2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

48. Drew Gulak v. Trevor Lee EVOLVE 49 10/17

PAS: Cool to see Lee mix it up with the EVOLVE grappler crew. Gulak was nasty working over Lee's knee, loved the ways he would catch it in the ropes, and there was a couple of vicious takedowns on that knee. Gulak also had an awesome leglock which was almost Navarroish. Lee did a nice job hanging on the mat, and sprinkled in some of his cool big spots. Slower paced then some of the other big Lee matches this year, but I liked this a lot.

ER: Phil originally wrote this up much closer to the actual event date, so I'm only two years late to the party. We've both seen so many Lee main event title matches in the past year that it was fun going back to a time before he was CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champ, before he began perfecting his main event title defense style. So it was neat going back and seeing how some of his spots have evolved, how certain things have become more reversible, and how other things are utilized better in his present matches. Both looked good here but I thought Gulak looked awesome. His focused mat attack was really becoming a favorite of mine, so it's a shame that two years after this match we get to see only one of these guys having the opportunity for weekly classics. But nevermind that, this is fun and that's what matters. Lee keeps trying to take things to his faster crazy level and Gulak is always right there to ground him, and while Lee's highspots always look good (especially loved a snap German suplex late in the match) I always love a good grounding. Gulak looks like a total ace with the quickness and ease he pulls off some of these tricks. Seeing him grab a wristlock and then snap back so fast, rolling through and springing to his feet - now with wrist control - was like Regal on fast forward. Later we see him DDT Lee's knee, and do this tripped out dragon screw that's short, fast, and ends with Lee's knee being brought down over Gulak's shoulder in nasty fashion. I don't actually recall seeing that before, and it looked vicious. I did think it went a bit too long, and Lee didn't always pay much attention to the attack his knee had been under, so that dropped it down a bit. But it was neat seeing a future main event style more in its infancy, and a nice reminder that there are dozens of Gulak matches I've never seen before, more than enough to satisfy.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST