Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 4

Hardway Heeter vs. Austin Connelly

PAS: Wild 90 second match, as we have come to expect from Connelly. He rushes Heeter and they exchange hard winging shots, until Connelly hits a nasty elbow and a gutwrench suplex leaving Heeter laying. They did a post match angle with Kerry Awful berating Heeter and calling him a pussy and a loser, which took a bit of the shine off of Connelly's first win, but I am happy to see him get the duke and hopefully move on to bigger and better things.

ER: This really kicked ass, and felt like it had some solid turns for only 90 seconds. People are already timing Connelly's match starting charge, and I like how Heeter caught him with a knee, but they both kind of responded like they were both surprised by it. It's like Connelly has at least 5 seconds of Tasmanian Devil where he is just going to be invincible, and I love it. Even when he wrestles Heeter to the ground, Heeter is landing hard shots to Connelly's back that Connelly doesn't seem to even notice as he's elbowing Heeter in the face. Connelly throws three slaps in the corner that lead to a plausible standing break, and we get an actual well done elbow exchange. Heeter throw nice, sharp, lunging lefty elbows with a good amount of force behind them, and then gets leveled by one of Connelly's. Connelly bounced Hardway off his head with a gutwrench suplex, looked like the kind of whiplash that should end things. Great scrap. 

Yoya vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: This was my favorite Thompson match so far. He was really fun as a smirking prick bully, using his size to manhandle Yoya until he got too cocky.  I really liked him shit talking as he stuffed Yoya's shoot, and he broke an armbar attempt with some really sick stomps to Yoya's temple. Finishing minute was very cool with Yoya hitting a nasty jumping knee, stunning Thompson. Flash fired back with a palm strike (which looked like a KO shot), but Yoya survived and jumped onto Flash's back, and with the help of some strikes to the temple locked in a choke. Very cool stuff.

ER: I came into this anticipating the upset, just because I don't think I've ever seen them give such huge odds for/against any of the fighters until now, with Thompson coming in as something like a -450 favorite. Yoya is the smallest competitor in this, they set deep odds, I think we know how this pro wrestling thing works. This was a great showing for dickhead heel Flash, a really disrespectful performance with amusing cheapshots and eventually comeuppance. He is A Guy Asking For It throughout, throws an elbow to the back of Yoya's head while they were on the mat, tosses Yoya like a bag of laundry, kicks at his head while breaking a hold. I dug how he started unnecessarily throwing bigger shots, which gave Yoya the chance to actually dodge. When Flash was just throwing leg kicks and working smart, he was on pace to finish in two minutes. But when you commit to a haymaker you leave yourself open if it misses, and Yoya hits a boss leaping knee under the chin for a nice knockdown. He misses another wide swing and Yoya pounces on his back for the tap, and in true dickhead fashion, Flash denies tapping afterward. I'm not sure I totally bought Yoya pulling off this upset, and would have liked it even more if Flash *almost* got caught, but didn't, and didn't learn his lesson. That would have set up a more interesting match down the line. Still, I liked the actual work in this a lot. 

Damyan Tangra vs. Isaiah Broner

PAS: Love Broner, he is one of my favorite guys in this promotion. He comes off like such a dangerous badass, like French Montana's bodyguard who has a bunch of felonies. Tangra is WW4A guy who has a mat wrestler gimmick. Fun structure here, with Tangra trying lots of takedown attempts and Broner using his core strength and base to shrug them off. Broner also drops Tangra with a nasty body shot. Tangra is able to stun Broner with some head kicks, but makes the mistake of going for a German. He gets shrugged off and wasted with a spinning back elbow. Would be into seeing more Tangra, and Broner vs. Dustin Leonard next week should be fucking killer. 

ER: I really liked how annoying Tangra was here, just gluing himself to Broner and tangling him up in annoying ways. I'm not sure I've seen something quite like this, as Broner was on his feet the whole time but because of Tangra's annoyingness he kept having to buckle and reach like someone was trying to trip him up during a game of Twister. Broner has hands, so Tangra just hugs his way in close and takes away that reach. It might not be super effective as a long term strategy, but it's annoying, and when you annoy someone it can force them to make mistakes. And once there is a bit of distance, that's when Broner lands a hard right to Tangra's spleen to put him down. I liked Broner's selling when Tangra lands some kicks, how he doesn't go down for a grazing high kick but leans forward as if he's trying to maintain his center of gravity. Broner sold the kicks like someone who has been having drinks with friends, and realized just how much he had when he tried standing up from the table. The back elbow finish was sick, love a great back elbow. 

Dominic Garrini vs. Ron Mathis

PAS: This was the chickens of Mathis's Shooter Ronnie gimmick coming home to roost.  Garrini tooled him on the mat in a fun way, intentional giving him openings and then countering him. Mathis was able to muck it up a bit, but this was mostly Garrini showing off. Loved the finish with Garrini taking the back and - as Mathis countered - suckering him right into a triangle choke which put Mathis to sleep. Garrini does a lot of different things as a wrestler, a lot of which I like, some I don't. I think he has really found himself in this context. Indy wrestling has plenty of W*ING Kanemuras, they need more Katsumi Usudas. 

ER: I appreciate Mathis committing to the bit and still trying to goof off against someone like Garrini (also, I like how in Mathis's tale of the tape bio it says he "really likes PPW UWFI Rules matches"), even pointing out that Garrini didn't get him with a strike and only grazed his mohawk. Garrini toying with people is a great look for him. I think there is pressure on guys with non "pro wrestling" skills to learn those and better blend in with pro wrestling, but I think there is more value in incorporating your unique skillsets into a pro wrestling frame work. Dom is at his best when he shoehorns his legit skills into a match, and it will always be better than him doing pro wrestling sequences. 

Derek Neal vs. Ron Bass Jr.

PAS: First time I have seen Bass, and I was into him. He is a big fat guy with short arms, and seems really into hitting hard. He had some nasty clubbing clotheslines and used his fat well, which is welcome. I need to track down some non UWFI stuff for sure, feels like he would make an awesome Blackjacks tag team with Manders. I didn't like Neal in his Gary Jay match, and wasn't into him here. I thought the finish looked especially weak. You don't want the guy clearly throwing softer stuff to get the knockdown, and he broke out his windmill arms for the ground and pound. Want to see more Bass, have seen enough of Neal.

ER: Certain things in wrestling excite me more on paper than they should, and "oh hey so Outlaw Ron Bass's actual son is wrestling now and he's a big fat guy" is all the information I would need to know to make me seek out some Ron Bassito. And, I loved him. He's shaped more like a small Akebono or a large Jake Milliman than Ron Bass, with his big broad back and egg torso, and he absolutely lays it in. He threw a couple of lariats with almost no runway, and they were great enough that they would look like a finish if he dropped an elbow right after. I think his bumping reminded me of Milliman too, the way he took a thrust kick to the stomach by almost rolling off his feet. I am with Phil on the finish, didn't think any of Neal's stuff looked like it should fell Bass, and the match stopping slaps were just hitting forearms. Bass looked like he was just dealing with them, not being damaged by them, and that's precisely how they should have been sold. 

Jordan Blade vs. Max the Impaler

PAS: Battle of the non-binary beasts! I thought this was pretty awesome. Max really projects menace well, coming off like a total monster, and they made Blade (who is really strong) look small. Blade would constantly work for submissions and Max would just power their way out of. The question was whether Blade could sink in something before they got got. Max's Hughes slam out of the triangle attempt was nastier than Matt Hughes' original, and the final KO knee did the job for sure. Blade was pretty slick with their submissions and I really bought that they were going to pull off the win, until I didn't buy it. Post match they set up Max vs. Alex Kane which was a match I had no idea I wanted to see, until I really wanted to see it.

ER: This is how you do a satisfying ground and pound stoppage! Blade was really good at staying in things and tying up Max, throwing constant open hand slaps at Max's head while working for any submission she could get. Max seemed to working this like a horror movie villain, where she welcomes any attack Blade can muster, knowing she can finish at any time. It's a risky strategy, but it gave us a cool chance to see a bunch of Blade's cool tricks. I liked how active Blade was during submissions, quick to throw in strikes, and it was fun seeing how Max would break them. I don't know if I can say the Hughes Slam was nastier than the original - I mean, Matt Hughes ran that man across the entire damn octagon - but I love seeing a cool powerbomb out of a triangle attempt. Blade's hanging armbar looked great, and Max's knee strike to flatten Blade was excellent. Sign me up for Max vs. Kane. 

Read more!

Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 1

8. Hoodfoot Mo Atlas vs. Akira

PAS: One of the longer Hoodfoot UWFI matches I have seen and one where he sold a lot. Akira took most of the match, including landing a couple of big knockdowns, one with a stiff liver kick and one with a flurry ending in a running knee. Akira is good at bringing an appropriate amount of stiffness to his shots, and I bought him taking a lot of this match even though he was smaller. Finish was a classic Hoodfoot finish, with Akira rushing in and getting obliterated with that looping right hand. It felt like King Kong swatting a plane out of the sky.

ER: I expected this to be a kind of Hoodfoot steamrolling, but what we got was much more special than that likely would have been. Atlas is great at steamrolling guys, but he's perhaps even better at showing believable vulnerability. The mat scrambling looked really good, and Atlas is strong at little mat details the whole match, like grabbing Akira by the meat of the calf on the ground, or holding down Akira's elbow late in the match while in a triangle. Akira's striking looked like it was legitimately taking Atlas apart, and I exclaimed out loud to nobody when the liver kick knockdown happened. I went from expecting Hoodfoot in a walk, to not expecting Hoodfoot to get up from that kick. Akira rocks Atlas with a back elbow, goes back to that kick in the corner (Atlas is so good at using the ropes to save him from a knockdown, I've seen him rely on them in cool ways a few different times now, great way of integrating the ring into his matches), and drops him again with an awesome running knee. You knew Atlas was going to throw big hands, and all of them looked predictably great, loved him going for heavy kneelifts, and I can't believe Akira got up after that right hand sandwiched between two Saito suplexes. I'm glad he did, and I love how the wrapped it up instead. Great stuff through and through, so much better than the match I thought I wanted.

Robert Martyr vs. Nick King

PAS: I though this was good stuff. King is listed as having a folkstyle and judo background and there was a lot of mat scrambling at the start including King throwing a really seamless fireman's carry, and a nice snap german. Martyr actually uses the ref to block King's view, stomps down on the ankle and hits a big german of his own, before he gets a chicken wing for the tap. Lots of energy in the early mat work, and I would be into seeing King again.

ER: Great bang for your buck, under 3 minutes and all of it great. This was my first time seeing King, and Paradigm is really making me think they have a bottomless supply of interesting new guys at their disposal. King was really gluey on the mat, looked like he hardly let go of Martyr's left ankle and kept rolling and pivoting into new holds from that ankle control. His fireman's carry alone was great enough that I think I was counting myself a Nick King Fan one minute in. Martyr stomping King's ankle while the ref was clearly obstructing King's view is a real dickhead twerp move, and commentary was super sharp to point out how Martyr would likely get a point docked for that but gained a point and damage from following it up with a German. The chickenwing was a surprise quick finish, but a good one, and King was great at looking like a guy who got caught in a chickenwing. 

Isiah Broner vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: Felt like they were writing Flash out of the territory here. Both these guys have boxing backgrounds, so I enjoyed the timing and movement. Broner is able to shoot in and grab a quick double leg and clean out Thompson quick with ground and pound. They do a post match angle with Bobby Beverly turning extra heel by turning on his heel group and joining another heel group. I like this sub-promotion a lot, but all of the angles that aren't just one guy calling out another have been misses. 

ER: This was mostly angle, which is fine, but the execution was muddy and the implications were unclear. I'm not bothered by the 1 minute fight, even if the stand-up slapping thrills me less than any other options open to guys under these rules. But I did like Flash's selling on the shot that made his legs wobble, and thought Broner dragging Flash to the mat with a papoose takedown kicked ass. But you have Broner getting a stoppage in a minute, then Flash beating Broner down after, then Beverly cheapshotting Flash, which leaves Broner slumped there waiting for an angle to play out, his quick finish already in the rearview. I think filming something separately with Beverly and Flash could have played better, as a big Broner win should have been played up as a bigger thing than a Bobby Beverly stable change. 

Austin Connelly vs. Jordan Blade

PAS: I have compared Connelly to a shoot style Buzz Sawyer before, and he has really leaned into it with a chain and barking, which is great. Like always, Connelly is a missile aimed right at his opponent, constantly moving forward throwing reckless forearms. He run rights into a forearm by Blade which busts his mouth, and they are moving with such speed and wildness that it doesn't seem possible to control the force of blows. Blade grabs the ankle and really cranks it until the ref has to stop the fight. I am into both of these fighters, Connelly especially is one of my favorite wrestlers in the world to watch right now.

ER: My god Austin Connelly rules. There have been a ton of standout moments and standout wrestlers on these Paradigm UWFI shows, so it's high praise to say he might be my favorite. I like Phil's Shootstyle Buzz Sawyer description, and while I harp on other guys not really adhering to UWFI style, I hypocritically love how UWFI rules cannot contain Connelly as he rushes headlong into kill or be killed. These two were throwing elbows straight at mouths and not pulling things, and we got a great visual of Connelly yelling through a mouth filled with blood while trying to break an ankle lock. Blade hung in with the mad man and weathered the storm, fighting for that ankle lock even while Connelly was pounding on her knee to get her to break. I would have liked another minute or two of this, but also love experiencing the joy of Connelly in these starbursts. 

PAS: Filthy Tom Lawlor comes out and introduces Matt Makowski as the newest member of Team Filthy, which is awesome. Love Makowski, and I am excited to see what he does in this format. They do another angle that sets up Makowski vs. Hoodfoot which is of course great, but there is some stuff with Bobby Beverly and Lexus Montez which wasn't great and ended up with some shoving, and the angles continue to leave me cold. Makowski vs. Hoodfoot should rule though.

ER: Getting more guys than necessary out there to do some shoving was really not necessary, as the purpose of the Lawlor segment should have only been to build excitement for Makowski/Hoodfoot. That match is something to be excited about, and I left the segment excited for it, but everything else distracted from that excitement. 

Derek Neal vs. Gary Jay

PAS: This didn't work for me, the striking had a real Lisa Simpson windmill feeling, and there were some New Japan forearms and even a knife edge chop. It had some nice energy and Neal threw a good clothesline, but it felt out of the style and too many thing didn't land but got sold anyway.

ER: This didn't bother me as badly as it did Phil, but you know when Phil breaks out the Lisa Simpson reference that he is getting ready to really hate something. I don't know what part of the match those punches are referring to, as it's a tough criticism to levy towards a match with no closed fists allowed. When you're only allowed slaps (technically), you are going to be walking that fine line between hard strikes and "kids having a slap fight with 90% of them missing". And from the looks of this match, they landed in that unfortunate valley of strikes that likely really hurt, without actually looking good. That's a shame, because you could see how hard Neal was laying things in with his clubbing shots to Jay's back, and I liked the big powerbomb Neal used to start the match. He has 60 pounds on Jay, hell yes he should Sapp him up into a powerbomb. That kind of stuff worked for me, and I also liked how Neal kept getting solid knockdowns for the first minute: That powerbomb, a kind of waterwheel suplex, a couple of strikes, good way to keep Jay down early. But by the time they started in with bad looking chops and some real bad looking Jay roaring elbows, I was ready for it to be over. I'm sure it's possible to hit a cool roaring elbow that would fit right into the vibe of a Paradigm match, but these elbows wouldn't have looked good in any setting. 

Dominic Garrini vs. Matt Justice

PAS: This was really cool, and a great main event for a season premier. Garrini had only lost once in this style, to Hoodfoot, and Justice had been a guy working primarily superfights against UFC guys. Garrini controlled early with grappling, although Justice showed some skill there including a great gator roll and some really nasty elbows to the side of the head. We get a camera close up of the shots and they were brutal. They get back to their feet and Garrini shoots right into a KO knee. Felt like it was building to something bigger before being suddenly finished, and I liked how it really felt out of nowhere.

ER: Really impressed with both guys here, but it's hard to not be more impressed with Justice. Justice went for a single leg to start and really took a grappling match right to Dom, an ambitious strategy against a world class grappler with a notable gas tank. Dom is really good at being calm and cool on the mat, using his low gravity to put a lot of weight on Justice, to tire Justice out. Justice decides to break this by throwing two brutal back elbows at Garrini's head and face, another that scraped hard across Dom's face, and then rained down with a few more after shifting positions. On a weekly show filled with stiff strikes, these elbows were among the heaviest blows we've seen. The finish was so so, as Dom gets his hands way out in front of the knee that leads right to the finish. I obviously can't really blame anyone for not diving face first into a KO knee, but still a match finishing knee needs to look like a knee that will lead to a finish. Still, I love these guys, and would love to see this run back. 

ER: You could make the case that this episode was the best episode of the UWFI rules series so far, with nearly all of the matches delivering at minimum something memorable. We added Hoodfoot/Akira to our 2021 Ongoing MOTY List. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

Read more!

Paradigm Pro Wrestling Fighting Spirit Heavyweight Grand Prix 11/15/19

One of the odder phenomenons in indy wrestling in the last couple of years in the proliferation of shootstyle tournaments. First Ambition, then Bloodsport, and now we have a random fed in Indiana running a UWFI rules tournament in a garage. The quality is going to vary, but I am all for it.


Lexus Montez vs. Myron Reed

PAS: This was a non style match with guys working a 2.9 juniors counter wrestling style. The opening counter exchange was done a beat too slow and felt like guys working through their stuff before the show. I am so tired of this kind of match, that they are going to have to do something really special to break me out of the fog, and there wasn't anything special here. Reed has a nice 450 I guess, and Ford's heel hook was a cool near fall, but this wasn't what I clicked on the link to see.

ER: Yeah this really shouldn't have been on the show. Montez looks really really new and Phil nailed it, everything was a beat slow and Montez was a beat behind. Reed kept getting to his mark early because Montez was moving too carefully, so it resulted in Reed's bumps looking too disconnected from whatever it was Montez was doing. I like Reed, but this match style is very much not my favorite style, and for it to work you need two guys on the same page, a strong layout, a couple of twists, and some sense. This had none of those things. I liked the Montez bump down the aisle for a Reed tope, but big parts of this felt not ready for primetime. A match worked in a different style than the rest of the card could stand out and benefit from that, but not when the rest of the card is actually worked in an intriguing style and your match looks like amateur night at the flip flop house. Also, a doing a long "ref misses the tap" spot in the first match of a card filled with UWFI style fights is just tremendously dumb.


Erick Stevens vs. Derek Neal

PAS: I appreciated how both guys really tried to stick to the style, we didn't see any elbow exchanges or chops (which was a problem in Ambition), and we would get ten count attempts on Neal's suplexes. This was Neal using his strength and Stevens using his submission attempts, and it was going to be a question whether Stevens could tap Neal before getting flattened. Loved the finish with Steven's eating three rolling german suplexes, but loosening the grip on the third and floating over into a beautiful chicken wing for the tap. The match was a bit disjointed before that, but that was a Fujiwara level finish, which is the highest compliment you can give in this style.

ER: This was a good start to things as right out of the gate it felt like UWFI rules. Neal came off like a big Gary Albright type while Stevens was slicker on the mat and had quicker knee strikes. I thought the made good dramatic use of the rope breaks, especially when Stevens sank an armbar that I thought was surely the end. Neal was the one bringing big KO shots, with the surprise elbow strike a fun knockdown and the back suplex looking match finishing when Stevens went vertical. The finish was a good one, loved how Stevens knew he wasn't going to be able to stop the Germans from happening by going deadweight, so stopped Neal in his tracks using his brain. That chickenwing looked sick and I dug how Neal tapped quick.


JD Drake vs. Dominic Garrini

PAS: This was more of a style clash with Drake getting schooled on the mat by Garrini and responding with hard chops. I don't like chops in UWFI matches in theory, but if you are going to throw them you might has well try to slice someone's skin off, and Drake was absolutely pasting him. Garrini is so skilled at jiu-jitsu and it's fun to watch him switch back and forth from attack to attack. Finish was a great looking flip into a cross armbreaker. Fun short match.

ER: On paper I do not like the sound of a UWFI match filled with a ton of chops, but in execution I was way into Drake making horrible music on Garrini's chest. Those chops looked so violent that I totally got into them as actual knockdown shots. I always love the visual of big fat guys on the mat in shootstyle as it looks so incorrect and almost offensive. Drake does his best to squash Garrini when he quickly realizes that Garrini is going to school him. We get a killer early match callback and UWFI throwback when Drake clotheslines Garrini out of the air on a charge. Garrini hit a flying knee to start the match and got caught when he tried it again, but intentional or not I thought Drake threw his clothesline just like one of Vader's old bear attacks (I wrote up all of Vader's UWFI matches BY the way). I thought Drake's Saito suplex could have easily been the finish, just a mean throw, but Garrini's finish was so smart. He tosses Drake up for a German but knows before he throws the German that he's not actually going for that move. Drake instinctively blocks the German and realizes then that Garrini had laid that trap and had merely tossed him into an armbar. The spot looked great and Drake played it like he didn't see it coming.


123. Calvin Tankman vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: I am a Moriarty skeptic, but I thought this was unabashedly great. Tankman is enormous, basically looks like Emmanuel Yarbrough, and this was a really cool speed versus size battle. Moriarty tried to use kickboxing to keep Tankman off of him, but when he got caught he would just get ragdolled. Tankman murders him with a german suplex and then catches a body kick and tosses him in a fisherman's buster on the top of his head. Moriarty is able to recover and catch him with a high kick and grounded axe kick for a flash KO.

ER: Tankman is definitely someone with that Segunda Caida bod, and here he comes off like Shoot Cheex. I didn't fully buy into the axe kick that ended the match, as I think you really need to nail that KO blow when it's the finish AND there's a size difference like this, but I loved every other part of this. Tankman's two throws were real all timers, 1.0 on the Albright scale. Moriarty gets TOSSED with a German and bounces around in the ropes like a guy failing hard at a team building ropes course. The fisherman's bomb was a real beauty, with Moriarty landing at an unsightly angle. Tankman's selling on that front kick to the jaw was so strong. Indy wrestling is filled to the brim with people who have no idea how to sell on their feet, and here's Tankman actually understanding that it's more than just doing Mortal Kombat Fatality selling, he does small foot movements and small cobweb shaking mannerisms. Selling on your feet is much more like a drunk person stopping their walk to try to refocus before walking again, and his was great. He occupied the time really well until Moriarty's second kick. I wish they would have just called it after the second kick, since UWFI rules don't allow strikes to a downed and prone opponent anyway.


Brett Ison vs. Anthony Henry

PAS: Ison looked the most lost with these rules, but I still dug this. Henry just chops at Ison's legs with sharp nasty looking low kicks, he would throw a couple of body shots and slice Ison's thighs and calves. Ison hit one nice suplex, but was mostly throwing not great forearm smashes and ineffective bull rushes. Henry really looked like an assassin though and I really dig a match finishing on a low kick KO.

ER: I thought this was cool, and thought Ison's inexperience with the style played well into the match. Anthony Henry came off cooler here than in any of his faux shootstyle Evolve matches. He looked cool advancing on Ison with the size difference, and he kept throwing hard kicks right into Ison's shins and patella. I thought those looked real gross and I thought they were a great way to plant the seeds for the finish. Henry was good at stuttering his timing on muay thai knees or low-high kicks. Ison lumbered and barged his way through things and grabbed him with a big suplex, and I liked a lumbering big man taking hits. But I hated his rolling elbow in response to getting kicked in the knee. The elbow didn't work as a reaction shot, came off real phony in the middle of what had been a cool messy fight. Also, the referee counted extremely slow in this match, kind of robbing some of the drama by having Henry stalking around for too long waiting for Ison to recover. I still thought the overall match was strong because it did feel like UWFI, with Ison the large gaijin but sitting duck for a young cool guy.


Bobby Beverly vs. AJ Gray

PAS: I dug this a ton in conception, not sure the execution was up to par. Much of the match was built around UWFI style slap exchanges, and they just didn't look good. I imagine it is really hard to throw palm strikes that look credible and don't injure the guy you are landing them on, and these looked too pulled. Outside of that the match was pretty cool. Gray, who was the PPW champion, dominated landing two nasty suplexes and a high kick. Beverly on his way out landed the best palm strike of the match and a guillotine for the win. It did a nice job of establishing that wins can come out of nowhere. So far this show has had awesome finishes and that goes a long way in shootstyle.

ER: I thought this was really good. I watched it through with sound and I watched it on mute, and I thought the slaps looked better muted. Both guys looked like they were swinging really stiff arms and reddening up each other's necks and ears. Gray and Beverly both have heavy arms so you could tell that weight was hitting neck. Gray wrecks Beverly with a couple suplexes, with a brutal German that folds him, and a big Saito suplex across the whole damn ring. Beverly was real good at getting to his feet, and I loved how he was selling that struggle. When he stood up at 6 it looked like he was getting to his feet way too quick and he really looked like a guy 3 seconds and one shot from the end. But Beverly is a guy who obviously has no problem throwing hands, and he hits this nice thrust palm strike to the button on Gray's jawline. And it stalled Gray for just amount, allowing Beverly to leap onto him with a guillotine that he is able to roll over, and the whole thing looked like a real lights out attack. Loved it.


Bradley Prescott IV vs. Blake Christian

PAS: Prescott comes in working a guy who loves Natural Light, and they worked a match built around somersaults and cutters. Both guys had some big spots which looked good and some set ups and small things that didn't. I really liked how they kept all of the tournament matches short. But they made the two non UWFI style matches longer, and I really didn't need that.

ER: Thanks Phil!


50. Dominic Garrini vs. Erick Stevens

PAS: This was pretty great, both guys aggressively rolling and attacking limbs and necks. Stevens looked very comfortable working in this style, Garrini brought most of the flourishes, but Stevens didn't look uncomfortable and I loved his quick and aggressive rear naked choke that he grabbed. Garrini did an awesome half monkey flip into a tight head and arm choke, and slid so quickly into a nasty triangle with elbow for the tap. Garrini is mainly a brawler now, but when he works the mat like this you can really see what a skilled grappler he is.

ER: This was strong, our first real long war of the tournament. Phil is right about Garrini. I've gotten so used to him as a brawler with some nice takedowns that my brain doesn't think of him as the Catch Point grappler, and he's such a boa constrictor here that I hope we get more of these shows to see more of this Dom again. Stevens was real good here. He reminded me - in looks and ability - like reclusive great worker Joe Graves. Six years ago I thought he was going to take indy wrestling by storm, especially while several other Graves-adjacent guys got good work. Stevens could be a premier indy Joe Graves and that's a cool thing. Garrini trapped him and locked him into things, but Stevens was game to get into sticky situations and he looked legit. He locked in a pair of very adept triangles and a pair of nice, heavy suplexes. Hard knee strikes from both guys, Garrini throwing a couple of slick traps (love his pop up triangle), and a damn good fought for finish that really looked like the kind of struggle that should finish a fight. Great stretched out version of the show's formula.


Anthony Henry vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: I enjoyed this a bunch too. This was primarily a kick boxing match, which was a nice contrast with the previous match. Both guys landed their kicks really well, and mixed it up with sweeps, leg kicks, and high kicks. Moriarty landed a really cool spinning kick to the neck, and Henry hit a multi shot punch and kick combo before rolling into a knee bar and ankle lock for the tap. Short, stiff and energetic, great stuff.

ER: This was our "smallest" pairing of the tournament so I like that they went with something different, more of a kicker's sprint than anything else we'd seen. Henry looked like he was going to pace himself for a longer fight and then suddenly he got backed up and popped by a big spinning kick. From there he was going for broke and looking vicious doing it. Again I've watched several of his more shootstyle Evolve matches and even in the shorter ones he's never come off as vicious as he does here. He goes hard after Moriarty with low kicks and is really taking him apart, and when Moriarty finally catches one Henry uses his expert Minoru Tanaka muscle memory and rolls right through into a beautiful heel hook. This was quick explosive fun.


28. Matthew Justice vs. Stephan Bonnar

PAS: This was totally awesome, one of my favorite sprints of the year. Bonnar feels like a guy that should be booked everywhere. He has a real New Japan Don Frye feel to him, really great at being above everything and also really great at having the seriousness of the fight dawn on him. We are long removed from Ultimate Fighter 1, but Bonnar still presents himself like a big deal. Bonnar was no selling some of Justice's stuff early, but as the fight went on he really sold big for Justice's spears and knees to the head. I liked how this felt like a real different style fight. Justice wasn't pretending to be a shooter, he was just a tough pro wrestler who was going to try to turn this into a fight. I loved how he bailed to the floor on the Bonnar rear naked choke and landed some spears which felt like he was cracking ribs. Bonnar hit big suplexes too, and really kicked Justice's head off. This felt like an indy version of a high end Brock Lesnar match, and was the perfect super fight for this show.

ER: Yeah this ruled. Bonnar comes in with that McCully brothers energy, that meathead jock energy that is too good for pro wrestling. He's the guy who already knows he's ahead on points before any points have come off the board, the guy who knows he has wiggle room to goof around in this "exhibition". I love how Justice didn't act like he was overmatched, and he didn't play around at something he isn't. He went into a Super Fight and worked it like Matt Justice, and Bonnar went into a Super Fight knowing he wasn't against a fighter but "just" a tough guy. Bonnar would land early and easily, then pose to rub it in, or get cocky and throw a Karate Kid crane kick. Even when he would take a shot after goofing around, he would easily get licks in on Justice. He was the teenager playing against small kids on a 7' hoop, and he was due to get knocked down a peg. Justice is outgunned but not outcrazied, and I love him spilling to the floor with Bonnar and hitting a pescado, with Bonnar bringing that "I don't know how to bump" messiness to every fall and landing. Justice has a couple of great spears that seem less like pro wrestling spears and more like Bonnar was the guy getting under Justice's skin at the bar all night and Justice finally flies at his guy with a tackle. Bonnar eats a back suplex, but the best part about Bonnar is his fighter's survival instinct, when you can see his survivor muscle memory spring into action. Every time he would go down it's like his eyes would glaze over and his body would take over, slip Justice's grip, grab a waistlock, and throw him. Bonnar hits a couple nice Germans and a big gutwrench, and they all come after him going into muscle memory fighter mode. It rules. Justice walks right into a Cro Cop head kick for the finish, and I loved how all of Bonnar's earlier strikes were more "haha we're doing some fake pro wrestling right?" stuff, even his big spin kick was something he was only trying just because he could afford the miss. This head kick was putting someone down, and man did it ever.


37. Anthony Henry vs. Dominic Garrini

PAS: Great final and a real continuation of the narrative set up through the tourney. Henry had established himself as a violent striker who was especially damaging with leg kicks, and Garrini had established himself as a dangerous defensive grappler who could turn the tide any moment. Henry really pummels him on the feet, with brutal leg kicks and slaps, and is even competitive on the mat (although Dom always has an answer). It only takes one mistake though, and I loved Dom taking the ground and pound just to snatch the opening he needed for the tap. Cool match, with both guys coming out looking better than when they came in. Henry in normal matches gets a little too near fall indy guy style for me, but man he looks great when he does this.

ER: Very worthy final of a very cool tournament. Anthony Henry came out of this thing looking like a real badass and I liked how this match felt like a manifestation of the tournament that came before it. Henry's strike game looked great this show, with everyone across from him taking those great sweeping leg kicks. Dom took these great spills onto his tailbone from big meaty kicks to his hamstrings, and I was real impressed with how Henry was kind of muscling him around and advancing. Henry had strong balance and it came off like he kept surprising Dom. Garrini's tricks were scouted this time and he was going to need something unexpected to put away Henry, and Henry was looking skilled on the ground. And the finish was cool and it WAS Dom pulling out something different, with Henry throwing from mount and Garrini looking near toast, before shifting his hips to cause a Henry slap to go wide, with Garrini capitalizing with a choke. Awesome.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

Read more!