On Brand Segunda Caida: Jimmy Jacobs I Quit Matches

I just recorded a Way of the Blade Pod with Jimmy Jacobs talking about his great I Quit Match with BJ Whitmer. I dug up a couple of his lesser seen I Quit matches on Highspots and figured I would review them.

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Ryan Boz AAW 3/28/09

PAS: Boz was a midwest guy with some indy size and some solid violent looking offense. I really enjoyed the pre blood part of this match with Jacobs hurling himself at Boz, including a great looking Macho Man double ax handle and a running dive off of a stage. Boz is able to take control and carve Jimmy up with a fork, cheese grater (including chewing a bit of Jimmy's left over skin, which, ewwwwww) and staple gun, while taping Jimmy's hands together. Jimmy was able to break free with a nut shot, hit two big elbows to the floor with Boz on a table, and eventually tape him to the turnbuckle and jam a spike into his balls. Not as violent as stabbing someone in the dick, but still a correct way to finish the match. 

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Arik Cannon AAW 11/26/11

PAS: This had some really gross bleeding by both guys, which is what you want in this kind of match. Cannon breaks a bottle and cuts Jimmy up, and Jimmy does what he does. Cannon had some really great punches on the cut too. Cannon gets cut up by the Spike and there is some sick dripping. I also really liked the duct tape spot, which is a Jacobs I Quit speciality. Jimmy gets carved, but is able to nut shot Cannon, get the spike and use it to cut himself out. Still, I Quit matches live and die on the finish, and I didn't care for the finish here. Jacobs hits a Panama Sunrise, which is a dumb move and not for this match, and his guillotine choke really works more as a submissions match finish, then an I Quit match finish. Stuff to like, but I think overall a miss.

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This on Eddie Kingston's Wrist is Nothing

Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Davis Punk Pro Wrestling 5/6/18 - GREAT

PAS: Odd match. During the post match mic work Davis puts Kingston over as one of the greats, the northeast version of Davis, and how this was a dream match for him. This match was worked like a dream match between two tough guys, all frantic stiff strikes and big throws, but it only goes four minutes. Seems really bizarre to fly Kingston down to Florida (maybe he was there already for Impact tapings, but still) book him in a dream match and have it go shorter then most WWE Main Event undercard bouts. Still this was a pretty awesome four minutes. both guys really lay it in with forearm and chops and Kingston's selling can pump some life into strike exchanges. Davis has a couple of huge throws, including a great spinebuster and dead lift german, and his spinning powerbomb was nasty enough that you bought in ending a match so quickly. If you are going to do a sprint, let out the engine. 

Eddie Kingston vs. ACH AAW 9/8/18 - FUN

PAS: We start out with ACH jumping Kingston in the aisle and they have some pretty great crowd brawling. ACH tries to chuck Kingston over a balcony, Kingston drops ACH ribs first on the guard rail and smacks him in the kidneys and ribs with palm strikes. We get a great moment where Kingston gets in the face of some of the hipster roller derby girls who go to AAW shows. Really into this part of the match, and it provided the value in the match

When this gets into the ring, it gets very melodramatic, with ACH having a crisis of conscience about hitting Kingston with a chair, with Kingston daring him to do it, and be "just like me." Kingston is probably the best at this sort of Garagnoish emoting, but I couldn't really ride with him here. The whole emotional basis of the match is based around the idea of a street dude like Kingston being friends with a Weeboo dweeb like ACH, and I am not buying that one bit. Also ACH does his tortured "Am I a bad man, or a good man who does bad things" shit around a chair shot, when he had tried to throw Kingston off a balcony to his death five minutes before. Post match has Kingston threatening to murder ACH in front of his family, and ACH responding with a "we could never have this match in Japan" zinger with the Best Buddies making "oh snap" faces in the ring. Eddie tried, but he needs a dance partner and this match wasn't selling me on ACH at all.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Two More from AAW Take No Prisoners 5/25/18

24. Darby Allin vs. Brody King

ER: Another great match in that Darby formula, a similar take on his matches with WALTER and Keith Lee and any other guy that much bigger than he (so, every guy). It's a formula I'm not anywhere near getting sick of, especially when watching someone as creative as Allin. Each big man gets his own destruction canvas to paint on, an opportunity to try out their most dangerous big spots on a guy way too willing to take them. King memorably catches a Coffin Drop to the floor and starts brutally swinging Allin's body back and forth across the aisle into the guardrail. But I love the ways Darby gets into control, the slip ups that he never hesitates to pounce headlong into. There's a great spot where King is on the apron and gets kicked to the floor, taking a backwards bump off the apron into the front row. Allin wastes no time in hurling his body out after him into a Coffin Drop. The Coffin Drop is such a great character appropriate finisher for Allin, and I love how quickly and recklessly he breaks it out. It never feels like overkill, because at the heart of it he's always using his body to try to do harm. Sometimes it gets caught, sometimes he dumps himself on the back of his head (like later in this very match!), but it's always him hurling his whole body at his opponent, and that's awesome. The rolling clutch with him getting kicked off and bouncing immediately into a tornillo is such a fun spot, and he makes it look great. We get several fun moments set up earlier in the match and paid off, like King crushing Allin with a cannonball early and then missing a big one late, creating an opening for Allin. The match ending over shoulder piledriver is an awesome exclamation point, and Allin's 2018 continues to be impressive as hell.

PAS: This is the best I have seen King look, beating on Darby Allin is a perfect showcase for what someone can do. Allin has pretty much turned into the worlds greatest Spike Dudley, which is a real compliment. He takes huge violent bumps, times his comebacks perfectly and has really compelling credible offense for someone so much smaller. He also has this grim determination in everything he does, he just soldiers forward through brutal punishment, always looking for an opening, sometimes he finds it and wins, sometimes he gets hit with something so brutal there is no recovery, but he is almost like a Zombie, tear his head from his shoulders or he won't stop coming. This match was full of cool moments, King falling from the apron to the front row, only to get wasted by a coffin drop was awesome looking, as was King catch Allin and hurling his body reckless around the ringside area. There were lots of moments where I thought Allin might pull it out, and that finishing piledriver was a finishing piledriver. Allin feels like the Wrestler of the Year, and he keeps adding to his resume.

Sami Callihan/Jake Crist/Dave Crist vs. Shane Strickland/Dezmond Xavier/Zachary Wentz

29. ER: I was skimming through this show and planned on skipping past this one, but stopped mid match and it looked more heated and IWA Mid-South than I would have expected. So I went back to the beginning and was not let down. The opening mean shoving and jawing between Callihan and Strickland looked like a showdown happening over Donald Trump's Walk of Fame Star. This was a crazy and stiff spotfest, feeling like a wrestling match broke out in the middle of Mortal Kombat. There are a lot of moving parts and constant action, and while I don't always react to Crist matches, they're actually really good at stringing together these kind of fast pace moving parts matches. I don't always like their structure and match length, but they don't get lost and plan unique chain spots. There are a lot of stiff shots in this one and the action really felt similar to that great ROH match with Jack Victory, or some of the best Jersey All Pro brawls. The Crists throw really nice kicks, Callihan seems like a guy with a genuine high pain tolerance, Strickland has actually focused up a nice right hand, and Jake Crist throws better punches than you remember. We get fun trainwreck dive spots into the crowd, a completely stupid tower spot in the corner that - while completely stupid - was also creatively crafted with a nice payoff: an expertly timed seated powerbomb out of a superplex, several guys get suplexed into turnbuckles, an amusing 619 from Xavier, some more shockingly great full leg extension kicks to the head, the Crists leaning face first into a bunch of kicks, the whole thing was like a stiff version of an early 2000s SAT trios. The Crists really seem like guys who like thinking up complicated spots, and they really go all in on these spots, and while they don't always stick the landing, they at minimum miss big. I'm appreciating that the more I see it. We had a nice violent end run, Sami hit a wicked snap piledriver, Crists got misdirected into hard kicks, Jake hit a cutter on Wentz from opposite corners, just some wild stuff. This felt like it hit just the right pace and teetered close to the edge but never toppled into overkill, made use of some good saves, and built great. Very recommended.

PAS: I really wished I like Strickland more, because that Chaka Khan entrance is class stuff. This kept threatening to lose me, there were a lot of missed clotheslines and kip ups, but they kept the pace going and ramped up the violence and got out of there in 13 minutes. That spinning superkick by a Crist (not sure which) always looks like it dislocates someone's jaw, and Dave Crist flying out of the air to catch Wentz's splash with a cutter was really awesome looking. Callihan is great at forcing pace, something like this where he just barrels forward for an entire match can be really compelling (he had an awesome pull apart with Brody King at the end of the show too), I don't think this match redeemed Strickland or the Rascalz for me, but they certainly kept it nuts and Wentz especially died some big deaths. Up there with the AAA undercard match for spotfest of the year.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Kingston vs. Yehi

7. Eddie Kingston vs. Fred Yehi AAW 5/25

PAS: A whale of a match and a great example of what a master Eddie Kingston can be. This was an attempt to work a 90s All Japan match (Kingston says as much in his post match mic work), most US Indy attempts at 90s AJ are failures, applying the moves but not understanding what made them great. Kingston is a tremendous performer, really excellent at small touches which can elevate wrestling. I loved the early trash talking and how frustrated he got by Yehi early double leg takedown, so much so that he just started throwing chairs into the ring. Moments later Kingston gets tackled into the guard rail, and for the rest of the match he does this incredible job of selling back nerve damage, he really made me believe that he wouldn't be able to lift a couch for the rest of his life. Rest of the match saw Kingston as a wounded warrior (his best role really), trying to tough his way through a vicious fight. So many cool moments in this match, Yehi hits a great double leg take down and Kingston counters with a head and neck choke to keep him from rising up (the commentary mention Kingston had been studying BJJ at American Top Team, the idea of Kingston rolling with Junior Dos Santos is surreal). I also loved Yehi's not getting all of a low dropkick, Kingston smirking, and then getting blasted with a second kick right to his face. Finish run had some popping up, but neither guy no-sold, every blow took a little more out of them, only to see Kingston hit two big backfists with the second dropping Yehi like a KO shot. What a treat this was, so glad to see Kingston still performing at this level and Yehi continues to be one of the best in the world

ER: I really, really don't like Kingston after the match talking about how they just had a 90s All Japan match. I really don't need my guys talking about what kind of specific wrestling performance they were trying to emulate when I just spent 16 minutes assuming they were just trying to win at any cost. Sometimes it's obvious where guys are getting their inspiration and influence from, but let the match read as a match. As it was, this read as an awesome match, and shows that Kingston is a guy who can still adapt to so many styles and make overdone exchanges still feel interesting. None of us want to see tired strike exchanges in the middle of the ring anymore, and Kingston is the guy actually putting some personality into those exchanges. He doesn't keep a specific rhythm, he's constantly breaking up that rhythm with reaction and bullheadedness, never the faster or maybe even smarter guy in the fight, but a guy who is damn stubborn and damn tough. He takes a mean beating from Yehi, and at times doesn't help himself out of more of a beating. I loved Yehi hitting a low dropkick mid-match and Kingston just going "Nope, that didn't hurt" and then immediately getting pasted in the mouth with a harder kick. That felt like an essential "Who is Eddie Kingston?" moment. Later he keeps getting beat to a punch on a strike exchange but it takes him getting beat a few times to actually decide to cut losses. He's someone who in his best matches has to be forced to make a choice after failing, a few times, and begin reacting.

I said Yehi dished out a mean beating, and he took Kingston down at will, slammed him into the guard rail (and Kingston really is the best in wrestling at selling "Man with stiff neck who won't be able to properly look over his shoulder before changing lanes" type of niggling problems), tosses him with a couple different heavy landing German suplexes, a heavy dragon suplex, and hits a crazy double stomp with Kingston draped over the railing (that sends Yehi flying forwards into the crowd). He stomped feet during strike exchanges, he baited Kingston into foolish charges (he knew Kingston would foolishly get up as quick as possible on a throw, and was there waiting with a nice STO when Kingston predictably did). But what always keeps Kingston in a fight is that people have to get close to Kingston to win a match, and if you're near him, he can catch you. And he catches Yehi plenty of times, with a nice powerbomb and a nice throw, and some big spinning backfists. Maybe Kingston's greatest strength is that while he's stubborn, he lures his opponent into feeling like he's close to being finished, and so they get stubborn in the ways they try to beat him. And that's when Kingston catches them.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki v. Abyss

21. Low-Ki v. Abyss AAW 6/17

PAS: This is about as good an Abyss match as you are going to have. Ki bumps huge for all of Abyss's spots, kicks the big guy pretty hard and they have a bunch of amusing horseshit, plus where are in and out in under 7 minutes. Abyss is the hired gun of the Killer Cult faction in AAW and cost Ki the AAW title in our reigning match of the year. Here the story of the match is the manager paying for his sins. First Ki just wipes him out with a diving through the ropes dropkick. Then they have a fun finish with Ki hurling a handful of thumbtacks into Abyss's eyes, the blinded Abyss chokeslams his manager into the tacks and gets rolled up for the pin. Kind of a waste of Ki (so many more intriguing matchups with the talent booked on the show) but I dug it.

ER: Yeah Abyss is one of the true, honest to goodness terrible wrestlers out there. This right here is definitely the best you can hope for from him, and it was really fun. He stayed away from his always terrible strikes (the ones that are in a permanent competition with Makabe to see who can throw them farther over an opponent's head) and focused on just using his size to smother Ki. I have a weird fascination with seeing my absolute favorite wrestlers wrestle the worst opponent, sometimes moreso than them against an actual good wrestler. It's neat seeing what Finlay can do with Boogeyman (or Davey Richards, a previous AAW match), seeing Lawler or Funk against anybody, seeing Necro Butcher against anybody, it lets them thrive in different ways. There are a dozen people on this card who are indisputably better wrestlers than Abyss, but I'll always be more interested in seeing Low-Ki against a barely mobile blob than against obviously better guys like ACH or Jake Crist. But this match was totally great. Ki stuck and move, brought some great elbow strikes, Abyss smashed him in the corners a couple times, and it had some of the best manager interference you've seen. JT Davidson hit a killer elbow on Ki while he was prone on the apron and later attacking Ki on the floor and violently throwing him back in the ring. The fans hated Abyss, which is great, and Ki played into it perfectly. Davidson got out a bag of thumbtacks and they tease some stuff around them, like Davidson pushing Ki off the top into them, but Ki adjusting his fall and landing awkwardly past them. Ki kicks Abyss around and completely obliterates Davidson with a baseball slide dropkick, totally killer spot. Ki is really good at finding ways to fit his spots in, like Abyss sending him into the buckles, Ki jumping to the middle rope and hitting his double stomp. Eventually we get Ki throwing thumbtacks in Abyss' eyes which leads to Abyss chokeslamming Davidson into the tacks. Normally those kind of blinded, friendly fire spots are silly because how often does your ally feel like your opponent, but here it works pretty terrific as Ki and Davidson are the only ones wearing their suits and dress shirts. Low-Ki is the best worker of 2017, and matches like this are just layers of tasty icing on that cake.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Kingston v. Cobb

31. Jeff Cobb v. Eddie Kingston AAW 6/17

PAS: Pretty simple story based match, Kingston is the old broken down war horse coming in against a young monster (although Cobb is 34 and Kingston is 35, wrestling is fiction). Kingston has a bad neck and the worst thing you can do with a bad neck is face a beast like Cobb. Kingston is one of the best sellers in wrestling history, so a match built around him selling paralysis is going to work great. Kingston is so great at gutting through pain, as he would refuse to back down even as he was getting more and more damaged. Finish seemed a little abrupt, Kingston has a great backfist, but it feels like it should take a bigger shot to drop Cobb. Still great performance by Eddie, and if he is really winding down his career, he will be missed.

ER: Kingston is probably the best salesman in modern wrestling and I love matches where he's playing the survivor, the guy who is just enduring punishment but has a lot of big shots and a lot of pride. Kingston's neck is in bad shape and he's facing a guy who is an expert at hurting necks. They don't drag this out, this is a quick fight with immediate consequences. Kingston's backfists and elbows land as hard as I've ever seen them land, smashing into Cobb's concrete block skull, and when Cobb finally grabs hold of him it's a huge moment. King tries to get heavy, but Cobb drags him slowly up and over. King sells these germans pretty masterfully, skillfully selling his neck, arm, back and leg all at once, getting over that tingling that comes with a stinger. I was disappointed with the finish as it felt like they got a sudden call to go home, and it felt like Cobb went down too easy. I did like Kingston's hubris leading him to pull off a suplex on the suplex him, but I would have loved another Act to the story, another wrinkle like Kingston hitting that suplex but then further damaging his back. It felt like we are missing the third reel to a great match, but those first two reels are damn entertaining wrestling.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Callihan v. Kong

17. Sami Callihan v. Kongo Kong AAW 2/4/17

PAS: You don't usually see David v. Goliath matches with heel Davids. This was booked by the Philistines, with cheating ass David using all kind of tricks to avoid getting smashed. Callihan is really good at sticking and moving, all of his sticks land with real force and he avoids Kong in cool ways including Kong missing a rolling senton into a guardrail which is a nutty bump by such a big guy. The finish was also crazy with Kong taking a DVD on a chair, honestly I can't remember a superheavyweight taking a bump this nuts.

ER: I love the heel David comparison, a slimy David with bad hair loading up his sling with ill-advised topes and stupid bumps and minimal strategy. Callihan starts with a couple of boots that do nothing, and from there we go into maul mode, Kong the pursuer, throwing Sami into rails, chopping him into the crowd, eventually missing a mammoth cannonball into the guardrail. That's an insane spot for someone his size to be doing, and my god did it look awesome. Sami hits a successful dive, gets caught on another and slammed on the apron. Everybody gets slammed grossly on the apron, the Crists run out to interfere, Kong hits a sloppy fat dude dive onto everybody, then gets planted through a chair. It is indeed a crazy bump for a superheavyweight, only thing I can think of comparable would be any of the nutty suplex bumps Vader took. This was just what I wanted out of this match.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki v. Callihan

1. Low-Ki v. Sami Callihan AAW 3/17

PAS: Callihan is the AAW champion and is coming in trying to avenge a beating Ki gave him in JAPW back in 2011, and it really delivers the level of violence that set up promise. Ki is rocking his Hitman suit gimmick and both guys rip into each other early. Callihan is landing straight punching him in the forehead and Ki is lacing him with chops. This is the best Sami performance since his return to the indies, violent, explosive, and a bunch of fun Finlayish tricks like catching Ki in the ring skirt and yanking Ki's arm and causing him to whiplash himself into the top rope. There were moments in this match which felt like high end FUTEN which isn't something you see in wrestling these days, near the end Ki is unloading these uppercuts which are thrown at full force. There was alot of fun horseshit in this match too, Callihan tapes Ki to the top rope and brutalizes him with a chair (including a shot to the face which was super nasty) when Ki gets loose he retaliates by grabbing Callihan by the jaw and dislocating it, Callihan then rips his managers shirt and makes a makeshift bandage. This was working it's way to an all time classic until the plum awful Abyss run in, about the worst way to end a great match reminded me of the end of Lesnar v. Reigns or Fiera v. Estrada. Still strong MOTY contender but any better of an ending it could have closed the debate.

ER: Wow. This is easily my favorite Callihan match since his return to the indies, and possibly of his career. I assumed the Gulak match from December 2015 PWG was as good as it was going to get, and if so then the getting was good. And this match crushes it. This was one of the meanest, nastiest, flat out brutal fights I've seen. My body wouldn't have held up for any 3 minute portion of this match. Things begin with a bang as Callihan does a low tope that sends himself into the 3rd row while contorting Ki over the guard rail in disgusting fashion. The crowd is real close and the areas between ring and guard rail are very narrow, but that doesn't stop Callihan from tossing Ki violently into railings and then leaves him right there to mug for the adoring people of beautiful downtown Berwyn (cue BERRRR-WYN soundbite). Callihan beats the hell out of him and then gets cocky and sets up an allll around the ring attack, and when he arrives back at his destination finds his manager waving his arms, turns around to see Ki has chased him and annihilates him with a dropkick. And then more and more violence. Callihan clonks Ki right in the head and face with heavy hands, Ki seems like he's literally uppercutting Sami as hard as he can, Ki goes full bore into a baseball slide dropkick and Callihan catches him in the apron skirt in a way that would have you believe that Ki had no clue he was going to get caught in the apron skirt, and there's just too much pain and awesome on display for me to mention it all. And it wasn't just stiff for stiffs sake, the vengeance story was strong and adds real meat to this madness. The dislocated jaw was flat out great pro wrestling (though I think he held the dragon clutch way too long, as that move applied to a dude with a wrapped up busted jaw should have been instant tap), and then we get the run in ending with Abyss of all people. The ending stunk, as if the match had just ended with Sami tapping to the dragon clutch and then Ki getting destroyed then this would be an unbeatable #1. As it is, it's still a really difficult to beat #1. Classic match.

2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Low-Ki is Hibernating the Junction With Killin Something When You Were Barely Dumping

Low-Ki/Homicide/Eddie Kingston vs. Drago/Brian Cage/Pentagon Jr. AAW 11/26/16 - FUN

PAS: The Rottweilers come back after Ki's big debut the previous month, and this was sort of an on-paper dream match, really worked like a dream match, with lots of signature spots and face offs, but not a lot of structure.  I like Homicide grinding a jagged edge of a beer can into someone's head, Homicide working roping running segments with Drago doesn't do it for me as much. Ki looked great when he was in, but either hurt his knee or worked a knee injury, so spent most of the match on the ring apron. His new look with the Hitman suit is totally boss though.  It gets cooking in the last couple of minutes, but ends a bit abruptly. Drago looked pretty bad, he is a guy with some great dives, and not much else, so flying him in and having him do no dives is a weird decision. This was a good idea in concept, a little disappointing in execution.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Killer Cult v. Rottweilers

27. Sami Callihan/Jake Crist/Dave Crist v. Homicide/Eddie Kingston/Low-Ki AAW 11/4

PAS: This was the climax of a long feud between Callihan and Kingston, with Kingston bringing in Homicide and Callihan bringing in the Crists (including pulling Jake out of retirement), This was a six-man with Outlaw Inc. bringing in a surprise partner, and it had to be one of the best actual deliveries of a surprise in wrestling history. Ki comes out in a black suit, looking like video game Hitman and starts fucking dudes up. They have a really fun area tour brawl, throwing each other into the sides of walls, leaping off bars, chucking chairs. Callihan smashes Ki's knee inbetween chairs, and when the match goes into the ring, we have Kingston and Homicide battling the Killer Cult with Ki blitzing in on a bad knee to break up pins. There is a near fall and out of nowhere there is this crazy fuck in a suit leaping in with a double stomp. Ki sitings are so sporadic these days, that every time he shows up it is a treat.

ER: Yeah buddy this was good, and Phil is dead on in proclaiming this one of the greatest surprise deliveries in wrestling. I would have blown my buttons live. And I would have ran around the building following Ki's fight wherever it went. Both times I got to see Necro Butcher live you can see me on tape following wherever he goes, standing as close as possible and squealing with glee whenever he would do Necro Butcher stuff. At last year's WWN WM Supershow I ran all around the building watching Drew Galloway and Gargano hit each other from a few feet away, way harder than my chest or face could take, and later when I watched the show on tape there I was cringing and yelling and jumping around filled with joy. So there is no doubt in my mind that I would have been following Ki everywhere and losing it for every strike. Ki comes out in a suit like a Puerto Rican Jason Statham, and this whole match was a total 5 star Low-Ki performance, but I liked the whole crew here. Dave Crist draws the short straw and gets matched with Ki and does an awesome job getting kicked around the room, peaking when he gets planted head first into a chair and just sticking there vertically. Ki does all these great running dropkicks and both Crists are game to bump like they're getting blown back by an explosion. Also I'm pretty sure neither Crist is retired. Those guys show up in results seemingly more than anybody. Anyway Ki hits a crazy footstomp off the bar, and meanwhile we have Eddie Kingston tossing dudes into support beams and into the crowd. Killer Cult finally mounts some kind of comeback when the sturdy non-folding chairs come into play, smashing Ki's leg and Kingston's arm in mean ways. The Low-Ki nearfall save is a wonderful moment to cap a total blast of a match.

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AAW 1/15/16: The Chaos Theory Review

1. Drew Gulak vs. Louis Lyndon

ER: Lyndon felt a tad off in this one but is still a fun match for Gulak. There was some awkwardness like Lyndon hitting a flip dive into the crowd that I assumed ended with Gulak catching him and powerbombing him...except Lyndon sold that he hit the move totally fine so....guess he didn't just land back first on the concrete. But even if Lyndon's offense seemed a step off (though I did love his step up rana, and Gulak gamely throws himself into a dragon suplex), he fed Gulak's offense real nicely. Gulak plasters him at one point with a brutal rolling lariat, yanks at Lyndon's limbs a bunch in that way I absolutely love, kicks and elbows Lyndon around the ring, takes a big bump into the crowd. This could have been more, but I liked what it was.

2. Kongo Kong vs. Dan O'Hare & Wheeler Utah

ER: Damn, just a brutal 3 minute squash for Kong, like the best Umaga squashes multiplied by the best WWECW Viscera squashes. He hits a killer clothesline over the top to the floor on O'Hare, levels Utah with an avalanche, hits a crazy twisty sideslam, last ride powerbomb, a wild cannonball senton with both in the corner (one flopped in front of the other with in a tree of woe) and ends things with a full on unprotected top rope splash. Just a massacre. The whole thing plays as an awesome extended gif.

3. Heidi Lovelace & Kimber Lee vs. Allysin Kay & Brittany Blake

ER: I'm unfamiliar with the heel team, but liked them fine here. They wisely kept things to a manageable length here, just around 9 minutes, with Kay and Blake working over Lovelace. Kay at one point locked on a nasty cravate and says she's going to wist Heidi's ugly head right off, which is a level of heeling I can get behind. She's like Barry Darsow but with a nasty cravate. Blake is tiny but plays up that tiny little chickenshit role nicely, scratching at Heidi's eyes, hitting a neat rana on Lee that saw he vault off a kneeling Kay, and then right before Heidi's hot tag to Lee getting dumped with a rough backdrop driver. Lee looked good here, getting folded up on a Kay pump kick to the chest, and later hitting a low lift German on Kay to return the favor. Favorite spot of the match was Heidi aiming to hit the Heidicanrana (rana to a kneeling opponent) on Kay only to get caught, and Kay stands up from kneeling position to powerbomb her. It looked awesome and also worked as a nice foreshadowing of Heidi snapping it off for the pin moments later. This match had plenty of stuff that worked, although Lovelace looked more perturbed during her FIP segment than like someone who was actually getting roughed up by the heels. But at the same time it felt like the proper reaction for the offense she was taking.

4. Zero Gravity (Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza) vs. The Hooligans (Devin Cutter & Mason Cutter)

ER: Well this was a hot little 10 minutes! I was unfamiliar with both teams going into this. Zero Gravity appear to be about 5'3" and skinny, Hooligans appear to be about 5'6" and fat. Hooligans are at war with their inner selves as they look like mini Moondogs with great bushy beards and fluffy hair, and cut off overall shorts...but their overalls are covered in punk rock patches. So...they're modern day Moondogs, who work at the mall, get a nice discount to Hot Topic and finally pulled the trigger on that 10"x10" Rancid patch for their wrasslin overalls. This whole thing had tons of hot sequences, some of which were tied together nicely, others which felt a little too rehearsed. You likely didn't come into this one hoping for things like nice stomach kicks or well thought out transitions, but the good stuff was enough to overshadow that other stuff. I really liked the Hooligans and would certainly seek them out. They're short, they're fat, and they got some cool double teams. Mason hits a neat fat guy standing moonsault, and later hits a variation where Devin boosts Mason's foot and allows him to hit an even higher one, ending with a kind of senton twist. They also had a brutal guillotine legdrop with one of Zero Gravity being held over a knee. ZG are small so some of their flying offense lands too lightly, but Gakiya had some cool kick combos (especially liked his hard jawjacker into a fast spin kick right across the mouth), and at one point they set up an awesome double team where they give Mason a chestbreaker out of the corner, Gakiya holds him over his knees, and Esparza hits a double knee drop off the top onto Mason's back. Nasty stuff (even if Mason sold it in that annoying way where you're falling, but have to fall into position for the next move, so you're kinda walking fast on your knees to get away from the ropes while still pretending you're selling the move). Hooligans were always there with nice lariats and serviceable punches, ZG were good to take big flipping bumps off of lariats, and they really did have some stretches where everything was strung together in tremendously satisfying ways. Fun stuff.

5. Chris Hero v. Sami Callihan AAW 1/15/16

PAS: This was kind of the US Indy version of Shibata v. Ishii from the dome show. Two big hitters just unloading on each other. Hero and Callihan are much more varied and expressive performers though and that is why I liked it better. Callihan has a very Terry Funkish selling thing going on, he is always checking his jaw for broken teeth, drooling grossly after a big shot, stumbling around, he also really knows how to unload, I loved him recklessly chucking a chair at Hero's ankles. This did have some of the same flaws as the Dome show match, as it did get a little repetitive, still I am really happy to see Callihan back and pounding on people, and Hero is always worth watching.

ER: Damn, you guys. If you're ever sitting around thinking "I wish I could watch Hero and Callihan kick each other in the face about 30 times" then your wish has been granted. That *is* something that I've wished for, so color me happy. And I don't think it had those Dome show flaws that Phil brings up, as the repetition is there, but there's an actual build and meaning behind what these guys are doing. Watch Hero come out of the gates strong, get immediately slowed down by that chair to the ankle, keep going back to the well even though it gets less effective each time, attempt to change his gameplan too late, and eventually succumb. This isn't just brainless elbow exchanges where the 14th one happens to get a 2 count but the previous 13 just get jack off fists and screaming. The first three minutes of this are just the most fast paced ass beating minutes around. Hero's pump kick, specifically his tornado pump kick, is my favorite strike in wrestling. I don't understand the physics of it, but damn do I love watching him spin as that leg lashes out into teeth. Hero kicks Callihan all around, follows him to the floor with a Fuerza bump kick through the ropes, and here's where we get our turn of Sami winging a chair right at Hero's legs. Hero limps in and is noticeably slowed, still going for kicks but yelping and limping after, allowing Sami to jump in with more of his attacks. Hero still is able to catch him a bunch, but the shots get less and less. Beautiful moment where Hero goes to fire off an elbow, plants on his bum leg and barely grazes Sami with the shot, ending up leaning into and on Sami as the damage has caught up to him. Hero still gets a last gasp with his awesome snap piledriver, but at a certain point it becomes more of the Sami show, with Sami teeing off with kick after kick after kick, basically setting up that leg injury early, and knowing he can outlast Hero from there. Awesome stuff. Hero stays great no matter how much cottage cheese, and Sami is having a wonderful return to form.

6. Shane Hollister, Mat Fitchett & Markus Crane vs. Connor Braxton, Buck Nasty & Eddie Machete

ER: Man why do the comedy matches always end up going longer than any other matches on the show. This was what it was. You either like the comedy or you don't, and you either care if half the moves whiff and most of the flying spots overshoot or you don't. I care, so I watched this x2 and was probably better for it. Hollister is in the awkward position of trying to work somewhat serious here, Fitchett is one of those smooth graceful flyers who gets great height on a standing moonsault but manages to whiff on three different Pele kick variations, Crane is working a crazy guy comedy gimmick, like Mark Briscoe without actual stiff strikes. Braxton has size and did get a laugh out of me coming out to Ridin' Dirty while slowly rolling on a hoverboard (admittedly for a comedy spot, his Big Swing while riding a hoverboard is about as top fucking notch as you can get in a modern comedy spot), Buck Nasty was managing the Hooligans earlier and I'm not really sure what he's going for as he tries to combine comedy with standard issue indy big strikes and spots, but isn't really good at any of it (he did take a nice bump into the ropes off a comedy moonsault spot with Crane), and Machete I really didn't get a feel for at all. It had some nice enough moments, liked Braxton's bump from the ring to the stage, followed by Hollister launching Fitchett into him. Overall, again, it was what it was.

7. Ryan Boz vs. Abyss

ER: It would appear we are definitely into the x2 portion of the show. Boz used to look like CM Punk and now he looks all old and dried out, like Sheriff Eli Thompson during the last season of Boardwalk Empire. You may be surprised to know, but Abyss is still incredibly bad at pro wrestling. Truly one of the worst workers to ever get an extended television run. His set up time on spots is extraordinary. It just takes him forever to do anything. I had this on x2 through most of it, and it was still stunning how long it would take him to search for weapons, get into position, move the match along; him holding Boz by the head and walking around during the crowd brawl portion played like it was in real speed, and then him struggling to kneel down while searching under the ring for plunder played like I had somehow accidentally played it in slo mo. It's clear his knees are shot as it was painful watching him just try to stand up after rolling into the ring, but for a big "monster" man does he wimp out on every piece of offense he throws. He actually puts his hands out in front of him to stop his momentum on shoulderblocks!! I can't believe it. It's hysterical. "I want to make sure I don't actually hit you, I better put my arms out to slow down my charge." He looked flat out embarrassing throughout the duration of this. Boz, however - maybe just in comparison to Abyss, who knows - was a pleasant surprise. I liked his short uppercuts during the crowd brawl, he took a huge bump into chairs off an Irish whip, nice bump in the rail. Shoot at least he *tried* to make a terrible wrestler look devastating. He had great facial expressions and really came across like an unpleasant scum, which will get you somewhere in my book. He made the best of a terrible situation.

8. AR Fox vs. Davey Vega

ER: Yuck. I'm probably not the best guy to be reviewing a match like this as this indy workrate this is awesome type stuff usually leaves me blowing in the wind. This one certainly did. For every little thing I like there are usually a few things I hate. AR Fox hit plenty of his signature offense where he hits a flip dive or senton at an invisible opponent who is just beyond his actual opponent. Both guys do some dangerous shit here, like plenty of stupid stuff, but what you're left feeling is how meaningless it is when they're up bouncing around seconds later. Fox at one point takes a Falcon Arrow on the apron, which would be crazy even if his legs hadn't hit the top rope, sending him quickly neck first into the apron and down to the floor. But moments later he's back inside setting up all his offense for the finishing run. Fox threw nice elbows on the apron, I liked Vega blocking one and hitting a superkick, dug Vega getting the knees up on a 450, but this was all fancy packaging, empty calorie bullshit that you don't even enjoy eating.

9. Eddie Kingston vs. Trevor Lee

ER: Well at least we're through the other side of our x2 portion of the evening. And this was predictably good, even though Lee seemed off a step in spots. He jumps all over Kingston's arm to start and we get a bunch of great limb attacks. I'm a big fan of stuff like taking a limb and slamming it into things, and here Kingston's left arm gets bounced off guardrails, ring posts, and in the spot of the match his shoulder gets corkscrewed brutally into the mat. Lee kept going right after that arm and I like how it slowed the rest of Kingston's game, leading to a big spinning backfist (with his right) attempt that Lee caught, rolled through and locked on a rough armbar on that weakened left arm, and thankfully Kingston was close to the ropes. I have seen Lee look better than he did in this match, and a lot of his kicks to Kingston's arm and chest looked a little limp and wet noodle-y. I did like his superkick to a seated Kingston though, and the way Kingston slumped to the mat afterward. Kingston took a lot of damage in this one, so it was surprising when he caught Lee with a backfist, hit a half German and then polished things off with another backfist. I like that they keep the backfist deservedly strong, but Lee took a whole lot of this match and really came off like he was dishing everything he had at Kingston, and then Kingston just kinda takes it all and dispatches him with a couple backfists (which as much as I love the backfist, it's tough seeing two of those putting a guy down after watching what Hero and Callihan unleashed on each other. These brutal shots to the head are a slippery slope). It kinda made Lee come off like a guy clearly below Kingston, which has not been the case on previous AAW show. Still, I overall dug the match, really thought Kingston came off great. His selling was top notch, not just the way he put over his bum wing, but the way he took Lee's other attacks, the way he would get to ropes, just a fine performance.

ER: After the show we get promos from several of of the wrestlers, including a classic Kingston promo where he calls out the fans who says he sucks, and how he knows Trevor Lee does not suck, but Lee still lost. "He might've dislocated my shoulder, still didn't stop me, still lost." Kingston is really easy to buy into.


ER: Fun overall show with several matches I liked, one legit MOTYC, a fun squash, and about an hour of easily skippable nothingness. Hero/Callihan was great and is an easy choice for our MOTY list (linked below), but I also loved seeing The Hooligans for the first time, witnessing my first hoverboard assisted Big Swing, and this is an easy show to recommend.


2016 ONGOING MOTY LIST

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

15. Eddie Kingston v. Silas Young AAW 3/21

PAS: Big match Eddie Kingston is still definitely an awesome thing. This is the kind of nasty fist fight wrestling he excels at and I love. They have an awesome set up video for this match establishing how Kingston attacked Young's wife when he was a heel, Young won the feud, Kingston came back to AAW as a babyface and Young turned heel on the fans because they were cheering him. Such a cool angle, the classic wrestling trope has everyone ignore the sins of a guy when he turns, I loved that Young couldn't do that. Kingston also cuts one of his greatest promos ever before the match talking about taking Zoloft to stay centered and how he worries about getting shot every time he walks out of his house. Match itself was really violent, but not from weapons shots, or even stereotypical stiff wrestling, but just every blow seemingly landed with a little bit extra thud and hate. Kingston torches his ribs on a guardrail early and spends a lot of the match selling shortness of breath and rib pain. Young seethes the entire time, he does a great job of conveying distaste and hate. Only really quibble was them setting up a avalanche Finlay roll as a huge spot for Young, and Kingston coming back to win pretty soon after, felt a little abrupt, otherwise this was right up there with the best stuff in the world. Its actually good enough to make me go watch the previous months Davey Richards title defense.

ER: I knew nothing about their feud before watching the pre-match video, and after just 3 minutes of video I was pumped for this match like I've been for few this year. Kingston is my favorite promo in wrestling ("You think I could work a 9 to 5 job!?"), and I liked Young's heel turn, yelling at the crowd for cheering a guy like Kingston. Young was pissed and Kingston is a guy who seems to thrive on people being pissed at him. As Phil said, big match Eddie Kingston is an awesome thing. Now, a couple complaints: Young cuts this mean promo beforehand, rightfully pissed at Kingston and rightfully pissed at the fans for still cheering him. It's a good turn that made a lot of sense. And so we cut straight from that to Young making his entrance to "Don't Stop Believing", even waiting for the drums to hit before coming out from the curtain. This is just pure eyerolling idiocy. You can't change your theme music? You can't come out to NO music? Or any other music? Your wife was injured by Kingston, you turned your back on the fans for still supporting Kingston, but you still come out to years-beyond played out, drunk sorority girl scream bait? Completely absurd. Is the song that important to your character of "The Last Real Man"? Is it so important, that after your wife was left injured, and the fans turned on you, you still thought "I'm coming out to MYYYY Journey song, and I'm going to sit behind the curtain until Steve Perry's first vocal break!" It honestly makes me mad just thinking about it. It seems SO OBVIOUS to not do ANY of this, but there it is. My other, second complaint, is that he didn't really seem to work the match any differently than any other Young matches I've seen. There were a couple of moments, one good one in particular, that tied into his angry promo, but other than that was just normal Silas Young. Also, the announcing was noticeably horrible for this match. Yeah, yeah, complaints about indy wrestling commentary. But for a match clearly positioned as a serious grudge, it was just so bad, and it was mostly from the guy whose voice I didn't recognize. Even beyond the usual horrible "shades of" calls (just yelling out Kobashiiiiiii during a series of chops) he kept trying to shoehorn in a horrible "SAVE ME JEBUS" gag throughout and just...no. I'm sure there's a time and place for yelling the same 15 yr old Simpsons reference numerous times, but out of all the matches on the card to do it...man it was just so bad.

Anyway...

So THANKFULLY Young was against Eddie Kingston here, who knows how to have a hateful brawl. Kingston knew what it took to make this seem like a blood feud and Silas brought it enough to make this work. The Young moment I really liked (and mentioned above) was when they brawled to ringside, and he fishhooked Kingston and said "This is the guy you cheer!?" to the crowd. It tied into the anger he showed in his promo, and in a great moment, Kingston used that break to pop him right under the eye. Kingston's selling throughout the match really makes Young look good. The way Kingston flies into the railing, his facials when Young has him in the modified surfboard, him holding his sides before charging into the corner, those kind of things really made me think Young was giving him a merciless beating, and I cringed every time Young smacked him in the ribs. Kingston brings some mean shots throughout this, I loved his mixed up punches to the head, the headbutts up top, his wild dive to the side of the ring with hardly any room. He set up a lot of Young's stuff real well, making it look like he wasn't just hanging out waiting for Young to hit something. Just a real nice match.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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