Low-Ki Advent Calendar Night 23: PWG Legends 4 Way

Low-Ki vs. Necro Butcher vs. Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston PWG 8/3/08 - EPIC

PAS: This is a four way made up of incredible match ups. Kingston vs. Hero and Ki vs. Necro are all time feuds and every other combo of these guys have had amazing singles matchups against each other. This took a minute to get going, there was some early Necro and Kingston comedy which didn't do much for me, but man when it got rolling it was as violent as promised. These are four guys who throw with abandon, and there were parts of this match that was uncomfortable, Ki hit a koppo kick on Hero that looked like it sliced his skull like a meat cleaver, and then hit a koppo on Necro that looked like it broke his wrist. Necro was throwing huge potato right hands on everyone, Kingston was throwing big chops, talking shit, and Aja level backfists. We get a nice Ki vs. Necro section, no one takes full force kicks to the face like Necro, and if he is going to kicked in the temple he is going to try to clean Ki's teeth with his fist.  Match finished with Hero KOing Kingston with a big elbow while Ki was trying to tap Necro. Hero grabs the mic after the match, and calls Kingston a piece of shit and they have an awesome violent pull apart. The internet thinks it might have been a shoot, (Kingston hasn't been back to PWG since) and there are definitely stuff in it that don't feel like wrestling, Hero throws a slap right to Kingston's ear, and Kingston tries to choke him and Hero violent throws the back of his head into Kingston's face, I love this feud so much. Real treat which delivers all of violence you want.

ER: I had never seen this before, and it's just about the most indy wrestling dream match you can get in the Segunda Caida universe. I've never gotten the chance to see Kingston live (he really didn't make it out to CA a ton), but the others I've seen live several times and it was always super memorable. The two Necro matches I've seen live were such fun experiences, me running around a venue following all the action. I saw him in an SF club working King Dabada, a big fat guy, and they brawled all over a small club and fell onto Rachel's sister and her girlfriend. Just a big sweaty fat guy and a hillbilly brawler falling onto their laps. All these guys are among my all time favorites so this was exciting just knowing this match existed. But that it also wound up totally delivering on its on-paper potential, just made this kick extra ass. It felt set-up for disappointment due to high hopes, but over-delivered. The early comedy was a fun twist from the violence that was to follow, and limiting it to the very beginning was fine. Because I wasn't thinking about Kingston running away when every body in the match was throwing fists and boots and kicks and elbows at each other. There's a fantastic  sequence where Hero grabs Ki in this nasty cravate while Ki is flopping about, and Kingston breaks it up with a nasty spinning backfist on Hero, and immediately pins Ki which narrowly gets broken up by Necro. Ki hits his nastiest ever koppo kick into the middle of Hero's forehead and then turns around and throws his nastiest ever koppo kick to Necro's swinging arm. Necro's arm selling looked great, probably because the man just took an insane kick to the arm. Necro punched a lot of face (loved another Ki crumbling sell), Ki bounced off Necro's spine with a Warriors Way while Necro was draped in the ropes, and the end is sudden and violent, Hero finally dropping Kingston with one of several elbows. This match delivers everything you could ever want it to, jumping a high bar.

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More 80s Christmas AWA! On Heenan! On Martel! On Blackwell and Gagne!

Rick Martel vs. Bobby Heenan AWA 12/25/82

ER: Network puts up new hunky Rick Martel, Rachel is going to be interested in seeing new hunky Rick Martel. Every time we see some early 80s Martel she just exclaims "He's such a good babyface!" This is, I believe, the only wrestler she has said this about. I don't even think she's seen much of The Model era, or how she would even handle heel Rick Martel. Oddly, I think she's seen the '91 Rumble, but Martel lasts so long that it's basically like a babyface Rumble performance, working against the odds. But it is undeniably true that Martel is a fantastic babyface, super expressive and knows how to make things feel like a big deal. Heenan here really comes off like a big deal. He's practically Fit Finlay in how well every single shot lands, and how nicely he takes every Martel shot. He even moves similarly to Fit. Heenan comes off like a total badass, just look how he kicks at Martel from the apron to keep him on the floor or throws winging double chops off Irish whips. Heenan was so good here that it's crazy to me he was only a part timer a couple years later.  Heenan blinds Martel early in the match and Martel is weirdly a guy who is really great at dramatically selling blindness. It's an odd thing to be good at but something everybody clearly knew or they wouldn't have had him still working it into matches a decade later. Martel is great on the defensive in this, but also great on offense. He fired back blindly against Heenan, tossing him with backdrops when Heenan would get close, firing back with great punches (that knock Heenan into the ropes Andre style), kicking at his legs in the ropes (nasty kicks to inner leg), and broke out a textbook sunset flip. The finish was awesome as Heenan gets dropkicked in the back and flies chest first into the middle turnbuckle, made the bump look real violent and worthy of a finish.

Rick Martel vs. Superstar Billy Graham AWA 12/25/83

ER: This was really fun, just a bunch of simple knucklelock exchanges and a nicely worked bearhug by Graham, which is more than enough to frame a nice babyface Martel performance. I like a good bearhug and post-WWF Superstar can still squeeze. I thought he was good at cutting off Martel, especially with a nicely timed throat thrust (a "tae kwon do chop") when Martel was starting to fire back. Maybe Graham's stuff wouldn't have looked as good without someone as expressive as Martel selling it, but the combo worked. Finish is at least a good bullshit finish, as Martel starts making strides and Graham just decides to launch him over the top to the floor for the DQ. Martel took the match finishing bump like a champ.

Jerry Blackwell/Ken Patera/Mr. Saito/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie vs. Greg Gagne/Jim Brunzell/Ray Stevens/Baron von Raschke AWA 12/25/83

ER: Hell yes, inject this kind of classic multi man action right between my toes. It's JIP 5 minutes but that still gives us 11 minutes of party. The heels all cut off Gagne from his boys, showing how effectively a simple formula can work 35 years later. The heels all took turns distracting the ref to keep Gagne from getting to hot tags and allow double teams, Saito sneaking in with leaping elbows off the middle rope, Patera coming in with a nice cut off shot while Blackwell is busying the good guys, Adnan sneaking in shots, Blackwell hitting a nice falling elbow and later missing a splash, all simple but effective stuff. The whole babyface side is excellent on the apron, keeping everything fired up, Stevens running in to try and do justice, Baron getting to goose step around to thunderous cheers on the hot tag, but Gagne again had an excellent babyface performance and even got to hit this ridiculous double stomp off the middle rope right off Blackwell's belly. This kind of match is like tasty popcorn in a movie, just can't stop eating it.

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