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

Timothy Thatcher vs. Alexander James

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

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

Daniel Makabe vs. Bobby Gunns

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

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

Daniel Garcia vs. Buck Gunderson

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

WALTER vs. Mike Bailey

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

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

Timothy Thatcher vs. Daniel Makabe

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

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

Daniel Garcia vs. WALTER

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

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

47. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Tyson Dux

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

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

13. WALTER vs. Timothy Thatcher

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

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


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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wXw Ambition 8 3/11/17 Review

PAS: Ambition is the yearly shootstyle tourney which WXW runs in the middle of the their 16 Carat tourney. I have enjoyed some of these I have seen in the past (Bryan Danielson ran shit in the first one) and this has a bunch of guys I like in it, matches in this tourney tend to be short, so I thought I would give it a shot

WXW Ambition 8

Bobby Gunns v. David Starr

PAS: Starr is a guy I have semi-liked before, he was a state amateur champion and a good grappler although in his indy matches he tends to get a little go-go spotfesty. Here he pretty much just showed off his big throws and fast takedowns. Didn't get much of a sense of Gunns, although I liked how he used digit manipulation to break Starr's grip and get the armbar.

Jeff Cobb v. WALTER

PAS: This was really short, two minutes or so, and was basically two big spots, Cobb giving WALTER (who is a legit 320) an overhead belly to belly suplex, and Cobb powering out of a triangle choke with a big powerbomb. Liked both spots a lot, would have liked this going 5 minutes instead of 2.

Marius Al-Ani v. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: I enjoyed this, Al-Ani was game, and while he wasn't in Thatcher's class on this mat, he did enough interesting things to prove he belonged. Finish was pretty cool with Al-Ani hitting a high kick, but leaving himself open for a standing choke by Thatcher.

Matt Riddle v. Mike Bailey

PAS: This was the best first round match, pretty classic striker v. grappler match with Bailey using his fast feet to get an advantage standing, while Riddle beasted him on the ground. I really dug Bailey's near KO on a high kick, and the finish was great with Riddle using an ankle pick while trapped in a rear naked choke.

ER: Fun hot and quick action from two guys I really like. Bailey's kicks looked incredible here, even moreso than usual, like that early lightning fast spinkick that almost disconnected Riddle's hand from his arm. Bailey is good at keeping Riddle at bay with kicks, and I loved the near KO when Riddle tried to close the distance. Finish is cool with Bailey thinking he has his choke sunk in but Riddle pulling out the buzzer beater counter. Love these guys.

Bobby Gunns v. Matt Riddle

PAS: Gunns slaps Riddle a couple of times, and Riddle hits two nasty open hand body shots, takes him down and taps him with a modified twister in about 45 seconds. Unlike Cobb v. WALTER which felt way too short, this was about the right amount of time and made Riddle look like a beast.

ER: Only a minute long, but a really awesome minute. Gunns was immediately over his head but scrambled admirably, but you could see Riddle two steps ahead of Gunns' couple reversal attempts, but he still looked like he was supposed to be there. Riddle just floated around him on the mat and tapped him, and it all looked great.

Jeff Cobb v. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: These guys have matched up a bunch, but I haven't seen the classic they have in them (although I need to watch their EVOLVE match), they weren't trying for a classic here, but this was pretty great. This was a short grappling heavy exhibition with Cobb beasting Thatcher on the mat, he did this nasty shoot small package where he bent Thather like a collapsable sofa bed. Really liked Thatcher pulling out an armbar from the ground for the quick tap. Fun match which really delivered a great match in the style of this fed.

ER: Jeez Louise would you look at Cobb? He's like a man cosplaying as a cinder block. As Phil said, this wasn't worked with the goal of having a "great match", but it was great within the style of the tourney, and a great showcase for what these two can do. The grappling is great, with Thatcher throwing short knees to Cobb's breadbox and going for all sorts of painful crossfaces. He was really great at trying to throw Cobb off his grip by jamming a palm into his jaw, rubbing a forearm across his teeth, and it looks like it makes Cobb angry. You won't like Cobb angry. The build to Cobb finally unleashing an awesome gutwrench was the best, and he follows it with a tough German. BUT, Thatcher shifts and lands flat instead of more painfully on his shoulders, and yanks that arm off. Awesome display here.

Timothy Thatcher v. Matt Riddle

PAS: These guys had my favorite non Black Terry match of 2016, and had another killer match here. Thatcher will do Thatcher no matter what, so which keeps Riddle away from some of his more irritating Super Indy tendencies. Riddle was a monster here, just incredibly fast go-behinds and scrambles, some of the more impressive amateur grappling I have seen, I loved him maniacally flipping away to try to escape the wrist lock. Thatcher couldn't keep up with Riddle athletically, but he is great at finding an opening or two to twist and rip at an arm or foot. I really liked Riddle's aggressive knees on the ground, although the final finish knee was kind of lame. Great stuff overall though, and it really delivered on the promise of this tournament.

ER: Agreed, their August Evolve match was the only match that my heart even considered putting over Terry/Wotan. And this is also really awesome (until a fart sound ending). The scrambling in this was off the charts and I loved the frustration building up in Thatcher. Both guys struggle wildly when one of them grabs a limb, with Thatcher bending Riddle's ankle until Riddle gets leverage on Thatcher's ankle, Thatcher trying to rip an arm off and Riddle whipping around like an animal caught by the tail. Riddle won his second round match in a minute and Thatcher drew Cobb AND had minimal rest in between each fight, so I love how he was the first to really go for almost untoward strikes, landing brutal downward striking elbows to Riddle's jaw. Those things landed so violently that I thought they were going for a KO finish. I loved how Riddle barely beat the 10 count, walking himself up the turnbuckles and slumping into them to buy a couple seconds. Riddle responds with nasty knees to the side, and ends up draping Thatcher over the bottom rope. This was ramping up pretty crazily, but sadly it all falls apart right at the end. I didn't love Thatcher's face first fall leading to the 8 count, felt like a really manufactured bump in something like this, but I then immediately wished it was the finish as Riddle whiffs on a KO kick that "knocks out" Thatcher. What a bummer of a finish, and it's hard not to have the previous 10 minutes spoiled by it. I can't believe they didn't call an audible.


ER: Fun show, and the final two matches were good enough to land on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. No telling how high that final could have gone with a better finish. As Phil told me, 2017 so far is the year of great matches with poop finishes.

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