Lorcan & Burch vs. Ever-Rise: The COVID Clash Continues!

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker/Matt Martel) 205 Live 8/28/20

ER: This is a pairing that we've gotten several looks at over the past year, and it's a match I always look forward to. They've had tags, there's a good Lorcan/Parker singles, there's a good trios, it's a fun pairing. This falls apart for no reason down the final minute or so, plagued with weird timing, and that kind of dampens what had been a typically engaging tag. Things were going well until the flat finish, and we were getting a couple extra beats that we haven't gotten in their prior tags. It was going longer, and the format was expanding. We get a babyface start, then a nice simple heel control segment from Ever-Rise. I'm a fan of Ever-Rise, love the throwback nature of their style and the improbability that they would be a pair hired as a tag team in 2020 WWE. They feel like a C show WCW 90s tag team, if instead of Disorderly Conduct there had a heel Fantastics. They gloat just a little too much on armdrags, Martel makes wild eyed grimacing faces that would kill at an Orlando tourist taping, Martel drops a nice elbow, nice journeyman heel control. Their few double teams are good, with the best being Parker vaulting off Martel's back with a big elbowdrop, but their samoan drop blockbuster is a good nearfall.

Lorcan's hot tag was obviously good. He threw chops that sounded twice as loud as any other strike in the match, knocked into Martel with a horizontal uppercut, then hits a top rope cannonball to take out Parker. In prior matches I could have seen Parker not kicking out of the cannonball. Late in the match Martel holds Lorcan's feet on a apron to ring suplex, allowing Parker to shift his weight for a pin - tell me that finish doesn't sound straight out of WCW TV - but the ref notices Martel holding the legs. Those are the welcome beats we get added to their formula, but the finish falls apart a bit. Burch is gone from the match an exceptional amount of time, and it starts to feel weird, and things suddenly feel super inorganic and all the timing felt a bit derailed. They're doing some kind of weird conspiracy theory angle where Ever-Rise blame the refs for their losing, and it takes everyone unnecessarily out of their comfort zones at the finish. Disorderly Conduct didn't need reasons to lose, they just got beat. Except that one time they beat the Armstrongs. Don't blame the refs Ever-Rise. Just look for your Armstrongs.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise 205 Live 9/4/20

ER: This is more of an Ever-Rise controlled match with the Burch/Lorcan roles reversed. Ever-Rise are more aggressive and work over Lorcan, leading to the fired up Burch hot tag. My eyes were blinded to most of this match, as Ever-Rise hit a dual fistdrop early on and my brain understands that nothing that comes after will matter, because this match automatically is great. A double fistdrop in 2020 is enough to make something work, and I think that rule applies to any era. I like Parker's elbowdrop vaulting off Martel's back, like his snap suplex, and like how he knocks Burch off the apron (leaving Burch barely enough time to break up a pin). Something goes a little sideways on Burch's hot tag, where he kind of whiffs on a middle rope dropkick after booting Martel in the face, but his German suplex is a nice save. The match ends when Legado de Fantasma comes out and wrecks everyone, so I'm not sure where that leaves us. I'm sure they'll just make is a 3 way tag match with Santos Escobar interfering from the floor, but it would be interesting if they made Lorcan/Burch/Ever-Rise a team and got a 4th for LdF. I'd like to see Ever-Rise in a forced babyface role, see how they respond to it.

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Oney Lorcan is Still Here

Oney Lorcan vs. Santos Escobar 205 Live 7/2 (Aired 7/10/20)

ER: I had skimmed through Night 2 of NXT's Great American Bash before watching this, and was able to briskly get through the show because all of the big matches (Cole/Lee, Gargano/Scott) were just the worst kind of 50/50 move trading and anticipated missed offense so I didn't have to actually spend time watching them. It was brutal and I'm happy I decided not to gut it out. And right HERE is a cool match outside of the now cookie cutter brand match structure, happening the same week as that show, where Escobar takes a huge portion of the match without Lorcan looking down and out defeated. Lorcan had his arm wrapped because of his match with Thatcher, which Escobar goes right after, and even though Lorcan is still able to pepper in hard strikes he is clearly hesitant to throw those strikes due to his bad arm. It's an easy story and one they both work effectively. Lorcan tries to end things quick out of desperation but it quickly put on the defense because of his arm. The match benefits huge from not just dancing from spot to spot, but with both guys fighting back in between spots. The first half of this especially has hard little shots thrown in as spots are about to happen, making the whole match feel more like a fight. Escobar worked some mean stuff on Lorcan's arm, including a snap suplex trapping his arm, and a crossface sub while working a cravat. He runs Lorcan's arm into the ring post and hits a cruel splash on Oney's arm on the apron. Lorcan realizes he's going down so he might as well do his best to fight out of it, so goes for broke with big chops and a heavy uppercut and a nice whipping blockbuster. It ain't enough, and I like how Escobar caught him with a cool armbreaker when Lorcan was slowed due to using his arm, and loved how Lorcan died on that sword.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch/Mansoor vs. Chase Parker/Matt Martel/Tehuti Miles 205 Live 7/21 (Aired 7/24/20)

ER: This is the kind of quick paced 8 minute trios match they should have on TV every week, the kind of match where all six guys are given something cool to do. Ever-Rise have become favorites of mine, a total WCW Worldwide C team getting regular WWE TV time, but they're really smart about being in the right place, cheering each other loudly from the apron, getting shown up on armdrags, and stooging for babyface comebacks. They have a couple nice double teams, like Chase Parker's elbow after a Matt Martel drop toehold, or their Samoan drop/neckbreaker combo they do to Burch before Lorcan flattens them both with a dual blockbuster. This is the kind of team that never would have made a WWE roster even 10 years ago, and I'm really happy there's a place for them now. Tehuti is a great heel foil for all of the babyfaces, and I'm always a sucker for heels who don't really have offense. He knows right where to be to violently take Mansoor's slingshot DDT, has a perfect catch on Mansoor's excellent tornillo, gets folded over by a Burch German suplex, and then takes over with learned behavior after holding the ropes on a second Mansoor slingshot attempt. I love a heel who takes over a match by letting a babyface crash and burn on something that he scouted, then tries to win with a backslide. Lorcan's energy is always going to be something that stands out in an energetic match like this, and his double blockbuster came at the perfect moment. But this was a six person performance in the most fun way.


Oney Lorcan vs. Ridge Holland vs. Damian Priest NXT 7/29 (Aired 8/5/20)

ER: This is a weird match for Lorcan to be in, arguably the weirdest on paper match in his entire WWE run. Lorcan used to be used (and was great) in matches as the underdog against a larger bully. It was a good formula for him, but he hasn't been in that formula for a couple years now, instead being paired with workers more his size. He also feels out of place in the match from a storyline standpoint. He is a guy who loses singles matches to anyone larger than him. He wins tag matches half the time, and loses singles matches to larger opponents all of the time. It is established that he is never an easy win, so perhaps that is enough to justify having him in this match - I like seeing him as much as I can, so I don't totally care - and that feels like they're continuing to slowly work him up the card. If you view his WWE career as a whole it does look like a nice slow burn.

And the match is as cool and fun as those Lorcan/monster matches, although it would have played better as a Holland/Lorcan singles match. The weak parts of the match were all because of Priest. He is 2020 Edge. Edge mainlined late 90s flowery indy offense, and Priest wrestles like Edge reappropriating UWFI striking into a stupider overacting Edge style of UWFI. It's shitty as hell when he gets too into that mode, but it's undeniable that he is goofy strike combo terrible in-ring acting Edge. Luckily, that only affected the weak parts of the match, and most of the match was very strong. Three ways have been passé for far more years than they were relevant and novel, but there is still potential for excitement in layout, big cutoffs, and close nearfall saves. Lorcan is the one that gets disposed of, but he gets as many licks as anyone here. He crashes into both with a great tope con hilo, times he blockbuster excellently, throws hard uppercuts, builds to throwing some of his all time best flying uppercuts. He was sending his whole body crashing into Holland, and Holland was a really great brick wall to crash into. His strikes and shoulderblocks looked good, he had no problem leaning into things, and he annihilates Lorcan on a clothesline to kill a Lorcan run. Priest also has a mix of Edge offense in addition to his "If Edge Had Seen a Takada Comp Tape in 1997" strikes, but he actually does a lot of that better than Edge did his offense. I really liked his big sitout chokeslam here. If your offense has to be a dumb twist of an established move, at least actually looking like you can lift someone impressively helps things immensely. He does that. And even with Priest's chest punch kick combos awkwardly shoehorned in, this match smoked.

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WWE Big 2, For Now? Lorcan, Gallagher 5/17-5/23/20

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker/Matt Martel) NXT 5/20

ER: This was a total mugging for Lorcan and Burch, and a fun one. You knew it was going short just because of how quick Burch was running through everything. But they didn't let the increase in speed affect execution, and if anything it made it feel like Burch was running harder into everything he threw. This was a quick and economical beating, with hard edge of fist punches and a great leaping kick right to Parker's teeth in the corner. Lorcan is the hot tag and doesn't drop the beat, using his expected big energy burst to throw nasty uppercuts and finish things with his missile launch horizontal flying uppercut. The only role for Ever-Rise here was to kick their asses beat, and they took a fine ass beating.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise 205 Live 5/22

ER: This is the best of the three (!) different matches these teams have had, with Ever-Rise having their best control segment and it feeling the right level of competitive. Ever-Rise are still a weird team to be in WWE as there is a team nearly exactly like them, with maybe a +/- 5% difference in talent, in every single indy fed in the country that draws 150+. They are a professional team who work matches no different than a tag team you see on almost every indy show you attend, and that is fine because you usually leave your local indy satisfied with that teams' match. I get the sense that just like those same tag teams all across North America, they can work heel or face depending on the night. But this is good, and I like how they focused their control segment around neck work. Parker does nice little things, his stomps are really good, and I dug how both he and Martel threw elbow strikes to the neck, and both bits of offense they did were neckbreaker variations. The Samoan drop/flying neckbreaker combo was a good nearfall, and Lorcan came real close to missing the save, really diving in from the floor with fingertips extended. We already got one match this week where Lorcan and Burch ran these two over, and it was cool to see the two of them work no less aggressively on offense, just allowing more room for Ever-Rise. Burch threw a nice german suplex and cool lariat, and Lorcan's chops and uppercuts sounded loud as hell in the PC. This felt like a WCW Saturday Night tag, and you know that's a good thing.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 9/22 - 9/28

205 Live 9/24

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Drew Gulak/Tony Nese

ER: Man I was cool with all of this. You wanna give me 15 minute 205 Live matches? Sure, make them more like this and then never ever go off the air. I've grown too accustomed to spending my Saturday mornings with you, 205, and I can't bear the thought of you leaving me now. I really liked the progression of this tag, starting out with Burch and Lorcan in control, building to Gulak and Nese separating Lorcan, and then setting off everyone's fireworks down a hot stretch. It lead to two different peaked hot tags (even though crowds do just seem like they are going to be permanently not-hot for 205). Burch and Gulak were a fun start, and Gulak was a real MVP during this whole tag. Everything he did showed more attention to detail than you typically see from these fast paced affairs. He was expert at setting up offense for Lorcan and Burch, while not skimping on little things that are very easy to skimp on when pace quickens. Every time he was supposed to miss something, he looked like he was actually missing something, not just leaning into a move. He had short quick missed clotheslines in ring, and the best was him jumping off the apron into a Lorcan uppercut, and the fact that Gulak looked like he was throwing a lariat off the apron before getting hit. Taking dangerous offense is hard! It would make sense had he merely jumped off the apron into an uppercut, making sure he was taking it as safely as possible. But here he is joining all the dots, showing that movements matter. Lorcan's hot tag was a blast, love how he levels people with that shot out of a cannon uppercut, and he was also the guy tasked with wrangling Tony Nese which doesn't always seem easy. Nese - as we've stated before - seems to only be interesting when his shots don't land cleanly. When things are going as planned and he's all brainless combos, I have no use. But when he's landing knees first on a moonsault or flying recklessly over the ropes to the floor and off Lorcan, I'm more into it. I liked the way the teams would come together, liked the tandem submissions, thought the Doomsday Device looked fantastic, and really liked how the teams worked together.

PAS: This was the least I have been annoyed with Nese maybe ever. All three of his big spots (the moonsault, the dive and the 450) landed with violence and force and he didn't do any of his two step dance spots. Burch is a guy I should like more then I do, but he was fine in his role. This was mostly a great Lorcan and Gulak performance, these guys have been matching up for years and it is so fun that they are getting to do their stuff on the WWE network. They have so many different big moves that look great, and small flourishes which add to a match. The way Gulak fell on the doomsday device was great it felt less like a backflip and more like someone falling off a painting ladder. I am hoping we get one more big Lorcan vs. Gulak singles, before the show ends or the title feud moves on.

NXT 9/25

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker/Matt Martel)

PAS: This was fine, pretty much a semi competitive squash. Parker and Martel didn't show me a ton of flash, but they were solid, and I liked the backbreaker running knee combo.  Lorcan is a fun face in peril, and I thought the summoning to the heavens by Burch was a neat touch. Nothing anyone would remember in a week or two but I am glad to see Lorcan and Burch get a push.

ER: This felt like a more-competitive-than-usual Wrestling Challenge match, like the Smoking Gunns were giving Well Dunn an extra control segment they wouldn't typically get. Ever-Rise were pretty unmemorable on control, nothing offensive but definitely a team that is there to just fill time until Burch and Lorcan get their much more exciting offense in. These matches are important because it gives guys some showcase while allowing them to work on mid-match schtick. This week on 205 and NXT they do they Burch Summoning Lorcan spot and this one captures the better angle, actually seeing Lorcan pop up from behind the apron, like someone Teen Wolfing on a crowded train. Burch throws some really nice punches, nice enough that I think he should throw those instead of his forearms, and he gets to land his nice Zidane headbutt. A win on 205, good showcase here, I think that the interest in these two is ramping up as we go into NXT head to head week.

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