2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Hit Squad v. H8 Club

23. Da Hit Squad (Mafia/Monsta Mack) v. The H8 Club (Nick Gage/Nate Hatred) Beyond Wrestling 10/28

PAS: This was a 2000s Jersey dirtbag indy dream match that never happened, and it was as uncouth and violent as you would have hoped for. Potatoes being tossed out left and right, unprotected chair shots, slaps right in the mouth, just a pleasure to watch. I always thought Hatred was kind of big goof, which is still sort of true, but he took a beating and looked the part of a Golem Nick Gage drew from clay. Gage is amazing, he has an unhinged aura, like a modern Bruiser Brody if Brody was the stabber rather then the stabbie, he is also at his prime as a wrestler. He was great here, taking insane bumps (he flies over the top of the rinngpost to the floor, gets presslammed head first into a wall) and dishing out big receipts. We even got a cool bit of selling, Monsta and Gage are exchanging big tooth loosening foreamrs and Gage just collapses like he was in concussion protocol, this allowed Monsta to stand over a dazed and glassy eyed King and talk spicy, it also led to a great finish as Monsta got too confident and got caught with a piledriver. Rare dream match which totally delivered.

ER: Yeah this delivered everything you'd want from four bald and burly thugs punching mouths for 14 minutes. This was a wild brawl that never settled into a traditional tag-in match structure, but still benefitted from some traditional tag saves...but nobody wants traditional tag wrestling from this match, we wanted meaty shots to cheekbones and edges of chairs hitting ulna bones and huge men hitting concrete in awful ways. I was impressed with everybody here, even Hatred, who as Phil correctly points out has always been a big goof. His lummox tendencies played nicely off of Gage, who works like the Energizer bunny with a rap sheet. I love Gage's selling in this so much as it's much closer to Eddie Kingston, with a big great theatrical moment (him trading forearms and then just falling over before a sure deathblow from a running Mack could land) and other moments of him not staying down for long, but holding at aches and pains while being hit. He moves quick and lands hard, takes an insane bump over the ringpost on a backdrop, gets thrown full bore through some doors to the outside (which was a truly great visual in the match, as the building was dark and outside was bright, so you get Gage crashing violently from blackness into bright light and disappearing, as if he broke the space time continuum. You could almost hear Gage saying "Oh my god, it's full of stars!" Maff and Mack somehow haven't lost a step, Mafia especially is shockingly agile this many years on. I flipped out for his tope but he had several other moments of quickness, like that fast low spear off the ropes (actually the best spear I've seen hit in wrestling this year). I really loved this, as it brought plenty of crazy spots, plenty of mean shots, plenty of stiff arm lariats, a crazy caffeinated (or other) performance from Gage, really great brawl.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST