Oney Lorcan is Still Here

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

Read more!

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

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


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

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


Oney Lorcan vs. Chase Parker 205 Live 6/19

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


Jack Gallagher vs. Jake Atlas 205 Live 6/19

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

Read more!

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

Battle Royal WWE Smackdown 5/29

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


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

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


Drew Gulak vs. AJ Styles WWE Smackdown 6/5

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


Oney Lorcan vs. Tehuti Miles 205 Live 6/5

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


Jack Gallagher vs. Isaiah Scott 205 Live 6/5

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

Read more!