411’s Match of the Week 06.20.11: Year One, Week 11

Welcome to Week 11, Year ONE, of 411’s Match of the Week. A quick overview of the rules to kick things off for us …

Each writer chooses THREE matches from any promotion and each match gets a point total attached to that ranking. It looks a little like this…

1st – 5
2nd – 3
3rd – 1

Then we tally up the votes and the official 411 Match of the Week is crowned. But wait, there’s more! Each week, the TOP THREE MATCHES are eligible to make the Year-End Ranking.

The week according to this column will go from Sunday to Saturday, with the column being posted every Monday.

Upon rating matches, writers will assign them with a star rating, and the average star rating amongst writers will be what that match is listed with if it makes the Year-End Standings.

Independent shows WILL be included, but since it takes some time for the DVDs to come out, voting on them will take place retroactively, in which the writers who have seen the shows in question will have the opportunity to vote for matches from them into the Year-End Standings. For an Indy/International match to make the Year-End Standings, it must break an average rating of ****. Nothing will be added retroactively unless at least 3 staff members deem it worthy so there is a consensus.

At the end of the voting year, the match with the highest average star rating will be crowned 411 Match of the Year. In the event of a tie, 411 writers will vote in a tie-breaker.

THIS WEEK’S ELIGIBLE MATCHES
TNA Slammiversary IX: James Storm & Alex Shelley vs. Doug Williams & Magnus; Matt Morgan vs. Scott Steiner; Abyss vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Kazarian; Crimson vs. Samoa Joe; Mickie James vs. Angelina Love; Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles; Ken Anderson vs. Sting; Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett
WWE Raw: Kane vs. Alberto Del Rio; Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, & Ezekiel Jackson vs. Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, & Wade Barrett; Sheamus vs. Santino Marella; Rey Mysterio vs. Christian; Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger; Kelly Kelly, Eve, Gail Kim, Natalya, Beth Phoenix, AJ, & Kaitlyn vs. Tamina, Alicia Fox, Marysa, Melina, The Bella Twins, & Rosa Mendes; CM Punk vs. John Cena
WWE NXT: Darren Young vs. Yoshi Tatsu; Titus O’Neil vs. Lucky Cannon
WWE Superstars: Zack Ryder vs. Primo; Drew McIntyre vs. Vladimir Kozlov; Yoshi Tatsu vs. Chavo Guerrero; Kane vs. Tyson Kidd
Impact Wrestling: D-Von vs. Hernandez; Austin Aries vs. Kid Kash vs. Jimmy Rave; Sarita & Rosita vs. Velvet Sky & Miss Tessmacher; Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe; Gunner vs. Ken Anderson
WWE SmackDown: Daniel Bryan, Sin Cara, & Ezekiel Jackson vs. Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, & Ted DiBiase; Jinder Mahal vs. Vladimir Kozlov; Tamina, Alicia Fox, & Rosa Mendes vs. Natalya, Kaitlyn, & AJ; The Usos vs. Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater; Christian vs. Sheamus
Independent shows will be reviewed when they’re available on DVD.

Michael Ornelas
1) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (***3/4)
This match was hovering at over **** for me, but the ending really knocked some points off from where I sit. This was still a great Last Man Standing match, and if you would have told me last year that Brother Ray would be a pretty great upper midcarder and would steal the show against AJ Styles, I probably would have laughed at you. He’s been fantastic in his singles run and AJ was AJ.

2) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett (***3/4): We can complain all we want about the lack of freshness with this match-up, but Angle and Jarrett know the proper way to put on a great match. I’m glad that the feud is now seemingly over after Impact Wrestling this week, but we got a really good match Sunday at the PPV, so I’m not going to whine about it. Good stuff here.
3) 06/16/2011, Impact Wrestling – Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe (***1/4): I don’t know if I’d call this the dream match that the announcers called it, but it was still a great encounter. These two guys are the epitome of “great when motivated, but often go through the motions when unmotivated”, and I feel that they were motivated this week. Despite losing the first match in the series, I hope Samoa Joe is able to stay competitive, because I’d love to see him in title contention again at some point.

Wes Kirk
1) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (***3/4)
If there was one match I didn’t expect to deliver as well as it did, that would be the AJ/Ray LMS match on Sacrifice. From the “strong style” of AJ taking chops that visibly cut him and damaged his skin while yelling “GIVE ME ANOTHER ONE! COME ON!” to his fearless leaps over the ropes and scaffolding, and Ray’s blade job that made it look like he went through a warzone, this was a hell of a match and an LMS style done right. Well, that is except for the ending which was unfortunate to say the least, but in the end outside of the fall the match itself was very good!

2) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett(***1/2): Another great one in the series between Angle and Jarrett focused more on wrestling than on antics by Karen Angle or some of the usual distractions we’ve come to know and loathe. Tonight Jeff Jarrett was a desperate man, using everything at his disposal including Kurt’s own ankle-lock and a guitar shot to the head, but Angle would not be denied! After absorbing one hell of a beating, a bloody and battered Angle locked on the Ankle Lock and submitted Jarrett to win the #1 contendership and keep his Olympic Gold Medal. A great blowoff match to this feud.
3) 06/16/2011, Impact Wrestling – Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe (***): The opening match of the Bound For Glory Series saw the fast and fearless RVD against the powerful strikes and submissions of Samoa Joe. In this match both men took risks and delivered on a good match, ending cleanly with the Five Star Frog Splash and 7 points for RVD. Wrestling Matters once again and this was a terrific way to kick off the tournament.

Colin Rinehart
1) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (****)
Although I really wasn’t a fan of the ending, this was a great and brutal match that we can safely say is far and away the best singles match of Bully Ray’s entire career. These two got nasty stiff in the opening 10 minutes, Ray bladed (and it actually meant something since they haven’t used blood in awhile) and Styles bumped hard culminating in one of the craziest spots of the year with AJ’s Macho Man-esque elbow off the steel structure through a table. Excellent match and the best of the show and week.

2) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett (***3/4): Another month, another rock solid Angle-Jarrett encounter. I could probably watch these two wrestle every month if they really felt like it, and this was definitely one of their better matches during this most recent feud (though I still rate their Genesis 09 match as their absolute best work together). Not as crazy as their 2/3 falls match, but much more sound from a pure wrestling perspective. The tombstone trading spot was pretty awkward though.
3) 06/16/2011, Impact Wrestling – Austin Aries vs. Kid Kash vs. Jimmy Rave (***): Everytime I tell myself “Well, TNA may just stop being interesting all together”, they seem to go and do something awesome like book these three great talents for a lightning fast and super fun contest on TV. The fact that Aries will apparently be wrestling on PPV for them makes this match just a teaser, but he pulled out some of his signature spots and got the crowd chanting his name by the finish. Rave and Kash both looked really good as well, and I’d love to see them in TNA again even if they didn’t win this match. Great teaser match for the build to Destination X.

Larry Csonka
1) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (****1/4)
I swear to whatever deity you may or may not worship that I am not trying to be that guy, but, I TOLD YOU SO. Finish aside, I told everyone on the 411 on Wrestling Podcast that going in I liked this match, that AJ is great, and that Ray brings it on PPV. Add into the fact the environment they were going to work in, and they had the perfect recipe to make a great match and they did. You had a dick heel with no redeeming qualities being the bully and finally having to take some in return, you had AJ proving himself to the bully, they had the story, they had the work and it was the perfect mix. Congrats to both guys for such a great PPV match.

2) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett (***3/4): For now it seems that the Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett battle is over, and both men will move on. But the bottom line is that the feud, as shitty as the booking was, constantly delivered the best matches in the past few months in TNA. While the finale might not have been as good as they wanted, or it could have been, it was still a very good match, and fitting to main event the PPV.
3) 06/16/2011, Impact Wrestling – Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe (***): FYI, I enjoyed the hell out of Austin Aries vs. Kid Kash vs. Jimmy Rave, but felt that this edged it out. The three way was fun as hell, but Joe and RVD looked motivated for once, and showed that even in the confines of TV, they could still have a good match and a clean finish. While I have been down on both recently, it was nice to see them go out there and have a really good match.

Nick Bazar
1) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (***3/4)
Biggest surprise success of the year: Bully Ray, without question. He has done an incredible job with the new heel character, and was able to back it up in the ring at the PPV with not only the Match of the Night, but the Match of the Week. His victory also indicates that the feud continues, and I’m all for it.

2) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett (***1/4): Not as good as some of their other matches this year, but a fine main event for an above-average PPV. It was named the “Final Battle,” so I wasn’t thrilled that they had a parking lot brawl a few days later, but that doesn’t take away from the PPV match itself.
3) 06/16/2011, Impact Wrestling – Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe (***): I’m loving the idea of a Bound For Glory Series, and hope they see it through to the end. This was a good match to introduce the concept, and just a few minutes shy of really being something memorable.

Greg DeMarco
1) 06/12/2011, TNA Slammiversary IX – Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles (****1/4)
While this match was supposed to prove that “AJ Styles is a man,” it proved far more about 2011’s brightest surprise, Bully Ray. Ray & Styles put on a great match that Ray likely played the biggest part in planning. AJ looked good in defeat, the right person probably did go over, and both guys were elevated. You can’t argue against that!

2) 06/16/2011, Impact Wrestling – Austin Aries vs. Kid Kash vs. Jimmy Rave (***1/2): This match did more for me than just what happened in the ring. And if you watch closely, you can see that it’s not as great as we all say it was, and that Aries really held the match together. The real reason to watch this match is for its place in the Destination X story, and the possibilities it opens up (like Austin Aries in TNA). This is a 3 star match with an extra half added in for the story.
3) 06/16/2011, Impact Wrestling – Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe: (***): This was a great TV match for these guys. It was a perfect choice to kick off the Bound for Glory Series. Motivated Joe and motivated Van Dam are exactly with Impact Wrestling needs, so let’s hope they can stay motivated.

THIS WEEK’S WINNER