Paradigm Pro Cherry Picking 2

Hoodfoot Mo Atlas vs. Austin Connelly 9/11

PAS: We are Connelly superfans on this blog and it is great to watch him go from a guy who lost all of his matches, to someone getting big wins. He is always going to overwhelm people with his pace and he barrels into some monster Hoodfoot shots but just keeps coming forward, like a rabid terrier. He is a guy who burns out wind not by drawing a match out but by immersing his opponent in a hurricane. I wish the choke that he finished him with looked tighter, although I liked how he kept adjusting it. Fun stuff from two masters of the two minute match. 

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Paradigm Pro Wrestling Cherry Picking

I am going to watch and review all of the PPW UWFI rules shows, as that is a weird thing I am super into, but they run other shows and either sprinkle in UWFI rules matches or have other cool looking things mixed in among stuff I am less interested in, so on to the Cherry Pick!

Matt Makowski vs. Flash Thompson 5/26/21

PAS: This wasn't a UWFI rules fight although the opening section was worked like that with some nice simple grappling by Makowski. When they got to their feet and did some indy wrestling, it didn't do a ton for me, Makowski broke out his burning hammer spun into an armbar which was cool, and I liked Flash's kneebar counter, but they also did some rope running and chops which I could have done without. The finish was cool, with Flash lifting his shoulder on a pin attempt, which Makowski pounced on and hit an armbar for the tap, Makowski is pretty much always worth watching, and is freaky fast when he attacks.

Hoodfoot Mo Atlas vs. Ron Bass Jr. 6/9/21

PAS: This was also a traditional match, and exactly what you want from two big heavy handed guys. Bass towers over Hoodfoot, but Hoodfoot has established his KO power so I totally buy him throwing in the pocket with Bass. Bass has great chin checking uppercuts, and they have a fun long brawling section on the floor which was highlighted by a big Hoodfoot bump over the stairs. They get back in the ring and continue to pound on each other, ending in a sick Hoodfoot clothesline to the back of Bass's head for the win. I could watch this all day. 

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Paradigm Pro Wrestling Terminal Combat 5/21/21

PAS: I am in the bad for the PPW UWFI series, and they put together a great looking card here. Unfortunately I am really weary of the Frankensteining of the rules for Terminal Combat, with the first five minutes being UWFI rules before it becomes a street fight. Feels like if this was a straight UWFI rules show it would be amazing, we will see how this goes.

Akira vs. Dominic Garrini

PAS: This match was kind of what I was worrying about. I really liked the five minute UWFI section. The dueling leglocks were cool, and I liked how aggressively Akira went after the Kimura. It was pretty clever how Dom used the rules shift to break the Kimura attempt with a big low blow. I didn't love the street fight section, it was stiff, but there were these silly Akira spots like putting a pop tart into Garrini's mouth. Really came off discordant. Dom using a bunch of low blows to set up a bulldog choke was cool, but this really was neither fish nor fowl and I would have enjoyed either a UWFI match or a street fight way more.

Dustin Leonard vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: This doesn't go five and thus was just a UWFI rules match. Love Leonard who is a Ju-Jitsu black belt who looks like Don Kernodle. He is one of my favorite guys to watch in this fed, even though he is pretty limited. The stand up parts of this fight didn't look great with Leonard looking a little flinchy and overearly dropping from a Thompson hook. Flash brought his nice movement, but not much else. Finish was bonkers though, with Leonard from his back pressing Thompson off of him with his knees and spinning him into a cross armbreaker. Totally sick shit, and stuff like that will keep me searching out all Dustin Leonard. 

Lord Crewe vs. Derrick Neal

PAS: Crewe has been one of the in-ring standouts of this project, really mastering these kind of swing for the fences brawls and this was another corker of fight. Neal hasn't done anything for me previously, but fit nicely into the Lord Crewe formula. Lots of wild shots some, which land big. Loved the finish, as we are into the count down to switch rules, and Crewe hits a nasty knee right to the chin and a sick sounding diving elbow for the KO. Really popped me by avoiding the awkward switch into street fight. 

Alex Kane vs. Isiah Broner

PAS: This was my most anticipated fight of the show, and it delivered (and thankfully in under five minutes). Both these guys come off like total killers, and it was quick and hard hitting. Broner throws bodyshots to the kidneys and is able to slip and hit a suplelx of his own. Kane fires back with a German chained into a Saito suplex but as he is setting up the Mark of Kane Broner slips out and puts him to sleep with a spinning back elbow. Intense short and violent, exactly what I have loved about this series.

Ron Mathis vs. Josh Crane

PAS: Crane is a Big Japan guy, and although there was an interesting moment or two during the UWFI series - Mathis has some fun takedowns - they were basically killing time until the chairs and doors part of the match. That was OK I guess, it is a style I am pretty much over, there were some nice bumps, but unless these matches have outstanding individual performances or something, they just tend to to blur to me. I thought the finish was clever with Mathis making a Backlund face after getting driven through a door and locking in a choke, but otherwise this wasn't much.

Austin Connelly vs. Brayden Lee

PAS: This was supposed to be Connelly vs. Max the Impaler which I hope we get to see one day. This was a banger though on it's own. Lee was in a singlet and introed with his collegiate wrestling background referenced, and was really great working amateur style stuff into this match. He stuffs Connelly's aggressive attack and hits gator rolls, and is constantly and impressively riding and taking down Connelly,  wet blanketing his intensity. Connelly is able to take control a bit when he lands a bunch of strikes to the temple on a banana split attempt, and is able to ragdoll him with a throw. Finish was really great with Connelly figure fouring Lee's leg while Lee was on his back and then stomping him right on the head. I thought Lee ruled in this, would love to see him back, and Connelly is one of the most entertaining wrestlers in the world right now.

ER: Brayden Lee gets his college credentials listed in his intro but this man looks like someone who walked straight out of a collegiate wrestling program and showed up in Paradigm. Connelly is a crazed Connor O'Malley character who had no real chance of competing with Lee's wrestling skills, but had his own advantage with every part of the striking game. It's impossible to prevent Lee's takedowns, but Lee never expects to be open hand slapped across the ear immediately after a takedown, so it's this cool battle of amateur wrestler brain vs. UWFI brain. Connelly rushes in (as he'll do) and repeatedly gets trapped in front chanceries and constantly has his force deadened by Lee pushing on his shoulders, but again: Lee knows wrestling, Connelly knows how to hit, and Lee does not know how to take someone down while avoiding the hits that come after. I loved when Lee locked on a banana split and you're thinking "well Connelly is toast" before you, too, realize that Connelly can throw hard palm strikes right to Lee's head and neck and suddenly the banana split is neutralized. Connelly's gutwrench powerbomb looked sick, and then he outdoes himself by almost getting a shoot Texas Cloverleaf before deciding it's easier to just stomp Lee in the head and neck a bunch instead of rolling through with the Cloverleaf. We've seen Connelly work great 2 minute, 3 minute, and now 4 minute matches, and this pairing is something I'd love to see several more times with all new stips each time. Connelly is just so good on these shows. 

John Wayne Murdoch vs. Reed Bentley

PAS:  These guys are a brawling tag team, and Murdoch kept bailing out and trying to grab weapons, only to get called back into the ring, at one point he even sat down in the chair to try to run out the clock to Terminal Combat. Still when Murdoch comes back into the ring, Bentley hits him with a nasty barfight headbutt and lands a knee on the ground to KO him before they ever got to the garbage wrestling. I liked the last flurry from Bentley, although this was more of a troll then a match.  

Bradley Prescott IV vs. Jody the Wrestler

PAS: This was one of those meta comedy matches where guys make fun of the idea of pro-wrestling. I pretty much hate those universally, and Jody and Bradley aren't exactly UCB all-stars when it comes to sketch comedy. Keep it moving

Janai Kai vs. Sandra Moore

PAS: This did the best job so far of bridging the two concepts in this match. Kai is a UWFI rules veteran and wrestled Bloodsport, while this was Moore's first UWFI rules match. Kai dominated the first section using TKD and some nice snap takedowns. Moore is bigger and used her size to keep Kai off of her and land some bodyshots. Moore is basically able to survive until Terminal Combat where after Kai works her over a bit with Nunchucks, she is able to land a sick chair shot to the side of Kai's head and take control, finishing her off with a big powerbomb. Liked the story of the brawler surviving the shoot style specialist until it was her turn.

Jollyville Fuck-Its (Nasty Russ and T-Money) vs. Creature Feature (Adriel Noctis/Lazarus)

PAS: I am not really sure how much of this match was actually shoot style, but it is such a pleasure to see the Fuck-It's back and whooping on some Goths. T-Money was a truck in this match, just tossing the Features with big slams, his opening shot was a spinebuster which looked like it snapped Lazarus's head back and won a UWFI rules match by KO after wasting Noctis with a pounce into the ropes. Russ was a little less showcased, although I loved his big right hand. This was basically a fun tag semi-squash, and there is no one better at violently squashing a tag team then the Fuck-Its.

Chase Holliday vs. Yoya

PAS: This was a nifty short David vs. Goliath shoot match. Yoya starts the match leapfrogging Holliday and dropping him with a big kick, Holliday is able to get up and throw Yoya a couple of times, and hits a couple of big powerbombs out of armbar attempts. Yoya was able to grab another armbard, slither up his body and grab a rear naked choke and put him out. Holliday had been really protected before this, so it was a big upset, and I like Yoya as a dangerous little guy who can absorb big shots but put someone to asleep if given the chance. 

Matt Makowski vs. Matt Justice

PAS: The opening five minutes of this were pretty cool with Justice using his size and strength to counter Makowski and push him into the Terminal Combat section. I enjoy Justice in these shoot matches as a big strong hard hitting guy who can overcome his lack of skill, kind of like a garbage wrestling Crazy Horse Bennett. The transition into Terminal Combat was cool with Makowski having a rear naked choke on and Justice falling backwards over the top rope to start the brawling. The brawling section in the middle was pretty dull though, not a lot of energy by Justice when we was in control, really felt meandering (which they even brought up sort of on commentary) Finish was cool though with Makowski putting on his Gi and using a Gi assisted choke armbar for the tap grabbing Justice after he got put through a table. I really like the MMA guys secret weapon being a Gi, too bad the brawling wasn't better as this had some stuff I liked. 

Hoodfoot vs. Bobby Beverly

PAS: They skipped the UWFI rules section of this match and went straight into the brawl, and while it had it's moments, Hoodfoot hit some great headbutts, there were some nice suplexes, it really felt repetitive as most of the match was Hoodfoot getting an advantage and Gregory Iron interfering, rinse repeat. The finish was pretty nasty with Hoodfoot suplexing Beverly hard into a door and Iron and Iron really getting crushed, and Hoodfoot does have great charisma, but this was pretty low on the list of Heavy Hitters defenses, and the entire Hoodfoot to Makowski to Beverly back to Hoodfoot series of quick title changes felt like a waste.

PAS: Overall as an idea this was a failure to me. I am a big fan of this roster, so many matchups I want to see, but everything I liked was just a straight UWFI match, and I am thinking I will stick to that stuff from Paradigm in the future. 

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 6 Finale

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

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

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

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

Freddie Hudson vs. Lexus Montez

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

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

Big Beef Gnarls Garvin vs. Lord Crewe

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

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

Yoya vs. Robert Martyr

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

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

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

Max the Imapaler vs. Alex Kane

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

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

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

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

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

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 5

Hardway Heeter vs. Kerry Awful

PAS: This was Awful working the match as Ian Rotten punishing a young guy, which is a type of match I like. They set this up last week with Awful berating Heeter, his student, for losing. This was Awful potatoing him with kicks to the face, a really tight front face lock and stiff forearms, while Mr. Stuff talks shit from the outside (Mr. Stuff has a great Gary Hart vibe to him). Heeter is able to fire back and hit three big suplexes causing Mr. Stuff to throw in the towel, and earning his respect. I am into this version of Awful and while this wasn't strictly shootstyle, I enjoyed the vibe.

ER: I'm with Phil, the Ian-punishing-student match type is always worth seeing, and this was a really cool version of that. I thought the set up last week was kind of corny, but the follow through match more than made up for that. Awful was a good Ian, and even had Ian's exact same love handles from when Ian was in his best shape. Awful adds a small wrinkle to the match type as he was really great at facially selling Heeter's strikes. Awful slaps Hardway to start and then does a really great wince and stagger in response to Hardway's return volley, and I liked it more than the Ian method of pretending the slap never happened. I dug how Awful immediately went to a single leg as a response, then threw a couple of Kurisu level kicks at Hardway's head. Awful's missed elbow into a Heeter back suplex was set up really well, and Heeter's Saito suplexes to draw the towel looked great. I really loved the towel stoppage, such a great shithead move to preach a Never Say Die match mantra and then have your boy throw in the towel. Love it. 

Appollo Starr vs. Sidney von Engeland

PAS: This was fun. Starr had an old veteran mat wrestling style, and he would get countered by von Engeland's flashier stuff. Engeland worked an armbar in some interesting ways, and while I didn't like Starr's leg slap enziguiri, that was my only complaint. The straitjacket exploder he used to win the match was sick stuff, and von Engeland took it right on his head, appropriate KO for sure.

ER: I liked these two on the mat, and liked how this was a little more drawn out than a lot of the quicker fights we've been getting. This one took a little more time without falling into any bad strike exchange traps, just kept to some mat exchanges and a couple of submission attempts. Starr felt like a guy scrapping by, trying a can opener and looking open to finish any way. I really liked Engeland slowly wearing Starr down, and my favorite moment of the match was Starr selling a backdrop like it really meant something, taking a backdrop as an actual knockdown. The enziguiri was out of place, but that match finishing exploder was something else, just a big boy toss right there. 

Isaiah Broner vs. Dustin Leonard

PAS: This was my most anticipated match on the show, and unfortunately it fell a bit short. I liked almost all of this a lot. It was worked really smartly with Leonard going for limb attacks, and Broner using his core strength and base to counter them or go to the ropes if he couldn't. I love the way Leonard attacks a hold, he is always adjusting, tightening and shifting his grip, he puts it on and then coils his body around to amp it up. Broner's only bit of offense was the KO blow where he hits a palm strike on a Leonard shoot, and it just wasn't a good looking shot. Broner is normally so good at making his KO shots look like KO shots, but he didn't have his feet set and was leaning over and it didn't land the way it needed to. Since the match was short and so much of the match is based around that moment, it really hurts that it wasn't pulled off.

ER: I match up 100% with Phil on this one. Same level of excitement, same absolute love of Leonard's sticky glue submissions, same disappointment with the finish. Leonard is so much fun, love him hanging off Broner's legs and trying to drag him down to the mat with all his weight. His leg submissions were nasty as hell, with Broner using this great strength and balance to stay standing even while Leonard is anaconda wrapped around his leg, hyperextending it. Leonard also has these fun downward palm strikes that look like peak big brother torturing little brother smacks to the side of the head. But the finishing shot doesn't look great, looks like Broner lightly paintbrushes Leonard behind the ear, and it didn't feel like any kind of finish. A good KO shot in a worked fight is not an easy thing, because a lot of the time a "Good Worked KO" is just "An Actual Near KO", and that's a tough thing to brace yourself for. These guys are likely taping several of these matches in a weekend, can't really get your button pressed several times, so it's not easy. But it is an undeniable drag when a match ends like this. 

Ron Bass Jr. vs. Big Beef Gnarls Garvin

PAS: This was two minutes, and what you wanted from a two minute match between two big ass dudes. Beef hits a nasty slap to the ear, Bass lands thudding short clotheslines amidst a bunch of smaller harder shots. It all comes to a head with a Garvin club to the head and a side suplex for the KO. Maybe could have used one more Bass big shot but I certainly enjoyed what we got.

ER: This was my true dream match, but whenever any fed pairs up the biggest guy with the 2nd or 3rd biggest guy available, that will basically always be my true dream match. Knowing how big Beef is really puts over just how huge Bass is. Their stand and trade was among my favorites in this series, as Beef was really swinging with full arm shots, just swarming Bass and not caring about whether every shot was landing. Beef connected on some of the hardest open hand slaps, and Bass throws these cool slow strikes with a ton of power. Bass doesn't have long arms, and his throwing speed is very slow, but every connection sounds like a real connection. He nails a couple of great body shots on Beef in the corner, and lays him right out with a short arm clothesline. Obviously I wanted several more minutes of this match, but Beef powering Bass over with a back suplex was really impressive, and I loved how Bass sold the suplex all through the 10 count. RUN IT BACK BABY!

Cole Radrick vs. Robert Martyr

PAS: This had a lot of energy, and although I thought they might have done a little too much at points (they did six suplexes in a four minute match), I appreciated the pace. The idea was Martyr earning Radrick's respect (which was kind of funny because grizzled veteran Radrick looks like Jimmy Olsen boy reporter). Radrick landed some really heavy stuff here, including the KO short elbow which clipped Martyr right on the jaw. Martyr stood right in too, and landed some big slaps. 

ER: This was really really fun, both guys lighting each other up and neither waiting around for any kind of planned shots. The worst part of strike exchanges is when you can see too many of the seams. Seeing guys throw and then pause waiting for someone almost always takes me out of things, and these two had none of it. They went in throwing hard, and any pauses would have lead to either of them getting rocked, so the only defense was more offense. Radrick landed some real hard shots, and his grounded punches were really nasty. I'm not entirely certain that closed fists are technically allowed here, but striking rules in this series are basically treated like traveling calls, and I am fine with that since it leads to things like Radrick punching the hell out of Martyr. Martyr's suplexes dumped Radrick really unceremoniously, with one looking like it bounced Radrick's head across the ring. They had a tough spot to fill, coming right after a super heavy brawl, and they stuck the landing nicely. 

Matt Makowski vs. Bobby Beverly

PAS: I am not sure the point in having Beverly win this title again. There are lots of interesting match ups with Makowski, I see less with Beverly. For a shock title change, at least it was worked well. Beverly hits a couple of side suplexes, but Makowski hits a couple of bigger ones, and dominates Beverly on the feet with several knock downs. Just as it looked like Beverly was going down he hits a Hail Mary big shot on the ear, dropping Makowski. It felt like a big MMA or boxing upset and certainly doesn't hurt Makowski. 

ER: I really don't understand the point in moving the title around like this, even though I enjoyed the scrap that lead to the surprise title change. The idea of the invading MMA stable accruing belts is more fun to me personally, and I was happy to see it off Beverly (even though I obviously enjoy Beverly). The suplexes here were gnarly as hell, a bunch of nasty foldings and hard landings. The surprise finish worked really well, as Makowski was believably dominating the stand up, and Beverly's KO shot and the way Makowski sold it really made this feel like a genuine surprise KO. It was almost the same kind of shot we saw in Leonard/Broner, only this shot behind the ear really looked like what they were going for. 

PAS: This seems mainly to set up a Garrini/Lawlor vs. Justice/Beverly tag match next week, and I didn't dig the Justice promo setting this up, where he shits on UWFI rules and makes a lame Attitude era joke (calling Garrini and Lawlor "Severn and Blackman") and tries to put over him and Beverly teaming up as a Super Team. I have really been into this season but am a little wary of where it's all going, not sure about tag team matches, and there are two of them next week. The Middleweight tourney will be a whole season and while it has some names I am excited about (Nasty Russ!) it has a lot of new guys and seems to be missing some of the more established names they have set up (Austin Connelly, Alex Kane, Garrini, Lord Crewe). The card of Terminal Combat looks great, but the Terminal Combat concept seems really dumb. It's 5 minutes of UWFI rules and then it switches to No DQ. I mean, how many of these UWFI matches have even *gone* 5 minutes, and then having them all switch to garbage matches in the middle of a UWFI rules is going to be really discordant, totally unnecessary.  We will see...but I am a bit nervous.

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 4

Hardway Heeter vs. Austin Connelly

PAS: Wild 90 second match, as we have come to expect from Connelly. He rushes Heeter and they exchange hard winging shots, until Connelly hits a nasty elbow and a gutwrench suplex leaving Heeter laying. They did a post match angle with Kerry Awful berating Heeter and calling him a pussy and a loser, which took a bit of the shine off of Connelly's first win, but I am happy to see him get the duke and hopefully move on to bigger and better things.

ER: This really kicked ass, and felt like it had some solid turns for only 90 seconds. People are already timing Connelly's match starting charge, and I like how Heeter caught him with a knee, but they both kind of responded like they were both surprised by it. It's like Connelly has at least 5 seconds of Tasmanian Devil where he is just going to be invincible, and I love it. Even when he wrestles Heeter to the ground, Heeter is landing hard shots to Connelly's back that Connelly doesn't seem to even notice as he's elbowing Heeter in the face. Connelly throws three slaps in the corner that lead to a plausible standing break, and we get an actual well done elbow exchange. Heeter throw nice, sharp, lunging lefty elbows with a good amount of force behind them, and then gets leveled by one of Connelly's. Connelly bounced Hardway off his head with a gutwrench suplex, looked like the kind of whiplash that should end things. Great scrap. 

Yoya vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: This was my favorite Thompson match so far. He was really fun as a smirking prick bully, using his size to manhandle Yoya until he got too cocky.  I really liked him shit talking as he stuffed Yoya's shoot, and he broke an armbar attempt with some really sick stomps to Yoya's temple. Finishing minute was very cool with Yoya hitting a nasty jumping knee, stunning Thompson. Flash fired back with a palm strike (which looked like a KO shot), but Yoya survived and jumped onto Flash's back, and with the help of some strikes to the temple locked in a choke. Very cool stuff.

ER: I came into this anticipating the upset, just because I don't think I've ever seen them give such huge odds for/against any of the fighters until now, with Thompson coming in as something like a -450 favorite. Yoya is the smallest competitor in this, they set deep odds, I think we know how this pro wrestling thing works. This was a great showing for dickhead heel Flash, a really disrespectful performance with amusing cheapshots and eventually comeuppance. He is A Guy Asking For It throughout, throws an elbow to the back of Yoya's head while they were on the mat, tosses Yoya like a bag of laundry, kicks at his head while breaking a hold. I dug how he started unnecessarily throwing bigger shots, which gave Yoya the chance to actually dodge. When Flash was just throwing leg kicks and working smart, he was on pace to finish in two minutes. But when you commit to a haymaker you leave yourself open if it misses, and Yoya hits a boss leaping knee under the chin for a nice knockdown. He misses another wide swing and Yoya pounces on his back for the tap, and in true dickhead fashion, Flash denies tapping afterward. I'm not sure I totally bought Yoya pulling off this upset, and would have liked it even more if Flash *almost* got caught, but didn't, and didn't learn his lesson. That would have set up a more interesting match down the line. Still, I liked the actual work in this a lot. 

Damyan Tangra vs. Isaiah Broner

PAS: Love Broner, he is one of my favorite guys in this promotion. He comes off like such a dangerous badass, like French Montana's bodyguard who has a bunch of felonies. Tangra is WW4A guy who has a mat wrestler gimmick. Fun structure here, with Tangra trying lots of takedown attempts and Broner using his core strength and base to shrug them off. Broner also drops Tangra with a nasty body shot. Tangra is able to stun Broner with some head kicks, but makes the mistake of going for a German. He gets shrugged off and wasted with a spinning back elbow. Would be into seeing more Tangra, and Broner vs. Dustin Leonard next week should be fucking killer. 

ER: I really liked how annoying Tangra was here, just gluing himself to Broner and tangling him up in annoying ways. I'm not sure I've seen something quite like this, as Broner was on his feet the whole time but because of Tangra's annoyingness he kept having to buckle and reach like someone was trying to trip him up during a game of Twister. Broner has hands, so Tangra just hugs his way in close and takes away that reach. It might not be super effective as a long term strategy, but it's annoying, and when you annoy someone it can force them to make mistakes. And once there is a bit of distance, that's when Broner lands a hard right to Tangra's spleen to put him down. I liked Broner's selling when Tangra lands some kicks, how he doesn't go down for a grazing high kick but leans forward as if he's trying to maintain his center of gravity. Broner sold the kicks like someone who has been having drinks with friends, and realized just how much he had when he tried standing up from the table. The back elbow finish was sick, love a great back elbow. 

Dominic Garrini vs. Ron Mathis

PAS: This was the chickens of Mathis's Shooter Ronnie gimmick coming home to roost.  Garrini tooled him on the mat in a fun way, intentional giving him openings and then countering him. Mathis was able to muck it up a bit, but this was mostly Garrini showing off. Loved the finish with Garrini taking the back and - as Mathis countered - suckering him right into a triangle choke which put Mathis to sleep. Garrini does a lot of different things as a wrestler, a lot of which I like, some I don't. I think he has really found himself in this context. Indy wrestling has plenty of W*ING Kanemuras, they need more Katsumi Usudas. 

ER: I appreciate Mathis committing to the bit and still trying to goof off against someone like Garrini (also, I like how in Mathis's tale of the tape bio it says he "really likes PPW UWFI Rules matches"), even pointing out that Garrini didn't get him with a strike and only grazed his mohawk. Garrini toying with people is a great look for him. I think there is pressure on guys with non "pro wrestling" skills to learn those and better blend in with pro wrestling, but I think there is more value in incorporating your unique skillsets into a pro wrestling frame work. Dom is at his best when he shoehorns his legit skills into a match, and it will always be better than him doing pro wrestling sequences. 

Derek Neal vs. Ron Bass Jr.

PAS: First time I have seen Bass, and I was into him. He is a big fat guy with short arms, and seems really into hitting hard. He had some nasty clubbing clotheslines and used his fat well, which is welcome. I need to track down some non UWFI stuff for sure, feels like he would make an awesome Blackjacks tag team with Manders. I didn't like Neal in his Gary Jay match, and wasn't into him here. I thought the finish looked especially weak. You don't want the guy clearly throwing softer stuff to get the knockdown, and he broke out his windmill arms for the ground and pound. Want to see more Bass, have seen enough of Neal.

ER: Certain things in wrestling excite me more on paper than they should, and "oh hey so Outlaw Ron Bass's actual son is wrestling now and he's a big fat guy" is all the information I would need to know to make me seek out some Ron Bassito. And, I loved him. He's shaped more like a small Akebono or a large Jake Milliman than Ron Bass, with his big broad back and egg torso, and he absolutely lays it in. He threw a couple of lariats with almost no runway, and they were great enough that they would look like a finish if he dropped an elbow right after. I think his bumping reminded me of Milliman too, the way he took a thrust kick to the stomach by almost rolling off his feet. I am with Phil on the finish, didn't think any of Neal's stuff looked like it should fell Bass, and the match stopping slaps were just hitting forearms. Bass looked like he was just dealing with them, not being damaged by them, and that's precisely how they should have been sold. 

Jordan Blade vs. Max the Impaler

PAS: Battle of the non-binary beasts! I thought this was pretty awesome. Max really projects menace well, coming off like a total monster, and they made Blade (who is really strong) look small. Blade would constantly work for submissions and Max would just power their way out of. The question was whether Blade could sink in something before they got got. Max's Hughes slam out of the triangle attempt was nastier than Matt Hughes' original, and the final KO knee did the job for sure. Blade was pretty slick with their submissions and I really bought that they were going to pull off the win, until I didn't buy it. Post match they set up Max vs. Alex Kane which was a match I had no idea I wanted to see, until I really wanted to see it.

ER: This is how you do a satisfying ground and pound stoppage! Blade was really good at staying in things and tying up Max, throwing constant open hand slaps at Max's head while working for any submission she could get. Max seemed to working this like a horror movie villain, where she welcomes any attack Blade can muster, knowing she can finish at any time. It's a risky strategy, but it gave us a cool chance to see a bunch of Blade's cool tricks. I liked how active Blade was during submissions, quick to throw in strikes, and it was fun seeing how Max would break them. I don't know if I can say the Hughes Slam was nastier than the original - I mean, Matt Hughes ran that man across the entire damn octagon - but I love seeing a cool powerbomb out of a triangle attempt. Blade's hanging armbar looked great, and Max's knee strike to flatten Blade was excellent. Sign me up for Max vs. Kane. 

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 3

Akira vs. Hardway Heeter

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

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

Sidney Von Engeland vs. Dustin Leonard

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

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

Alex Kane vs. Phoenix Kidd

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

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

Appollo Starr vs. Chase Holliday

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

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

Bobby Beverly vs. Lexus Montez

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

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

Hoodfoot vs. Matt Makowski

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

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

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 2

Cole Radrick vs. Yoya

PAS: This reminded me of a WEC Batanamweight fight, little guys moving fast and pressing a lot of action. Yoya really impressed me here, he did a bunch of really cool spinning mat attacks including one spot where he goes for an armbar, gets lifted by Radrick off the ground, spins on to his back for a choke and then slips right back into the armbar. Only flaw in this match was Radrick's selling, he sells this big kick like he got brain trauma with his arms sticking straight out in the air. That is cool stuff, but this promotion stops fights for way less, and it wasn't plausible that the ref would let him continue. Outside of that I enjoyed this a lot, interested to see what Yoya does in Bloodsport next week.

ER: I loved Radrick here and thought his selling was excellent. I've seen plenty of people try to work the fencing response selling into pro wrestling, and it almost always looks incredibly stupid (with the stupidest ever being Jimmy Yang taking a Tank Abbott punch in WCW), and here it looked like Radrick clearly had a concussion. And as Phil said, that was why that ended up being a pretty pointless use of such a realistic sell. We've seen a dozen matches in this UWFI series alone that have been stopped for less than a man visually suffering a traumatic brain injury, so the idea that the match wasn't immediately stopped was ridiculous. That really should have been the finish if they wanted to work that spot into the match, makes no sense to give a guy a standing 8 after he's doing a horizontal Frankenstein impression. 

That aside, everything else ruled. Yoya is super small and super quick, and Radrick can use cool power offense against him even though he is small against most other guys. At one point he does a fisherman's buster that starts with both men lying flat, just powers Yoya up. Radrick's selling was strong throughout, loved how he leaned into all of Yoya's strikes, fell into the ropes after a few of them without ever coming off as "acting". The shotgun kick that lead to the should-have-been stoppage looked great, really would have completely worked as the finish. But I did love Yoya pouncing with punches to try to capitalize, and Radrick really paid back that kick with wicked hammerfists and elbows before locking in a wicked armbar for the tap. These guys want to get a lot of their ideas into these quick fights (and Yoya has been one of the biggest "get my ideas in" guys in this series so far), but they really need to save some of them for later in the series. Can't have two cool finishes in one fight, you'll burn out the concept. 

Ron Mathis vs. Nick King

PAS: Mathis works a comedy gimmick on these shows as a garbage guy who claims he is a shooter. I get why you want to mix things up stylistically, but it doesn't do it for me. I liked King on last week's show, but he gets squashed here which is a shame. I would have rather seen King use his skill to flummox Mathis a bit, before Mathis figures it out. Instead he was a comedy guy claiming to be a shooter who steamrolls an actual guy in that style. Nice rear naked choke though.

ER: I was really looking forward to seeing more of King after his fantastic debut last week, and this was not quite what I wanted. What they did was good, but it was not the thing I wanted to see. Mathis rushes King with body blows that King anticipates, and outquicks Mathis into a great Vader/Inoki German suplex. When he recovers, Mathis comes in with a couple strong front chancery suplexes, then locks in the chancery again, but instead of going for another suplex he twists hard into an awesome rear naked choke for the tap. Paradigm has been good at bringing in unknowns and working them up the ladder through this series (guys who were unknowns in season 1 are now treated like known quantities, getting matched up with season 2 newcomers), so I know it's just a matter of time before King is getting to bigger matches. So, within context, I think this worked. 

Freddie Hudson vs. Alex Kane

PAS: Hudson is a former PPW champion who was returning to the promotion, and got a takedown here and even a suplex, but this was a Kane showcase. Kane really uses his hips when he throws people, and that head and leg clutch suplex he uses as a finisher is really sick. This US shoot scene needs an Otsuka, and Kane might fit that bill.

ER: I love when a new guy comes along with real suplex power, and Kane is like new Cobb. I like the set up of the match, with Hudson making his Paradigm return. I like the story of the guy with more matches in a promotion than anyone, returning to find the landscape is different than when he was last here. He comes into the match happy to be here, gets a nice suplex, but once Kane gets down to serious business it is over quick. Kane can really muscle guys around, and that Mark of Kane finisher of his is like he's throwing someone as far as he can after tying them up in La Nieblina. 

Kerry Awful vs. Aaron Williams

PAS: Awful was a lot of fun here, working this like Wellington Wilkins Jr., this old carny wrestler who might not know jujitsu but knows how to twist a wrist or pop a knee. I liked how he taunted Williams early to "take the cowards way out" by grabbing the ropes, which leads the crowd to chant "Coward" at him when he takes a rope break of his own. Williams had some moments too, and the finish was great with Williams hitting an Anderson Silva front kick and going for a stretch muffler for some reason, which Awful turned to a crucifix sugar hold for the tap. 

ER: This was a nice change of pace from the other matches this episode, worked very differently, a little more tentatively but not shying away from hitting each other. Williams' kicks all looked cool, loved when they went for a knucklelock and Williams kept kicking at Awful's head with axe kicks and front kicks. I actually thought this was going to end way earlier than expected, as Williams locked in a sick grounded full nelson that could have gone a few different directions, but Awful broke it by reaching back and clawing at Williams' head. The finish was awesome, thought the Silva front kick looked spectacular, and I loved the wrinkle of Williams going for an ill-advised stretch muffler but not locking it on quickly enough, allowing Awful to tap him with a slick anaconda crucifix. Very cool. 

10. Tom Lawlor vs. Lord Crewe

PAS: I think this is Lawlor's best performance in this style. Crewe is a guy with a bare knuckled fighter rep, and it was great to watch Lawlor ground him and work as a mat master. Loved how he kept controlling with a hammerlock, and how decisive and powerful his takedowns were. Lawlor had an awesome looking Anaconda vice head and armlock, and his reverse triangle choke finish was class. I thought Crewe was fine as a brawler who found his moments, although he should have left his spinning Vampiro kick on the drawing board. Lawlor versus Justice should be a lot of fun, and I hope he works it like this. 

ER: Love seeing Lawlor work a match like this with blinders on, working patiently through Crewe's strikes to land takedowns and work subs, all of which looked finish worthy. Lawlor was able to really convincingly work in a leg scissors submission and make it look like something that could happen in MMA, and I love that submission. There are a lot of ankle lock spots in wrestling now, hard to make one stand out, but I loved Lawlor refusing to break his ankle lock on Crewe, Crewe trying to kick him off, Lawlor grapevining the leg while yelling a FUCK YOU, Crewe hanging in with a worthy attempt of his own before wisely getting to the ropes. Crewe's standing strikes look better than most in this series, long arms sneaking in powerful shots, and once he started landing on Lawlor I loved all of Lawlor's muscle memory takedown selling. I really loved the sequence of Crewe missing a haymaker to set up a Lawlor rear naked choke, which I thought for sure was the finish, until Crewe slipped out and absolutely BLASTED Lawlor with an elbow strike to the cerebellum. Goddamn I thought Lawlor was hit so hard his spinal column separated. Hard to pull off two zombie sells on the same hour of TV, but I can't see any other way to sell that elbow other than Lawlor getting turned into a zombie statue. Lawlor's inverted triangle looked fantastic as a finish, thought this whole thing kicked ass. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 1

8. Hoodfoot Mo Atlas vs. Akira

PAS: One of the longer Hoodfoot UWFI matches I have seen and one where he sold a lot. Akira took most of the match, including landing a couple of big knockdowns, one with a stiff liver kick and one with a flurry ending in a running knee. Akira is good at bringing an appropriate amount of stiffness to his shots, and I bought him taking a lot of this match even though he was smaller. Finish was a classic Hoodfoot finish, with Akira rushing in and getting obliterated with that looping right hand. It felt like King Kong swatting a plane out of the sky.

ER: I expected this to be a kind of Hoodfoot steamrolling, but what we got was much more special than that likely would have been. Atlas is great at steamrolling guys, but he's perhaps even better at showing believable vulnerability. The mat scrambling looked really good, and Atlas is strong at little mat details the whole match, like grabbing Akira by the meat of the calf on the ground, or holding down Akira's elbow late in the match while in a triangle. Akira's striking looked like it was legitimately taking Atlas apart, and I exclaimed out loud to nobody when the liver kick knockdown happened. I went from expecting Hoodfoot in a walk, to not expecting Hoodfoot to get up from that kick. Akira rocks Atlas with a back elbow, goes back to that kick in the corner (Atlas is so good at using the ropes to save him from a knockdown, I've seen him rely on them in cool ways a few different times now, great way of integrating the ring into his matches), and drops him again with an awesome running knee. You knew Atlas was going to throw big hands, and all of them looked predictably great, loved him going for heavy kneelifts, and I can't believe Akira got up after that right hand sandwiched between two Saito suplexes. I'm glad he did, and I love how the wrapped it up instead. Great stuff through and through, so much better than the match I thought I wanted.

Robert Martyr vs. Nick King

PAS: I though this was good stuff. King is listed as having a folkstyle and judo background and there was a lot of mat scrambling at the start including King throwing a really seamless fireman's carry, and a nice snap german. Martyr actually uses the ref to block King's view, stomps down on the ankle and hits a big german of his own, before he gets a chicken wing for the tap. Lots of energy in the early mat work, and I would be into seeing King again.

ER: Great bang for your buck, under 3 minutes and all of it great. This was my first time seeing King, and Paradigm is really making me think they have a bottomless supply of interesting new guys at their disposal. King was really gluey on the mat, looked like he hardly let go of Martyr's left ankle and kept rolling and pivoting into new holds from that ankle control. His fireman's carry alone was great enough that I think I was counting myself a Nick King Fan one minute in. Martyr stomping King's ankle while the ref was clearly obstructing King's view is a real dickhead twerp move, and commentary was super sharp to point out how Martyr would likely get a point docked for that but gained a point and damage from following it up with a German. The chickenwing was a surprise quick finish, but a good one, and King was great at looking like a guy who got caught in a chickenwing. 

Isiah Broner vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: Felt like they were writing Flash out of the territory here. Both these guys have boxing backgrounds, so I enjoyed the timing and movement. Broner is able to shoot in and grab a quick double leg and clean out Thompson quick with ground and pound. They do a post match angle with Bobby Beverly turning extra heel by turning on his heel group and joining another heel group. I like this sub-promotion a lot, but all of the angles that aren't just one guy calling out another have been misses. 

ER: This was mostly angle, which is fine, but the execution was muddy and the implications were unclear. I'm not bothered by the 1 minute fight, even if the stand-up slapping thrills me less than any other options open to guys under these rules. But I did like Flash's selling on the shot that made his legs wobble, and thought Broner dragging Flash to the mat with a papoose takedown kicked ass. But you have Broner getting a stoppage in a minute, then Flash beating Broner down after, then Beverly cheapshotting Flash, which leaves Broner slumped there waiting for an angle to play out, his quick finish already in the rearview. I think filming something separately with Beverly and Flash could have played better, as a big Broner win should have been played up as a bigger thing than a Bobby Beverly stable change. 

Austin Connelly vs. Jordan Blade

PAS: I have compared Connelly to a shoot style Buzz Sawyer before, and he has really leaned into it with a chain and barking, which is great. Like always, Connelly is a missile aimed right at his opponent, constantly moving forward throwing reckless forearms. He run rights into a forearm by Blade which busts his mouth, and they are moving with such speed and wildness that it doesn't seem possible to control the force of blows. Blade grabs the ankle and really cranks it until the ref has to stop the fight. I am into both of these fighters, Connelly especially is one of my favorite wrestlers in the world to watch right now.

ER: My god Austin Connelly rules. There have been a ton of standout moments and standout wrestlers on these Paradigm UWFI shows, so it's high praise to say he might be my favorite. I like Phil's Shootstyle Buzz Sawyer description, and while I harp on other guys not really adhering to UWFI style, I hypocritically love how UWFI rules cannot contain Connelly as he rushes headlong into kill or be killed. These two were throwing elbows straight at mouths and not pulling things, and we got a great visual of Connelly yelling through a mouth filled with blood while trying to break an ankle lock. Blade hung in with the mad man and weathered the storm, fighting for that ankle lock even while Connelly was pounding on her knee to get her to break. I would have liked another minute or two of this, but also love experiencing the joy of Connelly in these starbursts. 

PAS: Filthy Tom Lawlor comes out and introduces Matt Makowski as the newest member of Team Filthy, which is awesome. Love Makowski, and I am excited to see what he does in this format. They do another angle that sets up Makowski vs. Hoodfoot which is of course great, but there is some stuff with Bobby Beverly and Lexus Montez which wasn't great and ended up with some shoving, and the angles continue to leave me cold. Makowski vs. Hoodfoot should rule though.

ER: Getting more guys than necessary out there to do some shoving was really not necessary, as the purpose of the Lawlor segment should have only been to build excitement for Makowski/Hoodfoot. That match is something to be excited about, and I left the segment excited for it, but everything else distracted from that excitement. 

Derek Neal vs. Gary Jay

PAS: This didn't work for me, the striking had a real Lisa Simpson windmill feeling, and there were some New Japan forearms and even a knife edge chop. It had some nice energy and Neal threw a good clothesline, but it felt out of the style and too many thing didn't land but got sold anyway.

ER: This didn't bother me as badly as it did Phil, but you know when Phil breaks out the Lisa Simpson reference that he is getting ready to really hate something. I don't know what part of the match those punches are referring to, as it's a tough criticism to levy towards a match with no closed fists allowed. When you're only allowed slaps (technically), you are going to be walking that fine line between hard strikes and "kids having a slap fight with 90% of them missing". And from the looks of this match, they landed in that unfortunate valley of strikes that likely really hurt, without actually looking good. That's a shame, because you could see how hard Neal was laying things in with his clubbing shots to Jay's back, and I liked the big powerbomb Neal used to start the match. He has 60 pounds on Jay, hell yes he should Sapp him up into a powerbomb. That kind of stuff worked for me, and I also liked how Neal kept getting solid knockdowns for the first minute: That powerbomb, a kind of waterwheel suplex, a couple of strikes, good way to keep Jay down early. But by the time they started in with bad looking chops and some real bad looking Jay roaring elbows, I was ready for it to be over. I'm sure it's possible to hit a cool roaring elbow that would fit right into the vibe of a Paradigm match, but these elbows wouldn't have looked good in any setting. 

Dominic Garrini vs. Matt Justice

PAS: This was really cool, and a great main event for a season premier. Garrini had only lost once in this style, to Hoodfoot, and Justice had been a guy working primarily superfights against UFC guys. Garrini controlled early with grappling, although Justice showed some skill there including a great gator roll and some really nasty elbows to the side of the head. We get a camera close up of the shots and they were brutal. They get back to their feet and Garrini shoots right into a KO knee. Felt like it was building to something bigger before being suddenly finished, and I liked how it really felt out of nowhere.

ER: Really impressed with both guys here, but it's hard to not be more impressed with Justice. Justice went for a single leg to start and really took a grappling match right to Dom, an ambitious strategy against a world class grappler with a notable gas tank. Dom is really good at being calm and cool on the mat, using his low gravity to put a lot of weight on Justice, to tire Justice out. Justice decides to break this by throwing two brutal back elbows at Garrini's head and face, another that scraped hard across Dom's face, and then rained down with a few more after shifting positions. On a weekly show filled with stiff strikes, these elbows were among the heaviest blows we've seen. The finish was so so, as Dom gets his hands way out in front of the knee that leads right to the finish. I obviously can't really blame anyone for not diving face first into a KO knee, but still a match finishing knee needs to look like a knee that will lead to a finish. Still, I love these guys, and would love to see this run back. 

ER: You could make the case that this episode was the best episode of the UWFI rules series so far, with nearly all of the matches delivering at minimum something memorable. We added Hoodfoot/Akira to our 2021 Ongoing MOTY List. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Paradigm Pro Wrestling 2020 Fighting Spirit Grand Prix 11/6/20

After really enjoying their UWFI contender series, I wanted to go back and check out some of the other PPW UWFI rules shows. This was their second Fighting Spirit Grand Prix and had a fun line up:

Cole Radrick vs. Derek Neal

PAS: This was really good, with some more pro-wrestling tropes then most of Contender series matches, but in a way that worked. Radrick had some real slickness on the mat including a great calf slicer counter. Neal was a heavier hitter, and landed a big elbow for a knockdown. Finish was really cool with Radrick landing a big double leg spinebustery takedown, and throwing from the top. Neal is able to squirm out and cancel Radrick with a gross elbow to his brain stem. Felt like it should have been a stoppage, but Radrick gets to his feet hits a desperate spin kick and a running knee to knock Neal to the floor and out. I would like to see both guys again in this style, really entertaining sprint with some big moments.

ER: Very cool short match that kept building to bigger, more exciting peaks. Radrick threw a bunch of cool spin kicks that really made this feel like something out of Bloodsport: The Movie. They were always great whether they landed or missed, because the landings looked like KO blows and the misses lead to him getting worked over. Neal laid into him after several misses, and it kept looking like Radrick wouldn't beat the count. They managed to make this feel like it could go both ways despite Neal connecting more. The way Radrick kept pulling things out were really exciting, great way to open a show. 

Dominic Garrini vs. Dustin Leonard

PAS: Leonard is relatively new to pro wrestling, but has a Jujitsu black belt and a ton of combat grappling experience. As expected this was mostly on the mat, and while it didn't have the flash you might see out of Volk Han or Navarro, there was some pretty cool technical stuff fighting in and out of guard, and a great looking judo throw by Leonard. On their feet Leonard looked a lot more tentative and got caught with a big jumping knee, he shoots into Garrini after getting stunned which allows Dom to crucifix him and elbow him out of there. Cool idea and neat to see a promotion just let two guys go out there and grapple. 

ER: I was really into this, great grappling throughout that felt like it had real consequences the whole fight. This was my first time seeing Leonard, and I will always like a bigger guy in a gi. He threw these straight front kicks that I really liked, and I liked how Dom struggled to contain him. Leonard was big on the mat, a great neutralizer against Dom. We've been watching a lot of UWFI rules stuff lately, and a lot of it is with guys who aren't as experienced on the mat, so seeing several minutes of two jujitsu guys doing their thing was a treat. Leonard even gets a strap down moment when he ditches his gi. I wonder if Gary Goodridge knows how important his UFC 8 finish is to pro wrestling. 

Max the Impaler vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: Max has a great look, a mix of Mad Max and Furiosa. They are really powerful looking, and for most of the match overwhelm Moriarty. I am a Moriarty low voter, but enjoy him in this style a fair amount. He has nice flashy kickboxing and knows how to time shootstyle near falls. Max had some nice Vader smashes and power throws.  Moriarty uses the bottom turnbuckle as a Anthony Pettis style springboard into a forearm which turns the tide, before another elbow finish. Fun stuff and I am interested in tracking down some more Impaler. 

ER: I think this is my first time actually seeing Max the Impaler outside of GIFs, but I agree they have a great wrestling look, maybe the most authentic of all the Mad Max cosplay gimmicks we've got over the years. The Fury Road aesthetic is strong but could be tough to convincingly pull off, but they pull it off well. Moriarty was like a CAW dummy here, I barely even noticed him until there was an annoying and out of place German suplex fighting spirit sell. This was all Impaler, clubbing away at Moriarty's back and executing big throws while stomping around. The Moriarty elbows at the finish looked good, and my favorite thing about all this may have been how Impaler sold their jaw after the finish. Very cool. 

Thomas Shire vs. Josh Crane

PAS: This was the least of the first round matches, but had a pretty cool finish. Crane is a Big Japan gaijin but didn't seem to have the hang of throwing UWFI style strikes, and most of his offense was strikes. Shire is on defense for most of it, until he throws a nice looking side suplex and then just wrecks Crane with European uppercuts out of a Muay Thai plum, which was exactly how you want a Dory trained guy to finish a shoot fight.

ER: I wasn't really feeling the stand up as Crane's open hand strikes didn't look good, although I thought Shire sold them well, especially a hard slap. Crane's offense was seeming to come alive (big knee lift that looked like it knocked the wind out of Shire) before Shire decided enough was enough. Shire hits an awesome back suplex and makes the decision to not take the suplex point so he could instead kick away at Crane. His European uppercuts landed deep and the stoppage finish was well utilized and timed. 

Alex Kane vs. Levi Everett

PAS: This is how you make a debut, holy moly. Kane has one of the fastest shoots I have seen in pro-wrestling. He looks like he is moving in 1.5 speed while doing two nasty gator rolls and a lightning taking of Everett's back. Levi only gets in two moves, but they both look great: a big bar fight headbutt for a knockdown, and a SUWA dropkick which actually works in this style. Kane finished him off with a head and arm cradle suplex which was like prime Taz level nasty. Two minutes but Kane is on my radar for sure!

ER: If you come in with the nickname Suplex Assassin, you have to murder someone to get that name over. Luckily for us the Amish love taking suplexes, because the match ended here was a doozy. Kane hits like an inverted fisherman's buster on Everett, a suplex that can be called the No Good Landing, and then we have to deal with Everett's lifeless corpse after. Everything up to that was great, a missed overhand by Everett lead to a great double leg takedown, Everett had a big knockdown off a headbutt, and there's some great timing on an Everett dropkick that hits heels first into Kane's chest. That suplex was a real finish though, on a show with all good finishes, that suplex is the thing you're talking about on the ride home. 

Bobby Beverly vs. Cole Radrick

PAS: They start out just throwing hands back and forth, finishing with a nasty open hand shot to the neck by Beverly. Rest of the match is Beverly establishing himself as the heel landing two low blows before his Saito suplex and a running knee for the KO. I really liked Radrick in the first round and would have liked to see him get a chance to do more here.

ER: Yeah, Radrick had a cool opening round performance and it felt like he was a bit wasted here establishing Beverly as the dirty fighter of the tournament. There's a fine line between these windmill arm open slaps looking painful and looking like clueless 3rd graders fighting, but I liked these, and liked how the opening flurry ended with Beverly chopping right at Radrick's neck tendons. Once Radrick composed himself he landed some nice stick and move shots, but had no chance in a format that apparently allows low blows. It's tough to do that "the pro wrestling ref keeps missing these low blows" when you're going for realism, as the low blows would work better if the match was actually stopped as if they were accidental. Beverly would still get the heel advantage and we wouldn't have to put up with wrestling tropes in our shootstyle. Beverly's Saito suplex and running knee make for a nasty finish, but we could have gotten there with different shenanigans. 

Dominic Garrini vs. Calvin Tankman

PAS: I dig Tankman on these shows working like Emmanuel Yarbrough. Garrini keeps trying to get Tankman on the ground, only to get stymied by his size, and it is hard to put on a hold with a giant dude smushing you. Garrini has been really clever with finishes and this was a killer, with Tankman rocking Garrini with big shots, knocking him down with a great spinning elbow, only to get suckered in to side choke for the tap. Love the Fujiwaraish way that Garrini is always moments away from tapping you out. 

ER: This started out slow and was clearly Dom trying to sucker Tankman into going to the mat, while Tankman was fine to stand. The stand-up from both was tentative, and that makes sense because who would not be tentative opposite Tankman? The finish was really fun, with Tankman finally hauling off on Garrini, throwing heavy elbows and a big chop, then nailing a big spinning back elbow that sent Dom spiraling into the mat. Alas, Tankman gets excited and pounces on Dom, with Dom getting his back and digging in his heels to get the tap. It doesn't seem too sustainable to lean into spinning back elbows just for the shot at getting a choke on the mat, but it worked here. 

59. Thomas Shire vs. Mike Braddock

PAS: Braddock is a OVW wrestler with a ju-jitsu and boxing background who has a prosthetic leg. He has really good balance on the leg, and it was easy not to even notice for most of the match. The only moment it comes into play is when Shire backs him into the corner mixing up kicks and palm strikes and accidentally leg kicks the metal leg which allows Braddock to take over. They had some good grappling exchanges, and I liked how Shire threw forearms to the ribs to weaken the body. Braddock is able to get a sneak head and arm choke during a mat scramble which worked really well to end a very even match. Shire is really fun in this style, and I hope we get to see more. 

ER: I thought this ruled, count me as an immediate Braddock fan. Braddock is like Catch Point Vachon, and his mat movement with a full prosthetic left leg were so natural that he comes off like an AI effect from Ex Machina. He moved like Buzz Sawyer, which will always put me in your corner, and it was easy to completely forget that he in on an artificial leg. It brings up cool psychology moments here, gives total new implications to a Shire kneebar. Is it an advantage that he has one less leg that Shire can work over for a submission? Or is it a disadvantage to have just one leg for every attack to be focused on? And that lead to a great moment where Shire was backing Braddock into a corner with strikes, and threw a leg kick and hit titanium. The grappling here was really great, both really tenacious and fighting for their spot in the semis. And the striking was really active, leading to a big Braddock slap, and Shire went after Braddock with brutal knees from side mount. The finish was awesome, with Shire pouncing into a rear naked choke after landing a heavy knee, trying to sink in hooks and looking like he had it, only for Braddock to turn himself and lock a head and arm choke onto Shire for a quick tap. I loved this, was hooked through every second, and I think I'm going to start obsessing over Mike Braddock matches the way Phil is going to obsess over Alex Kane matches. 

Hoodfoot Mo Atlas vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: Hoodfoot is the breakout star of this promotion. I am not sure I can remember a wrestler who carries that 1985 Mike Tyson one punch eraser aura. Moriarty is much faster and was able to use that speed to flummox Atlas early, staying inside on his looping strikes and peppering him, even getting a knockdown on a jumping knee. Atlas hurls Moriarty but gets caught in a triangle armbar and needs to go to the ropes. You can only play patty cake with a panther for so long, and Atlas gets another takedown and taps Moriarty with a vicious neck crank that looked like he was trying to rip his jaw off. 

ER: I really do get excited for Hoodfoot matches, the kind of guy I can watch on a show and have a good feeling that I'm not going to have to skip through a match that goes too long. I loved watching Hoodfoot stalk Moriarty, and it all paid off just the way I wanted. Moriarty lands a straight kick to the chest, but gets cute and tries a kind of Superman punch off the ropes, and Atlas catches him with a video game violent suplex. The neck crank he finishes the match with was awesome, big arm pressed hard and flat across Moriarty's jaw, just brutal. 

Chase Holliday vs. Lord Crewe

PAS: A spirited little slap fight. Crewe has a ton of activity in all of his UWFI fights, he is like Max Holloway, overwhelming his opponent with activity. Holliday has more power and also throws a couple of nice deadweight suplexes, before getting the KO with a spinning backfist, which didn't land as clean as one would hope for a KO finish. Still this was entertaining and compact which is what you want from a non-tourney fight. 

ER: I love Chase Holliday in these things, makes it easy to picture Daveed Diggs doing a cool version of The Wrestler. The arm swinging looked good here, neither guy fighting like they were afraid of getting hit.  It's not easy to work extended open hand stand-up without it occasionally coming off silly, but this looked tough a bruising. 

Lexus Montez vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: I have written up three Flash Thompson matches now, and in everyone I primarily talk about how he has really good head movement and positioning. I want there to be more, but so far it's mostly head movement. I did like a couple of the open hand hooks, and the back elbow he used to set up the heel hook was nasty. Still most of this didn't totally work. Montez has a Muay Thai gimmick, but the knees didn't have the pop they need. This wasn't bad, but this tourney has set a pretty high bar.

ER: I liked this a little more than Phil, but I give it credit for the final minute being stronger than the first minute. That's been a nice floor for several of these Paradigm UWFI matches, and it's a plus that's built into the format. It makes sense that the guys would save up their most explosive stuff for the finish, especially if they're going less than 3 minutes. So guys sometimes save themselves for the final burst and it ends matches on a high note. Here I thought the Montez shotgun knee knockdown looked great and I liked how Flash sold the 8 count. The Flash rolling kneebar finish was really slick and I liked how it got the instant tap. 

Hoodfoot vs. Mike Braddock

PAS: Another great Hoodfoot slugfest, Braddock catches Hoodfoot with multiple short counter hooks for knockdowns, throwing shorter to get inside of the more looping shots. Hoodfoot gets a big knockdown on one of his big swinging shots, which actually bends Braddock's head to the side. Braddock gets up, catches Hoodfoot again, but while going for the submission scramble, ends up on his back, and Hoodfoot stomps him on the head for the KO. Really enjoyable scrap, and Braddock fits really well in this style. 

ER: Here's an indy dream match featuring a guy I didn't know existed an hour earlier. Mike Braddock had just popped up on my radar and made me want to see more, and near instantly he is matched up with one of the true breakout names from this UWFI trend. This had a few neat surprises in its short runtime, with Braddock catching Atlas at just the right moment to stun him with a slap, then following up to the exact same spot. Braddock wound up with two knockdowns before this was over, and I love how Atlas folded on the first one, taking open hand shots and dropping down to a knee before going over, and the second time he just spun down a bit, selling almost more surprise than damage. Hoodfoot had a big, effortless looking throw early, looking like all arms, and he finishes this with a damn chest stomp stoppage! Hoodfoot is out here just stomping a man's chest until the ref gets involved, and that rules. Atlas has basically been doing the coolest version of the Rodney Mack White Boy Challenge and we are here for it. 

Bobby Beverly vs. Dominic Garrini

PAS: Pretty damn exciting 45 seconds, with Beverly charging at Garinni only to get caught in a leaping triangle for the tap. Came off in the crowd like a wild UFC finish which would get GIFed and Sportcentered, and is a hell of a way to set up a Hoodfoot vs. Garrini final.

ER: It's tough to fit too much more angle into under a minute, but this was really impressive. Beverly has been almost openly flaunting the rules of UWFI, more concerned with his Heavy Hitters title and getting some actual heat by doing so. The excitement in the crowd is palpable as Beverly charges directly into a leaping triangle and has to tap, that kind of excitement where the crowd is jumping out of their chairs at a fixed pro wrestling result. Garrini's title win felt really exciting, and I loved the idea of the title being on the line during the tournament, guaranteeing the title will be also defended in the finals. I'd love a Garrini/Beverly rematch, loved all of this. 

32. Dan Severn vs. Matthew Justice

PAS: Holy hell was this awesome. Even though we are big time Severn fans on SC, I wasn't expecting much from a match from a 62 year old Severn, but he looked great. He has such natural strength, that when he got a grip on Justice he would just muscle him down. He was also great at transitions on the ground, having a long struggle on the mat for an armbar, or transitioning into a side choke. Justice hits a great looking spear when he got some distance, which was a nasty shot for an old guy to take. Severn snaps after a slap in the corner which looked like it welted his eye, and he just yanks Justice down, with Justice nearly getting his arm ripped off in the ropes. Severn locks on a sick choke and drags Justice to the floor and strangles him out. 

ER: What a tough fight, probably the best Severn performance we've seen in his increased indy usage of the past 5 years or so. I've been really into Justice's MMA legend killer gimmick, and you knew it was going to come down to something crazy with the Beast. The grappling here was really good, and Severn was moving more fluidly than during his 1998 WWF run, no way he was moving like a 62 year old once that bell rang. He stuck to Justice and squeezed like an anaconda, not so much throwing him to the mat as he did drag him to the mat, just a concrete block dragging someone under water. Sure there were a couple throws, but I loved the dragging, loved how he fought for an armbar or choke and broke Justice's grip by throwing glancing chops at Justice's eyes. Matthew Justice has a great spear and he really drove that shoulder into Severn's midsection, really looking like it took his wind. The shot of Justice's face while he was desperately hanging onto the ropes and Severn was dragging him under was so classic, with Justice's hand tied inadvertently between top and middle rope, he looked like a guy willing to rip his hand out of a trap to escape the approaching wolf. Nothing was going to prevent Severn from choking the life out of Justice, rules be damned, and the finish of Severn sinking in those hooks on the floor was really cool. Let's run this match back, maybe do a best of 3. 

50. Hoodfoot vs. Dominic Garrini

PAS: This really felt like a main event, with the two top guys at this style in this territory meeting at the end of a tourney. Almost felt like a 2020 version of Nogueira vs. Sapp, with Garrini being ultra dangerous with submissions and Hoodfoot being hyper powerful. Garrini is able to catch Hoodfoot in multiple submission attempts early, with Hoodfoot using his strength to throw him several times. Eventually Garrini makes the mistake of trying to throw with Hoodfoot, only to get stunned and knocked down by one of those huge bear swipes. Garrini suckers Hoodfoot into a triangle though, and it looks like the finish, until a sick looking Rampage powerbomb and ground and pound forearm for the tap. Great styles clash and I want to see a rematch bad.

ER: Hoodfoot with the gear change throughout the tournament is a real highlight, and the white trunks with royal blue accent is a championship look. This was a great looking tournament on paper, with cool alternate bouts and plenty of great pairings, and on paper this was definitely one of those matches you wanted to see. The fact that it was in the finals, and also for the Heavy Hitters belt, only made this more cool. Garrini is good at getting Atlas to the mat, and I kept thinking he was going to tap him within the first 2 minutes, but was also rooting for him to not do that. There's one thing Dom does that I don't really love, and it shows up in a lot of his matches, and it's that he's not great at selling during strike exchanges. There are always these moments where he just kind of stands still and waits to get hit, and it kind of seems like he's just someone with no rhythm? I'm curious to know if Dom is a decent dancer or not, as there always seems to be one of those moments in his matches where he's motionless, neck craned forward waiting for a strike. It's distracting and kind of gives away what is about to happen. So he trades with Atlas and then kind of waits to be struck, and Atlas delivers on that. The triangle catch is really great and I thought once again Hoodfoot was done, but the powerbomb was sick and that diving finish forearm is classic. 

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series Episode 5 Finale

Ron Mathis vs. Akira

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

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

Big Beef vs. Austin Connelly

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

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

Lexus Montez vs. Bobby Beverly

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

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

Chase Holliday vs. Jordan Blade

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

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

Aaron Williams vs. Matthew Justice

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

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

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

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