Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 3! 10/12/20

Matt Makowski vs. Simon Grimm

PAS: Makowski damn near stole the show at the last Bloodsport, and Grimm is always good in this style too, so this was bound to deliver.  These guys hued very closely to shootstyle, although Makowski always finds a way to innovate something cool. In this match he did a moonsault to pass guard, although it was totally something I could see Caol Uno doing in a real fight.  Makowski landed some nasty leg kicks and a solid high kick, and I really liked how he didn't sell Grimm's enziguiri when it didn't land clean. I liked the idea of the finish, with Makowski turning a cross armbreaker attempt into a kneebar, only for Grimm to hit a suplex for the KO. Suplex didn't land clean though and the ref jumped in way too fast for the call. If you are going to end a match on a suplex like that, it has to look brutal or the guy taking it has to really sell being KO'd. This was a regular flack back bump sold like a flat back bump and I didn't buy it ending the match like that. Still this was good stuff, and Makowski is a must watch at this point.

ER: Grimm has been so good on these Bloodsport shows, something near entirely impossible to predict after being in attendance live for his pro wrestling debut nearly 20 years ago. It's amazing to me how long he's kept at it, but you can look at his career as a whole and then look at his three Bloodsport matches and see the kind of wrestling he truly excels at. His first Bloodsport match against Kratos was the best live match I'd seen from either of them, and they are two guys I've seen live plenty. I really loved the way he kept Makowski tangled up on the mat, eating leg kicks while standing but always super active on the ground. Sometimes it didn't work out, like when Makowski stuffed a takedown and just pancaked him, but I thought his mat skills were very impressive. I loved when he was raining down elbows from mount, and Makowski shifted slightly so that one of the elbows was a glancing blow, essentially sending Grimm straight into a snug side triangle. But I really liked how Grimm stayed calm and worked to snag Makowski's ankle, twisting it to break the hold and continuing to grapevine the legs in a painful way. The suplex did not work for me as a finish for the same reasons Phil mentioned, but I liked the work around the suplex itself. I like the brief fight for it and liked how Makowski going deadweight lead to a hard flat bump, I just didn't like that as a thing that should KO someone. Had Grimm floated right through and locked in a choke I think that would have been great, but this match was still some very good shoot style. 

Killer Kelly vs. Allysin Kay

PAS: This had some cool moments mixed in was some rough looking stuff. This was the second longest match on the entire show, and they didn't seem to have enough stuff to fill a match this long in this style. It felt like they started over again a couple of times. There was some bad looking strikes mixed in with some good looking ones, there was a section where both women took each other down and rained strikes which looked more like a diva era catfight then Hotta vs. Yamada. I really liked the finish though, with Kay getting a crucifix and raining down Goodrich elbows and keeping the crucifix into a head and arm submission as Kelly tried to stand out or roll out. I think with that finish and a bunch of the meat cut out of the middle this could have been a really good match, just too ambitious to really recommend. 

Lindsay Snow vs. Leyla Hirsch

PAS: This was definitely a better length for what they brought to the table. Hirsch was out sized and out skilled, but brought a bunch of fire to the match. The story was that Hirsch is a talented amateur, who is able to get some takedowns, but once she gets to the mat the much bigger Snow is able to control her. Was pretty impressed with Snow's grappling, she seemed to always find a counter or an advantage and it looked pretty slick. Definitely feels like Snow vs. Kay is the right tourney final.

Calvin Tankman vs. Alexander James

PAS: Tankman is fun in these kind of tourneys, he really feels like a guy you would see in an early UFC with some made up martial arts style, Hoodjitsu or something. He is big and reckless and strong and sometimes that will win you a fight. Not a lot of technique though, mostly James trying to take him down and getting overwhelmed by size. Tankman was crazy over with the crowd and that really added to the atmosphere of the match, as they went nuts when he dropped James for the KO.

ER: I really didn't like this at first, which was painful because I did not want to have to write a negative review now that we finally have a fat guy doing shootstyle again. There are not anywhere close to enough Vader guys doing shootstyle, so I was really rooting for a good Tankman performance. He looked like a real fish out of water at first and didn't look like he'd be able to do anything once things got serious. But after a few minutes I started growing into the minimalist style and started thinking this was actually closer to an actual MMA fight than anything else so far. It had that freakshow PRIDE feel and the crowd was way into the freakshow guy lasting longer than he was supposed to. Tankman laid on him and made slow movements, trying to cool back down after throwing some strikes. I liked the slow passes and just using his weight to plot his next move. But James always looked like he was plotting too, and eventually I got really into the short match slow burn. The triangle choke got the crowd even more into it and by the time Tankman escaped and started throwing hands with James I was fully into the match right with the crowd. The finish looked good as a winged hammer of an arm swung down at a cool looking angle to catch James. Cool approach and great build that kind snuck up on me. 

8. Erik Hammer vs. Grizzly Kal Jak

PAS: I thought this was totally awesome. This was legit heavyweight shootstyle, between two enormous guys with real skill. Jak is a Nor-Cal guy who was in WWE developmental, he was an All-American amateur and is 6'7ish, Hammer is a Barnett sparring partner who has done some IGF before. Jak wrestles this like a taller Gary Albright, huge throws and takedown, and even a big slap to the ear to open the match. Hammer is a shoot wrestler so has real submission skill, and was willing to go for a ride to bait Jak into a dangerous position. Loved the back elbows that Hammer threw when Jak took his back, real jaw clicking stuff and something Jak didn't have to worry about in the NCAA's. Finish was dope stuff with Hammer surviving the big throws until he is able to get the arm out and crank it from the tap. Maybe my favorite Bloodsport match ever. 

ER: I'm really happy Grizz got the opportunity to have this match, and hopefully it exposes him to a larger audience and gets him some more bookings. He's a good guy who has given up a lot of his time for our local indy north Bay Area Phoenix Pro Wrestling, a real popular act with that crowd, and here doing something completely different and completely awesome than anything else I've seen him do. This match was pure shootstyle, the kind of thing that could have been between a Belarussian and a Georgian in RINGS. The only pro wrestling in this entire match is the tale of the tape (Grizz is a big guy, but he's not six and a half feet tall). Hammer has a great look, like a jacked Gary Hart. But this is just fantastic shootstyle wrestling and I agree with Phil that it's arguably the best Bloodsport match we've seen. I would rank it with the best under 10 minute matches we have, honestly. The scrambling and takedowns were really cool, and Jak came off super strong with some big lifts and suplexes from positions where he didn't have leverage. The grappling felt like it could always explode into something new, and sometimes that was a throw, sometimes that was Hammer throwing 4 elbows in a row back behind his head directly to Jak's jaw. I thought that was going to be the finish and I was fully prepared to buy that as a finish. Hammer spots his best chance to finish as going after Jak's arm, and I dug how you can see him trying and see Jak keep lifting him, and you got that sense that eventually Hammer was going to be able to get that arm loose before getting thrown. This was an awesome little journey. 

17. Homicide vs. Tom Lawlor

PAS: I thought this was a good wrestling match which sort of failed as a Bloodsport match. Weirdly I place the blame on Lawlor who really should have known better. He was the one throwing those bad looking New Japan elbow smashes which were by far the worst part of the match. There was a fair amount of really cool shit though, I loved Homicide countering the guard by brutally stomping Lawlor in the head, exactly the way a Bed-Stuy street fighter would react to a ju-jitsu sweep. Homicide also landed some nasty clinch knees, and even kind of made an STF look like a shoot hold. I also dug the finish with Cide going for the Cop Killer and paying for it by getting choked and then tapped out. Would love to see Homicide back here, especially against someone who hues more towards strict shootstyle for a contrast.

ER: I thought this was great, and an incredible Homicide performance. I mean, we've written up a lot of Homicide matches in our time, but this was some next level wrestling in a style I've never seen him utilize before. It was still pro style Homicide, but with more shootstyle reactions. I don't like when other guys bring too much pro wrestling into these shows, but I really loved how Homicide specifically brought it in. Homicide still wrestling as Homicide but within a shoot fight is something I didn't know I wanted and didn't know I would love so much. I, too, did not like the elbow exchange portions of this (thought the first one was good due to both mixing up shots well, but then we got three others after that and we really could have got by with the one), but I was in awe at everything else. 

Homicide looked outgunned at times, but then would find his way out of it in ways perfect for Homicide-in-a-shoot. The moment where Homicide started stomping hard down on Lawlor's head to get out of an ankle lock was one of those moments where people there realize they're seeing something special. Phil and I synced up and watched some of these matches over the phone, and when Homicide caught a sliding Lawlor kick and violently twisted Lawlor's leg around his own and then cranked into a STF? I lost it and yipped loudly into the phone. Homicide's exploders were great, and the finish was tremendous. Homicide gets to power out of a choke by grabbing onto the ref's shoulder to help pull himself to his feet - at this point Homicide felt like he was acting out a serious church play for special sermon, with the Lord helping him pull himself to his feet and power through the chokehold the Devil has on his life - and fought back to the point of going for a Cop Killer. I was losing it on the phone at the prospect of Homicide finishing a shootstyle fight with a Cop Killer, but Lawlor slipped off into a sleeper choke, Homicide rolled him off, and then Lawlor hit his best action of the entire match: He slides past Homicide and hooks the ankle he softened up earlier while getting his face stomped in, and yanked Homicide into a flat out disgusting single leg crab. I loved this, the kind of genuinely special performance from a legend that makes standing elbow exchanges melt away. 

Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Josh Alexander

PAS: This was the least of the matches on the show. I thought some of the early grappling was fun, I especially liked the spot where Alexander got caught in submission as he fell to the floor, really looked like he jacked up his back on the ring apron. It devolved into a New Japan forearm exchange though, and DBS won with a Liger Bomb. Sort of pointless to do that kind of stuff, if you are going to bother to work this show, work the style. 

ER: I liked this more than Phil. I thought it was a tight 5 minutes, and thought the strength from both guys played well in all the rolling and grappling moments. The match had a lot of tough body scissors and a lot of the grappling looked really tiring. I thought Davey Boy used the Sharpshooter attempt really well, as there wasn't any fumbling or any actual attempt to go for the move, but a cool turned kneebar into a low squat single leg looked as painful as Bret's finisher. They made a couple good uses of the apron, with Davey throwing hammers down at Alexander's head while trapping him against the edge, and later the visual of him holding that Sharpshooter variation right on the edge of the ring looked really cool. I thought the pro wrestling stuff at the very end worked well they way they played it. There were no exchanges, just Alexander getting to his feet and throwing to quick elbows that surprise Smith (strikes really hadn't been thrown in the match) and leads to Smith throwing a couple of hard kicks to the chest. I thought the Liger Bomb worked as a KO finish, as it looked like Smith really powered him into the mat like a Zangief Street Fighter KO. 

Allysin Kay vs. Lindsay Snow

PAS: This was the tourney final and felt like a tourney final. I continued to be impressed by Snow on the mat, super pace pushing, always looking to press and counter and attack. I also liked how she threw big looping forearms whenever she got on top, they really looked out of control. Kay nicely used her height to throw up legs to counter submissions, and I dug how she went for the crucifix again, but she did look a bit tentative at points, and Snow was clearly the class of their women's division. 

ER: This was good, I liked both working long stretches basically neutralizing the other. Kay impressed me by staying with things the whole time, the way things were constructed made her come off strong while not even being in control a majority of the time. She has strong legs and was good at using her legs and height to push through different Snow attacks on the ground, and she looks like she's making headway while always being bent painfully bending over her own midsection. When she was able to stand Snow up she through hard knees, and they looked good while she was balancing and preventing a takedown. Snow was relentless and they seemed like they were each making the other work hard. I liked their ground work and it looked like neither was having an easy time advancing, made the whole match feel like a cool struggle. 

Chris Dickinson vs. Jon Moxley

PAS: I thought this was a heck of main event, and I give Moxley a bunch of credit for working as hard as he did to put Dickinson over. Dickinson is on a hell of a Rona roll, and was firing shots with real intent behind them, just mashing Moxley's legs with low kicks. I really like how they used the ring outs, made both big bumps that Dickinson took look totally credible. It is a real shame they stuck that strike and grimace elbow exchange in the finish run, match didn't need it and it took it completely out of the style. Trust the audience, there were responding big to all of the work they were doing, we didn't need a cheap short cut, really turned the end of the match into a indy wrestling match, and they were doing something special before that. 

ER: I thought this was good, but less than Phil. It mainly made me feel bad for Dickinson, as we review all of the big matches that he was supposed to get before the pandemic. But knowing what his Mania weekend was looking like, seeing why he was one of the obvious choices for a current indy guy as Moxley opponent, and seeing how much momentum he's had over the past year, and it's not hard to see Dickinson on TV within 6 months (I mean when WWE has Anthony Greene and Curt Stallion on every other week now you have to assume Dickinson isn't far away from being part of a stable with Lorcan and Burch). But I do wish this match wasn't so strongly tilted to Moxley. Moxley worked a lot of this the same way AEW main guys work a lot of AEW competitive squashes, and that's something I see every week. Moxley didn't treat Dickinson like a chump obviously, but I don't think a lot of the Moxley control was as interesting as it could have been. 

I loved the surprise moment of Dickinson getting kicked off by Moxley right into/past the ringpost, spilling to the floor. It was a great kind of jump moment, but by the end of the match we had two other shoves to the floor, and again this just kept feeling more AEW than Bloodsport. That was before the big standing exchange/face making portion of the match, which felt like the culmination of this match going from grappling and leg kicks to a certain comfort zone. I think the best part of Bloodsport is getting out of that comfort zone, and this kept feeling like they were fighting to get back to normal pro wrestling. I still thought it was a strong Dickinson performance and the connection he has with crowds is undeniable. Even though they were full indy match by the end, he still kept me invested with his hot comeback after being kind of smothered by Mox, as their aren't many current guys I like see make a fired up last stand in a match. 

ER: Another great Bloodsport show, at this point feeling like the kind of thing that can work as its own promotion. We landed two matches HIGH on our 2020 Ongoing MOTY List (with Kal Jak/Hammer making our top 10 and Homicide./Lawlor making our top 20) and there were several matches (Dickinson/Moxley, Tankman/James, Makowski/Grimm) that were narrow list misses. That's a great show, something we've come to expect from Bloodsport. 

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Matches from WXW 16 Carat Gold 3/6/20 - Night One

Mike Bailey vs. Chris Ridgeway

ER: This match never really grabbed me, because they kept showing throughout the match that there weren't going to be any real consequences for any of the actions they chose. These guys both do plenty of things I love, but it seems like their default style is something that I do not love. So we get a long elbow exchange, we get enough knee work by Ridgeway that you think it would have slowed down Bailey a tiny bit (it didn't), and we got a few Both Guys Down moments (which is too many for an opening match that only goes 12 minutes). You could make some really great gifs of all this, like Bailey's big middle buckle moonsault to the floor, and number of kick combos (although I was getting sick of guys selling a big kick by just doing a big kick), and several awesome body shots by Ridgeway. I didn't realize until the tag match opposite Ikeda/Ishikawa, but Ridgeway has a fantastic body shot, set up with him throwing a dummy distraction strike. He lands a couple here and they were both right towards the top of the things I liked about this match. There was also a great moment where Bailey went for the shooting star kneedrop only for Ridgeway to get his knees up...into Bailey's knees! Give me the choice of knees landing on my guts or knees landing on my knees, and I'm taking my guts every time. There was a real nasty clonk sound from their colliding knees too. Luckily for both of them, while they were down recovering from their clonked knees, it didn't actually bother them in the least once they were standing. Bailey's Ultima Weapon off the top directly into Ridgeway's back is such a disgusting move that it really should have been the finish, but by the time it got to that point I didn't much care.

2. Eddie Kingston vs. Daniel Makabe

ER: Here's another Kingston dream match being brought to us by a Europe fed, and this is the match I pictured when Kingston vs. Makabe was announced. I would have loved to see Kingston forced more out of his element and into a mat battle, see how he handles things, see how he brute forces his way through other things, and we do get a little of that. I dug Kingston working Makabe into a head and arm choke and how Makabe kept his hands clasped to force separation before Kingston could take it further. This was always going to be Kingston aiming to land shots and other cruelty before Makabe could take him down and tap him, and we got some good moments of Makabe getting slick single legs and a nice takedown where he slid to Kingston's side and swept the leg. But when Kingston lands, he lands, and the first time Makabe mixes it up and goes for the Big Unit, Kingston hits one of the coolest strike combos of his career when he smacks Makabe in the stomach and right behind the ear with a quick 1-2. We get big Kingston STOs and a nice lariat, all leading to a uranage and suplex so cursed (a beautifully cursed high arcing Saito suplex) that I thought for sure that was the match, wasn't expecting the kickout. Makabe makes sure to pay that forward with one of his best Big Unit punches I've ever seen him hit, really accurately pasting Kingston's chin, and Makabe's figure 4 German suplex dumps Kingston on his shoulder in an ugly way. The finishing exchange was a real fun clash of their signature strikes, with Kingston immediately shrugging off a great Big Unit and whiffing on a backfist before catching Makabe with a backfist as Makabe was going for another punch. I would have liked to see more style clash moments, or fish out of water moments for both (Kingston forced into matwork vs. Makabe forced into strike trading), but these two bring such a high floor with them that of course this was good.

PAS: I thought this was excellent, one of the coolest things about Kingston is his variability. We saw him work as Fuerza Guerrera in an LA Park match, and here he is working like Kawada in a Daniel Makabe match. Eddie is a sneaky good matworker and I liked all of the early matwork, including Eddie with a power takedown and working into side control. I want to second the greatness of the Kingston big punch counter, the quick shot to the ribs and palm to the ear was totally awesome stuff. I love when wrestlers beat someone to the punch instead of just exchanging. All of the suplexes in this match were super nasty, both guys were landing hard on shoulders and necks, nothing was a flat back bump. I also love the backfist as a KO move, and this was an especially great one. Kingston almost left his feet, and Makabe slumped like his lights shut off. Makabe has been on a big run for the last couple of years, and this was one of my favorite matches of his, and Kingston continues to be the best.

Black Taurus vs. Shigehiro Irie

ER: This was definitely stiff heavyweight wrestling, and had some incredible moments, while also having plenty of moments that minimized the impressiveness of some of their best attacks. This had plenty of those moments that are the lamest version of something cool: instead of just hitting hard shoulderblocks like Scott Norton, they have to hit hard shoulderblocks that bounce them back into the ropes and spring back into another shoulderblock that sends the other guy bouncing back into the ropes; instead of Irie using a elbow smash to repel a charging Taurus, they just stood there and traded a dozen of them. You don't need to throw 3 western lariats to win, and Eddie Kingston on this same card shows the value of having a killshot (his spinning backfist) instead of hitting hard but demanding no consistent selling. Hitting hard is cool, but hitting hard sold by standing back up like nothing happened and continuing to hit hard? That just undersells what punishment they're actually dealing.

These two undeniably have a ton of cool tricks, no shortage of cool shit to make people leap out of their chairs. Early on Irie hits a tope while Taurus is seated on the apron, crashing both of them into the guardrail with a visual like nothing I've seen. And I can't stand that they did so many things that approached "nothing I've seen" and all of those things got sold exactly the same as everything else. Taurus has some great stuff, a high rotation powerslam, big agility spots like a springboard corkscrew cannonball, and the fearlessness to really run right through Irie. Watching Taurus run full weight into and through Irie is a treat. Irie has a wild set of offense, from cool little things like his slingshot standing splash, to HUGE things like that bananas springboard samoan drop he pulled. Just attempting something like that is pure madness. We got heavy cannonballs and a perfect spear, and plenty of these two crashing into each other at full speed. But there's a strong can vs. should aspect to this, and some restraint would have made the work pop more.

Jeff Cobb vs. Alexander James

PAS: This had some moments I really liked. James was working straight heel, which is refreshing in a tourney setup like this. It is good to have some character work instead of just a series of guys working "great matches." Cobb is one of the most explosive wrestlers in the world, so it is tough for a guy to try to go toe to toe with high impact moves against him. I liked James dropping Cobb on the floor with a Tower of London and dragging him up the aisle to try to get the count out. I really would have liked that to be more of a focus of the match, but they just went back to a back and forth match after that.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Thursday Shoot Indy Show: WXW Ambition 8/8/19

Timothy Thatcher vs. Alexander James

PAS: James couldn't really hang with Thatcher on the mat here, but they made up for that by focusing the match around hard sharp forearms and upkicks. James really blasts Thatcher with some shots, including some nasty spinning back elbow to the throat. Kept it short and kept it stiff.

ER: This felt pretty base level for an Ambition show. We had some nice uppercuts from both, and a killer back elbow from James (my favorite part of the match), but the matwork was pretty lacking. James felt a little fish out of water off his back, and things felt fairly inevitable because of that. The standing strikes were as snug as the triangle was loose, and that's fine. I do like Thatcher's awesome single crab being used as an actual finisher. I bought it as a potential finish in Thatcher/Makabe 3, looks great.

Daniel Makabe vs. Bobby Gunns

PAS: This was fun stuff, with Makabe constantly attacking the back and limbs and Gunns trying to keep up. The constant motion is one of the things I like the most about Makabe, he never stops looking for an advantage. Gunns goes for a kneebar, and Makabe is attacking his ankle and foot, he tries for the back and Makabe is spinning away. I liked the finish, with Makabe landing an uppercut to the ribs, which Gunn's sells like a KO body shot, with Makabe able to sink the rear naked choke for the tap.

ER: I agree with Phil about Makabe's constant motion being a great part of his game. I've never watched one of his matches and thought he was ever resting on his laurels. Here he looked like he was really wearing Gunns out, and I especially loved the deadweight struggle over a waistlock, with Gunns trying to lift him into a German, shifting hips, eventually kind of getting a forward trip, but being completely surprised by Makabe's go behind into a quick German. That uppercut to the body was such an awesome spot. I loved how Gunns sold it, like he instinctively flinched to dodge it but then wound up taking it worse, like he just absorbed it with his whole torso and left him stunned, a sitting duck for Makabe to sink in the choke.

Daniel Garcia vs. Buck Gunderson

PAS: This had some cool moments and some stuff which didn't work as well, I thought both Gunderson and Garcia had cool looking takedowns, Gunderson lands a calf slicer out of nowhere, and Garcia finishes with a scissors kick takedown into a sharpshooter he just wrenches back. Still a match like this is make or break based on the strikes, and neither guy was throwing with much oomph. Garcia threw some stinker slaps, and you got to slap the shit out of someone in an Ambition fight.

WALTER vs. Mike Bailey

PAS: Short but energetic, Bailey tries to dance his way away from the charging Rhino. He even gets a knockdown with a nasty shot to the liver, but WALTER is just too big and and eventually overwhelms Bailey and gets him to tap to a boston crab. A little dry for two guys who are normally full of flash, but it was fun while it lasted.

ER: This was a little underwhelming for me, mainly because it felt like WALTER kept going down relatively easy on some strikes that didn't look great. He went down for practically every flurry from go, didn't feel like we built to any kind of surprise knockdown since we established early that anything was going to knock him down. The good shots were good, and the Boston crab finish was great, easily the best part of the match. It's like WALTER decided he didn't want to be hit anymore and just bumrushed his way into grabbing the first couple limbs he could and leaned wayyyy into it.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Daniel Makabe

ER: I really liked how this paralleled their third match from a couple weeks prior, but also had some cool shoe on other foot moments. I thought Thatcher's half crab in their match was really nasty, and now Thatcher won his first round match with that crab, and here he goes right back to it. And much like that prior match he works for Makabe's leg, grabs a heel hook after Makabe blocks the single crab attempt, lands a couple of vicious heel thrusts to Makabe's ribs while working that angle, and even goes back to his ankle lock he used in that prior match. Makabe went for the arm and the series of the two of them sinking holds and grabbing desperately for ropes was exciting as hell. Makabe's armbar looked sunk and I thought for sure it was going to finish things, but I really liked the way they moved from one mat strategy to the next. Thatcher even grabs him at one point and dishes a headbutt to just flatten both. It felt like they threw in some callbacks to that last 3-2-1 match, with Thatcher going for an enziguiri but Makabe blocking (Makabe had hit an enziguiri that lead to him hitting a snap German) and here Makabe hits an enziguiri to Thatcher's face. I did think the finish needed more mustard to be a TKO, as they ended on a couple Thatcher slaps that may have hurt but didn't really read well, and really Thatcher's running dropkick and slap were his weakest looking offense of the match. I don't want my dude out there eating a disgusting beating to make the finish look better, but it was a bit of a letdown after providing so many plausible submission finishes just a few minutes earlier.

PAS: I thought this was the least of their matches against each other, although they have set a pretty high bar. This being sort of a touring version of their 3-2-1 battle matches it missed some of the nuance and history that Makabe has with that crowd. Plenty of neat moments, lots of leglocks, and a really good example of what people can bring to the leglock table. Loved Makabe figure fouring his own legs around Thatcher's knee cap, and how Thatcher brought Makabe into his body to relieve the pressure. The finish was disappointing. I have seen Thatcher hit much harder and Makabe get hit much harder for me to buy that as a KO. Just felt pulled and weaker than it should be for that kind of finish. Cool to get to see these guys work their stuff in a different atmosphere though. They both deserve this spotlight.

Daniel Garcia vs. WALTER

PAS: They sure weren't paying WALTER by the minute here, as this was another quick one. I really like Garcia's energy and he has a meathead charisma, but man he needs to throw with more force. Him jumping WALTER at the bell would have worked way better if his stuff landed with some thud. I liked Garcia meatheading up only to get kicked in the mouth, and this was overall a fun two minutes, I just want to like Garcia more then I do.

ER: This was a much cooler short WALTER match. I dug Garcia's scrambly aggression, just swarming WALTER in an attempt to overwhelm him. And of course I love how WALTER put an immediate stop to that with a boot right to the face, then a couple to the chest for good measure. Those three kicks were arguably the nastiest three strikes thrown on the show up to this point. The finish was fantastic, with Garcia rushing in for a desperation double leg, and WALTER not budging an inch as he graciously accepts Garcia's invitation to "please, sir, please powerbomb me" and then sinks that backbreaking crab. Short but dynamite.

47. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Tyson Dux

PAS: God what a pleasure it is to watch Ishikawa work his magic. He is so slick on the mat, just finding multiple parts of the body to grip and twist, and always finding a way to reverse whatever Dux tries. Dux is fun as a jacked strong guy who would try to use his power to counter Ishikawa's technique. I was a little disappointed with his standing, he was throwing these big demonstrative elbows with a big foot stomp, this is Ishikawa you have to bring it more. That was pretty much the only flaw of this match though,  Dux hung well on the mat, and Ishikawa looked as skilled as ever. I loved this finish with Yuki dragged Dux to the mat and incredibly quickly reversing a choke into a grounded chicken wing crossface. The speed of that reversal was crazy for a guy that old, Ishikawa doesn't seem to have lost any of his pop, which is incredible.

ER: I love that Yuki Ishikawa is still putting out some of my favorite work of his illustrious career, into his 50s. His transitions look as quick as ever, which breaks my brain. This is a guy who would be fun as hell working the Champions Tour, and yet here he is still capable of wowing. I was expecting Dux to be a tomato can on the mat, but he looked more capable than a lot of people on this card. He definitely tried to brute his way through some of Ishikawa's game, and sometimes it worked. His mounted elbows looked good, but Ishikawa is a guy who has taken some grounded elbows. This whole thing was just a Yuki mat clinic. He was going to find any opening he could, and was clearly able to tap Dux in any number of ways, and it continues this cool trend of old man Ishikawa being the aggressor in fights. So many of his best matches during his "prime" saw him as the Fujiwara-esque underdog who would hang in fights long enough to catch his opponent and finish it quick. Now he's just a dude outclassing guys and forcing them to survive. That sequence of Dux working a body vice, thinking he finally had the advantage, only for Yuki to apply pressure to Dux's ankles with his thighs, allowing him to pass into a gnarly ankle lock? Brilliant. That felt like the biggest moment on the card, with Dux appropriately panicking and trying to get to the ropes while Ishikawa kept shifting wait to drag him and that bent ankle back to center. And I love when this kind of match hits that narrow escape, only for a pro like Yuki to sweep effortlessly into a killer body vice chickenwing. Ishikawa vs. Tyson Dux was not a match-up I ever expected to happen, but I'm certainly glad it did.

13. WALTER vs. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: Now that is how you do a KO finish. Thatcher barely makes it up from the powerbomb while selling paralysis in his arms, only to get met with a cricket bat swing of a clothesline for the direct KO. I really though this was Thatcher's match to win. He was able to sneak in some cool counters into Fujiwara armbars, including one while in guard after Walter punched the mat, and I also liked Thatcher wailing away at his organs with bodyshots. Still WALTER ended up being too big and strong and was able to put him down. This lacked some of the structural problems of their individual matches earlier in the show, and was a really banger way to end a tourney.

ER: Hell yeahhhhhhh THIS was what I wanted from these two. Yes yes yes yes yes. This kicked too much ass. It was 10 minutes of brutal strikes and sick twisting, and I was here for all of it. It's odd within context of the show that WALTER got weirdly overwhelmed by Mike Bailey, because the WALTER in this match was the best version of WALTER. I dug the story of WALTER coming into the match far fresher due to quicker finishes, as he looked like a guy who had saved all his strength to exact unholy punishment on Thatcher, and Thatcher was still the guy smart enough to pick his spots and hope he could hang on long enough to catch an arm. Thatcher's Fujiwaras looked finish worthy, and I loved the times he would sucker WALTER into throwing a downward strike only to grab the arm and yank, and Thatcher was throwing some absolute shots in mount, really raining down on him. I really dug the callbacks to the earlier matches, Thatcher twice going for that great single crab and WALTER aiming to snap Thatcher in half with that full crab (that I thought for sure would finish). And we got the best suplexes of the night, WALTER just chucking Thatcher in sick fashion with a killer butterfly suplex and a downright EVIL throw using only Thatcher's head. That was not a vertical suplex, that was WALTER locking in a quick guillotine choke and muscling Thatcher most of the way over by only his head and neck. Good god. WALTER was such a raging bull, really throwing full weight behind everything, and the finish was really disgusting. WALTER hits a couple powerbombs and Thatcher does this great sell where his arms straighten out and his neck strains forward, unable to sit up but sorta able to roll over, and as he staggers to his feet you see WALTER already angling off the ropes, and just wrecks Thatcher with an instant KO lariat. This was all I wanted, and it ended the show on the highest high possible.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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