2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Sabre v. Tanahashi 1

74. Zack Sabre Jr. v. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW 7/17

ER: This was the opening night of the G1 and these two didn't seem to care at all that their limbs would have to hold up over the following month. Early on Tanahashi goes for his leaping elbowdrop and Sabre shifts to catch him in an armbar. You can ask why Tanahashi - with bicep tendinitis - was even attempting an elbowdrop, but you dance with what brung you and he paid. Tanahashi attacks the arm the whole match, firing kicks, and locking on painful octopus holds to overall weaken Tanahashi and make it easier to get at the arm. Tanahashi finds openings by landing a bunch of nice body shots, hard shots under the ribs, and going after Sabre's long legs. We get some real nasty leg whips and dragon screws, and a tightly locked in cloverleaf. Finish was a nasty bit of business, with Tanahashi going for the high fly flow and eating knees about as painfully as possible, leading to Sabre trapping his good arm and dismantling the bad arm. The crowd gets super loud cheering for Tanahashi, as Sabre removes the bicep pad and starts unraveling Tanahashi's arm tape, yanking and snapping that arm around like a guy trying to rip a branch off a tree. Tanahashi's selling throughout was good, and I especially thought his pained howls were effective. A lot of wrestlers have a weird habit of staying quiet through pain, and Tanahashi's pain was palpable thanks to his screams. Killer, simple match.

PAS: There was some stuff in this match that was pretty bad looking, both guys have some of the cringiest looking stuff for supposedly great wrestlers (Sabre I think is pretty good, Tanahashi I have never gotten). I thought those body shots Eric was praising looked crappy all windup and no impact. There is a section where they both duck their heads and get kicked in the stomach, and both guys do ever step in the processes badly, the head drops for the backdrops look bad, the kicks don't connect, the selling wasn't plausible, I was ready to delete the file and curse Eric for making me watch this, but it got really good by the end. Tanahashi did an awesome job of selling the bad elbow, and I really liked the viciousness of Sabre tearing at the elbow tape and his manipulation of the elbow was grotesque. It is a big deal to make a huge star like Tanahashi tap out, and the violence of Sabre elbow attack made it plausible, it was experimental, he felt like a sadistic toddler trying to find new ways to rip the wings off insects. Hard match for me to rank, as the good stuff was awesome, but the bad was pretty bad.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Starr v. WALTER

79. WALTER v. David Starr WXW 3/10

PAS: This is your other big pimped WALTER match from the WXW tourney, and I liked it a fair bit more then the final. We open with both entrances including some WXW fans sieg heiling WALTER incase you thought all of my jokes about WXW fans were unfair. Starr spends the first part of the match cleverly avoiding WALTER and using his aggression against him. Whenever WALTER catches him he really lays into him, every one of his forearms and kicks lands with real force, he is also really great at throws, there is a real explosion when he chucks a guy, and his slap down german is one of my favorite signature spots. Starr has nice offense and his big shots seem plausible, his elbows to the back of the head are super nasty, and he hits a big clothesline. Still Starr is a complete ham, his dramatic acting is cringeworthy it is on a 10 on the Shawn Michaels cry face level and it takes me out of the match, it takes me out of the drama of a match when one guy is going "LOOK HOW DRAMATIC THIS IS." Still there is a lot to like here, and WALTER has really turned into a beast.

ER: I always used to be slightly disappointed in WALTER matches. I always wanted to like him more than I actually ended up liking him. But WALTER has definitely grown into a guy that does not disappoint. Starr wrestles like Drew Gulak, if Gulak kept the strikes but decided to be Johnny Gargano instead of work the mat. He's a good babyface that hits hard, which is great as you need to hit WALTER hard to make things at least somewhat plausible. WALTER swings big and misses early, although the hits hit big. I love his big kicks and I love how Starr flies around for them. I love his throws and I love how Starr flies around for them. Starr wrestles like a guy with bad offense, and every time he goes on offense I expect it to look bad, and it usually looks great. That consecutive topes spot ranges from looking terrible to being a huge moment depending on who uses it: Seth Rollins looks like he's barely nudging a guy, whereas Blue Panther is old and a great babyface and makes it feel triumphant. Starr's topes here were closer to BP than they were to Rollins, and WALTER did a killer job flying around and into chairs. Starr shoving WALTER into the ropes to blast him in the back of the head over and over was one of the nastier moments I've seen in wrestling this year. WALTER was selling it great (although I'm sure a lot of us would sell a shot to the cerebellum pretty believably) and Starr's shots kept looking meaner and meaner. We don't overdo things to build to the ending, with one giant kickout by Starr after a release German and a lariat that upends him. I agree with Phil that I really would have loved Starr to dial things WAY back down the stretch. That wide eyed open mouth scream selling, like you're fucking Andy Dufresne bursting out of a hole outside your prison in the middle of a rainstorm after you kicked out of a headdrop? Stop it. But the good in this was great and I want more WALTER.

2017 Ongoing MOTY List

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Satanico v. Hechicero

103. Satanico v. Hechicero Lucha Memes 6/4

ER: Satanico doesn't pop up a ton on tape anymore, and he's always going to be a guy I go out of my way to see. I think there will likely be a yearly 12 minute singles match that pops up on the lower part of our list, just an expression of our happiness that somewhere out there Satanico is somewhere out there still being Satanico. He's older and slower and not quite as vicious, but he's Satanico. Hechicero is the perfect modern foil for him, and in a lot of ways he comes off like a modern Satanico. He taunts Satanico all match, punches him in the head, rips at his arm, takes him to the floor and bounces his head of chairs, hits a springboard elbow, all nice stuff. Hechicero peaks with a crushing stair climb knee to the back of Satanico's head in the corner. Brutal. Satanico is crafty though, and I love a crafty old guy in wrestling. I loved an early moment where Hechicero was working an armbar, and Satanico grapevine Hechicero's legs and used the leverage to escape. Satanico takes a beating but we build to a huge moment where he reverses a whip into those heavy as hell old theater seats, and Hechicero takes a massive upside down spill into them, breaking them loose, and Satanico picks them up and smashes them down onto Hechicero like the Incredible Hulk. That was the peak dastardly old man Satanico moment, but we still get to see him throw some big punches to Hechicero's chest and some smooth armdrags before he succumbs to a complicated Hech submission. I just can't not love seeing Satanico's devilish grin on my TV.

PAS: So much fun to watch Satanico do his thing, even deep in the twilight of his career. My favorite part of this was when Satanico backs Hechicero into the corner, and give him a little condescending pat on the cheek, Hechicero gives the condescending pat right back, and they eventually start slapping the shit out of each other. Great bit of character work from both guys, Hechicero refuses to be punked, and Satanico losese his cool. Got to love Hechicero flying upside down head first into the chairs, and the finish set with Hechicero running knee to the back of Satanico's head into a torture sumbission was great. Nifty match.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Niebla v. Caifan

27. Caifan v. Mr. Niebla Lucha Memes 11/20

PAS: Talk about an out of nowhere gem! Niebla has spent the last 20 or so years, drunk and fat and coasting on comedy spots, Caifan comes out as says "fuck that we are spilling blood" and we get a great grimey Arena Naculpan bloody brawl. Caifan rips Niebla's mask and cuts him, smashing him with chairs, a case of beer and some great knuckle punches to the wound. At one point he even uses Niebla's blood as face paint. Niebla gets a great comeback, opening up Caifan with a chair shot and a box, and even hits a great fat boy tope. I also loved Niebla using his Pesta Negra dance moves and loogie spot as a Dusty style dancing babyface comeback.  Loved every second of this, and on paper this would have totally been a skipper.

ER: I think the last Niebla match I actually wrote up and recommended was from early 2016, and that was a 4 minute tournament lucha match. Now, it was a really fun tournament lucha match that I think would be a legendary WCW WorldWide match, but that's still a rough recent track record. And here, suddenly many of the things that make Niebla FF material in 2017 work to his benefit. He's not hammy, he's fat and vulnerable, and Caifan jumps on him and acts like a total prick for the first half of this. He jumps Niebla at the bell and violently rips his mask, and a violent mask rip always looks great and makes me cringe. My neck can ache if I hold a phone awkwardly or sleep weird, so picturing my head and body being yanked around by something I'm wearing on my face, and not just wearing but using my neck and arm muscles to try to keep it on my face, just makes me hurt. Caifan has his hands taped up with white tape, so you know you're gonna see Niebla bleed, and he bleeds, and Caifan continues beating on him, bashing him with those hard Naucalpan chairs, braining him with a wood crate holding empty beer bottles (with a great glass clank as it hits Niebla's head), and back in the ring Niebla gets his head smashed through an empty wood crate. Caifan is a royal jerk dragging Niebla around, painting with his blood, and for the first time in ages (ever?) I found myself really really rooting for a Niebla comeback. And it was a good old fat man comeback. He pops Caifan with his big swinging left, lures him into dropkicking the ref, lures him into wrapping himself around the ringpost, and then follows up with a great middle aged fat guy dive that sends Caifan into the front row near a guy holding a baby. We get a great bloody standoff in the ring with Caifan making these bloody tear facials, all that early match confidence gone. And, miracle of miracles, for the first time ever I totally loved Niebla's hip wiggling loogie spitting comeback, treated here like Lawler dropping the strap or Popeye downing a can of spinach. What a total surprise, what a total treat. Shock gem of the year.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki v. Impact

13. Low-Ki v. Johnny Impact GFW Impact 8/19 (Aired 9/14/17)

ER: This is kind of a weird dream match for me, because Morrison matches usually miss with me more often than they hit. But I can't think of two guys in wrestling that have freakier body control than these two guys. These two can bump and move in ways that don't seem possible, like two fake fighting Marcel Marceau's. And this is our final glimpse of Ki in TNA/Impact/GFW/Wrestling Purgatory, in what was a predictably short and predictably awesome run. Low-Ki is the coolest counter wrestler maybe in history, coming up with all sorts of opponent specific reversals and learned behavior reactions. The two of them work some trippy exchanges in the ropes, with Impact being a step ahead and slipping in and out through the ropes, then Ki chop blocking a kick from the apron in a way nobody ever has, then locking on a dragon sleeper. Ki is maybe the only guy in wrestling quick enough to make this ropes offense work. Later Impact does a crazy baseball slide to the floor while simultaneously german suplexing Ki that I have never seen before, totally physics breaking stuff. Both guys have a contest to see who can take bumps that spring them farther across the ring, and it's a contest we all win: Ki springs back violently off a kick, Morrison bounces like a superball off a big ropes assisted mule kick. Both guys are so great at coming up with cool ways to miss moves and dodge other moves, Ki especially is great at making misses mean just as much as hits. He may hit a big springboard kick, but the match ends with Impact tied in the ropes, Ki going for the Warriors Way and missing, leading to him violently stomping the ropes in a way no sane human would do on purpose. Ki goes springing off the ropes and lands right in the way of Starship Pain, Impact's forever overshot finisher that in this instance works much better as a flash pin capitalizing on Ki's crazy bump. GFW just got a whole lot less interesting.

PAS: Hell of an Impact swan song for Low-Ki, who had a low key great run there. This match up really worked with both guys strengths, as they are both masters at athletic, innovative, but actually explosive stuff. The counters in this match have the feeling of violence, this isn't the Young Bucks doing cartwheels and missed dropkicks like a junior high school dance team, this feels like Jet Li fight, with the missed and countered moves almost decapitating the guy who avoided them. Loved the stuff in the ropes, and Ki locking in the dragon sleeper with both guys on the top rope. Loved Impact using his breakdancing karate to counter Ki, it seems like it would be silly, but he actually made a windmill look like an offensive move. Finish was completely awesome, that bump Ki took on the Warrior's Way attempt was insane, I have no idea how he controlled his landing enough not to tear a groin muscle. he landed perfectly for the Starship Pain which actually landed well.


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CWF Mid-Atlantic Episode 131

Episode 131

1. Sandwich Squad vs. Otto Schwanz/Mike Mars

PAS: This is what we wanted the Schwanz/Cutshall v. Squad match from Chapel Hill to be. Four big dudes throwing meaty hands.I really liked Otto in this, he is really great at playing both a crazy person and a talented wrestler. Mars is Green (which actually sounds like the title of a bad 70s sci-fi novel), but a big guy who looks like a homeless murderer and hits hard is going to be enough for me. Liked the finish, and I would much rather see Schwanz and Mars as the tag champs.

ER: When Mike Mars comes into a tag match as the smallest man in the match, there's a good chance I'm going to dig the match. And shock, I did! I could see 8-10 minutes of this every single week. I really love Otto. "Crazy" is one of the hardest wrestling gimmicks to pull off properly. Think of how many indy shows you've been to over the years, with some fresh out of wrestling school rookie working a crazy gimmick, making wacky faces and clawing at their face or hair. It's almost always uncomfortable, because you feel bad for them. Otto works like an unfrozen caveman Berzerker, just storming and clubbing and shouting his way through matches. I don't recall if there was ever a reason given for Otto wearing the face mask, but I love loaded mask gimmicks a ton so I don't really care. For all I know Otto just showed up wearing a giant mask one week and nobody said a word about it. Mecha is really good, a super big man who can sell. He doesn't overbump, all his bumps are earned, but his body part selling is always impressive. We watched him sell his neck for 3 episodes after a chairshot, here I loved him wiggling his fingers on the mat after being blasted with a loaded headbutt. This was good. 

2. Jesse Adler vs. Dirty Daddy

PAS: This was fine I guess. Dirty Daddy is great and is always going to bring cool shit to a match, I loved his forearms and the diving big boot was totally crazy (I loved the Sid name drop from the announcers). Adler is still a mystery to me, he is getting this big push, and he has yet to do one memorable thing in any of the matches I have seen. I also think Aric Andrews new gimmick is kind of cornball, if you are going to do Bob Backlund you have to at least cut off your ponytail.

ER: Another great Daddy performance, but these 10 minute time limit TV title matches work so much better with a heel champ, it leads to more desperation and a more frantic defense from the champ, and makes every move down the stretch from the babyface seem bigger. This was a match with a short time limit that wasn't worked as if there was any time limit. You could argue that the opening pinfall trading sequence was about them trying to finish, but nobody watching this match thought any of those pins were going to finish the match. I second the "Adler as mystery" that Phil is feeling, I just get nothing out of him. And if we're being petty about it, I hate the Van Halen theme music and the EVH taped up tights. I kind of assumed people stopped liking Van Halen after high school, and who can enjoy Eddie in this post-Eddie Van Halen Shreds world? But Daddy was the man. This guy appears to never get crossed up in the ring, always has a response and a surprising move or two. I love his twist during rope running where he slingshots himself around his opponent's waist, just using them to break momentum and change his footwork by hooking their midsection with his arm. His strikes always land surprisingly hard; here he had a diving clothesline that absolutely knocked my socks off. He also planted Adler chest first on the ring apron with a hotshot (Adler took it really well) and that Sid boot was scary but landed hard. Guys. Stop trying to land on one leg like that. It just makes me think of Sid or Gronda every damn time. I still don't love the "blackballed for 30 years" gimmick. It's a cute gimmick, but would be better served on a worse wrestler. Daddy's really good, and his quality more than speaks for itself. He doesn't need a winky cute backstory. 

3. Trevor Lee vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

PAS: I was a little hesitant about this match when I heard about it, but man did these two guys totally sell me on this by the end. The gimmick here is that if Sharpe survives 20 minutes with Lee he would become the CWF Mid-Atlantic champion. It ended up being like a Tenryu v. Ogawa match and by the end I was sold on a Sharpe, Ogawa style title run. Lee just tortures Sharpe for the first half or so of this match, stretching his body in sick ways, ripping his fingers, kicking him square in the thigh, one of the better Fuchi mauling I have seen. Sharpe is able to take over by tricking Lee outside and posting him, and then it is a pretty competitive match, with Sharpe using cheap shots to stay on advantage. Lee at one point fires back and busts a pimple on Sharpe's chin with a slap, which was super nasty looking (Sharpe has Jim Powers level acne for a guy clearly not on roids), finish is pretty exciting, in the last minute Sharpe throws the ref into the Lee on the top rope and crotching him. Instead of running away and winning the belt Sharpe goes for the kill shot and gets caught in a nasty STF for the tap. Really fun storyline match which works great with both guys character progression. Lee's arrogance almost cost him the match, first by offering the challenge and then toying with Sharpe instead of putting him away. Sharpe is trying to be taken seriously and instead of running away and trying to get the cheap win, he wants to pin him clean and it costs him the title. I was a little lukewarm on Lee earlier in the year when he was on his workrate indy run with the Day, Daniels and Elgin matches, but he has been on a killer run in the last six months.

ER: This was really good, and I like the different tones we get from Trevor Lee. We get a fighting champion, we get confidence that crosses into hubris, we get sinister, a really complete multidimensional champ. I, too, was down on Lee during the workrate part of 2017. I even wrote something saying that we were consistently the low vote on all the Lee matches everyone was praising. Then right as I wrote that within weeks we were among the high votes on Lee/Andrews, Lee/Mecha, Lee/Schwanz, and at this point when I see an episode with a Lee main event I'm excited to see him against anybody. This was no different. Sharpe has turned a major corner during the time we've watched him, and we've turned a corner on him. I don't think I saw any of the E# of this very moment even 6 months ago, but that's one of the great things about CWF: They're faithful to all their guys, and all their guys can surprise you with something great. I wasn't expecting a mean Michael McAllister brawl this year, or a great Cecil Scott comeback match, but those kind of role players deliver. Here we get a simple and tempting premise: If Sharpe can last 20 minutes, he gets the CWF title. Lee is a (deservedly) cocky asshole for offering the stip when he didn't need to, and Sharpe makes the most of it. Sharpe never ran the whole match (even when it made the most sense in the last 20 seconds), didn't try to get a sneaky Masao Inoue title win (even though I wouldn't have totally minded that...), and his stock continues to rise.

Early on I thought this was going to be an extended Lee torture chamber, and it's easy to think that after about 10 more minutes of Sharpe getting stretched. Lee had so much nasty stuff, like that Indian deathlock surfboard where he kept bouncing his knees into Sharpe's back while bending him at the jaw, or that vicious as hell tapatia (sold perfectly by Sharpe, as if he was being drawn and quartered), stomps to the knee and inner thigh, wrist bent, nothing good. Sharpe hits the deck before getting hit with the punt and wisely flings Lee by the tights into the ringpost. That felt like something that heel Lawler would do. And Sharpe then looked really good in control. He was throwing these short left hooks at one point that I've not seen from him, and the extended crucifix submission was an awesome moment for both men. Sharpe was putting all his weight on Lee and Lee kept trying to fight through it. The end was convincing enough that I thought Sharpe could actually come away with the title (even telling myself I would have surely heard that news by now, I was still thinking "but what if...") and I love how he valiantly died on his own running elbow smash instead of just taking the win by running around the ring for 20 seconds. Lee's STF has been an established killshot and getting stuck in that is like getting your tie stuck in an elevator door. Great showing from both men.

ER: And then it truly must be Christmas, as I find out we get CW vs. Trevor. God bless us, every one. Sharpe/Lee is an easy inclusion on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. Now what CWF regulars have yet to show up on our List...

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Reigns v. Jordan 2

15. Roman Reigns v. Jason Jordan WWE Raw 12/4

ER: I really  loved their first match a few months ago, but  this was straight fire. Roman went into their first match cocky and then got surprised by the fight Jordan brought, dropping his guard before confidently finishing him off. Here Roman doesn't mess around for a second, throwing strikes with an immediacy he doesn't always have, really high energy, and Jordan gets whipped around by all of them. Jordan isn't backing down but it does look like it's going to be a mauling, and then we get an awesome callback to their first match: Jordan is throwing everything at Reigns, managing to pick him up and run him back and forth into the corners, picking him up and running with him Matt Hughes style. Jordan goes for his vertebrae squishing spear in the corner, Reigns dodges like last time, but Jordan doesn't fully commit and when Reigns goes for his own spear Jordan moves and Reigns crashes violently into the post and hard down to the floor. Jordan starts taking apart the shoulder and Reigns is good at selling it, even feeling the pain while he's punching with his good arm, wincing bad while trying an Irish whip. But Jordan is fading and Reigns throws several awesome standing lariats in the corner. Standing corner lariats can look awful, but Jordan was making these look world class, really getting his whole body rocked by them. And from there the match kept ramping up and surprising me. Reigns comes after him on the floor, Jordan catches him and just like earlier, picks him up and drives him hard into the steps. We get some huge nearfalls and the fans are going ape, clearly thinking it's over when Reigns hits a Superman punch but Jordan kicks out. The crowd reaction was infectious. I love when you can see people jumping up and down with their hands on their head, flipping out over what they're seeing. This is one of the biggest babyface reactions Roman has gotten in ages, but Jordan has the fans too as Roman goes for a spear and Jordan times a perfect counter with a kneelift. Without thinking he uses his bad wheel, but Jordan still hits his gorgeous rolling northern lights and bridges on one leg, not able to put weight on his bum knee. Reigns manages to kick out and awesomely capitalizes on Jordan's injury, knocking him halfway across the ring with a Superman punch (great sell by Jordan) and finishing him with the spear. All of this was so damn good, with a note perfect build and all the execution delivering in spades. They had the crowd buying everything they were selling. The segment and this match was easily the best 40 minutes of Raw all year.

PAS: Really fun match, which showcased the strengths of both guys. Jordan is a really fun counter wrestler, I loved how he kept avoiding the superman punch, stopping it with a dropkick one time and turning it into a side suplex a second time. Jordan catch the diving superman punch on the floor was awesome too, it showed great strength and timing. That kneelift counter to the spear was great too, I really wish the commentary would focus on how good Jordan is an anticipation. Reigns meanwhile is just getting better and better, how about his smooth as fuck headlock takeover counter, when did Reigns starts breaking out Dean Malenko style counter wrestling? Jordan had the big showy bit of body part selling with the one legged northern lights suplex, but Reigns did a lot of really subtle stuff in the match, including stretching out and rotating the shoulder and wincing on punches, little things to show that the shoulder wasn't 100%.  Loved the finish too, the WWE has cut down on finisher spamming lately and this kind of finish works so much better for me.


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Lucha Worth Watching: Templario + Metalico, Dinamitas vs. Pierroth Familia

Templario/Metalico/Arkangel vs. Astral/Pegasso/Starman (CMLL 10/3/17)

ER: Who is Templario and why do I need to watch so many more of his undercard matches!? I have never seen him before (though I think he only recently started showing up on occasional Arena Mexico undercards, so I don't think I've missed tons), and he's like a 4th Dinamita. He works really fast in this match, bumping big for the tecnicos, but gives as he gets: he's a guy who will whip fast on an armdrag but also snap one off. I'm not sure I've ever seen Astral look better working fast mat exchanges and quick rope running than here opposite Templario. They matched up most of the match and I came away really impressed. The best was in the tercera when he took and awesome somersault bump through the ropes to the floor after getting faked out by Astral, then perfectly catching Astral's gorgeous handspring rana to the floor (where he vaults from in ring, handsprings off the apron, and flips into a rana). He fit in great with best buds Arkangel and Metalico, always quick with a save (and throwing nice clubbing forearms during saves). Metalico's ham was especially delicious here. He comes out wearing tattered office attire and carrying a rocking horse. Why? For he is Metalico. Later he kisses a woman in the front row. And this was no grandma kiss, he planted one on her lips, lips that have kissed before but never so publicly, paying attention to her, noticing her nice sequined dress, telling her with his eyes that she looks good for her age, making her sister giggle and the woman herself blush and wave it away. The cameras cut to a young lady holding a baby. One might think that lucha camera crews just like cutting to cute ladies. One might also think that this camerawork was implying that this particularly lady was just another in a long line of ladies who have been gifted a child by Metalico. Later, he would eyeball the big butt of the tercera ring card girl. Later still, he would take a nice bump on the floor from a slick Pegasso headscissors. The rudos got each others' backs, I loved the three of them stomping the flipping tecnicos, and again, this was the best my memory can recall Astral looking, and it sure felt like it was because of his dance partner: Templario, my new dreamboat with horrible torso tattoos.

Cuatrero/Sanson/Forastero vs. Mistico/Dragon Lee/Comandante Pierroth (CMLL 11/24/17)

ER: This was the finals of a mini tournament that included teams made up of dinasties. You had the Panther family, The Munoz family, the Dinamitas, Felino's family, fun little concept and I love the family tradition in lucha. All styles of wrestling obviously have generations, but the family aspect in lucha seems to be more much powerfully respected in lucha. This is super fun and energetic, with the Munoz family all being heels. I've seen Lee work rudo with Rush on an indy show, but I don't recall seeing Mistico and Lee working rudo on CMLL TV, with their nefarious father. The Dinamitas work tecnico for the first time I've seen, and it's funny as they don't really wrestle any differently, but they're now doing their offense against three guys acting like dicks, so the fans are into it. Munoz familia has some great bullshit in the primera, with the three of them working a new twist on their soccer ball volleying as they instead play a little game of baseball with Lee tossing an invisible head to Mistico who blasts it for a home run, holding the pose. Later, Pierroth fakes the crowd into thinking he'd actually attempt a dive, and ends up slowly bouncing off and flopping through a somersault to pose like Burt Reynolds in Vanity Fair or Shawn Michaels in Playgirl with the belt (which I believe was used as Segunda Caida's masthead from 2007-2008, before I joined). The Dinamitas are all lanky and mean, which makes them seem like valiant tecnicos. I love their catapult monkey flip spot that flings Cuatrero fast and upside down into the corner. They do axe handle attacks and act as great bases for Mistico and Lee, and there's something about rudos doing gracious highflying that seems deliciously disingenuous. It feels like showing someone up, flashy hubris, even if it's done the exact same when they're tecnicos. The rules force the concept force the perception. Lee hits a wild rana leaping from the ring to grab Cuatrero on the apron, with Cuatrero flipping onto the floor. Cuatrero is the best. Naturally Rush comes sliming out at one some point, and I know they rarely do 8 mans but add Rush to one side and Masacara Ano Dos Mil to the other and I'd love to see that. There's mask yanking and shenanigans, but you knew that. This was a real fun role reversal, well worth the time.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Old Guys in Arena Mexico

92. Solar/Super Astro v. Virus/Black Terry CMLL 11/17

ER: I love the annual (is that right? biannual maybe?) old guys show at Arena Mexico. The matches aren't always great, but they scratch the nostalgia itch, and it's great to see some of them really try to impress the crowd instead of just getting a ring entrance pop. Super Astro has lost a step, but it's somewhat inevitable after 40+ years of wrestling, and he's still able to fire off a big time tope, like a battering ram knocking down a castle gate. Terry gets mostly matched up with Astro, so most of his time is spent facilitating a couple classic Astro spots. But the Virus/Solar exchanges? Those are straight fire. Solar busts ass and while you can see Virus hold back a bit, but he doesn't need to that much for Solar to catch him. He and Solar work some nice submissions, and it's amazing how quickly Solar pops up to his feet after these exchanges. I loved that step up rolling armbar he does to Virus, and the match has an incredible moment of Virus slaps Solar in the chest with both hands, and Solar catches his arms and tosses him with a nasty overhead belly to belly. The "okay, okay old man, ya got me" look on Virus' face after was amazing. I'm glad these guys can still do their thing, and glad a nice Arena Mexico crowd still responds to it.

PAS: PAS: I am always going to be a sucker for a maestros match, and it is a treat to watch these guys perform on a bigger stage. Astro is always a bit problamatic in these as he always tries to wrestle the same athletic style he did 25 years ago, still he does break out an awesome tope and doesn't badly botch anything. Terry is a little miscast in these matches, he is less a mat wrestling wizard then an insane brawler, but he keeps up fine and I liked his role in the long submission train near the finish. Really liked Solar v. Virus, and we clearly need to check out their singles match. Loved that finish Virus pulled off to end the segunda, and Solar looked pretty springy.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Reigns v. Jordan

37. Roman Reigns v. Jason Jordan WWE Raw 9/11

ER: Essentially a repeat of Jordan's match with Cena the week before, no less fun, better executed in some ways, lesser due to similarities. I thought Reigns was really great at looking beatable here. When Jordan had him in the crossface it looked like it could legit end the match. But I liked how cocky Roman started this, laughing about how long it took Cena to beat Jordan last week. Roman even looked like he had scouted Jordan's wrestling, not letting himself get muscled around the way Cena did the prior week. But that just made it a bigger moment when Jordan finally hit that first overhead belly to belly. When Jordan took over it was really exciting: That dropkick was insanely high and Reigns took it right to the jaw, I'm always going to flip for a singlet straps pulldown, the rolling northern lights is a crazy spot, and that running spear in the corner looks nasty for Roman, and looks like an all expenses paid neck fusion surgery for Jordan in 3 years. Jordan's big comeback was hot and Roman was tremendous at making him look like he had a chance. Jordan nailed that corner spear so forcefully that you knew it had to set up an even bigger miss, and him missing through the buckles and falling to the apron was a clever way to set up for the drive by. I liked how the Cena match ended more out of nowhere, but it was amusing watching Roman notice the moment that the fans realized he was going to be winning.

PAS: I really enjoyed this. Roman is great as a cocky alpha dog, he reminded me a bit of how Lebron James acts around younger basketball stars "nice try kid, but you are a long way from the King." I really liked how he avoided the initial takedown and sneered at Jordan. I never really thought that Roman Reigns had much in common with Tenryu, but this reminded me of how Tenryu would work lower ranked guys, punk them a bit, but then sell huge for all of the near falls. I bought that Anjo might beat Tenryu, I bought that Jordan might beat Reigns. Loved how all of Jordan's early offense came in counters of Reigns signature stuff. Reigns goes for the corner forearms, Jordan hits him with a belly to belly, Reigns tries the superman punch, Jordan turns it into a crossface. I also love how suddenly this ended. Jordan makes one big mistake, Reigns unloads the kitchen sink and pins him, This didn't need a big PWG 2.9 count ending to make Jordan look good.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Sullivan v. Lorcan

57. Lars Sullivan v. Oney Lorcan WWE NXT 9/14

PAS: Man alive are three minute Oney Lorcan sprints about the best thing going in wrestling. Every match is like the first round of Hagler v. Hearns all action, shocking violence worked at a unsustainable pace. Sullivan is great as NXT Braun, really good as a brick wall and great at dishing out shots. The Lorcan bullet over the top rope tope which Sullivan caught is one of my favorite spots of the year. Watching Lorcan slap a guy, when I am so used to shitty US indy slap exchanges is a revelation. That final clothesline by Sullivan looked like a car crash. I could watch a version of this 100 times

ER: I got to see this match-up live about a month earlier, and it's a real doozy. Sullivan has a total freakshow physique from another era, and the leaner Lorcan gets the meaner he gets. Sullivan brick walls Lorcan with a shoulderblock, and I don't know if there's anyone in wrestling today who whips themselves harder into the mat than Lorcan. Lorcan takes a rough bump over the top and is able to kick Sullivan off, then hit a couple of sharp back elbows before flying over the ropes...only to get caught. Lorcan was moving at absurdly fast speed and Sullivan barely looks like his body moves when catching him. Press slamming a guy back into the ring is always a cool spot, and Sullivan has gotten good at these big lug spots. Phil is right about Lorcan's slaps, he has single-handedly breathed new life into wrestling slaps. These slaps could play against former sumos in WAR. Lorcan always dies for lariats (he should market bumper stickers that say "I bump for lariats") and Sullivan throws one worth bumping for. Best 3 minutes of my day, right here.


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Matches from EVOLVE 95 10/15/17

1. Darby Allin vs. Keith Lee

ER: On paper, I wanted Keith Lee smooshing Allin and throwing him as high and far as he could, and I wanted Allin to recklessly hurl his body at Lee. And guess what we got! Lee is massive so it's always pure joy to watch him catch someone like Allin mid armdrag, and things get to a peak level of joy when Allin goes for a springboard back elbow, and Lee sends his body flying with a pounce. Allin reaches literal new heights taking backdrops from Lee and just getting thrown by him, but eventually comes back with two monster sentons (one vaulting off Lee while Lee was on all fours, another no look senton to an all fours Lee from the top rope), but it is fleeting as Lee continues to crushing. This was what I wanted.

PAS: Totally fun stuff, Allin is great at working powerhouses, he had a great match in 2016 against Brian Cage and Keith Lee is a way better version of Brian Cage. I loved Allin going for his super high springboard arm drag and Lee just stopping him mid move and staring at him with disdain. I also loved all of Allin backdrop takes, Eddie Guerrero/Pat Tanaka level height. I also dig the selling on Lee's punches and headbutts, Allin almost convulses like he is OD'ing. I am buying Allin's offense more too, those sentons and the code red looked like they could plausibly end a match. Lee has a ton of charisma and big time offense and is a great choice to hold a title for EVOLVE going forward. Lee v. Odinson and Allin v. Odinson are going to rule in completely different ways.

2. Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson/Jaka) vs. The Gymnasty Boyz (White Mike Jordan/Timmy Lou Retton) vs. Ugly Ducklings (Lance Lude/Rob Killjoy)

ER: Another match delivering what I was hoping it to on paper. It's pretty amusing that White Mike of all people is now technically working in the WWE feeder system. And if Ellsworth can make it then I see no reason why White Mike couldn't be the next Santino. Doom Patrol (ugh has there ever been a good tag team name in the last 15 years of indie tag wrestling?) keep getting better. You squint and they're now like an indy wrestling Arn/Ole, especially Dickinson who I think really resembles Arn and even moves like him (maybe moves even more like Buzz Sawyer). They were a total force in this match, just throwing stiff ugly shots the whole match. Dickinson was super explosive; it felt like the whole match was spent with him running after someone with pure hate in his eyes like Sonny Corleone going after Carlo. So you have Dickinson just stomping and clubbing guys, and Jaka throwing spin kicks, and I think Jaka's kicks actually work because they don't look pretty, so he'll bounce his shin across someone's head and then crash, but it feels more dangerous. And look no further than late in the match when Jaka gets WAY too much speed and does a hard dive all the way over Killjoy, crashing through chairs, and then Dickinson beats the absolute shit out of Killjoy. You can practically hear him shouting "This is for making my boy look bad!" Ducklings are great fun, they make offense look good and they take big risks, and we build to them hitting huge concurrent dives past the ringposts, twice! Retton misses a pretty spectacular shooting star, White Mike's swinging guillotine neckbreaker is always going to look awesome against a Duckling, and now I want more of this Dickinson/Jaka Wrecking Crew.

PAS: Gymnasties and Ducks are pretty regular dance partners (they have a great three way with High Profile on the Chapel Hill CWF show) and have a bunch of fun spots together. Most of the CWF White Mike I have seen is as a comedy wrestler, it is pretty shocking to see him break out such athletic moves here. I would have liked to see a little more White Mikeishness here, let him do some talking or some sleazing. Really loved Catch Point here, I am a Dickinson fan and have been back when it was less popular, but he was at another level in this match. His vicious beating of Killjoy felt like something Tenryu might do, and indy Tenryu is an exciting idea.

3. Fred Yehi vs. Matt Riddle

ER: This had all the elements of a match I would like, and I like the two men involved, but nothing here really grabbed me; the whole thing felt a little hollow. Am I burned out on the Catch Point style? Possibly, though probably not considering we have several Catch Point style matches in the top portion of our MOTY List. This was not a bad match at all, not in the least. Most of the time it felt like a very good match, it just never reached out and grabbed me. It may even be a better match than the two matches reviewed above, but I was fully along for the ride on those. My main gripe on this one was that some of the comebacks didn't feel natural, and it felt like we built to maybe too many peaks. Early grappling was good, especially liked Yehi kneeling on Riddle's thigh and the struggle over a knucklelock. Once we get to our standing chop exchange I liked the twist Yehi added by stomping on Riddle's bare foot, holding him somewhat in place while he both hurts the foot and blisters Riddle's chest. Riddle pays nice salesman service to both the foot and his chest throughout the rest of the match. You never really see a guy sell his chest. The other week I had this random tender spot on my upper chest, below my collarbone. It wasn't a muscle ache, it was clearly some painful to the touch spot on my skin, and I have no clue why it was there, no clue where it went later that day, but I know for a couple hours I made several "I got stung by a bee!!" faces whenever my sweater happened to rub that spot. So I know skin can get weirdly painful, especially when a compact man is throwing nasty chops at it. So I liked that Riddle was manly enough to show that he was not enjoying these chest based attacks. Riddle eventually pays him back with some heavy kicks to the chest, after planting Yehi on the apron. I didn't love the use of suplexes in the match. It never felt like suplex trading, but they also didn't feel very important, especially for how great their suplexes can look. Often we would get a big suplex and it would just lead to one of those moments where both guys stay down. Or they would be too telegraphed, like when Riddle threw a lazy missed clothesline for the intention of getting suplexed into the buckles. I also thought Yehi's Koji clutch applications were a little too spotty, though I liked the finish of Riddle passing out in the clutch. There was plenty to like about the match, both guys clearly worked hard, and there were tons of cool moments (especially loved how high Riddle commits to sentons, so he either misses big or hits big), it just left me a little cold.

PAS: This felt a little like pimped Chris Hero PWG main events of the mid 2000s. There was a lot to like in individual parts of the match, but it felt like it needed the wrestling version of Thelma Schoonmaker to edit it together to a great match, just a bit too long and a bit too shaggy. I really liked a lot of the chops and kicks, loved the finish with the Koji clutch, but they kind of felt like they had a tight 15 stretched into 25. Just too many suplexes which went nowhere and running elbows for no reason. I need to watch their other match this year to see if it came together better.

4. Tracy Williams vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

ER: Killer scrap that mostly played to both guys' strengths, meaning I'm happy they stuck to mostly mat twisting and great reversals and limited the strikes. The two (brief) strike portions were clearly the weakest of the match, with a floppy seated slap fight and a standing exchange that even had a "Shades of Frye/Takayama!" commentary cherry on top. but the ankle twisting and shoulder bending was legit, and they even broke out some tricks I hadn't seen. It's good to keep adding tricks as they've had so many of these matches already the last couple years that it's easy to start feeling "same-y". So when Williams grabs Sabre in a fireman's carry and plants him knee first into the mat, or Sabre brains himself doing a northern lights but feels it worthwhile because it created an opening on Williams' arm, or Sabre going for a trademark seated hammerlock and Williams just yanks his arm out of reach and looks at Sabre like "bitch I've seen you wrestle before", or Williams adding a fun twist to the standing strikes by perfectly timing and swiping Sabre's attacks out of the air; blocking strikes like that can look like the worst kind of pre-planning dancing, but I thought they handled it great. The leg twisting and wrist bending was all really good, and I have no clue how they aren't going to all end up with stiff immobile joints by the time they're 36. I thought things built real nicely, and I liked the almost flash pin ending. Williams had been too slippery to lock anything too convincing on, and Williams was easily beating him almost any time they stood, so Sabre went to one of his underrated strengths: tight cradles on pinfall attempts. Sabre did an immaculate rolling clutch, locking Williams' wrists and adjusting his hips to make Williams' kick out leverage weak, and stole the pin. Very satisfying.

PAS: I am surprised I liked this so much more then Yehi v. Riddle, as I am normally much higher on those two guys. It feels like ZSJ may have absorbed some of Negro Navarro's mat stuff, as I don't remember his twisting looking this damaging. Williams has delivered some of the more cringeworthy moments I have seen in wrestling in the last couple of years, but if you stick him on the mat he can hang, and I liked how his more basic Billy Robinson style mat wrestling meshed with Sabre's flourishes. Eric is forgetting the part where they exchanged pump kicks, which looked awful, I really wish Gabe's memo also forbid strike exchanges. Liked the finish a lot too, and it was a good bit of commentary to treat the pin as almost a cop out, Sabre wanted to tap him, and when he couldn't he had to escape.

ER: We also get a super fun locker room-clearing brawl that peaks with Darby Freaking Allin doing his no look coffin drop not just off a basketball hoop, but off a basketball backboard. I will love watching Allin until his inevitable wrestling-related death at age 28. I'm happy I went out of my way to watch a bunch of this card. All these matches except for Riddle/Yehi are going on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List.

PAS: This was dope, I love Garinni as shoot style Big Bubba, and I liked how he just waded in and attacked, both of the wrestlers in The End are convincing scary white nationalist looking dudes. Allin is a complete nutter, honestly the closest thing we have in indy wrestling to mid 90s Sabu

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Relampago v. Imposible

34. Imposible vs. Relampago IWRG 1/22

ER: Here is a match featuring a total knockout of a first half, with one of those big confusing second halves that only seem to happen in lucha. The primera starts hot with Relampago hitting a dive as Imposible is walking to the ring, and the primera never really looks back. We get some nice brawling around ringside and into the crowd, tons of nasty chairshots with those stiff unyielding plastic chairs bouncing off heads and ribs. Relampago gets hiptossed into a bunch of those chairs, later uses them to pull off a double jump rana (chair to barricade to Imposible) into the crowd, later Imposible and him fight on the second level and Imposible flies off with a crossbody. Relampago gets busted open, gets his mask ripped, and Imposible makes sure to punch him a few times right in the cut - cementing his status as "quality Luchador". Primera ends with Relampago locking on a rough sub that sees Imposible hang on too long before tapping, injuring his arm in the process. And then things get kind of weird. Imposible is really rubbing his limp arm, and we get one truly awesome pro wrestling moment where a referee on the floor tries to yank at Imposible's arm to pop it back into place. But again, the segunda gets weird. Suddenly the referee just disappears, and the rudo/tecnicos alliances seem to shift. So we get a couple of pinfall attempts and no referee to count them. Eventually a ref comes out but he never gets in the ring, opting to count pinfalls from the floor. Relampago was cut and bleeding, but not nearly enough to make the ring a quarantine zone. You've seen refs get near wayyyy bloodier luchadors before. So all the pinfalls the rest of the way seem completely off, you don't know if there are rudo ref shenanigans, or if someone got hurt and they don't know what to do, or if Relampago suddenly went full rudo and was getting outside help. It all felt off. And then, Relampago - who had spent the primera as a valiant tecnicos getting bloody and still flying into Imposible - yanks Imposible's mask all the way off and pins him in full view of everyone. So...I don't actually know what happened, but it felt like one of those occurrences that only happen in lucha. Even with the weirdness, match was pretty terrific.

PAS: The second half of this didn't bother me as much as it bothered Eric. I don't know why the ref only was counting from the floor, but it didn't stop the near falls from being compelling. I was also not really bothered by Relampago pulling off the mask. Relampago was brutalized violently for a fall and half at one point Imposible threw him into what looked like his mother and grandmother, and nearly threw a punch at his mom. When they were brawling on the balcony, Relampago gets fireman carry tossed off a balcony, which felt like an attempted murder. I figure once those stakes have been set, a little mask pulling is fair game. I really dug this, violent intense brawl with some really holy shit moments, like the throw off the balcony and subsequent dive. We get some nice mask ripping and blood and a really nasty submission out of nowhere to end the second fall. Third fall was slightly odd, but nothing too weird. Violent, impressive and fun to watch


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Lomeli v. Negro

87. Chavo Lomeli v. Guerrero Negro Jr. Coahuila 1/1

ER: Every neighborhood in Mexico must have a tubby local tecnico or a tubby local rudo, born and raised in that neighborhood and wrestling exclusively in that neighborhood. Chavo Lomeli is in his late 40s, wears great tassel tights like old tubby Jerry Estrada, looks like current Felino (+ 40 lb.) and was unseen by mine eyes until now. And again, there are hundreds of Chavo Lomelis in Mexico, and I'm always excited when a new one pops onto my radar. This was a fun New Years hair match, and Lomeli has a great head of hair on the line. You remember Negro as the worst participant in the Busca de un Idolo, and he's mostly what you remember: A guy who can do a dive and take a couple nice bumps. Chavo is a big bumping fatty which is probably the quickest way into my wrestling heart. Negro roughs him up with knuckle punches and Chavo continues the tradition of fat guys being great bleeders. Negro tosses him into the third row of not ready fans, and Negro has a bunch of bad body seconds roaming the ringside waving towels and sneaking boots in on Chavo. Negro eats a chairshot, Chavo does the excellent Harley Race bump where he falls backwards through the ropes and splats onto the floor. Negro hits a dive and Chavo ends up tossing HIM into those same fans. Finish is typical lucha ref fast count BS, but happens with good reason as Negro throws a punch at Chavo, misses, and ends up throwing the nastiest strike of the match right into the ref's jaw. Fun start to the indy lucha year.

PAS: Sort of a B- bloody hair match, but we get so few bloody hair matches these days, and bloody hair match is such a great match type, B- is going to get you on a list. Guerrero Negro Jr. is easier on the eyes when he has less to do, he isn't trying to keep up with Dragon Lee, he is just trying to punch an old guy in his bloody head. There is an obvious Negro blade job, but otherwise he was fine. Lomeli was a blast, you just know he has defended that luxurious mane many times before (probably in better matches) and he knows how to work a compelling apuestas match. We have the dominant heel opening caida, the quick turnaround second fall with Lomeli turning a sunset flip into a reverse package piledriver (which must have shocked Negro). Third falls has all of the bumps and dives you want, and a fine BS lucha finish. I love grimey lucha hand helds and this was a blast.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Hechicero v. Valiente

42. Hechicero v. Valiente CMLL 10/6

ER: Really cool lightning match, and really Hechicero should be a guy who should just work a lightning match challenge gimmick. He's got a deep tool bag and is probably the best-equipped guy in CMLL to work weekly 10 minute singles matches (Negro Casas would also obviously be great at this). Hechicero tools Valiente on the mat, working some nice headscissors spots, really making it look like Valiente couldn't move if he wanted to. He ties him up, wrenches a nasty armbar with headscissors, does a sick rolling drop down allowing him to snag Valiente's ankle, all nice stuff. It's capped off by a cool German suplex variation where he lifts Valiente vertically and then just kinda drops him. He gets cocky and goes up top, leading to a rough spill to the apron that sees his knee getting hung on the top. Valiente hits a gorgeous rolling armbar that splats Hechicero to the floor, then we get a high speed Valiente tope and his still fantastic Valiente Special moonsault to the floor. We get Hechicero coming back and removing the straps (!) and breaking out tiny things I've never seen from him (like his leaping side kick under Valiente's chin). The ankle comes back into play as Hechicero locks in a rolling ankle lock, and actual effective rolling move as each roll looked like it was adding more pressure.

PAS: Total blast of a shortish TV match. These two had a great match in Monterey about a decade ago which was pretty much everyones first intro to Hechicero, and both guys seemed to have not aged a bit. Glad to see Hechicero get a chance to shine even in a truncated format. Really liked all of the aggressive early matwork, especially all of Hechicero's takedowns. Also it was nice to see the return of bump freak Hechicero as he really takes a nasty fall to the floor off of Valiente's armdrag, which leads to a great tope and gorgeous Valiente special, which is still one of the best highspots in wrestling. Loved the finishing rolling ankle lock as well, about as good a 8 minutes of lucha as your are going to get, would really love to see these two get another long showcase match.


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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 121

Episode 121

1. Jason Kincaid vs. Chip Day

ER: I really like Kincaid, glad they brought him in and I hope we see him more. He's possibly the most athletic guy to also own multiple Blind Melon CDs. He's probably the most athletic guy out of all guys called "dirt weed" by their friends. I kind of need to see a team of Kincaid and Aric Andrews, two lanky scuzzy dudes, Team Black Crowes Guitar Tech! Kincaid flops around nicely for offense, leans into kicks (and I really like Day's spin kicks to the chin, and his kicks to take out Kincaid at the shins). Day is a guy with a lot of offense, and much of it he pulls off effortlessly, a guy who has a moveset that actually feels like his moveset, in spite of it being large. And I like how his moveset can also be complicated enough to make him vulnerable. This was plenty of fun, and yeah I hope we get more Kincaid.

PAS; This was good stuff, felt like a touring indy match, with both guys getting to show off their cool spots and a sensible well worked finish. Kincaid has a bunch of really innovative stuff that all makes sense and doesn't look contrived. Most guys who work an innovator style end up throwing in a bunch of superfluous junk, Kincaid is flashy but it all connects. I especially love his top of the ringpost double stomp, he missed it here but it always looks dangerous. Day was landing his kicks good, and I really liked his ankle pick submission attempt. I am not sure what Day's persona is though. I think he should just lean into his new Wikileaks gimmick , have him dox his opponents before the match, he can leak emails of tag partners talking shit about each other, Day could be the guy who got LaRoux Smith Garrett's medical records. Maybe you could have Gabe sending in EVOLVE guys to take Day out, Day v. Fred Yehi or Keith Lee could be really great.

2. Cain Justice vs. Dirty Daddy

ER: I love Justice coming out quick following the previous match, and immediately getting into Day's face. I already want to see Justice against just about anybody, but he has a way of adding to potential future match ups, always setting up little reasons for other people to want to fight him other than "we were booked against each other off camera". It's little, but it adds a lot. And this match rules as Cain goes after Daddy's left arm in some sick ways, including snapping it back over the top rope. And Daddy is so good as a fighting babyface, always firing back at Justice with hard shots. I loved how Cain smacked him a couple times and then was shocked to find Dirty hits harder. Dirty is also super mindful of his injured wing, selling appropriately at all times. Loved Cain blasting him with a lariat and the look on Cain's face when Dirty doesn't budge. Daddy's offense looked killer here, I especially liked him purposely over-rolling Cain on a backslide, sending Cain flipping over right into a vicious knee to the face. I loved the spot, as at first I thought he had just come in too hot on a backslide, then I realized it positioned Cain perfectly and naturally to take the knee. Very clever. Cain matches always seem to go just the right amount of time, and there's always a lot of high end action packed into them. There are usually a couple little match stories going on and we usually get satisfying results to those stories. This couldn't have been more than 8 minutes but had so much neat stuff going on, with a nice satisfying ending, I'd really love to see these two continue to match up.

PAS: I thought this was really great. Watching these two guys match up is like seeing early Flair v. Steamboat or the first Low-Ki v. Danielson matches, just a pair of prodigies at the start of what should be an all time great rivalry. Dirty comes in throwing bombs, clearly fired up trying to drop Justice early, his ripcord elbow is really sharp and violent looking. Cain of course goes after the arm, and is really sadistic, very early he tries for a crossarmbreaker and when he gets counters, he immediately switches to the other arm. There is a great spot early where he rubber bands the top rope into Dirties eyes, and later in the match when he tries it again Dirty just stomps a mudhole into him. I loved the end with Cain knocking Daddy silly with some brutal forearms to the back of the head, when the ref pulls him up, Daddy spits in Cain's face, it was a great "fuck you" before dying, and leads right into Cain superkicking him and slapping on the twist ending. I want to see every single match up these two ever have.

3. Arik Royal vs. Beau Crockett vs. Mike Mars vs. Mecha Mercenary vs. Aaron Biggs vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: This was a bit of a rushed mess, but with a "winner gets title shot" stip like this you either work a long match and then have the winner gassed for his title shot, or you work a short inconsequential match that's just a lead in for the main. I guess I'd rather have the latter, as the main event singles has potential to be the better match. But this is one of those short multimans where guys are selling way too much way too early, and it's a shame because I like how a lot of these guys match up. Still, even in the short time we still get Royal taking a beefy clothesline to the floor (hitting his knees in rough fashion on the apron on his way down), Mecha throwing meaty chops, clotheslining Mars in the face, a big Snooty spear, a huge Biggs samoan drop on Royal, obviously some fun stuff. When you put some of these guys in a match and let them do things, those things are going to be fun. Crockett and Mars seem to just be in there for the same reason Misawa has Satoru Asako on his trios team or Stan Hansen has Lacrosse as a tag partner, or how Eric has the hottest wrestling analogies from 1997. But one of those guys were clearly in there to eat a pin, and it doesn't make a lot of sense that they'd even be this close to title contention. This was a "2nd chance" 6 man, when did Crockett or Mars ever get a 1st chance? I'm fine with the end result, as I love the Squad and would love to see them in more singles, but at this rate they may as well have just given Mecha an offscreen title shot.

PAS:  This was a fun idea, I like putting all the big dudes in one ring and let them pound on each other, but the execution was wanting a bit. Mars I understand because he is large, but Beau Crockett isn't 300 pounds so he is an odd man out and an obvious candidate to get pinned. Some of the work here was fine, but I would have rather had this go a big longer and have some drama.

4. Mecha Mercenary vs. Trevor Lee

ER: Yes yes yes! This is the first time I've seen Lee against a monster fat dude, and the first time I've seen Mecha in a singles match (let alone a long main event), and it all couldn't have gone much better. Outside of one moment where it looked like Mecha let Lee out of a tight pin, this was a fully plausible monster vs. scrappy brave defender with some awesome twists and constantly killers spots. These two blast each other with strikes the whole match, huge lariats from both (Mecha turns Lee inside out a few times with his great lariats, and one of the best moments of the match is Lee hulking up and practically dislocating his shoulder to crush Mecha with a standing clothesline), and some really cool learned behavior. Lee made up the size difference by being nasty and persistent. Mecha may chop harder, but Lee can chop you right in the eye, motherfucker! I loved all the play around Lee's apron kick, with Mecha catching the first attempt and grabbing him in a fireman's carry, other attempts see Mecha swinging at Lee's legs with Lee jumping over, and finally Lee hits one and adds another for good measure. They were really good at showing Lee's normal attacks might not affect the big man as much, or might work differently: I loved when Lee went for the STF and couldn't really roll him over, so Mecha ended up on top in a very close pinfall. Mecha goes into the match seeing the trail of bodies Lee's title reign has left in its wake, and clearly ramps things up, sometimes to his disadvantage: He goes to the middle rope two different times and never looks comfortable up there, but knowing how effective his awesome elbow drops are from the mat, think of the damage he could do from the middle? Lee is crafty and makes Mecha pay for it, and the build for this was really good. Part of me was rooting for Mecha to win the belt, part of me was rooting for Lee to figure out a way to take down this giant and put another notch in the belt. The finish was coconuts and well played, with Lee flying off the ropes and getting caught in what surely would have been a crushing powerslam, but coming in so fast and rotating so quick that he flips through and lands on top of the powerslam. The move looked awesome, and the pin was handled perfect with Lee getting barely enough for the 3, the reversal surprising Mecha just long enough to keep him down, kicking out right at 3 but a split second too late. Money.

PAS: Really good stuff. I love how diverse Lee's title matches are, especially lately and it was fun to watch him work basically a modern day One Man Gang. Mecha is really great at projecting his size, sometimes guys that big will want to show off their athleticism, but Mecha is great at being a mountain to climb. Even a simple cradle is super impressive when it is a refrigerator sitting on your chest. I loved how they set up Lee's german suplex, even great big men like Vader would jump a little too much when they got thrown, Mecha obviously had to assist on the german, no way a human could throw a guy that big with out help, but he didn't leap, Trevor muscled him over and it looked like an enormous feat of strength. I also loved the second rope moves backfiring, Mecha isn't showing off his moonsault, he doesn't belong up there and paid for his hubris. Also that finish didn't even look humanly possible, again somehow Mecha made a move that requires cooperation look like a one man miracle.  I watched it three times and have no idea how either guy pulled it off. I also love the multi match story they are telling about Lee's arrogance, calling Mecha a bitch and telling him to hit him harder, is exactly the kind of thing which will cost Lee his belt, whenever he loses it, and they are doing a great job of sowing seeds for his fatal hubris.

ER: These shows have been flying high lately, I can't believe how many we've already reviewed. And, as is becoming a trend, we've added another match to our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. Mecha vs. Lee was another in an awesomely booked main event program.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Owens v. McMahon

78. Shane McMahon v. Kevin Owens WWE Hell in a Cell 10/8

ER: I am unashamed to admit that I completely loved this match. Shane jumps Owens and starts throwing those McMahon brand potato punches (I could totally see a poorly designed WWE shirt with cartoon potatoes that says McMahon Brand Potatoes and then the back says something stupid like "Want Fries With That!?") where 60% of them miss completely and the other 40% all land on the most annoying places possible. Shane is the blind squirrel accidentally finding Owens' ear and nose bridge. I am now over the moon as Shane sweeps the leg and then does a cartwheel kick!! Holy lord this rules. Shane dropkicks the cage door into Owens and Owens boots him off the apron, with Shane taking a big no look bump backwards into the cage. Match still rules. Shane eats a senton and cannonball, then Owens swantons right into Shane's knees. Shane sells the knee convincingly afterwards, then punches Owens in the ear a few times. Shane's face keeps getting redder, and then he misses a shooting star press! And then Owens hits a full force frog splash! OMG Shame MMAcMahon grabs a triangle off a pop up powerbomb, then grabs it again from the apron leading to him getting powerbombed onto the steps. People are shitting on this match but it feels like a total miracle match to me. Owens misses a cannonball off the apron through a table with aplomb. This still rules. Shane gets DDT'd hard on the entrance ramp, and it was the least flashy spot so far but looked great. You knew they were going up to the top of the cage, because McMahon wants to make his father proud or something? And the Russian leg sweep on top probably won't get talked about after the show, but you know they both smacked the back of their heads on the support beam part of the cage. They're doing a lot of stuff up on the cage, and I keep waiting for a giant hole to get torn through as they both die on their way down. I likely would have rolled an ankle taking my first step onto the top of the cage. I dug all the teasing around getting thrown off the cage, and Shane's kicks to the ribs while climbing down were sharp. Owens takes a big bump off the cage and yeah, you know Shane's gonna do something stupid now. And my god that was crazy. And Zayn saved Owens!! Holy cow the timing of that was amazing, with Zayn grabbing Owens' hand as Shane came violently crashing - HARD - through that table. That did not look like a classic Shane crash pad landing. That looked like a Parkour Fail video. And weirdly this doesn't totally feel like Zayn turning heel, it feels like Zayn pushing slightly towards heel and Owens getting pulled slightly towards face. This match FAR exceeded any kind of expectation I had for it. I'm kind of stunned how much I loved it. Really.

PAS: I didn't like this as much as Eric obviously, although I will admit it had it's moments. I always hated the McMahon nonsense in the WWE, and now that the country is basically ruled by the McMahon family it is even harder to watch. Shane as large adult son desperate to prove his manhood to his abusive lunatic of a father isn't funny anymore. Shane falls off a cage, Don Jr. retweets Nazi's, it's all the same toxic soup. The spots in this were undoubtedly nuts and I can imagine watching it live would be even better, because there was no guarantee that someone wouldn't die. Not only did it look like the roof of the cage might fall in, or one of the stunts might go wrong, but Shane looked like he might stroke out at any point. Owens was pretty good as a psychopath, he has been mired in crap for so long I had forgotten he could be semi effective. Shane's kids smirking through the match kind of hurt the whole "die for his family" shtick. Finish was great, the dive was truly lunatic, and I liked how they filmed the save.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: New Day v. Usos in a CELL

30. The New Day vs. The Usos WWE Hell in a Cell 10/8

ER: These guys start with absolute lunatic bumps and crazy bumps are gonna make me get into a violent cagematch. Big E is a nutso bumper for a guy his size, and in one minute we get to see him splat onto the floor at high speed, then hit his spear to the floor (that I can't believe he still does!), an Uso takes a running leap into the cage, and things are crazy. Woods gets a chair thrown at his head and bumps to the floor and we get a good nearfall off a superkick. I get less interested in kendo stick use, but full credit to Usos for clever usage when they trap Woods in the corner to set up the hip attack. E gets caught on a spear and Jimmy punches him right in the freaking ear, then E runs him into the ringpost. They set up some crazy spot where E gives Jimmy a uranage off the apron to the floor, onto the sliding knees of Woods. It doesn't go flawless, but it's something that looks more violent the more messy it was. You basically had Uso getting thrown violently off the floor and landing off kilter on a pointed knee. It could have injured several men at once. Now Jey gets locked into a cell corner by 4 strategically placed kendo sticks, with Woods throwing shots to the ribs while Jey can't move (So.....New Day are the babyfaces...right?). They keep coming up with more dangerous spots, now with the Usos setting up a doomsday device on the floor with Big E up on the shoulders, and an Uso flying through the ropes with a crossbody. Knees and elbows and bodies are flying everywhere. Usos do a couple great big splashes, and then the handcuffs come out. Usos hang Woods over the ringpost by his cuffed wrists and beat his prone body with kendo sticks. Good lord. But they spend so much time on Woods that by the time they get to E he is ready to do damage (did he break the cuffs and I missed it? Or the cameras missed it?), and proceeds to do some spectacular damage, throwing them with suplexes and running them violently into the cell. But the Usos keep going back to Woods' ribs, more kendo attacks, huge double splash, this whole thing was nuts. New Day had a great comeback and Woods valiantly tried to keep going despite the beatdown. These guys went all out, came up with some clever uses of tired gimmicks, really amped up the violence.

PAS: I enjoyed this a lot, the Uso's have been building up a hell of a resume as tag wrestlers over the last decade, I probably would have enjoyed a more standard tag between these teams, then a stunt show, but this was a great stunt show. I liked how the brutality built with the New Day using comedy weapons like trombones and cymbals (although those trombone shots looked nasty) till then end where Xavier was getting beaten like something out of Passion of the Christ. This was a tremendous Xavier babyface performance, took a huge beating and I loved his die on his sword spirit. I do wish we had gotten to see Jey break out of the kendo stick jail and Big E break out of the handcuffs, those were two big escape spots the cameras missed. I also thought this went a bit long, you could have sliced it a bit and not lost any of the impact. Still this was full of crazy violence and great performances by all four guys.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki/Sydal/Fantasma

29. Low-Ki v. Matt Sydal v. El Hijo Del Fantasma GFW Impact Wrestling 7/4 (Aired 7/20/17)

ER: Yes, keep putting Ki on my TV!! I hate triple threat matches, but Ki at this point seems like modern Lawler, in that he can take any dumb stip and work a compelling match around that stip. We already got what I think is easily the best Ultimate X match, now I want to see Ki working a "blindfold match" or a "hand tied behind the back match". I have no doubt that regardless of opponent, it would make the MOTY list. He's creative and violent and lifts others up with him. Sydal is a super impressive athlete who can be turned to the dark side depending on his opponent. But all three work some compelling spots within a tired formula, and Ki/Sydal have the body control to make typically contrived spots look fresh. Fantasma getting Sydal in a sufboard only to have Ki do a wild stomp into Sydal's guys seems like something that would be tried in dozens of other indy 3 ways, and never look this good. They were able to craft a 3 way without making it seem like one of them was just hanging around out of the way, waiting to get his spots in without ruining the rhythm. That's the thing that plagues most 3 ways, and I never felt that. It felt like all 3 were right in each other's face the whole time, and it was awesome. We still get great spots like Ki plastering Sydal through the barricade with his gorgeous baseball slide dropkick, and Ki gets plastered by Fantasma's killer tope. The opportunistic "alliances" moved seamlessly, guys simultaneously working together while trying to each win, so we get stuff like Fantasma hitting a rana on Ki, then Sydal hitting a moonsault on Ki, with none of the three looking like they're waiting for the right time to get into the fray. Finish is bonkers as Ki hits a massive double stomp on Fantasma, covers, and Sydal flops onto BOTH of them with a shooting star. Awesome. It felt like they could have kept this pace up indefinitely, great showing.

PAS: This reminded me a lot of the three way which main evented the first ROH show. Neither Sydal or Fantasma are 2001 Bryan Danielson, but I think both are comfortably better then 2001 Christopher Daniels so it all comes out in the wash. Ki is a marvel in this, he seems to have increased his athletic explosiveness in his late 30s, which is pretty remarkable, I mean Vince Carter can still get up for a big dunk, but he isn't dunking harder then he did in the late 90s. Sydal is also a really impressive athlete and one advantage of a 3-way is we don't get a bunch of 2.9 count fighting spirit stuff, they just have a third guy break it up. Fantasma was fun, he got landed on in hurty ways, and broke out his great tope (although the physics of the 6-sided ring cuts off some of his speed) Both the surfboard double stomp combo and the the Sydal shooting star pin break up were crazy impressive spots, but the great thing about Ki, is that his elbows and chops are just as impressive.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Black Label Pro: The Darkest Timeline Tournament Phase 1 9/23/17

B-Boy v. Kevin Lee Davidson v. Simon Grimm v. Space Monkey

PAS: This was a basic four way, Grimm is the ex-Simon Gotch from the Vaudvillians and ended up getting the win and moving on. I enjoyed KLD, he was a big fat dude and hit pretty hard, although he wasn't in the match a ton. Highlight was B-Boy and Davidson pounding on each other. Space Monkey is a Chikara guy with comedy shtick, and would hijack parts of the match to getting in his horseshit. 

Dasher Hatfield v. Joe Gacy v. Mordecai

PAS: This is part of the booking strategy of this fed which is bringing in old names to end up with wacky WAR style match ups, I think they got a little cute with this match. I am not sure if Mordecai has been wrestling anywhere in the last 15 years, but he looked fine. Match was mostly Gacy and Mordecai teaming up on Hatfield, until the expected falling out. It was humming along at an average rate, until Hatfield and Gacy go one on one and it is a totally mess, they blow three spots in a row until Gacy hits a lethal injection of all fucking things. Finish has Hatfield rolling Gacy up after Gacy broke up a pin, and the rollup was sort of a mess too. 

Keith Lee v. Sammy Guevara

PAS: I really liked the first 10 minutes or so of this. Basic story with Lee as a the Grizzly bear tossing around and mauling the high flyer. Guevara took some big shots, and was hurled all over the ring. Guevara had some fun flippy counters and realistic bits of offense, he had a really pretty dive to the floor. Match falls apart, with Guevara kicking out of a big powerslam which should have ended it, and then the momentum dipped with a dumb ref bump, a low blow, a couple of long visual falls and a silly finish where the ref DQ's Lee off of an obvious accidental ref bump. Really dumb way to put Guevara over which makes everyone look worse. 

4. Ernest "The Cat" Miller vs. Ethan Page

PAS: Long mike work by the Cat where he calls everyone in the crowd ugly and fat. Not sure the point of bringing in Miller if you are going to have him work this kind of heel. Isn't the point of a nostalgia act that people are nostalgic for them? Page comes out and runs off Miller and cuts a Tommy Dreamer style "all the guys in the back are busting their ass." I am not a Page guy, but he does a nice hateble heel, recasting him as a rah rah babyface seems weird.

Matt Riddle vs. Tom Lawlor

PAS: This was pretty great stuff. I have been wavering on Riddle a bit this year, but putting him in with another MMA guy minimizes some of his more questionable attributes. The opening mat section between the two was pretty great, both guys were just rolling, looking for submissions grabbing advantages, high level stuff which is always good to watch. Riddle is a super impressive athlete and will often do something jaw dropping, after the matwork they exchange tough guy chops, elbows and kicks, and Riddle ends it with a pele kick which looked like it was in fast forward. Lawlor has a fun dick head charisma, shit talking, claiming Dana White sent him to take Riddle out, he is a natural heel and I dug him. His counter of the senton with a rear naked choke was especially cool. Finish was really awesome with Riddle throwing on a super fast triangle choke, and Lawlor trying to slam his way out of hit, only to turn it into a pinfall right before he went out.

ER: I thought this was awesome, loved Lawlor's bruiser heel charisma against Riddle's freak athleticism. The opening rolling was easily some of my favorite mat stuff of the year. I easily could have just watched 15 minutes of that. Lawlor holding Riddle in a facelock, trapping his leg with his own to pull it closer, and then maneuvering into a half crab may be my favorite mat trick of the year. But we got several cool slippery moments, like Riddle hopping into a rear naked only to get immediately shaken off onto his head by Lawlor ducking forward. I didn't think the chop exchange was great, much would have rather seen more mat game, but once they go to blows Lawlor throws some fast and sharp elbows right to the chin. We get several great catches and reversals, which I felt were the best moments of the standing portion: Riddle catching a leg and quickly sneaking in a Pele kick (one of his most seamless Pele kick transitions I've seen, and Lawlor's stumble sell was awesome), or Lawlor shifting to catch a Riddle senton in a rear naked choke. Lawlor does tons of things I love - that most guys don't do - little things like cutting low on clotheslines. It makes the clothesline that eventually hits look so much better when the misses all would have taken a head off too. Loved the Lawlor rear naked choke, the suplexes by both were nuts (Riddle crumbles better than most lunatics on Germans), and the finish was bomb: Lawlor deadlift powerbombing Riddle to escape a triangle, keeps getting triangle locked on after slam, so Lawlor rolls forward with it for the pin.

Dominic Garrini vs. Donovan Danhausen vs. GPA vs. Leva Bates vs. Rory Gulak

PAS: This was short, not very good and sort of a waste of Garrini. I had never seen Garrini work heel before, and I did enjoy him as a smirking meathead prick when he "accidentally" hit Bates. No one else did much for me, and at least the right guy went over.

Darby Allin vs. Super Crazy

PAS: Super Crazy is a guy who has worked rudo against high flyers with nice armdrags for 20 years, so he was right at home eating all of Allin's springboards, armdrags and headscissors. Really pretty stuff, including Allin transition into a somersault dive as smoothly as I have ever seen it. I am use to seeing Allin as an insane bump machine, and it was fun to watch him work as Rey Cometa. Finish was a little abrupt, with Allin countering into a Code Red, getting a two, putting on a Fuller leglock and getting the pin. Seemed like a possible ref flub, otherwise this was a blast.

ER: Phil nails it with the Rey Cometa comparison, but I liked Darby here more than anything I've seen from Cometa this year. He's smooth as silk in his transitions and he shifts into position for things quicker than anybody. He never makes his opponents look like doofuses waiting around to be hit with a move, he's just too damn quick. A lot of his movements remind me of the slickest Freelance spots. Allin needs to go on a sojourn to Mexico as Dark Freelance. Crazy is great as tubby asskicker, though I like him much more cracking Allin in the jaw than doing 1999 Tajiri ECW spots. I know there was nostalgia on this show, but Crazy is a guy with enough tools to still work without relying on nostalgia. That somersault dive of Allin's was flat out gorgeous, and this whole thing was really fun despite the weird and unexpected ending.

Everett Connors vs. The Sandman

PAS: Connors is working a Justin Beiber superfan gimmick, and this was basically Sandman coming out, doing his whole entrance (minus cigarette) and squashing the kid. This was the right way to use a nostalgia act, that is what people wanted to see the Sandman do, so he did it.

Darby Allin v. Dominic Garrini v Sammy Guevara v. Dasher Hatfield v. Simon Grimm v. Tom Lawlor

PAS: This was a six way match with the winners from the early matches to see who advances to the final title match later in the year. Both Guevara and Allin are eliminated almost immediately, which was strange, because both guys are good for at least a crazy spot or bump, multi man matches always need sizzle and dumping your sizzle dudes doesn't make sense. It comes down to Lawlor v. Garrinni v. Hatfield. We never really get a Lawlor v. Garrinni show down (I guess I am going to have to buy the AIW show with their singles) instead it is all Hatfield working both. I did love the finish with Lawlor turning a jackhammer into a nasty rear naked choke and refusing to release it. The show really made Lawlor, and I will be totally into a fed with him as the top guy.

PAS: Lots of this show didn't connect with me, but I did really like Lawlor v. Riddle which was got me to open my wallet (and is an easy choice for our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List), and there are enough fun looking things on the next show I will keep watching.

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