2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Imperium vs. Carter/Smith

67. Marcel Barthel/Fabian Aichner vs. Oliver Carter/Ashton Smith NXT UK 3/7 (Aired 3/26/20)

ER: Marcel Barthel is someone I wished showed up on TV far more often, and if more people saw performances like this it would certainly get others to agree. This was a good tag that built to some nice near falls and close calls, gave us a couple different unexpected outcomes on familiar moments, and played as a great showcase for Martel in particular. but also the impeccable timing of Aichner. It starts with Barthel grounding Carter and crossing his ankles in an Indian deathlock, and I loved how Barthel kept finding ways to keep a lock on Carter's ankles while Carter kept trying to shake him. Carter is a flier and I liked how Imperium kept trying to prevent him from leaving his feet, making it mean a little bit more when he was able to pull off stuff like his backdrop splash (with Carter rolling onto Smith's back on the apron and then getting a boost flipping back from the apron into the ring). 

Barthel took three big bumps to the floor during the match, taking a fast flipping bump after getting juked by Carter, and later getting shoved off the top rope by Smith while setting up a European Bomb. Barthel brought speed and meanness and Aichner was more of a cudgel, and they show how fun simply cutting Carter off from Smith can be. I really like Imperium's double corner dropkick, with Aichner tying up Carter in the ropes and flipping him upside down, both of Imperium flying in from opposite corners. We knew it was all building to Smith coming in and wrecking them, and I liked little twists on the familiar, like when Aichner was working over Carter and turned to cheapshot Smith on the apron, except Smith saw it coming and socked Aichner first. That's a cool way to set up a hot tag, much more unique than two guys slow crawling to their corners at the same time while one looks over their shoulder. Carter's rana reversal as Aichner was setting up the European Bomb was done really well, an excellent nearfall. With Barthel getting shoved to the floor and the way Carter hooked that pin deep made me certain that was the upset finish. Carter was really good at making the most out of those spots, and that kind of thing sets a TV tag like this apart, even when he got planted by that European Bomb just a few moments later.

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

Read more!

NXT UK Worth Watching: Noam Dar! Ashton Smith! The Outliers?

Noam Dar vs. Ashton Smith NXT UK 11/15 (Aired 11/28/19) (Ep. #70)

ER: I really liked this as a Dar showcase against a guy larger than him without being super heavy. NXT UK isn't really a superheavyweight roster, so Eddie Dennis is one of their biggest guys (and he would be maybe the 3rd highest member of the Spirit Squad). But it's cool seeing Dar adjust the slot he throws strikes from, kicking out the front of Smith's knee to throw downward elbows at his jaw. Dar is also really great at running headlong into Smith's big stuff, getting where he needs to be in skilled style. Smith hit a real sick Death Valley driver, powering to his feet and rolling through it like a Finlay roll. Later Dar runs in with the Nova Roller and gets swung up and planted with a great blue thunder bomb. So Smith's big stuff looked great, but I love how all of Dar's stuff looked. He cuts off Smith with a vicious elbow on the floor, knocks him believably around with hard dropkicks and whipping body kicks, and runs that foot right across the bridge of Smith's nose when he does hit that Nova Roller. I thought this was going to have a lot more matwork, with Dar working over Smith's knee to lock in his nice kneebar and cutting down Smith's tree, but I like that we got to see Dar in more of a slugfest with a larger guy but not putting him away easily. 

Dorian Mak/Riddick Moss vs. Wild Boar/Primate NXT UK 11/15 (Aired 12/5/19) (Ep. #71)

ER: This was an awesome debut for The Outliers, two guys from the northern United States who are larger than any other person in NXT UK who only made one more appearance in NXT UK. Mak and Moss were longtime NXT developmental guys at this point. Moss had a couple of small pushes derailed by injuries at this point and was constantly getting slightly repackaged (which has continued, only with promotions). Mak was a Nathan Jones motherfucker who was kept off TV for his entire 5 year WWE employment, except for his two NXT UK matches. The Hunt are one of my favorite NXT UK teams, but The Outliers were positioned as a team that was clearly going to be a force going into the new year. You watch this match, and you would have never guessed that they didn't even make it to that new year, less than one month away. Moss and Mak really ragdolled Wild Boar around the ring, and it was such a mauling that it made me excited to see more of The Outliers (welp). As I said, upon arrival they were instantly the biggest two guys in NXT UK, and The Hunt are like 5'6. Watching two huge muscle guys throw Boar around like a bag of laundry, and Wild Boar is one of the best underdog babyfaces under WWE contract. He has good offense that makes use of his density, but is good at making opponent offense look good. 

Moss and Mak pummel him with clotheslines and boots, Moss smashes his nose with a back elbow, and Boat gets lifted up to some great heights on slams. The Mak vs. Boar sections were nothing but hits, with great stuff like Mak bouncing Boar off his own knee with a chokeslam, and what I have to assume was the greatest bearhug in 2019 professional wrestling. I used the word "ragdolled" earlier and I defy you to find a better representation of that word than Mak exorcising Boar with this bearhug. Moss has a great habit of missing as hard as he hits, so you get to see him break ribs on corner shoulderblocks but then flies as hard or harder shoulder first into the turnbuckles (see: derailed pushes due to injury), and it sets up a big house cleaning from The Hunt. Primate's hot tag is the weakest portion of the match but they make up for some offense that doesn't really make up the size difference by tossing out a lot of it. Primate and Boar don't just run through their typical comeback, instead repeating some moves in triplicate before finishing with a fun string of top rope diving headbutts. This is one of those real hidden gems that showcase NXT's great use of the 8 minute match, while giving us a look at a seldom seen tag team that looked better than 80% of the current WWE tag team roster.  

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK

Read more!

NXT UK Worth Watching: Wolfgang! Mark Coffey! Grizzled Young Vets!

Wolfgang/Mark Coffey vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews NXT UK 10/4 (Aired 10/17/19) (Ep. #64)

ER: This was a fun main event tag title change, that felt like it should have been better but served as a fantastic Wolfgang showcase. Wolfgang has been perhaps the biggest discovery of this NXT UK project. I already knew Ohno had a lot of great matches in NXGT UK, it's made me a much bigger fan of Noam Dar and Jordan Devlin, but mainly it's shown how many genuinely cool talents there are kind of just hiding in plain sight in NXT UK. This match is an excellent reference point to show someone why Wolfgang is a top 5 guy in NXT UK, and a frontrunner for "the best wrestler under WWE contract that nobody knows about". I think both these teams are capable of a better match, but Wolfgang and the way he based for Webster, really made this stand out. Wolfgang has great offense, but is a wonderful base for juniors. He catches ranas with  aplomb, and adds extra touches to them like nobody else. Webster gets to break out all of his low arcing hurricanranas with such a strong base, peaking with Webster swinging around the ringpost to catch a rana that sends Wolfgang skidding an extra five feet across the floor. 

Gallus are a great tag team, both excellent at getting into position for flyer offense. Plenty of tough guy teams can be tough guys, but only the best are able to give plausible openings to smaller teams. Coffey is good at occupying time while waiting for a springboard or flip, doing things like selling his mouth or jaw to stagger into place. Wolfgang takes so many bumps in between kicking so many asses, with his most incredible being an assisted poison rana that could not have spiked him more vertically. Guys that can suspend physics while they bump are eminently watchable, but how many of them also have devastating powerslams and cross bodies and clotheslines and throw their full weight into Irish whips. Webster and Andrews do some fun Rock n Roll Express double teams and fly in circles when get run over, but always looked like they could retain their still new belts. The enziguiri powerslam finish Gallus used to win the belts felt like a cool powerhouse 90s team finish. Excited to see them roll the rematch back.

 

James Drake/Zack Gibson vs. Ashton Smith/Oliver Carter NXT UK 10/4 (Aired 10/24/19) (Ep. #65)

ER: This felt like a great hot tag match that you'd randomly come across on a WCW Saturday Night. It's one of James Drake's best NXT UK performances, a crazed Dynamite Kid acolyte determined to bump big for everything while throwing his big offense just as stiff as he gets. Smith and Carter are a great babyface team and make great dance partners for this kind of quick hard hitting match with Grizzled Young Vets. GYF's act works best at its tightest, when they can show off their actual good timing, and this is a damn tight match with some exquisitely timed moments. Carter works like a crisper 1988 Owen Hart with great moonsaults, big bumps (here there's a great one flying off the apron from a sharp Drake dropkick) and firm hitting offense. Carter takes advantage of his relative size and works a more satisfying version of the "fast tall guy who spins maybe too much" that has run rampant these past few years. Drake really busts his ass through the entire match, filling a huge share of the ring time with activity, and all of his punctuated kicks land with a crack. Smith has a big hot tag where he steamrolls Drake, hits a huge spinning blue thunder bomb and big dive, all with great energy and connection. The finish was a bit sudden and could have been built into something much bigger, but these kind of hot tags are always a pleaser, and literally every team on this roster is capable of this fun style. 

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK

Read more!

NXT UK Worth Watching: Coffey vs. Mastiff! Noam Dar vs. Ashton Smith!

Noam Dar vs. Ashton Smith NXT UK 7/19 (Aired 8/7/19) (Ep. #54)

ER: I had no clue how they were going to work this match, as Dar is the more pushed guy but Smith is much larger physically, and it turns out the best way to work something like that is to throw nothing but stiff strikes and not settle into any predictable movements and patterns. Every kick and elbow looked really great, and I kept expecting it to devolve into trading and it never once did. They found interesting ways to keep hitting each other, shift momentum, create openings, and swing things towards either guy. This felt like anybody's match, regardless of push. Dar was great at leaning into Smith's high dropkick and flying knees, and I loved how Dar would get back into the match by faking an eye injury or playing possum. Any time it felt like someone was taking too long to set up a running attack or flying move, it would always leave to the move missing or getting reversed, so the structure never felt like it was favoring either of them. 

The cut off spots all looked good, every time one of them ran into a kick it looked buckling. Dar is good at doing theatrical standing selling without looking like a dope, staggering into position for complicated sequences impressively. There are too many wrestlers who only know how to sell on their feet like they're waiting for a Mortal Kombat Fatality, just wobbling at the waist with feet planted, and here's Dar buckling his legs on his way to taking a knee to the face. Smith's superkick hit well enough that I thought it was leading directly to the finish, so I liked the extra wrinkle of Dar dropping out of the way for the leg lariat and then hitting a great looking Nova Roller to win. I've said this many times, but NXT UK is so good at delivering these tight 6 minute matches, really the biggest strength of the brand. 

Joe Coffey vs. Dave Mastiff NXT UK 7/19 (Aired 8/7/19) (Ep. #54)

ER: This started out looking like it was going to be a big timing mess, and then it grew into this great EVENT match. I love matches that end up getting completely centered around an Event, and I think most wrestlers are much better when they have something prominent in a match to focus on. The event here happens early, as Mastiff hits a German suplex while Coffey is hanging onto the corner trying to prevent it, and winds up ripping off the middle turnbuckle pad when he gets thrown. Coffey spears Mastiff into the exposed buckle and Mastiff gets several minutes to sell his back and ribs in cool ways while Coffey throws body shots. Mastiff's selling was really great, and Joe kept going after the clearly injured areas with a backbreaker and elbowdrop, with Mastiff trying to ignore the pain and hurting too much. His only chance is with close range attacks, and he's able to get a headbutt and use his size to drop Coffey, making sure that every time Coffey went to the mat he'd be right there to fall on him with an elbow or senton. 

Coffey gets run into the post and gets his ear busted open, and Mastiff starts targeting the ear with strikes while Nigel starts pointing out that Coffey's equilibrium is thrown off. So we have Mastiff selling his body and Coffey selling his dizziness and in between we have both of them hitting each other. There's a great spot where Coffey climbs the ropes too quick and loses his balance, getting thrown off and flattened with another Mastiff senton. They end this by fighting to a double count out, but it totally worked for what they were doing. They had brawled to the edge of the ring and Coffey hit this great spear/running shove on Mastiff, running him down the apron and into the ringpost. Brutal. Nice pull apart to end it, with Mastiff sounding and looking threatening as hell as he's being held back. I really loved this and am excited to see where they take this next. 

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK

Read more!

NXT UK Worth Watching: Mastiff! Gallus! Dennis! Ligero!

Wolfgang/Mark Coffey vs. Ligero/Ashton Smith NXT UK 10/14 (Aired 12/12/18) (Ep. #16)

ER: I loved this tag sprint that worked a nice story just a little over 5 minutes, with Gallus dominating Ligero for most of the match, leading to a big Ashton Smith hot tag and a big redemption spot for Ligero. But this is the best Gallus has looked so far and the match structure needed a strong heel performance. They looked very in sync as a team, and believably worked over Ligero with bearhugs and bullying strikes, using their size to block moves (Wolfgang does a good tornado DDT momentum halt and I love momentum halts), and Wolfgang really shows off a good idea of ring positioning. Gallus not only come off as strong heels, but they are expert at getting into position for Smith's big hot tag. Smith is someone with good energy and some nice spots, but he needs someone feeding him and being in position for him. Wolfgang and Coffey were great at setting up his whole fun run, with Wolfgang especially standing out with big bumps and smart stooge bumps. Wolfgang was coming off more Memphis heel than World of Sport and that's going to be something that appeals to me. He bumps hard to his butt on the apron after Ligero fights back with a back elbow, then gets knocked to the floor in painful fashion. Wolfgang is so good at occupying time and going on a four move run where he is recovering just in time to get knocked down with a new move. He gets hit with a blind tope con hilo by Ligero (his big nice bit of offense after being the FIP the whole tag) and then gets superkicked from the apron by Smith just as he's getting up holding his chest and throat. Smith hits that kick nicely and his big in ring superkick on Coffey, but I liked Coffey's heavy double axe handle to the chest to cut off Smith much more. Gallus came off dominant but generous, and Ligero/Smith came off like guys who got beat, but would come at them with perhaps more successful tricks in a rematch. Strong storytelling and playing to people's strengths can go a long way in 6 minutes, and this was a great example of that. 

Dave Mastiff vs. Eddie Dennis NXT UK 10/14 (Aired 12/12/18) (Ep. #16)

ER: This was a pairing I was looking forward to, and it was enjoyable as I was hoping it would be. We've seen Eddie Dennis in shorter matches with a more wrecking ball energy, so I was excited to see him against his largest opponent. This was the heaviest guy on the roster vs. I believe the tallest guy, and I like those battles between opposing extremes. Dennis fires push kicks at the side of Mastiff's head, and Mastiff builds the match around coming back and flattening Dennis in entertaining ways. Mastiff hits his big dropkick early and works speed with Dennis, surprising him with momentum changes that lead to big splats, like Mastiff's nice crossbody. He misses a big senton and Dennis controls him with a really great cravat. Dennis is good at throwing occasional knees while twisting a cool cravat, and it was strong enough that it got the crowd loudly against him. Mastiff powers through and runs through a strong babyface home stretch with a couple exciting nearfalls. Mastiff's heavy Finlay roll immediately backed up with a senton (paying off a big missed senton early in the match) looked great, and Dennis gets cool revenge for getting flattened by Mastiff's crossbody earlier, as he catches a later attempt and turns it into a nice twisting sideslam, and after hits a great short arm lariat that hit Mastiff harder than I expected. Mastiff's match ending cannonball looks like the kind of Donkey Kong barrel that should get a pin. This match hit right in that TV main event sweet spot, and Mastiff has already shown his consistency delivering in that role. 

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK

Read more!

On Brand Segunda Caida: 2019 Kassius Ohno

Kassius Ohno vs. Ashton Smith NXT UK 2/22 (Aired 3/20/19)

ER: This was Ohno's NXT UK debut, so this will likely be the quickest of his UK matches. Watching every Ohno match in NXT UK will be a fun way for me to gauge whether or not there are other guys on this brand worth following. There are a couple I follow now, several that I am not interested in, and some people like Ashton Smith who I have never watched before. Smith had a couple off moments, timing spots that needed tighter timing, but had a couple kicks and elbows that played well and looked good enough to hang with Ohno. One of Smith's kicks lead to Ohno flying fast through the ropes to the floor and landing on his feet, a super impressive bump for a guy his size. And as always I love when Ohno uses his size, dug his almost running vertical suplex, and I hope in one of these matches he just wins by hitting eight or so straight sentons. He hit two nice ones here, and I always want more. Also liked his stunned frozen sell when Smith caught him with a fully extended kick to the face a couple times. Smith's Samoan drop looked impressive, but Ohno's brutal match finishing elbow to the back of Smith's head looked far better. That's a killshot finisher right there.


Kassius Ohno vs. KUSHIDA WWE NXT 4/10 (Aired 5/1/19)

ER: This didn't totally work for me, as I couldn't buy into most of Kushida's offense actually toppling Ohno. I've seen Ohno agaisnt plenty of small British guys, and they almost always step up their strikes and landings and Ohno is always able to make them look credible. And I don't think there was anything Kushida did here that looked like it would put away Kassius Ohno. Kushida went through the freaking dojo system, he should be absolutely able to slap the taste across Ohno's face. Ohno had plenty of killer moments, so things were still plenty watchable. Ohno broke out some tricks I haven't seen and it sucks that they kind of felt wasted on this match. He had a super cool headlock takeover, and he catches a cravat off a Kushida Asai moonsault, from his back. That's something I've not seen and it could have come off silly, instead came off like Ohno was a master of positioning. There's an amusing moment where Ohno does a long Hector Garza on his knees handshake request, everyone obviously knowing it's a trap, and Ohno pays it off by yanking Kushida's handshake right into a big ass boot. Kushida seems to exist solely to put in weak performances against my favorite guys.


20 Man Battle Royal feat. Kassius Ohno ROW 4/13/19

ER: This felt like some wrestling brand from another dimension. I have never watched any of Booker T's Texas-based Reality of Wrestling promotion, but I saw Ohno was in this battle royal so I figured that would be a good way of seeing if there are any guys in the fed worth seeking out. After a lengthy royal rumble style battle royal I'm not really sure that I've found any worth seeking, but I certainly got a sense of specific ways his students are trained. Outside of Jacob Fatu and Kassius Ohno, this match was filled with 18 other guys who all got reactions from the crowd and all inspired excited exclamations from the announce team, 18 guys with established reputations and championship reigns...and I've never heard anyone mention a single one of them. It felt like a private Texas City brand of excitement, 18 fully formed stars who are created exclusively for Texas City, and nobody outside of Texas City is allowed to mention them. The announcers called this rumble with a certain David McLane enthusiasm, where everyone was a star but it all had that feeling of none of them being a star and they were all just fake wrestlers created for a TV product that may not actually exist, announced to us like they were implanted memories of things that had never happened. "It's E. Snow! I can't believe we're seeing the return of the 3 time champion E. Snow!" "Erik Lockhart is back! The Lockhart cousins, Erik Lockhart and 'All Day' Will Lockhart, are running wild!" Everybody was a multi time former tag champ, TV champ, World champ, with an established nickname, and the crowd was actually responding to these guys as if they were indeed stars.

From this battle royal it felt like Booker's training room must be covered in posters that say ENERGY, because nearly every one of these guys all entered the ring with that same kind of hot tag energy. Heel, babyface, doesn't matter, because all of these guys had energy! They also all took good bumps while getting eliminated, so the pluses were: energy, and nice bumps to the floor. That's probably enough of a floor to turn someone into a pretty decent worker. A lot of these guys were real same-y so I couldn't get much of a feel for who was best. My favorite (non Ohno/Fatu division) was probably Brendan Steen? He was kind of like if Kidman had worked more like Danny Doring, except I mean that as a compliment? Gino was a guy with great swoopy dickhead hair who threw a lot of big hangtime spinkicks; Terrale Tempo had nice leapfrogs and I bet he'll have a good shoulderblock or right hand shortly; Ayden Cristiano had more polish than a lot of the guys and came off like Chavo Guerrero Jr. had he started his career as more of a heel. Kassius Ohno was the big name in the match and was treated as such, and in a match filled with guys trying to throw striking offense above their level (looking at you, "Axton Lowe") it was fun seeing Ohno get a ton of time to showcase his strike repertoire. They saved a lot of eliminations for him, and since all of the ROW are somehow very good at taking elimination bumps to the floor, we got all sorts of Ohno throwing big kicks or tornado elbows followed by guys flying 8 feet off the apron. You get at least 20 good minutes of Ohno in this, as he's one of the final 3 (along with Fatu and Ryan Davidson, a man who felt like Jack Swagger working more like low budget Rhino), and it was at minimum fun to watch him ping pong guys around the ring with strikes.

Read more!