Best of 2013 Pro Wrestling Tracker

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

William Regal v. Kassius Ohno
WWE NXT 4/10/13
-So fucking good.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

More on the Ohno/Regal match...man, that was such a good match.

The E just don't do matches like that anymore. So good. It was just a regular mid-card type contest, but it was theatre at the same time. Loved it.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Not a MOTY contender, but a good little KO-D Opemweight Title match between Kenny Omega (c) & Shigehiro Irie

http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x2mq0y/1#video=xzrea6

DDT always has really good world title matches. I wasn't terribly familiar with Irie because I don't usually watch DDT undercards, but he impressed me with his selling.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Video recap of the great Gargano/Shingo match that has pumped new life into DGUSA/EVOLVE

[XavierDZ]

Was live for the Gargano vs SHINGO match. Was the Best match I have ever seen Live. Seeing Gargano get DVDed right in front of me on the concrete was unreal.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Five months in....

Most Improved candidates?

I'm having trouble with this. Thinking outside the box, i'm considering Seth Rollins. He was always an athletic guy who could have good matches, but his exaggerated bumping has really been a big key to The Shield when the babyfaces make big comebacks. He's doing all of the 'little things' much better than ever.

Having a hard time coming up with a person who has gone from shitty to passable, or passable to really good. Maybe Titus O'Neal. He was pretty dreadful on NXT years ago, and perfectly average now, but i'm not sure his improvements have come 2012 to 2013.

Nobody in Japan comes to mind. Maybe if Haste & Nicholls keep getting better, but i'd have to really zero in on NOAH to feel good about that.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Rollins hasn't had a ton of in-ring chances to shine in a singles environment. But, I think his mic work with the Shield has been a big surprise. I think his work with the group has been great.

Titus O'Neill has found his character. Its himself with the volume turned up. He's actually fun to watch. His humor is subtle, but its really good. He's got a humor to him that the WWE should feature more...on the real, the market the WWE rarely embraces, the black community, especially those that are into the athletic black culture would eat he and Young's PTP gimmick up more if they were more than jobbers. He's MVP's character done right, IMO. The MVP character was waaaaaay too over the top and stereotypical. The PTP is right on the mark. His Pancake Patterson gimmick was straight from the Kyrie Irving's Uncle Drew marketing campaign. The bark, the pose, a lot of the references in his promos are all black athlete culture references and its actually quite good because you know he's making this shit up on the fly (none of the dorky white guys in the WWE "get it" I'm certain). He and Young work off each other well, too.

[Warner2BruceTD]

<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x1038x7"></iframe><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1038x7_kenta-c-vs-takashi-sugiura-noah_sport" target="_blank">KENTA (C) vs.Takashi Sugiura (NOAH)</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/Jahmale_Hepburn" target="_blank">Jahmale_Hepburn</a></i>

Match of the Year buzz for this.

I thought it was good, but not at that level. Lots of hard striking that you would expect from these two. I loved the final few minutes and the overall story being told, but I thought it was a bit too long and dragged in the middle.

KENTA's GHC run had been rather unimpressive up to this point, so at least he has a great match under his belt now. The problem is a lack of challengers. Maybach Taniguchi in March garnered no buzz (even I blew it off, and i'm a KENTA mark of the highest order), and now it looks like Yano (yes, the Yano from New Japan who is one half of the GHC tag champs) is next. That match is fresh, but does little for me.

The problem is he has no fresh matches on the NOAH roster, because he's faced Sugiura & Marufuji a billion times, he just beat Taniguchi who isn't very good anyway, and it's too soon to go right back to Morishima and that isn't exactly fresh either.

This is what happens when you don't debut any new talent for a decade, and then half the roster leaves.

EDIT- the match isnt even close to 51 minutes, it has a ton of pre & post stuff, dont let the time scare you off

[Warner2BruceTD]

NWA Lone Star Jr Hvt Title - Ray Rowe (c) vs John McChesney

This is from the NWA Houston show last week. I think my initial reaction live on the VOW twitter feed was "around four stars". It holds up pretty good on tape. I was shocked to see it emerge, I never thought it would see the light of day.

I loved the pacing here. McChesney is fantastic in this match, from his heel antics and selling early, to his crisp offense late. Rowe sells the leg to perfection. They tell a fine story and the work is solid. Only two or three big highspots, but it feels like a lot more, which is to their credit. Well worth a watch.

[Warner2BruceTD]

With half of the voting period burned, it looks like Rookie of the Year is completely barren so far. I've been sniffing around and even the lucha experts have nobody to offer for research, and usually lucha is good for a handful of candidates.

Larry, is there ANYBODY in NXT who debuted no earlier than September 2012? Think you can come up with a meager list?

Lucha has nothing.

Japan has nothing. NOAH debuted a kid who worked one tour and mode zero impression. Dragon Gate just debuted a guy who is "feuding" (i.e. getting killed by) with Uhaa Nation, but he's so new the matches haven't emerged yet. New Japan has zero rookies. Same for All Japan.

Might have to come from WWE/NXT this year by default.

[SuperKevin]

Would they consider Big E Langston as a rookie?

[Warner2BruceTD]

Would they consider Big E Langston as a rookie?

Nope. Started well before September 2012.

The definition is anybody who started after September 1 2012 in a "full time major league" company. Yes, there is gray area. But in the past, there have been patterns. NXT counts as major league because it's WWE. Chikara, Evolve, ROH, all have counted as major league. DGUSA counts for the same reason NXT does, because its considered part of Dragon Gate, which is obviously major league. Europe gets tricky.

But to answer your question, Langston was with WWE before 9/12.

[SuperKevin]

They consider NXT to be WWE though?

[Warner2BruceTD]

They consider NXT to be WWE though?

yes.

if you think about it, why wouldn't they? those guys are under WWE contract, work random house shows, dark matches, etc.

[Warner2BruceTD]

New Japan 5/30/12, Best of the Super Juniors Day 4

http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x2nzb5/1#video=x10dgah

Not a single bad match. Super fun show top to bottom, with Liger vs Titan and the final three matches really being the highlights.

If nothing else, watch the post match shenanigans after the main event. Gold.

Bullet Club is REEEAAAAALLL