Low-Ki Advent Calendar Night 21: Ki vs. Crash

Low-Ki vs. Crash Holly WWF Metal 2/17/01 - FUN

PAS: This was Ki working WWE Metal jobber duty, but he gets to show off some stuff, including his big handspring tornado kick right to Holly's jaw. I don't really remember much about Crash Holly, but he seemed to be working a bunch of fun carny roll-ups. I thought he was all comedy bumps, but instead he was wrestling like Checkmate Tony Charles.

ER: I thought this was some fantastic syndicated pro wrestling. Metal was my JAM during this era. I was doing my college radio show midnight-2 AM on Saturday nights (The Late Night Honey Run), and during my show I would set a tape for Worldwide and Metal. I would play music, get calls from drunk students, pick up some Taco Bell on the way home (2 bean burritos, 2 double decker tacos), then plop on the couch and see what jams were on my syndicated pro wrestling. I loved it. Metal was basically thee place to see snippets of random indy guys that I had read about. Ki was a semi-regular on Metal/Jakked during this era, popping up memorably every month or two and actually getting talked about by commentary during matches. That wasn't a thing they did for every indy jobber. I remember being really excited when Ki worked the West coast and I got to talk with him about his Essa Rios match on Metal, and Ki said "You see that guy in the front row flip out when I threw that kick?" I followed Crash more than Phil did, if only because he came up in local indies and I was extremely excited when he made it to WWE. But even I didn't remember him breaking out trippy nearfall roll-ups. I don't remember anybody working these kind of roll-ups in early 2000s WWE, or even in 2000s indies. World of Sport tape watching didn't seem to hit indy wrestling until maybe 2003. But Crash breaks out a couple cool ones here, trapping Ki's arms behind his head (as if he was standing backwards during a stump puller) and flipping that into a roll up, then later trapping Ki's arms, pulling them through Ki's legs and flipping him into another cool pin. Both of these roll ups are ripe for stealing today, nobody would know the reference point by now. Crash also has a dope reversal on a tornado DDT, turning it into an inverted atomic drop. Most WWE Metal Ki matches were more competitive than your average WWE guy vs. indy guy, and Ki getting to hit his handspring roundhouse kick is a super showcase move for someone to get, and the crowd responded accordingly. Lots of fond personal nostalgia from me for this era, glad it still holds up as good fun.


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