2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

27. Preston Quinn/Pat Cusik v. Damien Wayne/Mike Booth Fusion Wrestling 9/27

PAS: This was a street fight with Wayne having to leave town if he lost. Wayne, Booth and Quinn were an awesome trio team called the Old School Empire for years, in Fusion for the last couple of years Wayne had been feuding with Quinn since turning on him, and Booth was his surprise tag partner, also turning on PQ. This was a great old school southern brawl, Quinn has some of the best punches in wrestling, and the other three aren't far behind, and lots of this match was just toe to toe fist fighting. They build nicely to some big near falls, including Quinn hitting one of the prettiest brainbusters I have seen in years, and planting Wayne with a spinebuster. The finish was pretty cool, with a Booth cheap shot chop block leading to a huge Savage elbow on Cusik. Exactly what you would want from this match on paper, and well worth the $5 I paid for the show. Feels like I am going to pick up all of the Wayne v. PQ stuff, they are both still so good.

ER: What a great little fight this was. Just a rough and tumble tornado rules brawl that never devolves into a mess, just comes off like a chaotic street fight. I think Quinn has unequivocally the best punches in wrestling today, which lends nicely to a street fight. All of his shots built to nice moments in the match. If you thought his short lefts were nasty just wait until you see that hooking left! His punches lend legitimacy to this kind of match, and his brainbuster begins to plaster in that hole that Hashimoto left in your heart. Then he goes and puts a wax seal on the whole thing by breaking out the Anderson spinebuster. Preston Quinn, just going down the list and ticking off the boxes of all the things I love about wrestling. Damien Wayne is also a guy who is just as good as the first time I saw him. His chops are brutal enough that they don't look silly in a street fight. Since this is No DQ and tornado rules we don't get so many pinfall saves and cutting off the ring, as we get kicks to the balls and guys getting chucked into ringposts. That seems like a fine tradeoff to me. I had never seen Cusick before but he filled in fine as a scrappy weakish link on Quinn's team, and Booth is a guy who always looks good when I see him yet remains a guy I forget to look for. Good find Phil, everybody else go toss some dollars towards Fusion to watch a few great wrestlers who more people should talk about.


2014 MASTER LIST