If It Weren't for Fit Finlay My Dear, With You I'd Gladly Stay

Fit Finlay vs. Killer Nikkles, TCW Arkansas

ER: This was a really great match worked a little differently than most of the Finlay indie run. A lot of those matches have been early Finlay offense leading to a knee injury spot, followed by Finlay selling for most of the match and working occasional offense into the match. This match started with Finlay beating the shit out of Nickels, and continuing to beat the shit out of Nickholtz. I had never heard of/seen Nichols before, but he had a good showing here. He was a big guy (not just indy big, either; He was a tall guy with a good build), and his bits of offense looked really nice (especially a mean big boot while Finlay was on the apron). But the most important thing is that he could take a beating nicely, as Finlay was waiting to dish a beating. All of Finlay's combos looked great (I love his nasty short-arm clothesline into arguably the best elbow drop in da biz today), and he really laid everything in rough here (wouldn't be shocked to hear of Nikkuhls' ruptured spleen after the bombs away butt splash). Probably my favorite thing about it was it really highlighted how awesome Finlay is about not letting opponents rest on their laurels mid-match. Nikkulz is taking too long to get up? Finlay stomps his knuckles. Neekkolz in a loose abdominal stretch? Finlay starts working it and actively make it mean something (trying to kick off ropes, trying to grab his own arm to counter the leverage - something I had never seen done before but made all the sense in the world), and really made things seem more special than they could have been. Match also had some great false finishes which had me fooled. Great match, well worth 12 minutes of your time (****NOTE: Match starts around the 12 minute mark of that youtube link up above).

PAS: Like Eric said, this was a great example of Finlay as an action wrestler. You don't think of him as a workrate guy, but he is great at always giving you something interesting to look at. I also dug Doink finally getting his revenge for his mid 90's Austrian loss. Giant clown shoe as a weapon is pretty great. I don't think I have ever seen Finlay work this kind of 90s WWF heavy interference match. He times everything really well, and you get the maximum out of each shmozz spot


FINLAY INDY TOUR