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 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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