2018 Ongoing MOTY List: PARK vs. PCO

75. LA Park vs. PCO MLW 10/4 (Aired 10/26/18) - GREAT

ER: I saw reports saying these two "under delivered" and I guess...I would have no idea what actual match people would have been expecting to see out of two 50 year olds, to then view the match as underwhelming. This had everything I expected and more, a compact hard hitting match relying on the charisma and craziness of both men. Both guys slam with hard shoulderblocks, Park eats some big shots including a stiff kick to the stomach, PCO hits his old guy moonsault and a big dive that crashes Park into the guardrail and sends the guardrail crashing into fans. That right there would have left me satisfied with the match. But we get the expected Park belt whipping, a big Park dive to give PCO his own chance to crash into the guardrail, and a great spot where Park catches a PCO kick and smashes him with a headbutt, then a lariat. I don't think I've seen Park use a headbutt that often, and it looked awesome here. They work Park's missed bump in the corner nicely, with Park doing his great upside down turnbuckle bump, allowing PCO to go back on control and hit a powerbomb and running knee strike. But as Park rolls to the apron, PCO - and this is part of why I have no idea what any actual reasonable person could have expected from this match - crashes and burns as he whiffs on a cannonball off the top, banking off the edge of the apron. Crazy bump for anyone to take, definitely a bump that shouldn't be taken by a 50 year old. Park's spear is a good finish, because Park has a fantastic spear. This delivered what I wanted it to deliver.

PAS: I think this could have used blood, and maybe a slightly quicker pace, but otherwise this was pretty rad. There are a lot of dives in wrestling now, but these are two guys who now how to make a dive look like it hurts. The PCO dive to the apron is a psychotic bump for a 180 pound 25 year old, much less a 300 pound 51 year old, and that PARK plancha which followed it up looked like it broke PCO's neck. PCO is a guy who sometimes suffers in between the big spots, but PARK is a guy who is great at filling space. Fun stuff well worth checking out if MLW fell through the cracks for you.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST