2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Boyce v. Fatu

Boyce Legrande v. Jacob Fatu Phoenix Pro Wrestling 3/10

ER: Phoenix Pro Wrestling is a local Bay Area fed that I have been involved with since its inception, over two years ago. My good friend Josh is the owner/operator, and my good friend Tim Livingston and I do commentary/play by play, respectively. It's the only fed that regularly operates in Sonoma County, and it's exciting to have our own little pro wrestling fed. This was our biggest show in our 2+ years, both in importance and attendance. We had a year long build to a main event cage match, and the fans turned out in droves, shattering our previous attendance high. It was a really special night.

Boyce has been wrestling in the Bay Area for almost 20 years (well, with a 6+ year break in the middle), and was part of some pretty pimped "indy wrestling boom" matches of the late 90s/early 00s, I think even landing on a Schneider comp or two, and he's been on almost every PPW show. Fatu is the son of Tonga Kid, and I think he's only been wrestling a few years, but already looks ready for prime time. The crowd was hot all night and this match put everyone over the top. Both guys worked stiff, and Fatu has some ridiculous speed and leaping ability, totally unexpected if you haven't seen him before. The way he whipped over the ropes to land on the apron blew my mind, but that springboard lariat? Forget it. Boyce has spent the last 2 years getting over his big falling lariat as his "PPW finisher", so Fatu kicking out of it was a pretty big deal in our fed. Crowd wasn't expecting it. Fatu building to hitting his handspring moonsault was big, and I flipped for the pop up Samoan drop. I thought we were getting a legit title change, and couldn't think of a good way for Boyce to come back, so I quite liked the almost desperation "get the knees up" finish, with the more inexperienced Fatu beating himself and Boyce escaping with his title. My personal favorite PPW match so far, from a fed I couldn't be more proud of.

PAS: I came at this match without any emotional investment and really enjoyed it. I missed the middle 18 years of Legrande's career, saw him as a skinny rookie enjoyed him, and am now enjoying him as a more solidly built veteran. Fatu has some fun spots, is really agile for such a big guy, but this was clearly Legrande building an exciting match around those spots. Really loved both near falls and the finish was a great way for a crafty veteran to escape with the belt. Makes me want to watch more of both guys.


2017 ONGOING MOTY LIST