This time I'm doing so with the intention of typing up reviews for the matches. That way a) I won't forget why I like certain matches (believe me, it happens...) and b) the blog remains active as I head into this semester's final assignments. Yay!
Power v. Agility would have to be the most entertaining dynamic in professional wrestling. The smaller guy, who's hopefully adept at bumping, brings the excitement and desperation whilst the opposing behemoth cuts them off with impact, slowing down the tempo. Dominate with more impactful stuff, teasing further comebacks, taunting the audience, before it eventually does happen leading into the finish... When done well it's a really, really fun structure and at WWE's Royal Rumble this year we got two examples of it.
Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson - WWE 01.31.2010
Christian / Jackson was probably the lesser of the two. That said, it was still a fun opening bout. A great aspect to Christian's game is how he anchors offense on agility and veteran savvy; it's mostly counters, agile dodges and reactionary offense. That works extremely well when partnered with a big dude like Ezekiel. What makes this even better is how well Christian stays on the right side of selling. Working the grounded role in these kinds of matches, it's easy for the worker to compromise selling during their bursts of momentum. Even fellows like John Cena and Rey Mysterio, who are great, sometimes fall into this trap. Christian, however, maintains an impression of fatigue in his performance later in the match and builds his offense around the guy standing in the ring. His comeback sequences don't actually necessitate running about the ring as much. In fact, it generally requires the opponent to do the running for him. Christian achieves this without greatly undermining the 'rush' these comeback sequences evoke.
On the other side of things is 'Big Zeke' Jackson. His job is to drag the pace down in-between Christian surges whilst being interesting. He utilises a number of fun strength-based spots both within his control segments and as cut-off spots. It's not as compelling as, say, Umaga's was but what we get is perfectly fine. I really dig the swinging clothesline to the back of Christian's skull. As I do the few simple slams, which accrue some nice impact, originating from Jackson basically lifting Christian off the mat and dropping him (with force). We receive a trading bombs finishing stretch which caps it off nicely. A good match between an accomplished worker and a promising heavyweight.
Rey Mysterio vs. Undertaker - 01.31.2010
I don't think these two milked the comeback sequences particularly well. There was a long stretch in the middle where Mysterio was dominated with very little teasing of momentum shifts, which only served to make Undertaker's time spent walking around in the gap between moves feel aimless. I don't want to say 'looked lost' as it's Undertaker we're talking about here but nevertheless it didn't allow for a good ebb-and-flow to the match.
With that said lets talk about the good here, which there's a lot of. Some of Taker's cut-off spots were great: stopping Mysterio's opening flurry by simply tossing him out of the ring; punching Mysterio mid-top rope leap to send him crashing back out; the big boot to a springboarding Mysterio; the one-handed shove sending Rey hard into the ringside barricade etc. Basic offense used in a thrilling way. This is why power v. agility is usually awesome: no need for complex offense to create a sense of impact. Just have a guy leap into an uppercut. I know I said the comebacks weren't milked very well, which may cause one to wonder how I can like the subsequent cut-off spots. It's more that the comeback sequences weren't drawn out a little longer before the jarring stop. The cut-offs themselves were still very good. As was the ending, again highlighting how simple offense is transformed into something very significant within the structure of this match: has the Last Ride ever looked better? What has been a standard bomb in Taker's arsenal for the last five years once again looks like a bonafide finisher.
---
OVERALL TOP TEN
1. Rey Mysterio vs. Undertaker - WWE 01.31.2010
2. Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson - WWE 01.31.2010
3.
US TOP FIFTEEN
1. Rey Mysterio vs. Undertaker - WWE 01.31.2010
2. Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson - WWE 01.31.2010
3.
MEXICO TOP FIFTEEN
1.
JAPAN TOP FIFTEEN
1.
No comments:
Post a Comment