2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

25. Da Hit Squad v. Low-Ki/Homicide Beyond Wrestling 12/27

PAS: Tom and I drove way too long to watch this matchup live back in 2001 (Road Report Here), and it is a trip that this is still so good 15 years later. The 2001 match had DHS working as stooging heels, and this was closer to the potato fest we were hoping for a decade and a half ago. Ki and Monsta especially unload on each other, including some very heavy Jerry Blackwellish forearms by Mack. Ki continues his awesome 2015 where he had an almost Volk Hanish schedule, show up 5 or 6 times and have all of them be awesome, he works really hard here including getting thrown into the fourth row. I am not sure if Maff and Homicide have been in a ring together since the weird Maff blackballing, but they had some nice exchanges. Kind of a BS finish with Pinkie Sanchez running out and then getting smashed by all four, who do kind of a Puerto Rican clique salute in the middle of the ring. Would have like to see this have a proper finish, but as an exhibition of classic JAPW it was pretty great. RIP Fat Frank.

ER: Now these are 4 guys I like, and they all match up nicely. I also like the vibe of the building with fans right up next to the apron. I do not like Rob Naylor on commentary. But mute buttons exist and it somehow makes the shots being dished out look even more stiff. Low-Ki has been kind of under my radar the last several years, whether he was working promotions I don't much care about, or just plain not working much, but damn if he isn't just as good as he was when I first saw him. Feels like I potentially have several years of really fun Ki matches that I may have missed. DHS really feel like guys who still shouldn't be this much fun. Normally heavyset guys don't age well over a 15 year period, but Maff looks to be in shape and both have no problems leaning into all sorts of strikes, and Ki and Homicide have no problem dishing strikes. A lot of this is nice and sloppy, but I don't want precision when I watch Hit Squad matches, I want sloppy brawls and stiff shots thrown at unsafe parts of the face and body. DHS always throw really great shoulderblocks and body work, but they did little things that surprised me like when Maff pulls out a single leg on Ki, drops a bunch of elbows and then grabs a body vice. Ki is great throughout at sticking and moving, and while some of DHS double teams are a little rusty the stiff shots by everybody more than made up for it. Run-In Finish stinks as things looked to be moving into an insane peak, with DHS lawn darting Ki into an empty swimming pool and Homicide hitting an insanely fast flip dive through the ropes. So crummy finish aside, how could you not have fun watching these guys crash into each other?


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST