2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Nightmare v. Buck

34. Billy Buck v. Nightmare Kyle Matthews Anarchy 6/10

PAS: I loved this, I have been talking a lot about how Matthews is working as an 80s babyface, here he meets his 80s heel and they have an awesome 6:05 style match. This is basically Ricky Steamboat v. Arn Anderson. Buck cribs a bunch from Arn, he hits the fake punch into a DDT, great hooking left hand punch and a sweet spinebuster, he also had some other cool moves of his own, I loved the superkick to the ankle into a figure four. Matthews is just great, he gets a little fancier here because it was a big match and throws a tope, but hell Tim Horner had a tope too so I forgive it. Lots of great near falls and a killer finish, exactly what I was hoping this match would deliver.

ER: Yeah this felt like one of those Arn Anderson vs. Alex Wright matches, but better. Matthews is better than 1995 Wright. Buck isn't Arn, but that probably didn't need to be said. Buck is still really good. Matthews is a great underdog and Buck is a vicious dude. He throws his whole body into strikes and Matthews knows how to crumple in neat ways, and they wonderfully build this great little slice of 80s territory upstart vs. cocky bully, to the point where a Matthews dropkick felt like a major moment. The superkick to the knee was definitely my favorite spot as I was not expecting it, but Buck pulled it off way better than most kickpad workers I've seen with similar spots. I do wish they hadn't 100% aped the fake punch -> DDT, especially going to it so early in the match. And I wish Matthews didn't use a backcracker, doesn't really fit with his whole thing. But overall this was some classic wrestling.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST