Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 6 Finale

Lost Boys (Chase Holliday/Hoodfoot) vs. Aaron Williams/Gary Jay

PAS: I don't think the tag format totally worked, although this had some moments. Hoodfoot is always going to entertain in this style, and he clubbed Williams with a huge shot to the back of the head, and finished the match with a gross suplex on Williams and some ground and pound. Jay looked better in this match then he did in his first match, but I don't think this style is for him. He doesn't seem like he has the pacing and selling down and just wants to get in his indy offense. He did hit hard though, which mitigates some sins.

ER: It seems like a liked bigger parts of this a lot more than Phil, even if we have the same complaints. Once they got past joking about the UWFI tag rules in ring, I thought this settled in pretty nicely. Holliday had some nice palm strikes, including a cool almost uppercut shot as he was getting up, really looked like it cracked Jay. Jay had a couple of things that were way too "regular indy match" and that's my least favorite stuff when it turns up on a specialty show. The little mule kick to take out Holliday's knee, followed up with a big downward strike closed fist, just made everyone involved look stupid for it not drawing any kind of penalty. The commentary couldn't call the punch what it was, and the ref even looked like he hesitated and wasn't sure if he should point it out. 

But I probably liked his fighting spirit roaring elbow after a Hoodfoot backdrop driver much less. Tons of matches in this series have ended with suplexes that weren't as gruesome as Hoodfoot's, and if you really want to get your favorite 90s puro spots into your match, well, maybe you should crib from the right fed. Nobody is doing Michinoku Pro hops at the end of exchanges either. But I really liked the whole finishing stretch, with Holliday getting surely KO'd by Williams, only for Holliday to be close enough to tag in Hoodfoot at the 9 count. I thought the Hoodfoot/Williams shootout was among the best strike exchanges in their entire series, felt really intense and was filled with shots. Williams gets trapped in a huge trap arm German, and then Hoodfoot throws them downward strike elbows for the stoppage. I've said it before, but this style benefits from hot finishing stretches, always great to go out on a super high note. 

Freddie Hudson vs. Lexus Montez

PAS: I haven't loved Montez so far on this show, but he and Hudson have clearly worked each other a bunch and had a nice rhythm. Both guys hit nice suplexes, I especially liked Hudson's teardrop, and Montez does a cool roll through into a kimura for the tap. Got me a little more excited to see Montez in the Middleweight tourney, and he was initially a name I wasn't pumped about.

ER: Rhythm is a good word for what we got here, and it was fun. Commentary points out how these two have met several times before in Paradigm, but never under UWFI rules. Those kind of details added to the way Hudson played things, which was as a guy happy to be there and work a different style against a familiar worker. It added a fun edge to things, and both delivered big snap suplexes that looked worthy of a count. Totally agree on Montez's kimura finish as well, didn't expect the spot to go that direction and I kept getting more into it the more Montez appeared to improvise bending Hudson's arm. 

Big Beef Gnarls Garvin vs. Lord Crewe

PAS: Crewe has quietly become one of the best guys in this fed, and this was the high energy slap fight you want from this matchup (and a solid improvement on their first match). Both guys threw real heat here. Beef had a couple of big sack toss suplexes, and the back slap to the ear which Crewe used to drop Beef was a real equilibrium buzzer.  I liked how Beef wouldn't let the ref count on his suplex, he was pressing forward and it eventually cost him.

ER: I thought this kicked ass, totally the kind of match I wanted them to have. Beef really chucked Crewe on a couple of throws, and Crewe is either a great suplex bumper, or is a crazy man who leans shoulder first into painful throws, and I don't care which one of those it is. The stand up looked like it had real consequences, and I somehow always forget how much snap Crewe can get on his close quarter striking. It's hard to get a lot of momentum behind strikes when you're dodging return fire and standing half an arm's distance away, yet Crewe really cracks Beef several times. His backhand to the back of Beef's head was killer, loved how Beef dropped for it, and I really like the storyline of Beef getting more and more frustrated that Crewe is the guy adding crooked numbers to his loss column. Beef doesn't lose any aura, even though Crewe wasn't winning on banana peel finishes. 

Yoya vs. Robert Martyr

PAS: These guys train together, and they really have fun chemistry. The brawling on the floor isn't completely kosher with the rules, but I liked Yoya's shot with the guard rail and how it caused Martyr to sell for the rest of the match. But I didn't think the tap out and restart added much to the match, and we easily could have done without it. I did like how Martyr tried to fight his way into suplexes and the finishing headbutt was super nasty and a meaningful KO. Good stuff, and I would be into this being run back. 

ER: Great chemistry, and an over-complicated fight that didn't need this many story beats, but the work and chemistry almost made all the beats work. Every time I would find myself going "well they didn't need to do..." I would still be interested in where they were going. The roll to the floor came off well, but it did feel odd seeing Yoya trap Martyr's arm in the guardrail and kick it. Yoya hasn't really been a guy who takes shortcuts in his matches, and it's odd to have him be such a giant killer who never quits, and then have him cheat for the first time against the one guy who is closest to his size. Or maybe I'm looking at it all wrong and it's a great small guy thing of being way meaner to other small guys while trying to earn the respect of the largest guys. Fight the guys nobody expects him to be with honor, fights the other small guy like there can only be one small guy. 

The controversial stoppage was a bit odd, not sure I understood any of it. Martyr clearly tapped, then begged his way into a restart. In 2nd grade I almost got sent to the principal's office, which would have been my first visit there. I was warned plenty of times using the classic grade school "clothespins on a colorfully drawn stoplight" method, and once you get moved to the yellow light you know you're one misstep from red. So I hit read, and the class ooooooooooed and I shamelessly pleaded with Mrs. Setterlund to have mercy, total groveling act, dancing like no one was watching. And it worked, and it was at least another 3 years until I actually got sent to the principal's office for the first time. BUT if I was a babyface pro wrestler and clearly lost a match, I would not grovel and beg to get the match restarted. I thought Yoya looked cool as hell for agreeing to a restart, even though I don't understand it. I really liked Martyr struggling and selling while trying throws, and I loved Yoya's rolling armdrag. I do wish Martyr had left the thigh slaps at home though. His strikes looked good without slaps, and you don't need slaps on back elbows, and I thought the slaps on the finishing headbutt were really egregious. Back elbows and worked headbutts look cool, just let them breathe. 

Max the Imapaler vs. Alex Kane

PAS: I really liked what we got here, but I think it was a bit too short. Max does a great job of conveying menace and I totally bought them dominating early, even with as strong as Kane has been put over. That belly to belly throw was especially sick, but I did think two suplexes put Kane down a bit too easily. The German Max threw was nice, but it wasn't "put an undead monster to sleep" nice. One or two more moments really could have made this something special.  

ER: I thought this was cool as hell, and was about the length I was expecting based on how the length all of these hiss showdowns have been on Contenders. Kane has been such a steamroller, it was cool to see Max just go right at him. I thought their German looked awesome, Kane appears to have that inverse Lawler magic where he is as great a punch salesman as he is a puncher. Kane folds real well on this German, comes off like a guy who really knows all angles of a suplex, taking and giving. both had their chance to show off cool belly to belly suplexes, with Max doing a short deadlift and just dropping Kane, like men after carrying a 40 lb. bag of cat litter up the stairs. Kane's belly to belly has this gorgeous followthrough, just moving Max's dead body and driving them into the mat. The landing looked so heavy that I was actually expecting a stoppage. This felt like more than one minute. 

The Lifers (Matthew Justice/Bobby Beverly) vs. Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor/Dominic Garrini)

PAS: This worked better than the first tag match, but I don't think this was the best way to pay off the Team Filthy vs. Justice feud for the season. Justice is best in wilder, brawling UWFI matches and this was by far the longest UWFI rules match PPW has done. It had a much more deliberate pace, which exposes some of the seams way more than something quick and nasty. I did like Lawlor and Garrini as grinder mat wrestlers who would take both Justice and Beverly down and tie them into knots until they had to grab the ropes. The finish run between Justice and Lawlor was pretty exciting, exchanging slaps, with Lawlor having the advantage until Justice checked his kick, hit a spear, and landed some sick knees to the temple for the KO. I honestly think the match would have been better if it was just a singles between those two, and that was basically just the last finish run on its own. 

ER: This was too long for me, too meandering, too out of sync with the rest of the vibe these shows have given us. I didn't even dislike anything that happened, and I love all these dudes, but it felt like an on paper WCW dream tag match that gets more time than any other TV time that week, and doesn't really do much with that time. There's a 12 minute Finlay/Jericho Nitro match that I think is incredibly boring, and I don't think I've called any other Finlay match in history "boring". This wasn't boring, but it didn't go the places I wanted to, and there were still some fun moments along the way. I laughed at and loved Dom's fun rolling ankle pick, just slowly somersaulting in all unassuming and suddenly he's an anaconda around Justice's leg. The final showdown between Lawlor and Justice was great, awesome mini war, and I wish we would have had a 5 minute tag of that kind of stuff rather than what we got. Still, loved these guys. 

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 3

Akira vs. Hardway Heeter

PAS: I am a big No on this. Akira does a lot of things in his UWFI matches, and it is usually a question of ratio of cool things to not so cool things, and the ratio was way off here. I hated the suplex no-sell and the hands behind my back "let you forearm me" spot so much. The announcers were even saying stuff like "Don't forget this is a UWFI rules match" and well they seemed to forget. There was a couple of nice kicks, and a super nasty Kimura finish, but otherwise, no bueno.

ER: This one kept losing the score the longer it went. Heeter was kind of used as a submission dummy, and Heeter is more interesting when he's stiffing someone. He is not nearly as good at being in position for complicated submissions, and the submissions kept getting more complicated and looking more clunky the more they tried. I thought this actually was ending early with Akira getting his great armbar (with Heeter getting his leg over the rope), but I really did love Akira rolling Heeter into a guillotine with a leg lace. But I don't think you need to hands behind back thing in every match (although I would have loved it being used as a way for Heeter to get a surprise knockdown), and by the end you had stuff like Hardway flipping himself into a kimura, and was all a bit much.  

Sidney Von Engeland vs. Dustin Leonard

PAS: This was awesome. Leonard is a ju-jitsu black belt who is built like Don Bass, who had a cool grappling match with Garrini in their last tourney. Engeland is either British or working a British gimmick. Leonard dominates with simple powerful grappling, overwhelming Engeland with skill and size, including really rocking him with knees. Engeland is forced into rope breaks until he uses a fishhook to break a submission and hits a couple of Exploders, including one which dumps Leonard right on the top of his head. A stunned Leonard rushes him and hits a kneebar out of a Gotch lift which was just awesome. Super cool short match which really gets my hyped for more Dustin Leonard.

ER: Great to see Leonard back on my screen. I love gi wrestlers, and you usually don't see gi wrestlers with Leonard's body type. He's a southern wrestling/MMA guy who looks like a shorter RINGS guy. I think he's from Oklahoma, but I bet at least a couple RINGS guys were from Georgia. I really like when Leonard gets to the gi removal moment of a match, and he really needs to stick with it. It could easily be his own Lawler strap spot if he keeps this up. A ju-jitsu guy with a boiler tossing his gi down and coming back in for a takedown is just always going to be cool. Engeland's exploders looked real tough, and Leonard's selling was great, really made it look like he got his bell rung on the second one (he did kind of take it on the back of his head), and the finish was tremendous. Leonard looks like he's going for a Gotch piledriver and flips Engeland out of it into a perfect kneebar, the kind of thing that was and should be a quick tap. Leonard's post-fight promo only made me more of a fan, as he talks up real - and not bullshit - ju-jitsu as the best style, and I just want him to claim more ACLs. 

Alex Kane vs. Phoenix Kidd

PAS: Kidd is a black guy in a mask with a cool leather jacket, who they say was a submission grappler trained in Alaska. Kane is 2021 Taz, which is a really cool thing to be. Kidd shows some skill early blocking a couple of Kane's throws by using leverage and grabbing limbs. He is able to hit a German of his own (somewhat improbably) only to get Pablo Marquezed with a couple of gross suplexes, including the Mark of Kane which lays him out stiff. I like Kane running through lower level guys early. There are legitimately a dozen guys in this promotion I am excited to see him against, they have really built a roster full of awesome matchups.

ER: This was great, with Kidd going into this knowing what was likely to happen, and finding some pretty good ways to stave off the inevitable. Kidd was really smart about tying up Kane's limbs on suplex attempts, just suctioning himself to the nearest limb to prevent getting tossed. That makes it sound more desperate than it looked, as it was a very smart and well executed strategy, and things didn't go upside down for him until he abandoned it. He blocks an exploder by grabbing Kane's wrist, and he stops what surely what have been a horrible landing by wrapping himself around Kane's leg while upside down. I liked his own German, as it really felt like something he put everything into and still barely got Kane over, didn't look like Kane leapt into it at all. I also like Kidd's chippiness by flipping Kane off after immediately taking a far worse German, that last little gasp of getting in an insult before you lose a fight. Kane hits him with hard kneelifts and then destroys him with the Mark of Kane, and love how they are treating that as a killshot. 

Appollo Starr vs. Chase Holliday

PAS:  Holliday has never fully connected with me. He isn't bad, but I want things to land a little cleaner and harder. I do like how he uses his size to control on the mat. Starr is an old school midwest legend, and is a bunch of fun in this. I really liked how he used a jab early, nice wrist lock takedown, and he also showed some really solid amateur wrestling. I would have like the finish more if both KO blows landed better. I mean people are murking each other in this show, that backfist has to be more Aja for it to work as a KO blow.

ER: I thought this was plenty fun, thought they kept active in interesting ways, and was a really great performance from the commentary team pointing out some small details. Bringing in old midwest indy guys like Starr will only make these Paradigm shows more interesting. I mean now I definitely need to see a Soul Shooters Explode match on a future episode. Starr had a really cool knucklelock takedown, snapping back on Holliday's wrist so he had no choice but to go to his back, and commentary was great at describing how much power Holliday has in his strikes, getting Starr to break the hold even though Holliday was only throwing straight clubbing shots from his back. They also notice when Holliday briefly shakes out his hand, wondering whether that wristlock might have something to do with it. I thought the finish looked decent, and liked how they got there. 

Bobby Beverly vs. Lexus Montez

PAS: This match had a lot of booking setting up a Beverly squash. Not sure what the point of Beverly getting the #1 contender match was. I guess a Beverly vs. Hoodfoot match makes sense, but heel versus heel against Makowski really doesn't. I am a Young Studs fan from way back, but not really sure what role Beverly has in this version of Paradigm.

ER: This was the rematch that was set up by the early stoppage finish we didn't like from the season 1 finale. That might have been the worst stoppage in this series' history, as Montez's strikes really looked like he was shadow boxing or lightly smacking a sibling without hurting them. I think the angle was supposed to be that it was a bad stoppage, but you can still do a bad stoppage angle without the thing stopping the fight looking bad. So the rematch has more of that bad Montez striking, then Beverly throws some back suplexes, they do a kind of silly Beverly superkick/Montez pop up knee, and then Beverly finishes him with another back suplex. I'm with Phil, love Beverly, not really sure what his longterm role is going to be in this Paradigm series. These angles haven't worked for me and the layout of this match didn't work for me, but it's Bobby Beverly so I can only assume it will eventually produce a match we love? 

Hoodfoot vs. Matt Makowski

PAS: Loved the idea of Elite XC veteran Makowski defending the legacy of Kimbo Slice. This was a big main event, and felt like it. Makowski was playing the role of the more skilled fighter who was going to pick apart Hoodfoot, while Hoodfoot was trying to land that KO blow. We get a couple of really heavy suplexes by Hoodfoot, and Makowski strafing his body with body shots and liver kicks. I thought they may have gone one suplex too many, but Makowski hitting his chaos theory into a armbreaker was a holy shit move and a great way to switch a title. Team Filthy invading PPW and cleaning house is a great and Makowski has a lot of fun matchups with the belt. Still kind of sad to see Hoodfoot drop it, he really brought something unique to that title.

ER: Give me an "I knew Kimbo Slice, and you sir are no Kimbo Slice" angle I never realized I wanted. These two are a perfect pairing, and this is the Paradigm match we were most excited to see the moment we found out Makowski was joining. Atlas is an excellent seller, sells strikes more honestly and poetically than anyone this side of Eddie Kingston, so seeing Makowski - man who can throw several nice strikes - tee off on Atlas is wrestling joy. Atlas sells strikes so passionately, really makes me belief in the power of a leg kick or a shot to the ribs, makes me fully buy into his arm getting knotted up from taking a couple of strong kicks. Makowski suplexing Hoodfoot was a big moment, love how Hoodfoot falls and folds over, and you know he was excited to toss Makowski as payback. Makowski's spin kick doesn't quite land, but it works well to set up Chaos Theory into the excellent match finisher cross armbreaker, a fantastic spot to win a title with. I am sad that Hoodfoot isn't the champ, as he's a GREAT fighting champ, but Makowski is someone strong to have on top. Plus, I think there are a ton of fascinating Hoodfoot matches we haven't gotten yet, and I like how the dynamic changes with him no longer champ and instead fighting to get his belt back. This match should splinter off into several subsequent great matches, and I can't wait. 

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series Episode 5 Finale

Ron Mathis vs. Akira

PAS: This wasn't really a UWFI match, more of a highspot sprint. It had some nice stuff in it, like Akira landing a gross Low-Ki double stomp and some big high kicks. He is a fun Minoru Tanaka style shoot junior in this garage BattlArts. Mathis had some fun throws, but was almost doing comedy spots at the beginning.  For what this was it was fine, it was pretty out of style though. 

ER: Yeah the Mathis comedy at the beginning really threw me, come off like something we didn't need worked into this series. Felt like the wrong vibe to bring, maybe would have played better in front of a crowd. But every minute of the match was stronger than the minute that preceded it, so it's hard to dislike a match that keeps getting better and ends with the best stuff. There were a bunch of exploder variations, and one of the commentary guys called one of them "a real sack of shit toss" which made me spit coffee out a bit. The throws got pretty big by the end, and I liked Mathis leaping onto Akira with a guillotine. I thought Akira's bridging reversal of the guillotine was fantastic, and his leaping double stomp into Mathis's chin was disgusting, one of the great spots of the season. 

Big Beef vs. Austin Connelly

PAS: I am into Connelly. He does relentless really well, and comes right at Big Beef, only to get rudely and violently rebuked. Some of those forearms that Beef threw were Vader on Cactus level of concussive. For a second I didn't buy Connelly getting off a suplex, until I saw the size of his thighs. He looks like he could squat a mobile home. Quick and violent seems to be a Connelly special, and he is a guy I want to see more of. Beef hits appropriately hard, and I think him versus Hoodfoot could be great.

ER: I couldn't wait for this one after Connelly's last fight and Beef's performance all season, and this delivered. Connelly is a nut, and I buy into the way he keeps popping up and charging in until he can't. I'm not sure how sustainable it is for his career, but I love it! He rushes Beef and runs right into a boot and a powerbomb, and that kind of thing keeps happening. His throw was really impressive, and his ability to eat shots is even more impressive. Beef cracks him across the face and jaw with some vicious forearms, There's also some awesome post match body wrecking, with Connelly running down Beef and laying in full arm forearm shots just as hard as he took, and then Beef powers Connelly up and runs him back to the ring to dump him disgustingly with a powerbomb on the floor. Another season 1 highlight from these two. 

Lexus Montez vs. Bobby Beverly

PAS: More of an angle then a match, Beverly does a Fuerza handshake gimmick at the beginning and catches Montez with a couple of his Saito suplexes. Montez is able to bully him into the ropes and hit some shots and the ref does an quick stoppage. There ends up being a locker room brawl setting up Hoodfoot vs. Beverly in Terminal Combat which is five minutes of UWFI rules and then a hardcore match, which on paper seems kind of silly. I needed Montez to land harder stuff for me to buy the stoppage even if it was supposed to be fast.

ER: Yeah none of this worked for me. The referee is wearing a mask so I can only assume it's Steve Mazzagatti under there, because this stoppage was bad, and looked bad. I get the angle, but you need to actually play up to the angle and "bad stoppage" is just about one of the least interesting angles around. Nothing Montez did looked like it warranted a stoppage, his Superman punch just looked like a bad avalanche, and his match stopping slaps were arguably the worst strikes we've seen during this 5 episode UWFI rules run. If not worst overall strikes, then definitely the worst strikes used as justification to stop a match. My grandma really hated my beard, and would always tug on it and give my face these little slaps when she saw it, and those slaps looked harder than the slaps that stopped this match. If a match is going to be used to further an angle, you have to actually a) sell the angle convincingly, and b) make the angle interesting. The match this leads to sounds cumbersome at best, but the execution that got us there was even worse. 

Chase Holliday vs. Jordan Blade

PAS: This was pretty good stuff, with Blade showing their skill on the mat, including pulling guard with a jumping kimura, only to be caught with some big shots when they stood up. There was a nasty short hook which dropped her, and a big spinning back elbow for the KO (better then Holliday's first spinning back elbow, still not as good as Akira's or Broner's). I liked Blade a lot, and this was a better Holliday performance, excited to see more from both. 

ER: I thought this was a nice little snack. I really liked Blade's tie up matwork, her guard seemed really difficult to pass and she had really dangerous upkicks, and strong use of her legs in general. It looked like she had a good plan and I really liked her heavy knees to the ribs while standing. Holliday's worked back elbow finish looked good, and I dug how Blade sold it. 

Aaron Williams vs. Matthew Justice

PAS: I like Justice's fish out of water gimmick in these shows. It was cool how this match kept threatening to spin out, before being brought back in. Williams was fun shit talking on the mat, as he was clearly the more skilled grappler, and I loved his body shot/hook combo which sent Justice to the floor. I thought the buckle bomb and death valley driver were a step too far away from the style for me, but those finishing KO grounded knees were nasty looking. Post match Justice calls out Josh Barnett, which would be a big deal if they could actually deliver. 

ER: This landed a bit short for me. Justice is a "main event" worker I really like, but this didn't have the main event season ending heft that a lot of Justice matches come with. I do like Justice as fish out of water, challenging any Pride or UFC vets in an open challenge (how much could it cost to bring in Gerard Gordeau or Zuluzhino?), but I wanted more out of the last fight of the season. There were several individual things I liked, like Justice breaking a guillotine by trying to drop Williams back of neck first over the middle rope, and those nasty match ending knees from Justice. I also liked Williams talking trash ("I'm gonna get my shit in too!") and his triangle attempt. I thought the dvd was worked in as well as you can work something like that into a shootstyle match, but yeah I'd rather not see it. 

PAS: This is the end of season one, and I think overall this was a successful experiment. Not everything worked on every show, but everything was kept short, and I can digest a four minute failure pretty easily. This introduced me to a bunch of wrestlers I want to see more. Isaiah Broner, Hoodfoot, Austin Connelly, and Jordan Blade being people I hadn't heard of and have left big fans, and there is a whole second tier that I am excited to see more. We are in, and will cover Season 2 for sure.

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Rules Contenders Series Episode 1

ER: I haven't been enjoying AEW the past few weeks, TNT messed up my area broadcast of AEW tonight anyway, and the first episode of Paradigm Pro's Indiana Inokiism just happened to be tonight. Sounds like some signs pointed to us checking this one out. Big Beef is the only wrestler on this show who I have seen, and I haven't even heard of the rest of them. We're going into this blind.

PAS: This is kind of a silly idea, but silly in an awesome way. Midwest indy guys working empty arena UWFI rules matches is very much our kind of shit. I really liked the opening video graphic illegally mixing in clips of Buster Douglas and UFC fights, just hammy enough.

Big Beef Gnarls Garvin vs. Lord Crewe

PAS: Pair of solid looks on these two, really feels like an unexpected post Hardcore show fist fight at the back bar of the Black Cat. Garvin is a thick guy and despite Crewe being listed as a bare knuckled fighter, Garvin had the advantage throwing shots as he really put his weight behind them. The UWFI rules forbid closed punches to the head and it didn't feel like Crewe fully mastered throwing good looking open hands. I did like his jumping choke finish and he had some nice post match trash talking. 

ER: I think the UWFI rules held back the striking here, as the big swinging arm shots from Beef looked really dangerous for something that would have looked better as a worked punch. Kind of like how Foley said Bob Holly had bad looking punches that actually hurt - the worst combination. Beef is probably killing Crewe with open hands and heavy arms but actual worked punches would probably look better. Beef had a couple great suplexes, including a big German and another that just looked like him throwing a sack of concrete. He's put on big size during the pandemic, but I think it really works for his whole thing. Wrestling needs guys that look like Beef. I was excited to see Crewe after buying into some of the pre-match hype on him, but he didn't show a ton here. Some guys excel in this weird scheme and others don't, I'll see him some day under his own style and I'll make my judgment then. 

Janai Kai vs. Jordan Blade

PAS: Fun style clash with Kai working a Muay Thai gimmick, and Blade being a powerlifter and grappler (with cool nickname the Anklebreaker). Both ladies were DMV based, and I imagine this might be a touring match of a sort. Kai has really fast hands and used the speed to dominate on her feet, Blade took her down and dominated her on the mat before letting her up, dropping to her own back and calling Kai in, only to lock in an ankle lock for the tap. Blade got put over really strong here looked mostly unbothered. Not sure whether this leads to intergender shoot style or if they have a deeper distaff bench, but I was into what I saw. 

ER: I really liked what both these two brought, with Blade being maybe the biggest female fighter I've seen on the indy scene (tale of the tape said gold medal powerlifting background, and a female Mark Henry would be such a cool thing to see), and Kai's Muay Thai looked like a whole complete look. This started with it looking like it was going to be a Kai showcase with all her cool flash, but Blade started powering her down and basically smothering Kai. There was a great moment where the lifter finally got the bumblebee and slammed her down, immediately kneeling into her back and beginning a pounding that doesn't let up until she gets that ankle lock. Very curious to see more. 

Crash Jaxon vs. Isaiah Broner

PAS: Jaxon is a big kid out of Ohio while Broner is a menacing looking black dude from Detroit. This is short and sweet, Jaxon gets a throw but runs right into a spinning back elbow that damn near takes his head off for the fast KO. Broner calls out Hoodfoot after telling JRose the ring announcer to "Social Distance your ass to the back." Impressive way to make someone, and I like how they don't need every match to be 55/45.

ER: I get why they did this but I really wanted to see this one play out. Jaxon had a huge throw before he got put down hard by a Broner back elbow (even nicer than one Big Beef used earlier) and it looked like something that could be a KO. That's the most important thing, that your KO finish look like something that would result in a KO. They could still run this match back and you've got your built in story of Jaxon feeling robbed. 

Lexus Montez vs. Tommy Kyle Dean

PAS: This didn't fully work for me, both guys seemed to have ideas which didn't totally come off. This was one of the longer matches of the night, and despite some attempts at things, nothing really stood out. Montez wins with a spinning back elbow, which was probably a mistake with Broner's looking way better in the previous match. I would be fine seeing either guy again (TKD is an AIW student and while he hasn't done much for me yet in AIW, that school has a great track record), but this show has nicely made stars, and this didn't.

ER: I liked this a little more than Phil, but I get where he's coming from. It's hard on a show like this to not have guys doing similar versions of what others have already done on the same show, some of it is going to look better, some will look worse. I liked the things they went for and liked the messiness of some of the positions they wound up in. I liked when TKD missed a shot and Montez wound up standing over him, lobbing elbows at the back of his head. TKD would throw out a bunch of kicks and at one point looked like he was trying to intentionally miss a high kick to turn it into a kind of leveraged armbar takedown. None of those things worked, but I appreciated the "First 3 UFC events" feel of the approach. I liked the back elbow finish and thought it worked even with a nastier looking back elbow finish the match directly before. It would have made sense to not double up on the same finish back to back, but if it looks good it looks good. 

Hoodfoot Mo Atlas vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: I thought this was pretty rad for a short match. Thompson was listed as the Indiana Golden Gloves champion, and I liked his head movement and body placement, he looked like a fighter. Hoodfoot is a big charismatic guy who feels like a champion, and it was mostly the speed and technique of Thompson against the power of Atlas. We get several go behinds by Atlas, one results in a Thompson ankle lock, and two others are just dismissive throws to the ground by Atlas. Finish exchange is pretty great, both guys have figured out how to throw good looking open hand strikes, with Thompson throwing cool combos including rocking Atlas with a dip uppercut, before running into a monster looking right hook for the KO. The announcers were making Kimbo Slice and Mike Tyson comps, and it only felt a bit like hyperbole. 

ER: I love matches that barely go 3 minutes but manage to pack in a ton of detail work. Most of this match was worked real tight, a lot of need exchanges thrown from the clinch. I like how off speed they worked in the clinch, both throwing at awkward times instead of more measured turns, and I liked the ways each found to outgun the other. The short range striking can be hard to make look right, and they kept it smart by mixing it up with hard knees in between the open hand shots. The rolling ankle lock from an Atlas go behind looked good, loved how Thompson would set it up with a back elbow. As we've established already on Episode 1, back elbows are murder in Paradigm. So Atlas gets sick of taking back elbows whenever he slips into a go behind, and decides the best way to prevent those is to just toss Flash to the mat. The KO looked strong, and I liked all the KOs on this show. Shows running Only KO/Sub stoppages usually end up with a couple duds, a couple fights ending on this that looked like the weakest shot of the fight, but the KOs on this show all looked like the finish. 

PAS: They finish with a pretty heated pull apart with Hoodfoot and Broner, and they sold me a virtual ticket to that fight for sure.  Fun show, want to see more for sure.

ER: This show came at the right time, on a night where the AEW airings got all messed up in my area, coming after me not enjoying Dynamite for the past several episodes. Something totally different - in this case a Wednesday night UWFI rules show - was the right change of pace. I like some things they set up for future shows, and am excited to see what matches break away from the pack and become shootstyle classics.

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