2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Callihan vs. PARK

Sami Callihan vs. LA Park MLW 12/13

PAS: This was a falls count anywhere in Miami match and was the closet to a US Indy version of a chaotic Park lucha brawl. Park started by lighting Callihan up with chops and weapon shots, only for Sami to get even when Park toped directly into a garbage can. They brawl back into the lobby and out in the street, at one point the ref is selling a broken ankle and the ring is festooned with chairs.  The finish was especially brutal with Park spearing Callihan right into a bunch of hard padded event chairs. There was a millimeter of give and it looked like it broke Sami's back.  Fun stuff which I imagine would have been a blast to watch live.

ER: There should be no mystery about what makes Park great, it's all right there on display, every yellow and black skeletal fold. We won't get to see Park/Rush at Mania, but Sami is a guy who has no problem slotting into a trademark Park brawl. Sami plays a tough act to pull off here: The Violent Stooge, and I like it. I like all the early match stuff with Park implying Sami is a weenie for wearing his flak jacket, taunting him into removing it before dishing out a chop so hard that it breaks skin. Sami sells it the way someone would if they were woken from a nap by getting waxed. Park also wins the mental battle by tricking Sami into revealing that he wears suspenders AND a belt. A sock garter reveal would have added to this, but two guys taking wild bumps will have to do. Park really runs impossibly hard into a trash can on a tope attempt, and I loved Sami celebrating with a terrible and great mimic of the Park strut, looking like Jack Donaghy walking while holding two coffee mugs. Sami gets tossed over the barricade into the chairs, and the venue has those hard "conference room at the Hyatt" chairs, and when Park suplexes Sami onto a section of barricade and starts chucking those chairs in the ring, and it's weird to think that a bunch of people will be sitting in those chairs at some point while attending a From Debt To Net! seminar. I love Park's brawling, love his commitment to running into a boot, loved him throwing loose ice as a response to getting a mini road cone thrown at him, loved Park crashing in with a downward strike headbutt, and Sami smashing a couple of beer cans into the back of Park's head. The finish is spectacular, with Sami setting up a 6 pack of those chairs that you sat in during that one day "How Smart is Your Smart Home?" class, ending with Park hitting a spear of all spears onto them. Park's spear is great enough to stand on its own, but this looked like something out of a Marvel fight.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST