Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series Episode 5 Finale

Ron Mathis vs. Akira

PAS: This wasn't really a UWFI match, more of a highspot sprint. It had some nice stuff in it, like Akira landing a gross Low-Ki double stomp and some big high kicks. He is a fun Minoru Tanaka style shoot junior in this garage BattlArts. Mathis had some fun throws, but was almost doing comedy spots at the beginning.  For what this was it was fine, it was pretty out of style though. 

ER: Yeah the Mathis comedy at the beginning really threw me, come off like something we didn't need worked into this series. Felt like the wrong vibe to bring, maybe would have played better in front of a crowd. But every minute of the match was stronger than the minute that preceded it, so it's hard to dislike a match that keeps getting better and ends with the best stuff. There were a bunch of exploder variations, and one of the commentary guys called one of them "a real sack of shit toss" which made me spit coffee out a bit. The throws got pretty big by the end, and I liked Mathis leaping onto Akira with a guillotine. I thought Akira's bridging reversal of the guillotine was fantastic, and his leaping double stomp into Mathis's chin was disgusting, one of the great spots of the season. 

Big Beef vs. Austin Connelly

PAS: I am into Connelly. He does relentless really well, and comes right at Big Beef, only to get rudely and violently rebuked. Some of those forearms that Beef threw were Vader on Cactus level of concussive. For a second I didn't buy Connelly getting off a suplex, until I saw the size of his thighs. He looks like he could squat a mobile home. Quick and violent seems to be a Connelly special, and he is a guy I want to see more of. Beef hits appropriately hard, and I think him versus Hoodfoot could be great.

ER: I couldn't wait for this one after Connelly's last fight and Beef's performance all season, and this delivered. Connelly is a nut, and I buy into the way he keeps popping up and charging in until he can't. I'm not sure how sustainable it is for his career, but I love it! He rushes Beef and runs right into a boot and a powerbomb, and that kind of thing keeps happening. His throw was really impressive, and his ability to eat shots is even more impressive. Beef cracks him across the face and jaw with some vicious forearms, There's also some awesome post match body wrecking, with Connelly running down Beef and laying in full arm forearm shots just as hard as he took, and then Beef powers Connelly up and runs him back to the ring to dump him disgustingly with a powerbomb on the floor. Another season 1 highlight from these two. 

Lexus Montez vs. Bobby Beverly

PAS: More of an angle then a match, Beverly does a Fuerza handshake gimmick at the beginning and catches Montez with a couple of his Saito suplexes. Montez is able to bully him into the ropes and hit some shots and the ref does an quick stoppage. There ends up being a locker room brawl setting up Hoodfoot vs. Beverly in Terminal Combat which is five minutes of UWFI rules and then a hardcore match, which on paper seems kind of silly. I needed Montez to land harder stuff for me to buy the stoppage even if it was supposed to be fast.

ER: Yeah none of this worked for me. The referee is wearing a mask so I can only assume it's Steve Mazzagatti under there, because this stoppage was bad, and looked bad. I get the angle, but you need to actually play up to the angle and "bad stoppage" is just about one of the least interesting angles around. Nothing Montez did looked like it warranted a stoppage, his Superman punch just looked like a bad avalanche, and his match stopping slaps were arguably the worst strikes we've seen during this 5 episode UWFI rules run. If not worst overall strikes, then definitely the worst strikes used as justification to stop a match. My grandma really hated my beard, and would always tug on it and give my face these little slaps when she saw it, and those slaps looked harder than the slaps that stopped this match. If a match is going to be used to further an angle, you have to actually a) sell the angle convincingly, and b) make the angle interesting. The match this leads to sounds cumbersome at best, but the execution that got us there was even worse. 

Chase Holliday vs. Jordan Blade

PAS: This was pretty good stuff, with Blade showing their skill on the mat, including pulling guard with a jumping kimura, only to be caught with some big shots when they stood up. There was a nasty short hook which dropped her, and a big spinning back elbow for the KO (better then Holliday's first spinning back elbow, still not as good as Akira's or Broner's). I liked Blade a lot, and this was a better Holliday performance, excited to see more from both. 

ER: I thought this was a nice little snack. I really liked Blade's tie up matwork, her guard seemed really difficult to pass and she had really dangerous upkicks, and strong use of her legs in general. It looked like she had a good plan and I really liked her heavy knees to the ribs while standing. Holliday's worked back elbow finish looked good, and I dug how Blade sold it. 

Aaron Williams vs. Matthew Justice

PAS: I like Justice's fish out of water gimmick in these shows. It was cool how this match kept threatening to spin out, before being brought back in. Williams was fun shit talking on the mat, as he was clearly the more skilled grappler, and I loved his body shot/hook combo which sent Justice to the floor. I thought the buckle bomb and death valley driver were a step too far away from the style for me, but those finishing KO grounded knees were nasty looking. Post match Justice calls out Josh Barnett, which would be a big deal if they could actually deliver. 

ER: This landed a bit short for me. Justice is a "main event" worker I really like, but this didn't have the main event season ending heft that a lot of Justice matches come with. I do like Justice as fish out of water, challenging any Pride or UFC vets in an open challenge (how much could it cost to bring in Gerard Gordeau or Zuluzhino?), but I wanted more out of the last fight of the season. There were several individual things I liked, like Justice breaking a guillotine by trying to drop Williams back of neck first over the middle rope, and those nasty match ending knees from Justice. I also liked Williams talking trash ("I'm gonna get my shit in too!") and his triangle attempt. I thought the dvd was worked in as well as you can work something like that into a shootstyle match, but yeah I'd rather not see it. 

PAS: This is the end of season one, and I think overall this was a successful experiment. Not everything worked on every show, but everything was kept short, and I can digest a four minute failure pretty easily. This introduced me to a bunch of wrestlers I want to see more. Isaiah Broner, Hoodfoot, Austin Connelly, and Jordan Blade being people I hadn't heard of and have left big fans, and there is a whole second tier that I am excited to see more. We are in, and will cover Season 2 for sure.