2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Allin v. Page

4. Ethan Page v. Darby Allin EVOLVE 79 2/25

PAS: Great match, easily the best I have seen from either guy. Allin is truly insane, he gets presslamed from the stage into a post, and then gets his hands handcuffed behind and takes multiple bumps on his handcuffed wrists. Page has been trying to do Franchise Shane Douglas and this is the first time I thought he got there (not that I love Shane Douglas, but Shane was way more effective at his stuff then Page has been so far). He came off as such as a hatable prick and laid in the kind of beating you need to get this match over. Allin's comeback was insane, he is hitting rana's and dropkicks with his hands cuffed one of the craziest wrestling moments I can remember, like something out of a Jackie Chan movie.

ER: What a dangerous and unique and unbelievably fun match. I've been wanting to get an Allin match on our MOTY list for awhile now, he's so damn nuts but the work didn't always add up to a great match. Now THIS match is like nothing I've ever seen before. Page attacks to start but before long Allin is doing his great cannonball into Page and his Gatekeepers, but Page drags him up on the stage and literally press slam throws him perpendicularly into one of the ringposts. My god. It was almost like Bigelow press slamming Spike into the crowd, but if he had done it into a ringpost instead. Totally nuts. And if that wasn't crazy enough, things get crazier. Page handcuffs Allin's hands behind his back, and launches Allin upside down into the buckles. Seeing him bump without being able to use his arms and hands to break his fall was kind of sick, and completely insane. They work a lot of impossibly cool visual spots, like Page missing a charge because Allin did a flip off the middle ropes, or Page hitting a pump kick and Allin having no way to protect himself. The Allin comeback is glorious as he hits a gorgeous swinging rana and hits all these great JYD headbutts, and as the Gatekeepers get up on the apron Allin flies feet first into both of them. This is insane. He even grabs the ropes with his teeth to pull himself up! It's like watching a Zach Gowen match, except, you know...no arms. But from there Page just destroys him. He hits this vicious powerslam off the top rope and...I mean, I have no clue how Allin's arms just didn't snap. They're bent back behind him and he's just getting slammed right on them, and again as he eats a powerbomb. Completely crazy spectacle, again like nothing you've seen.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST