NXT UK Worth Watching: Wolfe! Dragunov! Grizzled Young Vets! Flash Morgan Webster!

Zack Gibson/James Drake vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews NXT UK 10/5 (Aired 11/7/19) (Ep. #67)

ER: This felt like a properly condensed version of their more bloated Big TakeOver match and had a really nice extended face in peril section that made the bigger spots feel bigger than the (even bigger) spots at TakeOver. It's always fun when southern tag formula slips into WWE tag matches, and it's even more fun when it shows up on a WWE branded show in Essex. This settled nicely into a nearly 8 minute segment of GYV cutting Webster off from Andrews with quick tags and a couple of great teases. Drake and Gibson are strong opponents for Webster and Andrews. Drake is really good at taking bumps that require him to run recklessly at an opponent, and Gibson knows how to ratchet up the meanness to make a match like this feel like more than "taking moves". There was some nice clever moments to lengthen the match, with my favorite a stretch where Drake gave Webster a hard shove backwards into the corner, but Webster throws a back elbow to Gibson on the apron while hitting the buckles. Gibson disappears after taking the unexpected elbow, but appears shortly after to yank Andrews off the apron *just* when Webster is about to tag in. I didn't love the back stretch (once Andrews finally got tagged in) as much as the Webster FIP stretch, but Drake did a great job holding it together by being one of the best in NXT UK at taking Andrews' complicated offense. Drake didn't need to save anything, but he definitely made Andrews' biggest stuff (big rana to the floor, crazy dragon rana in the ring) look great, where a messy catch would have made the match really fall apart. We break down into several cool spots, like Gibson getting spiked on a tornado DDT, Webster hitting a big senton, and Andrews trying to slide under a superkick but getting scalped and left looking like a limbo bar casualty on that mat. It all ends with Gallus, Imperium, and Dragunov running in to mess everything up and set up a big WarGames, but this tag got a lot of time to build and they used that time well, great match between two title contenders. 

Alexander Wolfe vs. Ilja Dragunov NXT UK 11/15 (Aired 11/21/19) (Ep. #69)

ER: This was an incredible Wolfe performance, able to sustain a 15 minute match while contending with Dragunov's hambone improv vet theater kid routine that kept threatening to derail this whole thing. Wolfe is the closest guy on the WWE roster to Fit Finlay - even closer than Gulak - for his ability to stay active and stay after his opponent. There's so much empty space in matches now. There is a lot of movement and action, but a lot of it is joyless step memorizing. Finlay, Bret Hart, Andre, Arn, those were guys who knew how to fill time while looking in the moment. It feels a bit much to say Wolfe's name in the same breath as any of those legends, but it's a style that really stands out so much more now. Guys were a lot more active with selling and movement in the 80s and 90s, in a way that didn't relate to their offense. It's now a rarity to see guys fill time with "non-offense" like stomping someone's hand or raking their boot eyelets across exposed skin. Back rakes were considered joke old man Hogan offense 25 years ago but brother, I would kill to see a modern wrestler who incorporated an occasional back rake into his matches, but without the implied wink. 

Wolfe is a guy with offense that looks good, moves that make impact, and a guy who knows how to keep things moving in fun ways. Dragunov is a guy who flops around in lieu of selling, makes dumb fish lip faces to show he's had enough, and wears spooky colored contacts like a goth 15 year old with an optometrist dad named Gary. Seeing Dragunov "work the mat" was hilarious, because he just looked like a pale fish flopping around on the bottom of the boat, more death spasm than folkstyle wrestling. Wolfe had to somehow hold this whole 15 minute match down while dealing with comical shit like that, and he somehow did it. Wolfe just kept cutting off Ilja's bullshit with stiff wake-ups, like kicking the middle rope into Ilja's balls or trying to snap Ilja's legs at the knees with the greatest drop down any of us have ever seen. Wolfe does a dropdown the same way the greatest wrestlers of all time did a dropdown, understanding the need to make it look like you are either a) panic dodging an opponent, or b) attempting to trip your opponent. Wolfe throws his dropdown like a crossbody, leaving himself open to get hit with Ilja's crossbody. Wolfe was always good at keeping things moving with small painful strikes, while generously taking Ilja's big suplexes. My favorite moment of the match was Wolfe catching Ilja with a drop toehold but it not fully taking, so Wolfe has to fight him and really try to drag him down with it. When he can't, he changes the strategy and kicks Ilja in the stomach from his back, adds another to the face, then gets to his feet and casually knees Ilja in the face on his way by. The big moves down the stretch felt bigger with Wolfe's constant press, building to a surprise Wolfe win, setting up a big 8 man tag with a ton of my favorite NXT UK guys. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Wolfgang! Mark Coffey! Grizzled Young Vets!

Wolfgang/Mark Coffey vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews NXT UK 10/4 (Aired 10/17/19) (Ep. #64)

ER: This was a fun main event tag title change, that felt like it should have been better but served as a fantastic Wolfgang showcase. Wolfgang has been perhaps the biggest discovery of this NXT UK project. I already knew Ohno had a lot of great matches in NXGT UK, it's made me a much bigger fan of Noam Dar and Jordan Devlin, but mainly it's shown how many genuinely cool talents there are kind of just hiding in plain sight in NXT UK. This match is an excellent reference point to show someone why Wolfgang is a top 5 guy in NXT UK, and a frontrunner for "the best wrestler under WWE contract that nobody knows about". I think both these teams are capable of a better match, but Wolfgang and the way he based for Webster, really made this stand out. Wolfgang has great offense, but is a wonderful base for juniors. He catches ranas with  aplomb, and adds extra touches to them like nobody else. Webster gets to break out all of his low arcing hurricanranas with such a strong base, peaking with Webster swinging around the ringpost to catch a rana that sends Wolfgang skidding an extra five feet across the floor. 

Gallus are a great tag team, both excellent at getting into position for flyer offense. Plenty of tough guy teams can be tough guys, but only the best are able to give plausible openings to smaller teams. Coffey is good at occupying time while waiting for a springboard or flip, doing things like selling his mouth or jaw to stagger into place. Wolfgang takes so many bumps in between kicking so many asses, with his most incredible being an assisted poison rana that could not have spiked him more vertically. Guys that can suspend physics while they bump are eminently watchable, but how many of them also have devastating powerslams and cross bodies and clotheslines and throw their full weight into Irish whips. Webster and Andrews do some fun Rock n Roll Express double teams and fly in circles when get run over, but always looked like they could retain their still new belts. The enziguiri powerslam finish Gallus used to win the belts felt like a cool powerhouse 90s team finish. Excited to see them roll the rematch back.

 

James Drake/Zack Gibson vs. Ashton Smith/Oliver Carter NXT UK 10/4 (Aired 10/24/19) (Ep. #65)

ER: This felt like a great hot tag match that you'd randomly come across on a WCW Saturday Night. It's one of James Drake's best NXT UK performances, a crazed Dynamite Kid acolyte determined to bump big for everything while throwing his big offense just as stiff as he gets. Smith and Carter are a great babyface team and make great dance partners for this kind of quick hard hitting match with Grizzled Young Vets. GYF's act works best at its tightest, when they can show off their actual good timing, and this is a damn tight match with some exquisitely timed moments. Carter works like a crisper 1988 Owen Hart with great moonsaults, big bumps (here there's a great one flying off the apron from a sharp Drake dropkick) and firm hitting offense. Carter takes advantage of his relative size and works a more satisfying version of the "fast tall guy who spins maybe too much" that has run rampant these past few years. Drake really busts his ass through the entire match, filling a huge share of the ring time with activity, and all of his punctuated kicks land with a crack. Smith has a big hot tag where he steamrolls Drake, hits a huge spinning blue thunder bomb and big dive, all with great energy and connection. The finish was a bit sudden and could have been built into something much bigger, but these kind of hot tags are always a pleaser, and literally every team on this roster is capable of this fun style. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Ohno! Scala! Grizzled Young Vets!

Kassius Ohno vs. Sid Scala NXT UK 8/31 (Aired 9/4/19)

ER: This was part of a cool storyline, where Ohno was calling himself the greatest British style wrestler and was supposed to have a showdown with Jack Gallagher for that self-proclaimed title. Gallagher wasn't cleared to compete, Ohno demanded someone step up and take Gallagher's place, and out came Sid Scala in his dress clothes. Scala was on a handful of the very first NXT UK episodes and has been used exclusively as Johnny Saint's right hand man backstage ever since. This is his first NXT UK match in one year, and as Ohno is an excellent match for literally any wrestler, I like him going up against a "non-wrestler". Scala is perhaps the smallest male wrestler on the UK roster, and Ohno was amusing laughing off Scala's early attempts to get one over. Scala goes for a cravat and Ohno merely lifts him up and tosses him off. Uh oh. Scala has a bunch of great feints, a couple cool tricks around the ropes that keep Ohno off balance, and his ducking and dodging peaks with a really well done sunset flip nearfall. Ohno is really good at being a dickhead who will bail to the floor when things momentarily don't go his way, and then always knows how to make his way back into a match with something unprofessional. Here he hooked Scala's leg from the floor, hopped up to the apron, and stomped the ankle over the bottom rope. 

Scala did a great job of limping around on that ankle, throwing nice back elbows and appropriately sold shots to Ohno's jaw, while Ohno battered him with chops and strikes and stepped a few times on that ankle. Scala manages to tangle Ohno around the ringpost and ropes and then flings himself over the ringpost when a rad pescado, great body-as-weapon work. But Ohno finishes things quick back in the ring with one of my favorite reversals, using his size to block a Scala tornado DDT and crash him down with a wicked kneebreaker, then a hip dislocating outside dragon screw. The disgusting KO elbow to the back of the head is academic. Ohno is the master at working with any wrestler of any size and any ability, and here's another feather for him as "Sid Scala's best match". Scala more than held his own and knew exactly what role he was playing. Ohno matches just do not miss. 

James Drake/Zack Gibson vs. Mark Andrews/Flash Morgan Webster NXT UK 9/1 (Aired 9/11/19) (Ep. #59)

ER: This was a nice, quick paced tag, and I think the best actual Grizzled Young Vets performances AS A TEAM on NXT UK. For a pair of guys I like, who I think are a good team, I don't think they've really been a part of any truly memorable tag matches this entire NXT UK run. My favorite matches of theirs have all been singles matches (Gibson vs. Dar, Drake vs. Ligero, Drake vs. Bate) and while they've had many enjoyable tags on the brand, this was the one where they felt most like a killer team. The match is a little off the rails and they lose complete sight of who is the legal man and really abuse the blind tag, and it had a couple egregious kickout that would have worked better as a save, but I liked the chemistry a lot and that's what kept the floor high. Gibson and Drake are really good at basing for Webster and Andrews, good at setting up their double teams, and the babyface champs are good at taking punishment. GYV hit this nasty spike shoulderbreaker on Andrews that lead to a couple good moments of Gibson tearing at Andrews' arm until Webster came in with fun saves (like a great swanton while Gibson had his Shankly Gates arm submission locked in). 

Webster had a cool tope suicida and got nuked on a doomsday device, the whole match felt like we were constantly seeing new pairings. The timing on the finish was really strong too, with Drake accidentally hitting Gibson with a superkick under the chin (in a way that wasn't really telegraphed) and Andrews nailing the shooting star press. This was like an NXT UK grab bag of a match, giving you a condensed 12 minutes of some of the better things the promotion has to offer. It had some good flying, some stiff work from the heels, strong double teams, while also not being next level great. I'm still waiting for the absolute banger GYV match and assume it will come, but I will take tags like this all day. This all feels like a very boring, generic review of this match, and I think that's honestly because this is the good match I expected from these two teams. It didn't disappoint, and it also didn't exceed expectations. But it hit the mark in satisfying ways, while presumably honoring the WTC first responders. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Ohno! WALTER! Andrews! Seven!

Kassius Ohno vs. Mark Andrews NXT UK 6/16 (Aired 7/17/19) (Ep. #51)

ER: This was a different match than I was hoping for based on the build, but unsurprising that Ohno is going to craft another cool match around a different NXT UK opponent. I went in (perhaps unfairly) wanting a superkick battle, like the amazing Chris Adams/Great Kabuki match from Texas. Ohno took a great jab at Andrews on TV, saying Andrews is a guy who does a superkick because of his idol Shawn Michaels, instead of respecting his British wrestling heritage and using it because of Adams. Ohno has the true greatest British style wrestler is hands down the best gimmick going in NXT UK, and that's enough to make me not as grumpy about not getting Ohno working a superkick match. We get a cravat match and it's as cool as expected. Andrews occasionally finds an interesting way out of a cravat and gets an armdrag, slips around into his own headlock, but keeps winding up getting his neck twisted in different ways. 

It peaks with Ohno catching an Andrews pescado, walking him to the ringpost, unwrapping the turnbuckle pad from the hoist, and throwing Andrews throat first into it. But that's probably not even the meanest thing Ohno inflicts on Andrews, as his cross chops to the throat are maybe the most painful looking strike on WWE TV. Andrews gets his weakened neck worked over more while Ohno also finds ways to trap limbs, and Ohno is great at making openings for him, although in the end I think Andrews got far too many openings. Ohno usually has perfect instincts for how much to give an opponent, especially a smaller opponent, but I think Andrew's comeback was a bit beyond. Ohno is great at taking his offense, helping pull off a dragonrana to the floor, a nice in ring rana, and a poison rana that Ohno took convincingly as a heavier man. Ohno's reversals of flyer offense are always a highlight, and he splats Andrews with a tremendous pancake, really slapping Andrews into the mat. Ohno built to the finish as well as possible, and even though I didn't fully buy into Andrews getting the win, I don't think anyone else on the roster could have pulled off this match layout as effectively as Ohno did. 

WALTER vs. Trent Seven NXT 6/16 (Aired 7/24/19) (Ep. #52)

ER: This was a really really great 8 minute match that was 15 minutes long, but they were doing a thing and they did that thing well. This was a big Trent Seven dying on his sword match, so that was a lot of fighting back and WALTER refusing to finish and instead choosing punishment. I thought the first half was really great, and then we had more slowdown and more fighting back down the stretch, going a bit long but making its point. The steam was really good to start, with Seven hitting WALTER with a tope on his entrance, another dive after, then keeping on him, even when it became apparent that more defense would have helped him. He would fire at WALTER with chops and WALTER would endure them, then fire back with kicks to the face and chops of his own. WALTER locked in a mean half crab and snug STF, tying up his arms. This was a real good slugfest, neither man with anyone to hold them back, WALTER hitting big uppercuts and Seven firing back with a convincing lariat. I wasn't as convinced with all of Seven's comebacks, but thought WALTER sold strong for them and I liked WALTER punishing him for his insolence with powerbomb after powerbomb. I would have preferred them slugging it out until one of them fell on their face, but this worked well for the angle. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Gallagher! Andrews! Webster! Bate!

Mark & Joe Coffey vs. Mark Andrews/Flash Morgan Webster NXT UK 1/27 (Aired 2/20/19) (Ep. #30)

ER: I really liked this, and thought it was a fun way to work a match where the outcome wasn't ever in doubt. We knew Gallus was going to run over Mandrews and the Modfather, and I like how they got to that. Mark Coffey is really good at working with juniors, knows how to miss close and occupy time while highspots are being set up, and Andrews especially was great at sticking and moving between the larger team. Andrews doesn't skimp on his strikes, gets his boots up into Mark's face and pushes off, hits an uppercut that looks like something that would slow down a big guy. You knew Andrews was only going to  keep pace for so long, and it turns on a dime with the Coffey brothers hitting a wicked pop up uppercut. They cut the ring off, Mark planting a kneedrop, Joe backing Andrews into the corner with great punches (hard shot to the face that Andrews sold like someone who got punched right in the face, and some great body shots), lifts him with a nasty hammerlock and overhead throw, and Andrews' only saving grace is that he's good at leaping out of powerbombs. Webster has a fun hot tag, and I think there's a reason they had Mark in the ring when the tag was made, he took a Asai moonsault very well, and Webster swung around the ringpost to hit a rana on Joe on the floor. We get a fun spot down the stretch where Andrews tags back in gets caught trying a tornado DDT, but Webster shoves his legs to send the DDT through. We get duel tope con giros, and I thought they did a good job of working in that team flash at the end, right before Andrews is separated again with a suplex on the apron, leaving Webster alone. This easily could have been worked as a squash, or they could have given the flyers more time than would be believable, but I think they found a strong balance, and I came away impressed by Andrews working up to the bigger Gallus. 

Gentleman Jack Gallagher vs. Tyler Bate NXT UK 1/27 (Aired 2/27/19) (Ep. #31)

ER: This had the beginnings of a seriously great match, but I thought the finish was sudden (by design), distractingly long, and more than a little silly. They work it like they're going 20, but it ends at 10. Since the entire match is essentially matwork leading to pinfall, with not much in between, the matwork portion was great and then things basically ended. I'm unsure if I would have been better with the match just ending as a 10 minute draw, rather than the finish we got. It's a little tough to evaluate a match with some of the best mat tricks WWE has seen, that then ends with a couple dozen one counts of an endless rolling cradle reversal and then a schoolboy. So let's just look at the matwork and soak in it pleasantly. Bate was aggressive on the mat, going after Gallagher's arm but not ever really doing too much damage, and always eventually getting shown up and punished by Gallagher. Gallagher had some smooth reversals into snug headscissors, and Bate had a slick moment where he kneeled down on Gallagher's ankles to get him to loosen his legs enough for Bate to pop his head out. 

Jack's Indian deathlocks and work on the knee were great, sinking in holds and doing things like digging his knee into Bate's thigh, and I loved when Gallagher tied Bate's leg in the ropes and then jammed his knee into Bate's knee. I really liked how Bate sold the knee too, being wobbly on his feet and using his bum wheel to still do kneelifts into Gallagher's face (while making it clear that he has made the choice that it's better to use his in-pain knee as a blunt instrument than trust putting weight on it to weaponize his good knee). Things got a little silly when Bate shrugged off the match long work on his leg and held Jack in the air with a keylock, then did an airplane spin. Nothing puts more painful pressure on your knees than the short side to side steps needed to perform airplane spins or giant swings, so this felt egregious to me. Still, it looked like the match was getting off the mat and into a crazy finishing stretch, but then the silly little endless rolling cradle to the finish happened. And that's fine. Wrestling isn't all about Match of the Year status and can also be about the unexpectedly good and bad. This whole thing is well worth seeing just for the opening 7 minutes alone, some of the most fun scrambling and transitions in 2019 wrestling, regardless of promotion.

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Devlin! Aichner! Barthel! Banks! Modfather! Mandrews!

Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews NXT UK 1/12 (Aired 1/16) (Ep. #25)

ER: NXT UK is really good at putting on 80/20 matches that feel the right amount of competitive even though you know one side doesn't have an actual chance of winning. This is a 10 minute match that feels more like 5, and that is a very good thing. Aichner and Barthel are great at bumping around for the much smaller Webster and Andrews, and they do so without looking like complete goofs, with their biggest bumps coming from surprise ranas or missed attacks. Barthel flies wildly over the top to the floor because of Webster misdirection, Aichner goes for a pop up powerbomb on Andrews and gets caught with a rana, Webster hits a similar rana (and I love Webster's rana) on Barthel, all bumps from the bigger guys make sense. And in between those bumps they lay total waste to the flyers. Aichner is a real asshole who will just blindside either one of them with an elbow strike while they're on the apron, and they pull off cool double teams that focus more on the move impact than on the cleverness that bogs down so many tag team double teams. 

The heels isolate Webster and it leads to a fun Andrews hot tag (with an assisted 450 splash), and I felt like our babyface team got the exact right amount of offense. And I think the punishment by the heels as a response to that hot tag was excellent, and really my only issue with the match was with Andrews kicking out of what looked - to me - like a match finishing brainbuster and going back on offense almost right after that kickout. It was a gorgeous spot, Barthel tossing Andrews off the top, with Aichner catching him vertically and dropping him with a brainbuster. It's not the kind of move someone should be running around immediately after taking, but alas. Aichner makes damn sure Andrews sells on the floor to take him out of the save, picking him up for a spinebuster and just running him as hard as possible into the guardrail. Their actual finish is as good as that brainbuster, with Barthel lifting Webster up for a powerbomb and Aichner hitting a flying back elbow off the top to put that powerbomb into motion. This was one of those performances that immediately made Barthel and Aichner look like either the best or 2nd best team on the brand. 

Jordan Devlin vs. Travis Banks NXT UK 1/13 (Aired 1/23/19) (Ep. #26)

ER: There was plenty of this that I wasn't a fan of (the opening strike exchange, any time Banks did his fighting spirit faces before fighting back, sometimes improbably), but there were too many sicko stiff shots and big moments for me to deny how much I dug this. Devlin isn't perfect, but he knows how to craft different match types depending on his opponent, and that kind of thing makes you really stand out in modern wrestling. Really this is the match that should have happened on TakeOver, and was much better than Devlin/Balor. I'm sure the return of Balor to the UK got more eyeballs than a Travis Banks match, and you need something eye popping on your first big special, so I get it. Still, build your brand a little bit and put on this match. To their credit, they worked it like it was a big TakeOver match, and that won me over in spite of some of the excess. I was ready to write it off after the first couple minutes, bad strike exchanges and uninteresting crowd brawl, but I snapped to attention when Banks hit a big Thesz press off the barricade they pretty much had me after that. Devlin hit this sick hammer fist shot to the side of Banks' head and I liked how Devlin missed a stomp on the ring steps that slowed him down just enough to eat a high kick to the eye. Devlin always leans into kicks and he took so nice thumpers to the chest from Banks. 

Devlin's sudden Spanish Fly off the apron to the floor was really surprising, as we didn't get the prolonged choreographed fight on the apron, and that made it feel like Devlin made a snap decision to do something crazy and attempt to injure them both. Devlin is a guy who can fit a ton of highspots into a match while always making them feel like part of the match, never like a guy trying to get his shit in, always to the service of the match. When he caught Banks with an in ring Spanish Fly I thought it would have made for an awesome flash finish, so while I didn't love when Banks used his fighting spirit to get up and immediately lariat Devlin, I at least appreciated how much Devlin ate that lariat. His big flipping bump actually felt borne out of the lariat, and often those big flipping bumps feel removed from the move that caused them. Devlin eats knees on a moonsault better than maybe anyone, always making it look like he's hitting that moonsault and doesn't actually know he's about to land face first on knees, and that kind of in ring honesty lifts a match like this so much. I liked how they handled the double count out finish, as the tumble to the floor looked good and it actually helped both stay strong (instead of an appeal to parity), and while I'm not sure where they go with the feud after this match, I really liked what both brought.

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NXT UK Worth Watching: James Drake! Wild Boar! Tyler Bate! Mark Andrews!

James Drake vs. Tyler Bate NXT UK 8/25 (Aired 11/14/18) (Ep. #7)

ER: I liked the looks of this on paper and it gave me what I was hoping for. Bate is a guy with nice moves and hammy execution, and Drake is a guy who leans into hard strikes and gets into position for moves real well. Bate does moves with familiar set ups match to match, but he's good at switching things up so he's not doing every move from the exact same start point every single time. I liked the World of Sport wristlock exchanges to start, and I liked how Drake took him to the floor and brought him back in with knees. Drake is good at working Bate over, and he looks like a wrestling Billy Mitchell, and the stuff around Drake's headlock was my favorite part of the match. Drake has a great headlock and looks like he's really messing with Bate's breathing, hooking Bate's chin in his elbow crook and then holding his forearm across Bate's esophagus. My favorite part was Bate trying to break the sleeper by backing Drake hard into the turnbuckles, but he did it right when a forearm was across his throat and his face said he hurt himself more. Drake hits a corner dropkick that looks like he is going for a KO, looks like a finish and works as a strong nearfall. Bate's eventual comeback clotheslines and uppercuts look good, and his deadlift suplexes are impressive (dig that slow lift backdrop driver). I would have actually liked another twist or nearfall at the end, but I also appreciate the tidy finish. It's nice to see a guy pinned after a clothesline and tiger driver.


Wild Boar vs. Mark Andrews NXT UK 8/25 (Aired 11/21/18) (Ep. #9)

ER: This is a nice complementary pairing. Andrews benefitted from a stout base, and Boar has a ton of fun ways to flatten and throw Andrews. Boar is Tinier Taz on offense, and catches ranas nicely and bumps generously while on defense. Andrews with throw a genuinely hard right elbow smash, and he's a fun guy to see get smooshed by a nasty Boar apron senton and another one while on all fours. Boar grunts and jumps into him with headbutts, squatting on the mat and doing his own fun take on JYD headbutts. Andrews tries big stuff like a quebrada off the apron and a shooting star to finish, but the shooting star falls short (his always seems to...), but his strength is his bumping. His flying is risky but not always executed, while his bumps are big. He gets creamed on a clothesline and gets flipped far on a half nelson suplex or flattened by a fast cannonball in the corner. The finish is a little abrupt and could have used a couple twists, but Boar excels in these 5 minute action sprints and a game opponent will benefit.


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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 2019 Catch-Up

ER: No 205 Live this week, no sign of our guys this week, and it feels like we've seen much less of our guys ever since Smackdown started on Fox. A sign of bad things to come. BUT there is still 2019 stuff from these guys that we haven't seen, and this gives us another chance to dig back and find potential gems.

Oney Lorcan vs. Cedric Alexander WWE 205 Live 3/12/19

ER: Great stuff from these guys, a cool slow burn tournament match that built nicely to the biggest parts but didn't race through them once they got there. The first half of this is cool, the whole thing could have been worked with no ropes, a lot of the action based around holds or strikes. Even the running attacks didn't really need the ropes, as it was just both guys using the large ring to build whatever momentum they needed. Lorcan lands chops and uppercuts, Alexander throws back chops of his own and a couple kicks, Lorcan hits a hard lariat and works a waistlock and abdominal stretch, and the whole thing is very contained but very engaging. By the time they're using the ropes it feels like the match has taken off into the next plane, and I especially liked the swinging flatliner Alexander hit. I thought both guys were really good at busying themselves while waiting for attacks, like the way Alexander stumbled to his knees while Lorcan somersaulted off the top, then ran back to nail the blockbuster. The nearfalls felt earned, a lot of things that could seemingly end things, that blockbuster and the fought for half nelson suplex, but also Alexander's cool STO on the ring apron with a quick snap Michinoku Driver back in the ring. Lorcan kept working slaps and uppercuts, and I really dug how Alexander would buckle for them, though that also made the actual finish come off a little sudden. Still, I thought they built this whole thing real nicely, one of the 15+ minute 205 matches that I think really worked with the runtime. So many of those long matches just feel too long, but this felt like they were actually working the proper back and forth for the time.

Men's Battle Royal WWE Worlds Collide 4/4 (Aired 5/1/19)

ER: This was a good battle royal that really didn't have much of Gulak, eliminated within the first third. He was a guy worth watching while he was in it, with he and Riddle going at it one of the big highlights of the this. They even cosplay Ken Shamrock/Don Frye on the ring apron, something I've not seen in a battle royal. But then Gulak was eliminated by someone. Maybe Steve Cutler? Possibly Steve Cutler. But there was other fun battle royal stuff. Brian Kendrick never even took off his leather jacket (and yet lasted much longer than I expected for a man my size who didn't bother to get fully into gear), Riddle was the obvious megastar here but was eliminated by unexpected final 4 guy Saurav Gurjar, and Dijakovic looked like a teetering oaf but got punched into extinction. But there was also some trash! After having Gurjar take out Riddle, they had Tyler Bate eliminate him by...picking him up, walking him slowly over to the ropes, and then just tossing him over. Gurjar put up no sort of struggle during any part of this. A man 100 pounds smaller than him just picked him up, walked him across the ring, and tossed him. It was one of the lamer things I have seen in a battle royal. And while I liked parts of the Strong/Bate survivor battle, it went too long, and had FAR too many moments of one guy getting tossed over the ropes, dangling, only to have the other guy just walk away. Bate is just swinging, Strong just slowly walks across the ring. It's like a Kane cage match  I was at live, where he opened the cage door, stepped down to the bottom step, grabbed a chair without stepping one more step for the win, and went back into the cage to use the chair. This was on a show that was just two battle royals, the other with all women. The women's battle royal was better, with nice showings from Bianca Belair and Jessamyn Duke and a far better knowledge of how to build to neat battle royal moments. But this wasn't bad.

Jack Gallagher vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. James Drake vs. Mark Andrews WWE 205 Live 5/14/19

ER: This didn't have enough pairing off, and spent too much time trying to work a 3 way instead of working their natural 2 on 2 hand they had been dealt. And this whole thing was spent mostly showcasing Drake and Andrews at the expense of Gallagher and Carrillo, and that's not what I wanted to see. Gallagher was even the guy kept on the floor, who couldn't get in the ring because of a tough game of King of the Mountain. Seriously, Gallagher was the little kid who kept getting brushed aside, and he should have been running this thing. There was even a moment where he was fighting up top and then just had to sit on the top buckle leaning out of the way, so other people could fight around him. Our boy was made to look like a clown for much of this, and I didn't dig it. Carrillo was really good at making Drake's and Andrews' offense pop, Andrews ate a wicked facebuster into the apron, and all of the flying looked good. By the time Gallagher was actually allowed into the action, he broke out the umbrella senton and hit an awesome falling meteor from the top (like Mr. Fuji's great finisher only insanely off the top rope), Carrillo's twisting moonsault off the top looked great...but then Gallagher dispatched of everyone in cool ways and got to look like the ultimate chump by getting rolled up. They made some odd choices in this one, paired off funny, and really seemed to showcase people in the reverse order that they should be showcased. The action was enjoyable and quick, and that does count for a lot, but I wanted something different from this.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak Catch-Up

ER: At the Nashville airport waiting to fly back to SFO, and none of these guys showed up on WWE TV this week! So I'm gonna take this chance and find each of their earliest match from this year that I have not seen, and write them up. This feels like a good way to play some 2019 catch-up while waiting for new material, while waiting for a flight, while just wanting to be home this second.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Fabian Aichner/Marcel Bartel WWE NXT 1/3/19 (Aired 1/23)

ER: I wasn't expecting this one to be so hotly contested, but Aichner and Bartel worked most of this as if they were exact same level as Lorcan and Burch, and I didn't realize that was ever the case. Maybe Lorcan and Burch's stocks have just risen that much in only 6 months. But this was cool, filled with hard suplexes and big back elbows and uppercuts. Burch had a couple nasty cut off moments - the dropdown out of air single leg being one - and threw a big headbutt, but I was surprised (pleasantly) at how much Bartel and Aichner ran this. That mostly stopped when Lorcan started his big comeback, flying in with an elbow and hitting a wild flip dive out the other side. This was under 5 minutes but filled to the brim, everyone shining, crazy highspots like Aichner's triple jump moonsault, or hard strikes to the neck, fun watch.

Drew Gulak vs. Mark Andrews WWE World Collide 1/26/19 (Aired 2/2)

ER: I liked this, but a lot of it felt like Andrews along for the ride, and even though it really wasn't long I found myself just wanting Gulak to put this little floppy haired guy away. It had good basics, side headlock takeovers that whipped over, some fine headscissor reversals, neat wrist control segments from Gulak, rolling foreheads off each other, stuff I like. And I have dug Andrews before, think he always has the talent to show up, but I also don't like a lot of the times he's shown up. I don't think he looked bad here, but he looked like Gulak was schooling him and it felt long. I liked Gulak's stump puller arm bar, but we got probably a couple too many sunset flip roll up sequences (though I think the one where Gulak jumps backward to catch one with opposite momentum is almost always a great looking spot and was here). Rolling through pins into chokes is something Gulak does well, and all moments of it here were nice. An enjoyable match that really wasn't too far off from being list. One more tiny something would have boosted it well.

Gentleman Jack Gallagher vs. Tyler Bate NXT UK 1/27/19 (Aired 2/27)

ER: This had the beginnings of a seriously great match, but I thought the finish was sudden (by design), distractingly long, and more than a little silly. Since the entire match is essentially matwork leading to pinfall, with not much in between, the matwork portion was great and then things basically ended. I'm unsure if I would have been better with the match just ending as a 10 minute draw, rather than the finish we got. It's a little tough to evaluate a match with some of the best mat tricks WWE has seen, that then ends with a dozen one counts and a schoolboy. So let's just look at the matwork and soak in it pleasantly. Bate was aggressive on the mat, going after Gallagher's arm but not ever really doing too much damage, and always eventually getting shown up and punished by Gallagher. Gallagher had some smooth reversals into a headscissors, and Bate had a slick moment where he kneeled down on Gallagher's ankles to get him to loosen his legs enough for Bate to pop his head out.  Jack's Indian deathlocks and work on the knee were great, sinking in holds and doing things like digging his knee into Bate's thigh. I really liked how Bate sold the knee too, being wobbly on his feet and using his bum wheel to still do kneelifts into Gallagher's face (while making it clear that he has made the choice that it's better to use his in-pain knee as a blunt instrument than trust putting weight on it to weaponize his good knee). It looked like the match was getting off the mat and into a crazy stretch, and then the silly little finish happened. And that's fine. Wrestling isn't all about Match of the Year status and can also be about the unexpectedly good and bad. This whole thing is well worth seeing just for the opening 5-6 minutes alone, some of the most fun scrambling and transitions I've seen in wrestling this year, regardless of promotion.

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

8. Will Ospreay v. Mark Andrews PWG 8/28/15

PAS: This first round placed guys together who had worked each before or worked similar styles. It hurt a little on the dream match aspect of a tourney like this, but it did allow new guys to avoid awkwardness and show their stuff. This was a total blast, both guys are hitting very high difficulty flips and arm drags, I know my man Robert Bihari must have been losing his shit live, Andrews especially was just contorting his body in mid air with a variety of crazy takedowns, reminded of a taller Mascarita 2000, including one of the prettiest springboard ranas I have ever seen. Osprey was also really fast, and got crazy height on everything he did, his twirling kick looked like something out of a wire kung fu movie. Exactly the kind of opening round tourney debut showcase match you want to see.

ER: Well this was just absurd. Every so often you get surprised by guys, moving in ways you wouldn't expect. You had Blitzkrieg popping up as an unknown on Nitro, Low Ki and Red aping old Jackie Chan movies, and now Andrews and Ospreay doing movements that I couldn't begin to accurately describe. Andrews looks like Spud except does spectacular things, and Ospreay had some of the most rewindable kicks and flying that I've ever seen. We start with some stand exhibition-y mat rolling and armdrags and I'm beginning to wonder why Phil told me to go watch this. And then it starts to break down into all sorts of cool stop/start armdrags and reversals, and then we go flying full bore into ridiculous kick combos and nutty flying and strikes and slender men getting dumped on their heads. At one point I note that Andrews has a nice little thrust kick to the stomach, really treating it as more than a throwaway to set up another spot, but then I've forgotten about it moments later when Ospreay lands the most physics defying spin kick I've ever seen. As Phil said it's like Crouching Tiger come to life as Ospreay spins what seems like a dozen times in midair before landing with a knee to the back of Andrews had. Later Ospreay lands some insanely quick kicks to the face and head, making me die to see him vs. Bailey (or Busick!). We get a nutbar flipping DDT out of a northern lights, and couple vicious reverse ranas that look amazing - even in a fed where everybody throws out a reverse rana - with both guys SUWAing the other's rana, and some just flat out weird stuff like Andrews climbing the buckles, only to have Ospreay grab his head and tuck it behind the buckle before superkicking him through his legs. It's like he tied him into a Nieblina on the top rope and then kicked his face. Silly. Loved it. This really felt like something you could show your friend who doesn't ever watch wrestling, and then watch them lose their shit.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night One

PWG BOLA has gotten some great reviews, and I figured I would check it out, let see if I can get through a whole show.

Brian Cage v. Aerostar

One of my fears about this tourney was the dreaded PWG bloat, this is a fed in the past that has had 14 minutes matches drag to 25, so I was happy this was a compact 9 minutes. Both guys had some cool ideas, that they only hit sometimes,  I liked Cage doing curls with Aerostar's body, and that finish hanging Steiner screwdriver was uncalled for. Cage is good in Lucha Underground 4-Ways, and this felt like it could have used two more guys to do some stuff in between their big spots. If they had included Big Ryck and Drago this might have been something great.

Biff Busick v. Andrew Everett

I really enjoyed this. Busick is great as a bully against highflyers, he has had a series of good matches against Mike Bailey and this was in that style, Everett would hit some big time highspots inbetween Busick muderizing him with suplexes, clotheslines and uppercuts. There were point where it felt a little formless, but the big stuff was big. At one point Everett went back on offense with this leaping one motion backwards rana which was one of the prettiest highspots I have seen in a while, really shouldn’t have been thrown out in the middle of the match. Finish run of Busick offense looked awesome as Everett takes stuff so crazy that all of Busicks moves look deadly.

Will Ospreay v. Mark Andrews

This first round placed guys together who had worked each before or worked similar styles. It hurt a little on the dream match aspect of a tourney like this, but it did allow new guys to avoid awkwardness and show their stuff. This was a total blast, both guys are hitting very high difficulty flips and arm drags, I know my man Robert Bihari must have been losing his shit live, Andrews especially was just contorting his body in mid air with a variety of crazy takedowns, reminded of a taller Mascarita 2000, including one of the prettiest springboard ranas I have ever seen. Osprey was also really fast, and got crazy height on everything he did, his twirling kick looked like something out of a wire kung fu movie. Exactly the kind of opening round tourney debut showcase match you want to see.

Jack Evans/Angelico v. Rich Swann/Ricochet

Took a while to get going, as they did a lot of dance contest horseshit which didn’t do much for me. Had a fun finishing run, including a great dive by Angelico, but the problem with tourneys like this is, is that you get inured to all of the high spots, there has been a reverse rana in every match so far, so when Rich Swann does one, it is hard to care, same with 450s and 630s, just the same kind of spots over and over again. I liked this fine, but I could see having a problem watching all three nights of this tournament.

Trent ? v. Trevor Lee

Trent ? is the former Trent Barretta and an ex Chuck Taylor partner, and he has the same junior college improv troupe approach to wrestling. After his early shenanigans he tries to have a serious indy wrestling match, and he isn’t particularly good at that either. We get the 43rd reverse rana of the tourney, and some german suplexes and shit. Lee is a guy I have liked in other matches (He had an awesome sprint with Bailey in PWG earlier this year) but he couldn’t do much here

Pentagon Jr. v. Drago

This was a bummer, I like both guys a lot and you figure they would have lots of experience working each other, but lots of this felt off, and even the big spots weren’t as big or interesting as stuff that was hit earlier in the tourney. Pentagon Jr. has a lot of charisma but this wasn’t good.

Matt Sydal v. Fenix

This was pretty much a popcorn match, with both guys breaking out all of their spots until there was a finish. For that type of match it was pretty good, although nothing I will remember later (unlike the British match earlier which was a similar style but with more pizzaz) . I liked how Fenix brought a little extra to all of his kicks and chops, there was one point where he toed Sydal in the eye, which was brutal looking.  Sydal is good at playing the outclass veteran who used to be able to jump as high as these kids, but now is a step slow, kind of like a Grizzlies era Vince Carter. Still the match ending on a reverse rana,, into a SSP after every nearly every other match on the show through out a reverse rana as a nothing mid-match move, really hurt the finish, this show really needed someone backstage producing this tourney.

Mt. Rushmore 2.0 (Roderick Strong/Young Bucks) v. Marty Scrull/Zach Sabre Jr./Tommy End

This was the most PWGish match on the show. Mt. Rushmore 2.0 has some fun triple teams, and I loved ZSJ using a Breaks special as a hot tag move, but this match just went forever. It felt like it had two or three crescendos, and then the match would slow down with the Bucks doing shtick. It this had seven minutes or so cut, it might have been pretty good, but I just lost interest as it just kept going. I did think this set up Sabre Jr. v. Strong pretty well, and made Rushmore look badass going into the next two days.

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