WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 8/25 - 8/31

205 Live 8/27

Oney Lorcan vs. Humberto Carrillo

PAS: I thought this was a warming up to be a great match which kind of fell by the wayside. Loved Lorcan's early aggression. He hits this brutal uppercut to Carrillo's spine as Carrillo is springboarding into him, totally looked like a thing which would send Carrillo to the chiropractor for weeks. He then does some focused nasty work on the back and the ribs, including a great looking bodyscissors. If the match had just been Carrillo fight his way out of that, hitting some flashy moves and winning it would have been great, but it had some real bloat as now 205 Live matches have to be 25+ minutes long. Carillo could use an editor, some of his stuff looks cool, but a lot of it has an extra backflip or two for no real reason. I imagine a shorter PPV match with Gulak might be better than this as it won't have as much time to kill.

ER: Another week, another amusingly Too Long 205 Live match. I am constantly torn between "It is awesome that 15+ minute cruiserweight singles matches are playing out weekly in front of WWE crowds" and "Man this match would have been much better if it was 9 minutes". It's cool letting these guys work and stretch out and fill time however they want, really puts the onus on the workers to have an interesting match, nobody can complain "well if they had more time..." But at the same time not everybody needs more time. This was a fun style clash that could have been pretty tight with half the runtime. Carrillo has a lot of ideas and a lot of offense that needs positioning and setting up, and some of that had too many seams showing. But I think in general the live pre-Smackdown crowd doesn't care as much about that, so I get why he's going out there and showing off his cool stuff. I think he has potential to be more than a Tony Nese though, and parts veered into Nese territory. But there were a lot of cool ideas and big spots. Carrillo hit a couple dives, a big tope con giro that splatted him on the floor after Lorcan's catch came up a little short, and later a twisting moonsault to the floor (similar to the in ring moonsault that won him the match); Lorcan hit his wild flip dive to the floor that I love, and does cool things like his uppercut to Carrillo's back when Carrillo was trying a tope en reversa, and I always love body vices. But a lot of this felt like a series of moments and spots, without actually building to anything. There didn't feel like there was much natural progression, and while Carrillo was clearly working face I think this would have benefitted from Lorcan working overt heel. He didn't really work heel at all...and yet didn't have nearly as much as his usual high impact babyface energy. Lorcan's babyface intensity is one of his best features, and we didn't really get that due to it being Carrillo's showcase. I would have been more excited for another PPV level Gulak/Lorcan match, but I'm still very interested in seeing how Gulak works with him.

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New Footage Friday: French Catch, Rollerball Rocco, Marty Jones, Choshu, Saito, Inoki

Kader Hassouni/Claude Rocca vs. Bernard Caclard/Albert Sanniez French Catch 3/20/76

MD: There's so much here that I'm not sure how you can talk about it except for as anything but generalities. It honestly reminds me a little of when I was trying to get into lucha and I'd watch one of those long, straightforward trios form the 80s where you'd get so dazzled by the exchanges and the tricked out matwork and the rote spots and the comedy and how they shifted gear that there's no way you could find the forest for the trees. I wish we had a hundred of these matches, not just because they're so spectacular, but beacuse it'd make patterns easier to find. I do think that's the best sort of comparison. I've seen our pal Jetlag harken this to some other athletic peaks of pro wrestling, and I can see that, but to me there's just an undertone of ritual and craft here and that's what stands out the most. I just haven't worked out all of the ritual yet. It's remarkable how they're able to shift from acrobatics to comedy to pummelling one another on a dime.

Some stuff is universal though. It just takes a little bit to get there. When they finally start registering what's going on (and they take their time to do so, but that's fine in such a long match with the ability to tag frequently). All of the reversals feel so fluid and natural while being complex; all it takes is just one touch, one grasp, one connection between one body and another to create a flip or a twist or a throw, but due to the speed, the way they throw themselves into it, the lack of hesitation and the immediate follow up, it feels like it's exactly how reality should be. Once things begin to settle, the heels start to play into some great repetition and oneupsmanship spots (two powerbomb like flips only to get back body dropped on the third, a face giving a body part to clown the heel only to have the heel try it and again get clowned).

Finally, things settled down even further as the heels take over with frustrated hairpulling and roughousing and doubleteaming. The faces come back with a big ring-rope shaking spot and a big miss dived, and start a whole new section with them using creative double teaming out of the corner (mainly trips) until they get a fall. The rudos comeback with tight offense out of their corner for the second fall. Then, with some miscommunication, it goes into a big rousing comeback including table bumps, brawling on the outside, crazy rope running, and more clowning. You know the old adage that a wrestling card should be like a circus? That it should have a little of everything. This match had a lot of everything.

PAS: This was pretty incredible, a lot of the French Catch stuff I have seen has had incredible exchanges, but doesn't build to a coherent finish. This is really a spectacular match which works as a standard tag match. It is pretty crazy that INA just puts up a random show on youtube and the match is of this quality. Calcard and Sanniez look like an all time tag team, nasty forearms and kicks, incredible basing for all of the tricked out takedowns and headscissors, killer bumping and stooging (there was a spot where Sanniez just dives off the rope and belly flops right on the mat), we even get an angle with Calcard shoving Roger Delaporte the promoter and getting clocked and thrown into the ring. I really liked Rocco throwing these cross armed chops to the throat and Hasssouni had some really fun WOS style mat reversals. As always with French Catch there was a dozen crazy flips and take downs which look like they are from 20 years in the future not 40 years in the past. I can just imagine the quality of the stuff sitting in their archives, hopefully it keeps dribbling out.


Rollerball Rocco vs. Marty Jones WOS 12/30/80

MD: We get the last few rounds of this. Jones is, of course, the ultimate opponent for Rocco. Rocco's over the top, stooging, complaining, endlessly abrupt and endlessly dangerous. Jones is the most "solid" wrestler in history, maybe, endlessly sounded, a stable presence in all of our lives, dynamic but never garish, a true hero of Brittania. While not rising to the level of some of the other footage we have of them, this actually dodged a lot of my major Rocco criticism, which is that he's so go-go-go that nothing ever sets in or has meaning, that he only ever pauses to sell meaning instead of stopping to do so. Here, he was really leaning into the post-exchange stalling and then letting it transition forward to him getting an advantage. This is good stuff, but it'd obviously be better served if we had the feeling out from the early rounds. It's almost all the payoff here. As always, I love how suddenly a fall can end in this style, that sort of sport over cinematic story feel. Rocco's menacing presence on the ropes is absolutely iconic (and hey, he hits a grounded double axe-handle which is always good to see in a world of people getting their feet up every single time), and Jones' missile dropkick is one of the best moves in the world in 1980. The ring falls apart as they're careening towards the brawl, so they just stay on their knees and punch one another, which is a perfectly fine way to end a wrestling match.

PAS: This was a juniors sprint, without much selling but it was a pretty dope one. If you are going to do a match full of spots, have them be cool spots. Rocco is the guy with the rep as a before his time spot guy, but I thought Jones had cooler shit. He was decapitating Rocco with dropkicks, they looked like Gaea Girls level, it wouldn't have shocked me to see Rocco spitting out teeth. Jones also hit an absolutely flattening flip senton, he landed full force on Rocco's ribs. I loved the finish, as the ring starts to break apart because of the force of Rocco's bumps, so they just wail away on each other, with punches and short forearms, great way to finish off a time limit draw. We miss the opening rounds, so this may have been more of a meal in complete, but it was a hell of a snack.

ER: Man I thought Rocco ruled here. I know we're supposed to act like he's British Kurt Angle, but that's starting to feel like pretty reductive criticism the more matches like this we see. Rocco feels like the perfect opponent for Jones, and I don't think Angle was a perfect opponent for anyone. I think Jones looked great here, but I don't think the match would have been nearly as interesting without Rocco leaning in to every single thing Jones threw at him, while coming back every single time with cheapshots. And Rocco's cheapshots were all nasty strikes, a headbutt to the gut, a close range shoulderblock to the collarbone, and all those awesome short rushing punches. I loved all of it. There's no way Angle would have made those dropkicks or huge senton mean as much as Rocco did here, leaning chin first into a running dropkick and stooging for all the fans at ringside after getting spatchcocked by that brutal senton. Amusingly, their end run was nearly identical to a 1978 Jones/Rocco match I watched earlier today, Rocco trying to run Jones into the turnbuckle from the apron, getting punched instead, getting nailed with a Jones missile dropkick, and then getting thrown vertically into the turnbuckle (I love that vertical hands free corner bump of Rocco's so damn much). The ring literally falls apart which robbed us of a decent ending, and we already missed the first part of this one, but damn was what we got killer.

Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masa Saito/Riki Choshu NJPW 8/2/83

MD: This felt big and epic, all the way from the Inoki chants as he was coming out to the post match lariats. It was full of grit and struggle. I really liked how Saito and Choshu worked together. They were constantly driving their opponent back into their corner. They had some fun tandem moves. Everything looked good. Everything looked dangerous, from the backbreaker/second rope shot to something as simple as Saito coming in to stomp Inoki so that Choshu could turn him into the Scorpion Deathlock.

Basically, every momentum shift in their favor was thought out and meaningful. The first few in Inoki/Fujinami's favor were fickle. Saito would hit his suplex, get a two count, and Fujinami would be up first to dropkick him twice in the face before making the tag. It was a great dropkick, and there's the ever-present sense of toughness in refusing to stay down, but man do they just wilfully refuse to tap into the everpresent emotion existant in tag team wrestling by not building to actual comebacks.

The counter argument is that when Inoki finally gets to fight back, he gets a little build. A sunset flip gives him the space to hit the back brain kick out of nowhere, then he has to reverse a posting on the outside (immediately thereafter) before hitting another one for the win. I don't think that moment was made any larger for it being the first meaningful comeback in the match though. I get that you just have to accept it as part of the style and appreciate the good (and there was plenty of that) but they always leave such good stuff on the table when there's no reason they can't have their cake and eat it too.

PAS: I liked how uncooperative the early grappling looked, no one was letting anyone grab anything, ever throw or grip was contested. Choshu and Saito were really rough and rugged throwing hard punishing chops and stomps, and some pretty cool double teams. I am an Inoki and Fujinami fan, but I had some issues with them in this match. Fujinami popping up after the Saito suplexes was pretty bad, Saito has amazing suplexes and Fujinami basically no-selling them was bush league it felt like indy wrestling shit. Inoki did his thing where he just decides to end a match. Saito beats on him and stretches him and Inoki just decides to hit a couple of enzigiris and get the pin. Choshu and Saito are a hell of a heel tag team, and it is cool to see them in a big star tag, and there were some real moments here, just don't think it totally came together.

ER: This was one of those cool as hell tag matches where it looked like the file was sped up, everybody moving at 1.5x asskicking speed. I dug everyone in this to some degree, but especially loved the viciousness of Saito and Choshu. Saito especially was so spry, so quick, and looking at all times as if he'd be able to lift and throw all three men in the match at once. He had a couple suplexes here that looked like we should be able to gif him throwing Inoki and Fujinami out of the building. I loved Saito and Choshu picking apart Fujinami, hanging him upside down in the corner and kicking at him, suplexing him, and I liked how they treated Inoki with total disregard. But yeah, gotta concur with everyone, seeing Fujinami pop up after one of those vicious Saito suplexes made me want to see Saito just suplex him over and over and over until he couldn't hit a dropkick. 

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WWF 305 Live: Dumpster! Bigelow! Sid! Vader!

Duke Droese vs. Bam Bam Bigelow WWF Superstars 10/8/94 - VERY GOOD

ER: Duke Droese may have had the most consistently great punch of any non-Lawler guy in WWF during this era, and that's a crazy thought that nobody talks about. His straight right hand looks like it should bust an eye socket, and totally works as his equalizer. Duke is really good at bumping around, and he takes a hard bump to the floor when Bigelow tosses him, then gets knocked off the apron again right after. Bigelow is quick but Duke can match his speed, and it's fun seeing guys this size working quick exchanges. Bigelow attacks with elbows, a big vertical suplex, shoulderblocks, and a couple nice headbutts, but Droese throws a mean clothesline, decent legdrop, and a huge powerslam on the larger Bigelow. That clothesline of his is a real treat, the way his arm cuts straight and quick, much more of a tight impact than a long outstretched arm. Bigelow has a real nice roll up to win, really lying with his full weight buried in Droese's knee pits. I really liked this whole thing. Two big guys working quick, working snug, working big. Working.

Vader/Mankind vs. Sycho Sid/Undertaker WWF Raw 3/10/97 - FUN

ER: This was worked just a little too carefully to actually get really good. We get a long section of Vader holding Sid down with a headlock, which isn't bad but I was hoping for something more explosive here. Undertaker and Sid each appeared to be working gingerly for at least the first half of this. Vader was taking bumps throughout, taking a lariat over the top to the floor and a Taker uppercut the same, taking a flat bump off the floor on a punch, got up high for a Taker chokeslam, big splash on Sid; but even Vader felt like he was holding back on punches. This actually did get explosive when Taker leaped onto Vader and Sid off the apron but mostly got Sid, so Sid took that as an invite to start throwing hands with his upcoming Mania opponent. Taker hit his huge no hands plancha on Vader and Mankind, Sid hit an awesome powerbomb on Taker, so this had some merit. But 8 minutes with these guys could have been way bigger.


WWF COMPLETE AND ACCURATE 305 LIVE

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Matches From ICW New York Respect The Game 7/27/19

This show popped up on IndependentWrestling.TV and has some real on paper bangers, figured why not cherry pick our way through.

54. Nick Gage vs. Dan Maff

PAS: Really not the match you would expect for these two guys on paper, and I think the difference really helped it stand out. Gage jumps Maff before the bell and hits the chokebreaker. Gage immediately rolls to the floor clutching his knee, and starts getting helped to the back. Gage turns around and limps back to the ring and demands the match start. Maff doesn't even hit him back for the first couple of shots, but is eventually convinced to fight, and ends up working over Gage's knee while he fought through the injury. I loved how they built to Gage getting desperate enough to try the choke breaker again, and Maff's barbed wire board bump was nasty. This was much more compelling than the Gage by numbers match, and he makes a surprisingly compelling underdog.

ER: Gage is like Marko Stunt for me in a way, in that I usually don't enjoy their matches, but they both have an undeniable live charisma that can add to their matches. I'm usually a kind of low vote on them, but I know they have tools that can be used in a match I really like, and this was a great instance of that. Give me and interesting story like this any day over sitting in chairs and trading shots. Phil went over what happened, Gage immediately injures his knee by making the insanely stupid decision to drop 300 pounds on his own knee. You get the gutsy return, you get Maff not wanting the fight this way, and you get Maff goaded into beating the hell out of him. Once Maff starts off his flurry by locking in a figure 4, I was in. "You wanna hit me? I'm gonna wreck your leg." You have Maff alternately working dangerous cannonballs and hitting a flat out tremendous dive, and then he's working World of Sport tumbling stump pullers. Big fat guy working cannonballs, dives, and Regal legwork? Hell yeah sign me up. They work some cool sequences are the guardrail , and their apron work was cool too. I liked that we didn't build to a big dumb apron bump, instead just Maff hitting at Gage's knee causing him to collapse on the apron. The eventual Gage comeback is really good and appropriate, as the piledriver was a big moment and Maff flying through the barbed wire board was our first big bump, and gave us the cool visual of Maff covered in wire and screaming like on the cover of Evil Dead. Gage's run was logical as hell, including a logical reason to illogically use the chokebreaker again. The fact it lead directly to Maff hitting that brutal cannonball stunner through another board was perfect. The layout of this was really fantastic, played to the strengths of both and gave us a cool look at something different from Gage. Maff is 45 and looked as great as I've seen him look. This is my favorite Gage match of the year, and now I want to see even more old man Maff.

Joe Gacy vs. Tony Deppen vs. Jimmy Lloyd vs. Facade

ER: This was kept under 10 minutes and worked brisk, but - and this seems like something one of us has typed dozens of times - would have been much more interesting as two singles matches with literally any combo of the 4 guys here. Jimmy Lloyd isn't really as suited to these multiman matches, but a singles against any of the other three could have been cool. Gacy vs. Lloyd, Gacy vs. Deppen, whatever, it would have been more interesting. But there's still plenty of fun on display here, it just has that multiman thing where guys are always inching a couple feet over to be in the right position, or looking over their shoulder to make sure somebody is springing off the ropes for some tandem horseshit. The kind of "we're performing an act" that is concealed easier in singles matches that don't have so many moving parts. Gacy was a guy trying to actively combat that, and that made his performance stand out the most. There was a moment where he was about to DDT Lloyd, while Facade was setting up something off the top that would hit Gacy, while causing Gacy to DDT Lloyd. Well Facade lost his footing, Gacy saw that and immediately improvised and tried to hoist Lloyd up for a waistband assisted Hashimoto-style DDT, buying Facade some time until the spot came off. I love those moments of professionalism. Deppen hits what appeared to be the longest dive in history, but we missed half of it due to camera angle. Facade hits a big flip dive that doesn't get caught by anyone, and we get one of those dumb spots where all 4 guys are standing in a circle swaying in the breeze taking turns hitting each other; typical multiman stuff. But Lloyd has a couple of cool bumps (I really liked him spiking himself vertically on a DDT), Gacy looks good throughout, Deppen is a guy I like a ton more after seeing him at SCI, and Facade is at least someone willing to try things. I thought this would be better, and it wasn't, but it won't negatively affect my opinion on anyone here.

Homicide vs. Chris Dickinson

PAS: This was a pass the torch match for NYC indie wrestling and was really worked like that. They start out with some mat wrestling and escalate into so real hard hitting stuff. Homicide was really working hard, taking some nasty bumps on a guardrail, some sharp kicks, and a german where he landed right on the top of his head. I liked how as the match went on, Homicide got dirtier and dirtier, clawing the eyes and fishooking, like if he was going to lose his crown as King of New York, he was going down throwing it all out. Good stuff and a nice kicker to the Dickinson challenge series gimmick he had been running on IWTV.

ER: Passing the torch is a good way of describing this match. Homicide is in his early 40s and has been through some wild battles, and understandably doesn't quite have that fire that Dickinson has burning in his eyes any more. But that doesn't mean he's an old sack of meat thrown in the garbage! I don't think these kind of nearing 20 minute close pinfall matches are really his bag at this point, though he's clearly a guy I still enjoy and love seeing. I am always going to like older, slower, more vulnerable versions of the wrestlers who I loved, and here's Homicide getting thrown tailbone first on a guardrail and ripping at Dickinson's face. The fishooking spot was so good, I was waiting for Homicide to pull a fork out of his shorts to stab Dickinson in the cheek. I also liked some of Homicide's reversals, especially catching Dickinson's lariat off the middle buckle and turning it into a Fujiwara. Dickinson is a guy who I've been real over the top for the past few years, and I dug the early mat takedowns so much that I was kinda hoping the whole match would be like that. Homicide is shaped exactly like Ian when Ian was in his "peak" condition during his MethBatt years. Homicide could have a whole second life as CatchPoint Ian. Dickinson hits those hard corner clotheslines, a big German that tosses Homicide all the way over onto his knees, the pazuzu bomb looks killer, and to lift right up into a piledriver is always going to be my bag.

25. Eddie Kingston vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

ER: What a fun and weird main event, taking an Eddie Kingston main event and the veering into oddball 70s kung fu comedy in a delightful way. We get a huge part of match devoted to chopping chest, and peaks with an awesome ring high camera shot of Kingston on his back, sitting up towards the camera right into chops, both guys filling the camera shot perfectly, Kingston making these anguished pained but almost Don Knotts faces in he best way, Kingston doing these tough no hands sit ups into getting the breath taken away by a heavy chop, eventually tiring and just getting pulled up by Sekimoto into more chops. Soon Sekimoto is throwing 12 to 6 chops while Kingston is on his back kicking his legs. This segment stood out so much from these type of chest thumping matches. It's the kind of thing that feels like it could only happen in an Eddie Kingston match these days, but seems like it owes itself to 80s feelgood house show matches. Kingston makes this kind of thing work and I'm not sure who else can or will be able to if Kingston leaves. I loved when he would get overwhelmed with chops and go in with knees, and worked simple but well done things like a good neckbreaker. His chops right to Sekimoto's neck looked like they would change my posture, and we still hadn't got to Sekimoto clotheslining the hell out of Kingston's arms on subsequent chops. Kingston works in some incredibly fun ways to get his fists blocked, and Sekimoto was swinging his inflated hulk arms as hard as he could was one of my favorites. I also loved the sudden death, Kingston being tenderized like veal and then put away instantly. Sekimoto softens him up with strikes, hits that big splash and plants the surrendered Kingston with a German. Also, I actually thought it was a cool touch that the commentators opted to not call the action. It could have come off cheesy to have them actually say they were going to not call the match, but I liked them stepping away to "let the match speak for itself". Fun as hell.

PAS: Kingston is pretty much the only guy I want to watch doing these kind of test of manliness matches. Sekimoto is here to beat on Kingston's chest and let him die dramatically. Eddie gets beaten down brutally, and we get a chance to watch him rage against the dying of the light. I have watched a ton of Eddie Kingston matches in the last year or so, and his chop sell where he starts to fire back but instead collapses, is one of my favorite bits of wrestling selling ever. He has so many interesting ways of conveying pain, and Sekimoto is a great ball of muscle to punish him. His moments of grace are pretty awesome, the backfist is a great stunning shot and he gets a couple of real believable near falls, before ultimately failing. No one is better at falling short then Eddie Kingston, he may be the best agony of defeat wrestler of all time.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Weaver Cup Semi-Finals and Finals 8/24/19

We haven't been checking in on CWF-Mid Atlantic since they go off of YouTube and Trevor Lee left with the belt. They are finally filling the vacancy so I decided to check out the Semi-Finals and Finals of their tournament on Twitch. They keep the shows up for only a couple of days though, so you have to be quick.

Roy Wilkins vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

This was heel stable versus heel stable, but Wilkins worked face with lots of interference from Corruption. This was fine, Wilkins had some stuff which landed nicely, but last time I checked on Sharpe he had been working more serious threat and he seemed to be back working as a cowardly heel manager. I do like Wilkins' offense, and he was definitely the right guy to go to the final.

Arik Royal vs. Cain Justice

These are my two favorite guys in CWF and I am pretty sure this was a first time match up. I  enjoyed this, but I wanted it to be better. Lots of cool little touches in the match with Cain giving up referees position, and dropping into guard, Royal had some really cool mat takedowns and riding positions, stuff like that. I also liked some of Cain's arm work, including his flip over Fujiwara and some of the takedowns. Still they had some chop battles which really didn't look good, and some time killing stuff, this felt like it would have been better faster, Cain was killing it in 10 minute RGL title matches, and his longer stuff hasn't connected with me as much. The Ethan Sharpe run in felt unnecessary and took some steam out of the finish. I imagine a title match between these two will be better, but this underwhelmed.

Arik Royal vs. Roy Wilkins

This was tag partner vs. tag partner, and I liked the actually work in the match a fair amount. Pretty simple stuff, but these are two big guys who do slow burn wrestling well. We got a slow burn start but never got any sort of finish run. They do a surprise distraction by Mace Lee and somebody else, and then a swerve as the All Stars turn on Wilkins (after teasing a turn on Royal) and help Royal get a roll up. An angle rather then a match really

Pretty disappointing, felt like all three matches under delivered, and the production of the show with the single streaming camera and new commentary team are subpar. I thought CL Party was fine as a Color commentator with Cecil Scott, but she is miscast as a lead announcer and basically didn't call the action of the match at all. I might check in for a big Cain or Arik Royal match in the future, but this didn't want to make me want to start following the fed regularly again.

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Monday AIW - Against the World 8/26/16

42. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Nasty Russ/T-Money) vs. Cheech/Eric Ryan

PAS: This was the Fuck-Its' return to the promotion and was kind of a Fuck-Its showcase, which is a hell of a showcase. Colin Delaney couldn't make the show so Ryan replaced him, and Cheech and Ryan are a fun makeshift team. T-Money was especially great in this, his tope looked as good as ever and he was wrecking people with clotheslines and slams. Ryan hits a chop where he runs around the outside before landing it, and when he goes for it a second time, T-Money explodes out of the rail and pounces Ryan into the crowd, it looked like one of those NFL films violent collision videos they stopped doing after CTE became prominent.

ER: Any show that starts with a Jollyville match is gonna go up a grade in my book, and I love a cool WCW style thrown together tag team. WWE always threw together as a lazy way to write in tension. WCW thrown together teams were always born out of a guy suddenly left without a partner and forced to find the best substitute on short notice. It's how we end up with a cool Bobby Eaton/Mike Enos team, or Rick Steiner/Kenny Kaos, or Bobby Eaton/Kenny Kaos! Eric Ryan is an awesome wrestler and Cheech is a great flashy counterpart. Jollyville are just a great team, that honestly also would have fit into WCW. They feel like an awesome SMW team, T-Money hits hard shoulderblocks and clotheslines and punches like the best possible Ice Train. Nasty Russ has the long combed back hair and looks awesome, like a badass estranged brother of Mr. Rosso on Freaks & Geeks. And this whole thing was awesome, just my exact favorite kind of tag match. Jollyville looked great. This is absolutely one of the best Jollyville performances I've seen, and these guys are my team. Russ bumps like crazy but hits hard, and sometimes he hits the mat hard while hitting hard. He takes a clothesline in the corner at one point that knocks him up to the top rope and back down on his shoulders in one quick shot, and it's like a Psicosis bump that never happened before. And the match ends with him hitting one of the most gung ho cannonballs, really throwing himself into it like he was  jumping into a pool and not onto a man. T-Money looked so big league here, Just running into guys like a freight train with hard punches, big ass lariats, and an all time great no hands dive into both Ryan and Cheech, the greatest double clothesline. Money leans into beatings too, and he bravely took his lumps in the corner to eat a mean facewash from Cheech, coast to coast dropkick from Ryan, and that cool 619 around the ringpost from Cheech. Ryan has great snap on everything and is always running fast and crashing hard, and Cheech as I've said a ton just blends so well into a great formula tag match. I loved all the exchanges here, from the big hard hitting flash right down to simple missed exchanges. In fact, my favorite part of the match was T-Money missing clotheslines, just running fast as possible off the ropes and swinging so low and so fast with those meaty arms that any miscommunication would have ended in murder. That kind of stuff is why I love pro wrestling. I love this tag scene.

Shawn Shultz vs Louis Lyndon

PAS: This was a match with some cool individual moments, some nice kicks by Lyndon, a brutal DDT on the floor by Shultz, but it was ultimately kind of a mess. It seemed like they were switching from face to heel every 90 seconds or so, there was some super dancey stuff from Shultz who is supposed to be working as a Southern wrestler, and the aforementioned DDT on the floor was so nasty that it makes no sense for them to work a your turn my turn roll up section a minute later. I have liked both guys in the past, but this was no bueno.

Britt Baker vs Crazy Mary Dobson

PAS: Britt Baker is the big female AIW graduate and definitely got pushed past her ability level. Mary Dobson was throwing bows like someone who was putting over someone she shouldn't. The parts of the match where Mary was kicking her ass was fun stuff. The Baker wrestling sections significantly less so. I have dug Logan in the WWE, is there fun Crazy Mary I should be checking out?

14. Eddie Kingston vs. Shigehiro Irie

PAS: Kingston Road matches are specific subset of his big matches and there have been some awesome ones. I think this might be my favorite. Irie is a sawed off asskicker, who is going to hit hard and take a beating but this was Kingston taking what he can do and crafting a classic around it. Standard hard hit start, until Kingston takes an elbow to the ear and collapses. For much of the rest of the match he does some amazing head trauma selling, constantly shaking off cobwebs, unsteady on his feet, but moving forward and attacking. Irie is a force in this match, he breaks Kingston's hand by ducking his head on the backfist so Kingston hits the top of his skull instead of his jaw. Such a simple counter and so awesome looking. He also shrugs off a big lariat, hard to lariat a guy with no neck.  There was a bunch of tough guy selling in this match, but Kingston especially put enough pain behind his eyes that it wasn't just a cheap stunt. Finish had Kingston dumping Irie on his head and Irie popping up to stumble around, it was a tribute to the Williams vs. Kobashi finish and done about as well.

ER: Goddamn do I love 2004 NOAH Eddie Kingston. He is so damn good at perfecting one of my all time favorite eras of wrestling, with a unique slant, inventive selling, and a ton of personality, he's just going from I guy I've always been into to an all time great. This is everything Kingston does great, distilled into one match. I see this and it makes me angry I never got to see him against every guy who worked NOAH from 2001-2007. His stand and trade tough guy dying on his sword bombfests add so many more interesting dimensions to his style that it feels like it's exposing every single big dumb New Japan wankfest for what they are. This whole thing is just Irie and Kingston hitting each other while Kingston plays out the best vinyl pants Kawada match structure. I loved it, and I loved Kingston's heavy armed chops, backfists to the neck, big damn STO, and his selling while taking a big bodied beating. When he goes to hit Irie and hurts his hand, recoiling and falling down to a knee and then back on his butt, I was gleeful. And by the end of the match where Irie headbutts to counter two spinning backfists, and Kingston is rolling around on the floor holding his hand while the ref tries to get a read on the situation? I was in wrestling heaven. Two incredibly fun personalities, throwing blows, adding their personal color in a wonderful combination, harkening back to a style of puro I greedily consumed (and looking even better coming not several hours after checking in for the umpteenth time on New Japan to the usual disappointment). Another Kingston classic. 

BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

PAS: This was Yang's first match in 3 years (he took another 2 off and worked a Tokyo Gurentai match in 2018). It was a lot of shtick to cover up a guy who hadn't worked in forever. They took a plant from the crowd and made her Yang's manager, had lots of stuff with the Duke, etc. Yang had some nice looking flips, but wasn't landing anything with particular force. It was OK, but more of a live crowd match then anything to revisit. 

Alex Daniels vs. Matt Cross vs. Triton vs. Laredo Kid

PAS: Fun spotfest. Triton had a nice double jump dive to the floor, but was a bit slow and a bit leadfooted for some of the stuff he was trying to do. Dainels was surprisingly adept at the armdrag/lucha rope running part of the match, he looked like he had been working in that style for years. Lots of crazy spots, leading to kind of a lame ending with Gregory Iron tossing in a belt for Daniels to graze Cross with for a roll up. Took a bit of the steam out of the match honestly.

Tracy Williams vs. Michael Elgin

PAS: This was a very 2010s wrestling match. With your opening feel out mat sections, exchanging of big bombs, moves on the apron, forearm exchanges and big 2.9 sections at the end. It is expected stuff. This did lack some of the true excesses of the style, there wasn't a bunch of no-sells or a big "fight forever" finisher killer end run, and it had some little moments I really dug. Elgin is a big strong guy, and they did a short arm scissors deadlift spot, which is one of my all time favorites. I also loved how Elgin stepped into William's forearm blunting the impact with his belly. Overall this was a good match in a style I am weary of. Williams had a hell of a singles match run in AIW from around 2016 until he got signed by ROH, and this was a worthy part of that run.

Josh Prohibition vs. Nate Webb

PAS: Prohibition gets on the mic and says that no one paid to see them wrestle a mat classic, so they go relaxed rules. This was a greatest hits Nate Webb show, from the Teenage Dirtbag entrance, to a bunch of dumb bumps, to all of his twisty offense. I am a Nate Webb fan, so I was happy to watch him play his hits (Eddie Kingston even makes that call on commentary). Prohibition got put through a table and thrown around a bit, he was fine Nate Webb dance partner, made him look good.

Teddy Hart vs. Facade

PAS: This was a super Teddy Hart match. Mr. Money comes down with him. They open with some pretty awesome Teddy matwork, including a Fujiwara take down, and an incredible spot where he caught a kick to the chest and turned into a mid air leg lace, it looked like something Tamura might do. Then, of course, Teddy hurts his ankle applying a spinning scorpion. They stop the match, have people come from the back, take his boot off. Teddy limps to the ring gets on the mic and apologizes to the fans and puts over Facade as the future of the business. Facade thanks him, and attacks him giving him a Canadian destroyer. Teddy is able to fight back though and lay Facade out with a Destroyer on a guard rail. It did a nice job turning Facade heel and setting up a blood feud rematch (although Teddy just should have been laid out and not gotten his heat back), but of course since this is Teddy Hart, he never comes back to AIW. Still a cool, if ridiculous bit of business.

ER: Teddy Hart pulls off things that most wrestlers can't, and this is him pulling off a modern era Chris Hamrick performance. Chris Hamrick never had a cat, but you can imagine how successful he would have been with a white cat (obviously) wearing a matching shiny confederate flag vest. I loved those matches where Hamrick would take a grizzly bump and stop everything, bring out a couple guys from the back to check on him, lie motionless talking under his breath in a scared tone about his neck or his knee, get an organic Hamrick chant going, and basically derail everything for 8 minutes just to cheapshot his opponent with a ballshot. Could he have just kicked his opponent in the balls without falling off the top turnbuckle and twisting his knee in the ropes? Well, yeah. And HHH could have just hit Stone Cold with a sledgehammer in the first segment instead of setting up an elaborate series of costumes and double switches before hitting someone with a sledgehammer (except faking a knee injury to kick someone in the balls is infinitely more interesting and HHH didn't understand that). Here Hart punches Facade across the mouth a bunch, drops some cool unexpected transitions, and eventually hurts his ankle and limps back to the ring to put over Facade, AIW, the crowd, the boys in the back, and professional wrestling. And I liked the twist of Facade being the one to lash out with a Canadian Destroyer. I think it would have been a great heel turn...if Teddy Hart didn't immediately get to do a FAR cooler Canadian Destroyer from the apron onto a freaking guardrail that Facade had set up. Oh my god Gordy just slammed the cage door right in Kerry's face! But look at that, here's Kevin, and he slams the cage door right in Flair's face!! Von Erichs win!! And they never fight again.

71. Raymond Rowe vs. Tommy End

PAS: These two looked like a mosh pit fight at a Black Metal concert. I think this could have been an incredible 10 minute sprint. Both guys have super cool ways to throw knees, kicks, forearms and punches. I really like how End throws combos from different places, shooting low kicks to the knee, and punches to the ribs and kicks high. Rowe had some bangers too, although he did do some unnecessary leg slapping. There were some especially gross knees to the back of the head. This did feel a bit bloated, lots of killer shots which should have ended a match, but instead were just kind of there without any context. This was a big main event with Rowe fighting his friend in his home town, so I get why it was worked at the length it was, and it was overall a good match, I just think with some edits it could have been a great one.

ER: I really liked this, but agree it went too long. It's a bummer when I find myself really hooked into a match, and then feel myself mentally checking out through the last few minutes of kickouts and strikes. There were a couple of those "I am definitely checking out now" moments, like nearfalls where the guy doing the pinning is the one who kicks out first, and the peak just felt like it hit, then we shot past it and it's like we don't actually know how to end things but at least we still hit hard. But I really like these two! End is a strike combo guy, but he's one of the few who doesn't actually do the exact same combos in the exact same order every time out. There's a lot of strike combo guys. Every one that I'm thinking of always goes through the same sequences in the same way. End always winds up surprising me with a couple of the ways he sets up a kick. He hits his hooking spin kicks so quickly and accurately that they really do seem to come out of nowhere, and we never wind up with any of those stupid "I kick you and then you bounce off the ropes and hit me and that spins me around into another kick" kind of bullshit, End just comes up with cool ways to land shots without ever swing dancing. I really dug the stuff on the floor, both guys hitting the railing, Rowe setting up knee strikes on the apron, but wherever they were at I was never quite sure what was going to happen next. They always kept me guessing, and I like the strikes and big slams from both (that standing splash mountain from Rowe is damn cool), they manage to avoid the worst parts of this style.


2016 MOTY MASTER LIST

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Duke "The Dumpster" Droese

Duke Droese vs. Jeff Jarrett WWF Superstars 8/27/94

ER: This wasn't much of a match - the match itself ended fairly quick with a feet on the ropes JJ schoolboy - but the whole thing made for pretty great theater. Jarrett attacks Droese during his entrance and controls in ring, hitting a nice dropkick and axehandle and letting the larger Droese run into things as he dodges. Droese really worked like a guy used to wearing a back support lift belt, so he was really good at selling a stiff back. I worked at FedEx and he moved exactly like a couple of the drivers who were on lift restrictions, only able to lift 25 lb. and getting the driver next to them on the line to load heavy Dell computers into their truck for them. Droese does get a nice straight right but Jarrett wins with the feet on the ropes. And then the amount of energy put into the postmatch of a 2 minute match is charming and really made it feel like things mattered. Oscar comes out to let the refs know what happened, the second ref comes out to reverse the call and the triumphant announcement goes out that the match WILL be restarted and the crowd explodes over the fact that Duke Droese has another chance to beat Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett disagrees with the decision and leaves in a huff down the aisle, shoving Oscar off the apron in the process (and Oscar takes a nice bump to the floor) only to be met by Mabel in the entrance area. As Mabel and Droese close in, Jarrett opts to run away through the crowd, up the stairs and out of the arena. This was literally 2 minutes of match in a 6 minute segment, but the entire thing was super entertaining to me. Jarrett totally made the postmatch reversal work, flipping out and refusing to play ball. The fans really went wild for Droese, too. This would not have worked or have been interesting if the fans hadn't cared about him getting wronged. The only thing I disliked was this tease of a Mabel/Droese team that I don't think ever happened once. Have Jarrett start an uneasy alliance with Bigelow, and Bigelow/Jarrett vs. Droese/Mabel is a tag I would be so down for.

Duke Droese vs. Jerry Lawler WWF Raw 9/19/94

ER: Once I saw that the two best punchers in 1994 WWF faced off against each other, I couldn't watch this match fast enough. And it ruled. Obviously it ruled. Droese is no stiff, but Lawler made a career out of being the best worker in history against big immobile stiffs. So if Lawler is a master at working big immobile stiffs, clearly him working a big mobile guy was going to rule. The first half of the match is classic heel Lawler, grabbing Duke in a side headlock only for Duke to pick him up and just toss him across the ring. Lawler's facials during spots like that are perfection, as are the claims of a dual hair pull/tights pull. Lawler stalls around and bumps big for Duke (going down super fast for a Duke right hand, big hard backdrop bump, and takes a big spill to the floor, eats 10 punches in the corner and faceplants), and really milks every one of these moments. He bails to the floor after each big bump and spot, really works the crowd up into a lather by stumbling around ringside. He finally turns things around with a hidden weapon right hand, suckering Duke into a knucklelock and then clocking him with the right. From there it's all Lawler punches, a bunch of fast impactful left jabs, left right combos, and a big fistdrop from the middle rope. He even sticks Duke with an awesome piledriver, which leads us to our era-specific finish. Lawler wants to shove Droese into his trashcan - how humiliating, to shove a garbage collector into his own personal trash receptacle - but you guessed it, Dink is in that trashcan. Dink squirts Lawler with a squirt gun, and Lawler sells a squirt gun shot as well as anyone could. Even more impressive is he manages to chase Dink without catching him while also looking like he's really running. We get some comedy with Duke tripping Lawler, Doink coming out, Lawler getting counted out, etc. This was Droese's first feud (this match had been built up seemingly for months) and he really could have used an actual pinfall on Lawler. There were ways to do it that would give Duke the pin, and still protect Lawler. I think that pinfall visual would have really helped him, as opposed to eating a piledriver (and selling a piledriver really great, holding his neck with both hands and rolling around like he had learned to sell a piledriver from Tenryu) and triumphantly winning after Lawler got chased by a small clown.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 8/18 - 8/24

205 Live 8/20

Drew Gulak/Ariya Daivari/Angel Garza/Mike Kanellis/Tony Nese vs. Oney Lorcan/Jack Gallagher/Akira Tozawa/Humberto Carrillo/Isaiah Scott

PAS: 205 Live is such a weird show, some random Tuesday they just run a 50 minute 10 man elimination match where they place a ton of focus on a guy who hadn’t even been on the show before. I don’t get it, but I dig it. I am not sure if anyone is watching this show, but this felt like a star making performance for Angel Garza. I was a big Hector Garza fan and Angel really felt like he was channeling his Uncle, just a rudo masterclass, big bumps, great basing for high flyers and some great smarmy cheap shots. I also continue to really enjoy Davari as he is committed to being a wholly unlikeable prick. Gallagher had more of a cameo in this match, I dug the opening spot with him passing out umbrellas for his teammates to do dives, but otherwise he goes out early. We get lots of Lorcan and Gulak including some cool interactions with each other, Lorcan throws maybe the nastiest back elbow I can remember to Gulak, and Gulak snapping and working over Lorcan with the chair was really well done. I also dug both guys apron work, hyping up the rest of their team. This did have a Nese vs. Swerve Scott section which was about as bad as it appears on paper, but mainly this was a super cool idea, and I am glad it exists.

ER: I am fully embracing the weirdness of 205 Live, it's really a show I've come to get excited for again. I've been on quite a rollercoaster with the whole 205 Live run. I loved the first tournament, was excited when it became a weekly show (and we even intended to write up the show every week, but it was uninteresting enough that the idea only lasted 3 episodes), then I didn't watch it at all for like a year (probably some nice gems scattered throughout that first year or so), then began watching scattered looking for the occasional Gulak match, and now here I am back to being excited to see it weekly again. They keep giving guys a different platform and really let them stretch out. I think they let them stretch out too much some of the time, but there's no doubt it's an awesome learning tool and has created some of the coolest matches of the year. Now we get a show long match that's longer than most guys have ever worked on WWE TV.

And I didn't even really love the match. It had some great segments, it had some awful segments, but damn did I love having it on while I ate a late lunch on a Saturday. This played out like a cool wrestling mixtape, something that would interest casual fans, something that would play well at a bar in that way that some bars throw on a weird movie with the sound turned off while the band is playing, or something that would be nice to have on while friends are over and most of the people are more interested in talking than watching wrestling (but like looking up and commenting when a cool spot catches their eye). It's like when NOAH was running those Captain's Fall Elimination matches, and it yielded some classics, and at minimum always yielded a match that was fun to have on in the background. So while I didn't love this, it's something that would be awesome to know is a possibility.

Hell, WWE should just run a 1 hour weekly show called Wrestling Mixtape, and just let whatever combination of guys want to work an hour long match, work that match. Seriously, make 8 spots available for each week's match, and let whatever 8 guys wanted to work the match, work the match. It would be a cool way to get TV time, but with the caveat that you might have to be one of the guys in the match for 45+ minutes. Maybe there are guys on the roster who would want the exposure, but wouldn't want to risk being exposed in a long match. Presumably more than 8 guys would want to sign up, so you'd have a bunch of guys to rotate through and keep the match-ups fresh. WWE's Wrestling Mixtape is an idea I am selling myself on even more the longer I type about it.

And this was a cool wrestling mixtape! It would have been much better if you switched around the order of eliminations (if there's a 50 minute match, I don't want Gallagher or Tozawa going out first when Tony Nese and Isaiah Scott are in there). The Swerve/Nese stuff was as awful as I was expected to be, hot garbage Marvel final battle wrestling. Scott has a lot of ideas, and that's cool, except for a bunch of ideas of his that involve a guy doing something out of the ordinary and then holding position for too long waiting for Scott to splat onto them after breakdancing. His stuff can look pretty, and be innovative, but man do I hate how he sets a lot of it up. But how do you hate a match that's so neat and weird that in only his third TV match with the company, here's Angel Garza working a freaking 50 minute match. They really gave a showcase to the Garza brood - maybe too much of one, as I think Carrillo is still best in briefer sequences - but damn it is great to have practically a clone of Hector Garza on TV. Hector Garza was maybe my favorite TV wrestling in the world around 2006/2007, and that's saying something since Fit Finlay had just made a totally unexpected "I assume booked specifically for Eric Ritz" return to working featured TV matches. Some of his act comes off a bit more rehearsed and doesn't quite have that same insanely charming sparkle that Hector was working with (watching him fall all over women at ringside while bumping is true pro wrestling joy), but the star potential is there. We don't get nearly enough Gallagher (though do get a nice headbutt and the amusing group umbrella spot), but we get typically great stuff from Gulak and Lorcan, and the weirdness of WWE running a 50 minute cruiserweight match kept the smiles easy.

WWE Wrestling Mixtape. Book it.

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New Footage Friday: Piper, Choshu, Inoki, Porky, Nicho, Santo, Rey Sr.

Roddy Piper vs. Riki Choshu NJPW 9/8/77

MD: This was very straightforward. Roddy got outwrestled. Roddy went to the cheapshots first. Choshu came back. Roddy cut him off. They went back and forth towards a clean finish. It was all good though even if nothing was over the top. Piper was maybe 23 here. I like how he sold after holds. I liked the viciousness when he took over. He had a fun gutwrench that Choshu went up too much for. Both distinctive Choshu comebacks were after Roddy was verbally taunting him, which was a nice touch. There was that real sense of struggle in this, from the opening Piper headscissors all the way to the butterfly suplex that ended it. I like how different this was from the Inoki match. That's a testament to young Roddy.

PAS: Really fun to see incubatory versions of both of these all time greats. Piper has some of the better headlock punches I can remember. He really pops Choshu right in the nose and eye. This was before Choshu developed his formula, he has an afro instead of his stringy hair, and doesn't throw a lariat or put on a Scorpion. This was fun, but I can just imagine how amazing a 1985 version of this match would have been.

ER: This is like a great Young Lions match, no highspots or rope running, both guys staying close the whole time, and both laying in shots. Piper was 23 as Matt said, but everything he did looked so good and fully formed. Look at that headscissors where he holds his knees tightly together and scrapes Choshu's head across the mat, or when he whips Choshu's head into the turnbuckle like he's slamming a car door as hard as he can. I also like how Piper would whip his arm into the side of Choshu's head, and also loved how he sold for Choshu. At one point he ate a heavy back suplex, and then lay there pulsing on the mat as if he kept trying to get up but suddenly had no working core. My brain didn't even read Choshu as Choshu in this - as Phil said he wrestled and even looked quite differently - as he looked more like "what if Kantaro Hoshino was a powerlifter?" I dug how he didn't put up with Piper's chippiness, and the two suplexes to end it are a suitable ending for the era.  

Roddy Piper vs. Antonio Inoki NJPW 9/22/77

MD: It's been a bit of a surprise but I've really enjoyed 70s Inoki. Maybe the trick is that I'm watching relatively short matches that highlight his energy? Here, there's a ton of craziness on the outside to start, and Piper capitalizes, and the first few minutes are really good. Piper's great at picking someone apart and Inoki's a quality guy to pick apart. He uses the ring, including ambushing Inoki when he comes back in and unleashing a ton of golden gloves jabs. Inoki's big late 70s move was apparently fighting his way back into the ring; when he does it by getting Piper's leg and then doing repeated bull charges to drive him into the corner, the crowd pops huge. They follow it up with Inoki getting some punching revenge and one of my favorite things, an extended short arm scissors section with Piper constantly engaged from underneath, so I'm all for this one. Piper eventually sneak-shots his way back into it, but it's never a real competition after that; at one point, while facing off for fisticuffs, Inoki's able to just shove him down. Inoki just has this forward momentum, always charging forth, that Piper tries to redirect or sneak around, but there's just no stopping it. Another butterfly suplex ends this. It was a good win, one that made Piper seem like a threat, even if not too much of one, and that made Inoki look great in victory.

PAS: This was a very Piper match which I loved. It starts with Inoki and Blackjack Mulligan brawling on the floor and Piper jumping Inoki from behind. Piper has some great wild punch combos, which he did about as good as anyone. Inoki taking control with his "ruined Ali's career" leg kicks is pretty cool, Inoki knows how to handle a guy with great hand speed and combos. I am also a big time mark for short arm scissors. I liked Piper's comeback, but one of my issues with Inoki matches is when he decides its over he just steamrolls his opponent and ends the match. If this had a more exciting finish it would have been a real hidden classic. It was still a great look at young Piper, who has really become one of my favorite guys to watch.

ER: This was so cool, with Blackjack Mulligan jumping Inoki on the floor and Piper opportunistically taking advantage of that...but I love how the advantage doesn't last long and Inoki comes firing back and just lays into Piper. It felt like an MMA fight where a guy takes advantage of a slip from his opponent, but the guy who slipped is a better fighter and the second he gains his footing he just starts punishing that dude. Inoki overwhelms and clowns Piper, legsweeping him, dodging every attack, catching his strikes and forcing Piper into armbars and short arm scissors and trying to wrench him into the octopus, really punishing him for his insolence. But Piper's comeback is nice and fiery and he really laces some shots into Inoki. I really like Piper's full arm swinging shots, really the only guys I've seen who throw similar arm strikes as him are all luchadors, though I know that was obviously not an influence on him (just as Piper likely wasn't an influence on any luchadors). Phil is right about Inoki just deciding to end matches and ending them quick, but this was still a 10 minute powder keg.

Super Porky/Nicho El Millionario/El Hijo Del Santo vs. Rey Misterio Sr./Halloween/Damian Tijuana 6/2001 (?)

ER: This match was every damn thing I want in my lucha. 2001 Tijuana is proving to be one of the all time great lucha hotbeds, and let's thank Roy Lucier for letting us see these matches from the tape trading era of lucha. 2001 Tijuana and shows with 2001 Santo matches were the very first lucha I bought from a flea market, and it was the best lucha I had seen in my then 3 year history of watching lucha, which began with WCW luchadors leading me on to WWF Superastros, before finally getting cable TV and finding lucha on Galavision in 1998. 2001 Tijuana was my favorite lucha I had seen, and it only looks better in 2019. This is lucha perfection to me. Super Porky turns into a physical comedy performance for the ages (focus on physical), Rey Mysterio Sr. continues to look like an absolute legend every time I see him, Nicho shows how insane he is with how many dangerous violent spills he takes on a show that to his knowledge wasn't being recorded; Hijo del Santo is a legend who we know has a 100% track record of showing up on every show he's on no matter the crowd size, and Halloween and Damian are two of the more dependable brawlers of the era (at one point Halloween hits this great leaping mule kick, and it's just one cool thing the two of them do). It's a match with so many standout stars that I have no clue who the standout star of the match is.

Super Porky gave a performance that ranks up with the best of them, a great mid career performance. He hits a super far assisted top rope splash, sets up a beautiful version of his headlock takeover/headscissors, works a hilarious comedy spot that sees him do more rope running than I've ever seen him do at any point of his career (building to a great payoff of Halloween and Damian popping each other), he absolutely crushes Familia de Tijuana's valets with a huge body press of the apron, and his dancing after the primera was impossible to not smile through. Nicho is absolutely nutso. He takes all of his most dangerous bumps here, plus some new ones. He falls on his head, throws high dropkicks on the concrete floor, gets suplexed into the 5th row and appears to hit a baby (!), he insanely wraps himself around the ringpost on a missed charge (as crazily as I've ever seen that  bump done), drops a guillotine legdrop onto Mysterio over the guardrail, he gets powerbombed kidneys first through two freaking CHAIRS!! This guy! Mysterio is like lucha Fit Finlay, it's insane how underwritten this guy is. He comes off like a total crime boss here, sending his henchmen into battle, he hits hard, he knows how to stooge, he'll take a great bump into the crowd (and suplex Nicho further in), and he comes off like a total sadist. Santo is lucha grace personified, hitting his flawless headscissors, his big senton into a dive past the ringpost (set up nicely by Porky), but then when Felino runs in at the end of the tercera we get to see Santo the brawler - which is the best Santo. He's so graceful and moves so smoothly, but he's super aggressive in brawls and the way he went after Felino made me want to see that match. This match was insanely hot, insanely violent, all done for locals only. Everything from this era of TJ needs to be seen, just a total early millennium wrestling hotbed.

MD: This was glorious mayhem. I love that it fit into so many traditional tropes while being bonkers and over the top. I'm not sure I've ever seen Rey Mysterio Sr as a rudo before but he definitely fit the look. Nicho as the post-modern, crotch chopping tecnico who wanted to get his hands on him, worked. That he had Hijo del Santo and Brazo de Plata with him just made everything more surreal. There are so many weird moments in this. Porky flips up and over with a rope assist before hitting the headscissors/headlock takeover. He's the one who holds a guy down for the Santo senton/tope combo. Santo positions someone on the guardrail for a Psicosis legdrop. Porky hits a dive on a valet. Psicosis had more distinct hope spots than you generally see, which I assume was the US style rubbing off on him. We miss the absolute moment of tecnico comeback here, which is a shame, and Felino interjecting himself at the end led to an awesome beatdown but maybe wasn't conducive to a good match. That's the thing with some of this footage. It's honestly good booking. They keep building to the next thing. It just means when you watch it as a capsule, the finishes aren't always as satisfying as the match itself.

PAS: This was a total blast, pretty much exactly what you want from a Tijuana lucha match: you know it isn't going to make a ton of sense, you won't get a clean finish, there will be some nonsense with refs and run ins, but you put all time greats and total lunatics in that formula and it is going to rule. Nicho went full Sabu in this, flying all over the ring smashing himself into the post, getting hurled into the crowd, you totally understand why he had such a short career as a great wrestler as he was dying these kind of horrid deaths regularly. Porky at his best is maybe the most entertaining wrestler of all time and here he was at his best. The Porky top rope splash has to feel like getting hit with a bag of hotel laundry, all of the sheets from all of the rooms in a giant bag landing on your chest.  Santo brings class to the insanity and Familia De Tijuana are great rudo foils. It goes off the rails as you expect, but it was a great train crash.

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Ian Rotten Was Living In a Devil Town, He Didn't Know It Was a Devil Town

Ian Rotten vs. Homicide NWL 8/2/04 - EPIC

JR: There are two ideas about wrestling that I find myself fixated on. The first is the inherent romance of the idea of professional wrestling: the idea that the world, or some approximation thereof, still has intrepid and conquering heroes, willing to fight for something beyond themselves. The second, and perhaps the inverse to that, or at the very least something that informs that first idea, is that successful wrestlers are broken and jagged people, whose success in wrestling is because they have no other avenues for success. They are people who live outside society.

I’m not sure that Ian fits the first idea, but he certainly fits the latter. He never presents himself as someone with any goal beyond bleeding to put food on his table, but there is a workmanlike joy in that from him in some way. I wonder then if these seemingly rare mat work exhibitions were moments in time that he relished. Rare opportunities for him to show off, to do things that are reserved for performers that other think more technically sound, sleeker, more proficient, more practiced. But like we’ve touched on in almost all of these reviews, there is an earnestness to Ian’s work that sets it apart. The spots that he relies on, the aspects that are revealed as performative only through study, still have a groudedness to them. He ignores the flash that other, showier workers use to keep people invested. He trusts himself, and he trusts that he knows his audiences. He makes no apologies. There is something admirable about it. 

Take, for example, the way Ian (and Homicide, to some extent) uses his head. In a rear mount, Ian digs his chin in to Homicide’s spine. He uses it as a tool, as a way to gain leverage, as a way to press upon his opponent. And because of that, he exposes himself to harm and to danger and often finds himself caught. It’s an encapsulation of his style as a whole, using anything he can to continue to press forward, putting every bit of weight on his opponent. 

In the first match we looked at for this project, in which Ian fought Chris Hero, Phil talked about the palpable sense of dread that Ian’s matches have. There is a wonderful example of it early in this. After both men get back to their feet, and Homicide has control of the arm, Ian pulls them both down. Cide rolls quickly and decisively, as he did earlier to gain advantage, but Ian has learned, and Homicide finds himself rolling directly into contact. He squirms away and goes to the outside and there is the first real breath, the first show of negative space, and it works because of a moment on the mat that feels almost like a near death experience. And Homicide, for his part, despite pointing to his head after the escape to tell us how smart he is, is hesitant to get back in the ring, and even more hesitant to lock back up. He’s a wrestler that doesn’t show fear, that doesn’t beg off, but for a moment he has to regroup, and that is perhaps just as powerful and just as telling.

From here, the match falls in to a familiar rhythm. Ian uses headbutts as another reset button of sorts, creating a clear second act within the match, although not before once again trying to use his head for leverage, digging his forehead in to the back of Homicide's neck. They start to exchange blurry eyed strikes, Homicide on his feet, Ian on his knees. Homicide continues to show hesitation to go back on the mat, and when Ian finally bring Homicide back down, Cide cheats and bites and claws his way to an advantage, all so he can stand back up and strike. It’s strange. While the match itself has some different notes, this almost feels like the touring equivalent of the Joe match we just watched, albeit one that has a definitive finish. Rather than ending during the threatened brawl on the outside, here they continue to swing wildly, and Ian breaks a whiteboard over Homicide’s head in a truly preposterous moment of violence. 

While I think Rotten has a lot of strengths as a worker, I think his genius in this series shows in how clearly he finds breaks and ways to escalate. This match is almost a three act play, with each division acting as both an escalation and a separation. After the whiteboard, even the matwork is more frenzied. A figure four is countered and both men roll off the apron to the floor. When Rotten goes back to the same submission it gets broken with a chair. There is a desperation to the work from both men. Ian tries a double leg takedown from his knees, but ends up in a choke. Homicide starts working the arm again, paying off his work in the early portions. The finishing stretch is mostly lead by Homicide, with him trying and testing various ways to grab Ian’s arm. It is a definitive and rather abrupt finish, and somewhat less clever and decidedly more “wrestling” than what we’ve seen until now. Perhaps had this match taken place in IWA-MS and not NLW, we would’ve seen the Ian we’ve become accustomed to, the one who moves ever forward, even in defeat.

PAS: I always thought of these two guys as mirror images of each other. Pair of guys who started out as Deathmatch wrestlers and brawlers but had this secret skill on the mat and desire to show off. Both guys had training schools, both had cult favorite indy feds which they headlined. In many ways this was like a battle between a DC and Marvel versions of the same superhero, like if Quicksilver and Flash had a race.

I think the crowd was expecting a brawl, and it was cool that they decided instead to hit the mat as hard as they did. I loved how Ian would grab rollups from weird angles, and how vicious Homicide's arm work was. One thing about Ian is that wrestlers seem perfectly willing to violate the unspoken agreements, Homicide really kicks the shit out of Ian's arm in ways that had to ache for weeks, and those headbutts were knocking large parts of Ian's education out of his head. No wonder the IWA-MS payouts were always hinky, that guy couldn't do math after those headshots.

According to Cagematch this is their only singles match, I had never heard of this match before, it had 40 views on Youtube. One thing that is so great about this hobby is mining for lost classics, and this totally counted. This feels like it should have been a legendary rivalry. Like Ian vs. Homicide should have ended in a JAPW vs. IWA-MS War Games match or something, instead we got this one shiny jewel of a match.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE METH LAB BATTLARTS

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I Jump Into the Bed, Tony Halme's There Already Waiting for Me

Tony Halme vs. Shinya Hashimoto  NJPW 9/23/91 - VERY GOOD

ER: This was not as great as their other Different Style Fight that we have (and not many are), and Halme comes into this fight more bloated than I've ever seen him. It had been several months since his last New Japan appearance and he looked bigger than ever but not in a way that would necessarily benefit him. The gifts in this match definitely come the longer this match goes, as it's a round system and so the early parts have a lot of feeling out, getting distance, nobody overshooting in the first few minutes. We establish fairly early that Hash is going to wear him down with leg kicks, absorb some punches to get in close, and take him to the mat to work submissions. Halme is in boxing gloves and the KO blow is his only shot, but it's an impressive shot. Hash keeps at those leg kicks, throwing short shots to the inside of Halme's lead leg, and I love the way Halme sells them and how they start affecting him the longer the match goes. Distance is not his friend. Halme lands a couple of big shots in the 3rd, a nasty hook to the back of Hash's head, and a cool short jab that Hash didn't see coming. That jab might've been my favorite Halme shot of the match. We get a couple great rope break moments, with it not looking like Halme was guaranteed to get to the ropes either time, especially when Hashimoto sinks in a choke. Hashimoto's leg sweeps were a real highlight, each low kick getting a bit more of a reaction from Halme, with Hash putting him down hard with a short leg kick followed by an immediate sweep. When Hash lands that combo a second time he locks in what I thought was the for sure finish, sinking an Americana with Halme's toe barely finding the bottom rope. But that rope break was Halme's last gasp, as Hash comes up throwing high kicks, nails his spin kick, and then spikes Halme with a DDT, rolling his limp body over for the easy armbar finish. Halme wasn't as active in this one as in their prior fights, but it allowed the match to play out in different ways, making it a worthy entry in their feud.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE TONY HALME

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Lucha Worth Watching: El Hijo Del Santo is Turning 56 Years Old.

El Hijo Del Santo/A Fake Rey Mysterio vs. Fishman Jr./Super Comando Lucha Libre NY 7/13/19

ER: El Hijo Del Santo is turning 56 years old soon. Here he is in front of 400 people in New York, moving like someone much younger than 56. I actually kind of like fake Rey Mysterios, and this one was actually good. Fishman comes off like a tough guy and his trades with Santo were a highlight. Comando was a guy I dug when he showed up in early decade CMLL, but I haven't seen him since. This was all really fun and had a classic lucha feel to it. Comando and Fishman are very capable rudo luchadors, so they handle some complicated swinging spots from our tecnicos. Santo shows he has the core work of a 30 year old by lifting himself up and over Fishman into a sunset flip, they worked through Santo's great fireman's carry pendulum armdrag, Santo hits his still-best headscissors, launches Fishman into the ropes with a great monkey flip, throws kneelifts that are ALSO still the best kneelifts in wrestling, the guy is just incredible. He hits a cool in ring headbutt tope, and late in the match does his fantastic, impactful somersault senton off the top, then he stops short to shift direction, catching Fishman past the turnbuckle with a tope that is absolutely insane to be doing at 56 years old. I liked Fake Rey Mysterio's tecnico charisma, and though he strung together Rey-adjacent offense as well as most of the pushed young flyers in CMLL. He had crisp handsprings and nice execution, came off like an older pro at times (and maybe he is a older guy, for all I know). The rudo control section probably went on a bit too long. It was filled with cool stuff, and I really liked how all of Fishman/Comando's offense involves running Santo and Rey headfirst into things. Santo is amazing at it, actually. There's a spot where Santo gets run headfirst into a chair that had been set up in the corner, and this crazy old guy goes into it like it's 1996 ECW. Santo and Rey hit a chair right into Comando's balls, Rey gets run headfirst into Santo's gut, Santo takes a half dozen Irish whips hard into the buckles, all good stuff...but it probably needed to get to the Santo fireworks closer a little earlier. Still, this man is a true legend. Santo is God.

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Monday AIW - Sekimoto Takes Cleveland 7/25/19

Parker Pierce vs. CPA

PAS: CPA is one of the AIW acts that just doesn't connect with me. I appreciate his semitic chest hair, but I am not sure what his gimmick is, or what the point of his whole act is. He keeps throwing dropkicks, but he barely gets above Pierce's waist. I don't think the dropkicks are supposed to comedy spots but that is what they end up being. Pierce is a crowbar, so I enjoyed watching him potato CPA. He chops the hair off of his chest, mule kicks him in the mouth and nearly beheads him with a back lariat. I enjoy Pierce, would have rather seen him beat on a Bitcoin boy or someone else who can bump bigger.

Allie Kat vs. Super Oprah 

PAS: Super Oprah has some pretty questionable comedy spots, lots of forcing people to touch their tits and jamming faces into their crotch, but this was pretty stiff. Oprah was cracking Allie Kat with stiff butt shots and clotheslines, and Kat fought back. If you are going to have a creepy comedy match, it might as well have potatoes. I do kind of want to check out Super Oprah's Nigerian Nightmare style gimmick Papa Dingo.

40 Acres (PB Smooth/Tre Lamar) vs. Weird World 

PAS: These are a pair of super enjoyable wrestlers to watch, and they had a super enjoyable match. I loved Weird Body's offensive rush at the beginning, hitting Lamar with his bony fists and elbows, confusing him with fake dives and the Weird Ball, just being a puzzle that is hard to solve. Weird Body also took a huge thumping in this match, his odd frame makes ever bump he takes look especially violent, and I loved 40 Acres figuring out a counter for the "Terry Funk Ladder spot" by just superkicking Weird Body in the head. Worldwide came in with an injury, so he didn't do much, although I am a fan of the Baba Chop heavy hot tag.

Big Twan Tucker vs. Ethan Page

PAS: Twan Tucker continues to be one of the more entertaining guys on a roster full of super entertaining guys. He is really great at building to big moments, him getting hyped up when Page is punching him only to grab Page's fist and blitz on him was pretty great stuff. He also hit an awesome twisting side slam, and his somersault into a spear was a holy fuck finish. With the indies full of guys wanting to be Chuck Taylor or Davey Richards, I appreciate a guy trying to be Mark Henry. The meat of the match was a little weaker. There was a whole section where Page was trying to place Twan for a superplex and they couldn't really get it together, and Page was slapping his thigh like an especially enthusiastic square dancer. Still this was fun shit, and between the Manders match, MJF match and this one, Twan is on a roll. 

Mikey Montgomery vs. Eric Ryan vs. Eric Taylor vs. Lee Moriarty 

PAS: This was a four way which they have on every card pretty much, and was about in the middle. Your proto-Bitcoin Boys tried a bunch of stuff, some of which hit cool, and some which missed a bit. There were lots of spots where one Bitcoin Boy got thrown on the other which was cool. Moriarity is a guy they clearly are high on, who isn't really my cup of tea. Lots of really intricate "kick one guy so he suplexes a second guy" spots, and I feel like I can still see him working through the dance moves in his head. This is the first Ryan match I can remember seeing where he doesn't take some career shortening bump, he still hits hard and has fun intensity, so I was glad to see him give his body the night off.

Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham vs. Kikutaro 

PAS: I am well into my third decade of being unamused by Kikutaro matches. Comedy in wrestling is fine when it obeys the narrative rules of wrestling. Kikutaro and Dr. Dan exchanging soft chops as some sort of improv game showing how wrestling is stupid, sucks. I don't want to wade into Twitter wrestling drama, but when you take away emotional investment from wrestling it basically doesn't work. Wrestling as a wry wink is doomed.

Youthanazia vs. PME 

PAS: This was face vs face which is always going to be a bit wonkier then a traditional tag, especially because PME's traditional babyface tag team wrestling is their strength, you aren't really going to have a Ricky Morton section in a match with four Ricky Mortons. Still PME are just monumentally entertaining, and I am going to enjoy almost anything they do. Josh Prohibition is a fun pissed off old guy and I dug him getting flustered. A couple of the finishing spots didn't hit cleanly, but I liked the tricky almost heelish finish PME used, not sure if they work as a heel team if the eventually turn, but I am intrigued.

53. KTB vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

PAS: This is a match which totally delivered on what it promised. It is touring Godzilla vs. Backwoods Mothra (Methra?). I haven't always loved Sekimoto, but he has toned down his goofy no-selling and just leaned into being a ball of muscle who clocks people. I haven't seen a load of KTB singles, but he holds his own fine, trying to throw heat as hot as what is flying at him. There was one big German suplex no-sell which we didn't need, but otherwise it was pretty perfect for this kind of match. I loved the absolute violence which Sekimoto unloaded in the final run, nasty headbutt and a  back fist which was no spin all impact and I wouldn't have been shocked if KTB lost a couple of his less solid teeth

ER: I was into this, and then some time around the 8 minute mark it jumped up a level of intensity and never looked back. Once Sekimoto started really swinging for the fences and cutting low on every damn lariat, I was hooked. Every big thing looked big and landed hard. Sekimoto hits a backbreaker that looked like it should have broken either KTB or Sekimoto's own femur. We get big suplexes from both guys, a cool sequence ending in a nice KTB powerbomb, a killer nearfall off a KTB Asai moonsault, awesome KTB crossbody, all of it was great. The home stretch just kept getting hotter and I thought peaked all the way to the finish, even the German that KTB popped up from got paid off shortly after with Sekimoto hitting a delayed German that KTB was not going to get up from.  Sekimoto was a real bruiser here, all those chops and right hands to the forehead and of course those full damn force lariats, my god. This delivered on the on paper promise, and then some.

Rip City Shooters/Tim Donst vs. Matthew Justice/Dominic Garrini/Nick Gage

PAS: I really like this kind of six man tag where you bring a bunch of feuds together and let them battle it out. We get some really stiff in ring work to start this match before they spill to the outside and let loose with the chairs and doors. Loved Masarati Wes in this, total sneaky prick, who when he gets his comeuppance, really gets blasted. Reminds me of AWA Heenan. Lots of really sick chair shots and throws through doors, Garrini's short piledriver through the door to the floor was especially grody. Loved the Justice/Dom/Gage team breaking out Kaientai DX combos. Didn't think we needed a run in finish, although it heated up Gage vs. Zach Thomas and let Barkley steal a win. Good stuff, like a fun ECW main event.

ER: I liked this, felt like a hybrid ECW/NWA Wildside brawl, and it had several moments flirting with greatness while settling in as a fun brawl. Maserati Wes especially feels like a guy who would be a cult legend with a serious pain pill problem had he been an ECW original. I love the vibe he brings to these matches as (Phil said) a scuzzy Heenan, either working great from the floor as a second or throwing in tons of glue moments as an actual match participant. We kept getting background glimpses of Wes vs. Garrini - particularly one shot where Garrini just pops him in the mouth with a right - and the teases were good enough that I just wanted to see that singles match. We got some big dives to the floor and into the crowd, some of them from unexpected sources: You know Justice is going to do a big dive, but Garrini flies in with his "held onto the ropes too long" heavy flip dive that I dig, and Gage hits an awesome Necro style cannonball off the top into the crowd. We get a lot of chairshots (an absurd amount really, for a thing that people had basically been guilted into getting over well on a decade ago, it's an odd thing to nostalgically bring back), and Garrini takes a couple of harsh bumps because that's what he does. Bishop goes for a uranage slam through a chair but misses the chair entirely, which is fine because the slam itself looks painful enough on the mat...but then he picks Garrini right back up and sends him through that set up chair on attempt #2. I dug the Wes/Gage showdown, although with so many other guys in the match I wish they would have had someone standing by so Wes didn't kick out of a nasty snap dragon suplex and spine shortening DDT. I don't love the "we're sitting in chairs punching each other" stuff, and it didn't help that the strikes while sitting in chairs were the weakest strikes of the match. Some of the chair spots also got a little repetitive. I'd much rather have these guys beating each other with fists than a bunch of chairs. Still, I love the personalities involved here, and the night vision on the dives and some of the roving handheld camera really made this come off like a quality Fancam main event.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Alvarado Family Feud

24. Maximo vs. La Mascara AAA 2/1

ER: What a tremendous bit of family theater. This was a hair vs. hair match, except that Maximo was fighting for Super Porky's hair, and Mascara was fighting for Goya Kong's hair. It starts pretty simply, two very quick falls, but Maximo gets busted open in the segunda, serving as a sign of the drama that was coming in the tercera. Everybody played their role tremendously, and the fans were literally jumping out of their seats for nearfalls down the finishing stretch. Maximo turns in one of the great tecnico performances of the year, really eating some hard shots from Mascara before finally snapping. Maximo snaps off a couple nice headscissors, hits a plancha off the apron into his sister (with Mascara awesomely moving at the last minute so Goya takes the hit), and then goes nuts in the crowd throwing hard rows of sharp chairs at Mascara's head. Maximo was really throwing those things and suddenly this is an Alvarado take on a Park/Rush brawl. But Maximo manages to hit a better tope than any tope in a Park/Rush match. Maximo has an argument for best tope in lucha, and this is one of his finest ever, his chest and head battering Mascara hard into the barricade, like booby trapped tree knocking a storm trooper down a hill on Endor. I loved all the family interaction: You had Mascara slapping Porky, Porky hitting Mascara in the face with the handle of a ring squeegee, Porky hobbling after Goya - Porky was moving pretty poorly but has lost weight, looked like a lucha Sebastian Gorka - and smacking that handle against the ground with every step before hitting his daughter with it (!), and later an awesome nearfall when Goya runs in to interfere and splats Mascara with a great elbowdrop. The nearfalls down the stretch were fantastic, and the fans were dying with them. They wanted to see Goya without her great head of hair, and every single Maximo kiss into a schoolboy lead to the crowd going bonkers. Maximo even pulls out a triple dip kiss for a nearfall, the ref eats a kick to the back of the head, some other guy gets involved and kicked to the floor; that kind of overbooking can feel like a total mess but here I thought it all added to the chaos and the fact that a couple heads of hair were on the line! This tercera (which was basically the whole match) was too much fun. Maximo is a guy I've pretty much checked out on post-CMLL, but he does always seem to turn in one big early year performance. For all I know he's putting on shows like this all over town.

PAS: I feel like I need to get the backstory of this match with a brother fighting his cousin while wagering the hair of their invalid father and sister, respectively.  The weirdness of this match was really elevated by everyone being family. Porky can barely walk but he is still bleeding and hits a splash on an imposter who he thought was his nephew, and hits his daughter with a giant cane. Maximo ends up getting multiple near falls after he kisses his cousin on the mouth. Hell of Maximo performance, if this had been a bigger match the image of him hurling rows of chairs at his bloody brother would have been iconic, this was a small Arena Lopez Mateos match and only available via handheld, but it felt like a huge main event. Lots of goofiness and shortcuts, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 8/4-8/17

So we got thrown off schedule by none of these guys having a match one week, and then a TakeOver happening last week, so we doubled up the weeks to bring you KING SIZE post worthy of these badasses.

205 Live 8/6

Oney Lorcan vs. Jack Gallagher vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Kalisto vs. Ariya Daivari vs. Tony Nese

ER: WWE is usually as good or better than most companies at doing fast paced juniors multimans, but I don't think this one came off as natural or organic as their best ones. This one had a lot of guys shimmying into position and some of the set ups looked off, but with some of the guys involved obviously there was going to be some gold. This was all about getting Oney to Summerslam (in the first match on the pre show no doubt), and here he looked like a guy who should obviously be at Summerslam. This had the regular problems of multimans, where we would get a great spot followed almost immediately by some kind of gaffe. We got a tandem submission where Lorcan basically had to hold his legs in place while nobody was holding them, but the spots were all a bunch of fun. Kalisto took a nasty bump PAST the announce table when then other 5 chucked him, Daivari was a fun opportunist and Gallagher bumped huge for him into the barricade, we got a dive train where Lorcan's unhinged flip dive was the star (and as is a rule in multimans, 4-5 people were entirely unable to catch Nese or Gallagher on their dives), Gallagher wasted Nese with a headbutt (but terrible agenting meant that Nese kicked out of it when there were literally 4 guys who could have broken up this pin instead), Nese athletically stumbled through this whole thing and it would have been much more interesting as a 4 man, but the whole thing would make an excellent 4 minute highlight package and that's not nothing. The important thing is Oney looking like a star while keeping guys like Gallagher and Tozawa still strong enough, and I thought this match succeeded in that.

PAS: This was a bunch of fun, although pretty flawed. Nese Nese'd it up for parts of this, just flipping and flopping around and setting up his dance moves. But I liked everyone else in this. This type of match doesn't work to Gallagher's strengths, but he had some fun multiman spots, and took a couple of nasty bumps on his head: that German suplex into the turnbuckles was way too sick for a spot which didn't mean anything in the match. Davari was almost Buddy Landelish in his stooging and cheap shotting and Kalisto and Tozawa had fun flying spots and move with real grace. I agree with Eric that there was enough awkward stuff to stop this from being a highly recommended match, but I enjoyed watching it.

Summerslam 8/11

42. Drew Gulak vs. Oney Lorcan

ER: Yes sir. This was what got me excited for this card. And there is nothing else that can happen on this card that will take this match away from me. This ruled, and was a killer showcase for both men. We were so excited seeing TAKA Michinoku doing quebradas on WWF TV 20 years ago, so excited for cruiserweight wrestling on our TVs, and now we have evolved to TV cruiserweight wrestling being two guys ripping at beards and punching throats. Look at the things we as a people can do. This was an unhurried unsanitized version of what these two can do, and it got to happen on (the undercard of) one of the biggest shows of the year, and that's a very cool thing. It was a tidy 9 minutes filled with a dozen cool ideas, and just made me want to see them match up a dozen more times. Gulak slams Lorcan into the ropes in a flat out sinister way, and is practically inventing cruel subs to try to trap him in. Lorcan's aggression is his double edged sword. He flies into everything with abandon, which allowed him to come so close to beating Gulak, but it also meant he lost to Gulak. These guys made me buy into everything they did, moves had consequences, actions lead to finishes. Gulak took on the persona of a big brother who picked on his little brother too long and accidentally pushed him over the edge, and it was great. The look on Gulak's face as Lorcan is grabbing him by the fucking beard and muzzle and slapping him was classic. Both read naked choke spots were great, with the first looking like a genuine finish as Lorcan is not close to the ropes, and Gulak drags the arm closest to the ropes back across Lorcan's throat. That they went back to it soon after and created an organic Lorcan false win showed they understand their characters and the match they were having 100%. I loved Lorcan flipping out of that rear naked and almost getting the "fluke" pin, everything they had done made that finish an absolute possibility. Lorcan's flying uppercuts are a thing of beauty, and I'm not sure I've seen someone just lean into them standing the way Gulak did. It's one of those spots that somehow made both men look tougher, Lorcan flying into Gulak and Gulak absorbing the shots but refusing to show ass. And the finish was great, with Gulak being drug into the ring holding onto the ring skirt for dead life, then at the earliest opening just punching Lorcan in the throat and hitting the neckbreaker. Lorcan's sell of his throat was palpable, and I just want to see these guys continue to crush every opportunity they're given.

PAS: This was really great and vicious, and very different from the matches these guys were having on the indies 4 years ago. I loved how nasty they have made the Gu-Lock, every time Gulak goes for it, it is fought like death. I was watching Nate Diaz fight tonight, and I loved how Gulak's striking near the end of this match resembled that, he would throw these flurries of sharp quick punches, and slaps looking for little openings to land something hard and solid, I loved how he overwhelmed the harder hitter with volume. Finish was great with Gulak looking like he was in deep waters, only to crack Lorcan right in the throat and finish him off, it looked like a fatality in a kung fu movie.

205 Live 8/13

Jack Gallagher vs. Akira Tozawa

ER: Just another typical WWE juniors match. You know, cool matwork, two guys landing stiff shots, and one of them busting open his head doing a nutso bump off the ringpost. That kind of WWE juniors match. And it was cool as all hell. Gallagher had some of his coolest transitions in this one, and I especially loved his slick escape from an early headscissors into an Indian deathlock variation. Gallagher's placement and timing were impeccable here, he always knew the right distance to throw his great dropkick, knew right where he had to be to properly counter Tozawa. Tozawa took a wild bump to the floor after getting booted over the top, hitting his head on the ringpost and then the steps and getting a cut on his head from it. Gallagher kept his attack simple, and I liked how Gallagher kept using his nice strikes to create distance for bigger moves (really liked him using that headbutt to the stomach a couple times to knock Tozawa back on his heels). Tozawa's tope was real nice, a true classic tope where he lead with his head, and I like that Tozawa has a couple of really cool great looking signature punches. The finish appeared to be setting something up with Kendrick (they haven't crossed paths in a year and obviously that's a match up I'd love to get more TV time), but did take away from what they had been doing: Gallagher went for a superplex and Tozawa reversed to a nice front suplex, hit the senton, Gallagher got his foot on the ropes, and Kendrick plausibly accidentally knocked it off. We'll see where it leads, but even in a vacuum I loved what they did in this match.

PAS:  I really liked this, Tozawa has really great looking offense, one of the better non luchadore topes in the world, killer senton, awesome Tenryu jab. He doesn't always have the best structure to his matches, so it is great when he has a maestro like Gallagher to work with. The crazy bump Tozawa takes to the floor where he busts his head open on the ringpost, was really cool looking, but the long ref stoppage to try to clean the blood did funky up the momentum of the match a bit. I get why that is their policy I suppose but it is hard to keep a pace. Gallagher always seems to have interesting finishes to his matches, and I liked the ambiguity of Kendrick knocking his foot off, leads to some interesting business in the future.

22. Drew Gulak vs. Oney Lorcan

ER: Let's just continue giving these two as much TV time as possible, and I guarantee they will become popular names off their work alone. This match is completely different from the match they had a couple days prior at Summerslam, opting to build directly off the finish of that match into this match. Gulak really came off like a modern day Finlay here, sadistically attacking Lorcan's throat after winning their last match with a punch right to the throat. Lorcan is really great at flying into things, so here he is crazily flying neck first into ropes and buckles and the announce table, with Gulak even pulling out a Finlay staple by slamming Lorcan's throat into the edge of the ring apron (not throat related, but I also like how Gulak uses another Finlay staple, bodyslamming Lorcan leg first into the ropes to weaken him). Gulak kept attacking with hard lariats to the neck, and by the end of this I was wondering if any WWE match had more lariats this year. Lorcan is an extremely exciting "working from behind" guy, and all of his comebacks were scorching. I liked how hot he came out the gates, dumping Gulak with a half nelson suplex and hitting his great cannonball dive to the floor, flying into Gulak with uppercuts, really showing his wealth of babyface charisma. It honestly felt like Lorcan was going to keep maniacally running headlong into Gulak until he either won or could no longer run, and that kind of die hard babyface is missing from wrestling, or bogged down in shitty wide eyed heavy breathing play acting. Lorcan's huge suplex from the top was an awesome moment, and I love how him throwing Gulak so far across the ring ended up benefitting Gulak, as he got launched close to the ropes a Lorcan had to struggle to get over to him. The finish is a slick variation on learned behavior, with Gulak using a chaos theory to instead roll into a dragon sleeper. Lorcan has now cleanly lost his two singles matches against Gulak, yet due to his behavior in these losses comes out looking as strong and threatening as ever. Time to keep this feud going, to our benefit.

PAS: This was totally killer, glad we get to see this guys match up in the era of weirdly long TV main events for cruiserweights. And these are two guys who can fill 20+ minutes together.  The opening burst by Lorcan was great, and I totally bought Gulak having to get nasty with the throat shots. The simple throw into the announce table was so much cooler with the pre-existing injury and Lorcan's selling. That top rope suplex was a huge near fall, and I thought Lorcan had the match. I loved the call back to the first match with Lorcan forcing Gulak to turtle up and eat strikes to the body, as opposed to what happened earlier in the week. Finish was really cool and Lorcan looks like a total badass passing out rather then tapping. I want Gulak to have this belt forever, he is just great at putting together cool unique championship matches.


ER: Well this was pretty great for a couple week's selection of matches, with both Gulak/Lorcan matches landing on our 2019 Ongoing MOTY List. I'm with Phil, Gulak as Champ Forever.

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