2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Gallus vs. Burch/Lorcan

54. Wolfgang/Mark Coffey vs. Danny Burch/Oney Lorcan NXT UK 1/18 (Aired 2/13/20) (Ep. #79)

ER: It's been fun going through all of NXT UK, and I'm not at the point where I'm starting to see the very first matches I saw of them. NXT UK bringing in Lorcan, Ohno, Kendrick, etc. was what originally got me to watch, and this match was my first time seeing Coffey and Wolfgang, who have turned into two of my five favorite NXT UK wrestlers. I watched this a couple years ago, and I loved it even more two years later. 78 episodes have already shown Wolfgang to be easily one of the best in the fed, but this match might be his greatest showcase yet. It's also a real fine showcase for Danny Burch, meaning his two greatest WWE performances just might have been this tag match and an NXT UK tag match vs. The Hunt shown two weeks prior but taped just the day before this tag. I'm not sure what Danny Burch was on that weekend in January, but I'm here for it. 

This was a hot 10 minutes that peaked with a heat section on Lorcan that built to a fiery Burch hot tag, but the whole thing had a nice back and forth energy. The Gallus takeover was so well done, executed in a way I haven't seen: Lorcan was going off battering Coffey and Wolfgang, running attacks on them in opposite corners, until Coffey grabs Lorcan with a rear waistlock after getting nailed, pulls Lorcan backwards into the corner, allowing Wolfgang to come flying across the ring with a high crossbody into Lorcan's upper chest. Wolfgang is great at using his body as a weapon, as he flies out of the ring hitting that crossbody and comes roaring back in with a divebomb elbowdrop to a sitting up Lorcan, and later dives into a seated Lorcan with a senton. 

Wolfgang is great at creating space, a great guy to work with Lorcan. I loved how it looked when Lorcan leapt for a tag and Wolfgang caught him over his shoulder to drag him back over to the Gallus corner. The visual was a nice preview of Wolfgang scooping Burch over his shoulder for the match ending powerslam later on. When Burch does tag in it's awesome, knocking Wolfgang off the apron (with a nasty bump to the floor by Wolfie), muscling Coffey over with a German and holding onto the waistlock, then pulling Coffey into a headbutt. There were some real fine pinfall saves by both teams, those fun pinfall dogpiles that get one guy shoved painfully on top of a pin, and I'm kind of a sucker for when the camera shows the pinfall and leaves an obstructed view of the man about to break up that pin. Wolfgang takes Lorcan out of the match with a wild spear through the ropes and too the floor and gets back in to scoop Burch into that powerslam. A week before this match Wolfgang/Coffey worked one match in the NXT Dusty Tag Classic, and then this match against the future NXT tag champs. This was a killer glimpse at what it would have been like to see Gallus working with other WWE and NXT teams instead of being kept in the UK bubble, and it's a shame we never saw more of it. 

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Danny Burch! Oney Lorcan! Ridge Holland! Tyson T-Bone! The Hunt!

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. The Hunt (Wild Boar/Primate) NXT UK 1/17 (Aired 1/30/20) (Ep. #77)

ER: This tag was another one of my introductions to NXT UK. I had never seen Wild Boar before this, and had not in fact ever even heard of him. Wild Boar has been a consistent highlight 77 episodes later and it was because the brand had the good taste to use guys like Oney Lorcan that I even saw him. The match was a cool Danny Burch showcase, one of his greatest performances I've seen. He was a real rugby thug asshole in this, working with disdain against The Hunt, grinding Wild Boar's ears on headlocks and softening up his face with vicious palm strikes that I hardly ever see him use. Muga Burch is something we need to see more often. Wild Boar really threw himself headlong into his own and everyone's offense, hitting hard and getting hit harder. His crash and burns were the best, including a sick missed splash to the floor that kept him away from the finish. Primate made the most out of his hot tag and threw some of several suplexes down the finishing stretch, and really runs over Lorcan with a big lariat. Just like Wild Boar's biggest miss was greater than his greatest hit, Primate also took a great bump into the ringpost. Lorcan nails Primate with a big uppercut and Burch headbutts Boar into next week with a headbutt after Boar had just flattened Lorcan with one of his best ever cannonballs. It was a really great match that felt intense the entire time, and felt bigger than its relatively short 7 minutes. Great, great tag. 

Ridge Holland vs. Tyson T-Bone NXT UK 1/17 (Aired 1/30/20) (Ep. #77)

ER: This is only 3 minutes, but it's two guys who like to fight, fighting for 3 minutes. That's always going to be entertaining, even if I wish they had twice as much time. There's a big boy lock up, heavy knees thrown to the midsection, and real forearm shivers across the length of the jaw. Holland controlled things for a bit, and he's got plenty of ways to muscle around a tough dude like T-Bone. He worked T-Bone over with crossfaces and knees, ran him over with a lariat, and tossed him with a cool belly to belly. They worked back and forth but in a way that wasn't 50-50, just two guys going all out, destined to crash into an early finish. And, once Holland grabbing T-Bone by the ears and throwing headbutts into Tyson's T-Zone I knew the end was nigh. Just a couple of guys hitting and throwing each other around for three minutes, which is what those with good taste call Pro Wrestling.  

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK

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2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Lorcan vs. O'Reilly

22. Oney Lorcan vs. Kyle O'Reilly NXT 5/11

ER: It's still kind of weird to me that these kind of fights are on WWE TV, two smaller guys scrapping and trying to cauliflower ears with headlocks and headscissors before graduating to wearing each other out with stiff kicks and finishing definitively with a brutal brainbuster. It's a cool match to see anywhere but still weird to see here. This is Oney Lorcan's kind of match, and I will always look forward to seeing him grind his arm over O'Reilly's ear before elbowing him in the throat. I love how these two attack each other, throwing a lot of strikes but never feeling like either guy knows when the other was going to throw. There were a couple cool off balance kicks and Lorcan really made O'Reilly's kicks look damaging. Lorcan was great at working differently throughout the match, working as a guy losing energy and conserving himself for big explosions while weathering strikes. O'Reilly hit him with a quick strike combo that ended with a mean legsweep, and Lorcan looked like a tired guy who couldn't defend himself properly and not a guy just waiting for all the steps of a combo. There's cool stuff like Lorcan catching a kick and throwing a downward elbow into O'Reilly's knee, and I liked how when O'Reilly went into his strong finishing run he really went for it. Lorcan is the perfect guy to have in with you when you need your finishing stretch to pop, and O'Reilly was throwing hard knees, suplexes, and a brainbuster that would have made Kawada turn away. The kneedrop off the top is so cool as a mic drop finish after laying someone out with a brainbuster. I don't think anyone does a top rope kneedrop anymore and I honestly don't think anyone has done one since Bobby Eaton or Rick Rude. It's an insanely hard move to pull off and it looks awesome. 

PAS: NXT is dead now, and this was a nice example of what they did at their best. O'Reilly is a guy who went from skippable to can't miss during his NXT run and this was a vicious little fight which he does great. Lorcan is constantly moving forward and throwing big shots and O'Reilly is a very good counter wrestler. He provided a bunch of the fancy stuff, while Lorcan mostly provided the force and intensity. I thought O'Reilly's strike combos were really cool, and that leg sweep was killer. I second how great the finish was. I think if this is on the indies Lorcan kicks out and they do three more things, and I like how this was a precise and meaningful finishing blow.

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Lorcan vs. Kushida

19. Oney Lorcan vs. Kushida WWE NXT 4/20

ER: This was Kushida's first title defense after winning it at the Mania TakeOver, and he throws out the open challenge. I wasn't expecting Oney Lorcan to be the guy who answered the challenge, but Lorcan just might be the best challenge answerer in NXT. Lorcan has been maybe more underutilized this year than any year he's been in WWE. His role is technically more high profile - he and Burch have been the NXT tag champs for 6 months at this point - and he's been wrestling less than ever. Since the tag title win this is just his 9th match, showing up on TV every 3-4 weeks to remind everyone how much he kicks ass. This is one of those matches that sets itself apart in minute one, almost immediately feeling different than any other Kushida match I've seen. Kushida in trunks and ankle tape suddenly makes him move and wrestle like a year 2000 BattlArts undercarder, and my god is that a good thing. The mat scrambling with he and Lorcan was great, Lorcan trying to smother while Kushida scrambles, both locking in really snug headscissors and both working cool Indian deathlock escapes, some hard kicks, real spirited stuff. 

Lorcan goes up top and takes a mean spill when Kushida kicks him off to the floor. The editors do that thing I hate where we go to commercial with Lorcan bumping to the floor, then come back to see him working like a standing bow and arrow, minimal idea how he got back into control. But the work is so strong that it really doesn't matter, with Kushida targeting Lorcan's arm in cool ways (dropping elbows on it, posting it on the ropes and leaping off onto it) while Lorcan just works body punishment. Lorcan throws some chops in this match that made me exclaim aloud, alone. I swear they're the hardest chops I've heard in pro wrestling this year. Kushida breaks out of an abdominal stretch by going after Lorcan's arm again, and the more Kushida goes after his left arm, the harder Lorcan hits with his right. Loved his corner clothesline and the blockbuster was timed perfectly. Lorcan was great at selling Kushida's punches, great at staggering into the ropes, and I loved how Kushida dropkicked him right in the ear after his hiptoss. Great finish, with Lorcan getting his arm kicked out while on all fours (great sell where his arm looks like it's flopping around at the elbow) and Kushida locks in the nastiest hoverboard lock I've seen from him to get the tap. This match was the tightest I've seen Kushida look during his WWE run, and it's no shock that Lorcan is the guy to push him. Awesome match. 

PAS: Lorcan in a high profile singles match is always going to be worth watching, and Kushida bothered me less here than he normally does. I liked his punches, had nice thud for something clearly worked, and I dug all of his flying arm attacks. I really could have done without all of his cartwheels, but thankfully when it got down to brass tacks he mostly shelved that stuff. Lorcan is a punisher, as always. Those chops had real force behind them, more Tenryu than Flair, and I always love him as a pace pusher and he does that here. I hate the momentum shift during the commercial, but the finish was great, and this was a real treat. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Three Months, Three Oney Lorcan Matches

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Joaquin Wilde/Raul Mendoza 205 Live 9/11/20

ER: This has been part of an ongoing 205 Live feud that includes Ever-Rise, and it's something I always enjoy seeing. I think they should start mixing up the feuds with singles matches, but for a promotion that's been traditionally more about tags than singles they've been rerunning tags a lot more. Wilde is someone who I like a lot more in tags than singles, and think he's really come into new strengths within the short span of Legado del Fantasma. I dug his headlock/headscissors takedown exchanges with Lorcan to start, with Lorcan working the kind of engaging holds that he works best and Wilde tossing in some nice color with a hand stomp and a dropkick. Lorcan gets his arm worked over by LdF, takes a cravat from Mendoza, and I like how sometimes these combos of teams work actual long heat segments, and then this time they'll keep them quicker. Lorcan getting worked over isn't the match, he gets to Burch fairly quickly and then Burch runs wild on Mendoza for awhile. There's enough mileage to these pairings to run them back the next week only work the match around Burch taking heat.

But Burch and Lorcan working over Mendoza is fun for this one, with them hitting a double suplex, Oney grinding in a facelock, Burch throwing big uppercuts, and Mendoza eventually coming back to hit a nice enziguiri and springboard crossbody. They're a fun group to keep going back and forth on each other, and it's a neat way to change out 2 on 1 pairings. LdF hit a double spinebuster and sandwich Burch with a basement dropkick, and there's good energy kept in the match at all times. It all builds to the most energy, and everyone knows that means an Oney Lorcan hot tag. Oney hits one of his big clotheslines that take him and Mendoza to the floor, comes back in with chops, big uppercuts, and a hard blockbuster to Wilde. Ever-Rise come out to interfere, and AGAIN I hope and hope and hope this leads to something more interested than a 3 way tag match. Those always blow, and it would be far more interesting to bring another team into the mix and work that way. Or, force Ever-Rise to work face with Lorcan/Burch and find a 4th member for Legado del Fantasma. I want that. Add Brian Kendrick into this feud as a total wildcard gun for hire. They're keeping it fresh, but 205 Live has been bad at feud blowoffs. So far so good.

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Tyler Breeze/Fandango NXT 10/21/20

ER: Well I've been saying for several years that I have just been waiting for them to actually give some kind of big win to Oney Lorcan, and now they've finally done it. Was it perfect? No. Did they only win because of interference from the returning Cole Carrier Pat McAfee? Almost certainly yes. The match was a little disjointed and the in ring story was all over the place, but within story perhaps that makes sense as neither of these teams expected to be facing each other. Lorcan worked some cool headlock takeovers and I dig the slow burn start, but we get one of those annoying commercial breaks where you get the sense something interesting may have happened while we weren't watching. We went to break with Breeze starting to work over Burch's knee and wrap it around the ringpost, and when we come back Lorcan and Burch are working over Fandango. That has to be one of my biggest pet peeves in wrestling TV: leaving with one man in control and coming back to the exact opposite. Fandango matches up nicely with Lorcan and Burch, throws some heavy clotheslines, hits a nice guillotine legdrop (less style and grace than others, but a nice heavy landing) and we build to a moment where Oney gets stopped during a dive attempt, crashing to the apron and floor. Lorcan and Burch tried working Breeze over with a crossface/half crab combo and we get a couple pinfall saves (though even one of those seems overly planned, the fashionable kind of pin break where you tackle your opponent into the pin and everybody dogpiles). McAfee (under a Doom mask) shoves Fandango off the top and Burch lowblows Breeze behind the ref's back, then they hit the elevated DDT to win the tag belts. Obviously we'll find out more and see where their apparent heel turn is going, but I don't think they needed the lowblow in addition to interference. Let's at least make it look like they could have maybe beaten Breezango of all teams. A Burch headbutt or a leveling Oney uppercut would have been an excellent way to set up the DDT win, and would have had them KOing the champ with one of their own signature strikes, not a shot to the balls. Was this role originally going to have been filled by Ridge Holland? I don't know, but I'm happy for the new champs. I wish they could have won the belts in a bigger match on their own terms, but I've also thought they've been the clear best men's tag team in WWE for some time now and deserved these belts. 

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Drake Maverick/Killian Dain NXT 12/23/20

ER: I liked the dynamics of this street fight, the fun size difference of Dain and Drake playing out in fun ways. It had that WWF street fight problem of the action slowing down for some spot set up, meaning the match was built into a series of crash landings instead of those spots being worked a little more organically into the match. Also, they weirdly decided to settle the match down into traditional tag rules, which at least kept things from completely devolving into a series of prop set ups. Things were at their strongest when Lorcan and Burch were isolating Maverick, as Dain would come in as wrecking ball, and someone like Lorcan is great at getting wrecked. There was a sick spot where Lorcan took a backdrop kidneys first over a couple set up chairs. The Dain/Maverick drop toehold senton combo is nice, and Lorcan's wild blockbuster on the floor felt extra crazy considering that bump he had just taken across the chairs. Dain gets to crash through and off of tables and bodies, sticking up for his little buddy, hitting avalanches and a big powerbomb, getting knocked off the apron that bounces him off a table instead of through, which leads to a great final Maverick blowout. Maverick comes in with low blows, takes off his belt and whips the hell out of the champs, including a belt shot literally across Lorcan's face. WWF are idiots because they don't have enough awesome belt whipping in their No DQ matches, instead opting for played out cane shots. Maverick's belt shots were really great, and I love how Lorcan responded to that belt to the face by paying back the low blow, before the champs absolutely stuff Drake with the elevated DDT. Cool stuff. 

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NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2020 Live Blog

I don't think we've gotten a good WarGames match from NXT...yet. That said, I think this looks like a really good card on paper, and I'm excited for both WarGames matches, really like how both teams match up. 

Toni Storm/Dakota Kai/Raquel Gonzalez/Candice LeRae vs. Ember Moon/Rhea Ripley/Io Shirai/Shotzi Blackheart

ER: Shotzi comes out in her new deluxe tank, with TCB on the front (I assume that means Tankin' Care of Business?). I like Dakota Kai to start the match, but I don't think Ember Moon was a great choice. Ember Moon is someone who always does a disservice to her own offense, because she chains it in a way that you see her opponents brushing things off quickly just to take something else. She has a very good low superkick to a kneeling opponent, but it's always done just to set up something else, even when it looks better than a lot of her other offense. I don't think her chaining things through the first 5 is a good thing, but I liked Kai a lot. Some of her offense isn't as plausible, but she uses her thrust kick wisely and it always looks good. 

And somehow they make the rookie mistake of letting the babyfaces add a man first. WHY would you voluntarily set up Dakota Kai as de facto babyface? It's the easiest mistake to avoid under the specific booking parameters of a WarGames!! Commentary keeps trying to think of things to say, and every single thing just makes it sound like Kai is a valiant babyface. "This is the hardest 3 minutes of Dakota Kai's life" or "you remember Kai was out of action with a knee injury", just everything they said about her pointed out how hard she was fighting through this genuine disadvantage. I don't know how you lay this match out and decide to make Dakota Kai the top babyface, but this is what they did, and Kai is putting in the best babyface performance of the match. She gets powerbombed down the cage by Moon, who then hits a sick crossbody into her. But Kai fights back, and soon she's down two to one, but she jumps on Shotzi's back and tries to fight off the unfair double team, gets dropped with a great Doomsday Device missile dropkick, but somehow fights back from that! Later she gets beat up by Rhea Ripley the second she entered the cage, eating a ton of short arm clotheslines as the commentary continues to struggle with the undeniable fact that Kai is the babyface here. Shotzi was so incredible in the build up to this match, and she is the most afterthought person in the entire match. This makes no sense!!

They are also working this WarGames the least interesting way: Pretending the cage is not there. The knock on a lot of these NXT WarGames is that they are normal matches that happened to be surrounded by a big cage. This is that. Kai takes a nasty spill into the cage 2 minutes in, and the rest of the match is as if the cage is only there to obstruct our view. And since you can't bleed, it means the match becomes an exercise in Singapore cane shots, which is not as interesting to me as someone getting their face smashed into chain link. Ripley eventually takes a bump into the cage 20 minutes later, and Io Shirai does a Great Sasuke tribute by flying off the cage into everyone while entirely in a trash can. Raquel Gonzalez makes a great catch in the middle of it all, really absorbing all of a tiny person wearing a trash can. Kai even gets walking tall moments down the stretch!! It's amazing! She hits a killer double stomp off the top, flatting Shirai under that trash can, then triumphantly beats down Ember Moon and stands tall with a chair. Things do finally get good and heated after, with Moon hitting a pretty disgusting Eclipse, with Kai whipping her neck across the back of a chair. I didn't think Moon was doing that move anymore (don't think I've seen it since she came back), and it's cool when someone breaks out something big like that in a big match, and I like that Moon crashing through a chair taking Kai out of the match also took her out of the match. LeRae kicks a trash can lid into Ripley's face, Shotzi sentons LeRae off a ladder, Shirai eats a Gonzalez powerbomb through a ladder, tons of great stuff down the stretch. But I gotta say I'm pretty stunned how marginalized Shotzi was in this match, for a match that really felt like it was announced and built as HER match. I don't know if anybody would have picked Gonzalez pinning Shirai for the finish of this, but most of this was brutally backwards. 

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher

ER: I've really been digging Thatcher bullying guys on NXT, but I like when we get big match Thatcher. I think a lot of this was really good, and I bought into a lot of the attacks from both. Thatcher really looked like he was choking the life out of Thatcher (Ciampa's head veins are a gift when it comes to selling a sleeper), and Ciampa's bully choke down the stretch with Ciampa attacking Thatcher's freshly bloodied ear was great. Rhea Ripley got an earring ripped out of her ear against Io Shirai, then competed in a WarGames without a drop of blood, and then immediately following WarGames Thatcher gets his ear ripped open somehow. Ciampa's back neck is a compelling match story for me, and Thatcher is a guy who can do painful looking things to a neck. So I bought into Ciampa's neck selling and also loved when Thatcher would whip his head back with uppercuts. I do think the match went way too long and really didn't need to be worked as an epic, didn't need stuff like Thatcher bumping for 6-8 straight clotheslines (things like that felt transported from a different match), and I think Thatcher should have won here. I don't want them to fall into the temptation of turning Thatcher into a shoot guy who only picks on guys that can't defend themselves but never uses those skills to beat better guys. 

Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes

ER: Trevor Lee was someone who always wanted to work long matches and big title defenses in CWF Mid-Atlantic, and he seems like a guy who would get into trying to have interesting matches within somewhat limited match gimmicks. So far his performances in a cinematic match and blindfold match have been appropriately stoogey but perhaps too silly. And he brings strong stooging to this strap match, but just like the WarGames match earlier in the evening, it is a gimmick match that keeps pretending like the gimmick isn't there. Long stretches of the match are spent without them tied to a strap, and I was actually interested in how they were going to work in turnbuckle touching until realizing that of course it would just be a normal pinfall match. The best parts of this are Grimes taking a hard beating around the ring. He did a really good job at getting dragged and flung by the strap, including two painful bumps into the protective hockey arena siding, got pulled nicely into an uppercut, did a great job of falling while being yanked. My favorite bit of Grimes offense was when he just punched Lumis in the eye, and Lumis sold it like a guy who just got punched in the eye. They worked a few good spots around getting tangled up in a strap, and I loved when Lumis wrapped Grimeses' ankles and yoinked the strap, sending Crimes crashing head first into a chair. The finish submission looked good, like Grimes getting hogtied into a choke, overall liked what Grimes tried to do with the gimmick. 

Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Leon Ruff

ER: I really liked the two quick Ruff/Gargano matches I've seen (I'm a couple weeks behind on NXT TV, not sure what happened right before this show), and would have preferred seeing a PPV level Gargano/Ruff singles. I am also a guy who isn't a big Priest fan. However, having one much larger guy in there could make for a fun dynamic. The story of Priest not wanting to bother with Ruff because he only cared about taking his pound of flesh from Gargano was strong, even though Gargano's work with Priest is nowhere near as well done as Gargano's work with Ruff. All the Gargano/Ruff portions were good, but the Gargano/Priest stuff had awkward timing on several spots (including stuff like Gargano having to redo a tornado DDT spot, and a silly missed ear clap from Gargano after Johnny ducked early). Ruff eats a big razor's edge through one of the safety shields, and I really wish I could hear a real crowd during his eventual comeback. I think he would really be connecting with fans and I think the Gargano angle would play great in front of real crowds. I really wanted that Leon Ruff/Mikey Whipwreck story to keep going. Ruff keeping the title is could have given him a little more legitimacy, leaves you with a Gargano/Priest #1 contender match while moving Ruff onto someone else for a bit, and instead they just have Gargano win the title back. Ruff's involvement still felt like the best thing about this to me, and right up to that spike DDT that ended him he made everything look good. This was better than I was expecting as they dealt well with getting the third man out of there, but I also didn't love a lot of the Priest/Gargano stuff. The Scream mask guys were the absolute pits and killed any chance at the match being actually good, and I can't get excited in any way for an Austin Theory higher power situation. Nobody wants that. 

Undisputed Era (Roderick Strong/Kyle O'Reilly/Bobby Fish/Adam Cole) vs. Pat McAfee/Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch/Pete Dunne

ER: Pete Dunne moves to Florida and within a couple months he's already getting that Crossfit body. He also might have jaundice? But I liked the opening with O'Reilly and Dunne, thought their mathwork had several fun scrambles, and had nasty things like Dunne kneeling on O'Reilly's arm while attacking the body. This WarGames is already so much better laid out than the women's match, with McAfee doing an awesome job being the guy acting like he wants in that cage, and Lorcan being an excellent choice to help Dunne dismantle O'Reilly. Lorcan dropping KOR with a half nelson suplex before Dunne runs in and kicks KOR's arm out from under him is a great asshole move, and seeing Dunne and Lorcan work as real assholes is great. Lorcan is also great at eating offense, so when Bobby Fish runs in Lorcan is expert at taking the UE double teams (I especially liked him getting pump kicked into a suplex). Weapons in WarGames is pretty stupid and unnecessary (you are in a cage you should act like you're in a cage and use it) but the cricket bat is a more interesting weapon that other played out stuff we've seen. Burch smacking O'Reilly in the bad arm with a cricket bat at least gives off a good sound. But we also get way too much table set up. I do not need all of these tables set up!m You have a whole cage, use the cage! WarGames matches do not need long spot set-ups.

Pat McAfee is a real genuine standout, a personality so strong that it only highlights the personality flaws in every other person in the match. It's incredible how much he gets about what he's supposed to be doing in there, and having him hit a moonsault through a table is the best kind of icing on that cake. The home stretch of the match had good energy, but also a lot of misspent energy? All of Adam Cole's offense runs looked bad, and the best use of Cole was when McAfee clipped his knee. Also, Wade Barrett refers to Pat McAfee as "one of the dirtiest players in NFL history" and...I guess I would really need to see footage of a punter who is also a dirty player. That sounds like a hysterical character (that Pat McAfee assuredly was not). I HATE the Undisputed Era "fight between the two cages" trope in these WarGames match. How does a team with guys I like keep doing things that I dislike? And this thing just goes WAYYYYYY too long. Way too many comebacks, way too many "peak" moments to build to, soooo much fat that could have been trimmed. It just felt like they kept building to the same big moment over and over again, like we were trapped in a loop and nobody knew how to actually finish the match. They build to McAfee and Cole alone, everyone else laid out, several times, and it never finishes anything. Every big move would just get a kick out, and then everyone would lie around for awhile before doing it all over again. McAfee completely knocks the wind out of himself when nobody decides to catch him on his bonkers cage swanton, Lorcan and Burch pull off a sick Doomsday Device, McAfee kicks out of Adam Cole's bunny hop flipping piledriver, everyone in the match lies in one part of the ring while Dunne and O'Reilly fight and also refuse to get pinned. This whole thing was 20 minutes too long and they kept building to things they had already built to. I like both of these teams, and like both of them against each other. But this was TOO MUCH of them against each other. I was totally burned out by the home stretch of this match, because it felt like we got too much wasted time and it felt like they were needlessly filling time. No main event should feel like it's just filling time. Still, Pat McAfee is a star. 

This was a disappointing show. But, up until the part of the main that started taking too long, I was still really enjoying this show. It was an underwhelming yet entertaining show, until it felt like I was trapped in an endless series of big encounter kickouts. There were plenty of strong individual performances, in fact every match at minimum had one real standout performance. So we end up with a show that underdelivered on quality, while also having no true bad matches and thus having an entertaining floor. You can't really call that a win, but it's not a terrible loss. 

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2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Lorcan vs. Thatcher Rematch

Oney Lorcan vs. Timothy Thatcher NXT 7/15 (Aired 7/22)

ER: These two had a hot 10 minute match just three weeks ago, and we get to see them run it back and work things totally different. This was all about Lorcan surprising Thatcher on the ground, getting convincing single legs and working over his shoulder in the second half of the match. Thatcher was more powerful standing, winning grappling exchanges and landing an awesome belly to belly, so Lorcan starts throwing uppercuts. I like the mid match plot point of Thatcher getting his shoulder run right into the post, love how it made Lorcan smell blood the rest of the match and becomes fixated on going after that arm. Oney works like a real bulldog, constantly bending Thatcher's arm at the shoulder and looking over and over for wrist control. Lorcan throws heavy chops (including one to Thatcher's shoulder), hits a big uppercut off the middle rope, paying Thatcher back with a half nelson suplex, and has by favorite sequence of the match: Snagging a nasty half crab, bending back on it, but using it as a distraction so that he can drop down into a Fujiwara armbar, and I thought things were actually over for Thatcher. But we get a nasty way to break the armbar when Thatcher fishhooks Lorcan to break, meaning this match has the most fishhooking seen in a WWE match. Thatcher has been real good at showing how he is going to win by literal hook or by crook, and the dickhead finish was awesome, Thatcher getting a desperation cover while Lorcan is working that Americana, discreetly holding the tights. I think we might just have to work this as a best of 7, to make sure we get a definitive winner of this feud. It's only fair.

PAS: It is pretty cool that the pandemic means we get to see these guys work small show grappling matches again. Thatcher's selling is always a bit major key, but I think it works in the context of this match, and Lorcan's frenzy always works well as a contrast to Thatcher's more subdued stuff. I thought all of the shoulder work by Lorcan was great, including chopping the joint and the nasty Americana, and I dug the hell out of the finish. They seemed to have put this feud on the back burner, but I have no idea how pinning someone while you are in a submission doesn't lead to a Submissions match. WWE has so much TV time these days, run it back.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lorcan & Burch vs. Ever-Rise: The COVID Clash Continues!

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker/Matt Martel) 205 Live 8/28/20

ER: This is a pairing that we've gotten several looks at over the past year, and it's a match I always look forward to. They've had tags, there's a good Lorcan/Parker singles, there's a good trios, it's a fun pairing. This falls apart for no reason down the final minute or so, plagued with weird timing, and that kind of dampens what had been a typically engaging tag. Things were going well until the flat finish, and we were getting a couple extra beats that we haven't gotten in their prior tags. It was going longer, and the format was expanding. We get a babyface start, then a nice simple heel control segment from Ever-Rise. I'm a fan of Ever-Rise, love the throwback nature of their style and the improbability that they would be a pair hired as a tag team in 2020 WWE. They feel like a C show WCW 90s tag team, if instead of Disorderly Conduct there had a heel Fantastics. They gloat just a little too much on armdrags, Martel makes wild eyed grimacing faces that would kill at an Orlando tourist taping, Martel drops a nice elbow, nice journeyman heel control. Their few double teams are good, with the best being Parker vaulting off Martel's back with a big elbowdrop, but their samoan drop blockbuster is a good nearfall.

Lorcan's hot tag was obviously good. He threw chops that sounded twice as loud as any other strike in the match, knocked into Martel with a horizontal uppercut, then hits a top rope cannonball to take out Parker. In prior matches I could have seen Parker not kicking out of the cannonball. Late in the match Martel holds Lorcan's feet on a apron to ring suplex, allowing Parker to shift his weight for a pin - tell me that finish doesn't sound straight out of WCW TV - but the ref notices Martel holding the legs. Those are the welcome beats we get added to their formula, but the finish falls apart a bit. Burch is gone from the match an exceptional amount of time, and it starts to feel weird, and things suddenly feel super inorganic and all the timing felt a bit derailed. They're doing some kind of weird conspiracy theory angle where Ever-Rise blame the refs for their losing, and it takes everyone unnecessarily out of their comfort zones at the finish. Disorderly Conduct didn't need reasons to lose, they just got beat. Except that one time they beat the Armstrongs. Don't blame the refs Ever-Rise. Just look for your Armstrongs.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise 205 Live 9/4/20

ER: This is more of an Ever-Rise controlled match with the Burch/Lorcan roles reversed. Ever-Rise are more aggressive and work over Lorcan, leading to the fired up Burch hot tag. My eyes were blinded to most of this match, as Ever-Rise hit a dual fistdrop early on and my brain understands that nothing that comes after will matter, because this match automatically is great. A double fistdrop in 2020 is enough to make something work, and I think that rule applies to any era. I like Parker's elbowdrop vaulting off Martel's back, like his snap suplex, and like how he knocks Burch off the apron (leaving Burch barely enough time to break up a pin). Something goes a little sideways on Burch's hot tag, where he kind of whiffs on a middle rope dropkick after booting Martel in the face, but his German suplex is a nice save. The match ends when Legado de Fantasma comes out and wrecks everyone, so I'm not sure where that leaves us. I'm sure they'll just make is a 3 way tag match with Santos Escobar interfering from the floor, but it would be interesting if they made Lorcan/Burch/Ever-Rise a team and got a 4th for LdF. I'd like to see Ever-Rise in a forced babyface role, see how they respond to it.

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2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Lorcan vs. Thatcher

7. Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan NXT 7/1

ER: This was the exact kind of 10 minute fight I wanted to see. You knew you were going to have to endure 7 or 8 different Mauro references to Stu Hart and the Dungeon for whatever reason, but they ripped at each other's limbs in the best way so who cares. The grappling was strong and I dug how they established that Lorcan was going to hit harder and take more risks, while Thatcher felt like he was going to endure some chops and some unfavorable mat positions just for the chance to take apart Lorcan's arm. I like Lorcan's specific level of crazed and focused, where he also has no problem leaning into Thatcher's strikes and has no fear about landing in a disadvantaged position. Thatcher works for a nice Americana and Lorcan takes a nice bump to the floor, and I adore Thatcher's big throw belly to belly, where the motion seems so graceful and the hangtime sublime. Lorcan lands like a sandbag. Lorcan really pays Thatcher back with a nasty half nelson suplex and then slaps him repeatedly down to the mat. I'm into the focus that guys like Lorcan and Gulak have brought back to a single leg crab, as they know how to lock them in so effectively that they make a hold WWE has phased out seem actually dangerous. But Thatcher's kneebar variation was my favorite thing here (if not this, then Lorcan's early match low angle headscissors takedown, one of the coolest headscissors I've seen in months), locking in a half crab of his own and then clutching Lorcan's shin, spreading pressure from the hamstrings to the knee to the quad. That's a disgusting hold and it needs to finish a few matches. Lorcan is a savage so of course tries to dig into Thatcher with a fishhook, and the way Thatcher shifted his weight and rolled across to a Fujiwara to break and win was a thing of beauty. I've seen these two square off several times over the years, and they always bring new fresh tricks to the table. Can't think of better ways to kill 10 minutes.

PAS: It is pretty great that Lorcan, Thatcher and Gulak were able to basically import wholesale what they were doing in 2014 to the WWE in 2020. I mean this is uncut stuff, not even a little watered down. Almost everyone who comes into the WWE has to work the house style, but somehow these guys were able to squeeze through and work an EVOLVE Style Battle match on a big show. I liked the pacing of the matwork, how they were testing limits with the holds early and by the end of the match they were sinking things in and trying to tear ligaments. The finish was about as cool of a mat exchange as I can remember seeing, that kneelock was sick looking, and I loved the counter of the fishook with the Fujiwara armbar. Loved this.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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NXT TakeOver: XXX 8/22/20 Better Late Than Never Blog

Breezango vs. Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Raul Mendoza/Joaquin Wilde

ER: A match that had some of the typical problems of any triple threat match, meaning we got a lot of different guys lying around for far longer than they should have been. If I focused on how many guys were lying around, and the moves that caused them to stay down (often just "guy gets thrown through ropes to floor", which happened a lot) it would be a silly match. But just trying to ignore the dumb match type and there was a ton of good action. Raul Mendoza looked awesome whenever he was in, loved him slipping through the ropes to the apron to catch Fandango with an elbow, and his rope run tornillo looked insane. Wilde is a big bumper and worked that well into the match (took a big lariat on his shoulder, got dropped with a Burch/Lorcan double DDT), Burch had a decent hot tag, there were a couple of nice offense chains (dug Lorcan hitting a flying uppercut only to eat a Breeze superkick), and a decent nearfall save. I would have rather seen either team other than Breezango win, but oh well.

Finn Balor vs. Timothy Thatcher

ER: Strong match, and it was stronger the closer they were. All of the grappling was really really good, and a match focused solely on that would have been awesome. The stuff I liked less was whenever it tilted a bit more into a Balor match with move reversals and a little stand and trade. The former made up a far higher % of the match, and the latter was worked in well. But the grappling was so strong that I just wanted it to be the whole match. Thatcher went after Balor's leg, and I love how Thatcher gets a tight leveraged grip on his single leg crab, locking his elbow crook in Balor's knee pit and absorbing boots to the face just to do some more damage. I like seeing Thatcher work guys who typically don't do matwork, as it forces them out of their comfort zone and usually makes them look cooler than their normal style. Balor didn't get clowned on the mat, even while Thatcher was bending at his arm and working to lock on chokes, or stomping on inner thigh to open up the left leg to a target. And I liked how they came back to the leg when Balor missed a stomp. Thatcher smelled blood and swam in. Some of the Balor offense felt like it went away from the cooler story they were telling, and I always wish guys were better about adjusting their offense game depending on what their opponent had been working, but I still liked this alot.

Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Velveteen Dream

ER: Not only does Dream get to talk about "getting a second chance" during the pre match video and gets the last entrance, looks like the books are closed on that one. Bronson Reed is wearing a rad Bam Bam Bigelow singlet, and I am into it. And this match was odd, as I didn't really care for the match itself, but it had some pretty spectacular crash landings. Matches with odd number participants are usually off, and a lot of the stuff based around climbing ladders here was actively dumb. There are only so many ways to climb a ladder, and we're pretty far past the point of finding clever new ways to climb ladders. The cuter they get, the lamer it gets, and almost all of the stuff revolving around guys climbing was dumb. Guys also disappeared for odd stretches of time, sometimes after a bump that should keep someone disappeared, other times not. Plus, this thing was too long. We don't need to run past 20 in these stunt shows, just makes it feel silly the longer guys go surviving these crashes. The dive train was strong, especially liked Reed's big tope and Priest's wild tope con hilo after running up a ladder. Grimes did the splits between two ladders but the payoff was kind of weak, the ladder bump crashing over the barricade was wild, and my absolute favorite thing was Bronson splashing Gargano off a ladder with Candice on his back. The rest of the Candice involvement felt way too shoehorned, too out of place and Grimes looked silly selling any kind of offense from her. But a fat man hitting a superfly splash while wearing a tiny woman as a backpack is always going to fucking rule.

Adam Cole vs. Pat McAfee

ER: I LOVE matches with non wrestlers. I always get excited for them. I watch so many damn matches with guys who are trained specifically to do professional wrestling, that it is always exciting to see what someone - especially athletes from other sports - "gets" about wrestling. Sometimes it's Jay Leno doing an arm wringer a few times, but sometimes it's fucking Floyd Mayweather! I've seen Hijo del Santo live more than once, but how cool are those people who were at one of Marcus Dupree's first indy matches? What about those people who got to see Lawler and Dundee each teaming with local Tennessee pediatricians? I love non wrestler matches. And I think this was one of the greater non wrestler performances we've seen.

Pat McAfee was a real natural, and I'm not sure what it says for NXT that he was so much better at wrestling acting than Adam Cole? The match has a weird heel vs. heel vibe to it, that kind of works for the match overall. Cole isn't the guy defending the honor of pro wrestling against an invader, and McAfee isn't the local babyface star from another walk of life playing star in another sport. They're both heels, with McAfee a deservedly cocky loudmouth, and Cole a little brat who feels like the worst guy to be a public face of pro wrestling. The heel vs. heel vibe got me into it, something more fun about two unlikeable guys hurting each other (though I was rooting for McAfee obviously, who wouldn't root for him over Cole). They're smart with smoke and mirrors, and McAfee ramps things up appropriately, showing more and more athleticism and grasp of wrestling. He hits a dropkick, has a nice grounded chinlock, and then takes things to the next level with a tope con hilo into a crowd of plants and wrestlers. McAfee keeps looking more and more like a natural, and by the time McAfee did a backflip off the top, then leaping back to the top with no hands, to superplex Cole off. It was a great superplex, too. But once they start working the match around McAfee being an actual high level punter, this goes from a great non wrestler performance to a great match.

McAfee goes to punt Cole on the apron, Cole moves, and McAfee boots the ring steps. It looked great, and I love the idea about the great distance punter injuring his foot. We get a great moment of Cole kicking out his kicking leg on a charge, playing up the hurt foot and knee that he's had a few surgeries on. McAfee punts Cole in the balls and honestly, the McAfee punting Cole right in the chest and yelping at his hurt foot was one of my favorite wrestling moments of the year. Cole is a little too Edge Acting for the finish - again, McAfee shouldn't be able to play his character than Cole - but McAfee taking the flipping piledriver is a bonkers thing for a new wrestler to be taking. I am always going to be excited for a non wrestler match, and this one was one to seek out.

PAS:  I thought McAfee was incredible in this match and Cole was awful. If you showed someone this match in a vacuum, and asked which one of these guys was an untrained amateur there is no way they would pick McAfee. Everything cool in this match was on him, the tope con hilo, the backflip into the high jump superplex, and everything around his punt of death totally ruled. Meanwhile Cole is making dramatic acting faces and did maybe the worst hockey fight in the history of wrestling, swinging his tiny little T-Rex arms into something resembling a punch. Cole has to be 5'6 with a 4'11 wingspan. I am not sure how he wipes his own ass. That dramatic teased removal of the knee pad was embarrassing. There is a reason I don't watch this community college Death of a Salesman shit anymore.

Dakota Kai vs. Io Shirai

ER: I liked a lot of this, and yet a lot of it left me hollow? Even the stuff I liked kind of felt hollow as it never felt like it had grave consequences. Example: I thought Shirai's double knees and knee strikes  looked uniformly great throughout...and yet she did SO MANY of them to Kai that she made her own offense look ineffective. If something looks like a kill shot, but is sold similarly to a hard bodyslam, by the end of the match I don't care about it. The match was filled with hard knees and double stomps, but the only thing really sold as damaging was a so so moonsault. I liked Kai's work on Shirai's arm, and really thought the struggle by Shirai to get to the ropes made it even better. Shirai was good at selling her arm, and it slowed her down an appropriate amount while not getting too in the way. Kai's strength is stringing together semi-complicated sequences and making them turn out plausible, like when she slid to the floor, spun Shirai out onto the apron, and delivered a yakuza kick. Those kinds of sequences can come off too dance-y but Kai actually makes them look as intended. I think it went too long and they went back to certain things too many times. You cut this 16 minute match down to 10, thus cutting out some of the move spamming, and I think it hits.

Karrion Kross vs. Keith Lee

ER: This didn't work for me. It felt like they were moving in slow motion right out the gate. I'll take this kind of match over the Lee/Dijakovic style of main event, but this was not a match with 20+ minutes of material, and didn't need to be. Lee is bizarre to me. He is an incredible athlete who almost always plays against his strengths. He should be doing things to maximize his size and speed, and yet ever since joining NXT he almost always just comes off as everyone's equal. He's not a good striker, and yet he always does these stand and trade sections that remove any wonder. It would be like Vader working an equal strike exchange with someone 50 lb. (or more) smaller than him, it would look odd and make Vader look far less impressive. Imagine if Lee worked more like a larger, more spry Masa Saito?? Instead he's someone who works to minimize his size, and I don't get it. I was a big fan of Kross vs. Ciampa on the last TakeOver, and that match was worked with an immediacy that made Kross look like a killer without hurting Ciampa. This match had none of that immediacy, and instead was worked like at a slogging pace. I get they are saying that Keith Lee is a big man and takes a long beating to wear him down, but I don't think this did either man any favors. Keith Lee just got slowly worn down over a too long match, and he kept striking to comeback, which paints him in the least favorable light. He needed to just slam his body into Kross on every comeback, and that just didn't happen. I did like the Kross suplexes, and the whipping Saito suplex off the top was a cool finish, but even with the title win this match felt like a step back for Kross, and Lee has felt like he's been spinning his wheels on NXT all year.


ER: Weird show, my feelings for this one are a real rollercoaster. The show felt like a solid TakeOver show, but I really didn't like any of the matches other than the McAfee show. The pre-show match was fun but too short (considering every other match on the show got way too much time, they really could have used more balance), and Thatcher/Balor approached being a really good match but I didn't like the ways Balor took away from their own narrative. Ladder matches don't really move my needle any longer, they just happen far too frequently. The main event didn't work for me, and I was left with a former NFL punter carrying this entire show for me. And yet it felt like an overall good show? And yet it also felt like it went way way way longer than its actual run time. I'm torn on this one. But of one thing I am certain: Pat McAfee rules, and is a far more interesting performer than a large % of the NXT roster. That should be a major look in the mirror moment for the NXT brand. It likely won't be, but it should be.

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Oney Lorcan is Still Here

Oney Lorcan vs. Santos Escobar 205 Live 7/2 (Aired 7/10/20)

ER: I had skimmed through Night 2 of NXT's Great American Bash before watching this, and was able to briskly get through the show because all of the big matches (Cole/Lee, Gargano/Scott) were just the worst kind of 50/50 move trading and anticipated missed offense so I didn't have to actually spend time watching them. It was brutal and I'm happy I decided not to gut it out. And right HERE is a cool match outside of the now cookie cutter brand match structure, happening the same week as that show, where Escobar takes a huge portion of the match without Lorcan looking down and out defeated. Lorcan had his arm wrapped because of his match with Thatcher, which Escobar goes right after, and even though Lorcan is still able to pepper in hard strikes he is clearly hesitant to throw those strikes due to his bad arm. It's an easy story and one they both work effectively. Lorcan tries to end things quick out of desperation but it quickly put on the defense because of his arm. The match benefits huge from not just dancing from spot to spot, but with both guys fighting back in between spots. The first half of this especially has hard little shots thrown in as spots are about to happen, making the whole match feel more like a fight. Escobar worked some mean stuff on Lorcan's arm, including a snap suplex trapping his arm, and a crossface sub while working a cravat. He runs Lorcan's arm into the ring post and hits a cruel splash on Oney's arm on the apron. Lorcan realizes he's going down so he might as well do his best to fight out of it, so goes for broke with big chops and a heavy uppercut and a nice whipping blockbuster. It ain't enough, and I like how Escobar caught him with a cool armbreaker when Lorcan was slowed due to using his arm, and loved how Lorcan died on that sword.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch/Mansoor vs. Chase Parker/Matt Martel/Tehuti Miles 205 Live 7/21 (Aired 7/24/20)

ER: This is the kind of quick paced 8 minute trios match they should have on TV every week, the kind of match where all six guys are given something cool to do. Ever-Rise have become favorites of mine, a total WCW Worldwide C team getting regular WWE TV time, but they're really smart about being in the right place, cheering each other loudly from the apron, getting shown up on armdrags, and stooging for babyface comebacks. They have a couple nice double teams, like Chase Parker's elbow after a Matt Martel drop toehold, or their Samoan drop/neckbreaker combo they do to Burch before Lorcan flattens them both with a dual blockbuster. This is the kind of team that never would have made a WWE roster even 10 years ago, and I'm really happy there's a place for them now. Tehuti is a great heel foil for all of the babyfaces, and I'm always a sucker for heels who don't really have offense. He knows right where to be to violently take Mansoor's slingshot DDT, has a perfect catch on Mansoor's excellent tornillo, gets folded over by a Burch German suplex, and then takes over with learned behavior after holding the ropes on a second Mansoor slingshot attempt. I love a heel who takes over a match by letting a babyface crash and burn on something that he scouted, then tries to win with a backslide. Lorcan's energy is always going to be something that stands out in an energetic match like this, and his double blockbuster came at the perfect moment. But this was a six person performance in the most fun way.


Oney Lorcan vs. Ridge Holland vs. Damian Priest NXT 7/29 (Aired 8/5/20)

ER: This is a weird match for Lorcan to be in, arguably the weirdest on paper match in his entire WWE run. Lorcan used to be used (and was great) in matches as the underdog against a larger bully. It was a good formula for him, but he hasn't been in that formula for a couple years now, instead being paired with workers more his size. He also feels out of place in the match from a storyline standpoint. He is a guy who loses singles matches to anyone larger than him. He wins tag matches half the time, and loses singles matches to larger opponents all of the time. It is established that he is never an easy win, so perhaps that is enough to justify having him in this match - I like seeing him as much as I can, so I don't totally care - and that feels like they're continuing to slowly work him up the card. If you view his WWE career as a whole it does look like a nice slow burn.

And the match is as cool and fun as those Lorcan/monster matches, although it would have played better as a Holland/Lorcan singles match. The weak parts of the match were all because of Priest. He is 2020 Edge. Edge mainlined late 90s flowery indy offense, and Priest wrestles like Edge reappropriating UWFI striking into a stupider overacting Edge style of UWFI. It's shitty as hell when he gets too into that mode, but it's undeniable that he is goofy strike combo terrible in-ring acting Edge. Luckily, that only affected the weak parts of the match, and most of the match was very strong. Three ways have been passé for far more years than they were relevant and novel, but there is still potential for excitement in layout, big cutoffs, and close nearfall saves. Lorcan is the one that gets disposed of, but he gets as many licks as anyone here. He crashes into both with a great tope con hilo, times he blockbuster excellently, throws hard uppercuts, builds to throwing some of his all time best flying uppercuts. He was sending his whole body crashing into Holland, and Holland was a really great brick wall to crash into. His strikes and shoulderblocks looked good, he had no problem leaning into things, and he annihilates Lorcan on a clothesline to kill a Lorcan run. Priest also has a mix of Edge offense in addition to his "If Edge Had Seen a Takada Comp Tape in 1997" strikes, but he actually does a lot of that better than Edge did his offense. I really liked his big sitout chokeslam here. If your offense has to be a dumb twist of an established move, at least actually looking like you can lift someone impressively helps things immensely. He does that. And even with Priest's chest punch kick combos awkwardly shoehorned in, this match smoked.

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NXT Great American Bash 7/1/20

Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai vs. Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae

ER: This is done elimination style, which is at least a nice change of pace from these multimans where people conveniently disappear the entire match. The early chaos was good and filled with fun Kai faces and a surprise early Candice elimination. Mia Yim had one very clunky spot where she dove "at" Nox and instead flew to the floor, but Nox hadn't been in that spot for awhile so it looked like Yim just turned around and ran/dove at nothing, like Kerry von Erich hitting a sunset flip on someone standing 10 feet away. But right after that she goes on a real fantastic run, hitting a sick rana on Nox after running across Kai's back, then snapping off a rana on Kai right after, then running into consecutive nice topes on both. It was really exciting in the moment even though after she was eliminated it did come off as one of those "let her get a series of cool moments before she gets pinned". I did not love the final Kai/Nox singles match. Tegan Nox just does not do it to me. Her wide mouth shocked faces on kickouts, her moveset that is a distilled version of the most current/basic indy moveset. It has no personality, and Nox herself appears to have no personality outside of "fashionable apron move shining wizard that doesn't hit and also knee brace". Kai's exaggerated heel expressions adds to things, but I just can't get excited by "Nox should have been finished but now she is fighting back with her heatless offense that everyone does!"

Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan

ER: This was the exact kind of 10 minute fight I wanted to see. You knew you were going to have to endure 7 or 8 different Mauro references to Stu Hart and the Dungeon for whatever reason, but they ripped at each other's limbs in the best way so who cares. The grappling was strong and I dug how they established that Lorcan was going to hit harder and take more risks, while Thatcher felt like he was going to endure some chops and some unfavorable mat positions just for the chance to take apart Lorcan's arm. I like Lorcan's specific level of crazed and focused, where he also has no problem leaning into Thatcher's strikes and has no fear about landing in a disadvantaged position. Thatcher works for a nice Americana and Lorcan takes a nice bump to the floor, and I adore Thatcher's big throw belly to belly, where the motion seems so graceful and the hangtime sublime, and Lorcan lands like a sandbag. Lorcan really pays Thatcher back with a nasty half nelson suplex and then slaps him repeatedly down to the mat. I'm into the focus that guys like Lorcan and Gulak have brought back to a single leg crab, as they know how to lock them in so effectively that they make a hold WWE has phased out seem actually dangerous. But Thatcher's kneebar variation was my favorite thing here (if not this, then Lorcan's early match low angle headscissors takedown, one of the coolest headscissors I've seen in months), locking in a half crab of his own and then clutching Lorcan's shin, spreading pressure from the hamstrings to the knee to the quad. That's a disgusting hold and it needs to finish a few matches. Lorcan is a savage so of course tries to dig into Thatcher with a fishhook, and the way Thatcher shifted his weight and rolled across to a Fujiwara to break and win was a thing of beauty. I've seen these two square off several times over the years, and they always bring new fresh tricks to the table. Can't think of better ways to kill 10 minutes.

Rhea Ripley vs. Aliyah/Robert Stone

ER: This wasn't going to impress the crowd seeking a MOTN, but this had a vibe similar to old Coliseum videos or something like Razor vs. Jarrett/Roadie that isn't really seen on WWE TV anymore. They still do handicap matches, but they too often get trapped in this shitty modern version of a handicap match where everybody is still working all of the same spots they'd work in a normal singles match. This is not a great match that people will talk about at the end of the year, but everyone involved worked it exactly the way it should have been worked and I really liked it. I loved seeing non-matches like Heenan vs. Boss Man or Genius vs. Hogan when I was a kid. A match made up of two mostly non-competitive stooging heels is a rarity on WWE TV today, but was a structure that created a ton of fond memories for me as a kid. Stone and Aliyah knew how to create that kind of energy, that ineffective stumblebum who still had a couple small advantages. Rhea got some fun 1 on 2 runs, loved the double boston crabs and other spots where she's just too cool to fall for their Wile E. Coyote bullshit. Stone is a guy who was a regular wrestler who WWE hasn't used as a wrestler until now, and he knew exactly how to work "actual wrestler playing a non-wrestler". He's lean, he's wearing boxer's shorts comically high, he bumps just like a manager who knows how to bump but plays like he's falling on banana peels. He misses a plancha, gets caught doing a roll up and headbutted, just flailing at trying to get one over on Rhea. Aliyah is charming and has no chance against Rhea, it's all fun. This kind of lighthearted southern stooge handicap match is real Memphis, and is a missed presence on WWE television. This played like 1995 WWF in the best ways, an era that plays better than ever in 2020.

Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis

ER: This one needed to be a bit shorter. I liked elements of it, and overall like Lumis as a character. So far I'm into the act, and I'm a Strong fan. Strong is maybe the wrestler I've most enjoyed over the past 15 years, who I talk about the least. He's been a good wrestler for a long time, someone I've seen live several times, someone who has made a ton of tape in several feds. And I think I like him a lot more than I've maybe written about. But I wanted this a little tighter, and without the distracting/overblown finish and Bobby Fish interference. Lumis brings an importantly different vibe to NXT, and Strong was playing a tough guy getting his ass beat really well. I'm a fan of strap matches and there were some cool things involving it, involving weight distribution, and plenty of Lumis yanking Strong around. Strong takes a great splatting bump getting yanked into the ring steps, opting instead to fly over them and backsplash the floor. I don't need the long "Lumis likes getting whipped" spot, but I like the nice Strong superplex, liked Strong tying Lumis up with the strap to lock in a Boston Crab, liked a lot of this. I had hoped this one would play as an overachieving old school stipulation brawl, and we didn't get there. But, it had a lot to like.

Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks

ER: Just keep on giving me these Sasha Banks NXT main events daddy, and I'll keep enjoying them. It is exciting that there are signs of Sasha and Bayley being Actual Draws, because their act clearly has been one of the best things about minimal crowd wrestling. This whole thing is a win before it even starts, as Sasha/Bayley come out in a convertible and Bayley is holding Sasha's corgi in her lap. You give me corgis in my pro wrestling and I am going to care demonstrably less about the pro wrestling. This whole match was a great main event title match, not worked with parity but still managing to make it seem like either could pull out a win. Io's offense landed heavier here than it usually does, and part of that was Sasha's ragdoll bumping, but a big part was Io clearly working up to a main event singles match. Her missile dropkick, 619, and especially tope hit harder, with that tope really just flattening Sasha at the gut. Sasha goes for meteoras and knee strikes with gusto, which hit hard when she lands them and leaves her wide open when they miss, and that's a cool thing to base a match around. There is one messy spot with a German suplex miscommunication, but I think it adds to the match because of how Sasha chooses to sell it. Sasha was clearly supposed to land on her feet, but they get crossed on the release point and Sasha gets awkwardly folded and instead lands on her knees and face, kinda. But thankfully Sasha does not sell it as if she stuck the landing, and they both sell the proper amount of confusion, the way you should when a landing doesn't go perfectly. The big moments come off big, like Sasha trying to hit a wild sunset flip bomb and eventually flinging Shirai into the plexiglass, or Sasha's big missed frog splash that lands her in a crossface (that I thought was the finish). I'm still on the fence about the end of match interference, as I like Sasha trying to cheat using a tag title and liked the expected Asuka counterbalance. Asuka hits Sasha with the mist but I guess I wish Asuka hadn't just stayed out there dancing around in plain sight of the ref, while Sasha's face was now suddenly green. There were easy ways to do this spot and not have the ref come off dumb. But the match was strong, Banks is the queen, and Shirai looked good in her first match as champ.


ER: This was a real fun 2 hour show, that same sweet spot that the early (and excellently paced) In Your House shows went. 1:45-2 hours, every match with a totally different vibe. That's a great way to run a wrestling show, and this was a fun show top to bottom.

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The Final WWE Big 3! Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 6/8-6//20

ER: Well the feature went away, came back with Gulak, and now not long after leaves for good now that 1/3 of our 3 is a sex pest. I'm not sure how to continue the feature as my back-up plan for one of the three getting cut was to move Kassius Ohno into the third spot and well, that went out the window too. Maybe I will continue as a Big 2+1, with the one being the worker I think most belongs in the third spot any given week. Thoughts?


Jack Gallagher/Tehuti Miles/Tony Nese vs. Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch/Isaiah Scott 205 Live 6/12

ER: Fun trios match that builds off the previous few weeks of matches from each of these guys. 205 has always been good at building feuds and giving some matches a reason to happen, even if the blowoff matches have been roundly disappointing over the show's run. But this was kept brisk and had a nice heel control section, and we got another great run of Gallagher/Lorcan. For whatever reason, that pairing is a real rarity on 205. We have their great singles match and occasional crossed paths in big multimans, but that's it. Gallagher was real mean when he tagged in and started wailing on him, blindsiding Lorcan with a headbutt to the stomach and then beats him in to the mat while his boy Nese cheats from the apron, and late in the match Gallagher has an awesome buzzer beater pinfall save. I really dug Nese snapping Lorcan's neck over the top rope and then pushing Lorcan away from the ropes with his boot when Gallagher was ready to go for a pin. I always like how Lorcan fights through heat segments, and the uppercut he blasts Miles with when Miles tags in is one of the best moments of the match, quickly rivaled by Miles wrecking Lorcan with a lariat that sounded like someone taking a baseball bat to a Thanksgiving turkey. I liked Miles dropping elbows on Lorcan while rubbing it in on Nese that *this* is how you control a match, leading to a big missed elbowdrop that everyone but Miles saw coming. Modern WWE style has so many moves thrown to purposely miss, too many guys focusing on the reversal instead of the move itself, and when somebody actually does a "heel misses a move due to cockiness" it actually plays as something fresh. Burch had a spirited start to the match and gets some more fun stuff when things start to break down, hits a nice enziguiri, leans into a Nese spinkick, and hits a nice surprise headbutt on Miles. Due to how this broke down I'm excited to see a Gallagher/Miles match, and I'm really liking what a lot of these guys are bringing to 205.


Oney Lorcan vs. Chase Parker 205 Live 6/19

ER: This was a bunch of fun. Ever-Rise will always feel like a weird team to be on the WWE roster, but I like how they fall into that Disorderly Conduct style credible team that never wins, like if the Hardy Boys had been heels working as DO in 1997 WWF. The match worms its way immediately into my heart by starting with a long Lorcan headlock that Parker can't break, and we get three different attempts for Parker to run Lorcan off while Lorcan keeps hanging on. For all of the great traditional wrestling moves and spots that WWE has phased out, I love that there are a devoted few who know how to hold onto a good headlock and refuse to break. Parker does his small Canadian Disorderly Conduct offense, like choking Lorcan on the ropes or driving a knee into the gut, hitting a standing elbow across the back of Lorcan's neck, the kind of offense done by hairy men in ill-fitting singlets on syndicated 90s WCW TV. It's basic heel control until he charges Lorcan and Lorcan scoops him into an inverted atomic drop, then lifts him into a traditional atomic drop, and we are blessed because he catches Parker in a THIRD atomic drop variation as Parker axe handle attempts his nuts directly down into Lorcan's waiting knee, then wastes him with the flying uppercut and blockbuster. This had a real WCW 5 minute syndie match feel, which is obviously the best feel.


Jack Gallagher vs. Jake Atlas 205 Live 6/19

ER: Cool style clash that saw Gallagher stalking and striking Atlas around the ring while managing to stumble and bumble into taking the more athletic indy lucha offense of Atlas. Atlas has a couple of neat squirrelly armdrags with my favorite being when Gallagher caught Atlas's boots in the corner and swung them through the ropes only to have Atlas drop his weight like a pendulum and toss Gallagher at a neat angle. But big portions of this were Gallagher calmly strutting around the ring to provide constant pepper into Atlas's ribs. Gallagher starts attacking the body with big right hooks, thrust headbutts, open palm strikes, just tenderizing Atlas's whole rack of ribs for a roast. We get a lot of great moments of Gallagher responding to some flowery Atlas flourishes with a pause and a kick to the face or punch to the jaw or palm to the face or knee to the gut. Seriously, just watching Gallagher stalk and strike is the best. I don't love all of Atlas's comeback offense, even though I like a lot of how Gallagher set it up (like missing a superman punch to set up an Atlas clothesline). Atlas does hit a nice back suplex, but a lot of his comeback offense - and his rainbow DDT finish - would have worked much better in a This Is Awesome kind of match, which this wasn't. There was a lot of attention paid to Gallagher beating Atlas's body and then locking in an abdominal stretch, and there were plenty of cool ways that Atlas could have worked in his offense around the damage, but it felt like his brain was in a different match than the one he was in. Match overall gets a thumbs up from me, but blending his spots into the format better would have lifted this to List.

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WWE Big 3 Returns! Lorcan, Gallagher, GULAK 5/24-6/7/20

Battle Royal WWE Smackdown 5/29

ER: Drew Gulak has not had great luck in battle royals during his WWE tenure, but he's always a good presence in a battle royal. Here he is mostly on the defensive, but I like how he hooks his leg over the bottom rope while trying to eliminate guys from the apron, mostly locked in a battle with Cesaro. I will always love battle royal spots where one man is on the apron and someone in ring is pushing boot to throat, and Gulak is great at hanging on while Cesaro pushes that boot under his chin.  It feels like a good idea for me to make a couple keyboard shortcuts for Gulak, one of them being "would have liked to see this go longer but", as I was foolishly thinking his return after not taking a weak offer was going to turn into one of those weird Vince "this guy stood up to me and now I respect him" kind of situations, and I would have like more of him with Corbin. Corbin and Gulak had a good match on Smackdown last month, and Bryan had a great match with Corbin, along with a great trios. So they were keeping that Cesaro/Nakamura/Corbin feud going with Gulak and it would have been cool to see that go in Gulak's favor. But I also like Gulak taking a huge hiptoss to elimination, so oh well. As for non-Gulak people, Dolph Ziggler continued to show that his greatest strength is as a guy who comes very close to being eliminated from battle royals before eventually dying on his elimination bump. This was a decent enough battle royal.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. vs. Roderick Strong/Bobby Fish vs. Tyler Breeze/Fandango NXT 6/3

ER: I wish this got twice the time it did, because I loved what these guys were bringing. The structure was tough to follow as it was a 3 way tag, meaning three guys were in the ring at all times, except for half of the match you had both members of UE in there and after awhile everyone was involved. Typing that out makes it sound like this was a mess and that guys would constantly be getting in each other's way, but somehow this was worked with precision. Everyone (except maybe Fish?) was working snug, and with nearly everyone involved at all times I thought they did a killer job of always giving everyone something to do. Burch is like an old man luchador as he seems to get better the higher up his trunks go, and here he at later career Villano III levels of trunk height (he really needs to pace himself as he's the same age as me, meaning those trunks will be over his tits by age 48, way too soon). Three way exchanges can be clunky and tired, but Burch was in their keeping things moving and mixing up strikes, throwing in a hard headbutt to make sure the exchange never approached rote, hard dropkick, throwing a surprise back elbow at Fish on the apron (which was paid off nicely when Fish laid him out on the floor later), and running interference for Lorcan's hot tag. Strong was a great pinball for Breeze and Burch, and I like that he took over when he just said fuck it and had Fish come in the ring full time. Fandango's hot tag was cool, totally forgot he had a cool snap powerslam and after he broke off the second one I kinda just wanted him to keep going. Lorcan's hot tag obviously ruled, with him flying into everyone with chops and elbows. Love how he flew into one corner with an uppercut, and cleared his path with an elbow on his way back to throw an uppercut in the opposite corner. Fandango tossing him over the top into most of the guys was done really well, but everything here was done well. With just a couple more minutes this could have been list, and it really wasn't far away as is.


Drew Gulak vs. AJ Styles WWE Smackdown 6/5

ER: Hot little Nitro match with both working quick to make up for the time. Styles always tightens things up when working against guys like Gulak. Not that Styles is out here showing daylight every other week, but he's also not throwing corner punches or aiming lariats at throats like he did against Gulak here. I like how Gulak recognized Styles' aggression early and started turning that into submission attempts, running Styles' into the mat with his cool crossface variation. Both guys got bounced off their head and shoulders in uncool ways: Styles shoving Gulak down into a backbreaker that bounced his head to the mat was probably my favorite moment of the match, and Gulak pays him back late with his cool drop down Michinoku driver variation. A fired up Gulak is quite a thing, and he really crushed AJ down the stretch with a dropkick that looked like it would have staggered anyone on the roster, big clothesline and an even bigger corner clothesline, and he knew exactly how snug to hold that pinfall. I had the weird hunch Gulak was winning here, and I'm happy he got the win with no kind of shenanigans, just outsmarting Styles and beating him to the punch.


Oney Lorcan vs. Tehuti Miles 205 Live 6/5

ER: I've been enjoying Tehuti on 205, he's the newest 205 guy who doesn't actually work like a cruiserweight. I like his brand of minimalism, and really enjoyed his Tyler Breeze match from a couple weeks ago. This match is built around the simple premise that Danny Burch kicked Miles around the ring last week, but Miles won with a schoolboy while grabbing the trunks. Someone who does a schoolboy with a handful of trunks on the show hyped entirely around the spectacular things that smaller wrestlers can do in the ring is someone I'm going to enjoy. This whole thing is worked simply, like a fun house show match where the goal is to pay off the simple story they broadly presented to the crowd. There's a reason that simplicity works. Lorcan uses almost entirely chops - and one wicked knee to the gut - to start and finish, hitting our story note early when Miles bails to the floor after taking some chops, gets stopped by Burch, then turns around into another Lorcan chop. The camera work was surprisingly good (because it was actually different) during Miles' control, and I especially liked the camera zooming in on Lorcan's face when Miles was scraping it with his boot in the corner. Miles drops some nice elbowdrops and works a cool Fujiwara armbar, then of course tries to win a handful of tights. This got a lot of time and I'm sure there was a better match they could have had, as neither guy was bringing out his biggest guns. But I liked the simple storytelling, Burch yelling about the pulled tights leading to Lorcan rolling Miles up with a prawn hold, and I like when guys work a more bare match like this. It's cool seeing wrestlers boiled down to their basics, and I'd love to see them build off of it.


Jack Gallagher vs. Isaiah Scott 205 Live 6/5

ER: This felt really scattered but always threatening to get really good, and the most successful moments were typical for Scott matches: whenever he drops the unnecessary embellishments things look better. This had a lot of Scott embellishments, and it played more like a Scott showcase than an actual match. And that's kind of what it feels like EVERY time we get a Gallagher/Scott match. Gallagher is great at working style clashes, but against Scott you never get enough "clash", you get guys waiting around for Scott to finish his windmill backspins so he can finally hit his headscissors. There were at least four different moments where Gallagher had to pause and leave a limb out for Scott to finish his embellished sequence, or stop short because he arrived at the right time for a sequence but Scott wasn't done with his handstand. Gallagher would try to drop interesting threads into the match, and Scott would make sure they'd go nowhere. I got excited for the moments that felt like the change was happening, like Gallagher wasting Scott's time avoiding him on the apron, only to grab his leg and yank it through the turnbuckles. But those moments where quickly forgotten in favor of Scott working so so armbars. When he toned down the BS it got good, and Gallagher's adjustments to go briefly into control were cool. I loved Gallagher leaping into a guillotine to drop Scott to a knee, or Gallagher working a side headlock on the top freaking rope, and reversing a big backdrop suplex into a hard landing crossbody. But you take a cool moment like that, and it instantly looks more silly with Scott kicking all four of his limbs like an upturned turtle. There was plenty to like here, but the main thing that hurt this match was that it never felt like a match, it just felt like Scott doing Scott things.

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WWE Big 2, For Now? Lorcan, Gallagher 5/17-5/23/20

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker/Matt Martel) NXT 5/20

ER: This was a total mugging for Lorcan and Burch, and a fun one. You knew it was going short just because of how quick Burch was running through everything. But they didn't let the increase in speed affect execution, and if anything it made it feel like Burch was running harder into everything he threw. This was a quick and economical beating, with hard edge of fist punches and a great leaping kick right to Parker's teeth in the corner. Lorcan is the hot tag and doesn't drop the beat, using his expected big energy burst to throw nasty uppercuts and finish things with his missile launch horizontal flying uppercut. The only role for Ever-Rise here was to kick their asses beat, and they took a fine ass beating.


Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ever-Rise 205 Live 5/22

ER: This is the best of the three (!) different matches these teams have had, with Ever-Rise having their best control segment and it feeling the right level of competitive. Ever-Rise are still a weird team to be in WWE as there is a team nearly exactly like them, with maybe a +/- 5% difference in talent, in every single indy fed in the country that draws 150+. They are a professional team who work matches no different than a tag team you see on almost every indy show you attend, and that is fine because you usually leave your local indy satisfied with that teams' match. I get the sense that just like those same tag teams all across North America, they can work heel or face depending on the night. But this is good, and I like how they focused their control segment around neck work. Parker does nice little things, his stomps are really good, and I dug how both he and Martel threw elbow strikes to the neck, and both bits of offense they did were neckbreaker variations. The Samoan drop/flying neckbreaker combo was a good nearfall, and Lorcan came real close to missing the save, really diving in from the floor with fingertips extended. We already got one match this week where Lorcan and Burch ran these two over, and it was cool to see the two of them work no less aggressively on offense, just allowing more room for Ever-Rise. Burch threw a nice german suplex and cool lariat, and Lorcan's chops and uppercuts sounded loud as hell in the PC. This felt like a WCW Saturday Night tag, and you know that's a good thing.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 4/12-4/25/20

Oney Lorcan vs. Aleister Black WWE Raw 4/13

ER: Lorcan is turning up on every damn show these days (Willing to die? Live in Tampa? Your ticket to the main roster starts now!) and I love how competitive this was. Black has been making quick work of guys lately and I am so very thankful that wasn't the case here. Lorcan was presented as Black's equal and that's alright by me. I expected this to go a couple minutes and it somehow took us through a commercial break, and I was into all of the headlocks we got to start. If a match has a moment where someone tries to push out of a headlock, but the headlocker holds on? I'm almost certain to like the match and what they're going for. Lorcan holds onto a couple of them here, and dishes some nice uppercuts and chops when they're apart. In some ways Black worked this like the underdog, going for schoolboys and bailing out of holds, and that felt like a cool nod to Lorcan's ability. Every time it looked like Black would pull away, hitting a quebrada, kicking Lorcan to the floor, kicking to get out of subs, Lorcan would fire back with something else. My favorite bit of home stretch Lorcan offense was a big damn lariat, love when a guy I'm sure is losing gets an awesome last gasp. I didn't love the final strike exchange that lead to the winning Black Mass, but loved that we got this as a serious match.


Jack Gallagher vs. El Hijo Del Fantasma WWE NXT 4/22

ER: This was a cool style clash, had a real "Hey these guys are both on the WCW roster and they randomly crossed paths on Thunder for 8 minutes" feel to it. It didn't really seem like it had a specific goal or story in mind, and that's what gave it that fun carefree WCW "go out there and do some cool stuff in the 6th quarter hour" vibe. This was Fantasma's TV debut and he needed a guy to show off his cool stuff against, and Gallagher is a cool guy to eat a few clotheslines, eat a plancha, fly out of the ring after taking a nice superkick, and then eat a big tope. I would have liked to see them work some conflicting matwork, Fantasma's lucha upbringing with Gallagher's violent twisting, and we didn't get that. WWE does not bring in luchadors to do flashy matwork, but I liked Gallagher routinely yanking Fantasma around by the mask, kicking him across the shoulderblades, and more mask yanking. Gallagher's big headbutt was the highlight of the match for me, that perfect Zidane arc that landed flush, and whenever I see something look that good I always just want it to be the finish. This was clearly going to be a Fantasma showcase, and that's cool, but I'd like to see them run this back without the need to get someone over in their debut.


Drew Gulak vs. Baron Corbin WWE Smackdown 4/24

ER: This was really cool. even though I obviously wanted a different result. This was a major change from the 2-3 minute matches Gulak was getting on Smackdown at the end of 2019, and really illustrates the important difference 3 extra minutes can make. It was tough to write about a 2 minute Gulak match against Braun, because what more can I say other than "Well it was cool the way Gulak hit that one punch before that truck ran over him and then also backed over him." A few extra competitive minutes takes the sting off a Gulak loss, and while it was a loss and it would have been cool to see him featured at Money in the Bank, this was not a clean win for Corbin. An optimist could argue that the tide was clearly turned for Gulak when Nakamura and Cesaro interfered, and that the match was professionally laid out. I thought Corbin had some cool stuff here that Gulak fed into really well, like that dope unrolling powerslam that spun Gulak into the mat, or the nicely pulled off Boss Man lariat around the ringpost (and for all the crap Corbin takes he's maybe the only guy I've seen post Boss Man who can pull that off without a hitch), the End of Days looked crushing, and he had some smaller things like a cool blocked strike that lead to a wicked kidney punch. Corbin as counter striker to Gulak would make for a great match.

But Gulak looked like his equal for much of this, and I loved how Corbin took a lot of Gulak's offense. We got some cool stuff on the floor with Gulak hitting a hard dropkick to send Corbin flying over the announce table, and Gulak hitting a leg whip that sent Corbin into the ring steps, and later flying off those ring steps with his nice diving lariat into Cesaro. I'm always going to be into a guy who utilizes parts of the ring and surrounding area, and Gulak is good at that. There were also a couple of strong Gulak nearfalls, including a convincing schoolboy and a great crossbody. And maybe the coolest part of the match was when Gulak's strikes really started landing, and he backed Corbin into the corner with a series of nasty forearm strikes to Corbin's chest, and the forearms all looked powerful enough to actually back up Corbin. Those forearms blossomed into bigger strikes and I loved the visual of Gulak having Corbin literally on the ropes. Silver lining: hopefully this loss and his strong presentation just lead to an actual cool match at MITB, as I'd rather see him in a cool singles than a big ladder match anyway.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 4/5-4/11/20

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ricochet/Cedric Alexander WWE Raw 4/6

ER: This was a fun surprise, the first ever Raw appearances of Lorcan and Burch. If you live in Tampa, you're on Raw! was the theme of this show, but give me a fun Burch/Lorcan sprint and whatever. Match was under 4 minutes, but it was worked like they were trying to fit as much into 210 seconds as possible. Lorcan and Burch weren't winning, but I'm glad that they weren't treated as cannon fodder and were instead treated as equals. There's no reason they shouldn't be equals, but I wasn't expecting it. Burch especially got to really lace into Alexander, absorbing some kicks from Cedric to be close enough to throw a couple of great punches, a headbutt, and some uppercuts. It's fun seeing Lorcan and Burch cut Alexander off from tags. They weirdly gave Apollo Crews a half hour to work, probably more time on Raw than he's had combined in two years, so at this point I got excited that we might be getting a stretched out Lorcan tag classic. Well, things went downhill pretty quickly for them once Ricochet finally tagged in. Once that happened it was a pretty quick Cedric/Ricochet show, with every Lorcan/Burch move being evaded, Burch tossed to the floor, and Lorcan eating a nice atomic drop/enziguiri double team before getting downed by the shooting star. I would have loved to see this get even two more minutes, but it was a nice surprise seeing Lorcan on Raw.


9. Jack Gallagher vs. Oney Lorcan 205 Live 4/10/20

ER: First time EVER singles match between these two, no clue what took them so long. Last week they talked about Gallagher's new vicious side while he was not doing any vicious offense. Well, this week the new side came out in full, as he pummeled Lorcan's body nearly the entire runtime. Before we get to the pummeling we start with some cool matwork, because we're in the weird era of WWE where guys here now have cooler matwork than guys on the indies or Japan (with a couple notable exceptions). All of Gallagher's traps and set-ups were great, loved him tightly wrapping his legs around Lorcan's legs to force pressure on Lorcan's joints, and these are guys who are also clearly going to be great at headscissors escapes. Gallagher really focuses his attacks afterward on Lorcan's body, big open hand shots that he kept landing and landing, finding gaps. He even kicks Lorcan across the ring with nice shots to the ribs. Lorcan showed he can hit with more power, but Gallagher was the one absorbing a big shot to land 3 shots to the body, even egging Lorcan on. Lorcan reddened Gallagher's chest with chops, which made his clipper ship tattoo look like it was heading off into the sunset. I hadn't seen Gallagher utilize his headbutt since starting on his new vicious side, but here he makes up for all of that by throwing out a dozen: A couple big wind-up shots, and a bunch of short thrusting blows to Lorcan's ribs, neck, and chest while trapping him in the corner. Lorcan pays Gallagher back with big running attacks and big throws, having given up on trading with him. Lorcan's running back elbow was an all timer here, his half nelson looked like it was going to bounce Gallagher off his ear, and he threw a short powerful clothesline that whipped Gallagher inside out so quickly that I had to rewind to see just what the hell happened. The finish of this was dumb, with Tony Nese being a doofus cop breaking up two teens making out in a car, just the worst possible timing. But up until the Neseing this was everything you wanted from 2/3 of the Big 3 throwing down.

PAS: This was really dope up until the turd ending. It is weird that these guys have been circling each other for years now, but have never matched up before and of course it is great. Gallagher seems to be going straight shootstyle with his new gimmick, which is a weird choice, but totally awesome. He was amazing in that first Tetsujin show, and it is really cool to watch him drop the WOS stuff and just focus on vicious body shots, Ikeda headbutts, and leglocks. Lorcan is a perfect antagonist for this. He isn't going to have that same level of skill on the mat, but he is going to totally match the intensity, I loved him trying to forcibly remove Gallagher's tattoo with his chops. Tony Nese is such a blight, why can't he be sensibly concerned about his health and stay home.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 3/22-3/28/20

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Shane Thorne/Brendan Vink NXT 3/25/20

ER: Lorcan and Burch are usually the guys used to showcase other talent, so it's always fun when we get a short match showcasing them. And true to their nature, they don't treat this like just a squash match, throwing a couple bones to Thorne and Vink. Shane Thorne is a guy I have seen live twice at NXT house shows (once in the main event!) and every time he shows up on TV I go "huh must be some new guy they're debuting". I never remember him, and the second his matches end I go back to forgetting him. So, Burch starts the match against...some guy, and he has a nice short uppercut and a cool wristlock takedown, stomping on...someone's wrist right after tossing him down. Lorcan is a guy I love seeing opposite big guys and Vink is a guy with a big muscular build. When Lorcan tags in and charges Vink in the corner we get a big high delay uranage from Vink, and the move set up actually makes sense as Lorcan was flying into the corner with his flying back elbow. It's an established way Lorcan leaps into offense, so we don't have any of those "Well, I don't normally do this, but now seems as good a time as any to charge and leap at Samoa Joe" logic leaps. I begin laughing thinking that Lorcan is still going to get flattened in his showcase match, but not long after he is flying horizontally into both the Australians with back elbows and nails Vink with a hard as hell lariat, Burch hits a missile dropkick, and we rush to a quick double submission finish like it was a CMLL primera caida. These 3 minute showcases are not common for Lorcan/Burch, they should have stiffed up these goons even more.

Drew Gulak vs. Shinsuke Nakamura WWE Smackdown 3/27/20

ER: This was really good, until it ended suddenly about 4 minutes in. The way they were working it felt like we were getting a nice 10 minute match, but quick Bryan interference and a schoolboy later, and we were out. Shame, as this was going along great. I didn't think Nakamura was putting too much  effort into the tag opposite Drew last week, but here they were really jelling. Nakamura started with some nice grounded knees (and later went back for an even better one while working a choke) and I was into the ways he was staying on Gulak. Gulak hit the John Woo dropkick and Nakamura sprawled to the floor, and hooked Gulak's leg, and upending Gulak on the apron. As they got back in Gulak snared him in a couple dragon screws as Nak was stepping through the ropes, and it just felt like they were setting up some cool stuff for a longer match. Nakamura seemed ready for a good match, loved his leaping knee off the top and the way he forced his forearm into Gulak's throat on a guillotine. However, a schoolboy finish after interference to end a cool match is almost as satisfying as finding a pube in a meal you were enjoying.

Oney Lorcan vs. Tony Nese 205 Live 3/27/20

ER: This was the best of the three matches we were given this week, which makes sense as this one actually got some time. Nese has been slowly getting more focused in-ring and has dropped a lot of those disconnected athletic combo spots, and I have to imagine being in the ring with guys like Lorcan, Kendrick, or even Mike Kanellis has benefitted him. For much of his run he's been paired with more athletic flier types and that just begets a looped series of mirror reversal backflip spots. Against a guy like Lorcan, instead of seeing mirror reversals, we get battles over tight headscissors and body vices. That is far more interesting to me, as it cuts off Nese's excesses. Lorcan is really good at doing compelling things with a headscissors and Nese has strong thighs and knows how to make a body vice look really painful. Whenever Nese tries to snap of some kicks, Lorcan is right there with big chops and hard uppercuts, and when Nese gets lulled into playing Lorcan's ground game he winds up getting punished with some ground and pound. Nese is a big bumper so he'll always take Lorcan's blockbuster right on his neck, and I thought it was really smart the way they built to Nese's bigger flourishes. Nese flipped out of Lorcan's half nelson suplex and hit him in the throat to set up his springboard moonsault, tosses Lorcan rudely into the turnbuckles with a German suplex, and nails him with a running knee. I don't quite trust him with guys who are like 2016-2019 Tony Nese, but this is a guy growing as a wrestler, and Lorcan is a great guide. I dug all of this.

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