AEW Five Fingers of Death 2/26 - 3/3 Part 2

AEW Revolution 3/3/24

Sting/Darby Allin vs Young Bucks

MD: I was on the fence whether to write this up or not. It's one of those matches that defies analysis, transcendent in the emotion. With a week's distance, however, I figured that maybe it might be fun to try to take a more clinical approach to something so impossible to break down. As I was writing, I think I ended up getting emotional anyway, but I'll at least give it a go. Let's start with the Bucks. I do not write often about the Bucks. I won't deny their talent certainly. I have a long essay in me about how they got ahead by breaking norms because if they would have wrestled within the norms, no matter how well they might have done it, they would have never gotten ahead. That's admirable on the one hand and probably very destructive in another. Metatextual deconstruction in an art form that relies upon suspension of disbelief is harmful over time. It takes a genie out of a bottle, changes incentives, modifies the relationship between wrestler and fan. I absolutely believe that it was what they needed to do to get ahead and it's hard to fault them for it, but ... well, like I said, I have an essay but that's not what I want to write about here.

I will say this, however. The act needed an overhaul. They work best when they're representing a sort of counterculture, when they're pressing against something, rebelling against something, when they have a chip on their shoulder. The story of the Elite and All In and early AEW is that they bet on themselves (and against those who said they couldn't do it) and won, that they created a new paradigm where they could succeed outside of the old systems where they could not. There was a certain amount of time right at the start, through the pandemic, as crowds came back, when that sort of celebratory spirit could carry things. I think we're past that now and certain swings, such as the trios division being created to celebrate their vision of pro wrestling, sort of fell flat because of that. Obviously with the Punk situation, they had something they could press up against, but legally and practically, they weren't allowed to in a way that would draw money. Things weren't working. To their credit, they stopped, retooled, and looked at all of the current criticisms against them to pull together characters based in a sort of assumed reality that better fit guys in their mid to late 30s than the traditional "Young Bucks" gimmick did. Suddenly, they have something to press up against again; suddenly there's a chip on their shoulder once more; there's something with meat on the bone to give them an edge.

And that edge allowed for a program that needed to be something more than just two athletic guys bumping and selling and feeding and providing motion for Sting; it allowed for it to have the emotional weight and gravitas it deserved. By the time you hit the match itself, however, we were all in a sort of exceptional situation. There was always the hint of doubt that Sting would actually win due to some of the traditional pressures of pro wrestling. The retiring hero should lose on the the way out and put over younger talents. The champion should lose the belts to keep continuity. Darby is going off to climb a mountain. The Bucks were particularly ascendant in their new characters; the champions would be gone and the challengers would have to carry the territory. And up until the Dynamite before Revolution, the Bucks had all the heat. Yes, Sting and Darby were undefeated and had won the titles, but during the build the Bucks were in control of the situation. That changed on the 2/28 Dynamite, with head games and Sting dropping from the rafters for the final image of a Death Drop on a Jackson (not a stooge, not security). So some of that heat was blunted already. The Bucks had already gotten a taste of comeuppance. The champs were on the rise. It was okay though, because the iconic moment was worth it. This entire situation was exceptional; it bent the rules of pro wrestling. It was a once in a lifetime event. That's why the Bucks maybe did make sense as opponents; they've excepted themselves from those rules for their entire career. They could swim these uncertain waters as well as anyone.

And they swam right into the start of this exceptional match, with the breathtaking entrance of three Stings (three Bordens) and an immediate numbers game advantage for the babyfaces. The Bucks already needed some sort of wedge to get and keep control due to the size and presence differential. They had superior teamwork and experience, maybe (Sting and Darby were 29-0 after all), but that didn't really come into play during a Tornado Tag. The heel interference that was part of the Elite's 2021 heel run wasn't in play here either. Like I said, no stooges. But again, it didn't matter, because the fans were there to celebrate Sting. The family got their revenge early on. In some ways, that story closed itself off and it came down to the titles and the question of whether Sting was going to leave undefeated with gold around his waist, with the lingering secondary question of just what sensational and dangerous thing Sting or Darby might do on the way out. While that's a question that sort of tugs at suspension of disbelief, it only does so far. Sting and Darby are so confident in their own skin, so comfortable as the characters they embody, that you believe their crazy dives are meant to even the odds of size and age and actually harm their opponents. It's not gratuitous or simply living up to expectations; there's a reason that those expectations exist in the first place. Here, the snake eats its own tail in the best of ways.

They moved away from the ring and got the Borden kids out of play. There was never any explanation for this. In a tornado tag, anything goes. That said, when you're pulling against norms as thoroughly as this match did at times, you don't want extraneous questions. Maybe there could have been a throwaway line that they had come out for the entrance as planned and cleared, but then got involved in an unplanned way. Now, they had been escorted away by security, not because the interference was illegal, but because they were not cleared to wrestle or had signed any waiver to perform and AEW had to protect itself legally after what had happened a few weeks prior? Something like that. On the other hand, do you want to waste any emotional time on it? Sure, part of me wondered why they weren't helping out when the Bucks were doing major damage late in the match, but maybe it didn't bother anyone else. Maybe we just accept the moment for what it was and that the story had moved on. I'm never very good at just accepting the story had moved on myself, not when it comes to selling, not when it comes to dangling plot threads. But again, maybe that's just me. I spent a paragraph on it, but I'm also willing to let it go and not look back once I hit "enter" twice to start the next one.

The Bucks needed a major shift to take over considering they had already received quite a bit of comeuppance. They received it with Darby crashing through the glass. When you're in a situation where you can only have a relatively short heat segment with the heels in control, it helps when you have dynamic offense, spectacular suffering, and blood: the more the better. Darby's entire back was lacerated. That made everything feel absolutely serious quickly. Then, instead of getting to hit one of his signature dives, Sting was cut off and took a spectacular bump through a table instead. The Bucks did more than that, but just from those two flashpoints: the image of Darby's back and the image of Sting going through the table, they had everything they needed to capitalize on the drama of the moment. Sting made his superman comeback attempts (and the kickout on the EVP trigger was it's own sort of magic) but the numbers game was too much for him. Again, most people expected this to be celebratory; the whole show was a celebration of Sting, but there was always the tiniest kernel of doubt for reasons awash in the moment and ones listed above about the nature of pro wrestling retirements; if Sting demanded that he do the deed on the way out, who could really say no to him in the end? All of those things came together like a bolt of lightning to empower Darby's big save. That hit as perfectly as any pro wrestling moment ever does, that feeling in your stomach watching that makes you want to gasp and cheer and sigh all at once.

From there it was academic and, of course, exceptional. Sting won on the way out. It felt like the most right thing in the world. They broke three or four narrative rules in the build, in the start of the match, in the result. I'm not going to say it shouldn't have worked because of that. It was too big to fail, over 16,000 people and almost 40 years big, and fueled by respect and love and admiration, created by people who understood the worth and value of pro wrestling and the power of believing in something bigger than yourself. But as hard as a pill as it might have been for me to swallow at the start of February (and as hard as it is for me to accept at all, because I just don't want to see the guy go), this was the right place and the right time with the right people to create something that was exceptional not just in its nature, but in its quality as well. 

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2022 Ongoing MOTY List: FTR vs. Young Bucks 2

7. FTR vs. Young Bucks AEW Dynamite 4/6

ER: These teams had a nearly 30 minute match several months before this one, that I imagine was the exact kind of match that every Revival fan wanted to see them have in AEW. I preferred this one, and not because I'm a joyless sack, but because this felt much tighter, less bloated, and felt much more like a wrestling tag than a This is Awesome performance. Now, it's not exactly profound for someone to state that a match 2/3 the length of another match is "tighter", but it's an easy observation. This is 20 minutes that felt like it hit a dry patch for awhile around 15 minutes in, but still felt like it hit the sweet spot. Keeping it shorter avoids unnecessary kickouts and cuts down on superkicks. 

I liked every guy in this, with Matt Jackson standing out especially, a grating ass who actually backs it up before getting shut up. FTR were a great team here and really seemed to be operating as one, with smart tags and awesome dedication to making the small stuff work. FTR is a team that makes sure their drop toeholds look good, and I think that's fantastic. The Bucks are great at making fun of FTR's Bret/Arn idolatry while also clearly doing it as heels. It's an easy target, and after the Bucks did the tandem sharpshooters, Matt hit a Hitman elbow off the middle buckle and stood up doing the douchiest Bret pose, I was laughing my ass off. The douchebag balance is very important: If the Bucks are too cool then FTR look like dweebs who once saw a gif of Arn doing a fake-out punch to set up a DDT and decided to do that every single week. The mockery keeps the Bucks heels and it keeps FTR honest, and I loved when Harwood did a fake-out to spike Matt with a piledriver. 

I thought they built to cut off spots well the entire match, like Nick stopping a powerplex with a big rana, FTR stopping the Meltzer Driver (surely it still doesn't have that stupid name?) with a Dax powerbomb, or the way FTR were always there at just the right time to blast into frame with a partner save. The Bucks leaned into cheating down the stretch and I dug that, and thought they came up with enough plausible ways for Wheeler to keep winding up near the ropes, hurt but not dead. My only real gripe with the match is that Nick came back into the action way too quickly after getting nailed with a Dax brainbuster on the floor. The sprint directly after was the only time the match felt like it was letting the moves dictate the match instead of the wrestlers. That said, I don't think the match ever went full overload, really loved how they all worked together, and thought FTR's selling was super strong throughout. We'll get a third match before long, and I assume that one will swing back the other way and be closer to 40 minutes, but man I'd love to see them go wild for 15. 

2022 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Kingston/Penta vs. Young Bucks

37. Eddie Kingston/Penta El Zero Miedo vs. The Young Bucks AEW Dynamite 6/30 

ER: This is the exact kind of match anyone who goes to Dynamite wants to see, a match AEW has been delivering pretty consistently since they began. Kingston and Penta weren't really a team I foresaw happening, but they've gotten pretty glued together. The Young Bucks have new facial hair and and dingle ball headbands and look like a couple chooglers who just added a sitar player to their band. Kingston and Penta have some real cool double teams, some good ways to combine their offense. Early on Penta stomps on Matt Jackson's taint from the top and Excalibur says he is "punishing the perineum". There's a couple beats of silence before Schiavone roars in with "Did you say punishing the perineum?" 

The Bucks work this as a cocky team who aren't thinking they will lose, which is a tough attitude to take opposite a guy like Kingston who will fight hard even when he knows he is going to lose. But, the Bucks do a double team fistdrop and that is a kind of cockiness I will always support. There are several great moments of Kingston going up against both Bucks where he decides to not treat their offense seriously, taking both of their little kicks as he stands with his back to them, eating more superkicks than he should late in the match, because Kingston doesn't always fight the smartest fight, and there are no better emotional fighters in wrestling. Kingston gets a nice superplex and makes a hot tag, and there's an awesome nearfall when Penta hits a corkscrew code red for a VERY late kickout from Matt. The crowd thought they saw the win and Jackson was hilarious with prayer hands and upturned eyes thanking the lord above for guiding the referee's hand a bit too slowly to the mat. The back stretch is loaded with bullshit but I thought it was all highly entertaining, a bunch of ECW run-in misdirection, Kingston showing he would have been the all time best Tommy Dreamer, Penta taking out a bunch of people with a tope con giro, a great Nick Jackson ball shot to King, and a sick 1-2 finish of a Penta stuff piledriver and King backfist. Helluva way to start an episode of TV. 

PAS: This was a bunch of fun, maximilist Young Bucks tags aren't my thing, but Eddie Kingston is great at working match styles I don't like and bringing me into them. I loved all of his hulking up, the semi-no sell of the superkick, only to get smashed with two more was great. He is a hell of a face in peril, and my favorite part of the match was Eddie working under and making the big tag. Penta isn't really one of my guys either, but he was fun in the hot tag role. Finish run of nonsense worked well (although I don't miss the Good Brothers at all) and led to a big moment of the Kingston and Penta team overcoming the odds and getting a big win. Really fun TV match. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE EDDIE KINGSTON

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AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 11/20/19

What Worked

-I like the idea of throwing a Buck into a singles match. I don't think I've ever seen either in a singles match before (and scanning quickly doesn't look like something that's happened in at least 3 years), so it's a fun idea. The match had several moments that didn't make a lot of sense, and the pacing meant that they were up trading superkicks seconds after Fenix absolutely flattened Nick's chest with a full force top rope swanton. But they clearly went all out, Fenix tried rope tricks that he appeared to be making up on the spot, Nick took a couple of major spills, we got a good nearfall, it was fun. I think they could have done the same moves and laid it out WAY more effectively, but that sentence feels like something I will just be writing about at least one AEW match a week.

-Britt Baker got busted open early with something, and that is how you make a Britt Baker match slightly more interesting.

-Battle Royal was good, had plenty of the elements that make for a good battle royal. There were guys I wish were in it far longer (Sonny Kiss really should be more of a featured player, though I laughed when I think I caught Orange Cassidy lowering his sunglasses in the corner while Kiss shook his ass), Chuck Taylor hit an actual awesome knee out of the corner, Orange Cassidy got amusingly launched by Billy Gunn, somebody hit a wicked tope (I think it was Kip Sabian, but the promotion is batting 1.000 so far on missing at least one big dive per episode), Kiss took a big elimination bump, and they kept the pace up. A fine battle royal.

-Jack Swagger looks like a guy wearing four different rows of Invisalign, but damn if AEW doesn't know exactly how to use Swagger. He looks like an imposing goof, they use him like an imposing goof.

-Jericho promo before SCU came out was my least favorite Jericho AEW promo so far, but once he had Scorpio Sky to play off of I think it picked up real nicely, liked a few of their exchanges and liked how Jericho did his promo as if he was both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

-Two weeks in a row and they've properly thrown in a nice squash match, which shows they're at least learning the importance of show pacing. Deflated Bobby Roode got most of his mic work during the break, made a fossil fuel joke, and then got wrecked by Luchasaurus as he should have been.

-We get an honest to god cut off the ring tag match and that is a great thing. I do think that Quen would have been better as the hot tag guy, because he's just better than Kassidy at running together offense, but that's a minor gripe because I also liked how they handled Kassidy's hot tag. LAX were real dickheads while cutting off the ring, with Ortiz especially being mean. I dig all the nonsense like locking Quen in a Boston crab and Santana vaulting in just to lightly mule kick Quen in the face. The back work paid off nicely and I absolutely love paying off limb work within a signature spot: Kassidy goes to roll over Quen's back on the apron to hit the silly string, only Quen's back can't hold the weight and he falls off the apron. Those spots seem so obvious if you stop to think for a moment about what part of the body had been worked over, and yet some guys seem so averse to doing them. I love "obvious" payoffs like that, and thought this tag came off so much better than if they had gone out and just done a big go go go big spots match.

-Dustin is already my favorite wrestler in AEW, and if he decides to become a guy working a cast gimmick and add a bunch of cast related strikes? Well then brother I can't think of anyone who would be a threat to unseat his #1 status.

-Moxley/Allin was pretty easily the best Dynamite match so far. We'll be writing that one up in its own MOTY post.

What Didn't Work

-I am so sick of flipping piledrivers that don't mean anything. I probably could have stopped that sentence after "piledrivers".

-Has Britt Baker been featured every single week? I'm not sure. Has Britt Baker been exposed every time she has appeared on TV? Yes, definitely yes. Her match with Shida was filled with both of them kicking out of their own pinfalls, lifting their legs up to make it easier for their opponent to hook legs, and at least a couple moves that landed as if whomever was taking the move had no idea what the move was actually going to be.

-Jimmy Havoc continues to be the supreme dweeb, even if him stapling Billy Gunn's stomach was funny, he immediately ruined it by calling everyone tossers as they cut to commercial, his voice breaking like a 13 year old, using slang that should be natural to him yet sounded like he'd never said tosser before.

-Talked with Phil about what cowboy wrestlers lamer than Hangman Page, and the best we could do was Killer Tim Brooks or ultra gassed Scott Casey. But neither of those are definites, and I would rather see both of them than Page.

-AEW Dynamite has one camera-missed dive per week, and they also seemingly want to corner the market on refs stopping 3 counts for things that nobody actually saw happen.

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

3. Hardy Boys v. Young Bucks NEW 8/2

ER: Wow, I'm kind of in shock about this match. Like the whole time I was watching it I was in disbelief at how great it was. Not that either team isn't capable, but the whole time it was just feeling TOO good, and it kept getting better, and I kept praying it wasn't going to fall off the rails or have a lame finish. Do you ever do that? You're watching a match and you're rooting to yourself for them to keep it up, to not blow it, wanting them to reach the level of great match that they're promising as they set out. And this match totally delivers in every way possible. The timing is just incredible, all four guys work as if they're intending to have the match of their careers, the pinfall saves are great, the false finishes are great, the ebb and flow of everything is great. This is just great tag wrestling, great pro wrestling. The Young Bucks persona works so wonderfully in front of genuine indy crowds, as opposed to people who are "in on the joke". And the team's personalities collide so well in this. This is clearly the hardest and wildest Jeff Hardy has worked in ages, and Matt looks as good as he did on his WWE TV singles match run in 2009. Bucks tone things down and perfectly use their superkicks only 3 times, both in super important parts of the match, always to cut off potential threat of Hardy offense, always used as not a big move but as a reset, something to turn the tide back to the Bucks.

There were so many great moments where each team would mirror each other, sometimes one upping the other, other times leading to their downfall. Hardys hit their nice fistdrop/rolling senton combo, Bucks later do their springboard moonsault/standing moonsault combo. Jeff catches knees on a swanton, and Nick immediately holds him prone on his knees so Matt J can hit a swanton. Bucks just trying to do little things to update Hardy's signature offense to get under their skin. There were so many great sequences throughout, tons of great saves, tons of stuff where timing is imperative, but there were no moments of somebody waiting for someone to get into position, everything ran like a well oiled machine. At one point Matt J cuts off Matt H with a superkick, hits a Fuerza bump dropkick and as he's skinning the cat he gets clotheslined from the floor by Jeff, which causes him to flip back onto the floor, Jeff goes to the apron to fly but gets leveled by Nick making Jeff trust fall into everybody, and then Nick hits a flip dive on all of them. Everybody was always right on point with pulling the ref out of a count at just the right moment, knocking someone off the top to save their partner, the saves and false finishes were so expertly done that it made a 23 minute match feel like it needed every second of that time. Jeff was a total maniac in this, hitting a huge crossbody off the apron, a couple reckless dives, always doing big splashes to break up pins, I mean I literally don't remember the last Jeff Hardy match where he looked this good. Matt stalked around the ring great, trying to slow the Bucks down, threw some of his perfect right hands (with a flawless fist shake on one) and trying to set up the Bucks for Jeff. Bucks were great too, knowing exactly when to break out the flash, knowing when to let something peak and when to cut it off, and the stuff piledriver finish was nasty and a great false finish. Jeff makes the save and Matt doesn't have to go wild hitting moves after taking the piledriver. He falls off Matt Jackson's shoulders to deliver the twist of fate, and falls on him for the pin after Jeff hits a swanton. This is a flat out excellent match. Literally my favorite match of the year.

PAS: Really great stuff, an out of nowhere classic. I can't believe how good Jeff Hardy was in this, he is a guy who had his moments over his career, but I think the consensus was that he was completely shot by 2014, a casualty of drugs and bumps, but I cannot remember him ever looking this good, not only was he bumping like crazy but all of his offense looked really good. When has Jeff Hardy ever thrown good punches? He was cracking the Bucks here, spin kicks looked great, just a unbelievable performance. I really loved how the Hardy's incorporated all of the Bucks stuff into a traditional hot southern tag. Their taunts came off more like douchey heeling and less like meta wink wrestling. More John Tatum less Chuck Taylor. I was also really impressed how the Hardys were able to keep up with the Bucks fancy shit, there are some elaborate sequences in this match, and they looked great, the speed was still there, but they way it was slotted in, made it look less like a dance routine then if the Bucks ran them with Ohio is for Killers or the Addiction. Eric is going so nuts for this match so I feel like I have to throw a little water on the fire, I did think the Meltzer Driver should end a match full stop, I just don't buy Matt putting on a move 45 seconds after selling it, even if he did a nice job of selling. I also think that the Hardy's are a little short on offense, so they spammed the side effect and twist of fate a bit, I loved Matt's gutwrench suplexes, and I would have rather he used more of them or even just some bodyslams. Still those are very minor complaints on what is otherwise a remarkable match. No one could have predicted this.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

17. Young Bucks v. Angelico/Jack Evans PWG 7/24

PAS: I am really rating this as a whole segment. Ricochet and Tozawa are hugging after their wank off of a match, and Super Dragon comes from the back and starts killing folks, the Young Bucks come out in Super Dragon masks and the three of them lay waste to the entire locker room. Super Dragon especially kills Candace LaRae including curb stomping her on the bottom turnbuckle which is just horrific looking. All three guys are hateble dicks. Finally Evans and Angelico make the save with some big dives and we have a balls to the wall spotfest tag. I imagine if I watched a lot of Young Bucks matches I would get tired of their shtick, but it is fun in small doses, and Jack Evans just takes a huge asskicking. Didn't out stay it's welcome (Hero v. Bailey earlier on the show went 5 near falls and 6 minutes too long) kept it moving and had plenty of high points.

ER: Well this is pretty much the spotfest of the year. This is just absurd, at times flat out impossible wrestling. This whole segment was outstanding, with Super Dragon destroying everybody while the Bucks wait for them to feed out of the entrance way. Reminded me of the big coliseum scene in Gladiator where all the captives are shoved into the battle arena and one gladiator is just waiting at the entranceway to blindside them. The abuse LaRae takes is borderline uncomfortable, and Super Dragon basks in the discomfort. And the beatings just continue, and continue, and that's what makes the Evans and Angelico entrances so great, as they rush out and separately fling themselves into the attackers. Angelico especially just launches himself past the rinpost and into the crowd. The Reseda venue adds TONS to a match like this, as the crowd is just directly in the way of everything at all times, and this match featured guys constantly flying into the crowd in dangerous and spectacular ways. Some of the double teams in this are just.....I have no idea how they came up with them. I'm not even going to begin to describe them, but there were so many strange "I'm holding this guy and then another guy jumps off of me into a shooting star and then I do a 450 while holding this guy" and it's incredible that nobody broke their neck. Sometimes I think they're setting up one insane spot and then they take it a whole different direction ("oh, obviously Evans is going to springboard onto his partner's back while Matt is holding Angelico in a samoan drop.....wait Evans did that and then moonsaulted from Angelico's back to the floor!?!?"). Guys fly in and out of frame, you get every flying move you could possibly desire, done from the top to the floor, done springboard style, men fly into fans, through chairs, and the whole thing is a flat out sprint from beginning to end. This is the match you show to your friends who don't care about one bit about pro wrestling, and then watch them lose their shit the entire time. Just unreal.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Ring of Honor on Destination America 11/4/15 Review

I skipped a couple weeks as the product wasn't doing much for me and I found my brain wandering something fierce during the last couple episodes. One episode I even nodded off during! When I nod off and wake up in the middle of a Michael Elgin match my reaction will likely never be "I better rewind this Michael Elgin match". So really the only thing I remember about the last couple weeks of TV is Rachel saying that Veda Scott always appears to look uncomfortable wearing her short dresses. Like she doesn't quite know how to best move in a small dress. She also thought Maria - in her tight dress and strappy heels - looked like Jersey trash's idea of dressing up. I told her I didn't think Maria was from New Jersey and Rachel assumed she might just be cosplaying as Jersey nightlife. This seems accurate.

I had no idea O'Reilly was Canadian until he dropped several "SO-rees" in his opening interview. "Adam Cole, you're gonna be real SO-ree."

1. Silas Young & The Beer City Bruiser vs. The Young Bucks

So Silas Young made The Boys look and dress more like what HE feels men should look like, so now they look like damp Seattle street rent boys. I appreciate that Silas is at least trying to capture a specific region with his desires, molding them into the type of boys he'd like to pick up. "Yeah, put on these scoop neck ribbed tanks, lemme wet you down a bit....tear those jeans around the thighs.....yeah, now you look like men." This part of the match was fun. Bucks looked good, Young and Bruiser were fine. This whole things was mostly a Bucks double team show, with, yes, a lot of superkicks. Their superkick is a real nice cutoff spot, which is mostly what they use it as. Young has a bunch of silly offense that doesn't fit his supposed character, but you knew that. He did plant a Buck with a nice Finlay roll, but then went into some dorky headstand on the buckles that thankfully saw him get superkicked. Matt throws a nice back elbow, Bruiser takes a nice back bump to the floor, and yeah this was good enough. And it leads tooooooo

2. Young Bucks vs. The Boys

Young and Bruiser bailed and made The Boys finish the match, and Boys are working a kind of enhanced Mikey Whipwreck of guys who don't actually have offense (even though they can't help themselves and still do some indyish offense). The match is basically them being whipping boys for more Bucks flying. One of the Boys gets a silly double rana, meaning he did a rana simultaneously on both Bucks, but that was it, Bucks took over and hit More Bang for Your Buck on both men stacked on top of each other. The fact Dalton Castle has not ONCE come out on TV fighting for his boys, or even confronting Young, is ridiculous. Really feels like a WWE move where Castle got over too much so they had to knock him down a few pegs. Out of all the things they could have done with the Boys angle, this is just about the blandest. It's still dripping with Silas Young's blatant and out-without-ever-officially-coming-out homosexuality, but it's missing the passion. And you need the passion.

3. Will Ferrara vs. Roderick Strong

Extended Strong squash and he looked good. Ferrara was either really good at putting over submissions, or just actually hurt while in Strong's submissions. Strong had nasty chops, a couple great leaping knees, and worked some nice fast sequences with the smaller Ferrara, and also hit a mammoth dropkick and a big stomp to the face (one of which gave Ferrara a nice welt on his forehead). But this was all about the couple subs he locked on: His camel clutch into a cravate was super painful looking, with him locking his knuckles under Ferrara's jaw and really wrenching that jaw to the left. After he dropped the cravate he was holding just a basic chinlock but even that looked like his ulna was hooked right under Ferrara's throat. It did not look like a casual chinlock. Match ends with him locking on a standing Boston crab while standing on the side of Ferrara's face, with Ferrara screaming. I love when Strong works like a total badass like this.

4. Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly vs. AJ Styles

Well this was predictably messy and disjointed. Long periods of guys selling, because 3 way, match based on breaking up stuff rather than beating down stuff, silly 3 way submission spot, blecch. O'Reilly isn't very good and his armbar is done so much that it's impossible to take it too seriously. It's not approaching levels of the Angle Lock, but it's now a move he goes to several times in a match that rarely goes anywhere. Everything here felt really rushed, with the only actual inspired moments coming in the last couple minutes: Styles and O'Reilly had a cool little strike exchange with both guys tossing out elbows and kicks at weird angles, not just forearm tradeoffs. You had kicks to the spleen followed by slaps followed by elbows with neither man waiting for the other to time it just both guys winging them out there. The O'Reilly caught a Styles strike and dropped into a triangle. Styles tries to fight out and deadlifts O'Reilly, and then gets him into position for a Styles Clash while still stuck in the triangle. That's an awesome visual. Cole hits a superkick to the back of Styles head which sorta drops O'Reilly with the Styles Clash (and could have been a really dangerous fall for Styles since the triangle was still on), and then Cole hits the unnecessarily goofy brainbuster on his own knee for the win. Normal brainbusters look better. That own knee nonsense is just silly. So, that hot final 90 seconds or so was a hoot, but the rest was triple threat garbage.


Still overall this was a better episode than we've been getting, so maybe I'll get back on the bus. We did have a lot of Mark Briscoe commentary, and who could hate that?

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Ring of Honor on Destination America 9/9/15 Review

1. Young Bucks vs. The Addiction

Kazarian's vest is still one of the more embarrassing pieces of wardrobe you've seen, but I actually like Daniels' General's Jacket, even though I assume it means something dorky like RING GENERAL.....in fact now I'm stunned it does not just say RING GENERAL in large letters across the back. The jacket does have tons of little badges, most likely awarded to him for "Most Times Overshooting Your Finisher" and "Overuse of Abdominal Stretch Behind Ref's Back" amongst others. This was a match of two different parts, separated by an ambitiously terrible piece of Daniels offense. First half was fine, but it was the same Bucks match you've seen before, and Daniels/Kazarian don't take their offense as well as other teams. The Bucks' stuff looked good, I just really hate how Daniels takes offense. The finishing run was real hot though, with superkicks (duh) all around, some well timed interference with the Kingdom, guys leaving and entering the ring, working spots in and out. The Bucks' timing kept it all together and it all built to the Meltzer Driver with Daniels pulling the ref out and just the last moment. Great false finish, actually got duped into thinking the Bucks were winning it. Daniels later runs in with some horrible belt shots, and it all led to the announcement of an awful sounding triple threat tag match....but that finishing run was hot and ain't nothing gonna change that.

2. Roderick Strong vs. Jay Lethal

New Japan main event epic as Ring of Honor main event legendary classic. Did not work. 2015 Jay Lethal feels a lot like 2003-05 HHH. He has his idea of a main event epic, and he's going to do it all, even if he's not terribly good at it. The few "stand in the middle of the ring" punching segments were awful, Lethal looks like he's been getting worked punch training from Matt Bentley. I mean they were bad, Girl Scout gently knocking (or TAPPING for you crossword enthusiasts hung up on  "gently knocking". Also, later in the puzzle, the game played with curved wicker baskets is "Jai Alai") on a door, and he insists on doing these standoffs a lot. Too much. We get the House of Truth frequently interferring which was odd since a major part of the first match was Chris Sabin immediately getting tossed the first time he interferred. House of Truth aren't that good, but Dijak at least took a great bump into the rails off a Strong dropkick. Strong was not great in the match, just not as bad as lethal. Strong has had a fairly must see year so far, but here he looked off, punches looked weak, some of his knees which often look brutal looked more like thigh slaps accompanied by a kneeing motion. And this match got some tiiiiiiime. That added to the 2005 HHH NWA touring champ epic SLOG as it goes almost 25 without having anywhere near enough happening to fill that time. Lethal kept transitioning back to offense with a superkick, all match long, and it just feels weird to have this many superkicks per show, when we're supposed to buy them as 2 counts while also viewing them as transitional. Lethal got kind of famous aping Macho Man, and now that he's established he's started aping Shawn Michaels and HHH, which is an impressive step backward. And just like that I realize Lethal's horrible punches remind me of Michaels' horrible punches. Lethal should keep doing that superkick, change his name to Shane Lethal, and work a 1997 east coast indies tribute gimmick. The Lethal Injection is an impossibly preposterous finisher for anybody to be using, let alone your figurehead singles champion. Nobody can look natural standing around that long waiting for a handspring. Well, maybe Finlay could. But how upsetting would it be for Finlay to return to pro wrestling only to wrestle Shane Lethal? Awful moveset, misguided match, Corino on commentary is horrible. Bluucch.

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Ring of Honor on Destination America 8/5/15 Review

1. War Machine vs. Young Bucks

Still have not seen a War Machine match I like, seems like they're kinda fake burly asskickers, in the same way Silas Young is a fake asskicker. They look the part, but then I get all excited to see them leveling dudes and it just never really happens. All of their offense makes a lot of noise and crashing mat sounds, but it's just because their big bodies crash into the mat while the contact on the opponent is minimal. The more shocking development is that I definitely like the Young Bucks. They're more entertaining on shows where the crowd is not filled with fans who are "super smart" and cheering all their wink wink heel antics because they're "in on it". I would love to see them run their schtick in the deep south on some no name indy show. THOSE fans will be driven up the walls. Them working heel in Memphis as little John Tatums would be wonderful. We got an injury angle during the middle of this when Nick hit a flip dive and came up limping. So Matt is FIP for awhile (wait I thought they were the working heels in this one....) and eventually AJ Styles replaces him because I guess that's a thing? Rowe throws an okay overhand right but man I'm just wanting meaner offense from these two. Hanson will throw a nice elbow drop, but then more of that offense that sees 95% of his body crashing into the mat while a limb kinda grazes a Buck. Rowe even bodyslams Hanson onto Matt at one point, but pretty much just slams him past him so Hanson's shoulder grazes Matt. It looked like Rowe was just slamming Hanson and Matt happened to get in the way a little bit. Corino is really horrible throughout this. His enthusiasm comes off so phony. Bucks use the superkick in good spots here, especially early in the match where Nick nailed one on the apron before then kicking Hanson in the face. So yeah. Liked the Bucks here, War Machine are losing me, and the match was way too overbooked for what it was. And RDRR Nick's ankle injury was alllllll a ruse. So...the master plan was for Matt to take a 2-on-1 beating for several minutes? Wow, Kewl plan guyz.

2. Cedric Alexander vs. Romantic Touch

I had never seen Romantic Touch before, and once he threw a bad punch I put 2 and 2 together and immediately guessed it was Rhett Titus under a mask. I'm assuming that's common knowledge. Cedric has a bunch of intricate thigh slap offense. Titus shoves a fan and takes Cedric's stupid sitout-powerbomb-on-own-knees nicely. But I could not see Titus again and be happy. And Cedric is one of those dime a dozen chest out/butt out indy workers who all seem to have the exact same offense. I have a pain in my foot right now.

3. Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly

Rachel walked through the room and heard O'Reilly's name and thought it was a play on the band Rilo Kiley. I laughed. I mean, that doesn't make much sense to make a pun out of, but Rhett Titus as a masked guy still wrestling like Rhett Titus doesn't make much sense either so fuck it. Kylo Riley it is.  We get about 3 minutes of Riley holding a limp headlock while the fans jackoff to chants of "Headlock City" (Headlock City: You Might Not Even Notice You're Here!), then Christopher Daniels gets involved, throws a horrible double clothesline, Riley throws some of the worst brawling punches you've seen (unless he was aiming for a spot 6" behind Daniels' head, wherein his aim would be spot on). And this sets up a tag match.

4. The Addiction vs. Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly

Corino keeps calling the Addiction "The World Tag Team Champions of the World" and it doesn't sound like he's doing it to be funny...he just thinks that's what it's supposed to be. This was too short to be much of anything, and had an awkwardly placed commercial break to boot. Adam Cole's brainbuster to his knee is just impossibly stupid. In what world is that more dangerous than just giving a guy a normal brainbuster? This was 4 minutes of technically proficient, mechanically cold and overly rehearsed wrestling. And then Chris Sabin came back at the end which I can't even imagine hardcore ROH fans being very excited about.


Man I am losing some steam on this show. About a month before I started watching I heard from trusted people that this had really turned into a great weekly show, but I think I've enjoyed one? maybe two? episodes since they've been airing on DA. It's some combination of them featuring guys I don't care about, with underperformances from the guys I do like. We'll see, I suppose.

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Ring of Honor on Destination America 6/24/15 Review

1. Roderick Strong vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Well this was...disappointing. I love Nakamura, and Strong has been on a real nice tear the last year +, but this just didn't gel. A couple of Strong's knees looked nice, a couple of Nak's knees look nice. But they did too much of that obnoxious fast slow fast big match indy style, where we're rushing all around, but then suddenly we're both sooooo tirrrrred and we're hit hitting each other with forearms using the lasssst strength in our boddddddies.......but then we're up and running and we're doing moves where we awkwardly drop each other on our own bodies instead of the mat!! I didn't like it. I've seen so much Strong that I've liked lately, and this felt like him wrestling like the Strong I have not liked. Loved Nakamura flying face first and getting turned inside out on Strong's flying kick, but all the moves dropped onto knees looked crummy, the fast slow fast got tiring, and they just didn't click. I still like both guys, it just didn't work for whatever reason.

2. Gedo vs. Michael Elgin

This was short but I liked it plenty. Elgin has maybe too much offense, could probably trim that up a bit, but I liked Gedo peppering him with jabs and trying to avoid big bombs and throws from Elgin. I wish there was some more Gedo offense as it was mostly him sticking and moving and trying to dodge Elgin offense before Elgin just kinda goes on a run to the finish. Elgin hits a brutal back elbow, and his powerbomb into turnbuckles, then seated was nice. The corkscrew senton seems a bit silly for him, not just compared to his power offense but within the context of this match. But his power stuff looks good. I wish I could have got at least one Gedo fistdrop though. It's like Modern English not doing "I Melt With You". I shit you not, Modern English played "I Melt With You" twice in a row when they played my college town. They literally played it, people loved it...and then they immediately played it again, and people flipped out even more. What's that about highspot overkill?

3. Kazuchika Okada & Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Trent Barretta) vs. AJ Styles & The Young Bucks

God, Phil is going to murder me for writing up a fucking Rocky Romero match instead of any number of things he has saved in Drafts. But I actually dug this match....and I think I kind of really like The Young Bucks, which either makes me a complete asshole, a total chucklehead, an ironic contrarian, a contrary Iranian, or a person with poor taste in wrestling. Wrestling is absurd bullshit in most of its forms, and I often don't care for comedy in wrestling, but sometimes there exists some sort of parody that is so on the nose and amusing that it just clicks for me. I'm thinking Chris Hero's weird Chris Divine tribute run in NOAH that no NOAH crowd understood. Bucks seem just a slight tick different than Chuck Taylor brand comedy, and it's all the difference in the world. There's a smug shrug about them, where instead of appealing to the crowd with their bullshit, they just do their bullshit to entertain themselves, because they can. And what's great, is they cut off others' bullshit, to do their own bullshit, which is awesome. Barretta was doing his stupid ass apron spot where he runs around yelling before hitting a disappointing slingshot move (I had blamed Chuck Taylor as a poor influence on him before, but here he did it again with no Chuck in sight, so the blame for shittiness is all on Trent now) and as he goes through his whole "crowd hype" routine, one of the Bucks waits until the very end to superkick him. It would be like letting Scotty get all the way to the end of the Worm before superkicking him out of the way. It's like they read my mind. "Ugggh, gotta wait for Barretta to go through all of his dance steps before hitting this.......thank you. Thank you, Bucks." If you're going to buy into the absurdism that is standing forearm exchanges or rope running, then you may as well buy into a fucking stuff piledriver with a springboard 450 sitout assist. That kind of overkill takes things to a sort of practical performance art, where you look like a clueless asshole for even criticizing it. It's like criticizing the Stooges lyrics or Ratt's song titles or early 80s Italian "Escape From New York" ripoffs. They are exactly as they appear to be, and they don't give one shit. Over the top offense like that is a wonderful thing for a heel tag team to do. It comes off like the cockiest shit in the world when it hits, but the set up is so long that it provides natural opportunities for babyfaces to gain momentum. Their superkicks don't look great, but they're treated essentially as tantamount to slaps, so they don't need to be good. You start thinking of them as more of an insult as opposed to a killshot, and their matches suddenly get even better. Superkicks while Styles is about to hit a Styles Clash? Awesome insult to injury spot. So yeah, whatever the Bucks did in this match worked on me to insane degrees. They hit the right notes which is not what I was expecting.

As for the others, Styles worked well with Okada who looked about as expected. I liked Styles putting in little things like front kicking Okada's arm when he went for the Rainmaker. Romero has been working on his spit takes which are done well, but really feels like something a heel should be doing. Add in a Bucks spit take where one of them spits in the others face? License to print money. Barretta has plenty of bad traits, but then he'll bump like a lunatic (see him getting suplexed into the buckles by Styles) and toss out some offense with surprising impact. My opinions on him switch constantly within a match. I was not really excited for this match at all, but ended up really loving it, even with its flaws. Seemed like they had a goal in mind, and they met the goal. I'm kind of stunned at how much I loved the Bucks. I can see every single argument in the world against them, and I can see myself hating them the next match of theirs I see, but this shit worked.

This was easily the best show they've aired since being on DA. Really smooth hour of wrestling right here.

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New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV Episode 15 Review (feat. more Matt D/Young Bucks feud data)

1. The Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) vs. The Young Bucks (6/21/14)

I really dug this! Bucks worked a super effective heel RnR style and other than my complaint of them  never using the springboard tombstone as a finish, thought this was one of their best performances. They bumped around (especially Matt), their tandem offense looked good, and Matt threw some nice mule kicks, flashier spots (the tornado DDT to Shelley after Matt floated through to the apron was slick). This actually had the best usage of their double tombstone, as it clearly looked like it would have finished the match had Shelley not burst in with a great save. The build to the hot tag was really good, and the heel schtick came off more legit here than it does on the indies, for reasons I can't easily explain. Possibly because they toned down the more cornball antics (which I actually like from them in certain situations) and worked with a slight sinister edge. Crowd was hot, work was good, match was time well spent.

FOUR SAMPLE MATT D YOUNG BUCKS MOOD CHECKER:

We now have four Bucks samples since I....well flat out forgot about this gimmick. Matt still seemed a little bull-headed about the Bucks last we checked in, but maybe there was a hint of retreat. I thought they looked good here and I love the vibe of a heel RnR who work less cute, more dickhead. I'm giving this one easily to the YB.

MATT: 1
BUCKS: 3

2. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano (6/21/14)

I dug this one too! Suzuki and Iizuka are a fun tag team, and seeing Suzuki tangle with Saku was a kick. The end run had Saku going for all sorts of subs and every time it looked like Suzuki was about to tap. The triangle was locked in and the rolling Americana looked great, and they kept getting broken up. Both teams had some nice convincing saves, and I love a great save in a tag match. Loved Yano rolling up Suzuki in a beautiful high cradle, really thought he was pinning Suzuki, so didn't notice Iizuka creeping up to pull the ref. I love Suzuki being the one guy in wrestling who understands running physics, so knows how to actually just stop running when Irish whipped. I love the sequences that followed both those physics spots. Really fun match.

3. Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet (6/21/14)

Awesome little spotfest that would have been viewed as an instant classic on Lucha Underground, but kinda got a bit ignored on this show. We don't get tons of selling, but when the spots are this fun who cares. Tons of neat springboard spots, with Ricochet hitting a snug dropkick and later a massive shooting star. Ric landing on his feet and casually strutting away was one of several holy shit rewind that! moments, one-upping his earlier flip dive over the ringpost that spilled him way into the crowd. Ric's kicks all looked nice and Ibushi's weren't too shabby, all the "missed" stuff looked good, and there was a bunch of really terrific strike blocking. It always looks cool when you chop attach a guy's clothesline or something, and both guys got cool strike blocks here. Ricochet front kicking an Ibushi clothesline, both men tossing out blocks during fast strike exchanges. They all ruled. This was just satisfying as fuck moves based wrestling.

This was a real satisfying episode of NJ TV. Tons of variety, episode went by in a flash.

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New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV Episode 12 Workrate Report

1. Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero vs. The Young Bucks (5/3/14)

We only get about 1/3 of this due to clipping and really that's probably for the best. What's shown is good and amusing, but I'm having a hard time imagining 15 minutes of this. Even in the 5 minutes shown we get Romero and Koslov showing off their comedy chops which was insufferable enough as it was. Still this was plenty entertaining. I really liked the Bucks here as they hit all their marks. NJ crowd seemed into them, all their double team offense was on point, they made Romero's offense look good which is a true talent, etc. Their stuff tombstone still looks devastating and yet is still more of a transition move, but their finisher looked great with Matt doing a Finlay roll to set up a Nick 450, to set up a Matt moonsault. Speaking of comedy chops, Barnett was really ramping up the yuks during this one. Coulda done without that.

Oh and to tally up the Matt D v. Young Bucks count, we'll go ahead and go

MATT D: 1
YOUNG BUCKS: 2

I liked the Bucks here, what can I say.

2. Kota Ibushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (5/3/14)

Well...not really sure what the point of showing this was. They clipped it all to hell, maybe showing 3 minutes of it? But again instead of showing just the "good parts" they showed stuff like opening headlock takeovers and other test of strength type exchanges. If you know that you only have a few minutes to put over a match, do we really need to set the mood by showing us "in case you were wondering, this match started like almost every New Japan match you've ever seen". After some pointless feel out stuff we eventually cut to Taguchi's bad offense (I do a sit out powerbomb and you kinda maybe fall chin first into my knees?!) and eventually Ibushi wins it. Ibushi is a guy I really like, Taguchi showed next to nothing here, and really this show had a really fun Ishii match that isn't getting shown so that instead we can watch 3 minutes of Taguchi and 5 minutes of Rocky Romero. Priorities?

3. Kazuchika Okada vs. AJ Styles (5/3/14)

Okada has a great sit down interview pre match, going over how he was caught off guard by Styles, saying he really wasn't *that* great in the U.S., and was in his decline. Then put over the Styles Clash by saying that he had taken it from Tanahashi before and thought it was no big deal, but taking it from Styles was a whole other level because Styles "must adjust his weight differently". That's so damn awesome.

And the match itself works about like I thought it would, with enough good stuff to make it enjoyable. Still it was structured like a lot of Okada matches, with his opponent doing lots of stuff with the sense of "Okada's going to take a bunch of offense and then at some point just start going for Rainmaker lariats". And that most definitely happened. And we also had tons of limp dick Bullet Club interference. Boy is that lame. Interference is one thing, but Bullet Club's interference rarely even looks good. Okada gets dumped to the floor and we get just bad stomps from Anderson. That's the brutal interference? Stomps that don't make contact? I'm sure plenty of NJPW purists were tickled at Yujiro interference leading directly to an IWGP title change. The end of match interference was handled embarrassingly as well, with Anderson just grabbing and holding Red Shoes so he couldn't see the interference, and then the run ins. Just lazy and it came off really poor. Styles looked really good throughout, my favorite spot being a nasty springboard loaded up punch. Styles worked great opposite Okada and really knew how to feed into everything; reversals from Okada's signature stuff all came off natural and logical, especially uncoiling from the Rainmaker to hit the Pele kick. But damn all the Bullet Club stuff just comes off so forced, really took what could have fun a fun match into "whatever" territory.

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Matt D: Obstinate? Resistant? Awful Human Being?

So the other day we began to analyze Matt's credibility, through the eyes of his complete and total disinterest in The Young Bucks. Now so far for Segunda Caida Matt has exclusively reviewed lucha libre, so his desire to never see a Young Bucks match shouldn't totally conflict with his credibility as it relates to him discussing Marco Corleone, and using his abs to pretend you're dialing a touchtone telephone. But Matt *did* use their name and *did* express his thoughts on them within wrestling, so it is only fair that his opinions be called into question, as he was the one who offered them.


T

This match happened very recently, as in the last couple weeks. I really loved the beginning as the Dudleys circle the ring so the Bucks decide to do dives to start things off. We get some ringside brawling before rolling back in, and then the Bucks decide to have a competition to see who could throw the worst corner clothesline. They each do several, and every one of them looks atrocious. Nick's were worst, so he wins the competition. Congrats? Match itself was very disappointing. Nick Jackson especially looked bad (although I loved his full impact swanton at one point). I loved their superkick use in the Hardys rematch, always using it to immediately cut off momentum. Here it's used as almost a comedy spot (which I get the impression it normally is), as a prop for the Dudleys to no sell, and it's bizarre to me why a worker would go out of his way to make himself seem ineffective. Perhaps it's a huge testament to the Hardy Boys making the Bucks look so effective. It's not like they necessarily looked INeffective here, but it looked like they had no idea how to integrate their offense into a match, whereas in the Hardys match they clearly knew how to. Was this due to the Hardys expert match layout skills? Here again they do their great double team stuff tombstone, but again it's treated as a move to be kicked out of. It's the nastiest thing they do, but here's two matches where the person who took it is up and doing offense immediately after. If the move was played as a killshot I'm sure nobody would complain as it looks great. For whatever reason they seem to use it as a transition to opponent comeback. I did really love the finish, as 3D went into full "get the tables" mode, got tunnel vision and had to put the Bucks through a table, and when Bubba brought in a table the Bucks double super kicked it, pinning him underneath. Smart, logical finish that worked with the 3D match structure that's been established for years. Now, almost everything I liked about the Bucks in that Hardys match was gone here. There they were like a dickhead Rock n Roll Express, here they were too concerned with taking flip bumps on clotheslines and tossing out superkicks for yuks.

TWO SAMPLE MATT D CREDIBILITY:

After a sample size of TWO recent Young Bucks match, Matt still seems rather obstinate, but it also appears that his intuition may have given him good cause to be obstinate. We're going to need further research.

MATT: 1
BUCKS: 1

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Matt D: Credible? Untrustworthy? Person With Opinions?

It has recently been brought to our attention on the very electronic pages of this blog, that the credibility of regular contributor Matt D has gone down the "fucking drain". Matt is most certainly a person with opinions. Hopefully, all of us here are do, or else we'd just be soulless recappers. Some people trust our opinions, or at minimum enjoy the way we convey those opinions. But how credible is Matt?

Taken in a completely context free vacuum, Matt stated "I have no desire to see a Young Bucks match ever." That seems unduly harsh. But what is "desire"? Webster's defines it as "a strong feeling of wanting to have something". That's huge. There are few things in life that I feel a strong feeling of want for. I would say 80% of the things I review for this very page are things that I don't have a strong feeling of want for. How many things in life could I really "desire". There are many matches that I do not desire watching that I end up enjoying after watching them. I usually had interest in seeing them, but not necessarily "desire".





This match was a rematch from 10/18/14, and I really dug it. NEW can draw some pretty impressive indy crowds, and the Hardys were way over. Bucks worked like a heel Rock n Roll Express which really worked for me. I thought it was going to be a real challenge for them to come off as credible heels since the Hardys are so much larger than each of them. They're decent at stooging as both of them bump well, but the real fun starts when they take control. Matt Hardy is still a good salesman and the Bucks work him over in convincing ways. Young Bucks are a team with well known superkick humor, but here I loved how the superkicks were used. They were always used as a momentum stopper, a transition back to control. Matt would start to get a leg up, forget about the other Jackson, and turn around into a superkick. Jeff would come in for the save, lambaste one of the Bucks, turn around into a superkick. They weren't used in a cute way, they weren't used as a finish, they were used to slap down opposition, and often to put a coda on that particular section of the match. I liked all their dickish stomps and how they were able to portray hanging on by the skin of their tassels while also looking in control. Jeff gets taken out by a chair and emerges as Willow to make the save before a superkick starts more heat on Matt. Only complaint about the match is the finish didn't build and just ended up involving the Hardys taking Bucks' finishers and then just doing their own. Matt takes an absolutely brutal springboard stuff tombstone from the Bucks, really getting planted. Then the Bucks awesomely, dickishly do a Twist of Fate/Swanton combo to finish it, but Jeff saves. Then Matt just gets up, does a ToF and Jeff hits the Swanton for the win. Real lazy. So Matt basically took two big moves, was saved from the pinfall loss, but then just stands up and goes into finish mode. You wouldn't even have to modify the finish much to make it good, so that ended it sour. Overall though? Hot little match, excellent tag formula wrestling.

ONE SAMPLE MATT D CREDIBILITY:

After sample size of ONE recent Young Bucks match, Matt's credibility is not necessarily circling the fucking drain, but he does seem obstinate and resistant. I think a larger sample is due.

MATT: 0
BUCKS: 1

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