2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Sami v. Speedball

10. Sami Callihan v. Speedball Mike Bailey CZW 2/13

PAS: This is a battle of 2010s best indy style guy with 2015 best indy style guy and it lives up to that billing. Callihan is really great at beating on high flyers and Bailey is awesome at fighting back from a beating and they mesh wonderfully. I can tell this will be a great touring match, the same way Bailey v. Busick was. Loved Callihan's super nasty shoot JYD headbutts, and him dickishly ripping away the ankle pad. Bailey mixed in his kicks nicely and Sami really made them look violent. Normally I hate one count kick outs, but I kind of dug it here, because Bailey didn't jump back on offense and instead just died a little slower.

ER: Fun match, that seems like the framework to something that they're no doubt going to keep building on across the country. They started with some silliness, and Bailey wasn't as on throughout the match as I've seen him, but this settled in rather nicely. I tend to like Callihan most against bigger guys as he can hang and be just as nasty, but it's incredibly fun watching him be a bully. I loved Bailey hitting kind of a soft dive, followed immediately by Sami breaking out a far more devastating dive through the bottom ropes. Bailey works his various machine gun kicks throughout, and I like how it was punctuated by a stiffer Callihan exclamation point kick. I liked Callihan ripping the legpad off and going after Bailey's leg, though seemed a little late in the match to realize Bailey has nasty kicks and it might benefit him to work his leg over. The half nelson suplex was nasty, as was that brutal package tombstone, though I'd rather the indy scene not get in the habit of kicking out of something like that. Still, I liked the punishment sliding elbow after the kickout. I'm really looking forward to what else these guys certainly have in store for 2016.


2016 MOTY MASTER LIST