2013 NoDQ.com Awards – My Vote For… Match Of The Year

‘Sup guys. Tom Robinson here. Columnist for NoDQ.com among many other websites around the web. As you may have noticed I’ve been doing “my vote” blogs on the NoDQ.com awards which the first few posts can actually be seen at the following links:

Superstar Of The Year

Tag Team Of The Year

Finisher Of The Year

Announcer Of The Year

Now we come to one of the more difficult awards and it’s the award for the match of the year. And the nominations are…

 

Ryback and Team Hell-No vs The Shield (TLC 2012)*

This was the first WWE match for the hounds of justice as they fought Ryback, Kane and Daniel Bryan in a 6 man tag team TLC match at the TLC PPV. This match was everything you ever wanted in a TLC match and more! Along with the sick table bumps, the crashed and the high-flying, we saw all of these man bring something unique which made this a phenomenal highlight reel for the WWE fans! Even grappling submission specialist Daniel Bryan fit right in with the high-flyers like Seth Rolling and the brutality of Roman Reigns and Kane. It was one hell of a fight!

 

CM Punk vs John Cena (February 2013 on RAW)

A match with CM Punk really does bring out the best out of John Cena, whether you like him or not. It just seems that whenever I see him with Punk, he improves with his wrestling ability and that’s what makes CM Punk such a great rival for him. Even though this was like the only interaction the two had all year, the story of Cena not being able to defeat Punk and Cena’s WWE Title shot on the line really did make this a highly-anticipated match. And boy did they deliver! It was one of the rare epic matches on RAW and is a worthy candidate for match of the year!

 

Undertaker vs CM Punk (Wrestlemania 29)

I was literally blown away by this match. With their unique wrestling styles, I struggled to see how these two could produce a great match together and I believed that I was going to get let down considering that neither of their matches from their 2009 feud were any good. So imagine my pleasant surprise when they proved me wrong. CM Punk actually seemed like a legit threat to the mighty Undertaker and Undertaker wrestled really well despite his age and physical condition. It wasn’t like his matches vs Triple H when he wrestled like that match would be his last, but it was great enough that he and Punk could put on a show and he was able to wrestle again against the Shield two weeks later. Amazing!

 

Chris Jericho vs CM Punk (Payback)

The return of the mighty CM Punk after a grand total of 3 months away from action (which to internet fans is like a lifetime). And CM Punk had a great opponent for his return match in the form of Y2J Chris Jericho. Such true technical wrestling ability combined with the quickness and pure talent both Punk and Jericho provided. This match was easily the best in their trilogy with near-fall after near-fall and epic moment after epic moment.

 

Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk (Summerslam)

Now at the time, I never really rated the match that well. It was a mix of a lot of things that put me off. First of all, when I watched it originally, my stream kept messing up -.- Second, Paul Heyman interfering all the time was really bugging me. And third, it seemed like a flat finish with Lesnar just F5’d Punk on the chair for the win. However, I’ve watched it a couple of times since. And I was wrong, this match was a really tremendous no-dq match between the two. There was a great story behind it, and Heyman interfering made sense and actually made CM Punk seem like a legit threat to Lesnar. These two put on a great fight at Summerslam.

 

Daniel Bryan vs John Cena (Summerslam)

“The American Dragon ” Daniel Bryan and the WWE Champion John Cena locked horns for the biggest title in the business at Summerslam at the height of Daniel Bryan’s popularity in  2013. Both men showed that they could bring their A-Game. Cena wrestled well and Daniel Bryan was wrestling out of his socks! While Triple H being the special referee was rather annoying, we all know he had bigger purpose for right after the match 😉 Besides he didn’t really do anything to take away from the match. He just let these two guys duke it out. And it was the best way to put D-Bry on the mat by having him beat John Cena clean in the main event of Summerslam!

 

*The matches are chosen from the time frame of December 2012 to November 2013, which is why this match from 2012 is a candidate.

Very difficult to pick from. Firstly for the sake of keeping it within 2013, Ryback and Team Hell-No vs The Shield is out of the running. Trust me, I loved this match. I could probably write a book about how great of a match this was. If this was able to be put in the awards last year, it’d probably have gotten my vote. But I wanna keep it within 2013. After all, it is the 2013 NoDQ.com awards so it makes sense for a match from 2013 to win it.

I think CM Punk being in 4 of these matches does speak volumes about how well he’s delivered in that ring this year. And it will in fact be a CM Punk match that wins this award. Cena and Daniel Bryan put on a great wrestling display, but the match suffered from what went on right after the match with the heel turns of Triple H and Orton which overshadowed it.

Chris Jericho vs CM Punk was a really good match, but I felt there was no really storyline in place other than “CM Punk went away for 3 months and now he’s back”. Also, CM Punk beating Jericho AGAIN really damaged Jericho’s credibility and most fans don’t realize that the world does not revolve around Punk. I would have really liked to have seen Jericho win this one.

Punk vs Cena was a really good match, but with everyone and their grandmother knowing that Cena was going to win there was hardly any reason to believe that Punk was possibly going to win which took away from the match. Which leaves it down to Punk vs Lesnar and Punk vs Undertaker.

As far as being an all-out fight with chaos and intensity, Lesnar vs Punk is miles ahead. However, the all-important difference between the two matches is the conditioning of the wrestlers. Taker vs Punk put one of the most entertaining matches I’ve seen in years. I mean Taker had took a different approach into his condition and training for the match and he looked the freshest he’s been in years. Not to mention, Punk was at the top of his game at the time. On the other hand, Lesnar looked blown up literally every 5 minutes of his match with Punk. It really did take a lot of Punk’s quick-thinking to keep the match entertaining. Taker and Punk both knew how to put on a good match together, especially with the ending with them countering each others finishers. So with that being said the winner is…

Undertaker vs CM Punk!

WWE Payback 2013 Review – CM Punk vs Chris Jericho III, Shocking Title Changes And Double Turns In Chicago

Morning wrestling fans, I’m “The Ultimate Warrior” Tom Robinson here with a review of WWE Payback. Yes, I watched it live last night! 1am to 4am. Shattered at the end of it, but it was certainty worth it. WWE put on a great show here. I think it was just better than Extreme Rules, and that’s saying a lot considering how good Extreme Rules was. Anyway, let’s get down to the REVIEW!

Curtis Axel Gives His Father The Perfect Father’s Day Present With The Intercontinental Title

CURTIS AXEL AND PAUL HEYMAN: A “perfect” end for Curtis Axel

We kicked off the show with a decent triple threat Intercontinental Championship match. Chicago booed The Miz, sort of on the fence with Wade Barrett… but cheered the hell out of the son of the late “Mr Perfect” Curt Henning, Curtis Axel. It was a slick match with a really cool ending. And Chicago went wild when the inevitable happened – Axel became the new champion following his father’s footsteps. As Miz had Barrett in the figure four (still being booed), Axel covered Barrett for the pinfall while he was locked in the submission. A clever way to end the match. As much as I don’t like Wade Barrett losing the title, this was a great moment mostly due to the Chicago crowd going nuts, especially when Axel hit his father’s Perfect-Plex. Good opening to Payback

AJ Lee FINALLY wins the Divas Championship In The Best WWE Women’s match In Years

AJ LEE: Totally marked out when this happened. 🙂

AJ and Kaitlyn really did have something to prove. TNA unleashed the epic Last Knockout Standing match between Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell at Slammiversary a couple of weeks back, and WWE had to top that if WWE at all cared about their divas division. And I for one was really impressed with what AJ and Kaitlyn were able to pull off last night. For one it lasted a hell of a lot longer than most divas matches in WWE. Second, the match had great story-telling behind it. Remember, these two started in WWE together in 2010, been a tag team, slapped each other in the place a lot, break each other’s heart and finally have the one on one encounter. These two actually put on a decent show in Chicago. Was it on the par with Gail vs Taryn? No. But I wouldn’t be surprised if more matches will result in better quality in the ring. AJ is already a great women’s wrestler. Kaitlyn is improving and we could see that here. AJ winning is definetly something that should have happened ages ago. But, at least it’s finally happened and I actually marked out when it did.

I hope this feud continues on. I want to see what these two can REALLY do together. If WWE play it right, they can use these two to rebuild the women’s division into something worthwhile. I think this feud will continue because Kaitlyn’s starting to become the emotional wreck AJ was last year, when she cried after losing the title. To be honest, I thought the crying was a little over the top. In fact my exact thoughts at that time was….

US Champion Dean Ambrose Retains After Count Out Win Against Kane

DEAN AMBROSE: BELIEVE IN THE SHIELD!

A little bit disappointing match with a disappointing an end. I’m not a big fan of matches ending in a count out, especially PPV matches. PPV Title matches should always have a legit winner by pinfall or submission. This match seemed pretty much like the match they had on RAW except the ending was different. I think if they’d given Ambrose and Kane a no dq match, things would have actually been a little bit better. I think they will do that eventually because of the DQ and Count Out endings in their last to matches.

The Whole F’Ing Show Comes Back At Money In The Bank!

This promo video is purely orgasmic. RVD back in the WWE. Back where he belongs is awesome. As much as I like TNA, Rob Van Dam wasn’t really a fit there. Him back in WWE was epic and the fans just chanted “RVD” the rest of the night in Chicago. Even if this is a short-term contract for Van Dam, the time he is back will be the time I will be most appreciative of. There are so many matches I want him to have while he’s here. Matches with CM Punk. Matches with Daniel Bryan. Matches with a lot of superstars. RVD is here and I am loving this. He has been one of my favourites since I started watching wrestling and it’s great to see him back.

Double Turn Shocker Sees A New World Champion!

ALBERTO DEL RIO: Another Del Rio title reign… can he really cut it as a World Champion?

And his name is….

Yeah, total shocker here. An incredibly one-sided match which Alberto Del Rio targetted Dolph Ziggler’s head saw Del Rio regain the World Title in a very hell way. Because of Ziggler’s recent concussion Del Rio delivered brutal kicks and brutal attacks to Ziggler and a superkick to the face was enough to pick up the win for Del Rio. Not exactly a fan of Ziggler’s title reign being cut short, but I’ll give WWE credit for the Double Turn. The crowd was rightly outraged and Del Rio gained a LOT of heat. Del Rio was gaining heat anyway against this pro-Ziggler crowd, but after the manner of his victory and the promo cut afterwards Del Rio was booed by all. Ziggler refusing to stop the match also gives him a lot of credibility as a face. But now we have a new champion in Del Rio and we had a double turn, with Dolph Ziggler turning face and Del Rio turning heel. It was kinda cool to see because double-turns are really rare nowadays. I’m not exactly sure I’m looking forward to Del Rio as champion again, but Ziggler as a face will be amazing to watch. I hope he gets the title back PRONTO.

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho III – The Return Of Punk

CHRIS JERICHO AND CM PUNK: Locking up in Chicago

For the third time in Pay-Per-View Chris Jericho and the returning CM Punk clashed and for the third time in pay-per-view they blew the roof off the place. Such true technical wrestling ability combined with the quickness and pure talent both Punk and Jericho provided. This match was easily the best in their trilogy with near-fall after near-fall and epic moment after epic moment. This will go down as one of the best matches of the year and these two were a delight in Chicago and Chicago loved every second of it. After an epic encounter, it was CM Punk who reigned supreme… again. I would’ve like for Jericho to get a victory over Punk for once but I’m sure Jericho’s going to get the win… eventually. But this was Punk’s night. I wonder what the future has in store for the Best In The World.

AGAIN! Randy Orton doesn’t turn heel! -.-

DANIEL BRYAN: Nice suplex off the top of the turn-buckle. He’ll be champion again. You wait and see!

Please turn him! That’s all I ask of you WWE. He should have done it at Mania but he didn’t. He should have done it here but he didn’t. His tag match with Daniel Bryan against Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins wasn’t much special, but at least Randy Orton could have RKO’d Daniel again or something. Really disappointed. Speaking of disappointment…

Ryback vs John Cena – 3 STAGES OF HELL

JOHN CENA: Standing tall at the end of Payback

Yawn. Can’t believe I stayed up to watch this. Boring as hell. You know after their quality Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules, I was expecting a good match here. Instead we got a short and unproductive Lumberjack match. We got boring as tables match. And we had an ambulance match that made you want to kill yourself. -.- John Cena walked out the champion and that was an awful way for the feud to end. It ends just like every other one of Cena’s feuds with big guys end. Batista, The Great Khali, Kane and now Ryback all end in the same god damn way. Go watch the endings to them feuds. It’s the exact same thing over again. -.- At least John Cena vs Daniel Bryan is lined up for Money In The Bank. CANNOT wait for that. We might actually see one of the matches of the year in MITB.

Anyway, that was the Payback review. I’m Tom Robinson. And I’m going to leave you with this great song declaring my love for the great place known… as Chicago.

14/03/13 TNA Impact Wrestling Review – Aces And Eights Dominate/AJ Styles Returns

What up guys? Tom Robinson here, with TNA blogging for you guys. We had the fall-out of Lockdown on the 14th of March, and what were the implications from the shocking events in the Lockdown main event?

 

Aces And Eights Opening Segment

Yeah, Chavo and Hernandez came out for a TNA Tag Title match when Aces And Eights came out of nowhere and attacked the tag team, much to the delight of the Chicago crowd. Once Aces And Eights took out the trash, Devon cut a promo to basically introduce the president of the Aces and Eights and… NEW TNA World Heavyweight Champion… Bully Ray. He came out to a great reaction at the top of the show, and I’ve got to say, I love the new Aces And Eights theme song, with lyrics added on. It’s a cool addition. 🙂

Anyway, Bully Ray, who turned heel at Lockdown, and revealed himself as the President of Aces And Eights, basically did an extended edition of the speech he delivered at the end of Lockdown. He got loud “BULLY” chants too. He dared Hulk Hogan to fire the group (who are apparently under contract in TNA). He wanted Hogan to fire them before the end of the night. It was a solid heel promo from Bully (which is funny because the Chicago fans were cheering everything Bully said). A good start to the show. I also noticed two look-alikes in the audience. I saw a guy who looked like Jay Lethal, and a guy who looked like Gandalf. XD

 

Gail Kim and Tara vs Velvet Sky and Mickie James

Anyway, we get the action starting with a tag team knockouts match, with Mickie James and Velvet Sky taking on Tara and Gail Kim. While Mickie James and Velvet Sky (and her ass! XD) got great pops, they didn’t come close to the pop Chicago’s own Tara got. Such a great appreciation of the knockouts in the windy city! And it was a great showing by the women, with some good tag team moves on display, a slightly messed up japanese arm drag by Velvet Sky, and even a tarantula by Tara! That got a great pop from the fans. You can tell the difference between a TNA women’s match and a WWE women’s match. These knockouts are always great to see. Referee Taryn Terrell, who’s on probation for attacking Gail Kim at Lockdown, gave Gail Kim a HELL of a slap en route to Velvet’s victory. I’ve seen an awful lot of slaps in wrestling, but that has to go up there as one of the best. So it appears that Taryn Terrell will likely get fired as a ref, which will lead to her been given a wrestling contract instead, and the Gail Kim/Taryn Terrell feud will result in a match some time down the road. I hope if that’s the case, that Terrell is actually good in the ring. She’s spent time in OVW, so she should be preapred.

 

Aces And Eights Backstage Segments: Bully Ray calls his Wife, threatens his dad-in-law and attacks Kurt Angle

Anyway, segments were aired backstage with the group celebrating Bully’s win and included Bully ringing up his “wife” Brooke Hogan on the phone. To be honest, it was funny when D’Lo said “Mama’s on the phone”. XD Funny segment there, and you could tell something was gonna happen with the group later on in the show. They also attacked Kurt Angle, sending out a statement to the TNA roster.

 

Rob Terry vs Robbie E

Yep, it appears “Robbie T” has changed his name back to Rob Terry. But there’s something that bothers me. Christy Hemme introduced Terry as from “the New Jersey Shore”, but during his match, Tazz said he was from Wales (which is where he is actually from). WTF? Make up your mind, TNA!

Anyway, Rob Terry destroyed Robbie T in about a minute for the win in their rematch from Lockdown. Rob Terry got “Feed Me More” chants from the fans, which I thought was hilarious. I don’t think he’s that much like Ryback to be honest. XD Maybe Batista. But if Terry squashes his next opponent similarly to how he beat Robbie E, then them chants maybe justified. XD By the way, Rob Terry has horrible dance moves. His dancing this week was really below par. I guess it beats my dances moves, I guess. XD

 

Sting Backstage Segments – Tension with Hulk Hogan

Sting was INCREDIBLY pissed on Impact. He was raging ALL over the place after what Bully did at Lockdown. And looked like he was about to hurt someone. He went too see GM Hulk Hogan, who was just as pissed as Stinger. But it seemed as though he was more pissed at Sting than Bully, because it was Sting that kept convincing Hulk that Bully Ray was a good guy. He said that their partnership was done, and told Sting get out his office, saying that Sting made me sick. A really heated segment from Sting and Hulk. After that confrontation, Sting was confronted by the tag team champions Austin Aires and Bobby Roode, who mocked Sting and had a go at him for allowing Bully Ray to become the TNA World Champion. This eventually led to Sting picking a fight with Austin Aires (since Bobby Roode sneaked away XD).

 

Christopher Daniels vs James Storm

This was supposed to be AJ Styles’ big return to Impact Wrestling. But instead, Christopher  Daniels and Kazarian imitated the Road Warriors (who were from Chicago).  Pretty funny segment, with Daniels ending on “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…. tush!” XD

Interrupted by James Storm who started a match with Daniels, which he won… easily. After their great match at Genesis, this was a really disappointingly quick match.

 

AJ STYLES RETURNS

After the match, Daniels and Kazarian delivered a beatdown, until AJ Styles appeared (dressed up in a hoodie and sporting a beard) and took down Kazarian (which unhooded him) and saved the “Cowboy” from a beatdown… from them anyway. When Storm started to celebrate… BAMM! AJ nails Storm with a hard clothesline. That got a heck of a pop from the Chicago fans. That clothesline was powerful, he re-hooded himself from the draft off the clothesline. A really great way to return from AJ. And BEFORE you jump to conclusion that AJ Styles is now heel, I just want to state… he isn’t.

This may be exactly as I wanted to be. If you read my AJ Styles/Aces And Eights Tease post (which is here on this link if you haven’t read it) you’d know that I don’t think AJ will turn out as a full-blown heel. I think he’s an anti-hero. He’s got that kind of “I’m going to do whatever I want” attitude, where he don’t take no sh*t from anyone. As for the clothesline to Storm, I just think that’s just a personal score that he’s going to settle before he goes after the Aces And Eights. In fact….

BOLD PREDICTION TIME!

I think that AJ Styles will win the Bound For Glory series, and defeat Bully Ray to become the TNA World Champion at Bound For Glory. That’s what I think is going to happen.

 

Oh by the way, TNA kept saying that “TNA is coming to your hometown”. I sincerely doubt that TNA will come to the glitz and glamour of Middlesbrough like. XD Also, Matt Morgan did a segment with Joseph Park and said that he was “An abortion to the sport of wrestling” before laying him out. WTF? An abortion to the sport of wrestling? Really?

 

Austin Aires vs Sting

This was a great match between the two. While Sting took full advantadge, Aries got some edge back, before Sting locked in the Sharpshooter, before it was broken up by Aces And Eights. I’m amazed how well Sting is able to wrestle at his age. Aries is a good opponent for him, and it was funny too see Austin Aries failing at locking in the sharpshooter, because he didn’t know how it was supposed to be done. XD Sting was all over Roode on the outside, who kept interfering before being ejected from ringside. Funny Sting was all over Roode, considering how Bobby Roode was making Sting his bitch around this time last year. XD But seriously, a really good main event…

 

Aces And Eights Win The Battle

…interrupted by Aces And Eights, who were booed at the end. So the group got cheered at the start of the show, and booed at the end of the show. LOL I guess people really wanted to see a finish to the Aries/Sting match. Anyway Hulk Hogan came out and said “If you live by the sword, you die by the sword!” and rallied the troops from backstage to get a piece of Aces And Eights, setting up a big-ass brawl at the end… which had a finish. Normally, these sorts of brawls are still going as the show stops airing, but Aces And Eights ended up defeating Hogan’s calvary. A great way to make Aces And Eights seem powerful. They have the TNA World Championship, they have the TNA TV Championship (which hasn’t been defended in months), and they won this latest battle. They even took over the TNA website for brief period. Unfortunately, TNA “regained” control of the site, and it’s back to normal, but here’s a look at the memo that was on the site when it was under Aces And Eights control…

WEBSITE TAKEOVER: Aces And Eights Take Over The TNA Website

Aces And Eights trying to take over TNA will be a really good angle to see. I mean we’ve seen groups come in and cause havoc before, but we haven’t really seen a lot of groups recently try to take over their wrestling company. We’ve had the Alliance try to take over WWF, and nWo try to take over WCW, but they were more than 10 years ago. It’s nice to see these angles. Aces And Eights are now a threat to TNA. Put away any doubt, Aces And Eights are a legit threat to TNA. They may be the hottest thing  in wrestling right now… and this is during Wrestlemania season! WWE need a word with themselves here. This week was TNA’s week. The Chicago fans were amazing here! As always!

 

Anyway, it’s good to be back blogging guys! I’m off from University for a grand total of 3 WEEKS, so I’ve got a lot things planned. Not just with WordPress. Several accounts are going to be opened and several projects are going to be put in place. YouTube, that Instagram thing, Keek, I’m going to use Tumblr again. Seriously, all sorts planned. Stay tuned to the blog and stayed tuned to my Twitter @TomRobinson5199, for updates. I’ll be seeing you guys very soon. 🙂