Justin Kyle vs. Madman Fulton
ER: Kyle is a new 2021 fun discovery for me, a working man's Goldberg in the best ways. He's raw as hell and a real bruiser. He has relatability and you can see the potential in him having a successful indy career as a late to the game older guy putting in his best work ever, if things break right. Fulton, on the other hand, is a tall guy who spent a LONG time in the WWE system - as in significant parts of 6 years, on TV in tag teams with guys like Angelo Dawkins - and he has way less polish than Kyle. Fulton is more Lance Hoyt or Big Cass than Kevin Nash, but that's enough for Kyle to work with. It goes too long, honestly would have benefitted from being cut in half, but Kyle has big charisma and already almost enough shtick to carry off a long Dundee/Lawler style battle. That's what they try to do here, and Kyle is a compelling title match worker. He hits hard and never skimps on clotheslines and shoulderblocks, some cool tough guy offense like a great jackhammer, or him flying full speed into a lariat that takes him and Fulton to the floor. He takes big bumps off chokeslams and through tables and doors, and they beat each other with hard plastic school chairs. The chairshots all look painful, bouncing awkwardly off their heads and even an ankle. I really enjoyed the build to Kyle removing his back brace, feels like something not far off from being a Lawler strap takedown for him. I could see these two having a good Loser Leaves Town match with blood.
3. Mickie Knuckles vs. Akira
JR: When I suggested we write up the Mickie/Sara Dox match, Eric came up with the Mickie as Niebla analogy, which is quite perfect. Here she seems to have an extra gear that makes me rethink the comparison. I tend to love wrestlers who can appear fast in a small amount of space. That trait really adds to the opening portions of this match, and truthfully, Mickie relies on it throughout as it makes the later transitions credible, as she establishes early that she only needs a split second to go back on offense.
Mickie has a strong performance throughout, but Akira brings a dynamic that Mickie is really able to play off. Realistically, this is a prop based death match. It is Chekhov’s gun as designed by Xzibit. Despite this, Akira manages to really find unique ways to use the props once they come into play. Small things, like Knuckles trying to pry the broken water jug off her head before the spot is complete really give the whole thing an air of violence that can sometimes feel lacking.
Mickie, of course, makes sure everything looks incredible, mostly because she wrestles as though there still isn’t evidence that brain injuries have long term effects on a person’s well-being. She takes a big screen TV to the back of the head in a sort of maximalized homage to Necro/Toby. As always, her offense is crisp. She makes sequences that have been used ad nauseam (like the boxing spot) look compelling.
This match flows so well in comparison to a lot of death matches, and I think it is in part because they never overstay their welcome with any one weapon or stay in any one location. They don’t walk and brawl so much as they find places to fight and move on, almost before the viewer really has a chance to process it. The pace is frenetic, to put it mildly, and the work seems to build and reach a fever pitch even without much escalation in the middle portion of the match.
The third act, which I would consider to be essentially everything after they come back inside, almost feels like the third fall of a big apuestas match at times in terms of pacing. Almost every single move was a believable near fall, something that could have ended a match. Roll ups and weapon shots took on equal importance, and the reversal and rollup attempts earlier tie directly to the finish itself. I don’t know if I’ll be the high man on this match, but for me, this is one of the most compelling and well laid out matches I’ve seen this year.
PAS: I am not a 21st century death match guy, but I am a Mickie guy and I thought this had more of a Black Terry brawl vibe than a geek show. Mickie is ferocious, never a moment when the gender disparity hurts the match, as she makes every punch and headbutt feel like something that should knock someone silly. She's maybe the only non-Necro wrestler ever to make a bar fight look good, all of her punches were vicious and she just unloads with a series of gross headbutts at the end to clean it all up. I thought the brawling into the street was very cool. That was a dicey looking neighborhood, and I almost expected one of them to pick up a used syringe from the gutter. I could have done without the lighttubes, the shots with the TV were so much crazier if you wanted to use glass, and these things always work better with less set up props. It also went a bit long, could have used a couple of minutes sliced at the beginning. The finishing series of mat reversals with the battle axe sounds idiotic on paper, but some how worked in execution. I was pretty surprised how much I enjoyed this, but Mickie is back and better than ever.
ER: Mickie Knuckles has become almost a Paula Pell wrestling character, and it's great. She's like a super dangerous aunt, showing up to an event pounding mini bottles of rum. There's the Mickie James party aunt vibe, and then there's the Mickie Knuckles party aunt vibe. But this match is a real fight, and has the same intensity over long portions as the infamous Black Terry/Wotan match. This is one of the few matches to really capture the vibe of that classic. As Phil mentioned this is an intergender match, but there's no point where that matters, no point where anything feels dumbed down because Mickie hits as hard as any wrestler going. She takes an incredible beating and gives as good as she gets, and the beating is just constant over the course of a long death match. This is the kind of fight that leaves both fighters with some lasting damage, long and short term. Mickie takes two incredibly hard shots with a 5 gallon water jug taped to a stick, a real ungiving, uncaring shot, no protection. But this isn't a geek show, there always feels like there's excellent build and artistry from Mickie and Akira.
Akira bruises up Mickie with kicks, Mickie fires back with the most savage headbutts, they fight into the street, and the kind of spots I've seen dozens of times they are suddenly making look fresh and violent in new ways. I couldn't believe some of the punch exchanges, not just that I was seeing these painful close up shots, but that either of them stayed conscious through them. Their stand and trade looked better than any stand up I've seen this year, and we've been watching shows specifically targeting the kind of matches where that can take place. Their movement and the way the shots hit was super visceral, very shocking, and kept ramping up in violence over a very long time. There were some incredible moments, and I think my favorite was them making "sit in chairs and punch" interesting again, capped off with Akira flying into Mickie with an uppercut. Mickie takes the shot, takes a beat to figure out how bad she is hurt, then locks in a sick triangle while still seated in her chair. I honestly thought that was going to be the finish (didn't realize the match was like only halfway over) and Akira has this amazing frantic realization that this could be the finish, and only breaks it by tipping Mickie over in her chair and knocking her into a bridged pin.
The run to the finish is long, but builds well, so even though I wish it were shorter I liked all the things they were doing and managed to continually be shocked by what they kept doing. Mickie's whole right butt cheek gets shredded by gusset plates, she takes a couple nasty spills through tubes, both have bruising and swelling and bleeding from many areas, and we get an insane battle over an actual axe, and they somehow manage to avoid any corny "axe handle" jokes and craft plausible nearfalls out of some things that should seem ridiculous. This was a real, honest to god war, featuring the best fighting I've seen all year, and incredible bout for both.
Labels: 2021 MOTY, Akira (US), AWR, Justin Kyle, Madman Fulton, Mickie Knuckles
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