This Or That: Who Did It Better? (10/28/2014)

Everybody loves binary decisions, especially wrestling fans! In This Or That, we’ve forced ourselves to choose between two options that relate to wrestling.

Over four questions, @TimWelcomed, @JoeySplashwater and @TomBlargh will have to choose one of two options and give their reasoning on each of their choices. You can then vote on which one you’d choose, giving you the false impression that you’re somehow involved and we care about your opinion chance to join the conversation!

Before we start, here’s last week‘s results:

Which new wrestling program are you more likely to watch?

Lucha Underground – 73%, British Bootcamp 2 – 27%

Which rumored WWE return would you interest you more?

Chris Jericho – 55%, The Boogeyman – 45%

Better PWG commentary legend?

Kevin Steen – 52%, Chuck Taylor – 48%

Better bear?

Grizzly Bear– 51%, Polar bear – 49% (Grizzly bears won by one vote)

Better frog splash: Eddie Guerrero or Rob Van Dam?

Flying high.

Tim:

While Eddie Guerrero’s frog splash had a certain grace to it I was always enamored with Rob Van Dam’s frog splash more. The height, the distance, the style, and the way he sold that it hurt him as well after impact with the bounce. It was so perfect. He doesn’t do it with that amount of style but he has far and away the best frog splash I’ve ever seen on a consistent basis throughout his career. The frog splash can be one of the most beautiful wrestling moves when done right and both of these guys had it down to a science but Rob Van Dam had a way of mixing style and realism almost flawlessly.

Rob Van Dam

Joey:

Fun fact: The frog splash is my favorite top rope move!

Eddie Guerrero had a more accurate and effective frog splash that was a thing of beauty. From a realistic point of view, he would hit it and pin the opponent instantly. RVD’s would have more elevation and would sell that extra height by not going for the pin right away.

Even so, I’m going to have to side with Rob Van Dam. Before seeing RVD in ECW, I felt like I watched wrestling in black and white then Van Dam showed me the beauty of color with his unique move set that was so far out of the realm of what I knew of in my wrestling world. The Five Star Frog Splash and the crazy elevation he got was a big part of it.  I hate ending this with a bad pun but RVD just got higher and it was glorious.

Rob Van Dam

Tom:

Pretty disgusting that D’Lo Brown isn’t an option here. ANYWAY. Even with how sluggish he’s gotten in all his recent returns, there’s still a part of me that will always be an RVD mark. He was my number one favourite guy for a good couple of years (so I’m completely biased here) and I think his frog splash just looks that much more devastating than Eddie’s. Eddie’s might be prettier, but that Rob Van Dam is DENSE, y’know? Dense like a muffin. Imagine a big old muffin man landing on you, forget it.

Rob Van Dam

Better powerbomb: Kevin Nash or Sid?

Better big man to drop a powerbomb?

Tim:

Both of these guys have been pretty haphazardly sloppy with their powerbombs during their careers but judging by when they were on their A-game, I would have to give Sid the edge. One thing Sid did not lack was intensity and it made his powerbombs look very devastating and that is always entertaining. I much prefer Kevin Nash over Sid in almost every other way but I can’t take this one away from Sid. If it helps, Nash had way better leather vests and the magnificence of his hair has never been duplicated.

Sid

Joey:

If you know anything about me, you already know who I’m going to pick. Kevin Nash would release the guy in the air with the intent to make his powerbomb look pretty. NICE TRY, OZ! The powerbomb is meant to be vicious and psychotic with the intent of delivering justice. You know who was VICIOUS? Sid. You know who was psycho (and SYCHO)? Sid. You know who delivered JUSTICE? Sid.

Sid would just drop motherfuckers with complete power and make the powerbomb look like the coolest move in the world throwing them on the ground with force. Siding with The Master of the Universe.

Sid

Tom:

ANOTHER TOUGH CHOICE. Sid was the first wrestler I completely hated as a kid. Like, there were other baddies who were fun to hate but Sid, I just DESPISED. I love him now, but it’s still tough to move past that childhood trauma.

Big Sexy is possibly my favourite wrestling personality of all-time. If he could be signed to commentate Raw and just abruptly end boring matches with a couple of jackknifes, those three hours would fly by every Monday night.

Kevin Nash

Better Shooting Star Press: Billy Kidman or Paul London?

Sorry, Matt Sydal. You just missed the cut. Same goes for Brock Lesnar, to a far less extent.

Tim:

I’m fixing to lay down the law here so saddle up. Kidman’s shooting star press is one of the worst but I think since he was the one to introduce it to a lot of people there’s always a bit of a nostalgia cloud there. Keep in mind, a bad shooting star press is still an amazing feat as long as you don’t hurt yourself or the other person. It takes some amazing talent to pull that move off. I COULD NOT DO ONE. Paul London’s though? It has some grit but it works. It makes it seem more efficient and viable as something that is supposed to look like it inflicts pain.

It’s definitely one of my favorite versions of the move and it probably helps that it is done by one of my favorite wrestlers. The most beautiful version of it is definitely Matt Sydal’s but it doesn’t look like it hurts the opponent too much. It’s like a really pretty pillow floating down. Paul London’s is to the point and is there to win matches.

I would also like to take this time to say Happy Birthday to Billy Kidman. Be sure to wish him a good one.

Paul London

Joey:

Both are cool and it would normally be a tie but this awesome gif of Paul London at PWG breaks said tie. I can watch it for hours. It’s a thing of beauty. I feel like a jerk slighting Billy Kidman on his birthday but I’m voting Paul London.

Paul London

Tom:

I couldn’t find a non-shitty gif of Billy Kidman in his WCW grunge gear doing a shooting star, so I’ve had to settle for one of him with his generic, short-haired WWE look. SOZ.

Anyway, Kidman was fine but Paul London was spectacular. He did incredible things with the SSP to the outside and off the apron that are still crazy to watch and I haven’t seen anyone else reproduce (PLUS, HE’S A SUPER NICE DUDE AND KIDMAN SEEMS LIKE A BIT OF A JERK WHO DOESN’T LIKE BEING WISHED HAPPY BIRTHDAY).

Paul London

Better superkick: Shawn Michaels or The Young Bucks?

SUPERKICK SUPERKICK SUPERKICK SUPERKICK SUPERKICK

Tim:

This is weird to say but I think I like The Young Bucks’ superkicks better. They do them a lot and that should make the move seem less impactful but they somehow continue to deliver superkicks that get people out of their seats and seem very harmful to the face region. They do them in a variety of different ways and can keep them fun. HBK definitely fell into a groove with his and never really tried spicing it up too much. I hate to say Michaels’ wasn’t amazing because it was. It is probably one of my favorite finishers ever by anyone ever but The Young Bucks keep them coming and they are always entertaining…

Haha. Just kidding.

Shawn damn Michaels is a legend and that superkick did more for me through my life as a fan than most wrestlers ever could wish to deliver. It was top-tier until he came back and even then it was still one of the best (albeit not as pretty and very predictable but that’s what happens when someone is around doing the same move for as long as he was). I wish he would have gotten more inventive with how he used them over time but the good kicks far outweigh the bad kicks. The Young Bucks are the best tag team and deserve all of the success in the world in the world but their superkicks are no Sweet Chin Music.

Shawn Michaels

Joey:

Shawn Michaels is my second favorite wrestler of all time (after Daniel Bryan) but there was one thing he did that always annoyed me during his run in the 2000’s. Michaels would never hit the Superkick on first try and if he did, you KNEW the other guy was kicking out. The superkick format would never change up.

This is the year of the Young Bucks. I’m not going to disrespect the Indytaker by spitting in the face of 2014 and what fate wants to win here.

The Young Bucks

Tom:

Almost a question of quality over quantity, though the Buck’s superkicks are still really good! HMMM. The Bucks have a habit of delivering superkicks in a more startling fashion than ol’ HBK (no dumb stomps in the corner from the Jackson boys), so I’m gonna go for them here. Also, God bless my main man Rusev for bringing solid superkicks back to The Fed.

The Young Bucks