Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena (WWE - 8/17/2014)

Seconded. Best squash of all time. Cena's fiery comebacks throughout are shrugged off by Lesnar who absolutely dismantles Cena. As mentioned, Brock's sit-up is an all-time great moment, which is perhaps topped when Super Cena was kept down for the count by a dominating Lesnar. Absolutely no-one saw this coming and it was perfectly executed.

One of the ballsiest angles/matches in the history of pro wrestling. The monster baddie absolutely annihilating your hero. What's weird and I dont think anyone anticipated but it has led to the Brock Era. There have been so many false starts to Roman's ascension that in reality if you look at the last five years of booking from Wrestlemania XXX to now the men's division is completely run through Brock. Ending the streak and destroying Cena was all supposedly a set-up to Roman's ascension, but they got cold feet and had Rollins cash-in. Besides a blip in 2016, WWE has been all about Brock. I dont think anyone anticipated that when we saw this go down. It is super memorable and something I admire the WWE for doing. Cena was just so awesome and so selfless in this. It is not something I'd vote for, but everyone should see it.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena vs Brock Lesnar - Summerslam 2014

Brock Lesnar gave a heel performance for the ages in the biggest match of the year. It was the little touches like stepping on Cena's hand, the trash talk, and the desire to make Cena give up. He could have pinned him at pretty much any moment after about two minutes into the match, but he wanted to dominate and humiliate Cena. He wanted to force Cena to tell the referee he could not continue because Brock Lesnar beat him so senseless. Like any good villain, Lesnar's hubris almost cost him on two different occasions. The elbows into the FU was electric and the STFU brought people to their feet. Jerry Lawler was the perfect voice for all the children that did not want to believe their hero was going to be vanquished at the hands of the meanest schoolyard bully there ever was. Good conquers evil, right? Not when evil is Brock Fucking Lesnar. When he did the Zombie Sit-Up complete with a crazed look and maniacal laugh, it was the perfect horror movie image that the monster was not going to stay down. Sufficiently rattle though by STFU, Brock quit playing with his food and hit the F-5 to win the match in a similar vein to the Seahawks' complete annihilation of the Broncos in the 2014 Super Bowl.

I am a Brock mark. As soon as he gets into the ring, I hang on every single explosive and impactful move. Immediately every match becomes bigger when Lesnar is involved and becomes a fight for survival. So many matches from this decade are struggle between being a choreographed exhibition against a predetermined sporting contest. When Lesnar walks down the aisle, all that is effaced from my mind. I know I am going to watch a fight.  The opening 30 seconds of this match maybe my favorite opening 30 seconds from any match (with only Tenryu vs Mutoh from 2001 coming close). The amount of struggle in that opening moment. Cena meeting the Beast head on and trying to fight fire with fire. For Lesnar to snap off an F-5 so early was just an incredible climax. The only thing ballsier than the match they gave us would have been to end the match right there. Part of me thinks they should have. The beatdown was a merciless onslaught of unmitigated violence. Cena's glassy-eyed and foggy selling was so spot on. I talked about Cena's selflessness in the Cesaro match, but on no stage was it more apparent. How many top babyfaces would have been so secure to allow them to essentially be squashed by the top heel on the second biggest PPV of the year? None come to mind. The only two matches that come close to how this one was booked were Vader vs Sting from Great American Bash '92 and Brock Lesnar versus The Rock at Summerslam '02. The difference was the Sting match was a little more competitive and Vader is always willing to bump for his opponent and in the Rock match he was leaving WWE for months. Cena got two flurries of offense and would be expected to show up within coming weeks and continue to compete.

The match is carried by strong heel and babyface performances and unique circumstances, but because of its lopsided nature it is not something I consider a slam dunk Match of the Year Contender. It feels like a great first act in a play that hooks you immediately. I believe wrestling matches should be viewed in context, but ultimately need to be able to stand alone. i do not think this match can standalone and it is too tethered to its aftermath. That aftermath is very disappointing. Just when everyone says they have seen everything ever in wrestling WWE pulls off something that I am struggling to find a comparison point to. I would say this is something never been done before. Yet, they treat it like just another John Cena loss where he comes back with no injuries, dominates the entire Wyatt Family and is hungry as ever. He essentially no sold the match. Just like the spots in a match, which should have consequence on the next spot in a match, the match itself should have consequences in the storyline. If the WWE does not respect their own booking, then how can I? For that reason, it is why I am knocking this match down a peg, because its influence was not as strong as it should have been. ****1/2

This is one of the cooler squashes ever, probably the coolest. It has never registered to me as a match to consider for the list, but maybe I should give it another go at some point.