2019 Ongoing MOTY List: PQ vs. CW

26. Preston Quinn vs. C.W. Anderson AML 10/27

PAS: Two long time Segunda Caida favorites match up for the AML title. Haven't seen PQ in a while, and he is working a heel MAGA gimmick now (not sure how that works in a Southern VA fed), although this match was worked tough guy face vs. tough guy face. Lots of talk in the commentary about how these guys were ex-tag partners and good friends, and I really liked how this was worked with both guys coming right up to the edge of snapping but never getting there. It was a body part match with Anderson having a bad lower back as a result of an accidental low blow headbutt on a leapfrog, and Quinn popping out his shoulder when he blocked a super kick with a forearm smash. Quinn even stops the ref from throwing up the X, and pops the shoulder back in by smashing it into the turnbuckle. We had some great punch exchanges from two all time great punchers, and a very cool finish with Anderson hitting a Sliding D on the knee and floating over into a sitting armbar. So glad to see both these guys show up, and this was a trip.

ER: This was so good! I don't think I've watched a match from either of these two all year, and that's just stupid. This was an old man fight with both of them working great old man injuries. CW's back goes out on a "botched" leapfrog, Quinn gets his shoulder knocked loose by trying to block a superkick, and within minutes it's clear that these guys have more interesting ideas on how to let a match unfold than almost every wrestler I've watched in 2019. This is not two guys going through signature offense, this is two experts finding fresh ways to incorporate the moves they're known for, and it's the best. You have Quinn hitting a spinebuster early, an almost mocking warning shot that makes CW want to beat his friend's ass even more. Brad Stutts on commentary was good at pointing out how a scrap between two friends can quickly turn more violent, years of history bubbling up beyond friendly competition. The theatrics around Quinn's shoulder were fantastic. CW throws the best superkick in wrestling, pinpoint accuracy, and Quinn sold this as a guy instinctively trying to catch a 98 MPH fastball even though he forgot his glove. He rams his shoulder into the post to clumsily fix it, bit CW uses that shoulder as a Get Out of Jail Free card the rest of the match, yanking on Quinn's arm to create space, even bending it over the ropes. We get a killer moment where CW has Quinn dead to rights but his back can't support the superkick attempt. Both guys are so good at selling very believable injuries, and it just made it too easy to get sucked into this match. We get a great stand and trade section, and it made me fully realize that I'm going to need guys like this to make me care about a stand and trade section in 2019. No flimsy elbows and dumb facials here, this is CW throwing great punches and elbows from both sides, Quinn throwing his phenomenal worked punches, CW adding in blistering overhand chops, no smooth timing, no clean angles, just slugging it out. The finish is great, super nasty, with CW sliding straight into Quinn's patella, dropping him down immediately to his stomach, and bending that bad arm high behind Quinn's head. Well, I'm gonna go watch all the CW and Quinn stuff that I've foolishly not been seeking out all year. These guys get me.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

15. Damien Wayne v. Preston Quinn Fusion Wrestling 5/24

PAS: These are the two best Mid-Atlantic Indy wrestlers of the last decade plus, and this is the first really big time main event singles match I have seen between the two, and outside of a bit of crap ending it lives up to all I hoped it would be. Wayne is coming in as the heel and Quinn is coming in as the champ, and early we get a lot of fun face beatdown stuff while Wayne stooges. Quinn has such beautiful punches, it is a pleasure to watch him unload on a guy. There is a great section where Quinn does four different nut shot variations (dick punch, regular atomic drop, inverted atomic drop, kick the ropes into the balls) and Wayne does an 11 on the Rick Rude scale sell.  Lance Erickson unloads some punches on the floor (which also looked great, it's contagious) which gives Wayne and advantage which he does the great switch from stooge to killer. Finish run is awesome with trading punches back and forth, a great Quinn Lawler style hulk up, a crazy missed top rope flip from Wayne, all unfortunately ending in a ref bump and run ins to set up a tag. Still this gets 20 plus minutes of greatness before the finish, and a fun post match brawl after. Well worth the 5 bucks off of Fusion's website, and so happy I finally got to see these guys stretch out and have a classic.

ER: So Phil calls me up the other evening and proceeds to do that endearing/annoying/entirely Phil thing of watching a match that I do not have a way of watching in that moment, and then exclaiming out loud about the match while I attempt to carry on a conversation with him about things that are not that match. So I will be making small talk and Phil will interrupt me, with his interruptions punctuated by "JESUS" or "OH GOD". Taken out of context and Phil may sound like a religious man, not a man watching other men fake fight. He will also mutter things under his breath like "Preston Quinn throws a great fucking punch. Fuck, Damien Wayne throws a great punch." This is all while I am talking, and he is watching images that I cannot see, and he called me. This is a very much Phil thing. So then I just silently root for things to finish so we can talk like human beings. Although this did allow me to witness the oral account of Phil wanting a clean finish, while also not thinking there was any chance of a clean finish. It was a whirlwind conversation. I consoled him after the double DQ finish.

But this match - once I got to see it - was really great. I felt this surge of Don West roaring through me, as there was an overabundance of incredible wrestling punches in this match, and they were flying off the shelves at bargain basement prices. GEM MINT 10 PUNCHES!! Literally every person involved with this match who threw a punch, knew how to throw a really great punch. Wayne and Quinn firing back and forth at each other for 20 minutes transported me back to Dundee/Lawler '83, just when you thought you saw the best punch of the match you would be proven wrong 30 seconds later. Quinn's left hands looked majestic. Every angle, every punch. It is exactly what you imagine the perfect pro wrestling punches looking like. And then Wayne unleashes these straight rights and you go "Wait maybe THAT is what I imagine the perfect pro wrestling punches look like..." Quinn flicks Wayne in the dick while Wayne is hanged in the tree of woe, the way assholes would in high school. Looking back and a good 2+ years of high school was just trying to not get your dick flicked. Maybe it was different for people that didn't play sports. But Quinn clearly knows the motions and Wayne sells it as a man who has just had his genitals flicked. It's the worst pain in the world for 4 seconds. Like stubbing your toe. That kind of stubbed toe pain that makes you blindly and momentarily furious at the inanimate object you just stubbed your toe on. The Rick Rude atomic drop selling from Wayne is spectacular. For such a flawless sell (and I think everybody recognized Rude's atomic drop sell as the greatest from the first moment they saw it) it's kind of wild that nobody else has ever appropriated it. I guess the atomic drop in general is kind of a move on its way out, which is a shame. Anyway, this match was great. 20 minutes of the two greatest modern punchers, punching each other and dropping elbows and knees. You come out of your daze not realizing 20 minutes has passed. It's awesome; the greatest Wayne/Quinn showdown I have witnessed.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

27. Preston Quinn/Pat Cusik v. Damien Wayne/Mike Booth Fusion Wrestling 9/27

PAS: This was a street fight with Wayne having to leave town if he lost. Wayne, Booth and Quinn were an awesome trio team called the Old School Empire for years, in Fusion for the last couple of years Wayne had been feuding with Quinn since turning on him, and Booth was his surprise tag partner, also turning on PQ. This was a great old school southern brawl, Quinn has some of the best punches in wrestling, and the other three aren't far behind, and lots of this match was just toe to toe fist fighting. They build nicely to some big near falls, including Quinn hitting one of the prettiest brainbusters I have seen in years, and planting Wayne with a spinebuster. The finish was pretty cool, with a Booth cheap shot chop block leading to a huge Savage elbow on Cusik. Exactly what you would want from this match on paper, and well worth the $5 I paid for the show. Feels like I am going to pick up all of the Wayne v. PQ stuff, they are both still so good.

ER: What a great little fight this was. Just a rough and tumble tornado rules brawl that never devolves into a mess, just comes off like a chaotic street fight. I think Quinn has unequivocally the best punches in wrestling today, which lends nicely to a street fight. All of his shots built to nice moments in the match. If you thought his short lefts were nasty just wait until you see that hooking left! His punches lend legitimacy to this kind of match, and his brainbuster begins to plaster in that hole that Hashimoto left in your heart. Then he goes and puts a wax seal on the whole thing by breaking out the Anderson spinebuster. Preston Quinn, just going down the list and ticking off the boxes of all the things I love about wrestling. Damien Wayne is also a guy who is just as good as the first time I saw him. His chops are brutal enough that they don't look silly in a street fight. Since this is No DQ and tornado rules we don't get so many pinfall saves and cutting off the ring, as we get kicks to the balls and guys getting chucked into ringposts. That seems like a fine tradeoff to me. I had never seen Cusick before but he filled in fine as a scrappy weakish link on Quinn's team, and Booth is a guy who always looks good when I see him yet remains a guy I forget to look for. Good find Phil, everybody else go toss some dollars towards Fusion to watch a few great wrestlers who more people should talk about.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

9. Preston Quinn v. Damien Wayne VCW 3/7

PAS: These are the two best wrestlers in the Mid-Alantic indies really for over a decade. They haven't had a ton of singles matches against each other which have made tape, so it is really cool we get a big main event title match between each other. Quinn has breathtakingly great punches, and he unloads in a bunch of different ways on Wayne, who fires back with shots of his own. Parts of this match felt like Lawler v. Mantell. They build to some very cool stuff at the end, including Quinn catching a Savage elbow into a cross armbreaker, and hitting a huge second rope brainbuster. There was some ref awkwardness after that, and while I liked the cleverness of the finish, I though they lost a bit of momentum. Still a great match, and I really hope footage of both guys is available more this year.

ER: So awesome to see this show up, as there just aren't many guys who DO what Quinn does in the ring. Quinn has arguably the best punches in wrestling (I can't think of anybody over the last several years who I would rather see punch another human), but not in a cold, context-free "that is what a good punch looks like" kind of way. His punches look great within the context of pro wrestling matches, always adding to the proceedings. His left hand is possibly my favorite left hand in pro wrestling history, and yes I understand the ground I am covering. I love the way Quinn and Wayne fight, love how Wayne brings chops that don't look silly while Quinn is able to throw punches that look great from all angles (loved his side mount punches here) and I just love how these guys move around each other. I loved the elbow drop into a triangle, thought that was a real cool reversal, and I loved how the finish played into that. Wayne's selling was really great throughout, especially post-brainbuster (Quinn also has an all time great brainbuster if you've never watched the guy), really taking the brainbuster to Kawada or Tenryu levels of selling. And the way it affected his movements afterwards was so good. Affected, but no "Ohhhhhh my neckkkkkkkk" dramatics. The ref stuff wasn't great, but a way to believably give Wayne time to recover from the brainbuster in a way that didn't feel forced. Big credit to the announce team here as well who I thought put over both men real well.


2015 MASTER LIST

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