2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Imperium vs. Gallus

70. Marcel Barthel/Fabian Aichner vs. Wolfgang/Mark Coffey NXT UK 11/16 (Aired 12/12/19)

ER: My two favorite NXT UK teams were going to have a hard time living up to what I wanted this match to be, and yet, until the No Contest finish to set up the upcoming TakeOver match, they did. This match hits that perfect 12 minute NXT UK mark and is only lacking an actual finish. I wasn't sure how they were going to work the match, as both teams are heels in this setting. It settled into Imperium cutting Mark off from Wolfgang and I thought that was a cool choice. Aichner and Barthel are at their best when they're at their most aggressive, and I think Wolfgang is a really good fiery hot tag. Imperium hit like dynamite, whether they were swinging their arms at Gallus or taking big bumps to the floor. Aichner and Barthel both take great splat back bumps to the floor and Aichner takes one of the most consistently fast backdrops to the floor of anyone in wrestling. 

Everyone gets to throw their own hard contact into the mix: Coffey hits a great diving shoulderblock early in the match, Barthel throws full extension kicks, Aichner throws strikes with his entire body, and they still save some of that dynamite for Wolfgang's hot tag. It's a good one, with Aichner getting sent flying with a pounce and a spear, Barthel getting press slammed onto Aichner, and a cool in-ring moment that was almost surely an accident yet winds up adding a bit of depth to the match: Wolfgang went to flip over the ropes into the ring like he was Solar, and wound up running into the referee before getting to Aichner. Now, I'm sure Wolfgang was supposed to just flip right into Aichner's spinebuster, but I really liked the idea of Wolfgang only getting caught with a spinebuster *because* he inadvertently bumped into the ref. It added more to the match, showing how a brief distraction could swing the odds just 1-2%, which is a more interesting detail to add into a match than what otherwise would have been a very nice looking piece of chained offense. The match had plenty of excellently done chained explosions, and it was cool to see one of them get interrupted, whether intentionally or not. We don't get a good finish, as the match is used to build toward a big TakeOver defense, and it's a shame because the crowd was loud for this one from Wolfgang's hot tag on. Even without a real finish, I think this is the best NXT UK tag match through the first 75 episodes, and that's a cool feat. 

PAS: I am not particularly familiar with either of these teams, so I came in with no expectations, but man this was neat. Really hard hitting stuff, which added some real frisson to the big NXT finishing run. They do this cool spot where Barthel beats on Coffey in the corner so badly that the ref calls for the doctor to check him for a concussion, only to have Coffey stand back up and fire back. It is a spot which could have felt pretty hokey except Barthel really teed off on Coffey's skull and I kind of bought the concussion. We get a big hot tag and a series of big move near falls, all done well until the schmozz ending. The idea of Johnny Saint being the guy to call for the four way ladder match is pretty silly and I am sure that match wasn't as good as this. 

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Cesaro vs. Mysterio

65. Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro WWE Raw 9/16

ER: Two perfect dance partners doing cool things that most guys aren't capable of doing? Sure I'll hang out and watch that. This is all about these two being unleashed, Cesaro showing off his crazy lift strength on someone that everybody can lift, and Rey finding a couple new ways around old favorites. This was a total "cool things" spectacle, and that was clear the moment Rey rushed Cesaro only to eat an uppercut to start the match. Nice suplex, really nice elbowdrop, and then we get Rey with a huge rana to counter a powerbomb, and Cesaro flying into the post. I got giddy by the time Rey swung a 619 right into Cesaro's kidneys. I mean, sure, a suicide dive into a tornado DDT is cool, but I was rewinding so I could keep watching Cesaro sell his kidneys the way Rick Rude would sell an atomic drop, while also finding out Corey Graves doesn't know where organs are located (yeah Corey, he got him in the liver, you dummy). Who knows what we missed during commercial, as we get one of those moments where Cesaro is bounced off his head on the floor, but the next time we see them he's hitting a beast of a lariat back in the ring. I hate that. Every time Cesaro caught Rey out of midair it was exciting - that stuff was always going to look good - but while Rey gets caught and flipped into bonkers moves, he's also running full force into Cesaro boots and strikes. Rey eats boot like a man, Cesaro flips over as fast as anyone for the around the Manami Roll. I dug the 619 variations here: the one Cesaro took standing to the kidneys was great, and it lead to a cool moment of him catching the one after that, and then the more traditional one at the finish. I would be fine with these two just out there every month or so working on material.

PAS: This was a weird little artifact of a match. These two have amazing in ring chemistry, with Cesaro being one of the great bases in wrestling history and Rey being one of the most creative tecnicos. This felt like it was setting something up, and then they never had another singles match. Cesaro has such wild strength, and Rey has always been a great foil for a strong man. Lots of moments where Cesaro snatches Rey out of the air, only to get caught in a rana or armdrag. The spot where Cesaro catches the bodypress, rolls through, flips him up, only to get caught in a crucifix was so cool. It feels like it should be a legendary wrestling spot and instead felt a little wasted on a random RAW TV match. Still, this was a very cool random RAW TV match. 

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ohno vs. Scala British Rounds!

25. Kassius Ohno vs. Sid Scala NXT UK 9/1 (Aired 9/18/19) 

ER: I loved this entire angle. It was a simple old school angle that nailed all the notes it should have and finished just as it should have. Ohno was supposed to face Jack Gallagher, Gallagher was pulled at the last minute, Ohno demands an opponent anyway. Sid Scala, who hadn't been an active wrestler in NXT UK for a year, filled in as the only option and got beaten handily while still wearing his dress clothes. It easily could have ended there and they could have had someone else step up and challenge Ohno in defense of Scala, but Scala himself stood up and demanded a British Rounds match against Ohno. Now, this was the 60th episode of NXT UK, and it's pretty amazing that the idea of a match under classic World of Sport rules hadn't even been mentioned until Ohno showed up calling himself the best British wrestler on the planet. It was only a two week build, and it didn't need to be more than that. They had Regal, Saint, and McGuiness do promos talking about the importance and difficulties in British Rounds rules, people tried to talk Scala out of taking the match, but Scala insisted. Simple build, simple payoff, excellent execution. 

Ohno really makes this match by coming in with the exact right attitude, but Scala deserves a lot of credit for wrestling the right match. This was an awesome Ohno show, but Scala did everything he needed to do to make this concept work. At no point was he ever treated like Ohno's equal, and at no point did Ohno ever sell a piece of offense inappropriately. They were great at creating nearfalls for Scala when he was able to leverage Ohno's size into a crucifix or backslide or flash pin, enough to get the crowd keen for some kind of upset, but Ohno was smart about not getting into a position where he had to sell anything silly. The size difference was extreme, more than against any other of Ohno's NXT UK opponents, and I love how Ohno kept leaning jaw first into everything Scala threw. Ohno had the right mix of cockiness and killer instinct, wanting Scala to know that his elbows weren't going to move him, that his dropkicks could be brushed off, and that Scala was always one moment away from getting wasted by a rolling elbow. 

We've seen a ton of guys try to appropriate Johnny Saint offense over the past 20 years, but Scala using Saint feints and submission escapes here makes much more sense than almost any other appropriation of Saint moves we've seen. Most of those instances felt like "I saw a Johnny Saint match for the first time and now I want to do those moves" and then we got a stupid lady in the lake spot on every indy show for a decade. Here the Saint aping made total sense and fit perfectly into the match, never used for the sole purpose of "I recognize that spot!" Scala used Saint's tactics as a strategy to beat Ohno, used Saint as his mentor, and it actively added to the match. Scala's gains were always temporary, as Ohno was quick to snap in a cravat or toss him with a few snapmares, dropping elbows and knees (that all paid off in a fun finishing stretch). I loved Ohno taking Scala dropkicks full to the face before getting the first fall with the elbow. 

But I love how the match never got stupid after that first fall. Ohno didn't change his strategy, knowing he didn't NEED to win another fall, could easily just play defense and win out. But Scala also didn't start doing stupid things, and they avoided the temptation to have Scala tie things up off something that never would have otherwise pinned Ohno. Scala gets a great run in the 6th and final round, rolling out of the way of elbows and kneedrops and getting his knees up on a senton (and again, Ohno sells ALL of this exactly the way it should be sold, no overdone dramatics, not acting like Scala's tiny knees would have done anything other than temporarily slow him), and Scala ends up getting what would have been a match tying backslide right as time expired. There was no realistic way to give Scala a win here, and luckily they recognized that him merely lasting 6 rounds was him winning his war. 

PAS: Ohno had to be thrilled to be able to run a "true heir to Johnny Saint" angle on something that was technically WWE TV. What a weird thing NXT UK was and I am assuming still is. I liked how Ohno got frustrated by getting outslicked by Scala in the early rounds and just went with violent hard shots to get an advantage. Ohno was brutal in this, twisting Scala's neck, headbutting him in the back of the neck, and just wasting him with huge single shots. Scala's moments of advantage worked really well, and Ohno gave him those moments without ever making Scala his equal. Working on top is a real skill and Ohno is great at it. I liked the tease at the end of the match, and this was a really satisfying time limit finish. Great match.

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Allin vs. Aichner

106. Darby Allin vs. Fabian Aichner EVOLVE 1/18

ER: We loved basically every Darby Evolve match from his time there, and there are still a ton we hadn't seen. Evolve was a promotion I really loved while also a promotion that I didn't actually follow regularly. Fabian Aichner was the Evolve champ at one point? News to me, pal. Aichner has become one of my favorite WWE roster guys and this is him right after losing that Evolve title, and aiming to take all of his frustrations out on Darby's body. Like the greatest Darby Allin matches, a lot of this is his larger opponent (and Aichner was at the height of his beefiness in this match) hurling Allin disgustingly into hard walls and surfaces. Aichner got a lot of mileage out of literally just running Darby into the guardrails and turnbuckles, not even doing any actual offense, just running a man into things. His actual offense does look really great (if you can't make your offense look good against Allin, you should rethink your moveset), with some strike combos that really move Darby, a wicked pop-up powerslam, awesome brainbuster, powerbomb into the ringpost, all of it great. 

Darby picked his spots well, hitting a great low tope and dodging out of the way of an Aichner running knee, sending him patella first into the post. I really liked how they moved to the knee injury portion of the match, as it wasn't immediately after Aichner hit the post. Aichner rolled back in and went back to decimating Allin, with Darby only taking control when Aichner's knee buckled on a powerbomb and Darby landed with a Bombs Away, then went hard after Aichner's knee. I love how the match went from Aichner dominating, to Allin suddenly having this great in, to Aichner panicking and getting the hell out of there with his feet on the ropes. The finish was cool for a cheap finish, with Aichner essentially just throwing Allin off the top rope with an inside cradle. Allin went splat, Aichner used the feet for leverage, then walked off. It played nicely into their match the next night (where Aichner smashed Allin during his ring entrance) and I thought it was a cool way to run the same match on consecutive nights. 

PAS: I hadn't seen very much of Aichner before, but I enjoyed him as a meathead with fun power offense. He was a bit mechanical in between spots, but when he got his hands on Darby he brought Darby down really hard. I liked the delayed knee sell, I really bought that knee bar as a near fall. Darby is so fast, that staying with him is like trying to stay in front of Kyrie Irving. You throw a bum knee into that equation, you are drawing dead. It seemed like Aichner was out of answers, until he violently threw Darby down from the top rope and put his legs on the rope to steal one. Darby versus a strong guy is a really great match up and we need to see a John Silver match on Dark or something.   

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NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff 8/31/19

Noam Dar vs. Travis Banks

ER: Great stuff, an excellent start to a big TakeOver. Noam Dar may be the best on the roster at doing dance step wrestling, and he does it in a way that doesn't actually make that style a problem. His timing is strong, his placement is excellent, and the way he positions himself and occupies himself while waiting for offense is second to few. The main problem, for me, with dance sequence wrestling is that nothing feels organic, everything feels like a blank eyed run back of rehearsed spots, and Noam Dar manages to do very complicated sequences while adding personal touches that keep them feeling organic. I've never gotten the sense that he is locked into a pre-planned set of steps, as he seems to respond incredibly quick to a change in plans. If a kick doesn't land the way it's supposed to, the plan does not appear to continue as initially planned, and there are very few guys this good at thinking on their feet. Dar doesn't take any shortcuts in his transitions, chopping down with his elbow to lock an arm, snatching Banks out of the air by his leg and holding it tight the whole way through a sequence, and a cool way of attacking several parts of the body while appearing to be focused. 

Banks is good at selling Dar's inflicted damage while still getting his offense in, and he's good at taking Dar's most punishing stuff. I loved Dar's two vicious snapmares, one into the ring ropes and another into the barricade, really making it look like he's forcing Banks into a painful bump. There's also cool work around the ring steps and other ring rope tricks, but all the reversals were super crisp and fit nicely into the match. Dar comes off like a Jack Gallagher peer at this point, great at crafting strong story in a 6 minute match or an 18 minute match. He's good at pulling off smug but undeniably well executed heel offense that makes things feel more heated, and gives a good babyface something real to play off. This built to some really hot, fast stuff. Banks plasters Dar with a great tope, nails him with a couple double stomps, Dar leans into hard sliding dropkicks and hits his own brutal running knees, all building to some well orchestrated kickouts. This ramped up really well and was worked snugly enough to keep throwing off sparks. Great chemistry, great gauntlet to throw down at the start of a big show. 

Ilja Dragunov vs. Cesaro

ER: This is Cesaro's first appearance in NXT UK, and I love WWE treating their Network brands like territories to send main brand stars into. It's something they should do more, give some of the best guys the opportunity to work a Star Passing Through a Territory match. Cesaro brings great main brand presence, dwarfing Dragunov and acting like the guy deservedly crossed over to the main roster. Dragunov is bigger and more muscular than most of the guys in NXT UK, but Cesaro makes him look like a Little Buff Boys finalist. Cesaro beats Dragunov pillar to post, forcing Dragunov to make some pretty awful faces, faces I loved seeing take uppercuts. Dragunov may make dumb faces, but he endures some real punishment for the right to make those dumb faces, so more power to him. Cesaro is really dominating, building from hard chops and shoulderblocks into throwing his whole body into uppercuts and headlocks, dragging Dragunov arm under throat into sick crossfaces. Cesaro throws Dragunov over the top rope to the floor, into the barricade, drawing fair comparisons to The Berzerker. Cesaro delivers a Berzerker level beatdown. He gets a huge (fast counted) giant swing and a violent belly to back suplex. I thought Ilja's comebacks were fine, though I don't think I ever fully bought into him potentially beating Cesaro. Cesaro felt too much like a larger more perfect killing machine version of Dragunov, and Cesaro as a killing machine is a beautiful sight. He hits a press slam into a kneelift and then a torpedo uppercut for a big nearfall, and finishes things with a huge pop up uppercut, immediately yanking Ilja into the Gotch piledriver. This felt like a good version of Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor, with Cesaro coming across as a far more punishing traveling-champ Flair. 

PAS: Dragunov is kind of a goof, but an endearing one. I mean Kikuchi made silly faces too, and Dragunov takes Kikuchi level beatings. That press slam into a knee strike by Cesaro really should be his finisher, what a brutal bit of business that was. I did think when Draganov had Cesaro reeling on the floor he had a chance, and I loved Cesaro decisively shutting the door on him with that pop up uppercut and Gotch combo finish. I would love to see Cesaro in this role more often. He had a great Regal match years ago when he did this same sort of drop down. He is dead in the water on the main roster anyway, he might as well as go after the NXT UK title again. A rematch with Dragunov as the champ would be great stuff.  

Mark Andrews/Flash Morgan Webster vs.  Mark Coffey/Wolfgang vs. Grizzled Young Veterans

ER: This tag bit off more than it could probably chew, but there is plenty of joyous wrestling action to exist in matches where guys bite off too much. It's a 20 minute tag that would have exploded at 15, but gave us a big babyface tag title win for hometown Cardiff boys Webster and Andrews. Everyone here had a lot (maybe too much sometimes) to contribute, with Wolfgang standing out as one of the best guys on the brand at taking complicated flier offense. Gibson did the same, and Webster got to shine with his fun combo of dives, ranas, and top rope flips. Wolfgang is the biggest guy in the match, and he goes up for two different crazy bumps where he's on someone's shoulders. He takes a poison rana with a perfect vertical spike, and then takes a nutso Doomsday Device tope from James Drake late in the match, folding hard on the entrance floor. Gibson is good at getting into position for some big Andrews offense, both GYF taking his Stundog Millionaire as well as anyone. Fan reaction kept growing along with the match, even if I thought things could have been edited down (take out the long Gallus disappearance that only gets paid off with a Drake tope, trim the standoffs and bad showdown fighting) they clearly knew the audience and kept them hooked. Strong rudos make for strong babyfaces, and this was a fine team effort. Gibson and Drake started off hot 50 episodes ago, but they've been a stale act with the titles. Webster and Andrews will be a fun change of pace in title matches, champions that feel beatable but are capable of surprising. Gallus are the clear talent of any tag match, and the 3 way format made them too much of an afterthought. I don't think it harms them as an act, as they still remain the favorites to get the belts and have a long run. Wolfgang feels like someone who has over a year of different title defense ideas in him. 

Dave Mastiff vs. Joe Coffey

ER: I thought this started incredibly, with the first 4 minutes stacking up well against all my favorite NXT UK stuff. I wish this was just a violent street fight instead of a last man standing as when they were fighting, rather that doing stunts, this was excellent. So we have those first 4 minutes, starting with a great fight in the entrance way with both going after the injuries suffered in their excellent match that set this match up. There's a sick early moment (very early) where Coffey gets whipped into the turnbuckles hard and the whole top rope snaps off. Coffey really flew into that buckle and the PONG sound when he hit was great, and I really don't think that rope was supposed to break. They kind of try to go on with the match in ring but once Coffey eats shit off the middle rope they go with a more weapons and plunder approach, which is fine. It lead to cool things like Mastiff jamming a turnbuckle support bar in Coffey's mouth and throwing him mouth first on the mat, and I wish they would have played more around with that instead of going to the floor so quickly. The under ring weapons portion was my least favorite of the match as it felt so much more manufactured than the body/injury targeting fight this started as. But Coffey still took some crazy bumps, like a sky high backdrop on the floor and a release German suplex, plus getting walloped a couple times by a cricket bat. 

They both take some gnarly spills, both get put through tables, but some of the stuff is so silly in its violence that it doesn't really vibe with their super serious attitudes. Take, for example, when they both get chairs and run headlong down a long aisle at each other, collide, and then both spill backward down the aisle. It was like Homer and Bart running at each other wearing pots on their heads. Coffey takes the Finlay roll on the announce table, both fall off the second landing through another set of tables, you know the drill with WWE brand Last Man Standing matches. The finish is clever, with both men getting to their feet after their tandem spill, leaning on those rolling load-in containers, and as Coffey is standing he kicks the rolling container out of Mastiff's hands and causes him to fall, or, not stand. There was a lot of great in this match, but while they did a ton of damage to each other, things felt much more mapped out once they went to the floor. Coffey for his part turned in a great overall performance, and the first 4 minutes play as a killer follow up to their excellent TV match. 

Toni Storm vs. Kay Lee Ray

ER: Disappointing. Not the kind of match you want to change a title on, and the title change came off completely flat. I loved how they started things, with Ray refusing to lock up and repeatedly hopping to the floor, until Storm hit a great tope suicida past the ringpost, Storm slams Ray into the barricade, throws forearms and kicks, and generally dominates most of this match from there. In fact, the whole thing felt so flat because it felt like Storm was either too dominant, OR too dominant so that she would save face with a title loss? I can't explain it, but whatever it was, it didn't work for me or the fans in attendance. This was the Toni show, with a couple of big German suplexes (one tossing Ray from the middle turnbuckle), Code Red, big headbutt, and a Storm Zero that only gets 2 (with a suitably doofy Toni face accompanying it). Storm even nails another tope suicida, but they get to the finish so quick that it almost felt like something was wrong. Ray hits a knee, big senton to the floor (Toni with a nice catch so Ray doesn't die), and then Ray hits a couple Gory bombs in the ring for the title win. Now, I loved the Gory bomb set up, with Ray dropping Toni over the top rope with the first and a traditional one for the pin, but I don't think anybody watching thought this was the finish. It wasn't a short match (10 minutes or so), but this didn't feel like a finish they had actually been building to (even with Ray hitting a Gory bomb earlier). This landed flat, and if they were going to put a belt on a heel then Jinny would have been a much more interesting choice. This match never felt like the match they were building it to be, never felt like any kind of unique history played into it. 

WALTER vs. Tyler Bate

ER: This was a 2019 match that even people who pretend online to not watch NXT UK went out of their way to watch. This was the first NXT UK match that Meltzer went real cuckoo about, choosing once again to break the rules of his own established star ratings, and being perfect-plus still means something to some people. But you know? I just did not need 42 minutes of perfect-plus. I don't think that length was necessary and I would've loved to have seen a 21 minute edit. But it's also an impressive physical feat to work over 40 minutes of hard striking and harder bumps, and this match somehow managed to get more physical the longer it went. I did not buy Bate standing up to all the damage and making all the comebacks he did, but I also must acknowledge that there was some absolutely brutal punishment he took that was not pulled, and I can't take that away from him. Tyler Bate took a genuine beating, and still kept the awareness to pull off some very complicated runs. 

I do think there was far too much down time, and that it's hard to sustain disbelief when WALTER is laying it on full strength. WALTER threw enough full arm chops to purple up Bate's chest 20 minutes in, and that chest was one thing Bate never forgot to sell. WALTER crashed hard on shoulderblocks and lariats and went to the chin with his elbows, and his rudest offense made it seem like he should have no problem disposing of Bate in under 20. Bate had a few impressive throws on WALTER, but I never once bought any of his strikes. When there's this much of a size difference you REALLY need to tighten things up to narrow that gap. Instead Bate had a lot of big blows that were supposed to be moment payoffs, and I think they all landed flat. I am just not going to buy into a single Bate short left hook putting WALTER down for longer than anything he did to Bate. And to buy into this match, you have to buy into several moments just like that. Implausible as I found the last 20 minutes of Tyler Bate comebacks, they did work a ton of very good nearfalls that really build nicely. Bate was at his best when he was using his body as a weapon, hit or miss. His tope suicidas were unhinged full body crashes into WALTER, his top rope corkscrew senton was great, he flew into a chop to the shoulder blades and got powerbombed horizontally into a ringpost. So while I hated a lot of Bate's payoff strikes, his peaks were majestic. The crowd was truly along for the ride and wanted to see Bate win the title, and that goes a long way towards the match's favor.  So while I wish I could have seen what their 20 minute main event looked like, they do manage to fill 42 minutes with some strong peaks. That's an overall success. 

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Wolfe vs. Devlin

36. Alexander Wolfe vs. Jordan Devlin NXT UK 7/19 (Aired 7/31/19) (Ep. #53)

ER: Alexander Wolfe has hardly had any singles matches during his now actually long time under WWE contract, and outside of a couple of early NXT squashes and his NXT UK debut this is his first actual competitive singles match under WWE contract (we're talking 4 years into his contract!!). There is no way you would have actually known that if you watch this match, as the man looks like a fantastic singles match worker. This was one of my absolute favorite matches in NXT UK, with an excellent Wolfe performance that overshadowed a great Devlin performance. Wolfe wrestled this match as if he were WALTER, had WALTER been mentored by Fit Finlay. How incredible does WALTER-as-Finlay sound!? The match was filled with Wolfe shutting down Devlin in awesome small violent ways, grabbing at his face, yanking his nose, stomping on his face, ribs, and shoulder, grinding his knuckles on an abdominal stretch, catching Devlin's flash and grinning before putting an end to it. This could have lead to some brutal canned ham from Devlin, as most guys who work an "uh oh my offense got blocked!" spot can't ever resist making a wide eyed goofball clown face before getting pummeled into the mat, but I thought Devlin played his role great. 

Wolfe's opening grappling was really cool, with Devlin trying to find ways out of it but instead eating a downward elbow to the mouth. This match had a lot of strong Devlin selling, paying service to small pains while not letting it interfere with any flow, things like stretching out his jaw or cracking his neck, on up into holding his ribs and that being the thing that allows a Wolfe pump kick to land. We get a lot of elbows, knees, and kicks, but all of it is worked nice and organically into the match. Outside of a short slap exchange (my least favorite part of the match) I thought they did a great job of filling in the match with striking, and that slap exchange I didn't love at least ended with Wolfe backing Devlin across the ring with a nice yakuza kick. Devlin's counters to Wolfe's offense all looked really detailed, not just two guys going through "what the spot is supposed to be". When Wolfe goes for a powerslam or powerbomb, you can see Devlin working through every way to wriggle out, making it look like a guy who wasn't supposed to escape rather than a guy "doing the spot". When Wolfe maneuvered Devlin into a vertical suplex from the apron, it actually looked like Devlin was struggling to get out of it while Wolfe was struggling to shift him around for the right leverage, never looking like two guys both working to merely complete the spot. Wolfe runs into Devlin's Spanish Fly in a way that made it come off like a total surprise, not just a piece of Devlin's offense that he does in every big singles match, and that kind of organic feel to the offense flow is what made this such a cut above a typical NXT UK main event. 

I especially loved Devlin's selling after a headbutt, countering a Wolfe powerbomb and landing the headbutt, then desperately holding onto Wolfe's wrist to prevent going down himself. Both guys added extra exclamation behind everything they did, like Devlin making short Kawada kicks look like a fresh spot in 2019 just because he actually looked like he wanted to cave in Wolfe's orbital bone, or Wolfe planting the most gorgeous bridge on his German suplex. The finish was good, loved how Devlin held his ribs after landing on his feet on his missed moonsault, leaving his face wide open for Wolfe's boot. Wolfe's sitout powerbomb was so incredible that you'd want it to be the model sitout powerbomb for any video game. I also just really enjoyed the twist on the traditional wrestling story, with Devlin demanding a challenge at WALTER's title, but having to go through one of WALTER's goons first, and then losing to that goon with no hint of interference. I was expecting either a Devlin win despite Imperium interference, or a Wolfe win due to excessive interference, and what we got was so much more special. 

PAS: This was really good, and made me want to track down some Axel Tischer matches to see if Wolfe was doing this stuff on a different stage. I honestly don't remember ever seeing him before (actually looks like I saw his first WWE match live at an NXT house show and thought he was Axel Dieter Jr.) and the Finlay comparison was really apt. I loved the way he would cut Devlin off and find nasty little moments to dig knuckles into the ribs or grind a forearm across the face. Devlin did some things I didn't love, but he was hitting hard enough to work the spirit of the match, and those Kawada kicks were some sick stuff as were the stomps to the head to finish the sequence. I actually bought those kicks and stomps as the finish to the match. I thought it got a little reversal heavy at the end, and I probably would have ended the match on Wolfe's beautiful German suplex, but this was a great example of the buried gems hiding on the Network on these small shows. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: WALTER! Mansoor! Devlin! Banks!

Mansoor vs. Travis Banks NXT UK 4/6 (Aired 5/1/19) (Ep. #40)

ER: This is fairly low end among the recommended NXT UK matches, but a surprising Mansoor performance really elevated it for me. Where has this Mansoor been? Mansoor has been in several matches I've enjoyed, but never like this. Normally he is the same generic highflyer babyface that WWE turns all of their highflyers into, with their only personality being their ethnicity. Here, Mansoor is heel, and he works the match as if he's heel Alex Wright working as the Sheik. It's an awesome combination and Mansoor shows more personality here than in even his best babyface performances. I liked his cocky kip-ups and cartwheels to break wrist locks, and how he yelled at Banks to get off him on a rope break. 

And instead of doing flippy babyface offense, Mansoor changes up his offense to work heel, with my favorite bit of offense a running throat thrust, looked great. He shoves Banks off the top to the floor in a violent way, and stooges nicely to set up Banks' offense. Not only did Mansoor change his offense to work as a heel, but he bumps like a heel too, and that impresses me even more. He takes a couple comical trampoline bumps for Banks, bouncing and recoiling off ropes (like good versions of Rock taking a stunner), and leans into Banks' best stuff. Banks pastes him with a punt from the apron, and the tope he hits after completely smashes Mansoor. Mansoor caught this dive like a champ, just standing right in the path and getting leveled by it. Fired up Banks is fun, but he's even more fun with heel Mansoor playing into and off of it all. This only goes 6 minutes, and wraps up far too neatly, with Banks hitting the Kiwi Crusher without any struggle, and if they added a wrinkle or two I would recommend it even more. As it is, it surprised me, and I like being surprised.   

WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin NXT UK 4/6 (Aired 5/1/19) (Ep. #40)

ER: I was expecting this to be a bit bigger than it was, but enjoyed what we got. As someone who watched very little NXT UK (before starting going through all the episodes from the beginning), I was embracing my unfamiliarity with the product and letting the show lay out who was important, who was a threat. And through the first 30 or so episodes nobody seemed like as much of a threat as Jordan Devlin. And I don't think anyone on the roster has been hurt by the arrival of WALTER as much as Jordan Devlin has. Devlin's spot on the ladder became noticeably lower the moment WALTER showed up, and seeing how this match was worked - knowing how dominant Devlin was presented over the first several months of the program - is fairly definitive proof of that. All that aside, the match is really fun and any bitterness over it may just be me wishing I didn't have to see so much Pete Dunne in the title picture, as Devlin brings far more interesting match layouts than Dunne. This was worked with Devlin desperately trying to evade WALTER, outright running from him for the first couple minutes, and of course getting caught and getting brutalized. WALTER crunches him with chops and suplexes, WALTER matches him impressively with speed, knocks him around, and it leads to a cool turning point where WALTER tries to press Devlin back into the ring, falls short, and Devlin gets tied up in the ropes. 

But Devlin gets a shot in at WALTER's leg, and begins to exploit it. WALTER is really great at selling a knee, because he doesn't do any awful melodramatics, and instead sells more like someone walking down stairs after a day of too many squats. He's really good at selling leg tightness, and Devlin has hard enough kicks that they are believably damaging to the big man. WALTER also starts bleeding out of the mouth, which gives us the great visual of blood streaming down WALTER's cheek. They work a nice balance of Devlin wearing down WALTER, but having to get too close to do so, so still getting rocked by loud chops or tossed with a highlight reel Saito suplex. The only thing really holding the match back, was that no matter how effective Devlin's leg attacks were, it never felt possible that Devlin could beat WALTER. I think it was a mistake pairing the two so early, as I think this was a match that actually could have been built to if they didn't have their WALTER/Dunne blinders on. So it never felt like WALTER could lose, and that's a shame because Devlin is someone that had been built up strongly enough to plausibly beat him. Still, the match rocked, and we'll see where it all goes from here. 

PAS: I haven't seen much of Devlin before and he kind of strikes me as just a white guy with pace and nice abs. Still WALTER is an evocative enough worker, that he can do something cool with a white guy with pace and nice abs. I really liked the work on the leg, Devlin really chopped up the quad and knee and it actually made WALTER a bit vulnerable,  that and the bloody mouth actually had me buying the near falls, when I figured it would be more of a steamrolling, that Saito suplex did look awesome too. WALTER did feel a bit inevitable, and although I hate to say this, I feel Devlin could have used one more kickout. 

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ohno vs. Banks

71. Kassius Ohno vs. Travis Banks NXT UK 2/23 (Aired 4/10/19)

ER: I love a good brick wall match, and Ohno is clearly going to be a good brick wall against some of these smaller NXT UK guys. Banks is a guy who is very good at taking on a limbless quest (every match I've seen of his has him gamely selling a limb), and it's fun seeing him successfully work within these odd Dogme 95 "only use one arm" rules. Ohno is a real condescending bully here, and condescending Ohno is so good because the cockiness leaves openings for Banks. Ohno was a real prick, rightly shrugging off shoulderblocks and then stomping Banks' feet after acting like it was his turn for shoulderblocks. Ohno makes an "I'm sorry I didn't see you there!" short joke, but follows it right up with a much better "Didn't feel you either. You'll have to hit harder than that." I thought Ohno was really smart about which Banks offense to shrug off and which to sell, and liked the way he blocked Banks with size. The blocked tope looked good, and that it lead directly to a penalty kick for the gloating Ohno was nice to see. Ohno as a bully is so good, as he's always doing things he doesn't necessarily need to be doing to win, things like shoving Banks hard into the ring steps or raking his eyes, but as he's rudely going after Banks' injured shoulder we all know that's clearly the rudeness we want to see. 

We had cool psychology moments like Ohno trying to simply Irish whip Banks by the bad arm, and Banks foolishly holding onto the ropes with his good arm, knowing he was stuck either getting nuked off the ropes by Ohno or further wrecking his shoulder. Banks' comebacks were good, with a dive that connected (thrown with his good arm in the lead, and I know that's not the side he typically throws it with), nice running knee, and a big double stomp to Ohno's chest. Ohno is so great in control, but I love seeing him sell for a smaller guy, as he's really good at it. The Kiwi Crusher is a move Banks can hit very quickly, which really adds to its match finishing potential. It looks like something that should get a 3, and it's such a quick flip and slam, slipped in while Ohno was being a little too nonchalant with his own suplex, that it's plausible to hit on someone of any size. Banks kicking out of the Rubik's cube was probably a bit much, as that move seems so vertebrae pulverizing that it really should be used sparingly. But Banks' commitment to selling his right shoulder was impressive, with his fun theatrical trap rubbing, then dully trying to jam it back into place. The cradle pinfall finish really worked for me, too, as Ohno was still manhandling him and it would have been silly strategy for Banks to try going for bigger and bigger moves, so why not use Ohno's own weight and leverage against him? His backslide was convincing as Ohno sold it like a turtle placed on his back, and the pin that beat Ohno looked absolutely impossible to kick out of in 3 beats. I love how Ohno set up that pinfall, trying for an ankle pick that Banks reversed credibly. Very cool match that could have drifted into overkill, but stuck within its story and succeeded.

PAS: I have forgotten how much I love to watch Chris Hero. I thought his condescension at the beginning of the match worked well, and all of the too short shtick, the fake running the ropes, finally leading to a kick to stomach felt like a Fuerza Guerrera bit. Banks seems a bit generic, but I did like his arm and shoulder selling. He really worked that shoulder like he slept weird on it, and while the popping it back into place spot felt a bit OTT, I kind of liked it. I almost think the violence of Ohno's stuff takes away a bit from this match. He is hitting this little guy with these huge concussive shots, and if his forearm strikes didn't look so good, I would buy the kickouts more. Match really should have ended with Hero cutting off the in-ring dive with that kick to the head, it looked like he shot Banks out of the sky. That getting kicked out of, and then the Rubik's cube getting kicked out of, that's too much for me. Everything else in this was great though, and Ohno's NXT UK run was a real treat.

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Paradigm Pro Wrestling Fighting Spirit Heavyweight Grand Prix 11/15/19

One of the odder phenomenons in indy wrestling in the last couple of years in the proliferation of shootstyle tournaments. First Ambition, then Bloodsport, and now we have a random fed in Indiana running a UWFI rules tournament in a garage. The quality is going to vary, but I am all for it.


Lexus Montez vs. Myron Reed

PAS: This was a non style match with guys working a 2.9 juniors counter wrestling style. The opening counter exchange was done a beat too slow and felt like guys working through their stuff before the show. I am so tired of this kind of match, that they are going to have to do something really special to break me out of the fog, and there wasn't anything special here. Reed has a nice 450 I guess, and Ford's heel hook was a cool near fall, but this wasn't what I clicked on the link to see.

ER: Yeah this really shouldn't have been on the show. Montez looks really really new and Phil nailed it, everything was a beat slow and Montez was a beat behind. Reed kept getting to his mark early because Montez was moving too carefully, so it resulted in Reed's bumps looking too disconnected from whatever it was Montez was doing. I like Reed, but this match style is very much not my favorite style, and for it to work you need two guys on the same page, a strong layout, a couple of twists, and some sense. This had none of those things. I liked the Montez bump down the aisle for a Reed tope, but big parts of this felt not ready for primetime. A match worked in a different style than the rest of the card could stand out and benefit from that, but not when the rest of the card is actually worked in an intriguing style and your match looks like amateur night at the flip flop house. Also, a doing a long "ref misses the tap" spot in the first match of a card filled with UWFI style fights is just tremendously dumb.


Erick Stevens vs. Derek Neal

PAS: I appreciated how both guys really tried to stick to the style, we didn't see any elbow exchanges or chops (which was a problem in Ambition), and we would get ten count attempts on Neal's suplexes. This was Neal using his strength and Stevens using his submission attempts, and it was going to be a question whether Stevens could tap Neal before getting flattened. Loved the finish with Steven's eating three rolling german suplexes, but loosening the grip on the third and floating over into a beautiful chicken wing for the tap. The match was a bit disjointed before that, but that was a Fujiwara level finish, which is the highest compliment you can give in this style.

ER: This was a good start to things as right out of the gate it felt like UWFI rules. Neal came off like a big Gary Albright type while Stevens was slicker on the mat and had quicker knee strikes. I thought the made good dramatic use of the rope breaks, especially when Stevens sank an armbar that I thought was surely the end. Neal was the one bringing big KO shots, with the surprise elbow strike a fun knockdown and the back suplex looking match finishing when Stevens went vertical. The finish was a good one, loved how Stevens knew he wasn't going to be able to stop the Germans from happening by going deadweight, so stopped Neal in his tracks using his brain. That chickenwing looked sick and I dug how Neal tapped quick.


JD Drake vs. Dominic Garrini

PAS: This was more of a style clash with Drake getting schooled on the mat by Garrini and responding with hard chops. I don't like chops in UWFI matches in theory, but if you are going to throw them you might has well try to slice someone's skin off, and Drake was absolutely pasting him. Garrini is so skilled at jiu-jitsu and it's fun to watch him switch back and forth from attack to attack. Finish was a great looking flip into a cross armbreaker. Fun short match.

ER: On paper I do not like the sound of a UWFI match filled with a ton of chops, but in execution I was way into Drake making horrible music on Garrini's chest. Those chops looked so violent that I totally got into them as actual knockdown shots. I always love the visual of big fat guys on the mat in shootstyle as it looks so incorrect and almost offensive. Drake does his best to squash Garrini when he quickly realizes that Garrini is going to school him. We get a killer early match callback and UWFI throwback when Drake clotheslines Garrini out of the air on a charge. Garrini hit a flying knee to start the match and got caught when he tried it again, but intentional or not I thought Drake threw his clothesline just like one of Vader's old bear attacks (I wrote up all of Vader's UWFI matches BY the way). I thought Drake's Saito suplex could have easily been the finish, just a mean throw, but Garrini's finish was so smart. He tosses Drake up for a German but knows before he throws the German that he's not actually going for that move. Drake instinctively blocks the German and realizes then that Garrini had laid that trap and had merely tossed him into an armbar. The spot looked great and Drake played it like he didn't see it coming.


123. Calvin Tankman vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: I am a Moriarty skeptic, but I thought this was unabashedly great. Tankman is enormous, basically looks like Emmanuel Yarbrough, and this was a really cool speed versus size battle. Moriarty tried to use kickboxing to keep Tankman off of him, but when he got caught he would just get ragdolled. Tankman murders him with a german suplex and then catches a body kick and tosses him in a fisherman's buster on the top of his head. Moriarty is able to recover and catch him with a high kick and grounded axe kick for a flash KO.

ER: Tankman is definitely someone with that Segunda Caida bod, and here he comes off like Shoot Cheex. I didn't fully buy into the axe kick that ended the match, as I think you really need to nail that KO blow when it's the finish AND there's a size difference like this, but I loved every other part of this. Tankman's two throws were real all timers, 1.0 on the Albright scale. Moriarty gets TOSSED with a German and bounces around in the ropes like a guy failing hard at a team building ropes course. The fisherman's bomb was a real beauty, with Moriarty landing at an unsightly angle. Tankman's selling on that front kick to the jaw was so strong. Indy wrestling is filled to the brim with people who have no idea how to sell on their feet, and here's Tankman actually understanding that it's more than just doing Mortal Kombat Fatality selling, he does small foot movements and small cobweb shaking mannerisms. Selling on your feet is much more like a drunk person stopping their walk to try to refocus before walking again, and his was great. He occupied the time really well until Moriarty's second kick. I wish they would have just called it after the second kick, since UWFI rules don't allow strikes to a downed and prone opponent anyway.


Brett Ison vs. Anthony Henry

PAS: Ison looked the most lost with these rules, but I still dug this. Henry just chops at Ison's legs with sharp nasty looking low kicks, he would throw a couple of body shots and slice Ison's thighs and calves. Ison hit one nice suplex, but was mostly throwing not great forearm smashes and ineffective bull rushes. Henry really looked like an assassin though and I really dig a match finishing on a low kick KO.

ER: I thought this was cool, and thought Ison's inexperience with the style played well into the match. Anthony Henry came off cooler here than in any of his faux shootstyle Evolve matches. He looked cool advancing on Ison with the size difference, and he kept throwing hard kicks right into Ison's shins and patella. I thought those looked real gross and I thought they were a great way to plant the seeds for the finish. Henry was good at stuttering his timing on muay thai knees or low-high kicks. Ison lumbered and barged his way through things and grabbed him with a big suplex, and I liked a lumbering big man taking hits. But I hated his rolling elbow in response to getting kicked in the knee. The elbow didn't work as a reaction shot, came off real phony in the middle of what had been a cool messy fight. Also, the referee counted extremely slow in this match, kind of robbing some of the drama by having Henry stalking around for too long waiting for Ison to recover. I still thought the overall match was strong because it did feel like UWFI, with Ison the large gaijin but sitting duck for a young cool guy.


Bobby Beverly vs. AJ Gray

PAS: I dug this a ton in conception, not sure the execution was up to par. Much of the match was built around UWFI style slap exchanges, and they just didn't look good. I imagine it is really hard to throw palm strikes that look credible and don't injure the guy you are landing them on, and these looked too pulled. Outside of that the match was pretty cool. Gray, who was the PPW champion, dominated landing two nasty suplexes and a high kick. Beverly on his way out landed the best palm strike of the match and a guillotine for the win. It did a nice job of establishing that wins can come out of nowhere. So far this show has had awesome finishes and that goes a long way in shootstyle.

ER: I thought this was really good. I watched it through with sound and I watched it on mute, and I thought the slaps looked better muted. Both guys looked like they were swinging really stiff arms and reddening up each other's necks and ears. Gray and Beverly both have heavy arms so you could tell that weight was hitting neck. Gray wrecks Beverly with a couple suplexes, with a brutal German that folds him, and a big Saito suplex across the whole damn ring. Beverly was real good at getting to his feet, and I loved how he was selling that struggle. When he stood up at 6 it looked like he was getting to his feet way too quick and he really looked like a guy 3 seconds and one shot from the end. But Beverly is a guy who obviously has no problem throwing hands, and he hits this nice thrust palm strike to the button on Gray's jawline. And it stalled Gray for just amount, allowing Beverly to leap onto him with a guillotine that he is able to roll over, and the whole thing looked like a real lights out attack. Loved it.


Bradley Prescott IV vs. Blake Christian

PAS: Prescott comes in working a guy who loves Natural Light, and they worked a match built around somersaults and cutters. Both guys had some big spots which looked good and some set ups and small things that didn't. I really liked how they kept all of the tournament matches short. But they made the two non UWFI style matches longer, and I really didn't need that.

ER: Thanks Phil!


50. Dominic Garrini vs. Erick Stevens

PAS: This was pretty great, both guys aggressively rolling and attacking limbs and necks. Stevens looked very comfortable working in this style, Garrini brought most of the flourishes, but Stevens didn't look uncomfortable and I loved his quick and aggressive rear naked choke that he grabbed. Garrini did an awesome half monkey flip into a tight head and arm choke, and slid so quickly into a nasty triangle with elbow for the tap. Garrini is mainly a brawler now, but when he works the mat like this you can really see what a skilled grappler he is.

ER: This was strong, our first real long war of the tournament. Phil is right about Garrini. I've gotten so used to him as a brawler with some nice takedowns that my brain doesn't think of him as the Catch Point grappler, and he's such a boa constrictor here that I hope we get more of these shows to see more of this Dom again. Stevens was real good here. He reminded me - in looks and ability - like reclusive great worker Joe Graves. Six years ago I thought he was going to take indy wrestling by storm, especially while several other Graves-adjacent guys got good work. Stevens could be a premier indy Joe Graves and that's a cool thing. Garrini trapped him and locked him into things, but Stevens was game to get into sticky situations and he looked legit. He locked in a pair of very adept triangles and a pair of nice, heavy suplexes. Hard knee strikes from both guys, Garrini throwing a couple of slick traps (love his pop up triangle), and a damn good fought for finish that really looked like the kind of struggle that should finish a fight. Great stretched out version of the show's formula.


Anthony Henry vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: I enjoyed this a bunch too. This was primarily a kick boxing match, which was a nice contrast with the previous match. Both guys landed their kicks really well, and mixed it up with sweeps, leg kicks, and high kicks. Moriarty landed a really cool spinning kick to the neck, and Henry hit a multi shot punch and kick combo before rolling into a knee bar and ankle lock for the tap. Short, stiff and energetic, great stuff.

ER: This was our "smallest" pairing of the tournament so I like that they went with something different, more of a kicker's sprint than anything else we'd seen. Henry looked like he was going to pace himself for a longer fight and then suddenly he got backed up and popped by a big spinning kick. From there he was going for broke and looking vicious doing it. Again I've watched several of his more shootstyle Evolve matches and even in the shorter ones he's never come off as vicious as he does here. He goes hard after Moriarty with low kicks and is really taking him apart, and when Moriarty finally catches one Henry uses his expert Minoru Tanaka muscle memory and rolls right through into a beautiful heel hook. This was quick explosive fun.


28. Matthew Justice vs. Stephan Bonnar

PAS: This was totally awesome, one of my favorite sprints of the year. Bonnar feels like a guy that should be booked everywhere. He has a real New Japan Don Frye feel to him, really great at being above everything and also really great at having the seriousness of the fight dawn on him. We are long removed from Ultimate Fighter 1, but Bonnar still presents himself like a big deal. Bonnar was no selling some of Justice's stuff early, but as the fight went on he really sold big for Justice's spears and knees to the head. I liked how this felt like a real different style fight. Justice wasn't pretending to be a shooter, he was just a tough pro wrestler who was going to try to turn this into a fight. I loved how he bailed to the floor on the Bonnar rear naked choke and landed some spears which felt like he was cracking ribs. Bonnar hit big suplexes too, and really kicked Justice's head off. This felt like an indy version of a high end Brock Lesnar match, and was the perfect super fight for this show.

ER: Yeah this ruled. Bonnar comes in with that McCully brothers energy, that meathead jock energy that is too good for pro wrestling. He's the guy who already knows he's ahead on points before any points have come off the board, the guy who knows he has wiggle room to goof around in this "exhibition". I love how Justice didn't act like he was overmatched, and he didn't play around at something he isn't. He went into a Super Fight and worked it like Matt Justice, and Bonnar went into a Super Fight knowing he wasn't against a fighter but "just" a tough guy. Bonnar would land early and easily, then pose to rub it in, or get cocky and throw a Karate Kid crane kick. Even when he would take a shot after goofing around, he would easily get licks in on Justice. He was the teenager playing against small kids on a 7' hoop, and he was due to get knocked down a peg. Justice is outgunned but not outcrazied, and I love him spilling to the floor with Bonnar and hitting a pescado, with Bonnar bringing that "I don't know how to bump" messiness to every fall and landing. Justice has a couple of great spears that seem less like pro wrestling spears and more like Bonnar was the guy getting under Justice's skin at the bar all night and Justice finally flies at his guy with a tackle. Bonnar eats a back suplex, but the best part about Bonnar is his fighter's survival instinct, when you can see his survivor muscle memory spring into action. Every time he would go down it's like his eyes would glaze over and his body would take over, slip Justice's grip, grab a waistlock, and throw him. Bonnar hits a couple nice Germans and a big gutwrench, and they all come after him going into muscle memory fighter mode. It rules. Justice walks right into a Cro Cop head kick for the finish, and I loved how all of Bonnar's earlier strikes were more "haha we're doing some fake pro wrestling right?" stuff, even his big spin kick was something he was only trying just because he could afford the miss. This head kick was putting someone down, and man did it ever.


37. Anthony Henry vs. Dominic Garrini

PAS: Great final and a real continuation of the narrative set up through the tourney. Henry had established himself as a violent striker who was especially damaging with leg kicks, and Garrini had established himself as a dangerous defensive grappler who could turn the tide any moment. Henry really pummels him on the feet, with brutal leg kicks and slaps, and is even competitive on the mat (although Dom always has an answer). It only takes one mistake though, and I loved Dom taking the ground and pound just to snatch the opening he needed for the tap. Cool match, with both guys coming out looking better than when they came in. Henry in normal matches gets a little too near fall indy guy style for me, but man he looks great when he does this.

ER: Very worthy final of a very cool tournament. Anthony Henry came out of this thing looking like a real badass and I liked how this match felt like a manifestation of the tournament that came before it. Henry's strike game looked great this show, with everyone across from him taking those great sweeping leg kicks. Dom took these great spills onto his tailbone from big meaty kicks to his hamstrings, and I was real impressed with how Henry was kind of muscling him around and advancing. Henry had strong balance and it came off like he kept surprising Dom. Garrini's tricks were scouted this time and he was going to need something unexpected to put away Henry, and Henry was looking skilled on the ground. And the finish was cool and it WAS Dom pulling out something different, with Henry throwing from mount and Garrini looking near toast, before shifting his hips to cause a Henry slap to go wide, with Garrini capitalizing with a choke. Awesome.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: San Juan Pantitlan Brawl

44. Romano Garcia/Rocky Santana/Hijo del Fishman vs. Wotan/Fly Star/Toxin BELLO 9/14

ER: Gimme some young bleeders and some crazy old men and just let them go to war baby! This was wall to wall chaos, more chairshots than I could count, too many ugly spills. Santana and Garcia are both in their 60s, and Santana has that awesome old man luchador hunch. Neither is closed to washed, and I'm in love with the amount of punishment they can take and dish out. Fishman ups the crazy to keep up with his AARP discount eligible partners, and he's the one who really takes things into the fans. Fishman and Wotan take this to the people, loved the cool spear early in the match into a regular family (4 year old curled up sleeping directly behind them), and right before the finish we get the spot of the match when Fishman hits a running death valley driver into a set of chairs. Wotan gets a hard trash bucket bounced off his head a few times, and I love how the fans allegiances change as the match goes on. At first they are loud and proud for Wotan, but as the match goes on they clearly get behind Rocky, and how could they not!? Everyone takes gnarly chairshots off the head, and there was a running game of seeing who could could take a harder shot to the chest, with plenty of contenders. Wotan blistered Garcia with a double handed chop, Fishman leveled an elbow directly into Wotan's sternum, and the crowd was responding to every stiff strike. Peak crazy hits when Rocky and Wotan started flying at each other like territorial bighorn rams, and seeing Rocky Santana clonking coconuts midair in his mid 60s means I haven't been going out of my way enough to write about old man Rocky Santana matches (although a lot of Rocky/Romano match links I click end up being just 3 minute clips). The moment of Rocky going from violent headbutt offense into classic lucha exchanges (the first of the match) was a genuinely beautiful thing. I loved that late match exchange between Rocky and Toxin, showing that an old bleeding man can still do graceful sequences. Oh, and then eat a suplex into the turnbuckles. This kicked ass.

PAS: Wotan must have really hated his grandfather, because any time he is in the ring with a senior citizen he is unleashing hell. This isn't as good as the Wotan vs. Black Terry match (although maybe 20 matches in the history of wrestling are), but is still a heck of a grizzly brawl. There was some sort of broken concrete in the ring which made even the simplest bumps look super painful. There was way too much head trauma, I mean Garcia and Santana are already at the age where the average person forgets where their keys are, add in all of those chair and bucket shots and they will be drooling in their pudding in a couple more. There was a couple of modern wrestling moments which looked off, random Toxin Canadian destroyer and a tower of doom spot which took forever to set up and looked bad, but when they kept it simple and violent, it was simple and violent.


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Matches from EVOLVE 142 12/7/19

Full Show

Colby Corino vs. Sean Maluta

ER: It always felt like the best possible Colby Corino ceiling was going to be "peak Jimmy Jacobs" and he's clearly working strongly in that direction. This was a straight match worked like a street fight, both guys working aggressively. There are some things that can still be tightened up, but he works quick and has a lot of strong ideas, and already feels really good at thinking on his feet and running through a deep bag of size appropriate offense. The two had a real nice brawl with Maluta hitting hard with chops and Corino throwing stiff kicks and nice punches, executing everything snug. These two craft interesting, engaging sequences around thing that should be treated that way. We get an awesome struggle over a vertical suplex, and a few sequences that don't wind up where I think they're going to. Corino has a nice whipping kick, cool standing cannonball, and his brawling looked good. He's definitely a guy worth seeking out at this point.


117. Eddie Kingston vs. Anthony Gutierrez

PAS: I love Eddie Kingston beating on guys. Gutierrez is an MMA guy, and pretty fun when he sticks to that, although he will delve into bad topes and questionable standing shooting stars. But Sharkbait is a great bumper, and he dies like Pat Tanaka on clotheslines and German suplexes. There was a fun near fall on a tight triangle which Eddie breaks by biting, and an incredible body shot combo in the corner by Eddie which he flows right into an STO. These guys had a couple of other matches which I need to get my hands on, it's a fun match up.

ER: I thought this was awesome, a terrific Kingston-as-Hashimoto performance, giving Sharkbait tons of paths to victory while absolutely killing him with his shots. Kingston hit some real monstrous stuff here, and some of the best moments came when Gutierrez would catch him unexpectedly. Kingston is such a perfect opponent for someone like Sharkbait, and I would have been entertained if this was just several minutes of Kingston eating leg kicks. Kingston is a guy who clearly has a ton of material at his disposal *just* for selling leg kicks, really feels like a guy who can have a compelling match even if you gave three restrictive challenges within a match. I loved seeing Gutierrez land kicks and the occasional knee, and the way Kingston raked his eyes to get back to control and land big chops. Every big move Kingston landed looked like death, from that big time STO, to a nasty 1-2 combo (that could have easily finished the match) northern lights bomb and DDT. Gutierrez took both of those moves as painfully as possible, really stuffing his neck on the DDT. I actually liked Sharkbait's tope, even if it didn't land hard I think the point was that Kingston was not expecting a tope and so it at least threw him back into the guardrail. So Sharkbait stuns him by throwing his whole body at him and then immediately lands one of his hardest strikes of the match, an elbow that shifts Kingston's jaw. It felt like a smart way to set up a big strike. Reversing a big cocky King powerbomb into a triangle was a smart play, but once he did a light slingblade I wanted Kingston to murder him with a backfist, and he did! I loved how these two paired off, Kingston really feels like the obvious best guy in wrestling to do modern Different Fight matches.


106. Timothy Thatcher vs. Arturo Ruas

PAS: Ruas is an amateur wrestler and ju-jitsu black belt who is a WWE signee. I have no idea how he will do in the WWE system but he is pretty fun working an Ambition/Bloodsport style worked shoot match with Thatcher. There was some pretty slick grappling here, I loved Thatcher stacking Ruas guard and going for a kneebar, only to get countered with kimura. There was some really powerful thumping body shots, and Ruas had a cool upkick and german suplex. It reminded me a lot of the Thatcher vs. Ishikawa series. Ruas isn't close to Ishikawa's level as a wrestler, but he is clearly a high level grappler and it was fun to watch Thatcher craft a wrestling match around that.

ER: This was definitely the most I've seen Ruas on the mat, and I think the match benefitted from that. I have a love/hate relationship with his capoeira, as some of the strikes can look cool and land from weird angles, but those same strikes can often force time to stand still a little bit while his opponent figures out where exactly they're supposed to stand to take this strike. I guess you could say that some of his strikes need to get to the point a little quicker. This is almost entirely on the mat and cooler for it, and yes it really does come off exactly like something on an Ambition or Bloodsport show. Thatcher really goes for that kimura, and we get the kind of grappling that just comes off absolutely exhausting. I appreciate that they weren't going for flash, but instead showing all of the effort that goes into just neutralizing your opponent. I loved when Thatcher was slowly making progress up Ruas's body, had his legs tangled in a grapevine and was pushing past Ruas's torso like he was going for a Regal stretch, and we get that slight shifting of body weight that allows Ruas to sweep immediately into guard and roll into an armbar. They kept the striking brief, limited to some Thatcher uppercuts and a big slap, and I liked Ruas popping up on his shoulders from the mat and hitting Thatcher with an upkick enziguiri. Ruas took advantage with a nice German (though I preferred Thatcher's big hip pivot belly to belly earlier in the match) and thought that Thatcher immediately reversing into a kimura was super logical considering the format. The finish felt a bit too jittery and Ruas left a few too many seams exposed, but the bulk of this was really cool.


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Matches from EVOLVE 140 11/10/19

Colby Corino/Sean Maluta vs. Kekoa/Mike Verna

ER: I was into this one because I really like Corino and Maluta has made a lot of jumps since teaming with Kingston, and this was those two against two guys who recently impressed at an Evolve tryout. So I was expected The Unwanted to just destroy them and instead they basically worked a competitive 50/50 match with two guys who worked like they had recently won a tryout competition. I was surprised to see both Kekoa and Verna have close to a decade of experience because both looked tentative and felt like rookies who were figuring things out. Verna is a muscle guy who they played off as a BIG muscle guy, and he does big muscle guy Brian Cage offense, but he's clearly Candido size. So you have a 5'9" 220 lb. guy out there doing slingshot suplexes walking to all sides of the ring and getting Maluta and Corino placed on him for tandem powerslams, but he barely looks like the biggest guy in the match. It was weird. Kekoa had a couple of nice strike combos, but had a hesitance to a lot of it and it felt like Corino and Maluta were waiting around longer than they should have been. I loved all the parts of The Unwanted on offense, so that's what makes the match worth watching. Maluta has some strikes that I wished he would use even more, because he really knows how to punch through an elbow strike, great form, and I like a lot of his double teams with Corino. 

Corino is wisely looking at Jimmy Jacobs as his ceiling, and I think he's a really good Jimmy Jacobs. He makes the most of his size and throws himself hard into every piece of offense, the way Spike Dudley would throw his whole body into his battering ram headbutt. Corino looks like a guy who shouldn't hit hard, but he's got great elbows and kicks and is awesome at recklessly throwing his body around. There's one sequence that kept threatening to turn into the kind of indy wrestling sequence that I hate, where Corino and Verna kept running across the ring hitting each other. So Corino would hit him and take off across the ring, followed immediately by Verna who hits him and takes off, followed immediately by Corino, etc. Those sequences are almost always trash, but Corino decks him with an elbow, mixes it up with a wicked yakuza kick, and instead of continuing the sequence he flings himself over the ropes into Kekoa, doing a sloppily effective tope con hilo. It always feels like Corino is throwing as much of himself as possible into his offense, and it makes everything he does read so much better.


Babatunde vs. Brandon Taggart

ER: Well this wasn't very good, filled with tons of moments I wouldn't want from a hoss fight (as they called it on commentary). I've seen Taggart around but its always in scramble matches, feels like a good time to really see what he can bring is in a match like this. And I did not like most of what he brought. He's got a look that really screams Backyard, with super distressed jeans and Murderface hair. I know he was in IWA Mid-South a lot and he wrestles like the only training he got there was "How to have the precisely exact bad body as Ian Rotten", just a pale pinkish lumpy bod. He looks like his entrance theme should be Also Sprach Keratosis Pilaris. There are several sections of really shitty "reversal striking" where they go through these tedious block dance sequences. Taggart throws a blocked back elbow which spins him around into a blocked forearm smash which spins him back around into a mule kick, which spins him back the other way into a tornado clothesline. It all looks awful, and they need to take that shit back to their Wednesday night square dancing class and keep it the fuck away from a hoss fight. Taggart also clearly struggles to get himself up to the 2nd set of turnbuckles. Babatunde has workable tools, like how his missed big splashes land where the opponent actually was, forcing Taggart to really roll far out of the way or still get hit. Babatunde also had a series of running shoulderblocks in the corner, first ramming Taggart in the guy, then backing up, running into his body, backing up farther and running in harder, etc. Babatunde feels like a guy who Shinya Hashimoto could have had a great match against. Brandon Taggart felt like a guy who paid to be on an Evolve show.


Anthony Gutierrez vs. Donovan

ER: This was literally one minute long, but it was a good minute. Donovan throws a bunch of strikes, rushes in and gets got by Sharkbait's one man Spanish Fly, and then immediately tapped with an armbar. But Donovan showed me a lot with his strikes, throwing great body shots and a couple nice elbow smashes, definitely seems like a cool guy to have as the flunky in Eddie Kingston's stable.


120. Eddie Kingston vs. Arturo Ruas

PAS: Kingston's run as the modern day Inoki continues as he takes on Ruas, a Capoeira and BJJ fighter who is in the WWE system for some reason. Ruas has some fun body shots and kicks and Kingston is a guy who can work a match around body shots and kicks. I really liked Ruas's scissors kick takedown and it was a fun precursor to Kingston banging him in the eye with a wrench for the DQ. Seemed a bit weird for Kingston to look for the way out, when he was more than competitive,  and it was a bit of a flat finish. But I really enjoy these minor key Eddie matches and I grabbed a WWN Live sub just to watch him work green Performance Center guys.

ER: Kingston really is great as a modern Inoki, and I'm sure there isn't anyone currently as good at being totally overwhelmed by someone's fighting style, getting his bearings, and storming through with his own style. That's what makes Kingston so great, right? His stubborn hardheadedness that allows him to rush into attacks, eat shots that could have been avoided with a stronger game plan, and still come out the other side swinging. Kingston makes the best befuddled faces as Ruas is picking him apart, getting King to bite on one strike before sneaking in hard body shots, and nobody is better than Kingston at selling a stitch in his side. I don't love Ruas's offense, and maybe it's happened but I don't think we've seen someone make capoeira work in a pro wrestling setting, but Kingston is really the perfect foil for all of it. He's great at bumbling and getting his timing thrown off while Ruas is dinking around in a handstand or something. Kingston really laces into Ruas when he finally gets hold of him, my favorite shot when King just grabs him by the dome and clonks him with a headbutt. I liked the DQ finish, but it's a disappointing finish that Kingston can do really well. Even though he was clearly landing as many shots as Ruas, I like him just bashing a guy in the eye with a wrench because "fuck it this ain't worth it". Ruas catching that flying body scissors and requiring Kingston to quickly work for a rope break was the line Ruas caught, Kingston deciding this guy is too problematic so let's find the quickest way to leave this party.


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Matches from EVOLVE 139 11/9/19

Colby Corino vs. AR Fox

ER: This had some problems, but it also had some things that made it very much worth my time. A lot of the problems I had were with Fox, because he's one of the flat out most uninteresting salesman in Evolve. He sells almost every move he takes the same way he sells moves that he delivers, and it makes his matches look like we're all just waiting around for something serious to happen. Delivers a cutter, stands up and does a little hyphy dance; takes a cutter, stands up and sells like a later step in that same hyphy dance. He sells "about to deliver a move" and "just got kicked" like a guy who is just figuring out he ate some bad whitefish. Oh, until the end, where instead of selling indifference, he sold being knocked out cold on a kick that looked like it missed. So he either sells a couple of kicks to the face by doing handstands a moment later, or he sells a kick near his face like Kurisu was his debut match opponent. But that's cool, because after that KO and great false finish he managed to get up and hit a 450 just fine. So Fox worked a match where Corino was competitive the whole time and genuinely looked like he might pull off an upset, and the way he shrugged through every part of the match really lessened the impact of Corino's performance. Corino had a couple off moments, but way more strong as hell moments. He looked like he flinched on that missed kick at the end, and I get it because he probably didn't want to cave in Fox's face (spot was Fox leaping off the top by Corino sidestepping and upkicking like he was Kawada). But he does so many little things well, like not skimping on less severe kicks (his kicks to the stomach are straight thrusts, and his super kicks have great full extension and actually look like he slides into it to increase impact), and he starts the match with my favorite lock up I've seen in months. He really goes in hard on the lock up, keeping low to shore up his gravity, and believably bulls the larger Fox across the ring. He has a couple of great logical reversals out of sequences, like a really nice ace crusher that came out of a fine battle over a vertical suplex, or the way he just starts punching Fox in the back of the head immediately after a Fox kickout, or how he snapmares Fox into a turnbuckle. This didn't need a ton to be a really good match, really all it would have taken was some extra effort from Fox, but this is just more proof of how good Corino is getting.


97. Sean Maluta/Joe Gacy vs. Anthony Gutierrez/Arturo Ruas

ER: Great way to work a match like this, just have the two different fight guys come in and do their tricks, have the heel team cheat like assholes, have both teams work funky double teams with a couple of stiff pinfall saves, and get the hell out of there before it all blows up. Gutierrez is great in matches like these, all fast kicks that land heel to gallbladder, a willingness to take some nasty spills, and a surprise tope con hilo onto both The Unwanted. Non-pro wrestler athletes are a glorious goldmine early on in their wrestling career, and if Gutierrez sticks to this I seriously doubt we'll see him trying loose but effective (and dangerous) stuff like that tope. It doesn't have any of the slickness that someone like Ricochet brings to the move, and it benefits from that, as it just looks like a guy winging his body best he can into two men larger than him. Maluta has great chops and a nice right, and uses both of those effectively here. Gacy cuts out BS handspring offense and instead sticks to lariating Ruas in the back of the head (to set up a Maluta chestbreaker), and his 360 lariat is perfectly used as the final killshot after Maluta punts Gutierrez in the balls FROM BEHIND! Everyone moved quick and didn't linger on anything, Gacy and Maluta constantly either getting overwhelmed by weird fighting styles while also finding fun ways to stay ahead of those fighting styles. Not everything is going to land (I still don't love Gutierrez's corkscrew shooting star that never quite lands, and some of Ruas's strikes can look silly), but this was a kick ass style clash.

PAS: This was fun stuff. Maluta and Gacy are a really good hard hitting team, and they make the beat down look good and really let the face team shine. I liked all of the double teams in this match, they all made sense, and looked good. I am all in on Gacy if he is going to limit his offense to hard clubs and nasty lariats. The announcers said that "Joe Gacy can do anything" but I really want him to just do one thing. Gutierrez is two steps forward, one step back, but the steps forward are fun steps, and I love wrestlers going to the body. Unwanted versus the Performance Center is a fun feud, and pretty much always delivers.


32. Eddie Kingston vs. Babatunde

ER: We wanted to watch Kingston against green Performance Center guys, and we are getting just that. Kingston vs. Giant isn't a match we get a lot, and there's a ton of joy to be had watching Kingston get ragdolled around while trying to rip a man's ear off. There's a Burt Reynolds movie I really love called Heat, and in it he gets hired to teach self defense to Peter MacNicol. Burt immediately takes things up to 10 and suggests in his first lesson that his go to move is ripping a man's ear off. "It's surprisingly easy to do, only held on by a little cartilage. Showing a man his own ear is a good way to get his attention." Kingston as down and out Las Vegas degenerate bouncer going after the ears of tough guys is my kind of Kingston. We're starting to get a real glut of "Big Man Launching Tiny Man" matches, what with AEW running at least two per week, so watching a big man try and throw someone who can land with actual size and sell those throws in unique ways, gives us a welcome twist. We get the old Vader/Cactus Jack spot where Kingston is hanging off Babatunde like a backpack, and Babatunde just takes a back bump to crush Kingston. Kingston's outstretched, frozen arm is a great sell for someone afraid to move because of damage incurred. Kingston keeps going to the ear, even after eating a big vertical suplex he rolls over and just grabs that damn ear. I like how Kingston takes big power offense, like the torture rack neckbreaker, or the pop up chop, but I like even more when Kingston just kicks Babatunde right in the balls. The match was "Relaxed Rules" and really outside of that ball shot and Kingston stealing and attempting to use the ref's belt, there wasn't much done that wouldn't have been allowed under Agitated Rules. But Kingston brought a ton of color to a big man battle, and scanning the Evolve roster I don't see anyone who could have given him a more fun match than the King.

PAS: I thought this was totally awesome, loved every second of it. Babatunde is aways away, but Eddie made all of his offense look great and really went after him with unhinged viciousness. There are so many great flavors of Eddie Kingston, nasty unprofessional asshole is one of them, this felt like him beating on Shane Storm. All of the ear attacks looked great, were really simple and made a ton of sense fighting a huge guy like Babatunde. Eric made a good point about how great Eddie is at taking huge power throws. He doesn't bounce, he thuds. I also loved his big German suplex, you could really see him using all of his leverage and strength to get Babatunde over. I can't imagine this match being worked better, what a performance by the King.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki vs. Masada

78. Low-Ki vs. Masada HOG 12/7

PAS: Stiff, compact brawl which surprisingly saw Ki get thrown around for much of the match. I can't remember the last time (if ever) I have seen Ki get eaten like this. He is a great bumper and really good with his timing, so it's a fun role for him. Masada jumps Ki early and roughs him up, including press slamming him throat first on the guardrail. Ki fires back with chops and some nasty 12 to 6 elbows, but he's mostly selling. I especially loved Masada's quebradora, it looked like it broke Ki's tailbone. Masada goes for the skewers, which gives Ki the opportunity to hit the Woo Dropkick and double stomp combo (and that double stomp looked like it might have broken Masada's collarbone) for the win. This is as close to Ki vs. Necro as we are going to get in 2019.

ER: This felt like the kind of match every promotion for the past 20 years has wanted Low Ki to do, but can't actually get him to do. Low Ki is almost always the smaller man in a match, and yet he rarely works matches as if he's a Rey Mysterio underdog. Instead Low Ki has gone into every match like he is 20 lb. bigger than any opponent. Low Ki opposite Da Hit Squad? Low Ki is now 300 lb. You know there have been promoters who wished he would take a beating for 90% of a match, if only because they themselves want to see Ki take an extended ass kicking. But Low Ki is a guy who works so credibly that there hasn't been a size difference yet that hasn't been able to close. And yet here he makes Masada look massive, and gets beaten around the building. Low Ki is one of the most inventive bumpers of all time, so seeing him get bounced and angled off tons of surfaces is great fun. Masada hotshots him on the guardrail, drops him with a quebradora, and fills in the spaces nicely with awesome kneelifts and uppercuts that knock Ki onto his heels. Ki is really good at taking a beating, selling that beating, but also being constantly active. Some guys take a move and then wait around until being picked up for the next move, but Ki is always actively selling something, and always taking any shot he can. If he's down holding his ribs and Masada is approaching with something new, Ki is going to try to punch him in the throat or get in at least one sharp knee strike if he's going to eat two. I loved how Masada's obsession with his death match ways is what cost him, as he tries to stab Ki with BBQ skewers which gives Low Ki the only opening he needs. Low Ki could not have landed more on Masada's chest with his match finishing double stomp, just quick violent revenge paying back a surprise beating.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ohno vs. Ligero

63. Kassius Ohno vs. Ligero NXT UK 4/6 (Aired 4/24/19)

ER: This started out like a mean Ohno squash and then built into something that felt like a big upset was imminent, with several neat twists. And honestly, had this been an Ohno squash, I would have loved it. Because a big portion of this was Ohno trying to kick Ligero's horns right off his head. Ohno was really pasting Ligero with kicks, big running front kicks, and when Ligero was on the mat Ohno would run in and boot him again in the side of the head, for good measure. Ohno felt one step ahead for much of this, every duck and dodge pulled by Ligero, there was a boot waiting for him the second he turned around. My favorite was Ohno grabbing Ligero's right arm and bending it back, and as soon as it approached the breaking point Ohno rained down on him with a kick to the ear. At one point Ligero actually got a boot up in time for a charging Ohno...who merely stopped in time to catch the boot and then violently twist his ankle. Not looking great for Ligero. But he did finally catch a charging Ohno, and went on a little tear himself, including throwing some nice kick variations and now, finally, staying one step ahead of Ohno. There were some nice reversals, nice dodges (cool sequence where Ohno misses a kick and a follow up senton), and I love seeing Ohno take code reds and big roll ups and make them look like near escapes. We got a cool reversal where Ohno caught Ligero and immediately turned into what I thought was going to be the sudden match finishing tombstone, but Ligero rolled through that as well. The finish was what really put this over the top for me, as Ligero springs off the bottom rope with a cutter, but Ohno catches him, traps him in a cravat, unties Ligero's mask a bit....and then turns it to the side!! Ligero is looking at the inside of his mask, and before he can hardly react he gets absolutely waylaid by an elbow to the back of the head. Awesome.

PAS: Ligero is one of those semi-racist fake white guy luchadores who cropped up in the early 2000s. WWE decided that El Generico wasn't going to fly in the big leagues, but NXT UK is clearly so under the radar that Ligero gets to just skate in. He isn't much in this, breaking out his competently executed Sliced Breads and Code Reds and such, but Ohno is a fucking monster. There is a spot where he reverses a dive by Ligero and kind of shucks him head first into the stairs. For the rest of the match he is trying to send Ligero into a dark quiet room for half a week. Just super nasty knees to the side of Ligero's head and kicks to the temple and stomps to the back of his head. Man you can really get away with shocking violence on these C-Shows no one watches. Ohno did a great job selling all of Ligero's so-so comebacks, and the finish really felt like a Finlay, Regal or Eddie bit of trickery which is about the best compliment I can give a finish.


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Matches from Pizza Party Wrestling 4/3/19

ER: I somehow wound up at this show, the first show of WrestleMania weekend. You know, the Wednesday evening portion of the weekend. This show was nowhere near most actual WM happenings, at least a half hour north of where we were staying in Jersey City. We landed Wednesday evening at Newark, dropped our stuff off at the Air BnB, and immediately Uber'd our way up to Ridgefield Park. The venue was smack dab in the middle of a quiet upper class neighborhood, and the colored lighting inside was soft and warm. They had so-so pizza slices for sale for a good price, and an old American Legion member making cheap cocktails in the back corner near the pizza. It was the kind of place that I would happily go to watch wrestling every couple months, although I can safely say that I will never watch wrestling in this venue ever again (nothing personal, just what are the odds of me winding up in Ridgefield Park again). Makabe vs. Yehi was the match that made this a no brainer show to attend, and it delivered everything I wanted. I was still pretty bleary eyed from travel so don't have a fresh memory of the rest of the card, but let's rewatch to jog that memory!


Tony Deppen vs. "Tyrannosaurus Flex" Ezekiel James

ER: This was a bummer, just because there were at least a dozen people on this show who would have made a much more interesting partner for Deppen than what we wound up with. James is someone who I know nothing about. He flexed his arms, he froze up on more than a couple spots, and they weirdly worked this as if James was a giant. James is bigger than Deppen, but not demonstrably so. The best parts of this were when Deppen would just throw strikes, with the best being a hard right hand to the jaw followed up immediately by a headbutt. James couldn't catch dives in an interesting way, and he wasn't quick so it didn't leave Deppen with much to do. Deppen takes a nice bump on a DDT, James completely whiffs on his pop up uppercut that was supposed to directly set up the finish, and then they just go to the finish anyway. Super disappointing use of Deppen.

Alex Zayne vs. Robbie Eagles

ER: This had moments that hit, and then some of the absolute worst half speed dance fight wrestling I've seen. There were several moments where the missed strikes looked like the two of them going over sequences back stage, like they forgot they were in front of an audience. There was a Zayne missed legsweep that was thrown so light that it wouldn't have swept the leg of a child. There were several moments where Zayne worked like he was concussed, like a hilarious moment where Eagles was on the apron, and Zayne literally walked towards him, with Eagles already waiting in position to hit the enziguiri, and here's Zayne walking right to the spot where the kick was supposed to land. It was such a pathetic disconnect, Zayne not even bothering to make it look like he was attempting to charge in with any kind of move, just walking dully to the position he needed to be in. Eagles had some nice running knees and a couple big power moves, and was at least putting some energy into things. Nearly every single move Zayne hit fully relied on Eagles bumping to make it look good. I've seen Zayne hit a great dragon rana in the corner, here Eagles had to catch Zayne's legs around his armpits and waist and do the rest of the work. I had long checked out by the time we got to a heatless strike exchange, and at least Zayne took a reverse rana with a nice vertical pause and flattened Eagles with the match ending spiral tap. Still this was an awful match from Zayne. He worked it like he was told his father just died right before he went through the curtain.

ER: I would have written up the 4 way Street Fight, but resent that the promotion tricked me into cheering for a pedophile without letting me know he was a pedophile. Now there's video footage of me literally standing next to a pedophile, cheering for him. So long political career.

Oswald Project vs. Ezekiel James

ER: This wasn't a match by any means, but was certainly a weird and memorable moment live. Tyrannosaurus Flex and his manager some back out to remind everyone of that disappointing Tony Deppen match and challenge any newcomers to take a crack at T-Flex. So they brought in a smallish young guy from the crowd with long curly hair, who introduced himself as being raised in a petri dish on some government site as part of The Oswald Project. And then when James tried to attack him, Oswald started bending in all sorts of freaky ways, like he was suffering from that "no bones" disease that so afflicted Richard Dunn. He got hit in the back of the head and scorpioned himself, rolling through it like some bizarre horror creature. It didn't function as a match, but it made for a great unexpected weirdo surprise. I know they've used him on future shows, and I'd certainly check him out in an actual match. Really, he's the only wrestler who could replicate the crab walk scene in Exorcist.

Van Valley vs. Champagne Douglas vs. Everett Cross vs. Matt Vertigo vs. Russell K. Best vs. Zacky Strutts

ER: This wasn't a good match. It was a fairly rushed 6 man with a lot of unknowns, a lot of waiting for dives, a lot of guys not good at occupying themselves, and a lot of head drops. We had a reverse rana within the first 30 seconds or so, and a lot of lying around in wait. But let me tell you the thing I genuinely love about this match: On paper, every single person in this match sounds like someone who is being paid in "exposure" to perform on Cedric the Entertainer's "Cruisin', Schmoozin', Laffs 'n' Gaffes" Caribbean cruise. You can just picture the days' schedule of events, and then twist yourself into knots trying to decide whether to see Champagne Douglas's afternoon set at the Lido Lounge, or go see Zacky Strutts at Guy Fieri's Deckside Burger Bar. Why did they book those sets to overlap!? But it will all be worth it to see the after hours adult sets from Russell K. Best and Vicious Van Valley. Russell K. Best's clean material frankly doesn't hold up as well, but you know his after hours set will slam! I'd have much rather seen a set of Zacky Strutts' catchphrase comedy ("You know Zacky don't run away from that mess...because you KNOW...Zacky Strutts") than this match. Just a bad match filled with guys who have done regional warm up work for Kat Williams. Champagne Douglas alone sounds like a fantastic once a season Martin character. The on paper names in this match probably gave me more joy than anything else before the main event.

18. Fred Yehi vs. Daniel Makabe

ER: This was the match that got me to go to Ridgefield Park, and one of the matches that got me to fly across the country (and since Makabe vs. Arik Royal got scrapped this match had even more pressure to deliver). And after sitting down and re-watching this show nearly a year after the fact, imagine if this match HADN'T been on the card!? This was a card saving match for sure, as I don't think there was anything else I would even casually recommend going out of your way to see before this main event. And luckily, this match delivered on its on paper potential and sent me back to Jersey City a tired and satisfied wrestling fan. I knew the grappling would be great, and I loved how these two moved off each other. Makabe controlled a lot of action with quick go behinds, and a Yehi kept relying on his fantastic single legs to upend Makabe. The first single leg saw Yehi just grabbing Makabe by the heel and completely tossing him skyward, as if Makabe had been standing on a landmine. Yehi would really make Makabe pay for leaving a limb out there, like when Makabe did a quick dropdown that ended quickly after Yehi stomped his hand on the mat. Yehi had some great torture holds, loved him sitting on Makabe's butterflied legs and daring him to do anything about it. Makabe hit him with a slap, but it was a trap, Yehi seemingly knowing that Makabe wouldn't be able to do much damage at such close range, then pays him back with a harder slap. Makabe pays that back eventually with an amazing spot I've never seen, as he snaps the top rope into Yehi's face as he's getting into the ring, feeling like a use-of-ring spot that Fit Finlay would kick himself for not thinking of.

I liked how Makabe kept responding to Yehi's actions by moving the match to a more elevated direction, like how he was the first to throw a punch (and loved his hand sell afterward which set up a different run of Yehi torture) and starts working over Yehi's arm in different ways (throwing sharp knees to his elbow and tricep), and I love how great Makabe is at showing his work as he's going through holds. You really get the strong sense watching him that he's breaking things down in learnable steps, the way he forces Yehi's jaw toward the opposite arm by forcing his forearm down the length of jaw, leaving the arm wide open, the way he holds his weight against Yehi to prevent counters. Yehi pays him back later by trapping Makabe's arm in the top of the ringpost and kicking him off the apron in a real nasty moment. The submission roll throughs were all really engaging, with holds that all looked like finishers. Makabe had this ridiculously slick go behind off the ropes into a cattle mutilation that was so sudden and cool that I thought it was the finish. After Makabe's early match punch Yehi definitely worked in more strikes, big Mongolian chops, a great seated dropkick, big clubbing shots, and some big fists while trapping Makabe in the Koji Clutch. Now, the whole finishing stretch was fantastic, but those punches in the Koji were so beautiful, as they directly lead to Makabe's victory. Had Yehi just locked in the Koji Clutch, Makabe was likely done. But Yehi starts throwing punches, allowing Makabe the opening to catch and hold that fist, breaking the clutch, rolling through with the arm, and setting up the bridging pin. My god. I loved it all.

PAS: This is exactly what you wanted this match to be, two really solid hard charging grapplers, doing cool innovating painful looking shit. I loved Yehi's stuff with the ringposts, he has broken that out sometimes in ACTION and it is just about the coolest bit of signature offense in wrestling. I have no idea how Makabe didn't just tear all of the ligaments in his arm. They were able to do some very nifty different chain wrestling without it every seeming like a dance routine, which is super rare in today's wrestling. I loved the subtle mixing in of harder shots as the match went on. I am so immersed in all of this new French Catch footage I am viewing a lot of things through that lens, but this had that same feel. It started tricky and scientific and escalated into a fight and it is a real credit to the talents of both guys, that they can make both parts of the story look credible and impressive.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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