Wrestlemania Weekend Cherry Picking Friday: Joey Janela's Spring Break 2

ER: 100+ hours of wrestling happened in one city over 3 days, so we've been trying to go through and watch the stuff that appealed to us. Here's a couple matches from Spring Break 2 that looked fun.


PCO vs. WALTER

PAS: Man this was awesome, it was basically like if Randy the Ram vs Necro Butcher was an actual match. PCO is certifiable, WALTER chop his chest so hard that it turned eggplant purple, he got powerbombed through a table, ate shit on a moonsault to the floor, and just kept going. WALTER was great as a violent bully who got more and more flustered as this insane old person kept standing in front of him and firing back. The chop exchange in this match worked so much better then the elbow exchange in Cobb vs Ishii the day before, because they built to it, it was PCO absorbing a beating and refusing to back down and firing back, instead of just two guys exchanging to exchange. Loved PCO's tope and top rope rana too, what a certifiable nutcase. Great match, will probably end up the most memorable indy match of the weekend.

ER: This was really fun, total PCO showcase with WALTER giving him a venue to try all of his new offense. Ouellet is basically working as "middle aged and crazy Terry Funk", and it's crazy to note that PCO here is literally just a few years younger than that era Funk. He looks crazy, like a sadistic gym teacher burn victim, and wrestles as if he has a bucket list of moves he'd like to attempt before he's done with wrestling. This all builds to nuttier and nuttier PCO moments, from a moonsault off the top to the floor (that looked downright Funk-y, all crooked and landing more on floor than men), and WALTER was awesome at being kind of perplexed by it all. WALTER mostly just threw chops, and PCO's chest had turned black halfway through the match, looking like he was getting some cool new Uso ink. PCO hits a dive, a great Finlay roll, tries a split legged moonsault because why the hell not, gets German suplexed onto his stomach, hits a huge top rope rana, and flattens WALTER with the cannonball. Fully agree with Phil about the chop exchange, this wasn't throwing blows back and forth to a clap along rhythm, this was a crazy old guy refusing to accept that he couldn't stand up to this giant of a man (seriously some of the camera work in this match made WALTER look Great Khali size), really added emotional heft to the match. PCO's execution wasn't always there, but the crazier the attempts made by a wild Canadian pirate, the more leash is given on how pretty something needs to be. Truly a weird and unexpected display, and impressive because he easily could have gotten away with doing far less and still gotten praised for it.

Mike Quackenbush vs. David Starr

ER: This was tons of fun. Quackenbush works a couple times a year and looks just as great as he ever has. I'm positive he and Starr have never matched up before and it's an immediately great pairing, with Starr getting tangled up in all of Quack's cool movement. Quack is probably my favorite hybrid wrestler of all time, with the biggest and weirdest bag of tricks in wrestling. The announcers point out that he has such a deep pool of offense that you never know what he'll dust off, and Starr has no problem meeting that head on. We get some cool twisty armdrag exchanges, and a great moment where Quack gets Starr into a snug abdominal stretch, Starr shakes him loose, but Quack springs back right into the stretch. It's like that scene in Young Frankenstein where the monster catapults a girl on a see saw and she lands perfectly tucked into her bed. I'm always surprised by big Quack bumps in his "comeback" matches, as for a retired injured guy he sure doesn't hold back. One moment Quack will be doing something super smooth and graceful, like his note perfect Hijo del Santo style rolling senton, and the next moment Starr lariats him off the apron and instead of bumping on the apron he does this great dropdown back bump splat on the floor, and later Starr chucks him a couple times into the turnbuckles with nasty death valley drivers. Starr has some cool counters of his own, really liked a small package reversal, and he really starts crushing Quack with some suplexes and running knees. We hit a crazy peak down the stretch where Quack plasters Starr into the guardrail with a dive, instantly slides back in the ring to follow up as the camera follows his movements, and as it pans back we see Starr waiting at the same time Quack sees him, and catches Quack with a brutal DDT into the apron. Starr was smart to work heel here (though heel Quack would have been fun, nobody would have wanted to boo him), and I liked the finish of Quack trying to work this nasty double arm submission, really looking to rip both arms off, and Starr finally breaks free and hits a big lariat. This was a great mix of stiff work and artistry, a match style not a lot of guys can pull off.

PAS: I thought Quack was really fun here, he has a weird unique style and really knows how to integrate his weird stuff into a compelling match. The spot where he bounces back into the abdominal stretch was really cool. I did like the story of Starr getting frustrated and taking cheap shots, although I thought the Beyond guy on commentary was a little OTT in his Starr bashing (Starr just left/got fired from Beyond). I wasn't totally buying Starr in this (I am not buying Starr at all really) , I thought when he tried to go hold for hold with Quack it got a little dancey, and his frustration faces were on 11. Always fun to see Quack, and he works well as a special attraction.