2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Barnett v. Thatcher

Josh Barnett v. Timothy Thatcher ESW 12/16

PAS: I am all in on Barnett joining the ex-MMA guys doing indy wrestling. Both Barnett and Thatcher have done Snake Pit training and the first part of this match had some really aggressive mat work, including some really nice big boy take downs by Barnett, he is my favorite guy to watch grab and throw someone. I liked Barnett's body kicks a lot, but he kind of whiffs on a high kick and Thatcher does some really OTT selling for it. Thatcher has some very Fujiwara aspects to his game,  he does a great German counter into an armbar, but he should take the Fujiwara style of only selling for things that connect. I did really love Barnett's flurry in the corner right before the finish, very cool mixing up of body and head shots. Fun stuff, glad this showed up.

ER: I really love pro wrestling Josh Barnett. He reminds me of some of the bigger RINGS guys, and there's no one bigger today who does the mat grappling style. Thatcher is one of the bigger guys in that trend and Barnett just dwarfs him. The grappling was predictably good here, with Thatcher rolling to try to get that arm, at one point tossing him with a cool gutwrench (with Barnett subtly grabbing at his shoulder afterwards). Barnett brings some real pain to kneebars and tries for some cool rolling headlocks; his strikes are great and the flurry to end the match (before his epic clutch suplex to finish) was my favorite part of the match, throwing out knees (his knee strikes all match were great), body shots, quick shots to the face and neck, and impossible to defend assault. The missed high kick was extremely awkward, as Thatcher sells it all the way to the back, and it's made entirely more awkward by the crowd being mostly silent the entire match. Watching Thatcher deflate towards the mat in a deep space vacuum of silence after the only missed strike in the match just bummed me out. But, we have the rest of the match, and that was good.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST