WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

 Philadelphia

THE ASCENSION vs. THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS: This is how out of touch Vince McMahon is. Just watch this show from top to bottom. NXT is the WWE's farm system show. It's great. They have a ton of good wrestlers like Sami Zayn and Finn Balor and Hideo Itami and Adrian Neville. So who do they bring up to put on the main roster? A lame, early 90's style tag team that looks like a rip-off of The Road Warriors. Jesus. The crowd boos them, they're pretty pathetic on the mic, and in-ring they're fairly basic. They beat DX here. *1/2 (out of ****)

THE USO'S vs. THE MIZ & MIZDOW: The crowd loves Mizdow. But this match was comedy and not much else. *

THE BELLA'S vs. PAIGE & NATALYA: Unwatchable (because I didn't watch it).

BROCK LESNAR vs. SETH ROLLINS vs. JOHN CENA: Wow. This was the best WWE match in a long time. The best match on ppv since last June's first MITB ladder match, Lesnar's best match since August of 2013 against CM Punk. It was high-energy, wild, a classic. Lesnar was dominant early...but Rollins and Cena teamed up on him. Cena crashed Lesnar through the ring-side wall. Rollins lept off the rope and through Lesnar on the Spanish announce table. Eventually the doctors were putting Lesnar on a stretcher while Rollins and Cena traded near falls. Rollins did a wicked 360 type moonsault flip from the top rope onto Cena and then Lesnar got off the stretcher, F-5'ed Rollins and won. Sick of the getting-off-a-stretcher-to-continue plot but awesome stuff nonetheless. ***1/2

THE ROYAL RUMBLE (ROMAN REIGNS): So...yeah. Vince McMahon is a classic bully. For the second straight year the crowd booed the winner of the Royal Rumble. After Daniel Bryan got tossed out early by Bray Wyatt the boos reigned down for the rest of the show. There was even a loud "Bullshit!" chant and The Rock even got boos when he came out to save Reigns from getting beat down by Kane and The Big Show (The Rock was not a participant...he was there apparently to counter the anomosity). Bubba Dudley showed up which was fun. DDP and The Boogeyman were also lame surprises. But this show will be remembered for the crowd's hatred for Reigns, who won. I'm not entirely sure why they even put Bryan in this match if they knew it would cause this. They could have saved him for next month's show. And Reigns, let's face it, doesn't have it. He's awful on the mic, his in-ring work is average. Why push him when you have so many other guys that a) the crowd likes and b) are better wrestlers? Cesaro, Ziggler, Bryan. C'mon, Vince. This was just depressing. *

Best Wrestler of 2014: TOMOHIRO ISHII

There were so many great wrestlers in NJPW this past year that it's hard to pick the best. Shibata, Nakamura, AJ Styles, Goto, Tanahashi, Honma, and Okada were all in some spectacular matches. Daniel Bryan in the WWE was in the best match at The Royal Rumble and the two best matches at Wrestlemania. He was the highlight of the early part of the year for sure and the only reason to watch or care about that promotion for a long time. But the WWE hates him and did a lot of damage. First, turning him heel for no reason then quickly reversing it. Having him feud with Kane. And of course, pissing off the fans by not putting him in the Royal Rumble. Bryan was out of action after May, though, and while I love his in-ring work and the crowd's reaction to him, the one wrestler that was continuously in the best matches this year and was always the one you wanted to see was Tomohiro Ishii of New Japan. At 39, his best years are probably behind him. He even separated his shoulder in August and kept wrestling through the year. But the number of amazing matches he was in this past year was astounding. His match in February against Naito was excellent. In May against Honma he delivered another awesome performance. And in the G1 tournament he was the star. He took part in seven of the best matches during that tournament. He's fucking nuts because he takes so punishment but he also dishes it out. He has the best top rope suplex in the game, always gives a wicked clothesline either on a standing opponent or a kneeling one, always ends up with a final five minute dramatic flurry to end a match, and always puts his body on the line. He is the epitome of giving you your money's worth. He's, sadly, probably going to end up a broken shell of a man physically but he certainly entertained the hell out of his fans. Ishii was the best wrestler of 2014.

Best Match of 2014: AJ STYLES vs. MINORU SUZUKI "NJPW G1 CLIMAX 24" DAY 7

August 1st from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan

There were so many good matches this past year in New Japan that it's really hard to pick a best of the year match (Ishii vs. Naito in February was perhaps the second best). WWE had a few good matches, the best being the first ladder match on their "Money in the Bank" ppv. But the best match I saw all year was Styles vs. Suzuki. It wasn't the main event. It wasn't even for a belt. There weren't even any near-falls. It was just brutal, exciting, intense, wild, dramatic, and suspenseful. The crowd, at the small Korakuen Hall, helped. And Suzuki, who looked and acted pissed off that a brash American was in his house, was awesome. AJ held his own and stood toe-to-toe. They even battled into the crowd at one point. It was painful at times to watch because of the stiff-shots but also breathtaking and amazing. Two great wrestlers with a great crowd putting on one hell of a show. It was the best match of the year.

Best Show of 2014: NEW JAPAN G1 CLIMAX 24 DAY 8

August 3rd from Osaka, Japan

Maybe it was because WWE buried Daniel Bryan and pissed off its fans this past year or maybe it was because New Japan finally started offering their shows live in the U.S. online on UStream. Whatever the reason, NJPW became the wrestling promotion to watch, talk about, and love this year. The style is different (no comedy gimmicks, for one) but the wrestling is top notch. Two guys, one fight, no run-ins, no screw-job finishes, no fluff. Just entertaining, dramatic, intense wrestling. And there was nothing better in wrestling than the G1 tournament this past summer. Twelve shows between July 21st and August 10th (21 days). Every show had at least one classic match, but Day 8 had the most. The show opened with another great Ishii match (against Davey Boy Smith, Jr.). Goto and Naito had a terrific match. AJ Styles and Lance Archer was a great match. Makabe and Suzuki was awesome. Honma (my, and the crowd's, personal favorite) and Shibata was stellar. And Tanahashi and Nakamura had an excellent match to end the show. This show was loaded. It was insane how many great matches were on this one show. The thing about NJPW matches is that they just build and build until the final flurry of intense, back and forth action. After seeing and feeling this roller-coaster ride of emotion and suspense and action match after match you just have to sit back and take a breather. One of the best shows ever in the greatest wrestling tournament ever. Legendary indeed.