Unicorn Gimmick Matches - Symphony of Destruction

Elias vs. Jaxson Ryker WWE Raw 7/19/21

ER: A 1999 style hardcore match that doesn't quite live up to WCW junkyard reckless stupidity, but due to the specific weapon stipulation managed to capture at least a degree of that unpredictability that comes with using non-conventional weapons. This match was the final Elias match in WWE, and to his credit he went out with his best performance of 2021. If WWE actually knew what they were doing week to week they could have easily billed this as a Loser Leaves Town match (instead they just aired vignettes a month later for his return that never happened), but it's still a perfectly fun violent weapons match to go out on. The entire ringside area is filled with musical instruments. It's incredibly stupid but it works because they went so over the top with the instrument selection, and they didn't cheat by fleshing out the match with non-instrument weapons. 

Instruments are great weapons because they are either very heavy or very lumpy, so they are either awkward as hell to land on or heavy as hell to be hit with, and we get plenty of both. Elias takes a nasty bump into a drum kit and there is probably no instrument more painful than a set of drums to bump into (there is one specific way that bumping onto a flute would be much worse, but it's a one in a million shot), and Elias's selling in this match is good enough that I assume his body was completely messed up by this band room brawl. Ryker hits some heavy shots with a huge keyboard, which Elias later pays back by hitting Ryker a few times with a fucking cello. Do you know how heavy cellos are? Not nearly as much as you think, actually. And, since you've never seen circles farther apart than the Venn diagram of WWE Raw viewers and Julian Lloyd Webber fans, Elias takes advantage of that. John Cena used to be really great at putting over the weight of foreign objects, and I have no doubt that there are thousands of kids who believed that the ring steps weighed 200 pounds just from watching how Cena would always labor to lift them over his head. Elias uses that same energy when lifting that cello over his head to smash Ryker, making a 7 lb. instrument look like 70. 

There are some big spots around a grand piano, and the WWE prop department deserves credit for finding a big ass piano just for this blowoff match. I suppose it's possible that Diana Krall had played the arena and the American Airlines Center staff had been looking for a way to get rid of this thing, but regardless, we got to see two guys take bumps on a big piano and that rocks. Also important, is that they fill the time in between weapons shots with hard strikes, with Elias throwing hard elbows after getting busted open, and Ryker throwing shots to Elias's temple to set up the big finish. The finish is the only cheat of the match, as Ryker does an awesome superplex from the top rope to the floor through a pair of tables. A superplex through a grand piano would have been one of the most memorable spots of the year, but I'm not going to hold that against them. Ryker was really good at making sure Elias was punched out on the apron to set up his superplex, making a big spot feel less cooperative than it should have looked, and the superplex itself was definitely something that should end a match. Elias's selling after the pinfall was so good that it would be easy to believe he was hurt, giving his final match the actual gravity that WWE didn't provide. 

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Cesaro vs. Mysterio

65. Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro WWE Raw 9/16

ER: Two perfect dance partners doing cool things that most guys aren't capable of doing? Sure I'll hang out and watch that. This is all about these two being unleashed, Cesaro showing off his crazy lift strength on someone that everybody can lift, and Rey finding a couple new ways around old favorites. This was a total "cool things" spectacle, and that was clear the moment Rey rushed Cesaro only to eat an uppercut to start the match. Nice suplex, really nice elbowdrop, and then we get Rey with a huge rana to counter a powerbomb, and Cesaro flying into the post. I got giddy by the time Rey swung a 619 right into Cesaro's kidneys. I mean, sure, a suicide dive into a tornado DDT is cool, but I was rewinding so I could keep watching Cesaro sell his kidneys the way Rick Rude would sell an atomic drop, while also finding out Corey Graves doesn't know where organs are located (yeah Corey, he got him in the liver, you dummy). Who knows what we missed during commercial, as we get one of those moments where Cesaro is bounced off his head on the floor, but the next time we see them he's hitting a beast of a lariat back in the ring. I hate that. Every time Cesaro caught Rey out of midair it was exciting - that stuff was always going to look good - but while Rey gets caught and flipped into bonkers moves, he's also running full force into Cesaro boots and strikes. Rey eats boot like a man, Cesaro flips over as fast as anyone for the around the Manami Roll. I dug the 619 variations here: the one Cesaro took standing to the kidneys was great, and it lead to a cool moment of him catching the one after that, and then the more traditional one at the finish. I would be fine with these two just out there every month or so working on material.

PAS: This was a weird little artifact of a match. These two have amazing in ring chemistry, with Cesaro being one of the great bases in wrestling history and Rey being one of the most creative tecnicos. This felt like it was setting something up, and then they never had another singles match. Cesaro has such wild strength, and Rey has always been a great foil for a strong man. Lots of moments where Cesaro snatches Rey out of the air, only to get caught in a rana or armdrag. The spot where Cesaro catches the bodypress, rolls through, flips him up, only to get caught in a crucifix was so cool. It feels like it should be a legendary wrestling spot and instead felt a little wasted on a random RAW TV match. Still, this was a very cool random RAW TV match. 

2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Yeah, It's Where We Are, Gulak

Drew Gulak vs. Danny Garcia 205 Live 7/17/18 - FUN

ER: Garcia has been the talk of the town lately, had a big week of matches that peaked with him working his way into the main event of AEW Dynamite. He's only 22, and yet he somehow had a televised WWE match when he was just 19. There aren't many teenagers who can say they've wrestled a match for WWE, though I can think of at least a few offhand (the Hardys, Paige, Ken Doane, maybe Waltman?). This puts Garcia into some rare company. The Hardys started as regular TV jobbers and 3 years later they were superstars. Well, it's 3 years later and Garcia's star has never been brighter, and I'm positive he's never done a quicker or more vicious job than the one he did here. You see, the match is 30 seconds long, and an absolute massacre. This beating felt like it was one bad inch away from being a new Marty Jannetty/Chuck Austin incident. It's a match made up of three moves. First, Gulak flew into Garcia with one of the hardest clotheslines I've ever seen Gulak hit. Second, Gulak threw Garcia with a backdrop driver that felt like something Masa Saito would have thrown to "toughen up/accidentally murder" Dojo trainees. Third, Gulak dragged Garcia by the back of the head and sunk in a deadly looking Gulock. Garcia got a 30 second tryout with WWE, got nuked like few jobbers have ever been nuked, and it only made him want this more. Hard not to like that. 

PAS: I kind of expected this to be what Garcia vs. Moxley was going to be, and while Garcia got a ton more offense in that match, Moxley did hit versions of all three of these moves in his Garcia match. Gulak wins all three: his clothesline was up there with the nastiest clotheslines in WWE history, that backdrop driver was spine compressing, and the choke was sick, with Garcia's knees bent all weird. Garcia has so much offense these days, I never really think of him as a crazy bumper, but he was Pablo Marquez level here. 

Drew Gulak vs. Angel Garza WWE Raw 5/17/21 - FUN

ER: Well this probably puts the nail in the coffin of Gulak's time on Raw for now, as they have established that Garza is clearly his better. This is the third Raw match they've had, and each one went about 2 minutes, and ended with a decisive Garza victory. Drew Gulak is great at working guys like Garza, so I get why they'd want him opposite, making Garza's offense look as good as it can. Gulak begins things by jumping Garza and gets an early advantage, strongly enough that I just sort of assumed that surely Gulak wasn't going to lose 3 straight Raw matches to the same guy! Well, before long it became the Garza show, and it's a fun show to watch right now. Gulak leans into his kicks and has a fun bump off a reverse slingshot suplex, opting to land on his feet and whip back instead of take it on his stomach. It left him in perfect position for a seated dropkick from Garza, and it's one of those things that Gulak does sometimes that don't look like anyone else. I've said it twice before, but it's silly giving these two only 2 minutes, as they could do something really cool with just 4, but here we are. 

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Raw 6/7/21 - FUN

ER: I'm starting to think that Gulak might not be the guy to put a stop to Mansoor's incredible winning ways. Gulak does, however, continue his trend of unique and cruelly short Raw matches. I don't know what kind of accomplishment it is to be known as the guy having the coolest 2 minute Raw matches, as I'd rather see him be the guy having the coolest 8-10 minute matches on whatever smaller show, but we take what we get. Gulak loses 90% of his matches and I'm the guy who still manages to get hooked into possible Gulak wins, and I don't think it's because I'm 90% doofus, but because of Gulak actually making each little moment of his 150 seconds matter. There is an art to the Short Match, of making your precious few moments matter, and Gulak starts by working a cool half crab, bending at Mansoor's leg while driving his bootheel into Mansoor's back. There's a cool battle over a roll up, and I loved Gulak grabbing a big handful of tights. That handful of tights was what convinced me Gulak was taking it. Sure, it helped that the tights grab happened around the 2 minute mark, and I knew from experience that Gulak is allowed no more than 3 minutes in a Raw ring or else suddenly we wind up with dozens of Gulaks everywhere, and half of them turn out to be child molesters. Alas, Mansoor reverses a reversal of a roll up reversal and I will see Gulak on Main Event next week, where he may win. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK

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Drew Gulak Will Stare Straight Into Nothing

Drew Gulak vs. Angel Garza WWE Raw 12/22/20 - FUN

ER: Having a match like this go 2 minutes is never not going to be Total Bullshit. If you watch the Gulak/Cesaro match from WrestleMania, you can see what kind of genuinely special match Gulak is capable of putting together with just 4 minutes, but 2 minutes? When a match doesn't go as long as the ring intros, several different people running a multi million dollar TV show fucked up several segment time allocations. What's even more cruel, is that this was the first time these two have ever been matched up, and it's very clear from these 2 minutes that their chemistry is real. We get a great gag to start, with Garza throwing his just removed pants into Gulak's face while attacking him, setting an aggressive pace that I'm glad they worked for the 2 measly minutes they were allowed. I liked the struggle they showed during the 2 minutes, nothing ever looked like part of a sequence, everything they did looked like some kind of fight was behind it. Gulak muscling up Garza with a backbreaker, all the forearms and punches and shots to ribs, and Gulak jamming his elbow into Garza's thigh to reverse an abdominal stretch (only Gulak can make an abdominal stretch look like a finisher worthy sub in 2020, even digging his fist into that soft portion of Garza's side underneath the ribs). This was an awesome scrap, and the way they tangled and threw off balance could have turned into something really special with just a couple more minutes, but the finish we got was way too premature. 

Drew Gulak vs. AJ Styles WWE Raw 1/11/21 - FUN

ER: Disappointing 3 minute match that could have been much more worthwhile with another minute or two and some better time management. There was a frustrating amount of time dedicated to a set up shot of Gulak starting at the size of Styles' bodyguard's foot, and an unsatisfying battle up top over a superplex that didn't really go anywhere but ate up significant match time. When they stuck to grounded interactions it was great, loved how Styles started things with his nice dropkick and kicked Gulak right in the chest upon landing. Gulak falls really well for Styles, and gets to hit a cool unexpected tiger driver and this awesome bridging fallaway slam, also takes a big bump over the top to the floor. But this was about as low end as you can get for a match between Gulak and Styles, mostly due to time. 

Drew Gulak vs. Humberto Carrillo WWE Main Event 1/18 (Aired 1/21/21) - GREAT

ER: Now here's a cool match, and one of the strongest Carrillo performances I've seen in at least a couple months. Gulak is obviously going to be a great opponent for a flyer, but Carrillo's flash landed a lot better here than it can. They start with some fun matwork, with Gulak working an American lucha maestro style that Carrillo can roll with nicely. But I loved how the matwork and bridging wasn't really getting Gulak anywhere, so at some point he just says Fuck It and starts bending at Carrillo's arm. Gulak is great at taking Carrillo's armdrags and leaning face first into his spinning kicks, and the whole match is him getting sick of taking that flippy trickery and just slugging Carrillo in the stomach or throat, or planting him with a kneeling bodyslam or driving a knee into his torso. We get an Actually Good strike exchange that built nicely. There was no trading, nothing that looked like a prepped combo, just Gulak getting in a shot before being thrown off balance by a kick, giving Carrillo a chance to throw another kick while Gulak tried to fire back off balance. It looked great. Carrillo hits one of the smoothest version of his handspring armdrag, Gulak goes purple trying to snap Carrillo's arm and making it look like Carrillo is fighting for his damn limb. It's a lovely yin/yang. Carrillo's springboard spinning kick saw Gulak leap to take it in the face as if he was heading a soccer ball, looked fantastic, and the moonsault finish was academic. Give me 8 minute Gulak matches on a C show against weird Main Event opponents (Tucker? Slapjack? Riddick Moss?) and let's see how much cool shit he can pull off. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK

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WWE 305: Moondog Spot!! Cousin Junior!! Big Show!

Moondog Spot vs. Cousin Junior WWF 11/10/85 - EPIC

ER: This kicked so much ass. I loved this match. They built to big spots well and Moondog had a real great carry job, working a match around Cousin Junior's surprising bursts of speed, his good bumping, and his 2 or 3 cool highspots. Moondog would fill in the downtime with great cutoffs, and I'm not just talking about his jeans. Gorilla and Jesse turned in an excellent commentary performance, going on some genuinely laugh out loud tangents, like Gorilla laughing about Pigeon Forge, TN while Jesse is telling him that Gorilla's career isn't as impressive as he thought it was, since Gorilla had never main evented a show in Pigeon Forge. Later they go on about what cut of meat Moondog's bone came from, with Gorilla detailing just how long it's taken Spot to get the bone as clean as it is, picking off all the meat scraps. It's genuinely great material. 

Moondog was really great at letting all of Junior's spots shine, like his cool mule kick or heavy crossbody, and they kept working fast impressive rope running with nice dropdowns and leapfrogs. Moondog cuts off a bunch of Junior's charges with knees to the gut or great punches. Spot throws a headlock punch with a fist shakeout afterward that made me want to write up every Larry Latham match I have access to. He hits two cool as hell fistdrops off the middle rope and throws Junior into a hard bump on the entrance ramp (where a Maple Leaf Gardens security guard literally tickles Junior's feet???). The match also has an unexpectedly cool finish, with Moondog catching Junior and about to hit a big powerslam, but Junior rolls through the slam with a really nice cradle! Everything about this was a real gem: Great Moondog performance, super spirited Cousin Junior performance, and some classic Ventura/Monsoon commentary. 

Big Show vs. Mark Henry WWE Raw 6/29/15 - SKIPPABLE

ER: This must have been during a period where they needed to make Big Show look strong again, so they did that thing where he beats someone really big really quick. Like, we need to make Big Show a main event title threat again, have him beat Mark Henry in under 90 seconds! And it was kind of like Henry was being directed to not go as hard on Show as Show went on Henry, so that Show looked more dominant. Henry held up a bit on his standing splash and wasn't throwing his punches as snug as Show was throwing his. If I was there live for this match, I would have been losing my shit knowing I was getting a Show/Henry singles match. And then I would have been livid seeing Henry downed by a KO punch in under 90 seconds. In 2009 I went to a Raw taping in Oakland that was supposed to have Mark Henry vs. Shawn Michaels. I was not a fan of Michaels by 2009, but Henry/Michaels is a singles match that only happened once before, and I think a 2009 singles match between them would have been really good. The match ended by DQ 1 minute in and I drove home pissed (the rest of the show was not great either).

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWE 305 LIVE

 

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2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Braun vs. Lashley

Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley WWE Raw 2/22

ER: We've been watching a lot of shootstyle lately, and this match had the energy of a lot of these short shootstyle matches, only worked as straight pro wrestling. Braun and Lashley would both be great doing a UWFI rules fight as a PPV attraction, both seem like they'd be as good at it as any of the guys doing cool version of that on American indies. Amateur wrestler vs. Strong man is a cool showdown, and this was 5 minutes of them just colliding. They take turns knocking each other to the mat, and Braun hits a cool amateur lift gutwrench and starts hammer fisting Lashley's head, then whips him hard ribs first into the turnbuckles, and just one minute in it already felt like this cool desperate fight, as Lashley was hanging onto the ropes for dear life to block Braun's offense. I loved how Braun didn't fight it with Lashley on the ropes, just dumped him over, and that lead to a great moment of Lashley dodging a charge on the floor and Braun running and flipping over the ring steps. Their fighting back in the ring was cool, the kind of heavyweight power slugfest WWE could have all the time instead of heavyweight agility contests. Braun hits hard elbows out of a full nelson and blasts Lashley with a kidney punch, and it felt like a really big moment when Lashley kicked out of Braun's powerslam. This kind of match would have been so great to see in front of a live crowd, but I'll take these kind of hotly paced heavyweight matches in front of nobody at all. 

PAS: This was a bunch of fun, two absolute gigantic men, using that size as their primary weapon. Enough big guys doing little guy moves, I want to see Braun throw Lashley to the mat and use his Sunday ham sized fist try to smush his skull. I want Lashley to hit a spear which looks like it cut Braun in half. I liked how the only agility high spot in the match was Lashley's vertical leap onto the ring apron, it was a holy shit moment, but not one that looking like a less impressive version of a cruiserweight move. This reminded me of the Big Show vs. Mark Henry series, and that is a super compliment from me. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lord Regal and September Spawned a Monster

Lord Steven Regal/Stunning Steve Austin/Mongolian Mauler vs. Dustin Rhodes/Sting/Flyin Brian Pillman WCW 1/31/94 - GREAT

PAS: Totally WAR six-man tag match with five of the greatest wrestlers in history and the Mongolian Mauler for some reason.  I kind of liked the Mauler in this he had a nice chop to the throat and both a back rake and the lesser seen but equally effective front rake.  The other five were as great as you expect them to be. Regal and Sting have a couple of exchanges and those guys always work great together. Dustin was the face in peril, and he is an all time at it, he takes a great bump on a blocked monkey flip, and does a 360 on an Austin clothesline. It all leads to a hot tag with both Sting and Pillman, and those guys can heat up a tag. Great Worldwide main event, the kind of thing that would put a smile on your face on a Saturday morning.

MD: 1994 WCW is a bit of a blindspot for me, actually. I've seen some of the biggest stuff (both in general and in our circles) but the idea was that I always wanted to keep that one specific year, especially the first half, in my pocket for a rainy day. I had this ridiculous notion that there was going to be a limited amount of old wrestling out there and I never knew when I was going to need a bunch of it that I knew I'd probably love. There are a couple of things like that for me (The prose version of The Big Sleep is another actually). My rainy day media.

So I haven't seen this before. "From Mongolia, the Mongolian Mauler" is a pretty ridiculous billing. They should have probably just called him the Mauler. The black contacts are gold for 1994 though. I immediately like the camaraderie of the babyfaces. The unity and shared vision they all seem to have must have made Hogan's arrival a few months later feel all the more jarring. My favorite shot in all of this is probably the shift from Mauler chewing the scenery (figuratively but just barely) on the floor, to Regal making faces on the apron. You would get random few week/months runs with guys in WWF (Lance Cassidy or Battle Kat or what have you) but the nature of WWF TV meant that there were less name vs name matches and a lot less random tags/six-mans in general, with only the more established guys selected for Coliseum Videos, so it's less likely you get a situation like this with a guy who was in and out.

The match itself was what you'd want out of 8 minutes of this grouping. Sting got to take about forty seconds of the Mauler's offense and you get the sense he was absolutely into it, to the point where I'm amazed the didn't work more during this short run. Sting knew what he could do with an opponent like that. The real heat came after Dustin contorted himself impossibly for a bump on an Austin clothesline out of the corner. He didn't just hide his size as a FIP but he also went over big for things like Regal's butterfly suplex. When he actually used the height was when he futilely reached for the corner which was always an effective visual from Dustin. That's another side of this. By 94, most of these guys knew each other so well that they could do a match like this in their sleep. You add the Mauler into the mix as an X factor and you get a fun bit of televised chaos.

William Regal vs. Bubba Ray Dudley WWE Raw 5/20/02 - FUN

ER: These two matched up for months in tag matches, with Regal and Lance Storm having a long feud with the Dudleys. This is the only singles match they had though, and the first half is exactly what you'd want. Regal worked really stiff, roughing up Bubba with hard elbows and punches, hard knee strikes, both collided with different shoulderblocks, all of it shaping it to be a classic. But things get unnecessarily derailed when Molly Holly interfered and Bubba chased her, and the timing of things gets thrown off a little bit. They started with a nice violent flow and interrupted the rhythm. Regal kind of whiffed on a punch that was supposed to land and they kind of wound up standing in the wrong spot. Regal gets things back to where we were by just throwing Bubba throat first against the middle rope, my favorite moment of the match. It looked practical - like the way Finlay integrated the ring into his offense - and really violent, and I fully bought into Bubba's choked selling. But then Brock came out and interrupted the rhythm they had regained and it didn't really get it back. It had too many distractions away from the ass kicking, and for a 3 minute match ending in a DQ, it still could have been great if the 3rd minute was like the 1st minute.

PAS: This had a couple of fun moments, which is pretty good for a short TV match to set up a run in. Bubba's opening offensive run was stiff enough to bruise up Regal's chest, and the post Molly Holly interference spot where Regal threw Bubba's jaw into the rope was super nasty. Bubba needing to get in a running man set up for a splash, a flip flop and fly, and a "Bubba get the tables" in a three minute match was shtick overkill. You have three minutes, pick one thing. 


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2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Sasha vs. Charlotte Street Fight

53. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte WWE Raw 11/28

PAS: You have to give a lot of credit to both of these women. Multiple times this year they have been placed in high profile, unprecedented spots and they have delivered every time. This was my favorite of their main roster matches. It had a real sloppy violent feel to it, which is the kind of wrestling I love, it actually weirdly felt a lot like the Jordynne Grace vs. Heidi Lovelace IWA-MS streetfight we loved so much from 2014 (review here). Same kind of crowbarring, same kind of recklessness. I loved that insane bump Sasha took off the ring apron, totally looked like it knocked her cold. Charlotte's moonsault was totally nuts, and the finish was awesome, looked totally painful and really took advantage of Charlotte's flexibility. I liked this a lot better than the Hell in the Cell, had all of the things I liked from that match, with less of the things I didn't.

ER: Sasha Banks has been one of my very favorite performers over the past year, while I think Charlotte keeps looking worse and worse in ring. I thought we had already added this match to our 2016 MOTY List, and when I saw I never wrote my part of the review (Phil wrote his share several years ago) I figured I'd fix that. The only thing I really remember about the match is the finish, with Sasha locking the Banks Statement on in the crowd, bending Charlotte back over a handrail. These two had a crazy 2016 against each other, and this match might have had their craziest material. This was falls county anywhere and was worked really stiff, and several of their big spots were dangerously ambitious. Sasha hits a really great dive early, following it through to the floor and landing like a super heavy crossbody. They both take hard suplexes and spills on the floor, Sasha breaking out meteoras from high landings, and she takes a really crazy bump off the apron. Sasha was always great for a reckless death bump in a big match. Charlotte has always had really ugly form on chops - that hasn't changed - but ugly or not, her chops on the apron landed with a thud. She was chopping Sasha right in the boobs and Sasha paid her back with an elbow. It all builds to a Charlotte moonsault off the announce table up on the entrance stage, and a moonsault from that high up, with the only thing standing between you and concrete being a 110 lb. woman, is a psychotic spot for a WWF main eventer. The whole match had a real strong fight feel to it, and the crowd picked up early on that they were killing each other out there, and that really added to things. We're a little over 4 years later and I think Sasha will be the biggest star in wrestling if her current trajectory keeps up. Meanwhile, Charlotte's in ring stock has fallen every year since. We'll always have 2016. 

2016 MOTY MASTER LIST

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 4/12-4/25/20

Oney Lorcan vs. Aleister Black WWE Raw 4/13

ER: Lorcan is turning up on every damn show these days (Willing to die? Live in Tampa? Your ticket to the main roster starts now!) and I love how competitive this was. Black has been making quick work of guys lately and I am so very thankful that wasn't the case here. Lorcan was presented as Black's equal and that's alright by me. I expected this to go a couple minutes and it somehow took us through a commercial break, and I was into all of the headlocks we got to start. If a match has a moment where someone tries to push out of a headlock, but the headlocker holds on? I'm almost certain to like the match and what they're going for. Lorcan holds onto a couple of them here, and dishes some nice uppercuts and chops when they're apart. In some ways Black worked this like the underdog, going for schoolboys and bailing out of holds, and that felt like a cool nod to Lorcan's ability. Every time it looked like Black would pull away, hitting a quebrada, kicking Lorcan to the floor, kicking to get out of subs, Lorcan would fire back with something else. My favorite bit of home stretch Lorcan offense was a big damn lariat, love when a guy I'm sure is losing gets an awesome last gasp. I didn't love the final strike exchange that lead to the winning Black Mass, but loved that we got this as a serious match.


Jack Gallagher vs. El Hijo Del Fantasma WWE NXT 4/22

ER: This was a cool style clash, had a real "Hey these guys are both on the WCW roster and they randomly crossed paths on Thunder for 8 minutes" feel to it. It didn't really seem like it had a specific goal or story in mind, and that's what gave it that fun carefree WCW "go out there and do some cool stuff in the 6th quarter hour" vibe. This was Fantasma's TV debut and he needed a guy to show off his cool stuff against, and Gallagher is a cool guy to eat a few clotheslines, eat a plancha, fly out of the ring after taking a nice superkick, and then eat a big tope. I would have liked to see them work some conflicting matwork, Fantasma's lucha upbringing with Gallagher's violent twisting, and we didn't get that. WWE does not bring in luchadors to do flashy matwork, but I liked Gallagher routinely yanking Fantasma around by the mask, kicking him across the shoulderblades, and more mask yanking. Gallagher's big headbutt was the highlight of the match for me, that perfect Zidane arc that landed flush, and whenever I see something look that good I always just want it to be the finish. This was clearly going to be a Fantasma showcase, and that's cool, but I'd like to see them run this back without the need to get someone over in their debut.


Drew Gulak vs. Baron Corbin WWE Smackdown 4/24

ER: This was really cool. even though I obviously wanted a different result. This was a major change from the 2-3 minute matches Gulak was getting on Smackdown at the end of 2019, and really illustrates the important difference 3 extra minutes can make. It was tough to write about a 2 minute Gulak match against Braun, because what more can I say other than "Well it was cool the way Gulak hit that one punch before that truck ran over him and then also backed over him." A few extra competitive minutes takes the sting off a Gulak loss, and while it was a loss and it would have been cool to see him featured at Money in the Bank, this was not a clean win for Corbin. An optimist could argue that the tide was clearly turned for Gulak when Nakamura and Cesaro interfered, and that the match was professionally laid out. I thought Corbin had some cool stuff here that Gulak fed into really well, like that dope unrolling powerslam that spun Gulak into the mat, or the nicely pulled off Boss Man lariat around the ringpost (and for all the crap Corbin takes he's maybe the only guy I've seen post Boss Man who can pull that off without a hitch), the End of Days looked crushing, and he had some smaller things like a cool blocked strike that lead to a wicked kidney punch. Corbin as counter striker to Gulak would make for a great match.

But Gulak looked like his equal for much of this, and I loved how Corbin took a lot of Gulak's offense. We got some cool stuff on the floor with Gulak hitting a hard dropkick to send Corbin flying over the announce table, and Gulak hitting a leg whip that sent Corbin into the ring steps, and later flying off those ring steps with his nice diving lariat into Cesaro. I'm always going to be into a guy who utilizes parts of the ring and surrounding area, and Gulak is good at that. There were also a couple of strong Gulak nearfalls, including a convincing schoolboy and a great crossbody. And maybe the coolest part of the match was when Gulak's strikes really started landing, and he backed Corbin into the corner with a series of nasty forearm strikes to Corbin's chest, and the forearms all looked powerful enough to actually back up Corbin. Those forearms blossomed into bigger strikes and I loved the visual of Gulak having Corbin literally on the ropes. Silver lining: hopefully this loss and his strong presentation just lead to an actual cool match at MITB, as I'd rather see him in a cool singles than a big ladder match anyway.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 4/5-4/11/20

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Ricochet/Cedric Alexander WWE Raw 4/6

ER: This was a fun surprise, the first ever Raw appearances of Lorcan and Burch. If you live in Tampa, you're on Raw! was the theme of this show, but give me a fun Burch/Lorcan sprint and whatever. Match was under 4 minutes, but it was worked like they were trying to fit as much into 210 seconds as possible. Lorcan and Burch weren't winning, but I'm glad that they weren't treated as cannon fodder and were instead treated as equals. There's no reason they shouldn't be equals, but I wasn't expecting it. Burch especially got to really lace into Alexander, absorbing some kicks from Cedric to be close enough to throw a couple of great punches, a headbutt, and some uppercuts. It's fun seeing Lorcan and Burch cut Alexander off from tags. They weirdly gave Apollo Crews a half hour to work, probably more time on Raw than he's had combined in two years, so at this point I got excited that we might be getting a stretched out Lorcan tag classic. Well, things went downhill pretty quickly for them once Ricochet finally tagged in. Once that happened it was a pretty quick Cedric/Ricochet show, with every Lorcan/Burch move being evaded, Burch tossed to the floor, and Lorcan eating a nice atomic drop/enziguiri double team before getting downed by the shooting star. I would have loved to see this get even two more minutes, but it was a nice surprise seeing Lorcan on Raw.


9. Jack Gallagher vs. Oney Lorcan 205 Live 4/10/20

ER: First time EVER singles match between these two, no clue what took them so long. Last week they talked about Gallagher's new vicious side while he was not doing any vicious offense. Well, this week the new side came out in full, as he pummeled Lorcan's body nearly the entire runtime. Before we get to the pummeling we start with some cool matwork, because we're in the weird era of WWE where guys here now have cooler matwork than guys on the indies or Japan (with a couple notable exceptions). All of Gallagher's traps and set-ups were great, loved him tightly wrapping his legs around Lorcan's legs to force pressure on Lorcan's joints, and these are guys who are also clearly going to be great at headscissors escapes. Gallagher really focuses his attacks afterward on Lorcan's body, big open hand shots that he kept landing and landing, finding gaps. He even kicks Lorcan across the ring with nice shots to the ribs. Lorcan showed he can hit with more power, but Gallagher was the one absorbing a big shot to land 3 shots to the body, even egging Lorcan on. Lorcan reddened Gallagher's chest with chops, which made his clipper ship tattoo look like it was heading off into the sunset. I hadn't seen Gallagher utilize his headbutt since starting on his new vicious side, but here he makes up for all of that by throwing out a dozen: A couple big wind-up shots, and a bunch of short thrusting blows to Lorcan's ribs, neck, and chest while trapping him in the corner. Lorcan pays Gallagher back with big running attacks and big throws, having given up on trading with him. Lorcan's running back elbow was an all timer here, his half nelson looked like it was going to bounce Gallagher off his ear, and he threw a short powerful clothesline that whipped Gallagher inside out so quickly that I had to rewind to see just what the hell happened. The finish of this was dumb, with Tony Nese being a doofus cop breaking up two teens making out in a car, just the worst possible timing. But up until the Neseing this was everything you wanted from 2/3 of the Big 3 throwing down.

PAS: This was really dope up until the turd ending. It is weird that these guys have been circling each other for years now, but have never matched up before and of course it is great. Gallagher seems to be going straight shootstyle with his new gimmick, which is a weird choice, but totally awesome. He was amazing in that first Tetsujin show, and it is really cool to watch him drop the WOS stuff and just focus on vicious body shots, Ikeda headbutts, and leglocks. Lorcan is a perfect antagonist for this. He isn't going to have that same level of skill on the mat, but he is going to totally match the intensity, I loved him trying to forcibly remove Gallagher's tattoo with his chops. Tony Nese is such a blight, why can't he be sensibly concerned about his health and stay home.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Asuka vs. Natalya

5. Asuka vs. Natalya WWE Raw 2/3

ER: I love surprises like these. You tell me at the beginning of the night that my favorite match of the evening will be a Natalya singles match, and I wouldn't have believed you. But then these two go out and have a fun match that comes off plenty unprofessional, and I'm in. The scrambling is good, with Natalya hitting a fireman's carry and going for the arm, then both fighting over kneebars until Natalya comes up wanting to fight. Natalya asks Asuka if she wants to try shooting on her again in a fun bit of theater. Moments later when Asuka - trained by Yuki Ishikawa - muscles her fairly easily into a nasty crossface, it's pretty clear that Asuka is fine keeping things overly snug. The chippiness Natalya brings to this keeps it all interesting, but Asuka throwing hard kicks to Natalya's chest makes it way better. Natalya powers Asuka up into a really nice sitout powerbomb, and we get great replays of Asuka kicking Natalya right in the mouth. The slo mo of Natalya putting her hand up to block and her reaction when the kick finds jaw anyway, put this over the top for me. Asuka's octopus hold looked really cranked in, and when she locks on a guillotine she looks like she's really smothering Natalya. Natalya powering out of the grounded guillotine to hit a suplex was a great moment. Asuka leaned big into the rolling clothesline and I bought the sharpshooter as the finish (no matter how silly that would have been). The finish was the only blip of the match, with Kairi Sane distracting Natalya to allow Asuka to get the Asuka Lock, but Asuka even made that great by yanking Natalya back by the hair to set up the sub. Awesome, totally unexpected stuff.

PAS: When I saw Eric recommend this, I assumed it would be a miracle Asuka carry job, but Natalya seems like this weird wrestler who will suck 95% of the time, but pull out two or three cool matches a year. She actually brought some stuff to this match, the suplex out of the guillotine was pretty cool, and she seemed perfectly competent in the early grappling section (something which seemed totally out of place on Monday Night Raw). Asuka is really great, and she can really throw heat when she needs to. I have to love anyone who would book shows where she plays the Ishikawa role in a  Daisuke Ikeda match, and she made Ikeda proud with that back kick to the face, which really looked like Natalya would be spitting teeth. Weird that this was so good, but it is a worthy addition to a MOTY list.


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2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Rey vs. Andrade

1. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade WWE Raw 1/6

PAS: These guys are just tremendous dance partners. Andrade is Juvi level great at taking Rey's offense, and it is insane that Rey is still innovating 30 years into his career. I had never seen the roll into the steps before, and the knuckle lock into the Canadian Destroyer actually made that move look credible. I really liked the restart, especially because we got another 5+ minutes of awesome including two of the cooler moves of the match, Rey's rana off the ring apron which Andrade took on the top of his head, and the sunset bomb into the ringpost. The only thing that kept this from an all timer, was the little awkwardness at the finish with Rey getting a stinger or something, and them basically going back to what they were setting up. Still this was just a treat, and Rey just keeps rolling on.

ER: Yeah, go on and just keep matching these two up. This might not have been their best overall match due to the weird finish, but this match definitely had my favorite STUFF between the two. The Stuff Quotient was high in this one, and both guys are perfect at taking each other's stuff. Andrade was a base god here, guy was bumping around for Rey like this was a Rey Mania Retirement Match, bounced off the top of his head no less than 3 times, and really worked with the all time great to come up with cool spins on greatest hits. I saw Bob Dylan live over a decade ago and barely recognized any song he performed. Once he got back into live performance, he maintained personal interest by completely changing the melodies and arrangements of his songs. Here's Rey using the exact same arsenal that's been at his disposal for nearly 30 years now, and keeps finding ways to integrate new trends and new tech in a way that doesn't come off like an old weirdo doing stunners in an armory, but like a guy who can take anything and make it his own. This was all about Andrade finding new ways to crash and burn, taking a rolling cradle into the ring steps, taking a rana head first into the barricade, taking a sunset flip bomb into the ringpost, bouncing off his head for DDTs and a great Canadian Destroyer, just a total megastar performance opposite a megastar. I loved the moments of going back to that well, like Mysterio rolling through an early sunset flip to kick Andrade in the head, leading to Rey getting cocky later in the match and hitting a wild diving sunset flip to the floor that ends with Andrade rolling through and sending those knees into Rey's face. Phil pointed out the knucklelock into the Destroyer, and it's totally true that they figured out a way to build to a position they typically hit a few times per match, with a result that turned an implausible move into something sensical. And this whole thing felt like the best implausible parts of wrestling, made plausible by total pros.


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Natalya: Mainstream Wrestling's Broken Clock

You know what they say about broken clocks, right? That they have much more value than a collection of Natalya matches, and are much less insufferable. BUT, they have also been known to be correct upwards of - but no more than - twice per day. Twice! Broken clocks are correct in one day as often as there have been uniquely memorable Natalya singles matches. I am someone who enjoys giving credit when it is due, so here are two Natalya matches that pleasantly surprised me, one from last week, one from 5 years ago:

Natalya vs. Lacey Evans WWE Raw 9/2/19

ER: Sometimes there is a match that overdelivers so unexpectedly that it really gets my attention, and you don't get much more unexpected than this. Natalya has been one of my least favorite TV workers for some time, and Lacey Evans has been in at best maybe one decent match that I've seen. I am not interested in a Lacey Evans vs. Natalya match, on paper. This match was on in the background while I was writing up something completely different, and it caught my attention. I love when that happens. Had I been actively watching I would have fast forwarded this one with no second thought, and yet because it was background noise it was allowed to exist. And somehow they managed to catch my attention as background noise. They kept a nice fast pace up for 5 tight minutes, and kept things chippy the whole time. There were little unprofessional pie faces and slaps, and a couple shots taken through gritted teeth. Lacey had a couple cocky little cheapshots that felt more like a heel in World of Sport, and that is something I'd welcome from her. Natalya does all the offense she usually does, but there are occasions where she tightens it up, and this was one of those times. Watch her ground Lacey with a high atomic drop tailbone to the mat, and then really stomp on the back of her neck to shove her down and set up the low dropkick. Her clothesline landed well, and I dug the way they set each other up. Lacey Evans misses a pretty great Mero-sault, and finishes the match by tossing her hanky in  Nattie's face and then popping her. It looked great, as a lot of stuff in this match did. These two are not two that I seek out, but they did something notable that caught my attention. I love surprises like these.

Natalya vs. Charlotte Flair NXT TakeOver 5/29/14

ER: This match was not at all what I was expecting. It was really, really good. I mean really good. Better than any match I have seen involving either Charlotte or Natalya. I was fully expecting the entire focus to be on Bret and Flair at ringside, and the bulk of the match be taken up by each person laughably aping the signature offense of their respective cornermen. Instead, they somehow filled an engaging 17 (!) minutes of time that never felt like it was dragging, felt like either woman could win, and left me completely impressed. Charlotte working a tribute act to her corpse father on Raw has been really bad this past year, and seeing her here doing none of that was eye opening. The match felt different right away, with tons of simple but really great matwork. It all felt really snug and felt like they both had to fight over holds. It all looked exhausting. Natalya pulls out a tricky single leg and every tight headlock or waistlock or kneebar or body vice felt like it meant something, and pretty soon Charlotte has Nattie in a nasty figure 4 choke, just squeezing those legs around her neck, and she stands up with it, doing a forward roll that sends Nattie flipping over and slamming onto her tailbone, and I am now totally in love with this grind. Natalya was making all sorts of great faces during the mat portions, grinding in elbows, laughing over her shoulder at Charlotte. We build to a figure 4 spot that could have felt derivative but I don't think did. It felt like a logical peak of the match, with both reaching out to slap and scratch at the other, both stubbornly refusing to back off, apparent it was never going to end the match but was merely taking them through to a struggle none of their prior matches have shown. Then rolling to the floor off it was a cool bit of desperation and being out of strategic ideas. It felt like when a fighter abandons his gameplan and just starts following the mood of the fight, often a poor choice. Natalya takes a big bump into the steps and back in Charlotte starts going for the figure 4 again, but then throws side eye at Bret before locking on a Sharpshooter. Natalya does a realistic looking counter but gets kicked in the face trying to get too cute and lock in a Sharpshooter of her own, and this leads to Charlotte hitting her rolling blockbuster. This match shot so far past my expectations, just totally unexpected. This really felt like it elevated the Divas title, which is a funny thought in the history of WWE. But this felt like two people who wanted nothing more than to win that belt.

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On Brand Segunda Caida: The Johnny Polo vs. Marty Jannetty Feud!

ER: Raven didn't work many matches during his first WWF stint, and it's a shame because his house show appearances are filled with on paper gold. I'd love to see a 1993/1994 matches like Polo vs. 1-2-3 Kid, Polo vs. Owen, Polo/Jacques Rougeau vs. The Steiners, one of those cool house-only Royal Rumbles, and I don't think we have any of that. He worked exactly two matches that made TV, and both of them were against Marty Jannetty. The two of them later worked a match in ECW, and two more in WCW after that. It's probably one of the few singles matches to have happened in every single major 90s wrestling fed. That's weird, and really cool.

Johnny Polo vs. Marty Jannetty WWE Raw 12/13/93

ER: Polo had been taunting Jannetty for weeks, claiming he could beat 1-2-3 Kid and Jannetty at the same time. Then during a singles match between Kid and Jannetty (or, you know, Marty Confetti and the Snot Nose Kid as he referred to them, while also calling Vince "McMoron", which we can probably flag as the beginning of Vince hating Raven) he interfered against both men, eventually shoving Jannetty out of the way of a Kid tope con giro, meaning Jannetty went into the rail, Kid took a mean Chris Hamrick-style back bump to the floor (that made me wonder if it's actually Chris Hamrick that was taking Waltman-style bumps...), and both were counted out. So, one could argue that Polo did beat both men at once. Polo's ring gear is a zazzy singlet top (think if RVD was designing something for the Steiners), tucked into billowy pleated white pants, which are tucked into black wrestling boots. Was Polo-the-manager put in loose Day-Glo windbreakers to hide his size, because he is much larger than Jannetty here. Also, this match is super fun and kind of weird! Most fans watching would have had no idea at the time that Polo was a wrestler, they'd think of him as a manager, and here was a manager working equally with a guy who had been the IC Champ just a few months prior (on commentary, Jacques amusingly says that Jannetty is now on the downside of his career which, well...). But I don't really care about that as these two match up in fun ways, and Jannetty is a real daredevil during this period. Jannetty crashes to the floor in a big over the top bump, and later his a plancha off the top to take out Quebecer Pierre. Polo did his great "Raven kinda did a pescado" where vaults himself over the top and tumbles to the floor onto Jannetty, and there was a bunch of great stooging from Polo throughout. I really liked Polo missing a punch by a mile to set up an atomic drop, selling the atomic drop with a 0.7 Rick Rude sell, then missing the exact same punch - again by a mile - to set up a Jannetty backdrop suplex. A lot of Jannetty's offense was basically grabbing Polo by his hair and slamming his face or hair into the mat, and Polo is a good guy to tantrum sell that kind of offense. The whole match is filled with several convincing nearfalls, as Polo felt like a guy who could be put down with a school boy or a crossbody, and they kept an exciting pace for the 6 minute run time. Pierre did held hold Polo's hands during the winning roll up, so I guess we're just going to have to run this back in a month!

Johnny Polo vs. Marty Jannetty WWE Raw 1/31/94

ER: Polo has opted for a chambray dad jacket and colorfully striped polo (sleeves cut off) for his ring gear, and this is another fun match to...well, end their feud. Grand opening, grand closing! This was all big bumps from Jannetty, basic offense from Polo (all axe handles, kneelifts, and back rakes baby, and we're better for it!), a fun pace, and a nearly 10 minute run time (which, again, is weird because Polo was not an onscreen wrestler!). Match starts with Jannetty getting the mic from Polo and hitting a lariat with the mic cord, then tying Polo's legs together with the cord. This is extremely excellent bullshit, and gives us an opportunity to see Polo stooging and flopping around for microphone based offense. Jannetty goes back to his plan of grabbing Polo by the head and ramming it into things, getting an enthusiastic 10 count from the crowd after knocking Polo's face into all the turnbuckles, mixing in a heavy crossbody and nice flying back elbow. Early in the match Polo bails to the back, but charges at Jannetty and takes a nice backdrop bump on the floor. But this match has a ton more Polo control than the first match, and that's pretty cool. There was a great moment where Polo ran hard into Jannetty with a kneelift, and Jannetty flew out of the ring hard like he was channeling Buzz Sawyer. Polo had a lot of fun with his control segments and even broke out some sick wedding dancing at one point, getting heat with an electric slide in 1994 in a WWF ring is pure joy. There were a couple weird moments, there's a cross up on a backdrop that sees somebody out of place and Jannetty kind of dangerously and weirdly taking the bump on his own, but they also do a good job of calling back spots, and that's satisfying. Polo had that backdrop earlier, Jannetty turns it into a sunset flip later; Polo hit an axe handle to a kneeling Jannetty earlier, later Jannetty gets the boot up and Polo bounces halfway across the ring. The finish is a really odd one as it comes totally out of nowhere and really looks like one of those moments where they got called to go home and it ended 5 seconds later. That happens, but usually it looks better than this: Polo hits a kneedrop/Bret Hart elbowdrop, and Jannetty just stands up not selling it, and hits the rocker dropper. Oof. Still, match was a ton of fun, and I have no idea why they only had Polo work TV twice during his first WWE run, both times against Marty Jannetty.

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Bryan vs. Kofi II

31. Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston WWE Raw 5/6

ER: This is the surprise rematch to their classic Mania match, and while there was no chance it was going to approach the peaks of that match due to the original's circumstances, nobody told Bryan it wasn't a big deal. Bryan's work in the match looked on another level, intense enough that Kofi wasn't going to be able to look that good during his comebacks. Bryan can tailor a match around an opponent's strengths, but he's not going to dumb everything down. I loved Bryan posting Kofi and going after the arm, thought the tiger driver into an armbar was a cool moment, and I dig how Bryan is still going to attack the rest of the body and not focus on one part, still laying in body shots. There are a couple big moments here, namely Kofi taking a particularly wicked bump to the floor that saw him fly past the ropes and land flat on the floor (but he's lucky because his coccyx and back of head appeared to take the brunt of it!), and I was genuinely worried for him...but then cackled when Bryan attacked him and threw him into the barricade. The struggle around the Yes Lock was cool, loved Bryan really imposing his will on Kofi by not using a clever reversal to apply it, just grab the weakened arm and muscle him to the mat. Bryan's dropkicks to cut off looked good, and I thought he set up Kingston really well, but wish Kingston had driven it home a little more on the shots that were supposed to look good. The finish felt like it should have been another nearfall, but this was another excellent Bryan carry.

PAS: This may be the best Bryan. He is just such a focused killer, while still putting over his opponent huge, it feels like he just shaved away everything extraneous from his game, and he is a sharpened knife. Loved all of the arm work in this, when Kofi countered the armbreaker, I loved the glint in Bryan's eye as he twisted right into the LaBell lock. Kofi took a big bump and I loved his bounce up the stairs into a dive, outside of that he looked a little out of his depth. I especially didn't like how weak the finisher looked, you got to hit a guy to put him down.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ronda vs. Bayley

4. Ronda Rousey vs. Bayley WWE Raw 1/28

ER: Sorry nerds, Ronda is Ric Flair. She's just breezing into town and making every single challenger look like they have a shot, and I literally want to see Ronda against every single woman on the roster (save Tamina, because one's statements and desires can only go so far) as she'll be able to step right in and the opponent steps up and it's exciting as all hell. Ronda just cruises in, works a leg injury, and gets Bayley her biggest reaction in who knows how long. Ronda aims to finish out of the gates and Bayley does some nice damage early, which we assume is just a couple flurries before Ronda crushes her. But soon Bayley jumps all over an awkward Ronda landing and targets that leg, and suddenly Bayley looks like she has a shot at the title. I loved Bayley's leg work, big dragon screw, stomping on Ronda's leg as she twists it, and the best: catching a Ronda kick and dropping straight down with it over her shoulder and into a kneebar. It looked like Ronda's leg was gonna snap at the knee when Bayley dropped down. Ronda is someone who is going to pay constant attention to an injury, someone already so impossibly good at small detail work. Even when she leaps up to the ropes she's still wobbly on one leg. Bayley is dominating but always in danger, as Ronda in close range can still grab an arm and land shots, but Bayley is fearless and tosses Ronda with the Bayley to Belly into the barricade. Bayley kicks Ronda's ass so much that I start wondering if this is a non-title match, or if Bayley is actually going to get the title in a move that would confuse and or tickle everyone. All the nearfalls were really convincing, and seeing Bayley land a big elbow and roll into the Banks Statement was a really cool bit of friendship on display, after what Sasha went through last night. But again, Ronda is ALWAYS right in it, and snapping a sudden rolling armbar off the top was bound to happen. This was awesome. Bayley looked like more of a threat and got bigger reactions than at any other point on the main brand, and I really just want to see Ronda pair off against everyone and hope the run never ends.

PAS: I believe the story behind this match was that rather than script it out and practice it, they basically let it be called in the ring (I might be Scott Keithing this, but I do remember hearing it). The big knock on Ronda was that she needed rehearsal, but if she can pull off something this good on the fly she is pretty undeniable. Shocked at how credible she made Bayley look, Bayley has been marginalized for years, and even at her peak worked as an underdog, not a tough shooter, but in this match she is putting on brutal kneebars, and I actually bought that she might tap an Olympic Judoka. Eric hit most of the big moments of this match, but there were a lot of little cool moments too, I loved how Bayley was working the knee, and both her and Ronda simultaneously realized that she had given up her back and they had a cool scramble. Ronda can plausibly finish a match at any moment and it really adds to the match. Great finish, that rolling armbar is a great spot and a match ender for sure.


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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Revival vs. B Team

71. Revival vs. B Team WWE Raw 8/27

ER: Buried in the middle of Raw was this little gem of a tag match, that built off their prior interactions and added a couple false finishes playing off prior matches. I've been flat out loving the Revival this year, think they've been consistently fantastic, and I think this is as much as Dallas/Axel have excelled since they've been on the main roster. The match is not long, under 10 minutes, and followed a 20+ minute Please Don't Stop match with Seth Rollins. These teams clearly knew their time was precious and busted ass from go, with B Team dropping great knees and elbows (Dallas' successive kneedrops here were some of my favorite offense I've seen from him) and taking it to Revival. But Revival are great at cutting off the ring, and Dawson especially has a bunch of cool attacks, a ton of offense he does well. He hits a nice dropkick and controls with a nice body vice, face lock, Once they went into hot tags and nearfalls it felt like they were working a 15 minute match in 9 minutes, but I thought the frantic pace added to everything. Dallas hits his nice neckbreaker off the ropes (which has beaten the Revival before) and that's when we get our satisfying run of pin break ups and unexpected kickouts. The Summerslam match had a fun moving parts finish (the type of finish that typically looks stupid when someone gets rolled up but then gets knocked into so the pinfall reverses) and they play off that here, making it feel like something similar will happen and milk it for a couple of nearfalls. A few years ago it felt like we were getting a fun 8-12 minute tag match like this one every single week on Raw, but a lot of tag teams now feel relegated to Main Event and the only Raw tags that get time to shine are with makeshift singles guys. I would love to see this kind of tag make a TV comeback.

PAS: This was a lot of fun, when I first saw the Revival I thought they were more like 80s tag team Karaoke, but I really think they have pulled it together now. Really loved how they cut the ring off, and kept shifting into different holds, and attacks rather then just sit in a chinlock. Dawson especially seemed to be constantly throwing in tiny cool moves. His face lock was nifty stuff. I haven't seen much of Axel and Dallas as a team, but they were a totally competent face team, solid lightening express. Axel has been in the WWE for 8 years now, which is 2 years longer then his dad's run, and hasn't had a single memorable moment, it is good to see him doing something entertaining, and I am looking forward to checking out more of these guys.

2018 ONGOING MOTY LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Raw 10 Woman Tag

35. Mickie James/Sarah Logan/Alexa Bliss/Liv Morgan/Ruby Riott vs. Nia Jax/Ember Moon/Sasha Banks/Natalya/Bayley WWE Raw 4/23

ER: Is this match the consolation prize? WWE is about to play a major stadium in Saudi Arabia, and at minimum 50 members of the roster will get to be there...but none of the people in this match. It's a pretty bold move to talk about the #WomensRevolution while also shunting a portion of the match into 1/8 of the screen to give most of the screen space to an ad for the event that women aren't allowed to participate in. So it was pretty awesome to watch these 10 go out there and work an intense main event with some real standout performances from Mickie James and Sarah Logan. Logan starts and really bullies around Sasha, rubbing her face on the mat, hitting a knee, grinding her forearm into Sasha's face, and the Riott Squad working over Sasha is really fun. Sasha is a fun FIP because she makes really great faces where she looks annoyed that people are getting one over on her, loved the spot where Morgan matrix'd out of a Sasha clothesline only to get popped when she came back up. Ember makes the most of her time, hitting this awesome front flip forearm in the corner that looked like she was attempting to punch through the back of Liv's head, and hits a big dive. We get more of Logan bullying Sasha around, giving us the female Skinner Steve Keirn we never knew we wanted, but Mickie tagging in puts this over the top. Mickie looked like a total monster. She's quietly had an awesome April, especially her performance getting ragdolled by Ember Moon. She absolutely rips into Sasha, including a flat out mean boot choke in the corner, and actually make a chinlock look like a submission by leaning her weight forward over Sasha. I loved Nia in this,  just taking out all her aggression on Riott. I love press slam spots and she hits a doozy, then drops the leg. We get a big moment of Nia diving off the apron onto all the gals, with all of them scattering like bowling pins (with Moon sadly taking the brunt of it). We get a big Ronda appearance as Mickie James is attacking Natalya (who got clipped in the leg by Logan earlier) and James pastes her with a great baseball slide dropkick. Ronda actually has a leather jacket that fits now, and I liked how Mickie actually went after her when Ronda charged the ring. But one nasty judo toss and Ronda almost rips Mickie's arm off for the DQ, and I thought all of this was awesome. A consolation prize perhaps, but they made the most of it.

PAS: I really enjoyed this, they really have developed a deep pool of women's wrestlers. I enjoyed everyone in this, even Natalya, and I am not sure RAW could put together a 10 man tag where I like everyone. I have a lot of time for Sarah Logan, she was someone I dug in the Mae Young classic and is a rawboned beast in this, her chop block looked like it caused a serious knee injury and Natalya sold it great. Nia wasn't a focus in this, but she looked great in her cameo, that wink during the press slam actually reminded me of the Rock, she is just great and has all the potential in the world. If they are really trying to run with Ronda as the biggest star in the fed, I could see Nia vs. Ronda headlining a Wrestlemania. I also want to second Mickie James out for praise, she was so hateable,  she has that vicious older lady vibe down, she feels like a Republican State Assemblywoman posting a birther meme. She gets that this Ronda feud is the biggest opportunity of her career and is stepping up huge.


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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: BRAUN/Lashley vs. Zayn/KO

34. Braun Strowman/Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens WWE Raw 4/23

ER: The double monster babyface tag team is a pretty hard thing to pull off, so this is basically worked like the Road Warriors pummeling John Tatum and Jack Victory, and while Zayn isn't Tatum and Owens isn't Victory, they take a mauling just fine. Zayn was the ultimate crash test dummy throughout, really great at putting over the beating by selling moves while taking other moves, Braun gets fully unleashed and both get slung around the ringside area while the fans go absolutely mad with GET THESE HANDS chants. I thought Sami was pretty great throughout and loved his smarmy face while punching Lashley and gleefully tagging in Owens, and Lashley was good at musclehead in peril, bumping to the floor and eating a big Owens senton. The moments preventing Lashley's hot tag were really good, with Zayn getting launched by a huge belly to belly but Owens still preventing the tag, Zayn leaping onto Lashley with a choke, Owens yanking Braun off the apron, all good stuff. Braun on the apron looked like a rodeo bull just waiting for his chance to buck around the arena, and his hot tag run was one for the ages: Constant motion, Owens gets plastered into the barricade, Zayn gets leveled with a lariat, insane running dropkick on the floor to Owens, Zayn trying to run away but getting dragged back, just a complete ass beating once Braun was unleashed. Smoldering crowd, fun tag teases, monsters running wild, just a total blast.

PAS: I have never been huge fans of Zayn or Owens, I was a low voter on Steen and Generico too, but I think they may have found their calling as a super Canadian version of the Rock and Roll RPM's. They just need an obnoxious Canadian Jim Cornette style manager, what is Tom Green doing these days? Zayn has a really great smirky heel charisma and just gets hurled around the ring with abandon, the height on that belly to belly was down right Pat Tanakian. I like the idea of Lashley and Strowman as a monster babyface tag team, although I have no idea what combo of heels that would look credible against them, maybe Brock and Big Show? What is Nathan Jones doing these days?


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Sasha, Dead?

4. Sasha Banks vs. Asuka WWE Raw 1/29

ER: Sasha Banks has this weird - and you would think untenable - habit of turning an okay match into a really fun match by merely almost dying. This started innocently enough, some nice armdrags, Asuka with her great hip attack, Asuka laying in some kicks, Banks hitting her nice knees in the corner, a Banks Statement tease, all things that were expected. But then Banks goes for a dive, gets kicked in the face for her troubles and crashes straight damn down onto her head. Banks always finds new ways to fall on her head and it should not be sustainable, but here we are. From here out everything seems stiffer. Banks almost dies, so Asuka rewards her with an Aja Kong tribute back in the ring, dropping Banks face first into a brutal knee lift, peppering her with a couple spinning backfists, and finishing it off with a high kick. Sasha is a loon and leans way into a missile dropkick, and Asuka takes a big bump to the floor herself off a missed hip attack, and Sasha hits a couple wild flying knee attacks. I actually bought the Banks Statement false finish as it's finished many before Asuka, and it felt plausible that Asuka could win the Rumble but get handed her first loss the next night. That might have been a neat way to set Sasha up as a challenger, but alas, Asuka reverses and finishes. One day Sasha will work a good match without threat of death, but thankfully for us she has dozens of lives.

PAS: Yoyza, this went from a solid TV match, to a hellfire and murder classic. The match was chugging along fine during the first pre-commercial section, Asuka has really great body control, and it melds nicely with Banks semi-out of control offense. That missed dive was completely nuts, bump of the year territory, and I loved Asuka pushing down the pedal and trying to finish her with that knee/backfist/high kick combo. Really nasty stuff and way stiffer then the stuff she was throwing earlier in the match. It takes something big to have a plausible comeback after such a bump, but Asuka crazily flying back first out of the ring on her hip did it for me. Finish run was really exciting, and that final Asuka lock looked like it would rip all the muscles in Banks body.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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