|
Post by bossrock on Apr 10, 2018 22:39:38 GMT -5
THIS is how you end a feud. Was like a Southern territory blow-off meets King's Road with violence, emotional storytelling, and clever callbacks. The former best friends start brawling almost immediately but then began to work a slower, more deliberate pace to try and brutalize each other. Ciampa was clearly going to take his time and relish the pain he would inflict on Johnny. Johnny mounted his comebacks simply to survive but as the match went on, he became more and more obsessed with punishing Ciampa for his sins. They weaved almost every single part of this feud into the in-ring story: the attacks with the crutches, Johnny's futile crawl to Ciampa, Ciampa's hesitation to put Johnny away at the CWC, and Ciampa lulling Johnny into a false sense of security before striking at Chicago.
The climax of this match is what sticks out to me the most. Emotional stuff like this is always hard to pull off as wrestlers aren't always the best actors (especially when it comes to sentimentality). In the hands of a lot of other wrestlers this would have been schmaltzy and melodramatic, but Johnny and Ciampa were as authentic as can be. You went from "Johnny you idiot! This is the guy who betrayed you!" to "Oh my God, Johnny don't do it! He was your best friend!" Ciampa looks resigned to his fate, perhaps regretful as Johnny laments how it could have ever come to this between them. Then when you think all hope is lost, the face is one step ahead and pulls off the victory.
Tremendous match and easily the best so far this year.
|
|
|
Post by Cap on Apr 13, 2018 8:00:06 GMT -5
Easy Second
I loved this match. I thought the last 5 minutes or so were perfect (really truly all time level stuff). However, it isn't my match of the year. I preferred Gargano/Almas (and maybe even Thatcher/Walter from Progress). For me this match loses just a little steam in places in the early and middle parts. Gargano is a world class baby face, but some of these symbolic spots felt somewhat contrived to me (getting the crutch, the tug of war for example). These aren't enough take it out of being absolutely world class and a shoe in contender for this project.
To me, this will go down as a primary example of world class storytelling and how one blows of a feud. It played on your emotions and sucked you in. Top shelf stuff...
|
|
|
Post by microstatistics on Apr 24, 2018 22:26:46 GMT -5
Really good but nowhere near classic level for me. There was WAY too much downtime between spots. It really, really needed a much tighter layout to be great. Don't think it needed to go 40 minutes. I loved the storytelling element though. I am a fan of well done melodrama in wrestling, whether it's Shawn vs. Flair/Taker or Hashimoto vs. Choshu and they nailed it here. Brilliant finishing stretch. Pretty awesome character and the intensity and hate were on point. Also genuine heel heat for Ciampa was nice to see. Third
|
|
|
Post by Cap on May 4, 2018 9:09:42 GMT -5
So I rewatched this the other day and it went down a notch for me. Don't get me wrong. I still think it is a GREAT match, something special, but given that it is getting some "greatest match ever" conversation, even a small downtick feels like a massive decline.
As much as anything this match might be the best case study for different tastes, what people prioritize, context vs rewatch value, match rating vs story arch, etc etc etc. To me, his was a lot of fun, great drama, lots of interesting callbacks, but it is an in the moment match and has diminishing returns. For some people that in-the-momentness will be the most important part of wrestling and that is cool. However, when I am rating or thinking about match quality in any way, rewatch value is very important to me and there are at least 2 matches this year alone (maybe 3 or 4) that have more rewatch value, that keep me engaged outside of their emotional and narrative context. I don't completely disregard context so this is still a real MOTY candidate and I would be shocked if it fell out of my top 5 or 10 for the year, but I am moving away from this as a potential all timer, myself. In turn, it may get consideration for the back quarter of my list, but I would be a bit surprised if it made the cut.
|
|
|
Post by jamesap on Mar 22, 2022 0:33:37 GMT -5
Third. Will definitely make my list, probably quite high.
|
|
|
Post by nintendologic on Mar 22, 2022 5:49:02 GMT -5
THIS is how you end a feud. This aged well.
|
|
|
Post by bossrock on Mar 22, 2022 16:33:30 GMT -5
THIS is how you end a feud. This aged well. Hindsight and all that.
|
|
|
Post by elliott on Oct 14, 2023 22:16:28 GMT -5
I tried it but it's just so damn long lolol
|
|