.

I hate cage matches as well (the door thing is ******ed), but these two somehow made it work, and it only made me love the match even more.