AEW Five Fingers of Death: Week of 4/25 - 5/1

AEW Dynamite 4/27

Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson/Jon Moxley/Wheeler Yuta) vs. The Factory (QT Marshall/Nick Comoroto/Aaron Solo)

MD: I know some people are frustrated that Danielson isn't getting obscenely long singles matches anymore, but I'm generally into seeing him in these tags. I'm not entirely sure that I'm overly fascinated by 2022 Danielson's match layouts, but I do love seeing him in specific exchanges with varied opponents. I wish we had seen him really have one with either Comoroto or QT here but it was nice to see him beat Solo around the ring and dropkick him in the face as he came off the top. Then he had a killer tope out of nowhere on QT and Comoroto. Yuta (with his new Punch Out theme) got a hero's welcome in his hometown and took most of the heat. He always got a chop back in whenever they tagged out on him (as we all know, constantly trying to fight back is key for staying over during a heat segment), and in the finishing stretch he survived and then overcame Comoroto, finally winning with the seatbelt. It's a bit of hierarchy which has definitely shifted over the last couple of months. Biggest new bit in the match were the tandem corner running clotheslines and kicks by Moxley and Danielson. They're in the tag rankings now and the act is solidifying. There's still a sense that they ended up together to cool one another down just a little so as not to overshadow Page, but it doesn't mean the matches aren't a blast.

ER: There's a reason Matt and I get along so well, and I'm also in the camp who would really enjoys seeing Danielson working sequences against guys who are much lower down on the hierarchy than he. I don't need to see a 12 minute Danielson/Solo singles, but I like watching Danielson getting Solo as hard as he can right in the chest. But considering I *would* want to see 9-12 minute Danielson/Comoroto and Danielson/QT matches, I guess what I would really want is Danielson singles matches that are just way far away from what would be profitable or wanted by the mass viewing audience. I like QT more than most, I think, and now he's got a rebuilt hairline to go with his Best in the World in 2022 kneedrop. Go ahead, try to come up with anyone else who currently has a better one, you'll know I'm right. As Matt said, Moxley and Danielson are really feeling like a complementary team, a natural pair, who seem to boost each other's similar qualities. Maybe my eyes deceive me but it feels like they're each hitting their offense with as much snap and impact as ever. Moxley treated Solo like a Young Boy just to start the match, elbowing hard across the face and then tossing him onto the back of his head with a release front suplex. Yuta is the guy who feels a bit out of place with the group. I'm still not sold on him, but at the same time it's very easy to get behind a guy with a loud over-supportive hometown crowd. The finishing sequence was both Yuta and Comoroto's best moment of the match, with Yuta fighting to get the seatbelt while Comoroto looked like an incensed caveman trying to drag an alive and kicking animal home. 

AEW Rampage 4/29

Darby Allin vs. Swerve Strickland

MD: There's maybe no one in wrestling that'll take the most convoluted route between points A and B than Strickland. Darby had the right amount of speed, familiarity, and agility to make it kind of work on this night though. Sometimes, if things go so far over the top, they come back around to where they ought to be. I'm not going to say that was true for every exchange here, but it was probably better than 50% which is honestly a huge credit and probably to both guys. I found myself fighting a small groan in the first half of an exchange and then coming around for the back half. That doesn't mean things like Swerve flipping to the floor or rolling about for no reason actually work though. At least when Darby jumped over him for the code red set up it was about positioning, but even that was kind of borderline. That said, the biggest spots, definitely worked. Strickland based perfectly for Darby's twist around stunner on the floor. The knee up on the dive was so fast and impactful that no one even knew what happened until the replay. Darby's grapevine of the leg out of the corner was beautiful and Strickland more or less sold appropriately from there on out. The suplex to the floor, despite being straightforward was grisly and put over appropriately, and then the banana peel finish with just a hint of Starks involvement worked for the match. Darby, through who he was and what he could do, ultimately made this work in a way almost no one else could do. I'm glad I probably won't have to write up another Strickland match for a while though.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 7/21-7/27

205 Live 7/23

Oney Lorcan vs. Tony Isner

ER: This was a very tiny but absolutely delicious snack. I don't think this even went a minute, but it played like a hot finishing round of a fight. I have no idea who Isner is (apparently he wrestles on indies as Tony Ice but there's not much footage out there) but I like the way he attacked Lorcan with punches in the corner before getting absolutely wrecked. He threw a straight jab and some really nice body shots, and that was it for him. But he's a total star bumping for Lorcan's offense and made a nice impression on me in basically 45 seconds. Lorcan doesn't hold back on his elbows, throwing some of his nastiest that I've seen. His running flying uppercut looked like it hit so hard that someone could make a GIF of Isner flying out of the arena and into space. I love the beautiful almost slo motion arc Lorcan gets on his half nelson suplex. Obviously you aren't going to get neck drops in suplexes here, so his take on the suplex is one of those big WWE finishers that will actually get him a bigger reaction while giving his opponent a safer bump. Cena's AA is just a big back bump, and indy guys were out there dropping guys neck first onto their knee instead. This looked like an awesome face slam, just sending a guy moonsaulting onto his face, without looking like Isner was jumping into it.

PAS: I am digging these 205 Live squashes, Gallagher had a fun one a couple of weeks ago, and it was cool to see Lorcan run through this guy. Lorcan is one of the best in the world at explosive offense and this was just a full match explosion.

35. Drew Gulak vs. Isaiah Scott

ER: This was really damn cool. I still find myself pleasantly surprised at the styles of matches that are now being given 15 minutes of TV time on the WWE Network. It's really fun and I'm sure the novelty will wear off, but I like seeing flippers against a tough like Gulak. Isaiah Scott of course is the former Shane Strickland (who I had actually forgot was signed by WWE, I'm 5 years behind on my NXT), who is a guy I used to absolutely hate when he was on the indies. He's been slowly improving over the years, and Killshot had some moments in Lucha Underground, but I think he's a guy who will benefit from the WWE Performance Center. Gulak is a fun opponent for him, and this felt like a nice 2002 throwback indy match, where some guys were starting to get really inspired by shootstyle matwork, and other guys were trying to be flying innovators, and there was a real focus on limbwork matches.

This was a real fun 2002 limbwork flyer/matwork match. They have a bunch of fun scrambly mat stuff, Scott shows off some spry movement doing a cool handspring to the floor, and he pulls out a tripped out cartwheel moonsault splash when Gulak slid back into the ring. Before long Gulak starts working over Scott's arm, slapping at it, yanking at it, and I was a big fan of Scott's theatrical selling. I like when guys sell their fists after a punch, and I like when guys get their arm worked over and hold it in dramatic fashion like they were disappointed in it. Gulak forces him down to the mat a bunch by the arm, and Strickland does cool things around that on the comeback, always holding the arm and handspringing off his good arm, keeping it limp at his side like Ace Ventura after getting shot with a blow dart. Gulak was real hard here, hitting a great clothesline off the middle rope (the hardest clothesline to hit effectively, and I'm pretty sure the only guys who have ever consistently done a good one are Gulak, Lorcan, and Ikeda), and Gulak breaks out a bunch of new stuff which gives the match a new feel. He throws Scott into the ringpost with a crucifix bomb and we get a fun callback spot around that moment later in the match. Gulak had a couple nasty capture suplexes, gripping Scott around his neck and knee like a sick inverse Perfect Plex. This was a cool style battle, bonkers to me that its being featured on WWE television, but another cool addition.

PAS: This was really fun, and easily my favorite Strickland match ever. Swerve was originally a CZW guy and I liked how the commentary mentioned that he was trained by Gulak. I thought the early flashy offense by Scott worked in the context of a guy trying to show up his trainer. That quick cartwheel moonsault was awesome looking. I loved the transition with Swerve hitting this great looking right hand, which they replay and really put over, but he ends up jamming his wrist. This gives Gulak the opening to attack the wrist and hand, and use it as a get out of jail free card when Scott would get momentum. Really great finish run, with Scott having a bunch of chances to pull the upset, but the wrist failing him. Gulak knows how to put a hurt on a guy, and Scott sold the hurt great.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Low-Ki Advent Calendar Night 8- Ki vs. Strickland 3

Low-Ki vs. Shane Strickland MLW 11/8/18

ER: This got kinda weird. I think this was overall better than their other MLW match. That one was too Strickland-y and this one felt more rough. But it also had a couple of unmissably awkward moments that were recovered from nicely enough but still stood out. Strickland whiffed on a slow leg sweep while Ki stood there, and later Strickland bumped late for an armdrag that didn't seem to happen. They looked weird, I'm not sure who did what weirdly, but they were there. But there was a ton of good, too. Strickland hit hard, hard chops, hard running elbow, big heavy arm running lariat that landed with a great thud to Ki's chest, hard knee in the corner; all that stuff is important because you know Ki isn't going to hold back on chops and kicks. The early Strickland control stuff was cool too, bullying Ki around, dropping him with a cool over shoulder backbreaker, and we got a really awesome fight over a suplex. Strickland tried a vertical suplex, Ki almost fought out of it with a knee, but Strickland managed to hoist him back up only for Ki to block it again. It was an awesome visual and my favorite part of the match, Ki fighting back while upside down in the air and Strickland repeatedly muscling him up. We get another cool moment later, also around a suplex, where Strickland lands a running knee in the corner then just yanks Ki up out of a seated position and drops him with a Saito suplex. Strickland needs to do more of that kind of thing, then suddenly I'd be looking forward to Shane Strickland matches. Ki finds smart ways to fight back from underneath, and throws in stuff I love like stomping on Strickland's foot when Strickland was on the mat but getting up. Our finish is kind of weird, kind of cool, with Ki doing one of his crash and burns, flying at Strickland from the top but getting the ropes instead and knocking the ref down. The ref really didn't seem to get hit but they sold it like he took one between the eyes and Strickland got a long visual pin. But the part I dug was Ki just starts ripping at Strickland's hair, trying to yank it out, then got a flash pin. It easily could have looked stupid, but Strickland sold it great and made it very believable that a guy could get a quick pin while someone is distracted by unfamiliar pain. I like the trend of Ki winning MLW matches by resorting to weird sudden cheapshot street fight violence, ripping at Daga's ear and now this. They are ways I wouldn't think to end a match, but I've liked them both.

PAS: I agree that this was better then their first MLW match, I especially enjoyed all of the early match scrambling on the mat, Ki is great at that stuff, but I thought Strickland was surprisingly good too.  The ref bump was really creative, and Ki is guy who will really mix in some nuts bumps. I think the awkward moments probably keep this from make a Match of the Year list, but I love that Ki is basically wrestling like a psychotic martial arts villain. I just watched the Night Comes for Us yesterday, and I can just imagine Ki taking a meat cleaver and cutting off Iko Uwais's thumb. Ripping off Daga's ear was lunacy, and finishing a match by ripping out Strickland's braids was completely extra. I am excited to see what sick thing he does to Konnan in Miami.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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Low-Ki is Admired by Politicians, Street Thugs and Killers

Low-Ki vs. Shane Strickland MLW 7/12/18 - FUN

Ki comes in as a bounty hunter to take on the MLW champion. Ki is great as always, this was less an athletic showcase, and more of Ki working as a stiff beatdown artist, which he is great at. Lots of stiff chops, kicks and a ton of shit talking to Strickland and the crowd. There is a moment where Strickland gets a bit of offense and Ki just stops it dead in the tracks with a vicious kidney punch. Strickland would throw these bad looking open handed Rock punches and some weak chops, and then try to set up some bit of offense which required him to do two somersaults and backflip. Ki beating on a local babyface champ is a pretty hard match structure to fuck up, and I think it would have made a MOTY list and had a better rating if the finish was a bit better, it felt like they got a bit lost and the Ki kick which finished the match really didn't feel like an ending. Ki as MLW champ is super intriguing though, and I am excited to see where it goes from here.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KI

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Two More from AAW Take No Prisoners 5/25/18

24. Darby Allin vs. Brody King

ER: Another great match in that Darby formula, a similar take on his matches with WALTER and Keith Lee and any other guy that much bigger than he (so, every guy). It's a formula I'm not anywhere near getting sick of, especially when watching someone as creative as Allin. Each big man gets his own destruction canvas to paint on, an opportunity to try out their most dangerous big spots on a guy way too willing to take them. King memorably catches a Coffin Drop to the floor and starts brutally swinging Allin's body back and forth across the aisle into the guardrail. But I love the ways Darby gets into control, the slip ups that he never hesitates to pounce headlong into. There's a great spot where King is on the apron and gets kicked to the floor, taking a backwards bump off the apron into the front row. Allin wastes no time in hurling his body out after him into a Coffin Drop. The Coffin Drop is such a great character appropriate finisher for Allin, and I love how quickly and recklessly he breaks it out. It never feels like overkill, because at the heart of it he's always using his body to try to do harm. Sometimes it gets caught, sometimes he dumps himself on the back of his head (like later in this very match!), but it's always him hurling his whole body at his opponent, and that's awesome. The rolling clutch with him getting kicked off and bouncing immediately into a tornillo is such a fun spot, and he makes it look great. We get several fun moments set up earlier in the match and paid off, like King crushing Allin with a cannonball early and then missing a big one late, creating an opening for Allin. The match ending over shoulder piledriver is an awesome exclamation point, and Allin's 2018 continues to be impressive as hell.

PAS: This is the best I have seen King look, beating on Darby Allin is a perfect showcase for what someone can do. Allin has pretty much turned into the worlds greatest Spike Dudley, which is a real compliment. He takes huge violent bumps, times his comebacks perfectly and has really compelling credible offense for someone so much smaller. He also has this grim determination in everything he does, he just soldiers forward through brutal punishment, always looking for an opening, sometimes he finds it and wins, sometimes he gets hit with something so brutal there is no recovery, but he is almost like a Zombie, tear his head from his shoulders or he won't stop coming. This match was full of cool moments, King falling from the apron to the front row, only to get wasted by a coffin drop was awesome looking, as was King catch Allin and hurling his body reckless around the ringside area. There were lots of moments where I thought Allin might pull it out, and that finishing piledriver was a finishing piledriver. Allin feels like the Wrestler of the Year, and he keeps adding to his resume.

Sami Callihan/Jake Crist/Dave Crist vs. Shane Strickland/Dezmond Xavier/Zachary Wentz

29. ER: I was skimming through this show and planned on skipping past this one, but stopped mid match and it looked more heated and IWA Mid-South than I would have expected. So I went back to the beginning and was not let down. The opening mean shoving and jawing between Callihan and Strickland looked like a showdown happening over Donald Trump's Walk of Fame Star. This was a crazy and stiff spotfest, feeling like a wrestling match broke out in the middle of Mortal Kombat. There are a lot of moving parts and constant action, and while I don't always react to Crist matches, they're actually really good at stringing together these kind of fast pace moving parts matches. I don't always like their structure and match length, but they don't get lost and plan unique chain spots. There are a lot of stiff shots in this one and the action really felt similar to that great ROH match with Jack Victory, or some of the best Jersey All Pro brawls. The Crists throw really nice kicks, Callihan seems like a guy with a genuine high pain tolerance, Strickland has actually focused up a nice right hand, and Jake Crist throws better punches than you remember. We get fun trainwreck dive spots into the crowd, a completely stupid tower spot in the corner that - while completely stupid - was also creatively crafted with a nice payoff: an expertly timed seated powerbomb out of a superplex, several guys get suplexed into turnbuckles, an amusing 619 from Xavier, some more shockingly great full leg extension kicks to the head, the Crists leaning face first into a bunch of kicks, the whole thing was like a stiff version of an early 2000s SAT trios. The Crists really seem like guys who like thinking up complicated spots, and they really go all in on these spots, and while they don't always stick the landing, they at minimum miss big. I'm appreciating that the more I see it. We had a nice violent end run, Sami hit a wicked snap piledriver, Crists got misdirected into hard kicks, Jake hit a cutter on Wentz from opposite corners, just some wild stuff. This felt like it hit just the right pace and teetered close to the edge but never toppled into overkill, made use of some good saves, and built great. Very recommended.

PAS: I really wished I like Strickland more, because that Chaka Khan entrance is class stuff. This kept threatening to lose me, there were a lot of missed clotheslines and kip ups, but they kept the pace going and ramped up the violence and got out of there in 13 minutes. That spinning superkick by a Crist (not sure which) always looks like it dislocates someone's jaw, and Dave Crist flying out of the air to catch Wentz's splash with a cutter was really awesome looking. Callihan is great at forcing pace, something like this where he just barrels forward for an entire match can be really compelling (he had an awesome pull apart with Brody King at the end of the show too), I don't think this match redeemed Strickland or the Rascalz for me, but they certainly kept it nuts and Wentz especially died some big deaths. Up there with the AAA undercard match for spotfest of the year.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Matches from EVOLVE 106 6/23/18

ER: This show opens with a potentially unintentionally hilarious vignette with Jarek 1:20 outside of the Los Angeles Wahlburgers restaurant, saying he "first discovered" Wahlburgers in Philadelphia, and has since eaten at locations in Detroit, New York, and now LA. This motherfucker DISCOVERED this mom and pop burger joint, I assume in much the same way that I discovered Planet Hollywood in my teens, and then discovered Claim Jumper in my 20s. Keep that information under your hats though, I don't want my discoveries to get too well known. Inside the restaurant he barters with a waiter to give him a free chocolate shake if he successfully pulls off a magic trick and guesses the guy's card. The waiter commits to nothing whatsoever, repeating several times that he'll "see what he can do". Jarek does the trick, the waiter responds with the greatest possible reaction a card trick can get (which is nodding and going "Oh, yeah, that's it."), and then walks off.

Then, in a moment of pure brilliance, Jarek turns to the camera and says "I'm a man who gets what I want."

Holy shit.

Imagine Ric Flair, a man who cut dozens of promos celebrating his wealth and lifestyle, clearly a man getting exactly what he wants. Picture Flair, instead of boasting about bagging ladies on his jet, picture him smugly bragging about boosting a guy out of a $7 chain restaurant milkshake with a completely dead eyed straight face. It's fucking brilliant.

I have seen hardly any Jarek. I don't know if he's a goof or if the wink was implied. I really, really hope the wink here was implied.


Darby Allin vs. WALTER

PAS: This is everything that people were saying the Draganov and David Starr matches were. The pinnacle of WALTER laying in an asskicking to a spunky underdog. Darby is tremendous in this, he takes some uncalled for bumps and gets his chest turned into hamburger, but he also has a real sense of when to mix in comebacks and has really credible offense for such a little guy. The hand work was class stuff Darby hurling WALTER's hand into the ringpost violently was great, as was the ground and pound punches right to the knuckles. I loved how he used it as a last gasp counter and attack, if nothing else was working he could bang at the hand. I thought WALTER's selling was really good here too, his hand was fucked, but he wasn't going to let it stop him from chopping Allin's chest into gazpacho or slapping his eardrum into ribbons. There are some really awesome individual spots here, Darby going for an in ring tope and WALTER shotgun head-butting him out of the air was an awesome King Kong vs. Airplanes spot, I also loved WALTER countering the coffin drop with the Kojira clutch. These are two of my favorite guys to watch, and this felt like both guys apex performances.

ER: What a breathless fight, with Allin taking far more damage that you think would be possible, and WALTER practically getting bored by dishing out a beating. There are only so many ways you can violently throw and strike a body, and around the 10 minute mark WALTER has appeared to have used up all of the ways he knows how to violently throw and strike a body, so just keeps doing the same thing. He chops Allin to the mat a dozen or two times, throws him insanely far with a beal, basically just picks him up a bunch and drops him. Allin's body should crumble, but I love the way he hangs in there and the way he spends the whole match essentially being chased down a hallway and gets his licks by knocking over bookcases and trashcans. WALTER is great at showing all the little ways Allin is a pest to him, all the little moments that leave him briefly unguarded. The stuff on the floor was so great, and Allin exploits every opportunity WALTER leaves him, knowing he'll only be able to attack for a second or two before he's thrown again. Allin attacks him from the apron and pounces on him like Westley jumping on Fezzik, gets splatted on the ground, but then catches a WALTER kick and throws his knee into the post, then with zero hesitation throws WALTER's hand off the post. Allin's zero hesitation was just at its apex here, watch him get rolled out on a kickout and spring immediately into a tornillo crossbody (bouncing off the bottom rope). It was done so fluidly and without missing a single beat, yet looked totally natural. WALTER is fun in how he both takes and blocks Allin's offense, like when he just stays in place for a big Allin crossbody, and Allin just bounces off like he hit the ringpost again. WALTER takes a couple Allin roll-ups really nicely, whips himself over fast on the Santito special, and Allin attacking WALTER's hand was really exciting, just punching away at it and clonking his head off it while WALTER screamed. Something tells me WALTER could get his hand lopped off and he'd probably insist on finishing the match, probably by smacking someone a bunch with his stump. But seeing Allin work that hand gives him a possible finish, and I like how he keeps on it and keeps at EVERYTHING, going with a hanging guillotine and working an armbar, and you get the sense that WALTER just ran out of things to do, got his hand run over, and Allin's tenacity lead to him stealing one. WALTER's big Gojira Clutch always looks like he's really cutting off air, and the Coffin Drop is both a fun move AND a great way for WALTER to reverse, and the roll up from there was a nice payoff. These two absolutely killed it, and there were a dozen cool moments that neither of us mentioned. I keep saying that Allin is one of my absolute favorite guys to watch, and I'm going to enjoy him for as long as I can, which just doesn't seem like it's going to be many more matches. But, I've been thinking that for awhile and somehow, Darby endures.

Timothy Thatcher/Tracy Williams/Anthony Henry vs. Chris Dickinson/Jaka/Dominic Garrini

ER: A good match with good performances from a bunch of guys I obviously really like, that doesn't quite gel into a list worthy match. It's probably better than a few things on our 2018 list, but didn't quite feel list considering who was involved. But it's still well worth seeing if you like these guys anywhere near as much as I do. I love how Catch Point started as a group of fit mat grapplers and has now evolved into a stable of thuggish brutes. They're all meaty guys who complement each other nicely without having the same style, with Dickinson working as a modern crazy-eyed Buzz Sawyer, Jaka as tae-kwon-do Kimala, and Garrini with his growing collection of strikes. This whole thing was a great scrap that went by quick, a lot of quick tags and fast action. We got a great babyface performance from Henry, tons of energy and ran into a lot of nasty shots from Catch Point. Thatcher was a great simmering badass, throwing hard shots and muscling guys down to the mat. I think Garrini is behind Jaka and Dickinson as he still shows moments of hesitation in the ring, but he has a couple of absolutely nasty pinfall breaks here that are awesome, landing a spine altering double stomp on Thatcher's back and coming in with an axe kick later, also love his double handed chop to the neck (feels like a Jaka strike, and I like the idea of teammates lifting from each other). Jaka has a bunch of offense and strike combos, and I like his simple attacks like slapping guys in the back with both hands or big throat thrusts. He doesn't necessarily have KO strikes, but his strikes are pesky and constant. Dickinson has really turned into one of my favorites in the world, just a completely hateable charisma and explosive ringwork; every time he charges into the ring he looks like someone charging out the front door of a douchey club to fight someone on the sidewalk. It's a specific charisma that nobody else has and he's awesome. Love him using a vicious powerbomb to break up a hold, love that heavy enziguiri finisher, just a real great bully. If you like these guys, you will definitely want to watch this match.

Joey Janela vs. Austin Theory

ER: Evolve doesn't run as many shows as they used to, and really the only on paper matches that interested me on the show were the two up above there. But I figure I should at least check out a couple title matches, and I don't remember Janela working Evolve before so that's kinda fun. I don't think the match was great, but the crowd was really hot for it and that made it come off really well. Janela is a fun worker but a little sloppy, and Theory works like a lesser Matt Sydal from 2005. There's a lot of that split second hesitation before Theory does offense, and other stuff that basically requires his opponent to leap at him before doing something. It's like when HHH couldn't do a move without reversing an Irish whip. There were some big things I liked, like Janela's big tope and that nasty Death Valley driver on the apron, but Theory isn't too interesting in the ways he transitions back to offense, as he just takes big moves, kicks out, and then does some improbable offense back. Janela hits a package piledriver for a big nearfall, moments later Theory is giving him a TKO off the top rope that requires Janela to climb up onto his shoulders all by himself. I thought Penelope's involvement was kind of clunky, and Theory going for the belt to have Penelope grab it from him felt like a hack Smackdown finish and not something that should change a title on a guy's debut show. But the crowd was amped and Janela clearly has charisma. I don't have a ton of use for Theory and Priscilla's act, though.

No Rope Breaks: Shane Strickland vs. Matt Riddle

ER: A match where both guys really killed each other with some spots, and were rewarded with a finish that nobody could really like. Strickland has definitely improved over the last year. Just a few years ago I thought he was one of the worst guys getting regular work on the indy scene. His striking has tightened up a bit (there was an honest to god really good punch in this match, popping Riddle's jaw on the floor). But a lot of his big offense really only works against a hyper athlete like Riddle, who is really great at getting into position for complicated stuff. Riddle can move like liquid, and I don't think Strickland could pull off some of the suplexes or transitions without someone like Riddle to pull the weight. There's a Saito suplex that Strickland hits that appears to be almost all Riddle, though Riddle does a great job of making it look plausible. I didn't think Strickland's arm work looked good, but he impressed me in ways that he never has before: he had a nice lariat, a sly catch of Riddle's Pele kick (which I think is a Riddle spot that doesn't always look great, so Strickland catching it was a nice play on that), and most importantly I was impressed with Strickland's snarling intensity. He carries himself very confidently and jawed with fans in a way I haven't seen from him before, and it made him come off far more interesting as a character. The finish set up was too obvious by a mile, as both men clearly adjust positions 90 degrees on a suplex so that Strickland gets tossed towards the ref, who Riddle then accidentally KOs. Eventually they brawl to the back, no cameras though. Strickland gets into it with guys backstage, they all come out, Strickland hits a big dive on everyone that doesn't feel like it fits into this match, and Riddle locks in the Bromission but apparently that KO'd ref was the only ref Evolve has. Nobody is satisfied with this finish, and the overstuffed aspect of all of it took away from the parts of the match where these guys were stiffing the hell out of each other. The No Rope Breaks stip didn't really lead anywhere interesting. There was a lot of good here, and it was harmed by some things that weren't really their fault, which is a shame.

ER: Well, WALTER/Allin is a slam dunk choice for our 2018 Ongoing MOTY List, with Phil and I going back and forth on just how high we should place it. What a front to back excellent match that was a real testament to how good those two are right now. It could have easily looked ridiculous, as WALTER is such a Terminator that having him lose to Darby could have easily looked foolish. They crafted an excellent match though, one of the best of the year.

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Wrestlemania Weekend Cherry Picking

Way too much wrestling Wrestlemaina weekend to watch, but we cherry picked some non EVOLVE indy stuff that looked good

Matt Riddle v. Dan Severn GCW 3/30/17

PAS: Really fun match with Riddle and Severn just in there rolling with each other and laying in every time the threw. Severn is a little awkward, but mean old football coach is really the best wrestling role he has had, I loved his knees to the kidneys and how he would walk through Riddle's shots to grab him. I really think Riddle doing his fighting spirit german no-sells was weak shit, especially in this kind of match, but I liked everything else. Finish was especially awesome with Severn landing these nasty knees to the spine, getting a really close near fall with a bodylock dragon sleeper, only to have Riddle squirt out, land some vicious elbows to the temple and lock on the twister. This really makes me want to see more 2017 Severn, totally fun stuff.

ER: "Old man grappling" sounds like a top contender for the Segunda Caida masthead, so I was expecting to enjoy this, and it delivered. Severn is pushing 60 and pretty stiff in the ring (as in, inflexible), but he's got the size and the strength and the literal decades of muscle memory bore into his brain, so he's a fun lug within the current grapple-heavy style. He's also pale, which made Riddle's knee and palm strikes read terrific, as Severn had tons of pink and red areas minutes in. Severn kept bullying through Riddle's finesse while Riddle just wanted to land strikes in bunches. I liked the commentary as they brought up things like Severn being a part of MMA infancy and how far it advanced by the time Riddle was brought in, but they also made me genuinely laugh out loud a couple of times (talking about Severn's "dad strength", which is funny and true, and as Severn is fishing for "Beast" chants one of them points out his crowd work, calling him "the Todd Barry of wrestling". That's funny). I really hated the Riddle German no-selling, and I was hoping it was leading to Severn just destroying him with those knees to the spine into the dragon sleeper he was going for, like Phillip Jennings breaking that dude's neck on The Americans. This was all fun stuff.

Dominic Garrini v. Martin Stone PPW 3/31/17

PAS: I thought this was pretty disappointing. Garrini is a new Segunda Caida favorite, but lack much of the style which made the Cain Justice match so special. Stone is a guy with a positive rep, but I thought he was pretty terrible in this, this was Garrini forced to work a Stone match, full of tough guy elbow exchanges and goofy finger breaking spots. Garrini had a couple of leaps into triangle chokes which were cool, but this did very little for him. Finish was lame with Stone just breaking a triangle choke from a Ju-Jitsu world champion and putting on some sort of weak crossface for the tap, totally lame, the equivalent of Shane McMahon out wrestling Kurt Angle.

Low-Ki v. Shane Strickland WrestleCon Supershow 3/31/17

PAS: My Killshot thoughts are well documented, so this wasn't an ideal Ki opponent for one of his 6 or so matches we might get this year, still they worked this mostly as a quasi-competitive squash and Strickland is a perfectly fine guy to get squashed. Ki is in the Game of Death gear and no matter what he is wearing he will kick a dude hard in the chest, his downed elbows looked especially nasty here, thought they might slice Strickland. Stricklands moments of offense looked kind of dumb, but they were few and far between. Really liked the finish as both guys fought on the top rope, until Ki set up his hanging double stomp onto the ring apron, which was a finish for sure. Ki's base match is so high right now, not sure this was anything more then his base match, but I enjoyed it.

Jay Lethal v. Cody ROH 4/1/17

PAS: This was a bullrope match with a member of the Rhodes family, so I figured I would check it out. I mostly enjoyed this especially when they were hitting each other with cowbells. Cody breaks out a nice blade job (wasn't at the level of Dusty or Dustin, but not bad for a first time), there was a great moment where Lethal went for the Lethal injection but Cody pulled the rope causing Lethal to piledrive himself. I thought this got a bit move tradey at the end for a match which should be all about gouging and choking, but I still enjoyed this more then I would have any other version of this matchup.

ER: Decided to add Riddle/Severn to our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. What other WM weekend matches should we look at for possible inclusion?


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE MATT RIDDLE

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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