2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Riddle v. Hero 1

6. Matt Riddle v. Chris Hero EVOLVE 57 3/20/16

PAS: Great match, Riddle can be a pretty good cocky jerk, but this was Riddle as a babyface fighting a bully and he is awesome at it. Hero is amazing as a bully, and really smacked around Riddle with big elbows and kicks. Hero working over Riddles foot was super nasty, attacking Riddle's feet are getting to be like attacking Kobashi's knees during the NOAH days, but Hero had some of the cooler attacks on Riddle's foot. He really twisted and turned the muscles and bones and I don't see how Riddle wasn't cramping up in the morning. Riddle is great at desperately fighting back, and his submission ability means he is never out of it. Riddle has worked as a KO guy before, but this was really a submission fighter against a big striker, and Riddle is a great Carlos Newton.

ER: Tons of awesome stuff here, awesome Hero performance bossing Riddle around the ring, and I love a good boss Hero match. Riddle is a real comeback king, never quite showing the hail mary vulnerability of someone like Fujiwara, but showing a different kind of danger as you never know what will actually put Riddle down, and he seemingly is dangerous no matter what move you try to do to him. Hero gets downright sadistic in the early goings, getting pissed that a senton landed on sharp knees, so decides to drop a knee on one of Riddle's bare feet, then work over that foot. What a monster. On the floor and Hero throws a gorgeous worked punch, almost laughs off Riddle's open handed strikes and sends him reeling seemingly 5 feet backwards from a colossal elbow. Riddle plays it great, almost gets knocked back over the ring steps, but Riddle's selling is no surprise at this point. We get some cool unexpected reversals, some surprise moments of spot recognition, all of it great. I loved Riddle going for his flying springboard knee and Hero predicting it, doing his Misawa rope feint as Riddle crashed and burned. Hero is so great at thinking on the fly sometimes. You can see moments where Riddle was maybe supposed to go back on offense, but a shot didn't land the way it should have, so Hero just takes back over. It's very Finlay of him. It's like someone misses there timing when doing double dutch, so Hero just keeps flipping them ropes until Riddle is ready to jump back in. Hero's knees, pump kicks, elbows and punches are all on point, but Riddle is so damn tough to put down. You sense no matter how devastating Hero is, Riddle is in this. Hero's piledriver is quick and lands with a thud, and then when he goes for a second Riddle yanks out a triangle that I didn't see coming, and clearly neither did Hero. Riddle is full of awesome scrambly-yet-logical reversals and these two just match up unsurprisingly well. Big boss Hero and comeback kid Riddle. It's great.


2016 ONGOING MOTY LIST