2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

49. Rush/La Sombra/La Mascara v. Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla/Volador Jr. CMLL 7/25

ER: Awesome short match, full of guys working stiff and with a hot surprise finish. Rush and Casas beat the holy hell out of each other here. I'm not sure how Casas' throat can stand up to some of the stomps that Rush unleashes on it. Both guys throw some nasty kicks to the other's chest and face, shove each other violently into the ring barricade. At one point Rush charges Casas in the corner, stops short, whips his hair back and slaps Casas right across the ear. Great dickhead spot. Niebla is a guy who can wrestle lazy when he's not feeling things, but then we get *this* Niebla and all is well. He slaps guys the whole match, really laying the shots in to a nasty degree, and at one point even breaks out his great back bump to the floor (Rush front kicks him and he falls through the ropes backwards onto the floor). Volador stayed out of most of this, spending a lot of it getting kicked and stomped by Sombra/Mascara, but does hit a spectacular top rope moonsault to the floor. And obviously he plays into the finish which I really dug. Sombra is kinda manhandling him, but Volador gets the surprise flash pin by reversing a Sombra samoan drop into a brutal Sombra head drop. Flash pins don't feel like they get used in lucha that often, and I really love how the match just ended since Volador pinned the captain. Felt like they finally outsmarted the rudos and the cuts to a surprised Rush on the floor were a nice touch since Rush hasn't shown tons of ass in this feud. This could have been epic with more time, but for a straight falls match I can't imagine it being much better. This was some of the stiffest ring work I saw in lucha that year, and no matter how long it was this was a hot match.

PAS: Man I had forgotten what a great act Rush and his boys were. Sombra is such a dick bag, I loved him lounging on the ring barrier. I agree with the greatness of Niebla here, he really gets his ass kicked and him spitting on the heels while he gets beaten is a fun bit of babyface fire, as was his lighting fast slaps on the outside, with this match and the awesome 2017 Caifan matches I think a Neibla reinvestigation maybe on deck. I liked the use of Volador here too, one cool dive and otherwise getting gang stomped is about the only way I can tolerate that dude, although his finishing move was some goofy Will Osprey looking shit. Rush and Casas are the headliners and they are great as always, just violent asskicker with Rush having Bruno level awesome stomps, and Casas landing his great chops and his all time awesome looking facewash dropkick, I have no idea how that move doesn't put Rush's nose into the third row.


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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

85.  Chris Hero v. Colin Delaney 2CW 5/16/14

ER: I really love matches where one guy is clearly over their head. They don't hit as hard, they're smaller, they aren't even always quicker, literally everything about them makes them an underdog. I guess their only possible advantage is the element of surprise, or their better opponent not taking them seriously. But even when that happens it's usually not enough. Underdog matches are usually just squash matches, but can be something special when done right (see the wonderful Liger vs. Yohei Komatsu match from 2015), and I thought this was special. Right away it's pretty clear that Delaney is going to get his clock cleaned, so it becomes a matter of watching to see how he'll survive, how long he'll survive, and how much he'll frustrate Hero in the process. And Delaney really takes a beating here. Hero must have tired out his fists and elbows on Delaney's face by the end, but Delaney kept valiantly/foolishly coming back for more, rarely a step ahead, almost always charging directly into one or three awesome punches. Even when he gets going on a little tear you just have a feeling the next move is going to just get side stepped and then Hero's boot is gonna find his face. I loved all the moments where Delaney thought he had the jump on Hero and Hero would just pop him in the mouth, drop him to the mat. At one point Hero follows Delaney up the turnbuckles and Delaney scrambles up to a pipe hanging above the ring, then scrambles onto some support beams to get away, like he was Harrison Ford getting chased by Rutger Hauer. Eventually he jumps off right into Hero's boot, something maybe everybody but Delaney could have expected. Delaney starts getting under Hero's skin with some roll ups, and the beatings increase, and the shots to the back of the head increase, until you know that a 3 count was a guarantee even a few elbows prior. Another day, another Hero classic.

PAS: I am not sure if I liked this as much as Eric, although it was very fun. Delaney had some fun underdog offense, but you kind of want your Spike Dudley's to take bigger bumps. Delaney is a little physically stiff, doesn't die the same kind of underdog death that your little guys can die,  but this really made we want to see Hero v. Lance Lude or Cheeseburger. I did love Delaney climbing up in the rafters, and the entire knuckle lock section was very cool with Delany showing great neck strength. Hero was great as usual, although he does have a tendency to throw maybe one or two more elbows then necessary, I would have ended this two minutes earlier. Hero is a heck of a touring bruiser, he laid in a great beating, made the local kid look great and then put him down.


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All Time MOTY List HEAD TO HEAD: 2014: Cesaro v. Zayn VS. Shield v. Wyatts

Cesaro v. Sami Zayn NXT Arrival 2/27

ER: Awesome, awesome match. This is not news to most of you. These two match up so well, and this was just a wonderful match to start the big "introduction" event for NXT. There are great matches, and then there are matches that are not only great, but perfectly slot into their time and atmosphere. There were several nice callbacks to their 2/3 falls match from August, starting with Zayn going for his turnbuckle dive DDT and Cesaro lying in wait with a beastly uppercut. Cesaro just manhandles Zayn the entire time using his freak strength. We didn't get anything quite as freakish as the 2/3 falls finish, with Cesaro literally running around the ring holding Zayn above his head and then tossing him even higher, but there were still plenty of awesome freak moments. Everytime Zayn would leave his feet I'd wonder if it would end with Cesaro catching him in mid air and then tossing him painfully, and it often would. Cesaro leveled him a couple of times with uppercuts, the best being a brutal running corner charge. We also get Cesaro working all over Zayn's knee, wrenching it in some cool ways, doing his nasty double stomp to it (later we even get a double stomp literally to Zayn's face), and Zayn gamely plays up the knee injury throughout, showing that some moves take longer to set up because of the knee, and when he follows through with the move anyway it almost always backfires (like Cesaro catching his split legged moonsault and splatting him on the rampway). Zayn's flash roll-ups and pins are all convincing, and Cesaro is great at getting into position and launching himself into Zayn's hope spots (Cesaro taking the sunset flip powerbomb is a thing of perfection). The fans rightly flip out for this one and I was hanging on all of the nearfalls with them. I love that Cesaro never actually went full heel in the match. Crowd was into him and more into Zayn's comebacks, but Cesaro didn't outright cheat or work in an underhanded way, and he didn't need to. This was just a classic match with flawless execution and an awesome, unexpected build. I couldn't see wanting anything more.

PAS: This was a pretty awesome version of a indy juniors style main event. All time great Cesaro performance, which was really a bridge from Claudio to Cesaro. He really broke out a bunch of his great rudo base work which was his signature as CC, as he is just awesome at bumping for high flyers which is something you rarely see him do anymore. He also just chucks Zayn around the ring with crazy power throws, I especially loved his throwing uppercut, and that cut off dive was one of the coolest versions of that spot I have ever seen. I thought Zayn was a little fighting spirity at the end, that kind of "look at my determination" face can get hammy at times and I think it crossed that line. Still minor point, for what was otherwise a great match


VERDICT

PAS: I think this is a pretty convincing win for Wyatts v. Shield. I really dug the Sami v. Cesaro match it was about as good a version of a NXT/PWG juniors main event. Cool execution, impressive near falls, great individual performances, I loved how they did all of the call backs to the 2013 match and the big spots were sufficiently big. Still the Wyatts v. Shield match was the climax of a one year plus story with the emergence of the Shield and the emergence of this new big gang on the block to challenge them. Awesome build, great payoff, the best heel v. heel matchup in wrestling. That kind of thing done well is always going to trump a great juniors match for me.

ER: I love this match, and I think it has a convincing argument as the best singles match of 2014. But those Wyatts/Shield trios and that glorious Hardy Boys/Young Bucks tag (my favorite tag match of the last 5 years, at least) are going to be tough to overcome.

2014 MOTY Master List

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

3. Hardy Boys v. Young Bucks NEW 8/2

ER: Wow, I'm kind of in shock about this match. Like the whole time I was watching it I was in disbelief at how great it was. Not that either team isn't capable, but the whole time it was just feeling TOO good, and it kept getting better, and I kept praying it wasn't going to fall off the rails or have a lame finish. Do you ever do that? You're watching a match and you're rooting to yourself for them to keep it up, to not blow it, wanting them to reach the level of great match that they're promising as they set out. And this match totally delivers in every way possible. The timing is just incredible, all four guys work as if they're intending to have the match of their careers, the pinfall saves are great, the false finishes are great, the ebb and flow of everything is great. This is just great tag wrestling, great pro wrestling. The Young Bucks persona works so wonderfully in front of genuine indy crowds, as opposed to people who are "in on the joke". And the team's personalities collide so well in this. This is clearly the hardest and wildest Jeff Hardy has worked in ages, and Matt looks as good as he did on his WWE TV singles match run in 2009. Bucks tone things down and perfectly use their superkicks only 3 times, both in super important parts of the match, always to cut off potential threat of Hardy offense, always used as not a big move but as a reset, something to turn the tide back to the Bucks.

There were so many great moments where each team would mirror each other, sometimes one upping the other, other times leading to their downfall. Hardys hit their nice fistdrop/rolling senton combo, Bucks later do their springboard moonsault/standing moonsault combo. Jeff catches knees on a swanton, and Nick immediately holds him prone on his knees so Matt J can hit a swanton. Bucks just trying to do little things to update Hardy's signature offense to get under their skin. There were so many great sequences throughout, tons of great saves, tons of stuff where timing is imperative, but there were no moments of somebody waiting for someone to get into position, everything ran like a well oiled machine. At one point Matt J cuts off Matt H with a superkick, hits a Fuerza bump dropkick and as he's skinning the cat he gets clotheslined from the floor by Jeff, which causes him to flip back onto the floor, Jeff goes to the apron to fly but gets leveled by Nick making Jeff trust fall into everybody, and then Nick hits a flip dive on all of them. Everybody was always right on point with pulling the ref out of a count at just the right moment, knocking someone off the top to save their partner, the saves and false finishes were so expertly done that it made a 23 minute match feel like it needed every second of that time. Jeff was a total maniac in this, hitting a huge crossbody off the apron, a couple reckless dives, always doing big splashes to break up pins, I mean I literally don't remember the last Jeff Hardy match where he looked this good. Matt stalked around the ring great, trying to slow the Bucks down, threw some of his perfect right hands (with a flawless fist shake on one) and trying to set up the Bucks for Jeff. Bucks were great too, knowing exactly when to break out the flash, knowing when to let something peak and when to cut it off, and the stuff piledriver finish was nasty and a great false finish. Jeff makes the save and Matt doesn't have to go wild hitting moves after taking the piledriver. He falls off Matt Jackson's shoulders to deliver the twist of fate, and falls on him for the pin after Jeff hits a swanton. This is a flat out excellent match. Literally my favorite match of the year.

PAS: Really great stuff, an out of nowhere classic. I can't believe how good Jeff Hardy was in this, he is a guy who had his moments over his career, but I think the consensus was that he was completely shot by 2014, a casualty of drugs and bumps, but I cannot remember him ever looking this good, not only was he bumping like crazy but all of his offense looked really good. When has Jeff Hardy ever thrown good punches? He was cracking the Bucks here, spin kicks looked great, just a unbelievable performance. I really loved how the Hardy's incorporated all of the Bucks stuff into a traditional hot southern tag. Their taunts came off more like douchey heeling and less like meta wink wrestling. More John Tatum less Chuck Taylor. I was also really impressed how the Hardys were able to keep up with the Bucks fancy shit, there are some elaborate sequences in this match, and they looked great, the speed was still there, but they way it was slotted in, made it look less like a dance routine then if the Bucks ran them with Ohio is for Killers or the Addiction. Eric is going so nuts for this match so I feel like I have to throw a little water on the fire, I did think the Meltzer Driver should end a match full stop, I just don't buy Matt putting on a move 45 seconds after selling it, even if he did a nice job of selling. I also think that the Hardy's are a little short on offense, so they spammed the side effect and twist of fate a bit, I loved Matt's gutwrench suplexes, and I would have rather he used more of them or even just some bodyslams. Still those are very minor complaints on what is otherwise a remarkable match. No one could have predicted this.


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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

89. Negro Navarro/Black Terry v. Trauma 1/Trauma 2 IWRG 12/14

PAS: Really fun if unsubstantial brawl. Really worked like it was setting up next weeks revanche, but it is always weirdly enjoyable to watch Navarro and his sons work out their oedipal issues with each other. Meanwhile Terry is the dirtbag uncle, who is running around with blood dripping down his face and escalates the fight by pulling out a chain. Navarro rarely brawls anymore, but he was a Missionary of Death, so he can still throw a nasty right hand which just thumps. I hope Christmas at the Navarros wasn't too akward

ER: This was not what I expected, but pleasant for what it was. Traumas weren't really much of a factor here, but this was a pretty fun Terry/Navarro show. Navarro doesn't brawl a lot but his brawling here is all really good, but Terry is a vicious little monster. He's punching Traumas the whole time, and his stuff where he breaks out the chain is the best of the match, just lacing into with brutal chain punches from the mount while blood pools around his eye. But there were other neat tricks he had, probably my favorite little brawl trick of his was coming up on Trauma on the floor like he was going to punch, and then just kicking him right in the shin. I can't really picture these teams matching up and not doing something interesting.


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COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

35. Bobby Fish v. TJ Perkins PWG 8/29

PAS: Pretty enjoyable opening match from the BOLA. Standard stuff to start, including sort of a goofy comedy spot, Perkins is so fast and fluid though, that he makes even simple things fun to watch. The match picks up when Fish starts working over the knee, including Fish brutally checking a kick Chris Weidman style. Perkins did a nice job selling danger, and damaged including doing a cool tope from almost a dead stop because he couldn't run. Really liked the finish with Fish trying to twist off the knee until Perkins was able to slip in a bridge and turn a submission into a pin. Fun stuff

ER:  Man I really liked this, and also liked the pre-leg work stuff. I thought all of it worked great (except the comedy spot; that felt really shoehorned in). Reversals and "guys who scouted their opponent's arsenal" stuff can come off way too cute and over-rehearsed. But they broke out some real slick and impressive stuff, stuff I wasn't expecting. Perkins especially can get too cute, as he can try to blend too many styles and occasionally can come off like a Rocky Romero type. Still better than Romero, but you don't ever want to be compared to Rocky Romero. Here all of the potential cute stuff actually fits logically and seamlessly into the match. For example, this may be the only time I've ever seen Perkins' little "Spider-man catching himself in the ropes" spot actually make sense, with Fish throwing him hard and close into the ropes, and Perkins actually looking like he was going to fly out to the floor before catching himself last minute. I was digging the reversals and all the "guys attempt same move at same time" stuff more than I usually dug that stuff, but things jumped to another level once Fish checked that low kick and Perkins sold it 100% perfectly. He went down like he had kicked a ringpost and it looked great. Overall I thought Perkins did an exceptional job selling the knee, doing things like the near stop tope Phil mentioned, and other little details like going for an Irish whip but not being able to plant his leg. Joey Ryan was really good on commentary here as well, putting over what Perkins is going through with his knee, not being able to trust it, how the knee feels hollow, or light. The execution from both guys was great throughout. Fish was vicious finding new ways to attack the knee, and I especially liked the few variations of him kicking Perkins' legs out from under him. The flash bridge finish worked well, and man I just really, really liked this.


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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

15. Tomoaki Honma v. Katsuyori Shibata NJPW 8/3

ER: So, so, so so great! I loved every second of this one. Honma is just the best and really gets that underdog mentality over to an insane degree. Here he got just as much offense as Shibata, but always came across as the underdog. And it's not like he kept lucking into his offense, he's just really great at conveying his character. Shibata was great here too as a more skilled, cold asskicker who is not necessarily underestimating Honma, but at the same time almost in disbelief that he is having *this* much trouble with him. The crowd is just so into Honma here and it's incredibly infectious. I can't remember an underdog character I get this invested in, get this genuinely excited about the outcomes of his matches. Honma just commits to everything, and it makes all the difference. His shots hit big, and they miss bigger. His headbutt flying straight into Shibata's boots was heartbreaking; his hooked legs and high cradles are the most hope-filled pinfalls possible. Shibata hits tons of nasty shots in this, and his elbows with a dropkick follow up in the corner was just brutal. But it was key that he did not view Honma as a joke, and he most definitely made Honma look like a competitor here. He sold a Honma slap like Kawada taking the nastiest Misawa elbow, actually showed struggle when kicking out of Honma's high cradles. And I could have sworn he hesitated just a moment before nailing Honma with the match-ending Penalty Kick. I really did love every second of this. One of my absolute favorite matches of the year.

PAS: Yeah this was really fun, it is about the best possible version of a New Japan forearm exchange match. Both guys have established characters and hierarchies, so it isn't just two even guys 50/50ing it, it is a sprint so it doesn't out stay it's welcome, there is selling, it is just two guys standing there and making faces and both guys lay it in which distinguishes it from what ever Okada and Tanahashi are trying to do. Homna is awesome here, although he does the same kind of thing in every match which can wear a bit thin, still this is about the best Homna formula match I have seen. Loved his in ring tope to take control, and him trying to go all out for big moves and failing. Meanwhile Shibata was really good as the overdog, kicking his ass convincingly, and still portraying those moments of doubt and fear.


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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

Kana v. Meiko Satomura Kana Produce 2/25

PAS: Super weird setup where the entire match was under a blue light and accompanied by guy performing on a Kokyu (a traditional Japanese string instrument), with Kana in weird face paint.  It had the feel of the kind of thing an Asian art museum would put on. I have a friend who works at Freer Sackler, I should pitch it to her as a traveling exhibit. Match itself was the quality we expect from this matchup. I love Kana as the Mickey Knuckles to Yuki Ishikawa's Ian Rotten, and this was the best BattlArtsy match of the year by far. I loved the nastiness of all the kicks and forearms, and the really cool jujitsu chokes that both girls worked into. The oddness of the presentation added to the feel of it, although it felt more like a cool novelty than an elite match. Still a total blast, and something I am going to really remember fondly at the end of the year.

ER: This was weird in a good, good way. I am a big Ali Farka Toure fan and the Kokyu style of play does not seem too dissimilar to his old African fingerpicking style. But this also wasn't TOO weird for me as sometimes I just don't care about commentary and will put on music as I watch wrestling on mute.   If you already listen to Tinariwen while watching wrestling then listening to a man play a Kokyu while watching wrestling won't seem too out of this world. This also feels like an appropriate match for Phil and I to review as we saw The Mountain Goats do a live score of a silent era Swedish film, we both dug the weird Jeff Jarrett/Dutch Mantel PBS orchestra match from the Memphis set, so watching two assbeaters get the live score treatment seems within our wheelhouse. And I think this totally works as both awesome match, and as weird performance art. As the action heated up as the match wore on, the Kokyu started playing faster and faster, and as I watched I noticed myself actually buying into the tension more because of it, getting more and more into each submission attempt. I wouldn't have even guessed I would actually be affected by a live score, yet there I was, totally buying into it. The match was as good as you would expect given these two, and I really loved Kana here. She had some badass reversals, like catching a Pele kick while falling back into a grapevined ankle lock, and even more killer catching a Meiko kick behind her back, and then ducking under it while still holding it to transition into a German. It looked like the first time you saw World of Sport and were captivated by their foreign movements. They wrench in all their nasty chokes and I loved the struggle for the finishing triangle. I would have dug this whole thing without the Kokyu, but I genuinely got more into it because of that. This was the coolest list fusion of art with asskickery.


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New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV Episode 17 Review

1. Tomoaki Honma & Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto (6/21/14)

Awesome match, with a truly great Honma performance. This goes 11 minutes and is just wonderful. Honma has been having a quietly great post-deathmatch career. It's kind of surprising how little he gets mentioned because he really gets it. Here he folds a bunch of stories, character, selling and moments into 11 tidy minutes, and it's great. The stuff with he and Shibata is awesome with them stiffing the shit out of each other as they clearly try and knock each other's jaws out of alignment. Both men smack each other with total blinders on, really focused on just hitting the other really hard in the face. There's a great early moment when Honma and Nagata corner Shibata and Nagata is still hitting him in a pro wrestling kind of way, while Honma is clearly sneaking in full punches to Shibata's face, not fucking around with meager forearms. Shibata and Honma have several nice moments in this, one where Shibata punches Honma in the face as Honma just does a slow desperate collapse, and another where Shibata tries choking Honma with his boot and a test of wills begins, with Honma fighting that fucking boot and Shibata wanting nothing more than to dickishly grind that boot into Honma's chest and throat. Honma later hits a neat falling headbutt on him, and then splats temple first off a top rope attempt. Damn that looked bad. I normally do not have much use for Nagata and Goto (and Nagata's chipmunk cheek Undertaker eyeball armbar is still one of the out-and-out dumbest things in pro wrestling history), but Goto joins in the Honma shit kicking, peaking with a nasty spin kick in the corner, while Nagata contributes by hitting a nasty yakuza kick on Shibata over the guardrail. Honma gets an awesome near fall after reversing a Goto brainbuster into a small package, but eventually he is no match for Goto's goofy ass "American indy inverted DVD dropped onto his own knee" finisher. Still, awesome shit, and Honma fucking rules. Get on the bus.

PAS:Honma was awesome in this, I have really liked his new age Kikuchi act, and while there are no Jumbos and Fuchi's around to kill him, he is still really fun. Shibata is fine as a poor mans Usuda, and he lands some really killer shots. I loved the spot where Shibata twisted his wrists apart and landed a killer right hook. Goto and Nagata were very much guys in this match, but Shibata v. Honma is well worth the admission price.

2. Bad Luck Fale vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (6/21/14)

Well this was also surprisingly good. I mean, I'm as big a Nakamura fan as anybody, but Fale is a guy who doesn't ever look good during Bullet Club interference so I wasn't too excited about him in a long singles. But Nakamura was a generous and giving partner here, bumped big all over for Fale, and this worked because of that. Jeez Nakamura even did a stretcher job for him! Which is crazy. We get a pre-match sit down interview with Fale, which is one of the drier things you will ever hear. This guy showed nothing whatsoever. His tone sounded like Jimmy Snuka giving somber, remorseful testimony during his murder trial...but with better English. But damn Nakamura did a good job at wringing some interest out of the match himself. All his knees looked great, he throws my favorite knees to the stomach in wrestling. He flung himself into the Grenade, which is move that doesn't always look very good. Nakamura busts ass to make this work, and it totally did. Leans into the avalanche, gets knocked inside out on lariats, this was way better than it should have been.

After the match Karl Anderson and AJ Styles cut a pair of horrendous promos. They don't know any Japanese so just address the crowd really slowly, the way Americans think if they just talk slow and annunciate then foreigners will understand them, as if they think they were speaking to 2,000 retarded people. Both guys are microphone poison.

**NOTE: The Honma tag was awesome so we added it to our 2014 MOTY List. Link is below.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

66. Rey Hechicero v. Caifan 7/5



PAS: Hechicero is a master, we have gotten to see him work on the big stage in shorter matches, so it is a treat to see him in a garage work a longer crazier match. This was against his long time Monterey opponent and tag partner, and was kind of the equivalent of Dean Ambrose going back and working a crazy match with Sami Callihan in IWA-MS. The mat work here was awesome lots of cool twisty counters and takedowns that had real violence to them, every leg lock looked like it was going to rip out a knee, every takedown looked like it was going tear out a shoulder. The finish run was a little indy, but Hechicero smashing a plastic chair with a powerbomb, and the finishing armbar were pretty spectacular. Great match, so happy this showed up.

ER: This match had a pretty difficult task, which was filling 33 minutes of time with no real rest or breaks, and it did that admirably. 30+ minute, una caida lucha matches are pretty rare. Normally you get the breaks in between falls to kind of reset things, but these guys really just go go go for the duration. It's pretty impressive. At times it did give the match a kind of aimless feel, not quite filling time, but more that there was no real ebb and flow, not always rhyme or reason for the comebacks or dominance transitions. But this was quite a nice little feather for Hechicero. He plays into Caifan perfectly and finds plausible ways to deal with some of his stumbles. Caifan takes far to long to get Hechicero into a pendulum? Hechicero bides his time, waits for it to be locked on, and then immediately grapevines a leg, hooks Caifan's arm and reverses things. Caifan taking a bit too long to do a rope walk rana? Hechicero busies himself with his own hubris. Hechicero's subtle hubris led to some logical Caifan comebacks throughout this, with Hechicero easily having the upper hand, but waving Caifan to keep going, to come at him. I really loved all of the submissions throughout this, especially the first 8 minutes. Hechicero really gets to show off his full arsenal of subs and I get the feeling he could have kept going. Caifan eventually brings strikes, using some Moe Howard type stuff, like grabbing Hechicero's nose and smacking downward. The powerbomb tease was awesome as there was no way I thought Hechicero would take a powerbomb on the floor, and he made the struggle look sooo great, really clutching those ropes and hugging them tight. When Caifan finally broke him free and planted him through a chintzy plastic chair it felt like he had just plain worn him out. Good match that never lagged, impressive with what they had to fill. The referee had the worst pants.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

15. Damien Wayne v. Preston Quinn Fusion Wrestling 5/24

PAS: These are the two best Mid-Atlantic Indy wrestlers of the last decade plus, and this is the first really big time main event singles match I have seen between the two, and outside of a bit of crap ending it lives up to all I hoped it would be. Wayne is coming in as the heel and Quinn is coming in as the champ, and early we get a lot of fun face beatdown stuff while Wayne stooges. Quinn has such beautiful punches, it is a pleasure to watch him unload on a guy. There is a great section where Quinn does four different nut shot variations (dick punch, regular atomic drop, inverted atomic drop, kick the ropes into the balls) and Wayne does an 11 on the Rick Rude scale sell.  Lance Erickson unloads some punches on the floor (which also looked great, it's contagious) which gives Wayne and advantage which he does the great switch from stooge to killer. Finish run is awesome with trading punches back and forth, a great Quinn Lawler style hulk up, a crazy missed top rope flip from Wayne, all unfortunately ending in a ref bump and run ins to set up a tag. Still this gets 20 plus minutes of greatness before the finish, and a fun post match brawl after. Well worth the 5 bucks off of Fusion's website, and so happy I finally got to see these guys stretch out and have a classic.

ER: So Phil calls me up the other evening and proceeds to do that endearing/annoying/entirely Phil thing of watching a match that I do not have a way of watching in that moment, and then exclaiming out loud about the match while I attempt to carry on a conversation with him about things that are not that match. So I will be making small talk and Phil will interrupt me, with his interruptions punctuated by "JESUS" or "OH GOD". Taken out of context and Phil may sound like a religious man, not a man watching other men fake fight. He will also mutter things under his breath like "Preston Quinn throws a great fucking punch. Fuck, Damien Wayne throws a great punch." This is all while I am talking, and he is watching images that I cannot see, and he called me. This is a very much Phil thing. So then I just silently root for things to finish so we can talk like human beings. Although this did allow me to witness the oral account of Phil wanting a clean finish, while also not thinking there was any chance of a clean finish. It was a whirlwind conversation. I consoled him after the double DQ finish.

But this match - once I got to see it - was really great. I felt this surge of Don West roaring through me, as there was an overabundance of incredible wrestling punches in this match, and they were flying off the shelves at bargain basement prices. GEM MINT 10 PUNCHES!! Literally every person involved with this match who threw a punch, knew how to throw a really great punch. Wayne and Quinn firing back and forth at each other for 20 minutes transported me back to Dundee/Lawler '83, just when you thought you saw the best punch of the match you would be proven wrong 30 seconds later. Quinn's left hands looked majestic. Every angle, every punch. It is exactly what you imagine the perfect pro wrestling punches looking like. And then Wayne unleashes these straight rights and you go "Wait maybe THAT is what I imagine the perfect pro wrestling punches look like..." Quinn flicks Wayne in the dick while Wayne is hanged in the tree of woe, the way assholes would in high school. Looking back and a good 2+ years of high school was just trying to not get your dick flicked. Maybe it was different for people that didn't play sports. But Quinn clearly knows the motions and Wayne sells it as a man who has just had his genitals flicked. It's the worst pain in the world for 4 seconds. Like stubbing your toe. That kind of stubbed toe pain that makes you blindly and momentarily furious at the inanimate object you just stubbed your toe on. The Rick Rude atomic drop selling from Wayne is spectacular. For such a flawless sell (and I think everybody recognized Rude's atomic drop sell as the greatest from the first moment they saw it) it's kind of wild that nobody else has ever appropriated it. I guess the atomic drop in general is kind of a move on its way out, which is a shame. Anyway, this match was great. 20 minutes of the two greatest modern punchers, punching each other and dropping elbows and knees. You come out of your daze not realizing 20 minutes has passed. It's awesome; the greatest Wayne/Quinn showdown I have witnessed.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

27. Preston Quinn/Pat Cusik v. Damien Wayne/Mike Booth Fusion Wrestling 9/27

PAS: This was a street fight with Wayne having to leave town if he lost. Wayne, Booth and Quinn were an awesome trio team called the Old School Empire for years, in Fusion for the last couple of years Wayne had been feuding with Quinn since turning on him, and Booth was his surprise tag partner, also turning on PQ. This was a great old school southern brawl, Quinn has some of the best punches in wrestling, and the other three aren't far behind, and lots of this match was just toe to toe fist fighting. They build nicely to some big near falls, including Quinn hitting one of the prettiest brainbusters I have seen in years, and planting Wayne with a spinebuster. The finish was pretty cool, with a Booth cheap shot chop block leading to a huge Savage elbow on Cusik. Exactly what you would want from this match on paper, and well worth the $5 I paid for the show. Feels like I am going to pick up all of the Wayne v. PQ stuff, they are both still so good.

ER: What a great little fight this was. Just a rough and tumble tornado rules brawl that never devolves into a mess, just comes off like a chaotic street fight. I think Quinn has unequivocally the best punches in wrestling today, which lends nicely to a street fight. All of his shots built to nice moments in the match. If you thought his short lefts were nasty just wait until you see that hooking left! His punches lend legitimacy to this kind of match, and his brainbuster begins to plaster in that hole that Hashimoto left in your heart. Then he goes and puts a wax seal on the whole thing by breaking out the Anderson spinebuster. Preston Quinn, just going down the list and ticking off the boxes of all the things I love about wrestling. Damien Wayne is also a guy who is just as good as the first time I saw him. His chops are brutal enough that they don't look silly in a street fight. Since this is No DQ and tornado rules we don't get so many pinfall saves and cutting off the ring, as we get kicks to the balls and guys getting chucked into ringposts. That seems like a fine tradeoff to me. I had never seen Cusick before but he filled in fine as a scrappy weakish link on Quinn's team, and Booth is a guy who always looks good when I see him yet remains a guy I forget to look for. Good find Phil, everybody else go toss some dollars towards Fusion to watch a few great wrestlers who more people should talk about.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

72. Diamante Azul/Dragon Lee/La Sombra v. Hechicero/Cavernario/Negro Casas CMLL 9/16

PAS: Just a great trios match with a bunch of guys hitting on all cylinders. Hechicero, Lee and Cavernario are such great additions to the CMLL mix. Hechicero does some really nifty twisty matwork livening up the normally dull Diamante Azul, Cavernario is a whirlwind, just flying around the ring getting huge air on all of the armdrags and monkey flips, while Lee also bumps big and throws in a huge assisted tope con hilo where he gets major air. While the young kids are doing there thing, Casas and Sombra are doing a only slightly bargain bin version of Casas v. Rush. I never cared much for high flying technico Sombra, but nasty fake technico Sombra throwing headbuts to the bridge of Casas's nose and mafia kicking him in the mouth I can get behind. Shocking how hard everyone was working in a random Guadalajara trios, so much fun

ER: It's weird to me how CMLL runs hundreds of trios matches per year, including tons of different ones where at least half of the opponents are the same, yet there's really no formula to predicting which ones will be MOTY level and which ones you forget the moment you're done watching them. There's no algorithm like "Blue Panther + Arena Coliseo + 3rd match from the top + minimum two other guys you like in the match = Really Good Match!" The matches all feature the same guys and sometimes they're really good and sometimes they're really not. Watching them all is pure insanity, but cherry picking your favorite guys can make you miss little unexpected gems. Now this match obviously has a bunch of guys worth going out of your way for, but it's also a Tuesday evening match in Guadalajara with nothing at stake. All of that just to say, this was really fun. Seeing Casas team with Hechicero and Cavernario is just a cruel middle finger with all the Felino/Niebla quarter assed performances making tape. La Sombra as rudo opportunistic shit kicker has been a real revelation this year, and his exchanges with Casas in this were excellent. Cavernario really went for broke here, Dragon Lee hit the highest tope con hilo of the year, Casas hangs back in a non-lazy way but just lets the young guys shine while throwing out great stuff of his own (helllllo headbutt to Sombra's face). Really really fun.


52. Rey Hechicero v. Barbaro Cavernario CMLL 6/20

PAS: Very good final, between the top two wrestlers in the tourney. Match was going good with Hechicero throwing Cavernario around early. Cavernario took briefly over until he caught his kneepad on the ring post and ended up crashing and burning on a dive. Hechicero clearly called an audible and really worked over Cavernario turning this into an underdog fighting to survive match. Cavernario got a couple of big hope spots, including the craziest superfly to the floor yet, but was mostly on defense, absorbing a beating and clawing his way back by biting at the knee, and headbutts. The finish was great, Cavernario survives some big spots, including a Liger bomb and a powerbomb into the turnbuckles, and as Hechciero gets him up in a submission he squirms down and hooks in his knees to the back camel clutch which has been his kill move all tourney. Really great match, with both guys on the fly working in a blown spot into a compelling match. Hell of a finish to a hell of a tourney

ER: Really great way to end the tournament, felt like both guys were really leaving it all out there. I will forever be curious what the plan for the rest of the match was, had Cavernario hit that misguided tope past the ring post. Hechicero is a great guy to take over and control a match as he has freak strength and it's easy to buy him as a man overpowering another. All his reversal spots and slams have more credibility and look more vicious because of this. Hechicero is also incredibly agile for a bulky guy, and his moonsault variations are among the prettiest in wrestling. His agility in his springboard moonsault to the floor was incredible. Barbaro is a total nut who absolutely despises his knees and decides to punish them with the nastiest big splash from the top to the floor possible. This was an exciting final to a tourney where both guys killed themselves. And for that they were awarded with the dinkiest looking trophies possible.


2014 MASTER LIST

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Black Terry Never Got Rich But to Save his Soul

Black Terry v. Aero Boy Chilanga Mask 4/27/14 -EPIC

PAS: Pretty slept on 2014 match, including something we are pretty late on. Chilanga Mask was my favorite promotion to watch in 2014, the booking isn't always great, but you have to love any fed that gives Black Terry this long to work a singles match. Aero Boy is an indy guy who has been mostly working garbage feds but he is a game guy who is willing to work this kind of varied match. This really reminds of the 2008 Multifacitico series, with Terry taking a young guy with a couple of things and crafting a classic. Pretty insane he can still do this 7 years later, he is truly ageless. Opens with some pretty great mat wrestling, not showy but a bunch of cool moments, including Terry using a roll up a a submission. Match transitions into brawling with Terry taking some nasty bumps into chairs which is nuts for a dude this old, Aero Boy was probably wishing for light tubes getting hit by those Terry headbutts. We then go into a pretty dramatic finishing run, with Terry breaking out his flying lungblower, and Aero Boy doing a cool fight for a cross armbreaker. Some of the finishing stuff wasn't super easy to see because of the handheld, but that is really my only beef with this match.

ER: This was my least favorite of the 2014 Terry Chilanga Mask matches, admittedly because there were plenty of things that just weren't visible. Now these are the nature of some handhelds so I understand, but I can't very well rate what I can't see. It does make me wonder if Black Terry Jr. was the guy with the camera getting all the best angles of the mat stuff and the crowd brawl. But Phil is right that Terry is ageless and I think he's still the best brawler in current wrestling. I have never seen Aero Boy before but he holds his end up here. He took a wild bump into the crowd, and ramped up the brawl in response to Terry. I loved when Terry when for the JYD kneeling headbutts, Aero responded with a nasty one of his own. I dug Terry doing the arm breaker that we've seen Pentagon Jr. using lately (10 months after Terry breaks it out here) although some of the mat stuff was impossible to judge due to the camera angle. Unrelated to the match but am I the only one who thought it was weird that the ringside photographer was wearing a Señor Frogs shirt? That feels like wearing Mardi Gras beads in the summer, or wearing a Belize It Or Not shirt in South America (I did that. In my 20s. It had beads on it.).

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

21. Yuki Ishikawa v. George Terzis Battle Arts 6/14

PAS: So glad this showed up, any chance we get to see Ishikawa is a treat. Terzis is a apparently a long time Canadian indy guy who is a co-trainer at the BattlArts Academy. I had never heard of him before, but he was pretty good, and felt like he belonged in a Yuki Ishikawa match. This was kind of worked like a poor mans Ishikawa v. Greco match. Terzis isn't as fluid on the mat as Greco (who is really) but he was able to exchange hold with Ishikawa on the mat. I also really liked Terzis on his feet, he hit some very nasty high kicks, which Ishikawa sold like a champ, he also really laid in the high knees. Finish was a classic Ishikawa/Fujiwara finish as he is getting rocked with big shots and is some how able to lock in a flash submission for the win. So much fun

ER: Okay, so when I started watching this I admittedly was disappointed. When I read the name George Terzis I was hoping it was some big lumpy Czech or Greek guy in a gi, with a horseshoe haircut and dad mustache, the kind of guy who would show up in RINGS or in a random Fujiwara PWFG match. I pictured his training being 15 minutes of grappling followed by 15 minutes of cigarette break, just grapple, cigarettes, repeat. I imagined the jogging suits that you knew he had to own, like a 70s gym teacher. I imagined his look of seething hatred and drugged sleepiness, the way all those galoots looked in the pre match intros of a Volk Han match. And then Terzis turned out to be a stocky kickpads guy. He kinda looks like early career Ken Shamrock, and he kinda works like early career Ken Shamrock, which is a great opponent for Ishikawa! Ishikawa moving to Canada and not getting his brains turned to pancake batter by regular face kicking has done wonders for him. He moves around better than the last few years of Japan matches that popped up, and physically he appears to be in the best shape of his wrestling career. And not one of those phony "best shape of my life" platitudes that tons of athletes toss out before their respective sport's season. He's clear eyed, looks lean, has more muscle tone than I've ever seen on him, just moves around great. This match is a great example of how wonderful Ishikawa is at putting over holds, as sometimes a hold can actually be very painful while looking not painful. Ishikawa is maybe the best at putting over levels of pain while in a hold. He's really great at going from "not a concern, I can still look for an opening" to "more of a concern, better try and reverse instead of looking to advance" to "Okay better find a way out FAST" to "OH LORD my leg!" It's a two way street and he's also great at showing when he's really going for the kill and wrenching in one of his own subs. They do a lot of nasty legbars in this and lesser wrestlers can make this stuff look like two partgoers getting tangled in a painless game of Twister. Think of Kurt Angle applying the ankle lock, and how it always looked like he was just holding a man by the leg. Here we get real struggle, we get great blocked reversals like when Ishikawa tries to roll out of something, finds continuing to roll that way would mean a snapped leg, so acts fast to find another way out. Add on to that some big head kicks from Terzis, a nice out of nowhere left hand that puts Terzis down, and some big knees, and this would rank favorably with BattlArts stuff. Good work Phil for tracking this down.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

56. Bray Wyatt v. Dean Ambrose WWE Smackdown 6/13

PAS: Tremendous short match between two of the best guys in the world. Both wrestlers are super expressive and much about what made this match so good was the facial selling and subtle movements. Wyatt takes over by catching a pescada and smashing Ambrose shoulder first into the ring apron. The rest of the match Ambrose is constantly trying to work his shoulder back into shape, stretching it out, wiggling his fingers, doing everything he can to keep fighting. Meanwhile Wyatt smells the disadvantage and is on Ambrose like a hyena on a wounded gazelle. Ambrose never got full advantage, but was able to catch Wyatt with some big moves and big nearfalls, until his temper got the best of him.  Everyone keeps talking about Ambrose as a natural heel, but he really has perfected the role of tough crazy babyface brawler, like AJPW Terry Funk or Portland babyface Roddy Piper or 90's Stone Cold. The nutjob in the bar who will buy the whole house a round and help the bartender paint his apartment, but will also break a pool cue upside a douchebag frat boy's head because he didn't like his fancy sunglasses.

ER: Jeez it's kind of tough to sum it up better than Phil's last sentence. That has to be in the running for "Best SC line of 2014". Ambrose is a guy who's really great at working within self-imposed limitations. He doesn't quite go to extensive Kikuchi levels of selling long term damage, but watching Ambrose work an injury in a match is always amusing, in the same way it's fun to watch Daniel Plainview work through his leg injury. Dean is very smart about working around the shoulder, really an impressive dedication that he doesn't let this kind of thing back him into corners in a match. There's never any "well I wanted to do THIS spot but I'm working a leg injury…I'M DOING THE SPOT ANYWAY!" He seems like a guy who enjoys the challenge of working injuries into matches and it makes his stuff that much more enjoyable and memorable. Bray Wyatt is a guy who has become kind of popular to dislike lately, which I don't understand as I think he always brings it, has great timing and isn't afraid to get bruised. Here a couple of Dean's dropkicks threaten to fall short so Wyatt runs headlong into them and bumps huge for them. He seems like a guy who has no problem doing a guy a solid in the ring. The Sister Abigail really took what could have been a silly finisher and made it into a cool killshot, not quite a "out of nowhere" Diamondcutter move, but something with this, the Bryan WM match and other matches that he's shown he will always be ready to strike with it, like his character is always ready to strike with his nastiest move at the opponents' most prone time. Really good stuff.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

15. Virus v. Dragon Lee CMLL 12/9

PAS: Virus title matches are one of my favorite things in wrestling and I am really excited we got to see one against a technico I really enjoy. Dragon Lee was one of the highlights of the Busca De Idolo and I am glad he got a chance to stretch out and have a long match with a master. I had big expectations for this match and for the most part it delivered. Lee is very carriable on the mat and his high impact stuff looked awesome, his tope was a missle and I am very happy that the classic tope has made a comeback in 2014. Virus is a master and the counter of the running dropkick is possible the spot of the year. Finish run was really great, with Lee fighting out of the STF and them exchange big throws. Lee is going to be so good in a couple of years and I think this is the first of many classic matches he is going to have.

ER: Wow, this might be the best Virus performance of the year. Just a real emotional performance where he not only got to show off his clear wrestling talent, but got to show cockiness plunging right down into desperation and all ranges in between.The segunda especially got really great with all of that arm work. It's similar to other Virus arm work, but I don't think I've ever seen him do it with this kind of snap, just throwing Lee around by his arm and then dropping knee first right onto it. The sequence with Lee reaching for the ropes while Virus tried desperately to keep him away from them was one of my favorite moments of the year. Virus had the STF locked in and Lee kept inching closer to breaking it, so Virus keeps modifying it to try and prevent that, grabbing Lee's outstretched arm and turning it into a choke. Virus' facials during it were great. I'd have to think hard about what my favorite spot of the year was, but I will say while watching the match and seeing Virus' glorious reversal, I immediately thought it was the coolest thing I saw all year, the saw Phil had felt the same way. Wrestling these days is filled with tons of "scouted my opponent, know what's coming next better than he does" type moves, and most of the time they feel very choreographed and planned. Virus turning a running seated dropkick into a submission felt like something that Dragon Lee himself didn't know was happening. He did the move the same as he always does, except this time he got caught in a way he wouldn't have ever expected. It really made things jump up a whole level. Awesome performance by both guys.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

68. Freelance/Arez/Micke Segura v. Los Tortugas Ninjas 12/13

PAS: Really fun lucha trios with everyone moving at a brisk pace and hitting all of their spots cleanly. Freelance is great at this kind of fast moving sprint, and I enjoyed Arez more here then I have in other more ambitious performances. There is a great Turtle Lady of the Lake spot in the first fall where a Ninja turtle gets stuck on his back and wiggles around, and when Arez goes to capitalize the turtle rolls him up. Finish was a bit of partner disunity between Arez and Segura which felt like a cop out finish to this kind of match, otherwise this was a blast

ER: Fun spotfest with a bunch of great ranas and armdrags, and of course the sheer joy of just watching grown men wrestle in ninja turtle costumes. For the record, I think the wrestling turtle power rankings are 1. Tortuga Leonardo 2. Tortuga Raphael 3. Tortuga Michaelangelo. Donatello was a no-show apparently. Wrestling in the turtle outfits seems really difficult, what with those floppy half shells always getting in the way. Huge bonus points to all of them for doing dives, I could easily see those shells getting hung up on the ropes and sending them to their doom. The outfits are pretty bulky so Freelance and Segura also get bonus points for working pretty spots with those shells getting in the way. Arez is one of those guys who isn't great at acting natural when he's waiting to do a spot. He just kind of runs in place until it's his turn, like a puppy waiting for you to throw a ball. He also usually breaks out at least one spot in a match where you think he took a real nasty move, but then you realize "Oh, apparently that was supposed to hurt the other guy." But here he does a lot of cool big stomps, really trying to crack Leo's shell (and of course there is a move that dumps him on his own head while a turtle takes a back bump, but apparently it hurt the turtle more? Some sort of shell psychology I suppose). Leonardo was the best at taking all of the intricate Freelance/Segura offense, I dug his opening matwork the most, and he did great little things like cut low on clotheslines , lean into super kicks and go for trips on drop downs. Plus he and Raphael knew how to mug best as turtles. This was all good fun.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

66. Solar v. Negro Navarro 10/11

PAS: This is a dance we are familiar with at this point. This is a touring match up I have seen probably 50 times, and just like watching a favorite band again and again you know what songs they are performing but you go to the concert to watch them tweak the arrangement a bit. This goes about 18 minutes which is long for a Solar v. Navarro match, and it is fun to watch them stretch out. They do some especially nifty arm work and we get an a clean finish with Solar twisting an elbow until Navarro taps. Better then the Philly match earlier this year and a fine representative for this matchup on the MOTY list

ER: This is just a match up I can watch over and over again. It's a good thing I didn't know who these two were when I was younger and used to try out wrestling holds on my poor little sister. I could see me pausing and dissecting frame-by-frame Solar's cool roll through arm lock or Navarro's weird trust fall single leg Indian deathlock, or Navarro's weird one-legged surfboard. I always know what I'm going to get when I start watching a Solar/Navarro match, and at the same time I'm always pleasantly surprised to see them trying new things, and effortlessly breaking out old classics. It also always serves as a nice affirmation for me, seeing these two men closer to 60 than they are to 50, still able to do what they do. Is it weird feeling wistful while watching professional wrestling? I'm older, grayer, ache more when I wake up, and here are these two for 18 minutes, same as they ever were.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of Year List

48. Negro Navarro v. Virus 11/5

PAS: Man alive is Negro Navarro a beast in this match. Virus is an amazing wrestler and is amazing in this but Navarro is so great he kind of makes Virus look like a Navarro opponent. These aren't guys with a big history together so unlike Solar and Navarro their sequences look pretty fresh. There was a catch and release section, which isn't my favorite thing in Maestro matches, but they violence of the holds they released made it feel more like a threat, then a show of sportsman like grappling. Like both guys were showing each other that they could break them just like that.  There was this totally awesome moment where Navarro used an ankle pick to break a vertical press pin which I had never seen before. Pretty shocked at the clean finish too, figured we would get a double pin, or maybe a roll up, but instead Navarro puts on this nasty hammerlock and taps Virus clean. I wonder how many of these under the radar dream match ups are happening every weekend. God bless camera phones.

ER: Man, this is the closest we'll ever get to some sort of dream Virus/Finlay match, and it was cool to see Virus work this kind of catch matwork as he doesn't really get the opportunity to work guys like Navarro in CMLL. Of course I enjoy his stuff with various floppers, but seeing him hang with a cool old guy is just too cool. I'm a big fan of matches where the combined age of the two workers is over 100. That does happen more often in lucha, but I dig old guys fighting it out. There's more respect, more wear, a little more gamesmanship because each man's tactics and strategies are more well known. Virus broke out some cool tricks I haven't seen him use before, cool drop toe holds, nice little touches like locking on a modified figure 4 and using his free foot to apply extra pressure. This match and the Hechicero match make quite a nice companion piece for Navarro's work. They are both Navarro matches with similar things done slightly different, showing Navarro as a man who yes often works a very similar singles match but also a man so good at his craft that he can do a similar spot with just a little adjustment here or grabbing an arm at a different angle there. It's like when you see raw audition footage of an actor working a scene in a few different ways, or listening to Pavement outtakes where Malkmus reworks lyrics on the fly. It's a treat watching him do his thing.


2014 MASTER LIST

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