2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

17. Drew Gulak v. Timothy Thatcher EVOLVE 8/8

PAS: Really great match, the three way battle between these two and Biff Busick are really the best thing in wrestling right now with the WWE on a bit of a match quality dip, and lucha having a lot of great but not transcendent matches. This is worked in that mix of catch, shootstyle and 80's technical wrestling. Thatcher really works this like a power guy vs. Gulak's slippery opportunist. He had some great Billy Robinson-esque throws and nasty clubs and forearms, at one point he grabs Gulak by the fingers and snaps them, he also really violently tears up Gulak's arm. Meanwhile Gulak is spinning in to armbars and kneebars just hoping to catch Thatcher before he is overwhelmed. He eventually counters a deadlift and is able to grab a kneebar. Not the smoothest finish, which may put this a little below the best of these series, but this was a corker.

ER: The best thing about these guys, is that there is actual payoff to the great work within. Limb work is not exactly a new thing in indy wrestling, but how many times have we all watched a match where a guy is getting his leg taking apart, but he's a high flier so you know it's just a matter of time before the limb work gets blown off. You can't really fully blame the flier in that scenario as it's not really his fault the other guy put him into an impossible situation. Not selling a limb that's been worked over is always cited as a problem, but working over a limb so much that a human wouldn't believably be able to use it is just as much if not more of a problem within a worked wrestling match. Knowing your opponents' limits is arguably more important than knowing your own, and watching Gulak and Thatcher it's clearly two guys who know what the other can handle, and not only two guys who feel like they've wrestled hundreds of matches against each other, but two guys who you wouldn't mind seen work a hundred more. There are always great little moments in these matches, but they always come together as some sort of constant overall snapshot. You don't get any traditional comebacks, as instead they're a constant struggle with Thatcher being a nasty bully and Gulak trying to scrabble around for any opening. If you're into awesome holds, nasty shots to vulnerable joints, and one of the best piledrivers I've seen in ages, you maaaayyyy be into this.


2014 MASTER LIST

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Segunda Caida Reader Appreciation II: The Legend of Curly's Gold

Wow, you people are awesome. [edit out you calling them "you people" before you post this] So a couple months ago we broke our record for unique page views in a month. And then we broke it again the next month. And the next. We've set a new readership record every month for the past 5 months. This past month we were up 22% from the previous month. We're up 238% from December 2013. That blows my mind. Who would have guessed regular, reliable posting - some of it genuinely above average - would actually draw more reader interest than taking weeks off at a time!?

So, I'm gonna open the floor up to more requests. Okay, I haven't actually finished all of the requests from last time. I work, and I'm not proud to say that I've actually watched wrestling on my phone in the bathroom while at work. You gotta fit it in, people. And Encore Westerns has been showing old Cheyenne episodes every night, so I gotta watch those. If they bring back Cimarron Strip I'm likely never watching wrestling again. Anyway I promise I will do those old requests first. This week. I have Friday off. I swear these will get done.

But seriously, thank you for reading our blog. Thanks to great contributions from now-lucha-expert Matt we've somehow done 1-2 posts a day the whole year. You rewarded us by reading them. So go ahead and request stuff. What do you want to read? What do you want us to review? What are you sick of reading (please don't answer that, Phil can take the criticism but I'm fragile)? You're the ones reading this, I'll happily watch any garbage that you want.

Thanks again people, and thanks for making it worthwhile. We may need to do another podcast with maybe over 10% wrestling content.

P.S. Don't bother requesting Jack Birthrider fanfic. Of course that will happen. Also, a Brief History of Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston.

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