20 Minutes of Impact Easily Worth Watching

Kongo Kong vs. Brian Cage Impact Wrestling 6/2 (Aired 7/5/18)

ER: Hot damn, these two go out there and perfectly capture that WCW syndicated lost classic vibe, a tall fat guy against a guy with a classic Power Plant physique, both breaking out their craziest shit. There were some once in a lifetime spots here, the most wonderful use of 5 total wrestling minutes this year. We get two large tough dudes crashing into each other, hard lariats no sold, and a crazy pace. Cage hits a gorgeous flipping dropkick and a 619 as good as anybody 100 lb. less has done and hits a tope con hilo even better because of his added size. Cage looked like a human wrecking ball crashing off of Kong. Kong makes me leap out of my chair when Cage is about to powerbomb him out of the corner and Kong hits a picture perfect rana. That has to be the largest man I've ever seen do a huracanrana this pretty, or at all. Because for it to even be done this well, you would need a dude like Cage who is strong enough to carry Kong in powerbomb position for 3 steps to pick up rana momentum. Just an impossible spot due to the rarity of guys this big these days. Awesome spot. Kong also eats a crazy German suplex, really a huge bump for a guy his size. Every thing in this match was big, all the slams felt ring shaking, just a total blast. Cage is like the best possible Johnny Stamboli and Kong is basically the only guy today who does an actual good One Man Gang. This match was so fun that - immediately after this match, in a show closing segment - Eddie Kingston doing his best unhinged Bobby Cannavale promo, and then bringing back Homicide/Hernandez to do a classic ambush beatdown with anonymous ring crew taking big bumps, did not overshadow the match. This may have been as good Sick Boy vs. Renegade from '98. Or it might just merely be awesome.


LAX promo segment

PAS: I totally loved this. The idea that Konnan was some sort of Proposition Joe to Eddie Kingston's Marlo in the New York City drug trade is pretty goofy on it's surface, (and the recent video segment where the OGz do a drive by and run over a kid went all the way into Lucha Underground stupidity for me)  but both guys sell it so well that I buy in. Kingston giving his version of the "Yes I ordered the Code Red" speech seemed a little implausible, but I loved it as a set up for the return of Homicide and Hernandez, Cide especially is so good at unhinged, and I was waiting for him to pull out a fork or bleach.

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Impact Wrestling Slammiverary 7/22/18 Cherry Picking

Heard good things about the top three on this show, so I was intrigued to check it out

Tessa Blanchard vs. Allie

ER: This was a letdown. Blanchard has been on fire since coming into Impact, really adding more of a spark to a good division, and even having my favorite Impact match of the year (against Kiera Hogan). But I think she gave Allie way too much here. I get there may be a seniority factor at play, but I don't know if Allie has enough material to be given this much of a match. There's a lot of disconnect or set up to Allie's offense here, a lot of played out modern moves like a backcracker and a code breaker, and she doesn't always seem totally able to pull of some of the moves very well. At least she dropped the high pitch squealing. But Blanchard is nuts and takes some sloppy offense anyway. We get a death valley driver on the floor that looked potentially dangerous, and she eats a huge crossbody from the top to the floor. Blanchard was a bit too generous with how much she gave Allie, but I thought Blanchard looked good, and she's got a lot of personality. She really comes off mean, misses moves big like a real heel (her missed senton looked spine rearranging) and looks explosive with forearms. Tessa hits a flat out brutal rana off the top, which Allie looked like she took it on the top of her head. They should have called an audible and had that be the finish. But this is where we get Tessa's big missed senton, and Allie hits a really great superkick for a good nearfall. Blanchard's trap arm DDT is a nasty finisher, and I like that they snuck in the extra nearfall, but that Frankensteiner was brutal and really should have ended. It's silly to have Josh Mathews screaming "THERE'S NO WAY ALLIE WILL BE KICKING OUT..." as she's kicking out and going back on offense seconds later.

39. LAX (Santana/Ortiz) vs. OGZ (Homicide/Hernandez)

PAS: So I need to check out this entire feud, Konan and Eddie Kingston spouting B-Movie gang nonsense it right up my alley, Konan is going off on how their business are legit now and how he taught Kingston the streets seem like rejected Belly script lines and I loved it. This was a totally fun JAPW style brawl with crazy table bumps, lots of trash can lid shots and everyone looking great. Homicide has really looked rejuvenated in the last year or so, and this was a classic Homicide performance, crazy somersault tope through a table, trying to burn Ortiz with Drano, cursing, selling nerve damage, all of the nutty Homicide shit I fell in love with nearly 20 years ago. Hernandez was a beast too, hitting all of his big spots and strutting around. Both LAX guys were clearly amped to work this match on this stage with these guys and were total superballs just flying all over the ring, I loved their Dead President's face makeup too. Kingston cleaning house post match with a sapper and spray painting the belts was great. I am an unabashed Doghouse mark and this felt like a total throwback to that kind of mania.

ER: I came away a little underwhelmed by this. It came off more like 0.7 JAPW brawl, with light trash can lids and too many instances of guys wobbling on their feet while peaking to see how close someone is to hitting their spot. It felt a little sluggish in spots and didn't have that same chaos that the best of the JAPW brawls have. But I came away really impressed with Santana (and the new LAX in general). Hernandez is older and slower but can still throw guys through tables and still hit that big no hands dive. Homicide brought a lot of selling to this and really stepped back to allow Santana to shine and took a lot of LAX's offense, and I thought Santana made the most of it. Homicide's big moment was that wild flipping tope into Ortiz and through a set up table, really the spot that felt like it finally woke the fans up. Santana was running all over the place during the match, hitting dives, punting Homicide in the face, trying not recommended stuff like leaping off Homicide's back into a crossbody, hitting a great rolling senton onto Hernandez (who was laid out on a ladder) and following that up with a sick Asai moonsault, hits a gorgeous high angle cannonball in the corner, just great energy all around. I wish we got more Kingston involvement, he was far too subdued at ringside. I know Konnan can't actually physically move, so you kind of have to match the energy, but Kingston should have been cheapshotting the hell out of LAX. The tacks finish was unexpected (though another overly long set up), but then Kingston comes in with a slapjack and again just makes me wonder why the hell Kingston wasn't slapping the sap out of these saps all match long.

43. Pentagon Jr. vs. Sami Callihan

PAS: Nifty 2000s indy style garbage brawl, which delivered the gore you want from an apuestas match, Callihan was really leaking and Pentagon had a great ripped mask blade job. I am a low voter on Pentagon, but he is compelling in these kind of gore fest brawls, he is mostly a cool look, but that face paint and mask looks cool as shit with blood dripping down. I really dug the Jimmy Jacobs railroad spike spots (have there been any great Jacobs brawls since he got fired from NXT?) Pentagon banging the spike into Callihan's head with a baseball bat was really violent, and the only good wrestling Frye vs. Takayama spot is Fryeakayaming with railroad spikes. The spot where Callihan throws his cocaine in Pentagon's eyes, and a blinded and high Pentagon breaks the ref's arm was some classic Memphis nonsense. I liked how the finish was decisive and Fenix taking out the Crists was a great set up for the head shaving.

ER: If you're gonna do a throwback indy death match, then sure, go on and do it. Pentagon has become a bigger star over the last few years, and while his popularity creeps steadily up the Y axis, his laziness creeps up there with it. But he's clearly willing to go big when necessary, and Callihan is someone who will not allow somebody to half ass a brawl. They go violent pretty early and TNA/Impact has never really shied away from having their guys basically do death matches. I always think of old Sting working death match spots with Abyss, and this is more in their history of two guys out to murder the other. There's some big stiff shots (Callihan never has a problem leaning into those) and Pentagon always lands nicely on superkicks (which Callihan also leans jaw first into). Their spike spots were fantastic, just super dangerous and disgusting. I loved Pentagon's drawn out spike torture of Callihan, hammering them into his head with Callihan's baseball bat and getting immediate flowing crimson. Pentagon clinking the spikes together before stabbing is like an awesome version of Luther clinking empty bottles in the Warriors. Also loved him tossing Callihan a spike and telling him to bring it. I am a person who is essentially in constant fear of having my eyeglasses broken, so seeing two nutmeats throw hard spike shots inches from their eyeballs just seems not worth it at all, but my god was it a visual. This match is partying like it's 1999 so of course both Crist brothers lean forehead first into Pentagon's chairshots. It's not like we've seen anything bad happen to any of those ECW guys from that era. Things drug on a bit long, but it's an apuestas match so you almost have to go over the top. I did think Callihan's piledriver was just too pretty to kick out of, and the set up was way too much for Pentagon's...and then they go full silly with Callihan kicking out of the package piledriver ON all those set up chairs. It was a crazy spot, but it probably would have been more unexpected to actually have it finish the match. And I appreciate Phil coming up with an entertaining reason for the powder spot, but I think assuming Pentagon went into a 5 second cocaine blackout might be giving them a bit too much credit. Still both guys busted ass and had a memorable mask/hair match filled with the violence you'd want from both guys. Booking a violent hair match when you're starting to thin on top is a smart business strategy, one oddly not capitalized on by WWE and Baron Corbin (they could have had a Viktor/Corbin match end in a double pinfall leading to both getting shaved). It reminds me that in the next year or two I'll have to challenge someone, because it will be a damn shame when I just start buzzing my head again, for no reason. Someone at least gotta cut my head open.

9. Austin Aries vs. Moose

PAS: Really great title match, up there with the best of Aries's ROH title defenses. Loved the early part of this with Aries working like Flair against Road Warrior Hawk. When it got into the big near fall section at the end, we got some absolutely huge near falls. Hadn't seen much Moose before, but he has some fun power moves and a willingness to take some big bumps, I really like his no hands headbutt. I liked how Aries kept using cheapshots to get an advantage, and we had some killer big spots, including Aries getting tossed into the crowd, Moose killing him with a forearm counter to the low tope, Moose missing his dive on the ramp, and Aries going for almost a stinger splash on the outside. The finish was decisive, but still left me wanting to see a rematch. Just great stuff all around, kudos to both guys.

ER: What a fantastic match and I think a legitimate contender for best TNA/Impact match ever. Low-Ki/Sonjay Dutt was fantastic but this felt like a classic, like an modern take on Flair/Luger. Earlier in the year Impact aired a tag match from NOAH featuring Moose, and I thought he looked like a total superstar in that match. And while I've liked his Impact work I've never been quite as impressed in the same way. Well, here I think he turned in one of the finest heavyweight performances of the year. And Aries is arguably the best wrestler in the world who we rarely write about. This will be only the 5th time we've written about Aries, and the first time in 5 years he's shown up on our MOTY List. But I loved this match so much, just a classic big title main event. This hit me in a similar way to the Gargano/Almas match, where things kept building perfectly and the execution from both men was impeccable. The match made Moose look like a guy who should be a big player in wrestling, and it made Aries look like a guy who shouldn't be stuck wrestling other guys around 205 pounds.

Aries' strikes (especially those quick and sharp back elbows) looked like something that would hurt any wrestler, and he never let any little attack slide. One of my favorite little moments of the match was when he and Moose were fighting on the floor and with Moose slumped in the railing Aries walks up and whips him with a nasty side kick to the stomach. It's a little thing, but you see guys throw away or space out on those kinds of exchanges all the time, enough that it really stands out when they're not. All of the big spots looked fantastic. I leapt out of my chair when Moose countered Aries' tope. We've seen that spot a lot over the last decade, and we've seen some nasty variations on it (Sasha falling out of the ring onto her head after Asuka kicked her out of the air comes to mind), but this might have been the best executed version of that spot. Aries looked like he flew into a brick wall, body horizontal practically in mid air when Moose countered that low angle tope, like Wile E. Coyote running into a tunnel painted onto a cliffside. When Aries eventually does hit that tope it looks great, really slamming fast into Moose. All of Moose's power offense looks even better against Aries, who is not only smaller but a guy who knows how to take offense. I love press slam spots so a press slam spot with a guy getting thrown into a crowd is just icing. But Moose shows Aries a thing or two about taking nasty spills, wiping out rows of chairs after flying into the crowd, and crashing like an air show disaster on a dive to the entrance ramp. That tumble was really nasty and sprawling, and Aries followed it up with a killer running double knee strike, running down the ramp way to plaster Moose against the ringpost. Moose threw a couple cool headbutt cut-offs, and Aries had great ideas about how to logically come back on offense. This match up went so well that I suddenly want to see much more from both, and they weren't exactly guys who were strangers to my eyes before now. Excellent title match, one of my very favorite matches of the year.

ER: This show definitely delivered, even the matches that we didn't write up were worth checking out. Any show with three matches landing on our MOTY List is notable, and this show really felt like a company worth spending time with. How often have you said that about TNA?

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Blanchard vs. Hogan

56. Tessa Blanchard vs. Kiera Hogan Impact Wrestling 4/26 (Aired 6/14/18)

ER: A kind of out of nowhere fun No DQ match, a nice peak for the so far quietly quality women's division that Impact has been putting out. Rosemary, Taya, Su Young have all been putting on nice weekly performances, and Tessa has been coming off great in her few appearances. She looks like a real bitchy old money mean girl, like a modern pro wrestling version of Joan Collins on Dynasty. This is a quick paced match that makes good use of the No DQ stip by using stiffness and bumps instead of wasting time setting up complicated props spots. They make everything look good, nice ramp fighting, hard dropkicks, hard elbows, tough stomps, a big Saito supple from Tessa, neck cranked on an abdominal stretch, nice DDT from Hogan, and a big finish with a twisty facelock onto a chair. I've enjoyed several Impact women's matches this year, and this feels like the best of the bunch so far, and something I hope they keep excelling with.

PAS: Eric really comes up with some oddball recommendations, no way I would ever watch a Impact women's match with out him nominating it, but this was fun stuff. Blanchard works really stiff here, as the veteran who wants to punk out the rookie. Loved her running elbow with Hogan in the ropes, she really tenderized her kidneys. That spinning facelock into the chair seems like it would look stupid 99 times out of 100, but it looked like it might have knocked all of Hogan's teeth out.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki/Sydal/Fantasma

29. Low-Ki v. Matt Sydal v. El Hijo Del Fantasma GFW Impact Wrestling 7/4 (Aired 7/20/17)

ER: Yes, keep putting Ki on my TV!! I hate triple threat matches, but Ki at this point seems like modern Lawler, in that he can take any dumb stip and work a compelling match around that stip. We already got what I think is easily the best Ultimate X match, now I want to see Ki working a "blindfold match" or a "hand tied behind the back match". I have no doubt that regardless of opponent, it would make the MOTY list. He's creative and violent and lifts others up with him. Sydal is a super impressive athlete who can be turned to the dark side depending on his opponent. But all three work some compelling spots within a tired formula, and Ki/Sydal have the body control to make typically contrived spots look fresh. Fantasma getting Sydal in a sufboard only to have Ki do a wild stomp into Sydal's guys seems like something that would be tried in dozens of other indy 3 ways, and never look this good. They were able to craft a 3 way without making it seem like one of them was just hanging around out of the way, waiting to get his spots in without ruining the rhythm. That's the thing that plagues most 3 ways, and I never felt that. It felt like all 3 were right in each other's face the whole time, and it was awesome. We still get great spots like Ki plastering Sydal through the barricade with his gorgeous baseball slide dropkick, and Ki gets plastered by Fantasma's killer tope. The opportunistic "alliances" moved seamlessly, guys simultaneously working together while trying to each win, so we get stuff like Fantasma hitting a rana on Ki, then Sydal hitting a moonsault on Ki, with none of the three looking like they're waiting for the right time to get into the fray. Finish is bonkers as Ki hits a massive double stomp on Fantasma, covers, and Sydal flops onto BOTH of them with a shooting star. Awesome. It felt like they could have kept this pace up indefinitely, great showing.

PAS: This reminded me a lot of the three way which main evented the first ROH show. Neither Sydal or Fantasma are 2001 Bryan Danielson, but I think both are comfortably better then 2001 Christopher Daniels so it all comes out in the wash. Ki is a marvel in this, he seems to have increased his athletic explosiveness in his late 30s, which is pretty remarkable, I mean Vince Carter can still get up for a big dunk, but he isn't dunking harder then he did in the late 90s. Sydal is also a really impressive athlete and one advantage of a 3-way is we don't get a bunch of 2.9 count fighting spirit stuff, they just have a third guy break it up. Fantasma was fun, he got landed on in hurty ways, and broke out his great tope (although the physics of the 6-sided ring cuts off some of his speed) Both the surfboard double stomp combo and the the Sydal shooting star pin break up were crazy impressive spots, but the great thing about Ki, is that his elbows and chops are just as impressive.


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2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki v. Dutt

4. Low-Ki vs. Sonjay Dutt Impact Wrestling Slammiversary 7/2

ER: 2017 continues to bring Low-Ki matches on the reg, so after all these years TNA has done something right! This wasn't totally worked like a 2/3 falls match, but I liked the way the pinfalls were integrated into it, and how the mandatory ref count after a pinfall allowed them to eat pins and not have to keep wrestling the next second (always a psych quandary). They start with a lot of lock-ups and some solid grappling, always like bridge up spots, liked Dutt going for a kind of nasty crossface, not the opening I expected. The first fall comes when Ki takes a sunset flip power bomb and comes right up in one motion stomping through Dutt's chest. I usually dislike when a top rope rana or powerbomb is "rolled through" like that, as it never looks like anybody rolled through, just looks like a guy took the move and then decided to do his own move anyway. And this looked like Ki got hit with a bomb, but was also seamlessly able to stomp a hole in Dutt's chest. 

Dutt smartly starts the segunda by throwing Ki to the floor using his own momentum, and both guys take turns seeing who can bump more violently into the guardrail (it was a tie, for our benefit!). Ki misses a stomp and I like how they established that Ki stomping on Dutt as hard as possible is okay on his ankles, but landing on the mat was too hard. It's silly, but within its own universe. Ki misses a huge stomp onto the ring steps which leads to Dutt overshooting an ill-advised moonsault but Ki makes it look like a nasty Russian legsweep into the rail. Finish to the second is a good one, with Ki locking on a dragon sleeper, only to have Dutt flip into a pinfall for a sneaky win. Ki nails another stomp after Dutt monkey flips him into the buckles (I love spots where Ki gets thrown into something and he just holds on), but eventually Dutt hits his own disgusting stomp, a moonsault that lands him feet first into Ki's ribs. Suitable finish for a high quality match.

PAS: I thought this was excellent, a candidate for best TNA match ever. Ki is on a decades long roll, but I thought Sonjay really stepped it up too.  Dutt really flung his body around on bumps, the Ki John Woo dropkick is a cool spot, but Dutt flew off it like he was hit by a trolley car. I loved how the match was built around the danger of the double stomp, it added a structure to the match. Ki winning the first fall by the roll through double stomp, him torching his ankle on the missed in ring double stomp and missed double stomp on the steps (and it makes perfect sense that you would hurt your ankle when you miss, but not when you hit; ankle turns are all about landing where you don't expect to, Eric would know this if he had ever done anything athletic in his life), and finally Dutt winning with the old Hikakari Fukaoka moonsault double stomp (which is especially nasty when done by a guy Dutt's size, Dutt isn't big, but Fukaoka was like 110 pounds and it still looked like she liquefied the guts of anyone she landed on.) Ki would also lay in nasty body shots to cut off Dutt, which made total sense as your body has to be damaged from getting stomped on.  The whole thing felt like a the wrestling equivalent of a Julio Cesear Chavez fight, killing the body so head would die.

ER: First, I did competitive amateur dog dancing through my teens; Second, I have it on good authority that Phil has no idea how to leave his feet. I have an eye witness that gave me a hilarious account of him on a trampoline; Third, I still maintain that landing on an uneven, boney man will more likely lead to a rolled ankle than unexpectedly landing on a flat surface. But considering I know two people who ended up in a boot just from stepping off a curb, ankles are essentially looking for any opportunity to stab us in the back. I said the logic worked within the universe it created, and it does.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Low-KI Kicked the Bitch Out the Room and Gave Her No Breakfast

Low-Ki vs. Andrew Everett Impact Wrestling 4/23/17 - GREAT

ER: I am a-okay with TNA continuing to exist as long as we get bi-monthly Low-Ki showcase matches. Here's another winner, as Low-Ki continues snapping off cool moves and big bumps while wearing a tight suit, and Everett tries his best to outbump him. Ki makes the simplest things look like bomb blasts, spots that a lot of guys just sleepwalk their way through. He takes dropkicks explosively, he delivers dropkicks explosively, he flies into the corner with an elbow like he's on a rooftop chase with a cop and leaping across buildings, he hammers down elbows in the corner like the most violent Whack-a-Mole game and Everett responds by getting bopped down each turnbuckle. Even something like getting a boot up on a charging opponent in the corner is given a violent twist as he vaults up and mulekicks Everett across the ring (and Everett is a guy who always looks pretty great violently bouncing across a ring). How many times have you seen a guy gingerly yank someone off the turnbuckles? Well, Ki yanks Everett off the ropes like he wants to rip his leg off his body. Everett gets a little comeback, but this seemed like a show off arm wrestler letting a guy gain some ground before slamming his arm to the table. Before long, Everett catches knees in a gross way on a shooting star press, and Ki stomps him into the mat, and into our hearts.

PAS: This was basically a Low-Ki semi-squash. Ki is a hell of guy squashing someone, and Everett is a hell of a guy getting squashed.The match is a little dry before the commercial break, but really kicks into gear after. Ki still has so much speed and explosion and Everett flies off him like he is on kung fu movie wires. The finish was especially nasty as Ki hits his John Woo kick and Everett flies head and neck first into the turnbuckle, then Ki goes up to the top and double stomps him full speed into his liver. I am likely never to watch another Impact match, but I am watching all Low-Ki what a treat he is. 

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Low-Ki Has Been Controllin the Street, Holdin the Heat

Low-Ki v. Trevor Lee v. Suicide v. Sonjay Dutt v. Andrew Everett v. Dezmond Xavier Impact Wrestling 4/20/17 - FUN

ER: At times messy, almost always fun scramble with Ki looking like a megastar and Lee not looking too far behind. We got a lot of dorkiness with six guys either trying to not get in the way, or trying to sync things while other pairings are syncing things, with the match reaching peak fart sound when all six tried to dropkick each other at once. Things got better after that. Ki looked like a total beast here, every move he did look vicious and every move he took made someone else look vicious. His baseball slide dropkick to the floor (to two guys!) looked the best. Lee adds a bunch of little things that these matches don't always get (like leaping to grab for Dutt's leg as Dutt is going for a trainwreck dive), and the best flying was probably done by Suicide. Caleb Konley is under the hood now and he had a nice little match, his stuff looked real crisp and his fast segments came off most fluid (an important skill to bring to one of these clusters). We get dives, we get some stupid and nasty reverse ranas from Everett (hated his slo mo handspring by the way), Dutt worked the match with basically one eye (which is nuts), and this was good. Gimme Ki v. Lee eventually (lotta fucking hard E sounds in that last sentence).

PAS: Too many guys, too much nonsense to be a really good match, but this was certainly fun stuff. Ki looked like a kingpin his moves have such impact, and this match was full of young guys excited to bump like nutsos on Low-Ki spots. Everett especially takes every in ring bump like he is try to shatter his own spine. Xavier seemed to be mostly backflips, but he does get cracked. That double stomp by Ki onto the small of Lee's spine felt like it would either cause permanent back problems, or solve them. Lee v. Ki will hopefully get some really time to shine when it finally happens as those guys could put on a killer.  (lets run in CWF-MA actually.)

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ultimate X, Still a Thing

6. Low-Ki vs. Trevor Lee vs. Andrew Everett Impact Wrestling 4/23/17 (Aired 5/18/17)

ER: It's 2017 and one of the stupider match gimmicks is still being done by the stupidest wrestling company. But goddamn was Low-Ki so freaking good in this match that I got sucked right in to enjoying this pile of stupid. Low-Ki making a ropes course interesting is tantamount to Bill Dundee adding more drama to a scaffold match than anyone in history. Swinging and climbing for the belt is dumb, but these guys are all nutty, and their chaos saves the stip. Ki pulls everything off with such snap, his body movements don't always seem human. He's able to do crazy fast offense and crazy fast bumps while seeming totally in control. Watch him crash into the guardrail from the apron, take a couple bumps off the ropes to the apron to the floor to perfectly set up Lee's punt, hangs off of scaffolding in great ways, just owned that whole silly American Gladiators set. In fact, it made me pissed that I never got to see Ki competing on American Gladiators. I want to see him running for cover while Blaze or Lazer shoot dodgeballs at him. All three guys get moments in this (watch Ki punch a fucking CHAIR seemingly as hard as he can, and props to Pope for talking about how that would affect his climbing ability), even Helms comes in to help Lee and shows he can still bump big. The finish was pretty inspired for this convoluted concept, with all 3 men arriving at the belt at the same time, with Ki scrambling up all of the scaffolding and dropping down onto them from above, stomping them of the team building exercise to their doom. Much better than it could have and probably should have been.

PAS: Ki does feel like the master of this kind of match, like Rey in the Elimination Chamber. He takes a bunch of crazy bumps using the scaffolding, including hanging off the metal with his feet, really made the whole dumb gimmick plausible and cool. This really made me want to see Ki work non gimmicked singles with either Everett or Lee. Loved the missed Ki double stomp into Lee's own version of the move, kind of the student outdoing the master. It is also nice to be reminded of what a nut Everett is, his signature bump into the turnbuckles is crazy and that top rope springboard shooting star press is really breathtaking. I loved the finish with Ki having the damaged hand, so he couldn't scale the rope, so he climbs the scaffold and drops on both Tar Heels from above, really cool creative use of the gimmick, and an awesome Ki performance, really makes we want to track down all of his Ultimate X matches.

Complete and Accurate Low-Ki

2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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