2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

6. Drew Gulak v. Sami Callihan PWG 12/11

ER: Holy hell this was great. 10 minute matches are my kryptonite and they can't possibly come better than this one. Sami returns from 2.5 years of exile and celebrates by booting Gulak in the face, booting him in the face on the floor, chopping the hell out of him, slamming him into fans, giving him a freaking EXPLODER into fans! Gulak catches his breath by dodging a charging Sami and sending him hurtling into chairs in classic Callihan fashion, and then it's Gulak's turn to punish as he dumps him hard on the apron with a back suplex. Gulak chops a ringpost in a spot that always makes me squirm, and the fans in Reseda being so damn on top of them makes this atmosphere unbeatable. Back in and Sami unleashes some hellish face washes and then boots Gulak's hand. Gulak is crafty though and catches Sami with a quick and powerful deadlift German. But Sami is relentless and eventually we see him superkick Gulak's knee, hit a fine powerbomb and roll it into a stretch muffler. God I love the stretch muffler. Gulak rolls out and traps Sami in the ankle lock, but Sami gets out and starts just violently stomping on Gulak's face before getting the tap with the muffler. Good lord. I love these guys. I loved the tone shifts in this, the strategy shifts, the unparalleled violence. Gulak shows he's more than just grappling and he can fight with the best of them; Sami shows how underutilized he's been for the last few years. This was sooooo damn good.

PAS: PWG is really at its best in these quick sprints. This kind of bang bang bang match can really burn you out when they go 20+ minutes with multiple kick outs, but if they have guys just go out there and fire all cylinders for 10 minutes you don't get sick of it. Sami Callihan maybe the best sprint worker in the world, he is so intense and has a bunch of great vicious fast moving spots. Loved all the stuff with the fans, that crowd is jammed in there and you might as well use LA hipster nerds as weapons. Gulak was great out of his element, and that stretch muffler stomp finish was nasty as fuck.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST