The Wrestling Bucket

HHH vs Sheamus, MSG 3/19 (Street Fight)

Pretty cool house show match between these two. This being HHH's return to MSG, he was crazy over. This was much better than their street fight from PPV last year. Plenty of cool, violent stuff such as HHH whipping Sheamus with a belt Sheamus wailing on Hunter with a cane and bashing his head in with the steel steps. HHH took a few big bumps like a spill into the steps, but I didn't get the feeling he was bringing much outside the crowd support. Sheamus was great at both dishing out and taking punishment, including one great spot where he get caught upside in the ropes hanging by a foot with HHH caning him. We get a neat boo/yay punch exchange and a predictable house show finish. Not anything great, but a fun match and a pretty great Sheamus performance.

Rey Mysterio vs John Cena, WWE RAW 7/25/11

Throwing such a huge money match as this away on free TV with no build was really fucking stupid, but the match itself was really great and totally delivered. Rey targeting Cena’s leg was such a smart piece of continuity because it played off of the Miz match from earlier in the night AND set-up spots later on in the match, such as Cena’s leg giving out in the AA. They used the big small, flier vs strenth aspect of the match well, with spots like Rey jumping around to evade Cena before getting laid out with a clothesline. Some great counters from both guys, and I dug Rey’s dropkick to cut off Cena’s predictable comeback routine. Rey’s doing the STF was excellent, and so was Cena powering out of it – that shit looked truly super-human. The finishing run was great too. Rey competed in two matches and took Cena to his limit, and came out looking like a million bucks.