2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Briggs vs. Hale

51. Josh Briggs vs. Asher Hale 205 Live 7/6 (Aired 7/9/21)

ER: Okay no seriously what the hell is happening on 205 Live? Who is agenting this program? Am I the only person watching this show? The half year turned over and suddenly all the 205 guys were gone and the show had the best heavyweight wrestling seen in 2021 WWE. The first week the format changed with no prior announcement, we got an out of nowhere gem from Joe Gacy and Desmond Troy. It was unlike any other WWE match I've seen this year (and they have at least 8 hours of TV every single week) and Troy didn't have another match in the company. It's insane wrestling happening behind the back of an insane billionaire, and it's immediately made 205 Live my most anticipated wrestling show. Eventually somebody is going to find out what was happening here and shut it down (and for all I know it happened the week after this match was taped) but for now it's my favorite show. 

Josh Briggs was a late run Evolve guy who has always worked as a modern indy Test, but this match was the first time I've seen him look like a better version of Test. This was Briggs as JBL, and this match felt like the JBL/Chavo Guerrero Jr. match we never really got (their one singles match was on the Eddie Tribute so we didn't get JBL/Chavo, we got Chavo doing Eddie spots). Briggs still hasn't quite settled on a good look, but he pulls off "hockey dad bartender" really well and hockey dad bartender is a good personality for a guy who can kick faces and throw lariats. Hale has kicks that are believable enough to slow a big guy, and he did a great job hanging on and trying to survive the Briggs assault. Briggs was really overwhelming and it was the most interesting he's been. He had a lot of attention to detail that I've never seen him do this well before, like his crossbody pin with his full palm pressing across Hale's jaw. Briggs is really annoying in between his big slams and kicks, and that was missing before. His matches often felt like some big spots without enough connective tissue, and now he has that connective tissue. He is annoying when things go to the mat, grinding his arm across Hale's eyes, really doing the kind of things that Hale does to guys his own size. Hale's tornado DDT felt like a big moment, and he came off looking strong just because Briggs looked like a real beast. The clothesline from Hell finish looked awesome, the kind of lariat that would stand up in any era versus any man. 

PAS: Eric is going back and watching 6 months old 205 Live and getting into all of these wrestlers who have already been canned. Briggs is still around for now, but Hale is long gone at this point. I really liked the parts of this with Briggs using his simple violent offense. He really knows how to throw a big boot and a hard forearm smash to the back, and I don't need much more than that. I also liked Hale catching him getting into the ring. It is a nice use of his speed and Hale threw some really sharp shots before getting obliterated with that clothesline. The best was how Briggs' lariat drove Hale into the mat. Hale didn't take this huge flip bump on it, he just got his head and throat smashed into the mat.

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST