WXW Ambition 3/7/20

Daniel Makabe vs. Kevin Lloyd

PAS: This was pretty fun. Lloyd was technically solid, if a little dry. I liked his gator roll, and he seemed able to keep moving and attacking. Makabe threw in some cool shit, including his trapped leg German suplex, which he made seem plausible in the context of the match, and the finish was great as he countered a kneebar into an indian deathlock choke combo. Pretty much what you want from an opening match in a tourney like this.

ER: I thought this was really good, a nice scrap to open the show. This was all movement, and I liked their movement. Once they started tangling this looked like a matter of when not if for Makabe, as he was constantly moving on submissions that Lloyd hadn't even thought about yet. At one point it looked like Makabe was attempting several submissions at once, locking on a calf crusher while tangling up the rest of Lloyd's body in legs. But Lloyd was always capable of a surprise, and I loved that hyperextended heel hook he sank in that sent Makabe lunging for the bottom rope with both arms. Early on Lloyd whipped through a super fast gator roll that looked like it could have snapped a neck, and it was movement like that making this one so memorable. The fight over the trap leg suplex was great, with Lloyd working through various stages of blocking before getting slowly dumped for a nice 8 count. And it was cool that Makabe didn't run right at Lloyd with strikes right as he got up from that suplex, instead coolly taking him down and tapping him with a nasty rear naked crossface. Great start to the show.

Chris Ridgeway vs. Vincent Heisenberg

PAS: Heisnberg is pretty big and outside of one throw basically is kind of a large training dummy for Ridgeway in this match. Pretty quick match which ends with Heisenberg eating a bunch of slaps to the ear and a kick to the head. Maybe two minutes at the most.

ER: I'd never seen Heisenberg before, and I can only imagine a Heisenberg gimmick worked on the American indies instead of, you know, an actual German man named Heisenberg. No doubt there was someone working a Walter White gimmick on some mudshow, with white briefs and the Heisenberg hat as their ring gear (okay I just talked myself into that gimmick). I like how these Ambition shows can be used as a way to introduce guys, as Heisenberg got blown out here but I can easily see him coming back next year and advancing. He's a big guy, got some WALTER vibes from him, but also thought Ridgeway would get the win even earlier with that heel hook. The head kick looked like something that would finish, and I like how Ambition keeps quick finishes in play, makes each move in a match feel more dire.

Rust Taylor vs. Tyson Dux

PAS: This had some stuff in it I really liked, and some stuff which looked pretty bad. Taylor is a So-Cal guy who was fun in the last Ambition, and had some nice spinny takedowns and submissions. I especially thought the finishing leg trap Rings of Saturn was really cool looking and he put it on super fast, felt like something Rey Hechichiro might pull out. Dux is pretty jacked and had some good looking takedowns and amateur mat stuff, but also threw a terrible looking elbow smash and weak clothesline, it totally took me out of the match. There is no need for bad looking pulled NJ shit in a tourney like this. More good than bad, but the bad was bad.

ER: I really liked this match! I do think there were a couple moments that got a little too pro style, but thought Rust's selling was strong enough that he made those moments matter. I thought the way he sold strikes and the convincing way he made it to his feet after knockdowns added to those moments, although I can see someone else making those moments feel cheesy. There were some great moments here, with my two favorites being Rust unrolling Dux's arm over his shoulder, really hyperextending his elbow, and Dux heeling him in the thigh to get Rust to break; second favorite, was late in the match when I was positive Rust was going to finish with an armbar, and Dux swept his legs with a killer grapevine. Also, Dux looked like a shootstyle Ron Perlman here, and that just made me like this even more.

Scotty Davis vs. Mike Bailey

PAS: Davis was the guy on the last Ambition card I wanted to see more of and this was a fun striker versus grappler match. Bailey was pretty much just kickboxing and threw with the appropriate level of snap and force. Davis has an amateur background and had some cool catches of kicks and big throws. Liked the finish a lot, with Bailey rocking Davis with slaps, until he gets his arm caught, Davis flips him traps his arms and elbows the shit out of his ribs for the tap.

ER: This ruled. This is the easy front runner for best 3 minute match of the year. I had to check at least twice to see if I was accidentally watching this in 2x speed, as both guys were throwing super fast kicks that gave us some cool near misses and just as cool knockdowns. Bailey as the unhinged shootstyle kicker is the Bailey I love, the guy who's out there throwing out sick spinkicks that are so ace that they look fully plausible in a worked shoot setting. Both guys were working super fast, Davis eating kicks but turning them to his advantage, and he did a couple high speed throws that really added to the Low Ki/Red feeling of this one. If you're making a comp of killer 3 minute matches, this one would have to go on there.

Ethan Allen vs. Luke Jacobs

PAS: These guys are your next generation of Brit-Wres children, and this was a rematch of a pimped match from Tetsujin. I appreciated the stiffness of this, but this is the kind of over emotive juniors shootstyle, which I didn't love when Takada and Yamazaki did it in the 80s and don't really love here. Both guys made a lot of faces and did a lot of gesturing and hammed it up in a way this type of wrestling doesn't need. I thought there was some cool stuff: Allen had a nifty spot where he blocked a slap with a kick, and then landed a second kick with the same foot. Everything they did had some force, and was reasonably well executed, although in a way which felt laid out rather then organic. I get why this match got such good reviews, but it wasn't for me.

ER: Very surprising that there has never been a Chikara worker named "Sofa King" Ethan Allen, but there's the idea just waiting to be taken. And yes the performative selling in this was real painful, really took me out of the match and felt totally out of place with the vibe of the show. It feels like there's always a match like this, on a show like this, and it just wasn't the time to show of your dramatic selling chops. There were some really cool moments that got put on pause, taking an immediate backseat to some charley horses getting rubbed out and some realllllll emoting. Couple nice suplexes (including a cool suplex out of a guillotine from Jacobs), a freaking screwdriver piledriver, and some other nice stuff thrown away in favor of having all the ham.

5. Daniel Makabe vs. Scotty Davis

PAS: This was dope, I loved how Makabe went for a shoot early and Davis just stuffed him and gator rolled him twice. Really established Davis as the superior wrestler, while Makabe would have to depend on his submissions. Davis is really explosive landing some great takedowns including a vicious standing gator roll which really should be his finisher. He hit an awesome Tazplex, and he is pretty slick on the mat too, he really slipped in a gogoplata perfectly. It was cool to watch Makabe outclassed like this, Davis really dominated him for most of the match, and seemed to have an answer for everything Makabe would try especially early, with Makabe pulling out this cool flash submission slipping in a figure four choke when Davis went to slam him. I loved the idea of him working from behind only to find a flash opening for the tap.

ER: This was great, super explosive and a fun surprise seeing Makabe kind of bullied and overwhelmed at points. Makabe is deceptively big compared to a lot of his peers, so even against larger guys like Eddie Kingston or Thomas Shire he holds his own. So seeing the smaller Davis bulldog his way into quick takedowns and forced rope breaks made for a lot of great visuals. Makabe is super crafty and smart at setting traps and I love how they established that his submissions were always going to be a threat. I wasn't expecting the fun strike exchange, filled with hard body shots. Sometimes the strike exchanges on Ambition really interrupt the shootstyle feel, but here they were scattered and skilled while also a little messy, that it made it feel like things were just breaking down more. Davis kept sneaking in body shots and finding gaps, but then Makabe had this great left hook right under Davis's ribcage. Makabe also really is becoming well known for taking hard rolling bumps off suplexes, really fearlessly getting chucked onto his shoulder. The finish is my absolute favorite finish of the year, a real highlight reel worth sequence. Davis rushes in for a takedown and Makabe goes up and over, and I was dreading Makabe getting taken down right on top of his head. But Makabe goes all Rumina Sato all over Davis's ass and brings him down hard to the mat with a hanging figure 4 choke, locking his leg even tighter when they hit the mat. What a fantastic finish, perfect for the story they laid out, executed as effectively as possible. Loved it.

Chris Ridgeway vs. Rust Taylor

PAS: This was pretty fun, I liked all of the leg fighting, with both guys rolling for kneebars, wasn't as fancy as some of the matwork we have seen in this tourny but it was plausible and well executed. The stand up was mostly cool too, although I HATE forearm exchanges in shoot style matches, I did like how Ridgeway popped Taylor with a solebutt to the gut after the exchange though, and Taylor suckering him in and countering with front kick to the chin was cool too. They really had the right four guys in the semis and this was a worthy match.

ER: I was not a fan of a lot of the stand up, as it felt constructed too much of timed combos with ducked strikes that missed by a couple feet, left-right-right-block-duck, all of it looked really mapped out. But I like both guys, so naturally there were going to be several strikes that looked good, loved Ridgeway's big sinking kick to the stomach and Rust just popping him with a straight boot, and I liked how Ridgeway built up to his big elbow to the stomach as part of his big final flurry.


2. Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa

PAS: I was trying to temper my expectations for this match. It has been nine years since their last singles match and both guys are in their 50s and those are a hard 50 years. WXW got the boys back together again though, and they did their fucking thing. This was an Ikeda vs. Ishikawa match with all of the horrific violence that promises. This follows the familiar formula, with Ishikawa the superior ground wrestler, and Ikeda the runaway semi-truck with chainsaw wheels.

Ishikawa of course is not content to just try to ground Ikeda, although he has some super slick submission attempts including a head and arm choke/straight armbar, this is not a monkey show and he is going to stand in the pocket and fire. I loved how they started with a pair of forearm exchanges, until they said fuck that New Japan noise, and commenced to landing straight punches to jaw and foreheads. Both guys ended up with pretty gross contusions on their foreheads from the punches and headbutts, and we also were treated to some nasty kicks to the head. Ishikawa landed maybe the nastiest strike I can remember from him with a wheel kick to the head from the ground. Ikeda of course was throwing KO shots including a spin kick to the temple which was the killing blow. I loved Ishikawa trying to fight his way to the feet after the KO, and then selling like he didn't realize he was counted out (or he might have been legitimately unclear where he was, you can never tell with these guys). It was what I wanted it to be, and I wouldn't be shocked if somehow in 2030 they come back and do it again.

ER: Wow. I'm with Phil. I came into this with tempered expectations, because yeah, they're both over 50 and neither work full time schedules, but they clearly take this feud importantly. We're lucky for it.  They've been doing this for over 25 years and they haven't matched up in 9, and here they act like they're never going to work another match again. This is one of the stiffest matches of the last decade, and it was filled with potential or worthy finishes. This had a real They Live feel, with a sense of humor occasionally shining through as they gave each other long lasting joint and jaw and back pain. Ishikawa is an all time punching bag, and Ikeda aims to break his hand bones on Ishikawa's face. But Ishikawa is always one limb away from a win, that Son of Fujiwara spirit always hiding in the room. This was all about just how much punishment Ishikawa could endure in the hopes of dislocating a shoulder. And Ikeda keeps ramping up to one of the absolute meanest beatings he's ever dished out. And think of the ground that covers! I love when Ishikawa gets baited into striking, as he almost always gets the short stick, but it never stops him from trying to land that one perfect punch to the chin, that one elbow to the neck, that one melon clonking headbutt. The problem is, a lot of the time Ikeda is perfectly content eating a Yuki elbow if it allows him to punch Yuki right in the face. And again, Ikeda punched face. And kicked face. There was this odd thread of humor running throughout, as the beating became so mean and Ishikawa showed such strength, that it became an almost uncomfortable battle between the T-1000 and the T-800.

Ishikawa looked done on several occasions, but he kept rising from the rubble and try to work his way in close enough to grab an arm. But Ikeda rang Ishikawa's bell with kicks, cruel downed shots, hard kicks to the shoulder, a couple of different head kicks that sent Ishikawa down in such a heap that I thought for sure that was it. And that was before Ikeda starting punching Ishikawa as hard as he could right in the forehead. We get a long run of Ikeda looking like he was trying everything to bust Ishikawa open with his hand and head, throwing harder and harder headbutts and keeping those punches coming. Ishikawa locking Ikeda in a nasty modified triangle. Ishikawa had one of Ikeda's legs grapevined and had his shinbone pressed firmly into Ikeda's throat, while trapping and hyperextending Ikeda's right arm. It was a damn fine mousetrap and I thought Ikeda was toast. Ikeda's dramatic escape from the submission was about as high drama as wrestling can get. Ikeda freed his leg and made some space, and him finally extended a leg into the ropes was perfect. Ishikawa has his own high drama moment, fighting valiantly back to his feet after a brutal spinkick right under the chin, something no man should stand up against. Ishikawa made me think 3 different times during that 10 count that he would make it back to his feet, before finally collapsing at 8. These two have such a weird romance, and let's at most keep our fingers crossed for a 30 year reunion match in 2024.


13. Daniel Makabe vs. Chris Ridgeway

PAS: This was pretty cool and worthy final to a great overall tournament. Really liked Ridgeway laying in his stuff, these are two of the better body shot wrestlers around and they were really banging at the kidney, liver and ribs. I especially love Ridgeway's short elbow to the body, really looks like it pulverizes the guts. Really great finish run, with a slick series of submission counters one after another, until Makabe ends up on top with some nasty elbows to the neck and a cattle mutilation variation for the tap.

ER: This didn't play for me quite as well as some of the other things both men were involved with that weekend, but it's a strong pairing and obviously they were going to bring some tricks. Ridgeway gets more momentum behind his slaps, and I like how they establish that he can work through Makabe's slaps while Ridgeway can shut down Makabe with slaps and advance. Ridgeway also advances with some nice leg kicks, a tool that Makabe doesn't really utilize. Makabe's strengths are similar to Yuki Ishikawa's in the prior match, his ability to weather some strikes just to attempt to grab an arm or a leg, and you can see the success in that as he grabs a nice armbar after rolling from back control, and even winds up fighting over heel hooks. Both of them twisting at each other's ankles was my favorite part of this, as Makabe had a cinched heel hook, Ridgeway gave Makabe's ankle a twist, and immediately it was as if Makabe said "Oh cool you want to see that?" and showed his twisting was superior. All of the rolling looked really good and it was tough to predict who would come out on top, both have plenty of escapes that lead to actual subs. They also seemed to be really smart with audibles, like when Ridgeway grazed Makabe with a kick to the stomach, Makabe didn't go down and instead sold it like you would sell a grazing shot to your stomach, by holding your guts and going "Oooooooooo". And while he was holding his guts Ridgeway hit him with a bigger kick. I liked the body shots from both; Ridgeway's short elbow is a strike I really fell in love with after all these WXW shows, but Makabe's short left hook under the ribs is a great weapon. Makabe is really smart about changing up his game throughout a tournament, which might be why we keep seeing him getting booked to go through all of these tournaments. He knows to keep enough tricks the same to give opponents and fans some muscle memory, but he does a great job at branching off into other directions. His cross legged cattle mutilation (following nasty elbow strikes to the side of the neck) was a great suffocating finish. At this point, dude needs to start bringing all his tournament trophies to the ring with him.


ER: This was top to bottom my favorite Ambition show, and we've had positive things to say about all of them. Was that helped by putting one of the all time greatest singles matches together as the semi-main? Of course it was! But we added three matches from this show to our 2020 Ongoing MOTY List, and a couple others weren't far behind. The highest recommendation.

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Matches from WXW 16 Carat Gold 3/6/20 - Night One

Mike Bailey vs. Chris Ridgeway

ER: This match never really grabbed me, because they kept showing throughout the match that there weren't going to be any real consequences for any of the actions they chose. These guys both do plenty of things I love, but it seems like their default style is something that I do not love. So we get a long elbow exchange, we get enough knee work by Ridgeway that you think it would have slowed down Bailey a tiny bit (it didn't), and we got a few Both Guys Down moments (which is too many for an opening match that only goes 12 minutes). You could make some really great gifs of all this, like Bailey's big middle buckle moonsault to the floor, and number of kick combos (although I was getting sick of guys selling a big kick by just doing a big kick), and several awesome body shots by Ridgeway. I didn't realize until the tag match opposite Ikeda/Ishikawa, but Ridgeway has a fantastic body shot, set up with him throwing a dummy distraction strike. He lands a couple here and they were both right towards the top of the things I liked about this match. There was also a great moment where Bailey went for the shooting star kneedrop only for Ridgeway to get his knees up...into Bailey's knees! Give me the choice of knees landing on my guts or knees landing on my knees, and I'm taking my guts every time. There was a real nasty clonk sound from their colliding knees too. Luckily for both of them, while they were down recovering from their clonked knees, it didn't actually bother them in the least once they were standing. Bailey's Ultima Weapon off the top directly into Ridgeway's back is such a disgusting move that it really should have been the finish, but by the time it got to that point I didn't much care.

2. Eddie Kingston vs. Daniel Makabe

ER: Here's another Kingston dream match being brought to us by a Europe fed, and this is the match I pictured when Kingston vs. Makabe was announced. I would have loved to see Kingston forced more out of his element and into a mat battle, see how he handles things, see how he brute forces his way through other things, and we do get a little of that. I dug Kingston working Makabe into a head and arm choke and how Makabe kept his hands clasped to force separation before Kingston could take it further. This was always going to be Kingston aiming to land shots and other cruelty before Makabe could take him down and tap him, and we got some good moments of Makabe getting slick single legs and a nice takedown where he slid to Kingston's side and swept the leg. But when Kingston lands, he lands, and the first time Makabe mixes it up and goes for the Big Unit, Kingston hits one of the coolest strike combos of his career when he smacks Makabe in the stomach and right behind the ear with a quick 1-2. We get big Kingston STOs and a nice lariat, all leading to a uranage and suplex so cursed (a beautifully cursed high arcing Saito suplex) that I thought for sure that was the match, wasn't expecting the kickout. Makabe makes sure to pay that forward with one of his best Big Unit punches I've ever seen him hit, really accurately pasting Kingston's chin, and Makabe's figure 4 German suplex dumps Kingston on his shoulder in an ugly way. The finishing exchange was a real fun clash of their signature strikes, with Kingston immediately shrugging off a great Big Unit and whiffing on a backfist before catching Makabe with a backfist as Makabe was going for another punch. I would have liked to see more style clash moments, or fish out of water moments for both (Kingston forced into matwork vs. Makabe forced into strike trading), but these two bring such a high floor with them that of course this was good.

PAS: I thought this was excellent, one of the coolest things about Kingston is his variability. We saw him work as Fuerza Guerrera in an LA Park match, and here he is working like Kawada in a Daniel Makabe match. Eddie is a sneaky good matworker and I liked all of the early matwork, including Eddie with a power takedown and working into side control. I want to second the greatness of the Kingston big punch counter, the quick shot to the ribs and palm to the ear was totally awesome stuff. I love when wrestlers beat someone to the punch instead of just exchanging. All of the suplexes in this match were super nasty, both guys were landing hard on shoulders and necks, nothing was a flat back bump. I also love the backfist as a KO move, and this was an especially great one. Kingston almost left his feet, and Makabe slumped like his lights shut off. Makabe has been on a big run for the last couple of years, and this was one of my favorite matches of his, and Kingston continues to be the best.

Black Taurus vs. Shigehiro Irie

ER: This was definitely stiff heavyweight wrestling, and had some incredible moments, while also having plenty of moments that minimized the impressiveness of some of their best attacks. This had plenty of those moments that are the lamest version of something cool: instead of just hitting hard shoulderblocks like Scott Norton, they have to hit hard shoulderblocks that bounce them back into the ropes and spring back into another shoulderblock that sends the other guy bouncing back into the ropes; instead of Irie using a elbow smash to repel a charging Taurus, they just stood there and traded a dozen of them. You don't need to throw 3 western lariats to win, and Eddie Kingston on this same card shows the value of having a killshot (his spinning backfist) instead of hitting hard but demanding no consistent selling. Hitting hard is cool, but hitting hard sold by standing back up like nothing happened and continuing to hit hard? That just undersells what punishment they're actually dealing.

These two undeniably have a ton of cool tricks, no shortage of cool shit to make people leap out of their chairs. Early on Irie hits a tope while Taurus is seated on the apron, crashing both of them into the guardrail with a visual like nothing I've seen. And I can't stand that they did so many things that approached "nothing I've seen" and all of those things got sold exactly the same as everything else. Taurus has some great stuff, a high rotation powerslam, big agility spots like a springboard corkscrew cannonball, and the fearlessness to really run right through Irie. Watching Taurus run full weight into and through Irie is a treat. Irie has a wild set of offense, from cool little things like his slingshot standing splash, to HUGE things like that bananas springboard samoan drop he pulled. Just attempting something like that is pure madness. We got heavy cannonballs and a perfect spear, and plenty of these two crashing into each other at full speed. But there's a strong can vs. should aspect to this, and some restraint would have made the work pop more.

Jeff Cobb vs. Alexander James

PAS: This had some moments I really liked. James was working straight heel, which is refreshing in a tourney setup like this. It is good to have some character work instead of just a series of guys working "great matches." Cobb is one of the most explosive wrestlers in the world, so it is tough for a guy to try to go toe to toe with high impact moves against him. I liked James dropping Cobb on the floor with a Tower of London and dragging him up the aisle to try to get the count out. I really would have liked that to be more of a focus of the match, but they just went back to a back and forth match after that.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Ikeda/Ishikawa vs. Ridgeway/Makabe

8. Daisuke Ikeda/Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daniel Makabe/Chris Ridgeway WXW 3/5

PAS: Such a treat to get to see new Ishikawa and Ikeda footage. This is clearly a thrill for their opponents, don't know a ton about Ridgeway but I know Makabe is a giant BattlArts mark and this had to be like a fantasy camp for him. Ishikawa has been more active than Ikeda in recent years, and he still looks likes one of the absolute best in the world. There are a bunch of very cool moments in this match, where Makabe seems like he has Ishikawa caught in something only to see Ishikawa smoothly reverse his way out. The way he spun into a cross armbreaker was just masterful. Ridgeway and Ikeda matched up, and Ridgeway clearly understood how hard he had to hit in a Daisuke Ikeda match. There were a bunch of elbow exchanges in this match - which I don't love - but I did like how both Makabe and Ridgeway would mix in sharp elbows to the body to get an advantage. Ikeda hit pretty hard in this, but never Daisuke Ikeda hard (hopefully that came in the singles against Ishikawa), and I was hoping for this to hit that level of sublime violence which the best BattlArts/FUTEN tags reach. It never got there, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything we got.

ER: Just the fact that this match happened would have likely been enough to make me happy. This feels like an alternate timeline WCW WorldWide match that someone finds years after it happened. Makabe has been one of the most creative and high quality mat workers of the past few years, so seeing him up against two guys who really made me dive into that style was really special. Seeing Makabe get tied up and scramble to save his arms from Yuki was a treat, and I absolutely loved all of Ridgeway's submission attempts on Ikeda. He and Ikeda were constantly going after each other's knees and ankles, from their first roll to their last. Ridgeway broke out some tricks that I didn't expect and appeared to genuinely flummox Ikeda, my favorite moment being Ridgeway twisting through an Ikeda attempt at a kneebar and getting a figure 4 across his knee and ankle. And I really liked the strikes thrown between Ikeda and Ridgeway, actually jumped the first time Ridgeway realllly punted Ikeda in the back after a snapmare. Now, I jumped because I thought a kick like that to a guy like Ikeda was just a fancy way of signing your death certificate, but I loved how Ridgeway sold all of Ikeda's strikes after that. Ikeda came in with some blistering shots to Ridgeway's back and triceps, then threw a few isolated elbow strikes. Ridgeway fought up after each strike, but there was no silly stand and trade, just Ridgeway not backing down until Ikeda really put him down. And it lead to something even better, which was Ridgeway starting to throw decoy strikes to throw Ikeda off his game. Ridgeway threw a sucker high kick that Ikeda bit at, leading to Ridgeway throwing heavy weight behind a shot to Ikeda's body. Later, while working for an ankle lock, Ridgeway leans in his chin to sucker Ikeda into going for an enziguiri, which Ridgeway dodges and grabs *that* ankle. Dug Makabe's hot tag as he capitalizes on the body shots Ridgeway had just dished out to Ishikawa, pastes Yuki with a corner dropkick, and even gets off the Big Unit. Seeing Makabe hit a Big Unit punch on Ishikawa AND Ikeda was something special, and now I'm gonna need to see him fire that off on Katsumi Usuda, Carl Malenko, Takeshi Ono, Alexander Otsuka, just start working a gimmick where he's tracking down old Batt guys to punch, the way some try to visit every MLB stadium. I'll be the first to write about the GoPro video of Makabe finding out where Urban Ken lives and then punching him in the face right as Ken opens the door. Makabe can even call him Suburban Ken as he mocks the man at his own home. Anyway, the match doesn't quite cash in on things they were building to, and the end felt a little abrupt after what we'd seen, but I find no faults whatsoever with the actual ring work. That was everything my eyes wanted.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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WXW Ambition 3/9/19

This is the annual shootstyle show which WXW runs 16 Carat weekend. The quality of these show usually veers wildly, but it is always interesting to check out. This of course has an all time dream match Superfight, but I figured I would check the whole thing out

Rico Bushido vs. Veit Muller

PAS: Bushido has these really flamboyant kicks, they don't always land with the appropriate amount of thud, but they are flashy. His destiny should have been a guy carried by Masakatsu Funaki in a early PWFG show. Muller is another of the seemingly endless fash looking WXW guys. Their whole roster looks like they are about to burn down a mosque. Muller is able to get through the kicks and take him down with a nice judo throw, and hits some nasty body shots and stomps on the interior knee. There are a couple of other nice scrambles with Muller landing some nasty elbows and headbutts to the sternum, his offense was definitely less dynamic, but more painful looking. Bushido wins with a jumping enziguiri which didn't land full, but looked OK. Compact and fun.

Punch Drunk Istria vs. Danny Jones

PAS: This was pretty good too, mostly grappling, which was solid, with one really great taking of the back by Jones. We get one exchange of slaps which rang out, with Istria landing one on the ear and transitioning into a cross armbreaker for the tap. Too short to really get a great idea of either guy, but certainly solid.

Laurance Roman vs. Shigehiro Irie

PAS: Another short but solid match with Roman trying to wrestle with Irie and getting tossed around the ring. Irie does nice job of using his power here, and eventually smothers Roman with a choke. Really hard to get any idea of Roman who basically gets overwhelmed.

A-Kid vs. Chris Ridgeway

PAS: This was the longest and fanciest of the first round matches. Most of the Ambition matches feel like guys just sort of sparring until a finish, this was a match with spots. There were some cool ones, Ridgeway hits a high kick which A-Kid does a great crosseyed sell of. Ridgeway was really throwing heat.  Kid does a cool Minoru Tanaka armbar take down into a crossface, and Ridgeway hits some big chest kicks into a Fujiwara. The shortness of Ambition matches kept this from bloating and it was pretty good stuff. Wouldn't mind seeing more of both guys.

Punch Drunk Istria vs. Rico Bushido

PAS: I really liked this, much more mat work from Bushido then in his first match, and he looked perfectly content. He would do a bunch of really athletic pass attempts to try to get mount, while Istria would grab limbs and twist. He spent most of the match twisting the arm and working for a chicken wing. Finish was great with Bushido countering the hammerlock with an exploder and then hits a thrust kick to the stomach for a body shot KO.

ER: This was a fun bit of twisting, agree with Phil that the passes in this - which made up the bulk of the big moments - were fun and aggressive and it was neat seeing the risks taken. Bushido would roll in like an impatient Sakuraba, one time doing a shoulder roll and trying to come up with an arm, another time sliding in on his back which allowed Istria to shift his hips and affect Bushido's landing. We get several fun scramble moments, I really liked at the beginning of the match where Bushido accidentally fell hard out of the ring; I never know if things like that are planned or if that was a built in way to make him more aggressive, but either way I liked it. Istria kept looking like he would lock in something nasty about Bushido's arm or wrist, and I loved the surprise exploder with just a simple front kick to the stomach being the finish. Taking a big foot to the lower abdomen would surely put me down, and I thought it worked great as the finish here.

Shigehiro Irie vs. Chris Ridgeway

PAS: This was worked like a poor man's Vader vs. a poor man's Takada which is a fun match structure. Irie is eating his opponents up a bit in this tourney, so we didn't get to see as much of Ridgeway in this match as his first round. I really liked Irie's clubbing forearms, and the forearms to the back of the head are a hell of a finish. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: An Ishikawa master class, the kind of all time performance we can expect from one of the true greats. Thatcher tries to hang on the mat but gets out thought over and over, and eventually just starts throwing big shots, he has the size advantage and is going for the KO before Ishikawa can wrap him up with a submission. Or he would use big shots to set up simpler submissions hoping to stun Ishikawa enough so that Ishikawa couldn't trade with him, but found opportunities to sneak in a body shot or a nasty chop to the shoulder blade. At one point he ties up Thatcher's limbs and cracks him with a headbutt. The finishing run was totally awesome, Thatcher slips out of a guillotine, gets mount and starts raining down big forearms, Ishikawa evades, grabs the leg and transitions from leglock to Fujiwara to leglock, to STF for the tap, everytime Thatcher would try to counter, Ishikawa would shift to a different attack, some of the coolest counter grappling I have ever seen, what a legend. Great, great match which is going to be in contention for a top of a MOTY list all year.

ER: Magnificent match. As I was watching it I was thinking this might be the best shootstyle match this decade, and by the time the match was over I knew it was among the best shootstyle matches all time. This really stands proudly next to the best fake fighting has to offer, a fully exhilarating use of 15 minutes. This may be the most actual offense we've ever gotten from a Yuki Ishikawa match, which is a weird thing to be happening now that he's in his 50s. I always viewed him as more of a Fujiwara-like defensive wrestler, and here even when he's taking shots from Thatcher it feels like he's setting something up. And both guys to lay in some savage shots, with Ishikawa dishing out hard downward strikes to Thatcher's trap and collarbone (while tying up his head and arm) and we get a huge KO punch moment that was timed perfectly. Thatcher threw some chilling strikes, a gorgeous combo when Ishikawa pulls guard and Thatcher punches stomach while immediately following up with an elbow to the jaw, and several punches right to Ishikawa's neck. Strikes seemed like the only way Thatcher had any kind of advantage. His slaps landed harder, he threw more elbows, but almost all of them seemed out of desperation because Ishikawa was sending him regularly scrabbling for the ropes.

Ishikawa is so masterful here, turning any pass into a dangerous submission attempt, and turning every submission attempt into two other submission attempts, some at the same time! There were several moments where Thatcher looked about to tap, and I wasn't sure what specific hold at that moment was going to be the breaking point. Ishikawa looked filled with glee as he would trap Thatcher's leg, work an STF, pull an arm aside and start bending that while never letting up on his original hold. We get great moments of Thatcher desperately reaching for ropes only to have Ishikawa grab his reaching arm and start punishing it. This honestly felt like the most master class of all Ishikawa matches, improbably arriving in his 52nd year. I loved the aggression from both, with every strike thrown with the intention of opening up an opponent for a more dangerous follow up, and every sub getting worked as a possible finish. There are several years where this would have been the #1 match, and this is now two years in a row where we've been presented with a very difficult to beat MOTY contender very early in the year. If any matches start approaching this one for the #1 spot, we'll be viewing some class.

Shigehiro Irie vs. Rico Bushido

PAS: That last match is a nearly impossible act to follow. I appreciate how they tried to work a much more theatrical and flamboyant match, and while it didn't fully work for me, I think it was a smart choice. Bushido really leans into the Bruce Leroyness of his attack, lots of lightning strikes and wild kicks. Irie probably oversold some of the goofier shots which took me out of it. I did really like the finish, with Bushido leaping into a crazy choke, only to see Irie backpack bomb him on the turnbuckles. Bushido does this really fun concussion sell and falls right into the Kata Haji Me for the tap. Fun if not a little silly, and a fine finish to a nifty card.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Tetsujin Shoot Style 11/20/15

Really cool oddity of a show. A British wrestling radio show promotes a shootstyle tourney made up of mostly under the radar British guys (no Sabre, Scurll, Ospreay, etc.) and it comes off way better than it should have. You can order it here.

1. Jack Gallagher v. Zack Gibson

PAS: Gallagher is in full gi here, he is guy I had seen before and enjoyed, he always seemed like one of the more natural guys doing new age WOS stuff. Here he was really cool as a Tamura-ish shootstyle grappler, he kept falling into guard and inviting Gibson to roll with him.  I though Gibson looked fine, but Gallagher was on another level. This built nicely to a pretty hot finish, with Gibson doing a deadlift powerbomb for a near KO, and Gallagher ripping off a nice flying choke and doing a cool arm shift to synch in the choke, almost looked like the way Cody McKenzie would sleep people during the Ultimate Fighter.

ER: I loved the way this was paced, loved the RINGS vibe. Trying to do a whole show featuring these kind of matches worked by guys who don't normally do these kind of matches seems like a Brawl for All type disaster waiting to happen. Just torn muscles and knocked loose teeth and ligament damage.  I know nothing about these two guys so if there were any pre-existing hierarchy I'm unaware, and it's probably best that way. Gallagher was loads of fun, like a little coiled rattlesnake. Gibson had some nice stuff as well, including an awesome abdominal stretch which he smoothly rolled into a rear naked, and later almost ripped Gallagher's shoulder out of the socket. My tricep ached just watching Gallagher's bend back to his shoulder blade. The powerbomb was a real holy shit spot (wish he had tidied up the follow up punt, however) and I just really liked the way all of this built.

2. Tyler Bate v. Chris Brookes

PAS: I enjoyed this a bunch too, Brookes is way taller then Bate and he really uses his length in the way tall shootfighters use their height, he has nasty upkicks, and uses a jab. Bate has kind of weird body, he sort of looks like a giant baby like Sekimoto. I really liked how Bate kept going for german suplexes, which Brookes would block, made it a big deal when he finally hit one. Finish was really awesome here too with Brookes fighting for an ankle lock from the ground, he blast Bate with an upkick and sinking in the pick.

ER: I really loved this one. I had seen Brookes before wrestling in a "normal" tag match, but here he's like a young Semmy Schilt which looks ludicrous when paired with Bate and his weird overly muscled smaller frame. Actually Bate has kind of eerily similar posture to Bob Backlund. But man do opposites attract as the tradeoffs ruled. The standing exchanges and grappling looked really great, especially at one point where they lock hands and have a kick exchange, like a bizarro MMA version of the knife fight from Beat It. The headlock takeovers looked like they would pop heads off shoulders, the struggle during suplex attempts was real, that upkick right across Bate's cheek was sick, and this was just awesome.

3. Dan Moloney v. Chris Ridgeway

PAS; This was too short to get much of a sense of either guy. They have a slap fest which mixed some good strikes with some iffier ones, and Maloney dumps Ridgeway on his head and lands elbows to the back of the head for the KO. Those forearms to the back of the head are hard to work well, and they didn't look particularly good here.

ER: Yeah those clubbing forearms didn't look good which is a shame as I really liked the lead up to it, with both guys tossing out off-time kicks and slaps really quick, until Moloney scouts a missed kick and uses Ridgeway's momentum against him to grab a go behind and quick German. Everything up to the stoppage was good, but the stoppage looked poor.

4. Trent Seven v. Dave Mastiff

PAS: Mastiff is a big fat dude and I like a big fat dude. This was the longest of the first round matches and was a little dull. Mastiff and Seven lied around a lot instead of doing cool holds. I did like Mastiff's cool back elbow and german suplex, but otherwise this wasn't anything special.

ER: Mastiff is another one of the guys I had seen before, because fat. He's like Jake the Milkman Milliman without the rattail. I kind of expected this to be slower paced as it would be odd to see Mastiff rolling around and doing quick go behinds, but I though the slow pace was rewarding as Mastiff brought a little fish out of water vibe to things, but showed he could still throw you right quick before you realize what's happening. At one point we get into a fun Frye/Shamrock ankle lock battle and I liked the handshake compromise to get out of it. I loved when Mastiff started bringing strikes, like his upkicks from his back, his elbows, and then that big German to end things, leading to him being the first guy to sort of show heel leanings as he pounces on Seven a couple times to get more shots in, long after the bell.

5. Dan Moloney v. Chris Brookes

PAS: This was another very short match (I hope they didn't pay Maloney by the hour). Thought Brookes looked good again, his slaps looked nasty in the slap exchange, and his jumping ankle pick was very cool. Really short match, so not a ton to say about it.

ER: Match goes over 4 minutes so it's not exactly that much shorter than the other matches so far, but it does kind of expose Moloney. He had some smart strategy at one point, feigning a KO during a slap exchange to get the ref to back Brookes off him, then springing up and surprising Brookes with a German. But earlier he had some goofy missed strikes where he was firing way over Brookes' head, which given the size difference couldn't have looked like anything other than one guy purposely trying to miss strikes. I did like Moloney realizing he was only going to win with slams, so I dug Brookes going for a rolling armbar only to find himself getting dropped with a front slam and scrambling for the ropes. This was fine but I'm glad Brookes advanced.

6. Jack Gallagher v. Dave Mastiff

PAS: This was great stuff. Gallagher is a little guy trying to fell the oak tree. Meanwhile Mastiff is just tossing him too and fro, with some very cool throws. Gallagher has very little success until the very end with Mastiff clubbing him with a big forearm and running headbutt, and when Mastiff leaps on him to finish it, Gallagher is able to grab a desperation triangle, which he is even able to sink in after getting powerbombed. Really cool flash finish which reminds me of the kind of thing Fujiwara would pull off.

ER: This fell a little more flat with me, as the slow pace Phil complained about that didn't bother me in the first Mastiff match, bothered me here. Funny, that. The bulk of the match didn't feel like taking down an oak tree, it felt like Mastiff being a fish out of water, not knowing how to deal with Judo Jack, floundering on his back like a turtle. His frustration eventually turns to him using strikes, when he just levels Jack with a mean forearm, then when Jack beats the count he runs straight into a Mastiff headbutt. The finish didn't feel genuine to me, felt much more planned out than all the other finishers we've seen so far. After the headbutt Jack barely beats the 10 count, and then Mastiff does an awesome STO and starts beating him in the face. And it goes on WAY longer than any of the other finishing match stretches, which have all seen sudden quick calls by the ref. So Jack barely beats the 10 count, and then is just taking several shots to the face, and once the ref didn't call the match it telegraphed the finish, as sure enough Jack grabs for a triangle. Mastiff hits a nice powerbomb to desperately try to get out of it but Jack holds on for the win. The finish may have looked better on a show that hadn't already set up its universe, but it came off too "fake MMA" to me on a show that had better looking and more surprisingly suddenness.

7. Tommy End v. Big Daddy Walter

PAS: This was a Superfight between two WXW guys. End has as a cool look and has gotten some US Indy love in PWG and Evolve, and Walter is a long term WXW mainstay who works an indy Vader gimmick. The early grappling part of this match was a little dull, but the end run was fun stuff. They really had a bomb throwing feel, much more BattlArts then RINGS, End really laid in his kicks and Walter landed some big suplexes. Sort of a poor mans Ikeda v. Fatter Otsuka, not at that level but pretty fun.

ER: This was fun. I got to see End live during WM weekend last year and came away impressed. If you shaved a little off the front you might have something here, as once they got to the strike portions this got really awesome. End especially is a really cool striker, mixing up heights and arm angles and tossing in kicks when you're not even expecting a foot to enter the fray. One of his flash kicks was a top 3 moment in this cool tourney. It's kinda neat the powerbomb is being treated like a sudden death move in a couple matches here, as it makes Judo Jack Gallagher look even tougher for surviving Mastiff's bomb to win with a triangle. That's a nice subtle way to build up the advantage of a main eventer.

8. Jack Gallagher v. Chris Brookes

PAS: This felt like the right final, these were the two best guys in the tourney and I was amped to see this matchup. It didn't disappoint. Gallagher was super fast and impressive in his grappling, he was always moving and squirming and looking for an advantage, while Brookes used his height to throw leg kicks and keep Gallagher off him. Gallagher took a suplex about as nastily as I have seen in years, and I loved his jumping arm bar for the tap. Really good finish to an impressive tourney.

ER: Fun final and a nice capper for the evening. Judo Jack even shows up in a new black gi, looking like the Final Boss. I knew these two would match up well as Gallagher showed off his quick reactions all night, and I wanted to see how they went up against the quick strikes of Brookes. And it all works. Their scrambles are good, their rolls are quick and always end interesting, Jack is good at getting to the ropes and some of the sub attempts looked like they would make him a goner. The flying armbar was a surprising fun finish, but this style lends itself to surprising finishes and the possibility of those finishes makes these matches more intense. Good final on a good, really fun show.

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