V2 WWC 1st Round Group B

A second helping of lovely WWC goodness on the opening day

Please vote for the wrestler/team you believe has generated the best work in the past 12-18 months

Remember each person is allowed 2 votes per group in the first round

Please leave a comment as to who you have voted for and why to help facilitate discussion

The group will be closed at 23.00 tonight and no votes will be counted past that point

The top 2 will progress in to round 2

Happy WWC-ing  

Bugger!

I'm going to start at the bottom. I'll lose R-Truth & Lashley. I've nothing against either of them, but this is just such a top group that the bar is high. Then because of the competition I'll also lose Austin Aries.

So, I'm left with a 4-way. AJ, The Undertaker, Matt Sydal & Zack Sabre Jr. I thought the Phenom was phenomenal at Summer Slam. I'd completely written him off, and wow what a match he put on. But, he's just not done quite enough.

AJ Syles, I've not only not seen a bad match from him, but he makes everyone he's in the ring with look a million bucks. He is telling such good stories he could wrestle a broom to a 4.5* match. He's vote number 1.

Matt Sydal I have on a shortlist of wrestler of the year. And Zack Sabre Jr is having such a great year. So, so hard to choose between the two. Zack Sabre Jr has a massive, massive upside. But right now I think that Sydal is the better ring general so he's going to get my vote, but in a year's time that could easily have flipped.

Aj and Sydal.

AJ has been on phenomenal form, and Sydal has been proving that WWE can criminally misuse talent.

I dont know how anyone can vote for Undertaker. He's had 4 matches in 2 years, one of them was a bomb (Lesnar 1), one was entirely pointless and forgettable (Wyatt) and the other two - granted - were fantastic, but its no where near enough to be considered as one of the best of the year.

Thank you to everyone who voted and commented so far, I would request again those who voted please leave a comment as to who they voted for and why to help stimulate debate

Samo wrote:Aj and Sydal.

AJ has been on phenomenal form, and Sydal has been proving that WWE can criminally misuse talent.

I dont know how anyone can vote for Undertaker.  He's had 4 matches in 2 years, one of them was a bomb (Lesnar 1), one was entirely pointless and forgettable (Wyatt) and the other two - granted - were fantastic, but its no where near enough to be considered as one of the best of the year.

Some top quality punning there

Samo wrote:I dont know how anyone can vote for Undertaker.  He's had 4 matches in 2 years, one of them was a bomb (Lesnar 1), one was entirely pointless and forgettable (Wyatt) and the other two - granted - were fantastic, but its no where near enough to be considered as one of the best of the year.

Unfortunately WWE guys are always going to have a huge advantage in this competition because their exposure is simply so much higher. I voted for AJ Styles and Undertaker because of the people I've seen they're the ones that have impressed me the most. I haven't seen a lot of Sydal or Zack Sabre, or even too much of Lashley and Austin Aries, so between R-Truth and Undertaker, even with Undertaker's small amount of matches, he's been better.

I went for ZSJ and AJ Styles, although could have easily gone for Sydal.

I get why people voted for Undertaker, his matches have been limited but they've all been must see and excessively talked about, and his character/gimmick work is always flawless for what it is.

Crimey wrote:

Samo wrote:I dont know how anyone can vote for Undertaker.  He's had 4 matches in 2 years, one of them was a bomb (Lesnar 1), one was entirely pointless and forgettable (Wyatt) and the other two - granted - were fantastic, but its no where near enough to be considered as one of the best of the year.

Unfortunately WWE guys are always going to have a huge advantage in this competition because their exposure is simply so much higher. I voted for AJ Styles and Undertaker because of the people I've seen they're the ones that have impressed me the most. I haven't seen a lot of Sydal or Zack Sabre, or even too much of Lashley and Austin Aries, so between R-Truth and Undertaker, even with Undertaker's small amount of matches, he's been better.

I think it is difficult even when you watch outside WWE. I'd feel like I've seen quite a bit of Zack Sabre Jr wrestling in the UK this year, but I've seen less of his PWG work (still at the mid-point of night one of BOLA) and none of his NOAH work. So there's big 4* plus matches there that I've just not seen.

But half the fun of this for me is, if someone says "who's Jimmy Havoc, and what's Progress wrestling?" and spends the fiver or whatever checking it out, that's cool.

I went Taker. I don't see a person on this list who can match the height of those two matches. Those were matches restored my faith in wrestling again. There was absolute perfection in those two matches, and the build stuff was brilliant.

Not a fan of Lashley and think Aries has been a victim of being in TNA to the point it drained him.

I'd be tempted to vote Truth just on the back of thinking he was in the MITB match, but his odd skits are not really worthy. That leaves me with Sydal, ZSJ and Styles. And a lot of that I have to go on the word of others and what I read. I still don't like listening to Sydal speak, so hes out. Styles has gone from a nerd who could be a good wrestler to somewhat cool, and his matches have clearly been beyond anything TNA got out of him for at least 5 years. He is arguably the hottest property in wrestling, and I bet WWE would fly him in and give him the title at SS if they could. So, I have just seen enough to know he has to take it from ZSJ whose time will come.

Taker the obvious for me this time based on his work with Lesnar and the fact this might very well be his retirement tour. Plus the two matches were great

Lashley and Truth are definite nos, Aries whilst being a favourite of mine hasn't had a steller year and I've not seen a huge amount of Sydal this year and I don't rate him that highly anyways

So that leaves Styles or ZSJ, I went ZSJ as he's unbelievably good and Styles has seriously injured a few wrestlers in the past 18 months, However, I can see why you'd vote the other way around on Styles over ZSJ

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I went Taker. I don't see a person on this list who can match the height of those two matches.

Meltzer disagrees  
AJ Styles vs Tanahashi 4.75*
AJ Styles vs Okada 4.75*
AJ Styles & Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson 4.75*
AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki 4.75*
AJ Styles vs Kota Ibushi 4.5*
AJ Styles vs Okada 4.5*
AJ Styles vs Naito 4.5*

Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar (HIAC) 4.25*
Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar (SS) 4*

That's not an convincing argument mentioning anything Dave Meltzer

Fernando wrote:That's not an convincing argument mentioning anything Dave Meltzer

I gave him a smiley face, I see Dave as having a smiley face.

Massively abusing my power by voting

An interesting group

I know it's probably gone by the wayside as no one really watches TNA but I really enjoyed Lashley's work late 2014 to mid 2015, he was a great monster running through guys and had some very enjoyable matches with Aries, Roode and Angle springing to mind, he suffered slightly when he turned face and split with the BDC, losing MVP as his mouth piece, exposing what is definitely the weakest part of his repitoire

Austin Aries has been his usual self and someone TNA really could and should have done more with, can't vote for him though as he really hasn't had anything to sink his teeth into

R-Truth is a solid guy, good wrestler, good promo but I can never shake the feeling when he's inserted above the lower mid card that he's above his station

I love the Undertaker, I'm happy to see him back in the ring more frequently but I was never as high on the Lesnar matches as some, so I can't vote for him even though I remain a massive fan

ZSJr is a guy I found hardest to miss off, he's really a phenomenal wrestler and his work in the UK, where he is the man, and the US indys where he has had 2 amazing matches with Roddy Strong are must watch

But ultimately I went for Styles and Matt Sydal

Sydal has grown so much as a wrestler since he left WWE and has built himself a resume in 2015 that has a sneaky outside WOTY shot, he's so much more than a highflier now, he works holds, builds matches and has improved his all round character work, his match with Ospreay from Rev Pro is my 3rd favourite match of the year

And Styles, well he may be the best wrestler in the world today, it really hit me when he was over in England, in such a small setting I was just struck by how much this guy is the man

With the voting closed for today AJ Styles advances in first place with a strong 20 votes

The Bullet Club leader is in legendary company though as The Undertaker turns back the years to finish 2nd with a respectable 11 votes

The V2 WWC resumes tomorrow with groups C & D