2021 Ongoing MOTY List: WALTER vs. Dragunov

7. WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov NXT TakeOver 8/22

ER: This was a really great 2007 NOAH throwback. At its best it felt like Morishima vs. McGuinness, or even Morishima vs. Kobashi. It had a big Kings Road feel, with chops that caused major blood blisters and elbows to brainstems that looked life shortening. You really have to buy into Ilja Dragunov's facials, and there are some bad ones. He's the worst version of early 90s goofball Kobashi, with some offense that approaches Kobashi at his most punishing. WALTER is the very very important Morishima. You needed somebody in there grounding things and keeping this from becoming Funny Face theater. WALTER just brought 20 minutes of punishment, coloring up Dragunov's body with welts and bruises while ramping up the body impact the whole time. WALTER threw two back to back lariats that were among the best lariats of the year, knocking Ilja out of the sky with the first one, and then out of his boots with the next one. When you buy into Dragunov as an energizer bunny who needs to be dismantled to quit, it adds to WALTER's beating. 

The beating grows as the frustration grows, but the presence of the frustration is important. Ilja is aggravating, as he leans into the Backlund dorkiness, but he also leans into a beating, and that's easy to like. WALTER destroys him on offense, and not all of Ilja's hits the same, but he has moments where he steps to the plate and crushes it. His senton really pops WALTER's guts, and down the stretch he hits WALTER just about as hard as someone can hit a man in the cerebellum. WALTER hits some of his nastiest ever stuff, like a shotgun dropkick that had to have left Dragunov with a flared ribcage and a release powerbomb that was cruel. I love WALTER's top rope splash. It's one of the great He Doesn't Belong Up There splashes with the unsteady takeoff but heavy landing. I didn't fully buy into Ilja absorbing ALL of that damage, but he is good at withstanding a beating, and when it's time for the finish he makes everything look finisher worthy. His shots to the back of WALTER's head were sick, and I loved the quick tap when Dragunov yanked WALTER to his feet by the neck. This was one of the best WALTER performances we've seen in WWE, maybe one of his best ever. 

PAS: I think Eric is being hard on Dragunov, this was a great WALTER performance, but it was Dragunov's match. I am normally down on wild Nic Cage wrestling performances but, I thought his drooling, spitting, screaming descent into hell really worked for this match. I really dug all of his judo throws and takedowns, felt like credible impactful offense using WALTER's size against him. This had to be one of the most violent WWE matches ever. Dragunov took an ungodly beating, and laid into WALTER as hard as he could back, by the end of this match his entire body was a bruise. WALTER had been champion for so long, that if you were going to take him out, he had to be taken out, and obliterating the back of his neck and head with elbows and yanking back his head like that felt like an appropriate end. It really did look like he could have paralyzed WALTER with those shots, and I loved how WALTER tapped quickly. I wasn't coming in expecting to love this. NXT epics usually leave me wanting, but this was awesome stuff. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST