A Week of Death Valley Days: Isaiah Broner

 Broner is a spiritually WAR wrestler, simple wrestling done with more paprika on every shot, we love a wince inducing forearm or clothesline and Brone induces the most winces of anyone in the world.

Isiaiah Broner vs. Manders GCW 10/24/25

PAS: A lights out match with a pair of KO artists swinging for the fences. Both guys go right up to the edge multiple times in this match. Spamming forearm exchanges has becoming one of the most tired tropes in current wrestling, I appreciate that Broner throws his like Tyson left hooks. Manders is a DEAN~! veteran and someone we will surely use again, and he is the perfect opponent to stand in the pocket and trade with Broner. I didn't think we needed the door spot, especially because in GCW there are doors almost every match, but that is a minor quibble for an otherwise delicious pot roast kind of match.  

MD: I loved how they set the tone from this right from the start. Broner hit Manders. That's fine. People hit Manders all the time. He takes hits. He hits back. He's Manders, right? Not here. Manders dropped in the corner on that first shot. Those chops? They caused him to writhe, to backpedal. Pro wrestling is a world of established meaning and it's been established plenty that Manders is the toughest of the tough. Broner is a tank, sure. Everything he does looks like it hits like one, absolutely. But to see Manders so affected so early into the match? That says something. 

Agreed that the door was maybe a bit much, but if they were going to use weapons in a place where weapons are so commonplace, most of the rest of the weapons shots are the things that'll stay with you, even the stuff with the pumpkin which has to be a fairly high level of difficulty. Broner hurt his arm early on the post, but what won the day for Manders was sacrificing his own arm to punch and lariat through a chair. They set up the stakes, they established the norms, and yeah, it was as believable as could be that 1) it was going to take that much to put Broner down and 2) Manders was one of one of the only people in the entire world that could do it.

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Vulnerability, Dissonance, Commitment. KJ Orso vs. Effy

KJ Orso vs. Effy GCW Code of the Streets 1/17/26 

Vulnerability is everything. 

Now you might say that vulnerability is everything for a babyface, but no, it's everything for a heel as well. The key to heat is dissonance, that gap between expectation and reality. Big John Studd might have been over because he was a menacing giant, but he was super over because he was a menacing giant who played the coward and refused to engage at the start of matches. 

That brings us to KJ Orso. As Fuego del Sol, he was bombastic, dynamic, a high-flyer. He was larger than life energy in a compact package that lit up the sky, always more over than his push. He could bound, flip, and twist with the best of his peers. He still can. The fans know it. They know it to look at him. They know it by how he moves. 

When he decided it wasn't working, that the fans weren't getting him where he needed to be, that he was ready to trade away easy certitude of the mask and gimmick to bet on himself, he changed his entire style of wrestling. He gives them nothing now, nothing to cling on to, nothing to embrace. He's dug deep into footage to reclaim old moves (like Jo Labat's shrugging shoulder attack from 1957) and spots. For a normal heel, just giving them nothing might be enough, but the GCW crowd knows him, knows who he was, and for them to watch him wrestling this way is like sticking a finger in the wound because they know he's still capable of it.

Every now and again you see a glimpse of it, a big bump, a key top rope move at a key moment, something strategic, opportunistic, there not to pop the crowd but to take advantage of a moment. It serves as dissonance in its own right, shows him to be a hypocrite, committed to who he's become right until it's convenient not to be. For the most part though, you wouldn't recognize him. 

This is a crowd used to seeing everything: chaos, mayhem, every excess known to man, and they're just happy to be there, happy to see it all and soak it in, but they're not happen to see Orso. He betrayed his friends, betrayed the crowd, betrayed the very aesthetic idea of modern spot-heavy wrestling. And they know, deep down, it wasn't due to strength but due to weakness. That means that when he succeeds, when he takes over in a match, and heaven forbid, when he wins, that makes it all the worse. 

And the key to the act? The confidence to be vulnerable. 

Watch him here. He comes out to the ring sneering and scowling at the camera, jawing with fans young and old, and he trips on the way to the ring. When's the last time you saw someone trip on the way to the ring? When's the last time you saw a heel do it? He trips and he sells it. He snatches a hat off someone's head, uses it to clean off the floor (because it had to be the floor's fault, not his, always someone to blame), and then punts it into the crowd.

He makes it into the ring and ring announcer Emil Jay, unable to hide his disgust, calls him KJ Asshole. He sells it by whipping about in fury, but then recoils back the other way as the fans start chanting asshole in turn; it's as if he took a one-two punch, and everyone there knows that they got under his skin, that if they stay invested, if they chant and boo, they can affect reality around them, they can make a difference. He makes the crowd feel like they matter, gives them a reason to care, to be invested, to not just cheer and chant 50-50 to not just be happy to be there and see spectacle before their eyes. All it takes is a little confidence and a lot of vulnerability. All it takes is to allow himself to be affected and to look the fool.

Effy gets in on the act too, mocking the trip. I've seen a decent amount of Orso this last year. I haven't seen a ton of Effy lately, so we'll lean just a little into this data point. Dissonance doesn't just create heat but it opens the door for all emotion. From the way he basks in the ring as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road plays in the background to how he's constantly adjusting his gear for the moment, to his mind games and his connection to the crowd, he presents himself with a lot of confidence and just enough vulnerability. If Orso's vulnerability is internal, here Effy's is external, based upon what happens to him in the match, real and meaningful acts of violence instead of imaginary slights in his head. He recently lost the GCW Title and it's clear that affects him, but he doesn't wrestle like a man who is lost and grasping for significance and meaning at every turn in the way that Orso does. He gives the fans just enough human vulnerability to connect to while giving them tangible results, substance to latch on to. It makes his accomplishments seem more admirable just as Orso's come off as endlessly frustrating and aggravating.

Effy certainly has a lot to work with. Orso, stinging from the trip, from the Asshole chants, from the disrespect, from not getting everything he's convinced himself he deserves, is a prime target for Effy's humiliating offense of butt attacks and gyrations. It does more than just getting under Orso's skin. It wounds his pride and his pride is everything. It's too tempting for Effy and he leans into it harder than he does his chops and other more conventional offense and that allows Orso to take over. Of course, as noted, Orso has his own failings, and he ends up too busy clapping the fans up so he can mock them and potentially deny them a dive, and he gets caught as well. Character drives everything here and that gives the fans so much to work with as well.

That plays out as the match goes on. Orso opens up on Effy's leg, but he can't help but steal the headband and taunt. Effy comes back but he goes for one too many vertical splashes and gets caught. The difference is that Orso is blindly lashing out at the world and Effy is trying to hit KJ where it hurts the most, the difference between a heel and a babyface, even if it leads to similar transitions nonetheless. 

Over time, those disparate wants start to lean in Orso's favor. He goes back to the leg time and again, chipping away it. It leaves Effy a half step slow. Even down the stretch, Orso, all too human and driven by the chip on his shoulder, would lose focus and Effy, embracing and leaning with his humanity, would capitalize, but in the end the leg gave way at a key moment and Orso was able to steal one out.

On some level, the fans knew what they saw was entertaining. They understood the skill involved. But due to the commitment, due to Orso giving them nothing and Effy giving them quite a bit, they were left legitimately frustrated and aggravated by the result of a match. In 2026. Emil Jay made the announcement, using Orso's name as written. He had no choice, Orso had won. He, just like the fans, was held hostage by the result. Orso had sold so much up front, shown so much vulnerability, and now he had snatched away the fans' joy and was gloating about it. Next time they'll hate him all the more and the circle will continue. In 2026, the beautiful art of pro wrestling can still work, can still move people, can still delight and infuriate. All it takes is a little vulnerability and total, absolute commitment.

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Found Footage Friday: OMNI 83~!

GCW Omni 8/28/83

ER: I'm so glad they included the opening promo package for this show, it's so good. Tommy Rich called Bill Irwin "Jack" (the greatest promo guys in history knew to call their opponents Jack), Mad Dog Sawyer has the greatest pro wrestling body imaginable, and the Brisco Brothers cut an honest to god excellent promo on the Roadies. Gerry is a bit rigid but he keeps calling their match a Texas Tarnado Match and talks about how they wrestle tarnadoes in the Great State of Oklahoma every day, but Jack is the real killer. I am not a big Jack Brisco guy. He is one of the All Time Greats whose work doesn't really thrill me. But he sounds so damn cool in this promo. He is calm, and delivers it with a smirk like he really doesn't give a good goddamn about the Road Warriors. There is no fear at all. He even makes fun of their big arms, and asks what they're going to do with those big arms when the Briscoes bend them behind their backs and they start gasping for breath, and then Gerry starts doing this incredible tongue out gagging. These Oklahoma men in their tan suits just out here mocking the fucking Road Warriors. Incredible. That sold me on their match so hard, I can't wait. 

Mr. Wrestling (Jesse Barr) vs. Joe Lightfoot

MD: Good mat-based opener to get over the idea that the fake Mr. Wrestling is capable enough. Lightfoot is basically the definition of a good undercard hand. I may or may not have mentioned it last time, but he was useful in Portland as a guy to build up Jay Youngblood coming in by giving the heels someone to beat first. They worked in and out of holds with some solid rope running. Barr did one of my favorite bits of mat wrestling where he has a toehold on and has to rotate around while keeping the toes in order to avoid his opponent from grasping his head. It's the slickest thing imaginable. Great finish here as he jammed a second headscissors takeover by turning it into a hotshot on the second rope, setting Lightfoot up for the running knee and then a back bridging pin for good measure.

ER: I dug this a lot. Barr does a lot of little things that I really like. I liked how he lay in wait to break Lightfoot's full nelson, holding his hands behind his head over Lightfoot's, motionless, before striking down in one quick motion. His drop toehold to set up his Indian deathlock was so tight. His fistdrop? A great, workmanlike Dibiase style fistdrop. He fell into the ropes selling for Lightfoot's comeback in a way that made it feel like he could accidentally slip through them. The finish is great, with Lightfoot going for a flying headscissors and Barr falling back with a hotshot that drops Lightfoot on the top rope to the middle. He sets up his Mr. Wrestling kneelift like an asshole, calling for it in the corner like an actually cool version of Edge. But the real asshole move was his jackknife neck bridge pin. I would have wanted to murder the guy if I were one of the front row men with their arms crossed. 

Brett Sawyer vs. Bob Roop

MD: This is an aside but I listened to an episode of Roop's podcast (#12 about his first tour of Japan) the other day and it was quite good. I'd suggest it. The more we see of Wayne, the better he comes off. Amazing connection with the crowd. Great seller. Throws everything into both his bumping and his shots, especially his comeback shots. Roop did a great job throwing himself into things too, especially his knee strikes. He used one to knock Wayne out of the ring early and Wayne came back a bloody mess. Blood on the second match on the card is a choice but it worked out here. Some great moments of comeback and cutoff, including a picture perfect posting reversal by Roop. Except for that wasn't a cutoff at all. As Roop tried to get back into the ring, a staggered Wayne managed to roll him up making it for two great, novel finishes in a row. Very good stuff for what it was.

ER: I really love Brett Sawyer now. I used to have not much of an opinion on him. All of these 1983 Omni shows have been so much fun, and everyone on them has had their stock raised by the new footage. Brett Wayne might just be the guy who has been raised the most, for me. Now, a lot of other guys had such high ceilings that they had less room to move up, but that doesn't matter. The Other Sawyer is great. This match was awesome. Bob Roop is one of the toughest men in wrestling history and looks like Ned Beatty. Sawyer looks like the ugly bassist in an 80s hair metal band, but he's just such a fucking great babyface. He has skills completely different from his brother. He was Mad Dog's younger brother, but by a lot less time than you'd think. They were a year apart but Brett Wayne was in permanent Kid Brother mode. Brett Wayne Sawyer was a GREAT Kid Brother wrestler. 

The Omni crowd sat with their arms crossed during a good opener, but Brett Wayne is the one who gets the old ladies waving their arms and pumping their fists for his comeback. This whole match is built around a big posting, where Roop runs Brett down the apron. Sawyer is great at dramatic falls, and I love how he absorbs the posting, how he falls off the apron, the time he took to get back in the ring. Sawyer is a great bleeder too, and as Roop hits a snaring clothesline you can see he has good color from the posting. Sawyer's selling is so good as he's fighting back, and it all builds to this incredible moment that mirrors his earlier posting. Sawyer now has Roop on the apron, now it's his turn for revenge, the fans all want it, the old ladies are screaming for Brett...and instead it turns out to be an incredibly done reversal. Sawyer runs Roop down the length of the apron and at the last second Roop smashes Sawyer's face into the turnbuckle, a shot maybe ever tougher than his posting earlier. I thought that would have played as a great, if demoralizing, finish, buy my boy Brett surprises me again when he gets a tight roll up immediately after, as Roop is getting back in the ring. I bit at all the exact things they wanted that Omni crowd to bite at, their storytelling and Sawyer's babyface fire hooking me just as it hooked ATL over 40 years ago.

Paul Ellering vs. Bruno Sammartino Jr.

MD: Seeing David with the Bruno Jr. name really hammers home how doomed the guy was. He was stocky and there's a world where he could have had a totally different name and been in Florida or Memphis teaming with Jim Neidhart and they could have been a hugely successful heel team, I think.  What we had instead was Ellering really guiding him through one. Paul would eat the mat and end up in cross toeholds again and again, then complain to the ref when he got out. He finally took over working the eyes and he had a great way of selling his fists after the punch or continuing to sell the leg that had him coming off like a vulnerable manager instead of a former muscleman wrestler. The fans were behind David when he came back. Weird spot down the stretch as he got pressed off the top (like Flair or someone would) by Ellering, but he came back again after that and hit a suplex and a belabored press slam before Ellering took a powder for the count out. Pretty transparent overall but still better than you'd expect and a testament to Ellering.

ER: That David Sammartino has BS all over his boots, poor kid really stepped in it. As Matt said, what chance did this kid have? He had his dad's build and none of his timing or charisma. There was a moment where he swept Ellering's legs late in the match and Ellering was just lying on his back, directing Sammartino to start punching him, and it took him forever to pull the trigger on them. Ellering did what he could, but you but my boy Brett Wayne in the same match and he'd have Ellering scrambling and begging off all around the ring. I did like Sammartino standing on Ellering's neck while holding his legs in a deathlock, but much of this was Ellering just making do. When Paul finally took over with a punch to a grounded Sammartino, shaking out his fist, I said aloud "finally" at my desk at work. Ellering had several nice punches and was good at working to get heat, since Sammartino was incapable of connecting with these people. Sammartino's big press slam was a good thing to end on. It looked good and I like how he really threw Ellering, but Ellering was great at deciding to take the count out loss, almost swinging at a cop on his way out. 

Texas Tornado Match: Road Warriors vs. Brisco Brothers

MD: This was already out there so I'll just hit it quickly. Gerry saying "Texas Tarnado" never gets old. What was most striking here was how this was so unproduced and raw. There weren't the sort of momentum shifts that you'd expect. It had all four men in the ring at the same time but very often one Brisco was in charge of a Roadie and a Roadie was in charge of the other Brisco. There were a few moments of double teaming if they got a Brisco out and a few moments of clear comeback, but in general, it was just barely controlled chaos. That's extremely refreshing even if it meant any possible narrative had to be entirely implicit. The finish was fun too since it had the Briscos resorting to using chairs (within the rules) and making it so the Road Warriors were too wary to come back into the ring. They got swung at every time they tried and that forced them to get counted out. It's a match that simply couldn't exist today.

ER: I thought this was mostly pretty bad. The Briscoes wrestled nothing like they said they would wrestle and the Tarnado stipulation played to nobody's strengths. Much of the fighting looked soft and slowed down. Many of the strikes looked so bad I had to check that I hadn't actually been watching the other matches in 1.5x speed and then got brought back to real life. Nope, it was just them moving slowly and throwing bad strikes. Animals kept doing this little hopping stomps, everyone moved like they didn't want to accidentally bump into anyone else, Gerry did a run of four push off double boots out of the corner and not only did it look like the Roadies didn't want to run into them, but Gerry threw them like he didn't want them to make contact. Jack did a couple things I liked, getting out of a bearhug with a big telegraphed eye poke, and I liked the visual of both Briscoes kicking their own Road Warrior in the knee around the ring at the same time, but then that chairs finish quickly brought this back to bad. The wrestling grapplers who were going to immobilize the muscle bound freaks on the mat, instead resorting to getting weapons (the Road Warriors did not do a single untoward action toward them!) and throwing the worst chair shots you've ever seen. Gerry's were especially terrible. The second match on this card had blood, motherfucker, throw a glancing blow off one of their heads or something, anything. No good. 

Mr. Wrestling II vs. Larry Zbyszko

MD: Totally down my alley. Mr. Wrestling II was an absolute folk hero here and Zbyszko was just the perfect heel. II started by dropping the belt between them like a line in the sand. Then, of course, Larry stalled. Until II gave chase and finally caught him as he thought he was free and clear to slide into the ring. A massive beating ensued until Larry stalled more into the corner. Then as he finally let the ref allow II to get close, he hit a kick, pulled the turnbuckle back and smashed II's head into it. That allowed him to control for a while, including a very interesting chinlock where he put it over by leaning to the side. Such a little thing but it was visually effective. II made it up and Larry went for the exposed corner again but II turned it around on him, leading to another beating and the eventual finish, which had Larry hold the rope on a roll up after he couldn't get a pile driver to work. Post-match II hit a kneelift and Larry tossed the belt straight up in one of the best visuals I've seen in a very long time. This was exactly what it should have been.

ER: Now we're talking, now we're back to the good stuff. The Omni Zbyszko has been so good, and this continues that trend. But this is also a tremendous Wrestling II performance, just fire the whole way through. The crowd starts swelling when Larry begins removing the turnbuckle pad, knowing what's coming, and once he smashes II into the buckle the real great shit begins. I love how these two fall for each other. Look how II smashes into that buckle and falls slowly down the ropes to the mat, and look how explosively Larry falls when the tables get turned. The second time Larry got smashed into the exposed buckle he sold it so well that I was sure he broke his nose, lying there on the mat covering his face, I fully expected a bloody nose and mouth when the hands came away. Wresting II was pushing 50 and his work was excellent. He beat Zbyszko's ass around the ring (paying him back for those great punches Larry threw right across his jaw) and scraped his boot all over Larry's face. Zbyszko took at least three back body drops from the guy, fast ones. Wrestling II has the best kneelift in wrestling: short, quick, sharp, damaging. I loved him dropping standing into Zbyszko's head and neck, doing a quick fist shake out to straight his arm after one to the dome. Zbyszko's finish was real scummy, great hold of the ropes after a cool piledriver reversal from II, and the post match fire was excellent. Wrestling II nailing him with another all time great kneelift causing Larry to toss the belt up into the air as he bumped. 

Tommy Rich vs. Bill Irwin (Loser Receives Lashes)

MD: When this show came out, I think people undersold just how great this one-two punch was, as one match led into the next and heated it up to a massive degree. Pez had the crowd anyway and the Kabuki/Hart act was super over; plus you had Ole to cheerlead, but it was all incredibly cleverly done. 

Rich and Irwin really did have great chemistry. There was a way that the two were visually balanced, something about how they both moved, emoting for the back row, big arm movements, a sort of lankiness where the sum of the two was more than the individual parts. And they had a certain explosiveness to how they hit the ropes, and whipped each other. They'd bring it up and down here, going right back to that explosiveness. Tommy got color early, because of course he did. He'd have a great hope spot where he reversed a smash in the corner and fired away for a bit until he got cutoff back in the corner again. The finish had him hitting the damndest small package out of nowhere, with the legs hooked just right. The fans went nuts and then doubly so as he handcuffed Irwin in the corner and started whipping. They had to deliver on the gimmick at least a little so he got a few shots in before Hart and Kabuki ran down to break it up. Then they got some shots in on a prone Rich before the place really exploded as Pez and Ole charged in to stop it. 

ER: Yeah this is another reason why we're here, this is what we want. Two wild men, Wildfire and Just Wild, one of the best bleeders of all time against a guy who will throw a couple dozen pump kicks into a bleeding man's face. Everyone in Georgia was so complementary to each other's style, everyone synced up so well, everyone was great at feeding for everyone else. This footage really is magic. Even before the blood, I could have watched a match built around these two hitting the ropes and Irwin doing drop downs. Irwin stayed on Rich and Rich was great at getting kicked around. It's a simple formula that they kept going to most of the match and I never tired of it, because Rich kept finding great ways to put over the kicks to his bleeding head. My favorite moment was Irwin busting Rich open because before you see that Rich is busted open, you see Irwin looking at his fist after punching Rich, and then shake his fist off. He clearly does not shake his fist because of the impact of his punch, he is shaking it to get the blood off. It's so good. The small package finish works really well, love how Rich grapevined those legs and how Irwin was wiggling to kick out. All of the pins in this were great, now that I think about it. Irwin had a great one where he posted up on Rich's laid out arm, body weight on one arm and his arm pressed down onto Rich's flattened arm, and I have no idea how Rich kicked out. Irwin missed a charge into the buckles really violently, perfect way to set up Rich cuffing him around the ropes. There were only a few whippings before Hart and Kabuki got in there to break it up but they all looked nastier than I expected, Rich really airing out that whip. 

Pez Whatley vs. Great Kabuki

MD: That led right into the Pez vs. Kabuki match, with the crowd on edge from the start. Pez dismantled Kabuki from the get go with each shot drawing that Ooooof noise that is so welcome in these early 80s matches. He got too close to the ropes as he was goozling Kabuki though and Hart got him in the eye. Hart was entertaining throughout since he was constantly trying to evade Ole. They brought it up and down with nerveholds but the fans got up for Pez's comebacks each and every time. Then they built to bigger spots with Kabuki coming off the top until Pez caught him and tossed him off. Finish had Hart grab the leg on a suplex attempt from the outside in but Pez actually kick out (the babyface never kicks out that scenario) and then Ole trip Kabuki off the ropes so Pez could hit the jumping headbutt for the win. Place went nuts, Ole celebrated with Pez. Post-match they had Kabuki ALMOST go after Hart until he got him under control; just beautiful pro wrestling all around.

ER: How good are these OOOF shots!? They added to every match they gave the OOFs and in such an ahead of its time wrestling crowd way. What's the fan crossover of fans who were doing the Omni OOFs and Knife Edge WOOs? Every shot in this match and the other Good Ones had it's own punctuation and since everyone in the territory was capable of throwing a great punch the matches feel like constant exclamation points. That's another reason the Road Warriors/Briscoes match was so bad, it was just a sloppy tornado with punches and soft kicks and a weird legdrop and nobody could find the rhythm. Nobody was timing their strikes for impact they were just in each other's way. No OOFs. 

If Brett Sawyer is a guy I didn't have an opinion on before the Omni stuff started showing up a few years ago, then Kabuki is a guy I didn't have an opinion on before the DVDVR Texas and All Japan 80s sets. The Chris Adams series was the peak but Kabuki revealed himself to have a real consistent TV match quality and a style I really like. Maybe our greatest Mysterious Asian Striker gimmick worker. He felt violent like Abby but with no weapons, just the savate kicks and throat thrusts and aura. Pez Whatley has been a real treat on these Omni shows too - they're a gift that has raised many boats - and his big headbutts and the way people were living with his selling were so good. The way Kabuki bumped for Whatley's first headbutt, flying back into a leaping bump for the first time all match......then the way Gary Hart bumps for Whatley's headbutt!!Hart takes it on the apron and leaps up high enough that I gasped, thinking he was crashing off the apron to the floor, but instead he gets tangled in the ropes in seven different ways before getting to the apron. It's the best Tangled in the Ropes bumping ever done among heel managers with the latest name Hart. Kabuki leapt high in the air to absorb Whatley's flying headbutt and it was the right amount of cartoon impact the crowd needed for one gigantic OOF. 

Dick Slater vs. Buzz Sawyer

MD:  The first thirty seconds of this went exactly how I was expecting. The two meet up on the floor and you get every impression that this was going to be a wild draw. But then it went in a completely different direction and stands as an incredibly complete match, just a real heated, grudge-filled but grounded main event (with some big high points) and it's almost surprising there wasn't a title match involved given how they worked it.

Slater controlled the arm early. They'd go out of it and right back into it. Sawyer would pull the hair or get a cheapshot in but they'd run two or three bits and then Slater would drag him back down. Varied stuff, hammerlock and wristlock variations, with the best of it being Slater throwing in a bunch of headbutts while he had the arm. The transition here had Ellering get involved, whacking Slater as his head was between the ropes and Buzz had the ref distraction.

First heat was chinlock heavy but they worked it well and the fans went up for every hope spot with the cutoffs being sufficiently weighty, including the last one where Sawyer tossed Slater to the floor. He started to hulk up out there and came back with big punches. This could have well built to a finish but instead the ref went down, Ellering handed Buzz some knucks, and they went around for a second bit of heat, Slater now bleeding. He survived the power slam, though, started firing back again, beating Slater around ringside. When things got desperate and Buzz went back to the knucks, Slater got them and KOed him right in front of the ref for the DQ. 

Just super complete. That's the best word for it. This is one of those matches that closed every parenthesis and was full of compelling stuff in the middle. Second time I went through this (even not remembering the details), I could feel every banana peel slip or cut off by Buzz coming but it all felt just right, perfectly placed, perfectly timed. You could program a match like this but of course it's Buzz and Slater's mannerisms and wild abandon that turned it from theory to gripping practice.

ER: 20 minutes of new Buzz Sawyer means 20 more minutes cementing him as one of my favorites. Can you imagine seeing a guy looking like and shaped like Buzz Sawyer walking into an Olive Garden in a mint green polo? A guy with that hairline who is jacked in that specific way looks like Instant Trouble. I don't know that there are five looks in wrestling history that I love more than Buzz Sawyer's. The fact he's not just a Perfect Look but he knows how to use it is lighting in a bottle. The way he uses his look, the way he bends his back taking payoff punches, the way he false starts and stomps before locking up, the way he walks around in a circle before bringing it back around to taking a shot. He's the beefiest Chris Candido possible and Dick Slater is like a strong silent Roddy Piper. People respond to both. 

They can work slow and they can work big and they have no problem filling 20. They could have filled 30. There were three different points where it felt like they were peaking things to the finish and they all worked, and the small stuff in between was no less interesting. The highest peak - and what certainly felt like the push to the finish - was Slater finally zombie staggering furiously after Ellering at ringside, throwing chairs and kicking tables in a rage while Ellering runs away in his silk robe like Don Knotts. Mad Dog grabs Dick from the ring and gets his lights punched out. You'll see two different great powerslams, Slater throwing a series of 8 consecutive headbutts short arm headbutts after also being the one to hit a charging JYD headbutt earlier, two hidden weapon punches that look like the finish, a great ref performance from Nick Patrick - a guy who needs to get more praise for everything he does - and a post match sour grapes stuff piledriver that could have started a riot. Pro wrestling. 

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Found Footage Friday: OMNI 8/14/83~! PIPER~! BUZZ~! ZBYSZKO~! GARVIN~! SHEIK~! TOMMY~! IRWIN~! ROAD WARRIORS~!

GCW Omni 8/14/83

Arn Anderson vs. Joe Lightfoot

MD: Interesting to place this one. This was Arn's second to last match in the territory. Borne had flaked out before this leaving Arn on his own and aimless. He drifted over to the babyface side and was mainly used for putting over the Road Warriors in various ways before heading to Alabama as Super Olympia. So this was more or less a babyface match. Arn was the aggressor maybe and ate a whole bunch of chops leading up to the finish but this was really just on the mat for the most part. Anyway, Lightfoot was a solid hand, a guy I know mostly for being Youngblood's little buddy to set up a program in Portland. This was five minutes in and out, and certainly didn't wear out its welcome before the double pin finish and Arn getting his shoulder up. Post match he shook Lightfoot's hand and past one Tony Zane match a couple of weeks later, that was it for Arn in Georgia.

ER: This got really entertaining when they transitioned out of the ground work and Arn was staggering into Lightfoot's chops, and that was the last 10 seconds of the match. Arn was 23!!

Fake Mr. Wrestling I (Jesse Barr) vs. Rick Rood

MD: Yes, this was Barr. I'm not sure if he was trying to work like Woods or not. I do know that he'd feud with Mr. Wrestling II after this and Wrestling II would take his mask in October. This went ten minutes as a draw which may have been surprising but Wrestling was supposed to be a bit of a fraud and he got his heat back after the match by attacking Rood. He had pretty solid armwork throughout with some big comebacks and revenge armwork by Rood. Rood had good fire and it was funny to see him do things like a headstand to get out of a headscissors which was very not Rood. Ten minute draws are far more palatable than 20 minute ones and this made me wonder what a babyface Rood might have looked like later in the decade.

ER: This was among the earliest Rick Rude matches I've seen, and it's very early. This is like 30 matches into a 1,500 match career early. It's impressive how far along he was this early while also wrestling like a completely different guy. This early on he still had elements of who he would be a thousand matches from now, in how he moved and how he sold while feeding. He already had an honest use of physics in his basics like dropdowns and shoulderblocks. He was already delivering his offense in a way where you could tell he knew what the goal of his match was. He also of course did a few funny things I have never associated with Rude, like a headstand escape out of Mr. Wrestling's great headscissors. I didn't actually know it was Jesse Barr until after I watched this. I was real confused when he beat Rude's ass after the loss after working an entire 10 minute draw without ever trying to beat Rude's ass. The crowd was really pissed off and I thought there was this great 50 year old Tim Woods heel run. 

Brett Sawyer vs. The Iron Sheik

MD: Brett was really good. Obviously there was a ceiling to him as a drawing card (Flair match from Portland and teaming with his brother vs. the Road Warriors aside) but he was just a great mid-card presence, very down home and folksy in a way that would never make it to TV today, not without being more stylized like a Mark Briscoe. But he just came off as a guy down the street with a lot of fire in his heart. 

The first third of this (after getting under Sheik's skin with the patriotic chants) was all headlocks and rope running and Sheik really was pretty lithe stooging his way into these and keeping up off the ropes. Brett eventually got caught and then Sheik jammed his face into his boot (with his boot on the top rope, which was a nice bit that he may not have been flexible enough to pull off in later years). That started the blood and with it came the woundwork and it was pretty glorious. A bloody Brett would wave his fists and try to power up and fight from underneath and the crowd ate it up. Sheik cut him off and did more damage right until the banana peel finish where Brett fell on Sheik on a suplex attempt and the place became unglued. Post match Ellering and Sheik pounded on Brett until Rich and Buzz (certainly not aligned) ran out for the save. Pretty electric stuff. This was third match on the card and it inspired so much emotion. Beautiful pro wrestling.

ER: There were at least five other matches on this show I was more excited to see. I don't know if I even registered this match when my eyes skipped past the bottom of the card to where the Valentine, Tommy Rich, Buzz Sawyer, and Road Warriors matches. I'm so glad I didn't just skip to those other matches as this match is a condensed gem. The fans really like Sawyer, hate the Sheik, and you get to see a vicious quick Sheik that would be a completely different wrestler in less than two years. Sheik is one of our great weird body wrestlers, and it's not a coincidence that so many of our great weird body guys were high level amateur wrestlers. Gary Albright's small arms and hunched shoulders and powerful belly, Tamon Honda's full long upper torso with his short sturdy legs glued to the canvas, and Iron Sheik's shredded distended belly with small arms and close shoulders, all weird amateur grappler bodies and all great. Sheik moved so weird and here he moves really well...while still moving the weird way Sheik moves. He has the same stiff old man posture as he did when he was ruining indy cards in the late 90s, but he has this cool unexpected quickness. When Sheik did a hindu squat splits dropdown into a leapfrog to set up a fast Sawyer sunset flip, I yelled aloud. 

Putting your boot up on the top turnbuckle and slamming someone's face into your boot is a real Lost Great Spot. Think of the last time you saw it. I saw Barry Horowitz do it 20 years ago and maybe it was something FTR pulled when they were The Revival. Tag partners should also yell at their partner on the apron to give them a boot more often. The boot eyelet raking made a comeback at some point, somebody needs to bring back the boot smash. Sawyer gets busted open from biting and Sheik pushes it well past biting when he throws a gorgeous belly to belly that started with him picking up a bearhug. His missed cannonball that gave Sawyer some fight was so unexpected. It's so weird watching Iron Sheik do a huge front flip. I love how it didn't lead to Sawyer's actual comeback, it just gave him a little time to fight to his knees and get the crowd believing. The finish coming right after as its own surprise was a great way to triple that reaction just as it was dimming. 

The post match was great with Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich coming out to save Buzz's bro from one of seven or eight Paul Ellering fueled beatings. Tommy looked so loyal, standing over Sawyer wanting to fight anyone who got near, but Buzz had this unreal aura. It's so unmistakably bad ass, a guy you don't want to cross who keeps this dangerous cool composure. "I know people don't like me but I'm not a total asshole" big brother energy. The way he carries himself with his hands in his sweatpants pockets, that torso in a tight 50/50 blend blue t-shirt, the fucking bandana essential to the look, sending calm threats to Ellering as he walked up to him. An unemployed adult older brother who stays at home all day coming out to the front yard to tell his teen brother's bully how he's going to cut him. 

Larry Zbyszko vs. Ron Garvin

MD: The TV title was on the line for the first ten minutes here. I'll be honest that there are single matches i want more or less out of the Omni footage, but if we're talking a run, then I want as much as Larry's run as possible. We have bits and pieces but it's right down my alley on paper. I think it ages better than a lot of heel Dibiase footage for instance.  

Anyway, this was the panacea to Larry's usual tactics as he only had ten minutes to try to take Garvin's title. Yes, he got punched out of the ring early, but he couldn't linger. He had to be more aggressive than usual. Tons of great punches in this one, especially in the corners. There was one comeback by Garvin where he knocked Larry down and then held on to the arm after he fell and the crowd realized it, realized that he was going to pull Larry back up to hit him again, and were elated about it. Larry was able to fire back out of the corner using the ref as a distraction and took about half the match pretty soundly. He had an advantage at the end as Garvin missed a knee drop and it seemed like he might have a chance of taking the title with a pile driver but Garvin turned it into a pin and got the win. This was a nice subversion of the Rood match which did go to a ten minute draw. It seemed like it would here too or that Garvin was going to lose and then he snuck out the win at the last moment. 

ER: I love this era of Zbyszko. Yeah Garvin looks like a jacked up super tough brat pack era Judd Nelson and hits with his trademark up close short range power, but Zbyszko man. Zbyszko sells the impact of Garvin's strikes better than maybe anyone. I love the tough guy sturdy gravity Valentine sells them with but Zbyszko is so moveable, a wiggly guy who bounces off ropes and uses body movement the same way Tully did, recoiling fast but being punched and physically reacting to those punches exactly the way 9,000 people wanted to see. He knows exactly how I want to see Larry Zbyszko reacting to being hit. He also punches exactly how I want to see a man punch. All the punches were great for the whole match, but Zbyszko's tight, straight reared back rights looked perfect. The finish of this was incredibly done and I didn't see it coming. We had our 10 minute draw already and every single piece of wrestling language made this look like a frustrated Zbyszko unable to win within 10 minutes. I actually but when Larry pulled off a sweet and smooth inside cradle to block a bodyslam in its infancy, but the actual finish was a great surprise. Zbyszko looking like he was going to cave in Garvin's teen idol 'do, with all the execution of Zbyszko lifting up the way you do just before you sit down, Garvin shifting his weight at the peak of lift off to tip the weight. Great finish, great match. 

Road Warriors vs. Mr. Wrestling/Mr. Wrestling II

MD: I really enjoy 83 Roadies. They were raw but they hadn't quite settled into what they'd become a year or two later. They wrestled much more vulnerably, more stooging, more backpedaling, while still being monsters both aesthetically and when they were doing damage. We've been hearing it for the last few matches but it's so great to have the crowd make that primal guttural noise whenever a babyface threw a shot. It was chaos to begin and chaos to end with Mr Wrestling having to fight from underneath in the middle. Wrestling II came in hot and it was rousing stuff but Zbyszko nailed him from the apron out of nowhere after a couple of kneelifts. All of this felt larger than life especially to this crowd.

ER: Man I LOVE the way the Road Warriors sell for two 50 year old man throwing big arm swinging punches. The Road Warriors sell so well for the Wrestlings that I want to see 1983 Roadies against 1989 Baba/Rusher. I couldn't get enough for Wrestling's big swinging punches that are thrown like nobody else threw punches and the way Hawk perfectly knew to throw his head back for them, just enough. We know the Road Warriors were not yet the monsters they would become just a year or so later, but it's still wild seeing Hawk taking multiple back body drops. This had another spectacular finish, with action so good I had to keep rewinding to watch what each individual was doing. Wrestling II was fending off Animal in the top corner, Hawk was roughing up Wrestling in the foreground. Wrestling gets thrown over the top down onto a table and almost into a front row before charging back into the ring by stepping up onto that table and getting back into the fight. Animal keeps charging into Wrestling II in the corner and keeps catching knees, until he charges in and catches two boots shoved squarely into his chest and gets bumped back hard. Zbyszko sneaks in and bashes II in the back of the head and staggers him into the greatest This is the End powerslam from Animal. This was not the structure I expected going in but now I want more Hawk and Animal selling for great old man strikes.  

Greg Valentine vs. Pez Whatley

MD: Pretty remarkable Pez performance here. He came in hot, even while Greg still had the title in hand and had Valentine rocking and falling over the place with headbutts early. Greg took over with a nasty kneeling piledriver and started on the arm. Pez came back with one arm with some great silly in his hope spots, using the head when he could, really solid stuff. They dropped the arm selling for the most part as it went on but you almost didn't mind because Pez was so good at working from underneath on a chinlock, just constant motion fighting up and engaging the crowd. Transition was another pile driver attempt which was a little like the Garvin/Zbyszko match but they had Valentine go into the corner again. Things got out of hand and it ended up as a DQ with him using the belt repeatedly, but Pez drove him off so the crowd got at least some satisfaction out of it. Very good match overall though, even if the arm selling went nowhere. 

ER: Every heel in this territory knew exactly how to sell the strikes of every top babyface and it's all so beautiful. Valentine makes Pez Whatley a god and Pez wiggles his way up to it, and once again, this rules. Valentine is on the Found Footage Friday Mt. Rushmore as we've now been uncovering unseen classics of his for nearly a decade, every one of them broadening his case as one of our greatest workers. Here's another for the pile. I'm so used to seeing Valentine take strikes from fellow tough guys and hitting them back. I've seen that Valentine more than I've seen the Valentine who sells for smaller ethnic babyface, and this one is great. With Valentine's selling, his head whips and stunned cobweb shaking, Whatley's headbutts looked peerless, the culmination of decades of black wrestler headbutts. His perseverance and big time style and charisma through his comebacks were getting reactions louder than any part of the Dog Collar main event, and it was such infectious babyface energy that played incredibly off the tough guy champ. Whatley's reversal out of the piledriver was such a cool spot, upending Valentine into and off the turnbuckles. It's one of those spots where, no matter how much wrestling I've watched, there's always something like that waiting to show me something new. 

Bullwhip on a Pole: Tommy Rich vs. Bill Irwin

MD: I've always been pretty high on Irwin. Great body language. Big lanky guy who was willing to throw himself into everything he did, and there was so much to throw himself into here. Every time either guy went for the pole, the other was on top of him instantly. Really gripping stuff. People don't understand today just how compelling these pole matches could be when the wrestlers put forth so much care towards whatever was on top of the pole. 

Here they had to really incapacitate the other. Irwin kept escalating things, hitting a gut wrench suplex, tossing Rich out of the ring, knocking the head against the post. Rich on the other hand got out of the way for Irwin's corner charge and he bumped huge over the top knee first, etc. Just more and more until finally Irwin started working the leg, a necessity since Rich wouldn't stay down. Even that didn't quite do it but it allowed for a hotshot and Irwin to finally get up the pole. One thing I wish we had were more pole matches from the 70s when there probably WASN'T an inversion of the finish. By the 80s, whoever first got the weapon tended not to be the one who got to use it and to see that once could be satisfying but to see it in every pole match gets a little frustrating. Sometimes you just want that nice clean feeling of something happening how it's supposed to. Still, Rich grabbing it mid swing and firing off on Irwin was a greater level of enjoyment for the crowd and this was really good stuff overall.

Dog Collar Match: Roddy Piper vs Buzz Sawyer 

MD: Pull this back up. Just watch a minute of it, any minute. Watch Roddy. Watch him move. Nothing specific that he does, though if you catch a bump or some selling or a punch, that's all the better. But just the in-between. Did you see it? Go look out a window or down the street. Find a neighbor, a spouse. Hell, look in the mirror. Watch yourself move. Whatever you see, it's not as alive and vibrant and vivid as this forty year old footage of Roddy Piper.

The anticipation early here, both of them six feet apart, the chain between them, a rabid game of chess to decide which would rush first to strike. At the start it was Buzz but when it was Piper's time, he became a man possessed, cutting the distance with wide eyes and a wild snarl. Buzz scored first blood but Piper's comebacks on the floor were things of myth and legend.

Matches like these, from this era, often end shortly after that first huge comeback, after the turn of the tide, after revenge is grasped. This one, however, went around one more time, as Buzz was able to sneak in a low blow. Things spilled back out to the floor but Piper fired back once more, moving the guardrail and basically punching Buzz back into the ring. Gripping, satisfying, refreshing stuff. In some ways a prototype for what would come later in both of their careers and something that almost impossibly lived up to the picture we had in our heads.

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ROAD REPORT: GCW Devil in a New Dress 4/10/22

This Road Report is going to be much more vibes than actual match analysis. This was the first wrestling show I had been to with this many friends (seven people, including myself) in who knows how long. It was a great night, fun as hell, but there's no way I'm going to be remembering full details of a 20 minute Dark Sheik match or what specific Kidd Bandit spots I thought were stupid. The card was changed around wildly and the two people I was most excited to see (Biff Busick and Gringo Loco) were either there and not used or not there for reasons I don't know (travel?). So that was a drag! And yet, we still had a good time. It was fun seeing it with several friends who don't follow indy wrestling, as a couple of my boys were only familiar with Busick, Jacob Fatu, and Suzuki. With no Busick or Fatu, that meant they were seeing nearly everyone on the card for the first time, brains unsullied by the opinions of those on the internet. I told them to "just think of this as early Jersey All Pro" and that set the mood just fine. 

Effy vs. Nick Wayne

ER: If you had told me earlier in the night that Effy would be the guy putting on my favorite performance of that night, then I would have been skeptical. Had it been my Looper, I would have been more inclined to believe me. This was my favorite personal Effy performance and I thought he came off like an honest to god star. The Yellow Brick Road music, the trashy blonde asymmetrical mullet, the fishnets, and the extreme confidence on the mic. For reasons I could not quite make out (it is not an indy wrestling show without somewhat questionable sound), Effy stated that this was a family show and he would therefore be working much less horny. And honestly? Focused ass kicker Effy is much more entertaining than horny Effy. He did a great job bullying a high school junior, caught all of Wayne's dives (including a big tope con giro), and came off like a real complete act. I'm not sure there was anyone on the card who carried themselves like a bigger star than Effy did in this match, and that includes Suzuki. 

My favorite moment of the match - which might sound odd - is how he handled a failing prop spot: Wayne brought the doors into the match, and as Effy was setting up a door on a couple folding chairs and trying to keep Wayne on them, the door just fell off the chairs. As the fans were jeering the extended spot set up, Effy just did the most hilarious hurrr durrrr face with a funny dance to accompany it, immediately shutting down any potential derision. Now, the *craziest* moment came right after, when Effy went up top and Wayne got up way too quick to catch him with a Spanish Fly. Wayne got up so quick that Effy's feet weren't squared up, one of them looked to be slipping, and those knees were shaking hard as Wayne flipped. I was standing near the turnbuckle directly opposite them, and I swear to you I looked directly into Effy's eyes and saw the expression of a man who did not think he was properly making it over on that Spanish Fly. I thought he was going to brutally plant chin or neck first directly into the mat, but somehow he made it over (not really through the table, instead going off course and flattening one of the chairs). People were going nuts after that Fly, and I know I'm not the only one there who thought we almost witnessed an opening match murder. 

Jordan Oliver vs. Jack Cartwheel

ER: The only thing really worth remembering about this match is the bananas finish, but honestly on a show like this having the most GIFable finish is way more valuable than just having a good match. This was a match that I really didn't care for as I wanted to see Cartwheel get punished for his frequent cartwheeling and I don't think it got there. I did not need to see these two working multiple stand and trade spots and reversals of reversals over a too long 15 minutes, and I could not believe how many Cartwheels Jack got away with. We had to have seen at least a dozen of them (conservative estimate) and every single time I wanted them to end with Oliver cutting them off HARD. I like Oliver and liked when he did get stiff with Jack, but Cartwheel is like a bad Dynamite Kid, only replacing the crisp execution and crippling alcoholism with cartwheels. This match felt like it was peaking to a finish, and then kept going, then went to more slapping and missed its window. However, the finish is something that only the most joyless wouldn't pop for, as Oliver bounced Cartwheel off the top rope with a front suplex and then caught Cartwheel on the rebound with a sitout powerbomb, fundamentally erasing the previous 15 minutes from my brain by finishing with the far and away coolest thing they were capable of doing.  

Allie Katch vs. Kidd Bandit

ER: I would be plenty happy never watching another Kidd Bandit match ever again. I hate a babyface whose only quality is being cute, and this was some next level eye rolling uwu waifu horseshit. I wanted to see them get the shit kicked out of them but instead we mostly got them doing simp fingers, making Allie sell for an eternity while they posed, then posed some more, then did a shitty stunner and 619. Her kicks couldn't break paper and Allie was insanely generous selling for any of it. The best parts were Allie trying to snap Bandit in half with a Boston crab and battering her in the corner with a lariat, hip bump, and big cannonball. I did like Allie's match finishing piledriver, draping Bandit over the ropes and sitting back with it, but Kidd Bandit's act is 100% not aimed at me and that is fine. I do not want to be a member of that club. 

Jimmy Lloyd vs. Masha Slamovich

ER: Out of everyone on the show, I think my friends left this show as bigger fans of Jimmy Lloyd than anyone else. They liked plenty of people on the card, but the different boy just connects...differently. I was excited for Masha/Busick - the originally scheduled match - but this was a fine replacement. I dug the story of Jimmy trying to outpower Masha at the outset with a powerbomb, but when all it did was fire her up, going immediately to the weapons and pushing things to more dangerous places (and Masha being totally fine being pushed there). The floor brawl was cool and lead to some nasty spots, with both throwing chairs (Lloyd is someone who is going to lean into chair shots), Masha running up the apron with a tornado DDT on the floor, and Lloyd hitting a nutso death valley driver off the apron through a door. They broke some doors in this one, and when they took it back in the ring was when Lloyd started breaking out his biggest bumps. He was really good at selling and taking damage from the smaller Masha, never feeling like he was overbumping and mostly selling her shots appropriately. When he flies into a door, it's because he got hit with a high impact missile dropkick that sent him flying across the ring. 

Masha didn't escape damage, as Lloyd powerbombed her across a trash can and brother, that trash can barely took any damage. The can won that battle, and Masha's future back problems will be testament to that. Lloyd leaned face first into her running kicks, took and sold a nasty suplex across an open chair, even took a piledriver onto some open chairs. We don't get to see a lot of classic piledrivers in wrestling these days, so seeing one dropping a guy head and neck through a chair is insane, and I love how she finished with another one right after. It's hard not to be a fan of the different boy after this match, and the boy came off even more lovable later in the night when my friends kept seeing him in the crowd, not always knowing if it was Lloyd or any one of a couple dozen wrestling fans who look exactly like Lloyd. After the show, when most wrestlers were hanging around ringside and the merch area selling polaroids and gear, Lloyd was just chilling in the crowd sitting alone. A different boy even among peers. 

Titus Alexander vs. Midas Kreed

ER: This was kind of a local showcase, although I'm not sure you'll be able to call Titus a local guy much longer, as clearly bigger things await him. The Bay Area scene is not where you stay if you want to grow your career, all the big ones get out and move east. Titus stood out in a big way on this card just by actually working heel, doing things that got actual heat, and sticking to it. He wasn't out looking for MJF "I'm a HEEL" type heat, he did some actual hateful stuff like getting right in the face of the female ref when she made him break a count. He moved into her personal space so quickly that I think it actually caught a lot of the crowd off guard and really got them turned against him. Titus knew how to get heel heat and comedy heat, which is an important distinction. He was good at setting up spots and not paying them off with what the crowd wanted, like clearing a section of crowd to throw Kreed through chairs, only to throw him right back into the ring instead. It's an old trick, but one I'll laugh about every time. It's an especially funny trick in GCW, since every person in the crowd knows there's a chance any match will spill into the crowd and a minimum four guys are going to get thrown through a section of chairs. 

Kreed had some flashy stuff, like a 450 splash that connected (even though he's a small guy) and a really cool pendulum swing reverse DDT that Titus took right on the back of his head. It was like a Sliced Bread, only Alexander really got drilled into the mat. Alexander has a nice moveset: a spinebuster, a couple kneelifts to the face, and a big rolling Chaos Theory German suplex that threw Kreed across the entire ring. These guys were probably the least known on the show, and post-intermission is sometimes a rough spot to connect to a crowd (which typically correlates with how long the intermission is, and this one wasn't bad at all), but these two won the crowd over pretty quickly. 

Matthew Justice/Mance Warner/AJ Gray vs. Juicy Finau/Journey Fatu/D-Rogue

ER: I was excited to see my boy Justice live. I've seen him a couple of times live, and I just really connect with him as a big time babyface. He wasn't really a babyface here, but he's got that same kind of working man's charisma that Jimmy Lloyd has, that same kind of guy who will bleed and wreck his body for the fans, with the major difference being that Matt Justice fucks. He also did not let me down, as he hit some of the absolute LOUDEST chair shots I have ever heard. He was pasting these Islanders with shots (even broke a cane over someone's head!), hitting them so hard in the head and back that I bet his hands were getting hurt just as badly. Justice wasn't just wrecking people with chairs, he also caught a big D-Rogue dive and got flattened by a Juicy splash from the middle buckle. When Juicy told the crowd he was gonna hit a 450, he climbed to the middle buckle and slapped his belly: "THIS...is 450" and then made Justice disappear beneath girth. Earlier, Juicy had threatened to do a dive to the floor, and Mancer got on the house mic and said he had a bad leg and there was no fucking way he was going to stand there and catch that motherfucker's dive. Jacob was gone, but honestly Journey isn't much of a step down in quality. He hung in for stiff shots, ran Gray through a door with a running powerslam, threw headbutts, basically everything I would have expected from Jacob. 

All the stuff in the ring was even crazier than the stuff on the floor. SGC combined forces to suplex Juicy through a table, Gray threw his lariat as hard as possible at Juicy, Justice and Mancer made the perfect bug eyed dumb faces when Juicy grabbed them in Tongan death grips, and we got a cool finish with Justice and Gray nailing D-Rogue with Superfly splashes from opposite corners. The deservedly loudest pop of the match was when Mancer wasted Journey with an unprotected chair shot to the dome, and Journey roared his way through it because, well, the brother is Samoan. This was probably my favorite match of the night, a great mix of violence and personality and big spots. 

Dark Sheik vs. Joey Janela

ER: I am not a big fan of these 20 minute Joey Janela matches, but I recognize that I am likely in the minority, and even though they had the longest match on the card they managed to keep the crowd's interest for all of it. That means something. Still, this felt like a match that was about to wrap up around 12 minutes in, so of course it shot right past that window and yep, we were locked into 20 minutes of move trading, back and forth. If you have the offense to fill 20 minutes of time then more power to you, but a lot of times there felt like no rhyme or reason as to who was in control. Joey catches her with a kind of blue thunder bomb, and moments later Joey is eating a big Sliced Bread on the apron. Joey eats a brainbuster and big guillotine legdrop, but Joey is the one setting up the prop spots just moments later. There was some entertaining bullshit with Dark Sheik's valet, SF drag star Pollo Del Mar, that ended with Del Mar putting Janela through a table with a powerbomb. At the start of the match Janela had hit her with a cheapshot and this was a good way to pay that off. 

After the powerbomb, Sheik hit a big coast to coast missile dropkick, and that's what I thought would be the finish. You know, the cheapshot at the beginning got paid off in a big way, Sheik hit a big impressive finisher, felt like a good time to end all of this. But we still needed another 9 minutes of prop set-up, bad strike exchanges, and even worse kneeling strike exchanges! Janela did hit an insane running elbowdrop through a table, running from the stage and leaping  FAR off it, far enough that I wasn't actually sure he would clear the distance. Great spot. It looked like Janela would pull this whole thing off after a piledriver and top rope double stomp, but nah, we needed to get to some of that kneel and trade that never looks good. If I remember correctly, Janela eventually lost when he suplexed Sheik through some chairs, and Sheik just wound up pinning Janela. They went all out and had a bunch of big moves, and that's great, but man was I ready for this to be over and done with long before we got there. 

Minoru Suzuki vs. Speedball Mike Bailey

ER: When we got to the venue (The Midway, great building for wrestling that I had never been to before) and started wandering around scoping out a spot to stand, one of the first things I noticed was Suzuki just hanging out by the bar, leaning against it and silently surveying the growing crowd. He was wearing a track suit with his name on it, and a sunbeam was coming down from a skylight, giving him a perfect spotlight to lounge in. I swear, I didn't see another sunbeam shining into that entire (large) venue, and here's Suzuki basking in his own personal warm glow. 

Suzuki has a pretty great thing going with his US appearances. He knows what the fans want to see, and he knows the exact bare minimum he can do to scrape by while still leaving everyone happy and excited that they got to see Minoru Suzuki live. Sometimes you get forearm exchange/silly faces Suzuki, sometimes you get that plus a little extra. I think we got the latter. There were a lot of forearm exchanges (way too many), and you can see his personal formula for them when you're watching up close. He throws 90% of his shots totally worked, but knows to payoff his killshots with real stiff killshots. This leads to a bunch of dull exchange where guys are pulling everything and meandering through their 5th, 8th, who knows how many stand and trade sequences, but they always end with an absolute jawbreaker. It's like Suzuki is using George Costanza's High Note Theory, where he knows he can sleepwalk through most of an exchange before throwing one tooth loosener, and everyone will mostly just remember all the big endings to those endless exchanges. I really liked some of their mat exchanges, and thought this would have been a lot more fun if Suzuki kept tying Bailey up with arm and wrist work, leading to Bailey forgoing his arm and just attacking with kicks. We didn't get that, but I would have liked that. 

Suzuki had a hilarious misread of the room, as he kept getting into the female ref's face when she asked him to break holds, I guess thinking that him telling a woman to get out of his face was going to get him cheered? After Titus Alexander used the exact same thing to draw strong heel heat just a couple matches earlier, it was completely brainless to go in thinking he'd get anything but awkward reactions for backing down a much smaller woman. He won them back pretty easily with a funny spot where he ducked a couple of Bailey head kicks, stuck out his tongue to mock Bailey, and then got kicked in the face. Bailey had a few cool spin kicks that stopped Suzuki cold, a couple to the chest and one that wrapped around his head. He also hit a big moonsault to the floor and had a near fall off his flipping double kneedrop that got me to bite. Bailey wound up missing the same kneedrop, only off the top rope, mine own knees crying out in eternal pain just witnessing it, and Suzuki planted him with his Gotch piledriver. The match had far too many strike exchanges, but I don't think it would have been as bad if four of the other matches hadn't had the exact same strike exchanges. If you're on the undercard of a show Suzuki is headlining, it seems pretty dumb to have a shitty stand and trade sequence in your match, but that did not slow down all of the worst strikers on the show! Even thinking that a lot of the strike exchanging in this match was cumbersome, I can't deny that this was a bigger Suzuki performance than I was expecting. The guy is a legend and has some of the most contagious charisma in wrestling, and I couldn't be happier that he's getting the biggest paydays of his life while basking in sunbeams. 

After the show we battled the strongest winds I have ever personally experienced in San Francisco, and drove a couple miles to go to one of the great SF restaurants, Papito. Papito is a great taqueria with a French chef owner-operator, and this is the first time I'd been to their new location (around the corner from their old location). My favorite music venue in SF (maybe anywhere?) is Bottom of the Hill, and Papito is a nice steep uphill walk a few blocks away from B.O.T.H. As I have not been to any concerts in SF since March 2020, I have not been this close to Papito in over two years. The original location would have been a logistical nightmare with a five person party as there were only a few tables inside. Now they have 3-4x the space and we were seated immediately. Glorious. I filled up on their excellent chips and salsa, ruining my appetite for their incredible hamburguesa, one of the greatest burgers I have had in my lifetime. My plan, however, was ingenious, as I took most of my burger home and wolfed it down the next night, regretting not requesting some of their orange salsa to go. 

As I was the driver on this trip and therefore chose what we listened to, my friends' ears were blessed by a 3-2 Giants victory on the radio, some Gene Vincent, Grateful Dead's excellent 4/8/72 show at Wembley Empire Pool (with awesome tonally shifting 30 minute Dark Star, among other highlights), The Brides of Funkenstein's disco classic Never Buy Texas From a Cowboy, and Charlotte Adigery's amazing new album Topical Dancer. 

Even though this was not the card I wanted, there was not one person in our group who was disappointed by this show. Even the matches that were firmly Not For Me had memorable moments, and the people I was excited to see totally delivered. Every one of my pals had a great time too, and when GCW announced they would be returning in July, we made plans to do it all over again. 

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Matches from GCW If I Die First 2/5/22

Ninja Mack/Dante Leon vs. Jordan Oliver/Nick Wayne  

ER: I loved this. This tapped into a great 10 minute high spot opener tag that all my favorite American indies have produced. Ever since Jersey All Pro gifted us with this kind of wrestling, there's been some bad copycats and some inspired acolytes. This match was the latter. You watch these guys work bigger and more complicated stunt spots that build to multiple physics defying spots, and you begin to notice...Jordan Oliver has a peach fuzz beard...Nick Wayne has a puka shell necklace...Dante Leon looks like he deals E...there's an actual ninja...this basically IS 2001 Jersey All Pro. All four are guys with cool stuff to show off and a good idea about where to put it. Dante Leon looks like a weenie but throws the hardest elbows of the match, also whips himself into the mat on back bumps and arm wringers. Oliver has precise timing and knows how to build to and payoff big bumps: Early on he sees Ninja heading for the turnbuckles and heads him off at the pass, sending him flipping fast in a crash to the floor; later Ninja Mack stops him on his own trip to the top, and Oliver crashes to the floor 3/4 of the length of the ring away. Ninja Mack is pure uncut joy to watch, the most 2001 JAPW guy we've been gifted with, showing it's still possible to be an innovative flyer. Everybody here gets great showcase dives and they all rule, but Ninja breaks out a double handspring top con giro that was so fast I thought the video started glitching. He has strike combos that go directions you don't expect, and he takes bumps that land in ways you haven't seen. The finisher train looked great, everyone found increasingly stupid ways to get themselves cuttered, and Ninja Mack's finisher just shows that he's an Evolved Sasuke. Great mood-setter right here.  

PAS: Very fun stuff, just four kids with ideas, some of which are great, some of which maybe not so much. I have been watching a lot of GCW for my Ringer column, and they do this kind of spotfest a lot, and it is almost always worth watching. Ninja Mack is Blitzkrieg level crazy, as wildly athletic as anyone in wrestling ever. He is perfect in these kind of throw at that wall see what sticks matches, and has so many fun possible opponents. Can you imagine if Claudio works some GCW dates? A Low-Ki rematch? Chris Hero returning from podcasting to beat his ass? Wayne is a high school kid, and has already signed a AEW contract. I imagine he has quite a future, and already fits well in this kind of thing.

John Wayne Murdoch vs. ASF

ER: This is a great wrestling match story. ASF is the new guy local who wasn't booked on the show, who steps up above his weight when a storm prevented the travel of several real Murdoch opponent. That's a match set-up I really like and this delivered. Maybe ASF got to show off too much cool stuff, but for a new guy he does have a lot of cool stuff. He has a real knack for smacking his head into things painfully, flying headfirst into a propped up chair, later going forehead first on a Flatliner. When it's his time for crazy highspots, he hits a Homicide-like tope con giro through the ropes that sends he and Murdoch through several rows of chairs, and follows up with a big flip dive. There's some punishing in-ring stuff, like Murdoch putting ASF kidney first through a folding chair, or a swinging ASF DDT that looked like something that could have pinned JWM. Great plucky energy from ASF, and JWM played off it well. 

Gringo Loco vs. Psycho Clown 

ER: Gringo Loco has been a real asset as the traffic director and big base of the GCW lucha matches, and here he gets the chance to throw down and have a wild through-the-indoor-sports-complex lucha brawl with one of the biggest luchadors in the world. He gets that chance, and flies into it head first. This had blood, big dives, big falls, big weapon shots, and several dangerous bumps. Loco gets thrown through ringside chairs a bunch, and shows off how well he can catch a dive when Psycho hits a beautiful diagonal dive past the ringpost, Loco absorbing all of it and sending him flying back into more chairs. Loco rips Psycho's mask and gets the blood flowing, Psycho bashes Loco with a chair and gets his blood flowing, and pretty soon they're brawling to bigger and bigger spots. A couple of doors get involved, and I like how doors continue to get used as weapons after they've been exploded. Some wrestlers would attack opponents with pieces of broken table, but it seems far more common when a door gets broken, and I like that. They were good about punching each other to build to big moments, taking a tour through the sports center and showing off what a fun playground it is for this type of match. But even then I wouldn't have predicted a dive off the goal posts. They did a good job of punishing stunt set up. If either man took too long to set up a stunt spot it almost always backfired on them, and after Psycho sets up a door on some chairs, he catches that fire. Hats off to GCW's camera crew who captured Loco's journey as he balance beam walked out on support beam attaching the goal posts to the wall and then flew off the posts with a swanton. Psycho gets hits own plancha off the top of the staircase, and I love how amped Clown always gets after one of his big dives or falls. The fight back in the ring was strong (my favorite was Loko nailing a full extension superkick, only for Psycho to shake it off and run at him with a bull rush headbutt that staggered Loco back into the ropes), and the Spanish Fly finish looked deadly. 

PAS: Phil wrote about this match over at The Ringer. 

Grim Reefer vs. Deranged vs. Alex Zayne vs. Atticus Cogar vs. Dark Sheik

ER: This was kind of messy with several bad landings and one that looked especially dangerous, but it also had a Grim Reefer performance that kept getting bigger and better, some wild dives, and a couple nice surprises. I was mainly excited for this because Deranged doesn't make tape that often and I try to go out of my way to support Special K alumni. Deranged still gets as much quick rotation on his spin kicks, will fly dangerously onto a dog pile powerbomb, will almost smash his face on the apron on a high moonsault to the floor, and will take a couple of gruesome bumps for great yarder offense. Grim was the star here, making a comedy smoking spot work tremendously by throwing perfect worked punches while taking huge drags from a joint. He had a couple of long arm strikes (including punching Deranged in the throat) and other nice strikes while everyone ran at him, Reefer hitting every beat of his timing without missing a puff. He even puts the joint out on Cogar's forehead! Reefer's bumping is also a cut above, getting absolutely spiked on a cutter and taking a Zayne knee strike flush to the head. Zayne can have a few too many steps to his work, but has a lot of ideas and some innovative stuff. I loved his nutso Diamond Dust tope and his big ripcord driver to Deranged. There was a dangerously messy tower spot where Deranged flipped over the top of everyone stacked on the turnbuckles, and Cogar almost died in three different ways. I think everyone got their vertebrae crunched at one point or another, with the worst being Sheik getting stung taking a Deranged cutter off Cogar's shoulders. Sheik barely moved the rest of the match and everyone worked around her, one of those sick things that can happen in a scramble. 

2022 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 4! 2/13/21

Diego Perez vs. Gil Guardado

PAS: These guys are both MMA fighters apparently without any pro-wrestling experience, so this was basically an MMA sparring session. In shootstyle you are going to be better off with MMA guys with no pro-wrestling experience than the other way around, and there were some exciting moments of ground work, although neither guy seemed fully able to pull strikes and make them look good. The rolling guillotine choke Perez used to finish the fight was really cool.

ER: This mainly looked like the kind of karate or MMA sparring you'd see open a late 80s FMW show or two UWF young boys wearing black trunks and tights and having something called a Fight Exhibition. These two even had the black trunks and tights, but it almost always looked like a pretty friendly MMA exhibition. I liked how Guardado worked inside and outside leg kicks, and at one point it looked like Perez got annoyed and threw a straight kick at the kneecap of Guardado's lead leg. Could have used more stuff like that. I think MMA Guy New to Wrestling pairs nicely with Wrestling Guy New to MMA as a match, so I could see either having a fun match with a midwest indy worker in 2021. 

Royce Isaacs vs. Calder McColl

PAS: This was flashier stuff with both guys having MMA and wrestling experience. Issacs had some really cool takedowns and throws, including a cool gutwrench, but would often get caught by McColl working off his back. There was an especially cool McCall trip takedown from behind. McColl reverses an anconda vice into an armbar and then into a triangle choke for the finish. This was a really good ground battle, with both guys showing some skill. 

ER: This felt a bit too long for what we got, but I liked Isaacs working somehow tentatively, not wanting to rush into something stupid, while also pushing pace and making it almost a sure thing he gets caught in something. Aggression is more interesting in Bloodsport than who eventually gets the triangle, and I liked his short takedowns, liked that he went for stuff like low angle German suplexes even though they almost surely took more energy than they were worth. We have a match long story of McColl's triangle attempts, and Isaacs escaping until he can't. At one point Isaacs did a cool hip pop to break out of a triangle, I really dug that. McColl was a little dull but obviously had some skill, thought it was cool how he set up a slow rolling armbar finish almost as a decoy, giving him a third and final chance to lock in the triangle. 

Bad Dude Tito vs. Super Beast

PAS: This started out pretty awesome with Super Beast with some monstrous throws and huge clubbing forearms, a totally jacked dude who wrestled like it. Tito had some fun brawling strikes early and a couple of nifty holds from the bottom, but this got derailed a bit by a New Japan forearm exchange which should be banned by penalty of death from shootstyle matches. And while the Super Beast keylock throw to finish it was pretty rad, this never got back to the awesome start. 

ER: Yeah, this started cool and then went into a beyond bad strike exchange. Tito from his back going for armbars? Awesome. Tito throwing really bad solebutts, yakuza kicks, and spin kicks? Terrible. The striking wasn't even a New Japan kind of exchange, it was just the exact same kind of exchange you see several times on any indy show, and it has no place whatsoever on a show like Bloodsport. Super Beast's suplexes have a place for sure, and that super fast Saito suplex seemed to make Barnett mark out on commentary. Gimme a guy trying to ripe a jacked masked MMA monster's arm off while that monster is trying to club and throw him, and you get a match on our list. But trying to take down a monster by making him sell a bad spin kick? No sir. 

JR Kratos vs. Alex Coughlin

PAS: Coughlin is a New Japan dojo guy who came in with a lot of energy, although he mostly got thrown around. There was an awesome spot where Coughlin does a deadlift suplex on big ass Kratos where he powers him up with a deadlift. Kratos landed some big throws of his own, and dropped Coughlin for good with a knee to the head for the first KO of the show. 

ER: This didn't totally work for me, felt like it was worked a little at 80% speed. Kratos had a real size advantage and I liked how Coughlin tried to head that off by being a little unpredictable. I wasn't expecting the deadlift, and those are the kind of moments that make Bloodsport something worth seeking out. But I don't think we built to much of actual substance, even with some things I liked. One of the strengths of these matches is that even a match that doesn't grab me can still end strong and leave on a high note, and Kratos squaring up and throwing a knee felt nice and decisive. 

Kal Jak vs. Nolan Edward

PAS: KAL JAK IS BACK! This delivered everything you would want it to. Edward is a fun underdog wrestler who works in the IWTV feds, and he has a moment or two in between getting sent into the heavens by Jak. I really liked his jumping headbutt strike, which looked like a UWF Fujiwara strike. This was mostly Jak throwing huge suplexes, which is the best. He really has that Gary Albright vibe which is something missing from pro-wrestling in the 2020s. He throws this sick gutwrench into a knee strike, which might look silly if thrown by a little guy but looked brutal by a giant unkempt dude. He finishes the match by fireman's carry throwing Edward into a brick wall, which might not technically be a Tamura finish, but still utterly ruled.

ER: Kal Jak is such a good fit on these shows, and they really feel like they're helping him open up in ways that weren't happening when he was working strictly pro style. I was waiting for him to destroy Edward the entire time, and I loved how we kept inching to that point, winding up beyond where I thought we'd wind up. Edward never looked like someone who was going to hang with Jak, and that's fine, because he kept going for single legs and didn't back down when overmatched. Kal Jak broke out some cool tricks, like a full tilt-a-whirl into a great German suplex, and later using that same tilt-a-whirl to land a disgusting knee. If you had described a move as a tilt-a-whirl into knee to me, it would sound gimmicky as hell and filled with unnecessary movement. But seeing Kal Jak execute it looked like a damn killshot finisher. Little did I know that the actual finish was Kal Jak hoisting Edward up into a fireman's carry and just throwing him as far out of the ring, aiming for a brick wall way too far away from the ring. Hard landing for Edward, unexpected as an actual finish, and I'm absolutely loving this side of Jak. 

Simon Grimm vs. Tom Lawlor

PAS: MLW brings a feud to Bloodsport, and this was really tremendous stuff. This was probably the most grappling heavy Bloodsport match, worked almost entirely on the mat with both guys constantly attacking different limbs, going for chokes and shifting positions. Grimm nicely shifted from a front choke to an armbar into a knee to the head, Lawlor was able to grab the back. The grappling was very balanced, with Lawlor taking an advantage in the match by targeting the liver with knees, open hand slaps and kicks. Eventually all of the body shots took their toll and he was able to get a KO with a running knee to the body. 

ER: I really like how Grimm uses his legs in his shootstyle work. He's not tall, but he has limber and muscular legs and is really great at using body vices. He uses them in active and passive ways, sometimes working towards something bigger and other times using it to tie up and annoy Lawlor. It looked like Grimm came close to finishing things with a guillotine choke, starting with a leaping body vice and dead weighting Lawlor to the mat. Lawlor was smart about working the body, and I loved Grimm's selling as the targeted body shots started to add up, leaving Lawlor openings to strike. And those openings all lead to something nasty, with that running knee to the body really looking like a finish, even if it hadn't been followed up with mean hammer fists to the button. 

Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Calvin Tankman

PAS: I think I am going to end up being a low voter on this match. Smith just hasn't fully connected with me on these shows. Much of the early part of the match was Greco struggle and mat work, which wasn't particularly dynamic, though I did like Smith solving a problem by shoving Tankman out of the ring. Once Tankman gets back in, they go to the dreaded forearm exchange, before Smith was able to get a side suplex and a crossface tap. I didn't love any of the strikes and thought this was overall just kind of there. Although the cool thing about these shows, that if a match doesn't connect it is at least over quick.

ER: I didn't have the same level of problems that Phil had with this, though it did have some of the striking I don't love seeing in these matches. Outside of one section though I thought this was cool struggle between the two biggest guys on the show. Tankman worked a cool rear waistlock and looked to really be grinding Davey Boy down, except it's easy to burn out your arms working a waistlock on a strong guy. Tankman pays it off with a big follow through German suplex that folds Smith in a cool way. Tankman spends some energy and after awhile Davey Boy kind of has to treat Tankman like dead weight, which makes some of Smith's stuff against the big man look more impressive. There was way too much delay during their strike exchange, and these strike exchanges are a tough needle to thread during these matches. To make them look good, you can't just stand still waiting for the other guy to take his turn, because that looks dumb. It's also a risk to both throw at the same time as each other, because that's how you wind up with Lisa Simpson windmill arms fighting. Both look bad, and you start wondering if maybe it would just be easier to not feel the need to do those? I hated how both guys stood there waiting for each other to take their turn, did not like the way it looked at all, and it didn't help that a lot of the strikes just didn't look good. I did like Smith's strikes to set up the finish, thought it was his strongest set he threw: two quick sharp forearms that lead right into two hard knees, nice throw into a cool crossface. There's a good match in this pairing, and I wouldn't hate seeing it again. 

3. Jeff Cobb vs. Chris Dickinson

PAS: Pretty interesting match, not worked the way I expected it all. This was almost entirely grappling with Dickinson trying to outwrestle the Olympian. Dickinson was the stronger submission grappler, with Cobb using his strength and amateur wrestling style to escape when Dickinson would try an armbar or ankle lock. Eventually Cobb is able to muscle Dickinson up and bring him down hard with a couple of big german suplexes. I expected to see Dickinson throw more strikes, but it is cool to watch how his mat wrestling has evolved. 

ER: I thought this was super impressive, and came away with even more respect for both guys' abilities. I thought Dickinson looked awesome on the mat, and kept finding ways to really spread his weight out to do damage and stay in control. Cobb looks powerful as hell on the mat, and at times is able to make it look like he's just effortlessly moving Dickinson exactly where he wants him to go. And that's what made Dickinson look so good, the way he was able to control as much as he did. He has a really good base and the more he flattened Cobb the more you could see actual frustration brewing on Cobb's face. Dickinson had several convincing submissions, and Cobb would punish him with strikes after narrowly escaping them. I loved Dickinson's two ankle locks here. Seeing his application and Cobb selling the danger of it made me think Dickinson could get that move over as a finish on a big level. 

The ankle lock is a move that Kurt Angle spent a decade plus letting every single opponent easily reverse his way out of it, and Dickinson made me buy that he was going to take an Olympian's achilles with it. Cobb had a couple of downward elbows into Dickinson's kidneys after escaping the first one, that I was kind of surprised he had the balls to go back to it. This was a real punishing, exhausting 11 minutes, and I love when Cobb finally decided to shut the door. His suplexes are really incredible. Seeing Cobb live in 2013 when I'd never heard of him before - and then seeing him throw those suplexes - is one of those wrestling live memories I still think about. He starts lifting up Dickinson in ways that few in wrestling could, and his scoop German is a real beaut. I dug how Dickinson reacted to it in frustration more than pain, with Cobb coming right in and finishing him off with another. It was a cool visual sell from Dickinson that showed he knew how close he was to finishing Cobb, but he knew his fate. Great finish to the show. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Matches from Effy's Big Gay Brunch 10/10/20

Manders/Matthew Justice/Mance Warner/Levi Everett vs. O'Shay Edwards/MV Young/Billy Dixon/Joshua Wavra

ER: 8 man tags are a great formula, nearly impossible to mess up. It's a match structure that really only needs a couple of good wrestlers to work, and the rest can just be guys with 1-2 nice spots. The higher the % of good wrestlers, the better the formula works. There are roughly several hundred incredibly fun 15 minute NOAH 6 man and 8 man tags, maybe the peak of the non-lucha multiman style, but it's a match should always work. This one is on the low end, but it's a high floor match type. It had a disappointingly low amount of Manders and O'Shay (with them working a somewhat out of place moment where big Billy Dixon inadvertently knocks O'Shay off the apron and it leads to a minor argument) and Manders just being by far the least featured guy on his team. Seeing the brilliance Manders has produced with Big Twan  Tucker, Manders vs. O'Shay was the showdown I most wanted, and I don't think it happened at all. Outside of O'Shay I was unfamiliar with our babyface team. This match felt oddly built as a MV Young showcase, which is fine, he had some nice kicks, but was also the most "kickpad pro" which isn't something I wanted out of this. Dixon has a nice round shape and hit a cool Thesz press off the top for a good nearfall, and Wavra was someone who had no problem leaning into and getting bent painfully by a Mancer lariat. Justice and Mancer have the kind of charisma you want in a match like this, and Justice especially has that beefy Snake Pliskin thing that just connects. He takes a disgusting vertical suplex over the back of an open folding chair, hits a big man splash to pin Dixon, is part of a big dive train (that also includes a nice fast Levi Everett tope and Wavra tope con hilo), and knows how to fill downtime with brawling. Mancer hits his fakeout tope into several eye pokes, Everett hits a diving headbutt far across the ring, and they kept a strong pace going through 15+ minutes. Pace is maybe the most important part of a match like this, as there should never be downtime in a match with this many people. So while not everything worked and there was some messiness and poor balance of who got the most ring time, the pace meant that this always kept at least a certain level of enjoyability. 

Cassandro vs. Sonny Kiss

PAS:  So awesome to see Cassandro get a showcase match in the US like this. He is really a guy that should have been used by indy promotions for years, but I can only remember this and a IWA-MS Ted Petty spot. Kiss is a guy with impressive individual spots, but a lack of connective tissue, and Cassandro can provide that. Cassandro is 50 now, and you can tell all of the hard falls over the years have taken a bit off his fastball, but he still goes damn hard in this match, doing an awesome flip tope, taking some bumps on the concrete and even winning with a top rope victory roll. Kiss is clearly thrilled to be working a legend and also tries really hard. For a second this felt like this would turn into a nasty brawl, which would have brought it to the next level, but it was a good showcase match for a guy truly deserving of a showcase.

ER: It really is nuts that American indy Cassandro wasn't more of a thing, and I consider myself lucky that he was the top Lucha Va Voom guy (meaning I got to see him work CA a few times). But even old man Cassandro feels like someone who should be getting spots on indy shows (and would be an actual draw to those shows). I like Sonny Kiss but he's a guy who fits great into a trios, less so into a singles. That said, this felt like the most natural pairing on the card. I could have seen him against Still Life, Allie Kat, or Effy, but the most famous exotico of the past 20 years vs. the current most broadly seen exotico felt like something you couldn't pass up running. There were a couple odd moments, like Cassandro hitting a heavy crossbody but then staying down to sell for so long that Kiss just pinned him, but there was a ton to love here. Both are good at taking the others' offense, like Kiss snapping over for Cassandro's still quick armdrags, or the expert way both caught each others' dives. The two dives we got were great, with Cassandro's excellent flip tope sending them into folding chairs my favorite move of the show. But Kiss hits a nice tope that Cassandro totally absorbs, sending them both spilling back toward the entrance. I, too, got excited once they started brawling on the floor, and as Kiss comes after Cassandro on the floor Cassandro just ole's Kiss face first into a chair! I didn't see it coming and it looked like the kind of trick Cassandro could use to send a mugger into the side of a building. We don't get the violent crowd brawl that they hinted at, but the stuff in ring was fun. I loved Cassandro's pageant rope walk armdrag, and Kiss hits this awesome handspring axe kick while Cassandro is laid out over the turnbuckles, just a heel coming down hard right in the breastbone. Cassandro's victory rolls (the normal and avalanche version to finish) looked great, Kiss had this cool splits landing into a sweeping kick (basically all the splits landings Kiss does amaze me every time), and I'm so happy we got this. It was a lot of fun, and it's a match that's been long overdue. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CASSANDRO

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