PREMIER IX 6/7/15 Review

https://youtu.be/s20uk0Fnflk?t=1h24m24s

These guys run a couple hours away from me, but I've never checked them out live. I saw they put up a live stream of their most recent show so figured I would check out the goods.

1. Dom "The Bomb" Vitalli vs. Will Cuevas

Had never seen Vitalli before and mostly liked what I saw. I've also never been too impressed by Cuevas, but he had some nice stuff here, including some tight knees to the ribs and some mean right hands. He does get kind of lost when doing any sort of 360. That seems to be a Bay Area wrestling thing, doing some tornado Misawa elbow and getting lost halfway through your spin. Jeckles always does the same damn thing. Vitalli was really impressive about misses, really committed to a big missed elbow off the top and some charges. I like that kind of detail. Things kinda fall apart at the end with too many moves requiring one guy shoving another guy into ropes, but I'm game to see more of these two.

2. Buddy Royal vs. Joe Graves

Feed must have cut off during this one as most of the match is completely skipped over. Too bad, I was excited to see more Graves. Loved his quick cartwheel to avoid a low Royal dropkick, but that was sadly all I saw of the match :(

3. Gabriel Gallo vs. Sledge

Man I really dug this. I had seen Sledge once before, but he was more used as Cobb fodder. I had never seen Gallo and left really impressed. Both threw some nice bombs (Sledge had better punches, but the rest of Gallo's game seemed stronger) and worked stiff throughout. I loved Gallo's half camel clutch variations, wrenching back on one of Sledge's arms while he forearmed his jaw, pulled back on his nose and neck, really locked in. Both guys went hard on standing clotheslines (including Gallo's brutal match finishing one to the back of Sledge's neck) and Gallo keeps doing things I love like hard kneedrops to the chest. I want to see more of both of these guys, but especially Gallo.

4. Timothy Thatcher vs. Marcus Lewis

Well this was awesome. I had high expectations for it and it totally lived up to them. Lewis has been doing this for just a couple years, is a really nice guy and is improving really fast. One of my favorite local guys that I get to see on a regular basis. Thatcher has had an incredible last year and is now known nationally (I have to imagine his WM weekend EVOLVE matches were star making, the building was in love with him during the Hero match). I've never seen these two match up and it's been one of my little Bay Area "dream matches". The mat stuff is as good as expected, and Lewis brings more than I anticipated. At one point he does a mean scrambly boot scrape to avoid a Thatcher ankle pick, and Thatcher naturally works tons of tight cravates (one of them ripping out one of Lewis' dreadlocks, which Thatcher graciously hangs over a turnbuckle for him), and I like how aggressive Lewis is at fighting out of Thatcher's holds. My favorite little sequence was Lewis hitting a couple nice stomps, then a tight short knee to Thatcher's chin followed by a sick double knee drop to his stomach. After kicking out Thatcher dumps Lewis with a big release German and immediately pounces with a rough half nelson while scraping Lewis face with his wrist and forearm. Thatcher is always great at taking spills and he really made a lot of Lewis' strikes look great, leaning into uppercuts and kicks and doing nice Kawada falls for them. Really I like everything they do in this. Lewis hit one of the best missile dropkicks of recent memory, Thatcher does his badass floatover chickenwing into the Fujiwara (which was a nice nearfall since I've seen that sub beat tons of guys), some nasty stomps and elbows, his impressive deadlift Karelin suplex, really it's kind of crazy how much great stuff they cram into 12 minutes without ever making it seem like overkill. They just matched up incredibly well. I was even buying the upset finish, with Lewis throwing all of his weight into strikes and a big time shoulderblock, but then missing his 450 and bouncing his head off the mat. Thatcher's finish is gross as he does a headlock takeover (between he and Busick, maybe my favorite move of 2015) locks Lewis' arm and then traps Lewis' neck between his knees!! Great finish.

5. "Mr. Athletic" Jeff Cobb vs. Kaimana

When I first became aware of Cobb he was working a lot of dominant matches, working like young Lesnar or Scott Steiner; a hyper athletic guy with freakish strength who just steamrolled people. But the last several times I've seen him he's mostly worked from the bottom, with his opponent getting an early advantage and him making more of a late fast break. This match was similar, but Cobb's comeback was much longer than in other recent matches. I had never seen Kaimana before and my luck was really great with this show as every single guy I hadn't seen before, made me want to see them more. I don't remember a time where that has ever happened. Northern CA went through a dry patch in the mid 2000s but certainly seems like it's heating right back up. Kaimana is a stocky Hawaiian guy, Cobb is a stocky Guamanian (is that right? I wanted to not say "guy from Guam". Guamanian? That has to be it), we got a battle of the islands! I love it. Kaimana has some solid kicks that Cobb takes to his back and chest, including one brutal dropkick to a seated Cobb that noticeably scoots Cobb a few feet across the mat. Cobb's comeback is as impressive as you would want, with him doing several cool throws from positions he just happens to catch Kaimana in. I loved the tease to the Tour of the Islands and when he hits it it's epic. Such a freakish physical move. We also had a brutal callback spot where Cobb had hit his impressive standing shooting star, and went to hit it later in the match and Kaimana got his knee up right into Cobb's jaw. It looked like Sabu moonsaulting into a table leg. Cobb's head snaps back and my god it's just a sick spot. Finishing run is great as Kaimana starts decking Cobb with hard elbows (including a sick back elbow) but Cobb catches him with the Tour of the Islands. Awesome match.

6. JR Kratos vs. Dylan Drake

I wasn't looking forward to a 20 minute Dylan Drake match, but damn did this end up delivering. This was probably the best match I've seen from both guys, especially impressed by Kratos and his dedication to putting over Drake's legwork. Kratos starts things off with an awesome headlock takeover, and it's official, I'm declaring the headlock takeover the HIGHSPOT OF 2015! Luckily I'm a notary, nobody can ever question this declaration. I've never really seen Kratos go on the mat, and I really liked what I saw. I've also never seen Drake this interesting on the mat, really going right after Kratos' leg. It's usually dangerous to work over a limb so early in a match as that puts tons of pressure on somebody to sell the rest of the way, but Kratos did so with gusto. The guy looked like he had a believable quad injury here, and it set up some fun spots like Kratos missing his trademark running kick due to being too slow. Drake still takes too long to set up some things, and can be kinda clunky, and moves like a powerbomb onto his own knee just seem too indy, but the rest of his game was tighter than I've ever seen before. His elbows and kicks were great (really loved a yakuza kick to a seated Kratos), he also bumps big for all of Kratos' throws (including a big one that rolls him off his head) and leans into some rough strikes (loved Kratos' jumping knee from a clinch). His attacks to the knee were on point, the legwork looked painful, and Kratos finishing with mounted elbows worked as the elbows looked nasty. Really good match, different than I've seen Kratos work before and the best I've seen Drake.

PREMIER seems to be the (ahem) premier northern CA fed from the stuff I've seen. Everybody seems to really work up to the atmosphere as the really good guys continue to look really good, and the lesser guys really kick things up a notch. I was legitimately impressed by everybody on this show, and I can't remember a time where I've ever said that before. Looks like I gotta start making the trek to Gilroy whenever they run next. (NOTE** the above linked feed has no sound, and sometimes matches have abrupt cuts, but I would highly recommend watching the show. Really good stuff)