WXW Ambition 3/7/20

Daniel Makabe vs. Kevin Lloyd

PAS: This was pretty fun. Lloyd was technically solid, if a little dry. I liked his gator roll, and he seemed able to keep moving and attacking. Makabe threw in some cool shit, including his trapped leg German suplex, which he made seem plausible in the context of the match, and the finish was great as he countered a kneebar into an indian deathlock choke combo. Pretty much what you want from an opening match in a tourney like this.

ER: I thought this was really good, a nice scrap to open the show. This was all movement, and I liked their movement. Once they started tangling this looked like a matter of when not if for Makabe, as he was constantly moving on submissions that Lloyd hadn't even thought about yet. At one point it looked like Makabe was attempting several submissions at once, locking on a calf crusher while tangling up the rest of Lloyd's body in legs. But Lloyd was always capable of a surprise, and I loved that hyperextended heel hook he sank in that sent Makabe lunging for the bottom rope with both arms. Early on Lloyd whipped through a super fast gator roll that looked like it could have snapped a neck, and it was movement like that making this one so memorable. The fight over the trap leg suplex was great, with Lloyd working through various stages of blocking before getting slowly dumped for a nice 8 count. And it was cool that Makabe didn't run right at Lloyd with strikes right as he got up from that suplex, instead coolly taking him down and tapping him with a nasty rear naked crossface. Great start to the show.

Chris Ridgeway vs. Vincent Heisenberg

PAS: Heisnberg is pretty big and outside of one throw basically is kind of a large training dummy for Ridgeway in this match. Pretty quick match which ends with Heisenberg eating a bunch of slaps to the ear and a kick to the head. Maybe two minutes at the most.

ER: I'd never seen Heisenberg before, and I can only imagine a Heisenberg gimmick worked on the American indies instead of, you know, an actual German man named Heisenberg. No doubt there was someone working a Walter White gimmick on some mudshow, with white briefs and the Heisenberg hat as their ring gear (okay I just talked myself into that gimmick). I like how these Ambition shows can be used as a way to introduce guys, as Heisenberg got blown out here but I can easily see him coming back next year and advancing. He's a big guy, got some WALTER vibes from him, but also thought Ridgeway would get the win even earlier with that heel hook. The head kick looked like something that would finish, and I like how Ambition keeps quick finishes in play, makes each move in a match feel more dire.

Rust Taylor vs. Tyson Dux

PAS: This had some stuff in it I really liked, and some stuff which looked pretty bad. Taylor is a So-Cal guy who was fun in the last Ambition, and had some nice spinny takedowns and submissions. I especially thought the finishing leg trap Rings of Saturn was really cool looking and he put it on super fast, felt like something Rey Hechichiro might pull out. Dux is pretty jacked and had some good looking takedowns and amateur mat stuff, but also threw a terrible looking elbow smash and weak clothesline, it totally took me out of the match. There is no need for bad looking pulled NJ shit in a tourney like this. More good than bad, but the bad was bad.

ER: I really liked this match! I do think there were a couple moments that got a little too pro style, but thought Rust's selling was strong enough that he made those moments matter. I thought the way he sold strikes and the convincing way he made it to his feet after knockdowns added to those moments, although I can see someone else making those moments feel cheesy. There were some great moments here, with my two favorites being Rust unrolling Dux's arm over his shoulder, really hyperextending his elbow, and Dux heeling him in the thigh to get Rust to break; second favorite, was late in the match when I was positive Rust was going to finish with an armbar, and Dux swept his legs with a killer grapevine. Also, Dux looked like a shootstyle Ron Perlman here, and that just made me like this even more.

Scotty Davis vs. Mike Bailey

PAS: Davis was the guy on the last Ambition card I wanted to see more of and this was a fun striker versus grappler match. Bailey was pretty much just kickboxing and threw with the appropriate level of snap and force. Davis has an amateur background and had some cool catches of kicks and big throws. Liked the finish a lot, with Bailey rocking Davis with slaps, until he gets his arm caught, Davis flips him traps his arms and elbows the shit out of his ribs for the tap.

ER: This ruled. This is the easy front runner for best 3 minute match of the year. I had to check at least twice to see if I was accidentally watching this in 2x speed, as both guys were throwing super fast kicks that gave us some cool near misses and just as cool knockdowns. Bailey as the unhinged shootstyle kicker is the Bailey I love, the guy who's out there throwing out sick spinkicks that are so ace that they look fully plausible in a worked shoot setting. Both guys were working super fast, Davis eating kicks but turning them to his advantage, and he did a couple high speed throws that really added to the Low Ki/Red feeling of this one. If you're making a comp of killer 3 minute matches, this one would have to go on there.

Ethan Allen vs. Luke Jacobs

PAS: These guys are your next generation of Brit-Wres children, and this was a rematch of a pimped match from Tetsujin. I appreciated the stiffness of this, but this is the kind of over emotive juniors shootstyle, which I didn't love when Takada and Yamazaki did it in the 80s and don't really love here. Both guys made a lot of faces and did a lot of gesturing and hammed it up in a way this type of wrestling doesn't need. I thought there was some cool stuff: Allen had a nifty spot where he blocked a slap with a kick, and then landed a second kick with the same foot. Everything they did had some force, and was reasonably well executed, although in a way which felt laid out rather then organic. I get why this match got such good reviews, but it wasn't for me.

ER: Very surprising that there has never been a Chikara worker named "Sofa King" Ethan Allen, but there's the idea just waiting to be taken. And yes the performative selling in this was real painful, really took me out of the match and felt totally out of place with the vibe of the show. It feels like there's always a match like this, on a show like this, and it just wasn't the time to show of your dramatic selling chops. There were some really cool moments that got put on pause, taking an immediate backseat to some charley horses getting rubbed out and some realllllll emoting. Couple nice suplexes (including a cool suplex out of a guillotine from Jacobs), a freaking screwdriver piledriver, and some other nice stuff thrown away in favor of having all the ham.

5. Daniel Makabe vs. Scotty Davis

PAS: This was dope, I loved how Makabe went for a shoot early and Davis just stuffed him and gator rolled him twice. Really established Davis as the superior wrestler, while Makabe would have to depend on his submissions. Davis is really explosive landing some great takedowns including a vicious standing gator roll which really should be his finisher. He hit an awesome Tazplex, and he is pretty slick on the mat too, he really slipped in a gogoplata perfectly. It was cool to watch Makabe outclassed like this, Davis really dominated him for most of the match, and seemed to have an answer for everything Makabe would try especially early, with Makabe pulling out this cool flash submission slipping in a figure four choke when Davis went to slam him. I loved the idea of him working from behind only to find a flash opening for the tap.

ER: This was great, super explosive and a fun surprise seeing Makabe kind of bullied and overwhelmed at points. Makabe is deceptively big compared to a lot of his peers, so even against larger guys like Eddie Kingston or Thomas Shire he holds his own. So seeing the smaller Davis bulldog his way into quick takedowns and forced rope breaks made for a lot of great visuals. Makabe is super crafty and smart at setting traps and I love how they established that his submissions were always going to be a threat. I wasn't expecting the fun strike exchange, filled with hard body shots. Sometimes the strike exchanges on Ambition really interrupt the shootstyle feel, but here they were scattered and skilled while also a little messy, that it made it feel like things were just breaking down more. Davis kept sneaking in body shots and finding gaps, but then Makabe had this great left hook right under Davis's ribcage. Makabe also really is becoming well known for taking hard rolling bumps off suplexes, really fearlessly getting chucked onto his shoulder. The finish is my absolute favorite finish of the year, a real highlight reel worth sequence. Davis rushes in for a takedown and Makabe goes up and over, and I was dreading Makabe getting taken down right on top of his head. But Makabe goes all Rumina Sato all over Davis's ass and brings him down hard to the mat with a hanging figure 4 choke, locking his leg even tighter when they hit the mat. What a fantastic finish, perfect for the story they laid out, executed as effectively as possible. Loved it.

Chris Ridgeway vs. Rust Taylor

PAS: This was pretty fun, I liked all of the leg fighting, with both guys rolling for kneebars, wasn't as fancy as some of the matwork we have seen in this tourny but it was plausible and well executed. The stand up was mostly cool too, although I HATE forearm exchanges in shoot style matches, I did like how Ridgeway popped Taylor with a solebutt to the gut after the exchange though, and Taylor suckering him in and countering with front kick to the chin was cool too. They really had the right four guys in the semis and this was a worthy match.

ER: I was not a fan of a lot of the stand up, as it felt constructed too much of timed combos with ducked strikes that missed by a couple feet, left-right-right-block-duck, all of it looked really mapped out. But I like both guys, so naturally there were going to be several strikes that looked good, loved Ridgeway's big sinking kick to the stomach and Rust just popping him with a straight boot, and I liked how Ridgeway built up to his big elbow to the stomach as part of his big final flurry.


2. Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa

PAS: I was trying to temper my expectations for this match. It has been nine years since their last singles match and both guys are in their 50s and those are a hard 50 years. WXW got the boys back together again though, and they did their fucking thing. This was an Ikeda vs. Ishikawa match with all of the horrific violence that promises. This follows the familiar formula, with Ishikawa the superior ground wrestler, and Ikeda the runaway semi-truck with chainsaw wheels.

Ishikawa of course is not content to just try to ground Ikeda, although he has some super slick submission attempts including a head and arm choke/straight armbar, this is not a monkey show and he is going to stand in the pocket and fire. I loved how they started with a pair of forearm exchanges, until they said fuck that New Japan noise, and commenced to landing straight punches to jaw and foreheads. Both guys ended up with pretty gross contusions on their foreheads from the punches and headbutts, and we also were treated to some nasty kicks to the head. Ishikawa landed maybe the nastiest strike I can remember from him with a wheel kick to the head from the ground. Ikeda of course was throwing KO shots including a spin kick to the temple which was the killing blow. I loved Ishikawa trying to fight his way to the feet after the KO, and then selling like he didn't realize he was counted out (or he might have been legitimately unclear where he was, you can never tell with these guys). It was what I wanted it to be, and I wouldn't be shocked if somehow in 2030 they come back and do it again.

ER: Wow. I'm with Phil. I came into this with tempered expectations, because yeah, they're both over 50 and neither work full time schedules, but they clearly take this feud importantly. We're lucky for it.  They've been doing this for over 25 years and they haven't matched up in 9, and here they act like they're never going to work another match again. This is one of the stiffest matches of the last decade, and it was filled with potential or worthy finishes. This had a real They Live feel, with a sense of humor occasionally shining through as they gave each other long lasting joint and jaw and back pain. Ishikawa is an all time punching bag, and Ikeda aims to break his hand bones on Ishikawa's face. But Ishikawa is always one limb away from a win, that Son of Fujiwara spirit always hiding in the room. This was all about just how much punishment Ishikawa could endure in the hopes of dislocating a shoulder. And Ikeda keeps ramping up to one of the absolute meanest beatings he's ever dished out. And think of the ground that covers! I love when Ishikawa gets baited into striking, as he almost always gets the short stick, but it never stops him from trying to land that one perfect punch to the chin, that one elbow to the neck, that one melon clonking headbutt. The problem is, a lot of the time Ikeda is perfectly content eating a Yuki elbow if it allows him to punch Yuki right in the face. And again, Ikeda punched face. And kicked face. There was this odd thread of humor running throughout, as the beating became so mean and Ishikawa showed such strength, that it became an almost uncomfortable battle between the T-1000 and the T-800.

Ishikawa looked done on several occasions, but he kept rising from the rubble and try to work his way in close enough to grab an arm. But Ikeda rang Ishikawa's bell with kicks, cruel downed shots, hard kicks to the shoulder, a couple of different head kicks that sent Ishikawa down in such a heap that I thought for sure that was it. And that was before Ikeda starting punching Ishikawa as hard as he could right in the forehead. We get a long run of Ikeda looking like he was trying everything to bust Ishikawa open with his hand and head, throwing harder and harder headbutts and keeping those punches coming. Ishikawa locking Ikeda in a nasty modified triangle. Ishikawa had one of Ikeda's legs grapevined and had his shinbone pressed firmly into Ikeda's throat, while trapping and hyperextending Ikeda's right arm. It was a damn fine mousetrap and I thought Ikeda was toast. Ikeda's dramatic escape from the submission was about as high drama as wrestling can get. Ikeda freed his leg and made some space, and him finally extended a leg into the ropes was perfect. Ishikawa has his own high drama moment, fighting valiantly back to his feet after a brutal spinkick right under the chin, something no man should stand up against. Ishikawa made me think 3 different times during that 10 count that he would make it back to his feet, before finally collapsing at 8. These two have such a weird romance, and let's at most keep our fingers crossed for a 30 year reunion match in 2024.


13. Daniel Makabe vs. Chris Ridgeway

PAS: This was pretty cool and worthy final to a great overall tournament. Really liked Ridgeway laying in his stuff, these are two of the better body shot wrestlers around and they were really banging at the kidney, liver and ribs. I especially love Ridgeway's short elbow to the body, really looks like it pulverizes the guts. Really great finish run, with a slick series of submission counters one after another, until Makabe ends up on top with some nasty elbows to the neck and a cattle mutilation variation for the tap.

ER: This didn't play for me quite as well as some of the other things both men were involved with that weekend, but it's a strong pairing and obviously they were going to bring some tricks. Ridgeway gets more momentum behind his slaps, and I like how they establish that he can work through Makabe's slaps while Ridgeway can shut down Makabe with slaps and advance. Ridgeway also advances with some nice leg kicks, a tool that Makabe doesn't really utilize. Makabe's strengths are similar to Yuki Ishikawa's in the prior match, his ability to weather some strikes just to attempt to grab an arm or a leg, and you can see the success in that as he grabs a nice armbar after rolling from back control, and even winds up fighting over heel hooks. Both of them twisting at each other's ankles was my favorite part of this, as Makabe had a cinched heel hook, Ridgeway gave Makabe's ankle a twist, and immediately it was as if Makabe said "Oh cool you want to see that?" and showed his twisting was superior. All of the rolling looked really good and it was tough to predict who would come out on top, both have plenty of escapes that lead to actual subs. They also seemed to be really smart with audibles, like when Ridgeway grazed Makabe with a kick to the stomach, Makabe didn't go down and instead sold it like you would sell a grazing shot to your stomach, by holding your guts and going "Oooooooooo". And while he was holding his guts Ridgeway hit him with a bigger kick. I liked the body shots from both; Ridgeway's short elbow is a strike I really fell in love with after all these WXW shows, but Makabe's short left hook under the ribs is a great weapon. Makabe is really smart about changing up his game throughout a tournament, which might be why we keep seeing him getting booked to go through all of these tournaments. He knows to keep enough tricks the same to give opponents and fans some muscle memory, but he does a great job at branching off into other directions. His cross legged cattle mutilation (following nasty elbow strikes to the side of the neck) was a great suffocating finish. At this point, dude needs to start bringing all his tournament trophies to the ring with him.


ER: This was top to bottom my favorite Ambition show, and we've had positive things to say about all of them. Was that helped by putting one of the all time greatest singles matches together as the semi-main? Of course it was! But we added three matches from this show to our 2020 Ongoing MOTY List, and a couple others weren't far behind. The highest recommendation.

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WXW Ambition Wildcard 10/6/19

Daniel Makabe vs. James Runyan

ER: I liked this, and liked the turns it took. I knew nothing about Runyan going into this (looks like there are Batt Academy matches of his dating back a couple years) and the way it started I thought it could be Makabe running him over. Makabe works the opening like a boa constrictor, locking on a body vice and working for a choke while on the mat and standing. It looked like Makabe was just going to smother him until he collapsed, and that's why I liked Runyan just falling on Makabe with all his weight to break the hold. Runyan does it again, this time as aggressive offense and not as a last defense, and has a nice headlock takeover. He starts working an armbar and that's when Makabe looks for strikes. I wish Runyan had done more with the strikes Makabe was throwing, as he kind of got glazed over eyes like he was too focused on his parts of the strike exchange, which meant some nice body shots went basically ignored. I'm a big fan of Makabe's german that uses a guy's existing momentum, and here he smacks Runyan and does a quick go behind and almost helps Runyan the rest of the way over, then gets up and hits a lifting german for good measure. Fun opening round scrap, might check out a couple Runyan Batt matches just to see how he looks.

PAS: First time seeing Runyan and I dug him, he doesn't have the same fluidity as Makabe (no slur, Makabe is really fluid) but he had cool ideas and executed them well. Loved his judo throw (got to be the Santino training) and his spinning cross armbreaker. I want to ban all forearm exchanges from wrestling forever and it is especially repugnant in Ambition, but I did really dig Makabe's body shots, I really like his striking, it has a Diaz brothers feel, where he throws a couple of softer shots and then loads up on the third or fourth. I thought the finish was super cool with Makabe spinning out of Runyan's tight triangle into an STF which he cranks violently for the tap. Makabe is pretty much a must watch at this point.

Dominic Garrini vs. Alexander Dean

ER: I thought this would be another first round steamrolling, and while it did feel like Garrini was mostly toying with Dean on the mat, I liked when Dean was landing hard elbows from mount. They had done a little stand and trade before that and Garrini was pasting Dean, so it's cool he adjusted to that and was bringing the strikes more down the stretch. Even though I'd prefer less stand and trade in matches like this, I liked his overhand chops. Garrini had a couple moments where you could really see his power on the mat, really see how easy he can shift and move from any position just by bulling his way through, see him really digging his heels into the mat. I don't think we get enough of Garrini messing with guys on the mat.

PAS: Garrini is a pretty diverse wrestler, and while I certainly enjoy crazy Garrini brawls, this is the stuff I love. I liked Dean using power to take Dom down and his big elbows looked nasty, but man is it fun to watch how talented Garrini is on the mat. He just spins Dean into various different traps, and his scissors kick takedown into a heel hook was awesome. It just feels like Garrini should barrel through a tournament like this and I am interested to check out how Makabe can credibly hang with him.

Rust Taylor vs. Kevin Lloyd

ER: First time seeing both guys, but this felt a little long, a little too exhibition, and a little scattered. It felt like we were seeing a series of resets and restarts, until it eventually decided to end. There was nice stuff, especially enjoyed Taylor grabbing an arm and rolling over Lloyd into a Fujiwara, and the finishing submission looked like something that should finish a match. But the application of these subs were filled moments of hesitation and brief stand stills. Even the match winning sub was applied when Taylor just literally ran across the ring at Lloyd and put it on, and there was very little struggle at any point throughout the match.

PAS: Taylor said he has been wrestling 15 years, which is pretty crazy considering I haven't heard of him at all, I mean I know some shit about wrestling. This was OK, it had a lot of movement, and that pace covered up some possible problems with the execution. Not a ton super memorable, but I enjoyed the struggle, and the final submission was pretty nasty.

A-Kid vs. Scotty Davis

ER: I had never seen Davis before but came away from this far more interested in seeing him than in seeing another A-Kid match. I don’t think Kid brought a ton of interesting stuff to this. I think the one thing he did that I liked was a cocky back somersault after a break (that Davis later taunted him with). Other than that he was a guy using a derpy superkick on an Ambition show. I liked several of Davis’s rolling attacks, his legbars and a cool neck crank, he threw a damn cool head and arm suplex, and I liked the rolling neck crank that sent Kid to the floor (and was what lead to strikes getting thrown). It was a slap fight, but some hard slaps landed in there. The finish didn’t do much for me, looked like Kid took a long time to apply a hold that eventually looked good but was only made possible by Davis holding perfectly still.

PAS: Eric is being kind to A-Kid, I thought he was really bad in this. Davis has a amateur wrestling background, and looked like a beast, tooling Kid on the mat, with great looking takedowns and controls, I loved his Gator roll into the ropes and to the floor, and he hit a great looking german (which Kid no sold) and a nasty Tazish head and arm toss. Kid stunk, he was throwing these lame slaps, did a suplex no-sell and a terrible looking super kick. That submission at the end took forever to apply, and had none of the craft or skill of a lot of the other submissions on this show, Davis laid their like a corpse. I would be excited to see more Davis, can't believe A-Kid is the guy they put over in this tourney.

55. Daniel Makabe vs. Dominic Garrini

ER: This was my favorite match on the card so far, and I was a big fan of the way these two would get tangled up. Both looked really impressive on the mat, tons of nice little moments any time they were rolling. I loved Makabe getting easily into mount, only for Dom to pop his hips and immediately buck him into an unfavorable spot. I dug the focus on each other's legs, with both guys almost racing each other to see who could properly apply a painful heel hook before the other, before they wound up so tangled that the only way out was to slap their way out. The slaps didn't look hard, but I appreciated how tough it would be to get a lot of mustard behind a slap at the close range they were at, with their legs tied up. It would be like swinging a bat while sitting cross legged Indian style and only using one arm. Makabe was smart about getting to ropes quick, not playing the dummy, knowing that once Dom was tugging away at your arm it was a smarter play to break the hold before he broke his grip. Makabe really got dumped with a German, Dom broke out one of my favorite Volk Han leg attacks (where he just leaps onto a guys leg knowing the weight will have to take the guy down), and I was certain the match was finished when Dom had Makabe in a side choke while grapevining his leg. It looked like Makabe was going to have a permanent lean to his left if he hadn't got to the ropes. I did think there was a little disconnect from Dom in a few moments, bumping too hard and early when they were tangled and slapping, and missing a beat before hitting his enziguiri after Makabe missed his Jamie Moyer wind up; it was nothing egregious, but when other stuff is so snug it stands out when someone is left hanging for a move. The finish was cool with Makabe getting Dom right in the center, made me think of all those subs that Dom locked in too close to the ropes.

PAS: This is kind of a dream match which I am surprised AIW or Scenic City didn't get to first. These are the two best end of the decade indy matworkers, and I thought this was a really good tourney semi-final version of this match up (I really want to see the main event or special attraction version). Both guys put on really vicious looking submissions with Dom taking most of the match on the mat, but Makabe squirming away for rope breaks. I loved Makabe getting mount early and Garinni just shrugging him off with his hips and retaking control, it was almost like he gave Makabe mount to show how easy he could get out of it. Garrini spinning out of cattle mutilation into a twister was some Negro Navarro shit. I wasn't in love with the strikes, felt like the timing was a bit off, and while the finish was cool, I thought it was a bit abrupt. The great stuff in this was really great though, and someone needs to run this matchup back.

A-Kid vs. Rust Taylor

ER: I was not as excited for this one, but they kept it short and sweet and I liked a lot of the transitions they did, liked their scrambling. Rust comes off like the best possible Mike Von Erich. He's not as big as Kevin or Kerry, but damn does his build remind me of a Von Erich body. I really like the way he traps an arm with his calf to roll his opponent over. He did it against Lloyd and it looked just as cool here, and he does it fast enough that it comes off totally natural. His use of strength on the mat was cool, and eventually he just hoists Kid up with a big flat landing gutwrench powerbomb. I would have liked a couple extra teases at the finish, but the finish itself looked great: Kid rushes him with a leaping guillotine, and you could see Taylor taking every step to work through a reversal: loosening the choke, getting a grip on the trunks, and as he muscles him up into a sweet vertical suplex, Kid slips out and gets him in a quick rear naked. Even though I liked this, I still liked Kid's opponent far more in both of his matches, but liked him more here than in the Davis match.

PAS: I thought this was a much better performance by Kid. What he seems to be able to bring to the table is really fast matwork and attacks, and he was constantly spinning and attacking the back and pushing the pace. There was some really nifty stuff here including a great finishing run with Kid doing the jumping guillotine, Taylor reversing it, and Kid spinning onto his back for the choke out. Gives me a little more hope for Kid vs. Makabe in the finals.

19. Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan

PAS: Thatcher is a mainstay on these shoot style shows, although he doesn't really work that style. This was more of a super stiff 70s match, more Johnny Valentine than Volk Han, but I will take that for sure. Lorcan spent a lot of the match cranking a nasty side headlock, and it really felt like a violent attack rather then a time killer. Both guys unloaded with their shots, Thatcher came in with a bandage already, and by the end of the match Lorcan's slaps made his cheek fire engine red and his mouth bleed. Thatcher was giving it right back with some sick up kicks and some teeth chattering slaps of his own. Finish felt like the end of a heavyweight fight. I loved the Thatcher/Gulak/Busick throuple five years ago and I am glad we got Lorcan vs. Gulak and Lorcan vs. Thatcher this year again.

ER: This is the first singles match we've seen between these two in over 4 years, and obviously it was good. It's not crazy to think a tournament like this wouldn't be happening without what these two brought to indies several years ago, and this is the kind of dream match booking that actually interests me. I love how everything played out here, with my interest really getting jumped up about 5 minutes in: Lorcan rushes in with a short slap to lead into him grabbing a headlock, and we got an awesome struggle over a headlock takeover. Someone stopping a headlock takeover will pretty much get me invested in any match between any two people, in the same way a fistdrop will, or somebody pointing at their head. But this was a nasty side headlock and all I can think about is how damn sore my neck would be if I stopped the momentum of a headlock takeover, and here's Lorcan just yanking on Thatcher's head while Thatcher refuses to be budged, until Lorcan finally forces him down by the neck. Things were worked tough before that, but that slap and headlock really felt like it opened the floodgates and sent us into the real meat of the match. Thatcher fighting for an armbar was memorable, with Lorcan doing everything he could to keep Thatcher's leg trapped to keep him from extending, and both guys start landing hard slaps and shots, Lorcan gets a great half nelson, things seem more aggressive. By the end of the match the left side of Thatcher's face is comically bruised, making it look more like he had a port wine stain than a crazy occupation. We had seen plenty of slaps on this show but I don't think any were better than Lorcan grabbing Thatcher by the jaw and wailing away. The ref sadly got in Lorcan's way on the running uppercut, really felt like Lorcan was going to hit an all timer, and obviously Lorcan should have stuck with it. A Pedro Cardenas situation would have made for a pretty exciting special attraction match. I think Thatcher needed to put some extra juice on the finish if it was going to be a KO (Thatcher seems to hav a weird habit of lacing into a guy all match and then holding up his shots for the finish, which is bizarre), but I love these two together and I hope we get to run it back every couple years.

A-Kid vs. Daniel Makabe

PAS: I thought this was pretty great Makabe performance. A-Kid was going to do all of his goofy shit and Makabe made a super kick, northern lights suplex, and a Spanish Fly semi plausible in a shootstyle wrestling match. This was really stiff which redeemed a lot of it, there was an especially nasty looking A-Kid knee counter which really should have ended the match. I liked the story of Kid using his speed to get Makabe in a compromising position and Makabe using his technique to get his way out of it. Great tourney for Makabe, he really should have gone over.

ER: Despite Phil earlier saying I was too kind to A-Kid - in a review where the only thing I complimented him on was a taunt - he has been my least favorite guy on this card. Makabe was obviously the guy I had hoped would last to the finals, but would have much rather seen him against any of the other 6 guys. Still, my mind is always open, and I went into this excited. After the Garrini match this really did feel like Makabe's tournament to win. But he wasn't originally supposed to win SCI, so the wrestling gods gift one tournament win and take another. This was a fantastic Makabe performance though, maybe my favorite individual performance of his on a show where I dug all three of his matches. I liked how they worked the mat, thought Makabe had a couple of plausible finishes there, and really loved how he finally nailed the Mike Leake wind-up slap, timing it perfectly, and I loved how A-Kid sold it. 

A-Kid gets his absolute best moment of the night when Makabe lands a few leg kicks and then shoots in and gets obliterated with a Kid knee to the chin. I thought that was the finish for sure as Makabe wobbled from his knees right into a rear naked (which Kid had just polished off Rust with). I loved the struggle over the rear naked from both guys, really had no idea if Makabe was going to hold off the arm or Kid was gonna sink it in for the tap. I would have liked that more than the actual finish, even though I think Makabe played into the finish as damn well as he possibly could have. He even gets an amusing close up mug into the camera after eating a superkick, but I don't want to see a Spanish Fly on an Ambition card, no matter how nice they look. This one was worked in just about as well as you can work one into this style match, but Kid struck gold with that knee and I think they should have called an audible. Match was still fun as hell, and gave Makabe three cool performances in 90 minutes. That's efficiency!


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Thursday Shoot Indy Show: WXW Ambition 8/8/19

Timothy Thatcher vs. Alexander James

PAS: James couldn't really hang with Thatcher on the mat here, but they made up for that by focusing the match around hard sharp forearms and upkicks. James really blasts Thatcher with some shots, including some nasty spinning back elbow to the throat. Kept it short and kept it stiff.

ER: This felt pretty base level for an Ambition show. We had some nice uppercuts from both, and a killer back elbow from James (my favorite part of the match), but the matwork was pretty lacking. James felt a little fish out of water off his back, and things felt fairly inevitable because of that. The standing strikes were as snug as the triangle was loose, and that's fine. I do like Thatcher's awesome single crab being used as an actual finisher. I bought it as a potential finish in Thatcher/Makabe 3, looks great.

Daniel Makabe vs. Bobby Gunns

PAS: This was fun stuff, with Makabe constantly attacking the back and limbs and Gunns trying to keep up. The constant motion is one of the things I like the most about Makabe, he never stops looking for an advantage. Gunns goes for a kneebar, and Makabe is attacking his ankle and foot, he tries for the back and Makabe is spinning away. I liked the finish, with Makabe landing an uppercut to the ribs, which Gunn's sells like a KO body shot, with Makabe able to sink the rear naked choke for the tap.

ER: I agree with Phil about Makabe's constant motion being a great part of his game. I've never watched one of his matches and thought he was ever resting on his laurels. Here he looked like he was really wearing Gunns out, and I especially loved the deadweight struggle over a waistlock, with Gunns trying to lift him into a German, shifting hips, eventually kind of getting a forward trip, but being completely surprised by Makabe's go behind into a quick German. That uppercut to the body was such an awesome spot. I loved how Gunns sold it, like he instinctively flinched to dodge it but then wound up taking it worse, like he just absorbed it with his whole torso and left him stunned, a sitting duck for Makabe to sink in the choke.

Daniel Garcia vs. Buck Gunderson

PAS: This had some cool moments and some stuff which didn't work as well, I thought both Gunderson and Garcia had cool looking takedowns, Gunderson lands a calf slicer out of nowhere, and Garcia finishes with a scissors kick takedown into a sharpshooter he just wrenches back. Still a match like this is make or break based on the strikes, and neither guy was throwing with much oomph. Garcia threw some stinker slaps, and you got to slap the shit out of someone in an Ambition fight.

WALTER vs. Mike Bailey

PAS: Short but energetic, Bailey tries to dance his way away from the charging Rhino. He even gets a knockdown with a nasty shot to the liver, but WALTER is just too big and and eventually overwhelms Bailey and gets him to tap to a boston crab. A little dry for two guys who are normally full of flash, but it was fun while it lasted.

ER: This was a little underwhelming for me, mainly because it felt like WALTER kept going down relatively easy on some strikes that didn't look great. He went down for practically every flurry from go, didn't feel like we built to any kind of surprise knockdown since we established early that anything was going to knock him down. The good shots were good, and the Boston crab finish was great, easily the best part of the match. It's like WALTER decided he didn't want to be hit anymore and just bumrushed his way into grabbing the first couple limbs he could and leaned wayyyy into it.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Daniel Makabe

ER: I really liked how this paralleled their third match from a couple weeks prior, but also had some cool shoe on other foot moments. I thought Thatcher's half crab in their match was really nasty, and now Thatcher won his first round match with that crab, and here he goes right back to it. And much like that prior match he works for Makabe's leg, grabs a heel hook after Makabe blocks the single crab attempt, lands a couple of vicious heel thrusts to Makabe's ribs while working that angle, and even goes back to his ankle lock he used in that prior match. Makabe went for the arm and the series of the two of them sinking holds and grabbing desperately for ropes was exciting as hell. Makabe's armbar looked sunk and I thought for sure it was going to finish things, but I really liked the way they moved from one mat strategy to the next. Thatcher even grabs him at one point and dishes a headbutt to just flatten both. It felt like they threw in some callbacks to that last 3-2-1 match, with Thatcher going for an enziguiri but Makabe blocking (Makabe had hit an enziguiri that lead to him hitting a snap German) and here Makabe hits an enziguiri to Thatcher's face. I did think the finish needed more mustard to be a TKO, as they ended on a couple Thatcher slaps that may have hurt but didn't really read well, and really Thatcher's running dropkick and slap were his weakest looking offense of the match. I don't want my dude out there eating a disgusting beating to make the finish look better, but it was a bit of a letdown after providing so many plausible submission finishes just a few minutes earlier.

PAS: I thought this was the least of their matches against each other, although they have set a pretty high bar. This being sort of a touring version of their 3-2-1 battle matches it missed some of the nuance and history that Makabe has with that crowd. Plenty of neat moments, lots of leglocks, and a really good example of what people can bring to the leglock table. Loved Makabe figure fouring his own legs around Thatcher's knee cap, and how Thatcher brought Makabe into his body to relieve the pressure. The finish was disappointing. I have seen Thatcher hit much harder and Makabe get hit much harder for me to buy that as a KO. Just felt pulled and weaker than it should be for that kind of finish. Cool to get to see these guys work their stuff in a different atmosphere though. They both deserve this spotlight.

Daniel Garcia vs. WALTER

PAS: They sure weren't paying WALTER by the minute here, as this was another quick one. I really like Garcia's energy and he has a meathead charisma, but man he needs to throw with more force. Him jumping WALTER at the bell would have worked way better if his stuff landed with some thud. I liked Garcia meatheading up only to get kicked in the mouth, and this was overall a fun two minutes, I just want to like Garcia more then I do.

ER: This was a much cooler short WALTER match. I dug Garcia's scrambly aggression, just swarming WALTER in an attempt to overwhelm him. And of course I love how WALTER put an immediate stop to that with a boot right to the face, then a couple to the chest for good measure. Those three kicks were arguably the nastiest three strikes thrown on the show up to this point. The finish was fantastic, with Garcia rushing in for a desperation double leg, and WALTER not budging an inch as he graciously accepts Garcia's invitation to "please, sir, please powerbomb me" and then sinks that backbreaking crab. Short but dynamite.

47. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Tyson Dux

PAS: God what a pleasure it is to watch Ishikawa work his magic. He is so slick on the mat, just finding multiple parts of the body to grip and twist, and always finding a way to reverse whatever Dux tries. Dux is fun as a jacked strong guy who would try to use his power to counter Ishikawa's technique. I was a little disappointed with his standing, he was throwing these big demonstrative elbows with a big foot stomp, this is Ishikawa you have to bring it more. That was pretty much the only flaw of this match though,  Dux hung well on the mat, and Ishikawa looked as skilled as ever. I loved this finish with Yuki dragged Dux to the mat and incredibly quickly reversing a choke into a grounded chicken wing crossface. The speed of that reversal was crazy for a guy that old, Ishikawa doesn't seem to have lost any of his pop, which is incredible.

ER: I love that Yuki Ishikawa is still putting out some of my favorite work of his illustrious career, into his 50s. His transitions look as quick as ever, which breaks my brain. This is a guy who would be fun as hell working the Champions Tour, and yet here he is still capable of wowing. I was expecting Dux to be a tomato can on the mat, but he looked more capable than a lot of people on this card. He definitely tried to brute his way through some of Ishikawa's game, and sometimes it worked. His mounted elbows looked good, but Ishikawa is a guy who has taken some grounded elbows. This whole thing was just a Yuki mat clinic. He was going to find any opening he could, and was clearly able to tap Dux in any number of ways, and it continues this cool trend of old man Ishikawa being the aggressor in fights. So many of his best matches during his "prime" saw him as the Fujiwara-esque underdog who would hang in fights long enough to catch his opponent and finish it quick. Now he's just a dude outclassing guys and forcing them to survive. That sequence of Dux working a body vice, thinking he finally had the advantage, only for Yuki to apply pressure to Dux's ankles with his thighs, allowing him to pass into a gnarly ankle lock? Brilliant. That felt like the biggest moment on the card, with Dux appropriately panicking and trying to get to the ropes while Ishikawa kept shifting wait to drag him and that bent ankle back to center. And I love when this kind of match hits that narrow escape, only for a pro like Yuki to sweep effortlessly into a killer body vice chickenwing. Ishikawa vs. Tyson Dux was not a match-up I ever expected to happen, but I'm certainly glad it did.

13. WALTER vs. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: Now that is how you do a KO finish. Thatcher barely makes it up from the powerbomb while selling paralysis in his arms, only to get met with a cricket bat swing of a clothesline for the direct KO. I really though this was Thatcher's match to win. He was able to sneak in some cool counters into Fujiwara armbars, including one while in guard after Walter punched the mat, and I also liked Thatcher wailing away at his organs with bodyshots. Still WALTER ended up being too big and strong and was able to put him down. This lacked some of the structural problems of their individual matches earlier in the show, and was a really banger way to end a tourney.

ER: Hell yeahhhhhhh THIS was what I wanted from these two. Yes yes yes yes yes. This kicked too much ass. It was 10 minutes of brutal strikes and sick twisting, and I was here for all of it. It's odd within context of the show that WALTER got weirdly overwhelmed by Mike Bailey, because the WALTER in this match was the best version of WALTER. I dug the story of WALTER coming into the match far fresher due to quicker finishes, as he looked like a guy who had saved all his strength to exact unholy punishment on Thatcher, and Thatcher was still the guy smart enough to pick his spots and hope he could hang on long enough to catch an arm. Thatcher's Fujiwaras looked finish worthy, and I loved the times he would sucker WALTER into throwing a downward strike only to grab the arm and yank, and Thatcher was throwing some absolute shots in mount, really raining down on him. I really dug the callbacks to the earlier matches, Thatcher twice going for that great single crab and WALTER aiming to snap Thatcher in half with that full crab (that I thought for sure would finish). And we got the best suplexes of the night, WALTER just chucking Thatcher in sick fashion with a killer butterfly suplex and a downright EVIL throw using only Thatcher's head. That was not a vertical suplex, that was WALTER locking in a quick guillotine choke and muscling Thatcher most of the way over by only his head and neck. Good god. WALTER was such a raging bull, really throwing full weight behind everything, and the finish was really disgusting. WALTER hits a couple powerbombs and Thatcher does this great sell where his arms straighten out and his neck strains forward, unable to sit up but sorta able to roll over, and as he staggers to his feet you see WALTER already angling off the ropes, and just wrecks Thatcher with an instant KO lariat. This was all I wanted, and it ended the show on the highest high possible.


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WXW Ambition 3/9/19

This is the annual shootstyle show which WXW runs 16 Carat weekend. The quality of these show usually veers wildly, but it is always interesting to check out. This of course has an all time dream match Superfight, but I figured I would check the whole thing out

Rico Bushido vs. Veit Muller

PAS: Bushido has these really flamboyant kicks, they don't always land with the appropriate amount of thud, but they are flashy. His destiny should have been a guy carried by Masakatsu Funaki in a early PWFG show. Muller is another of the seemingly endless fash looking WXW guys. Their whole roster looks like they are about to burn down a mosque. Muller is able to get through the kicks and take him down with a nice judo throw, and hits some nasty body shots and stomps on the interior knee. There are a couple of other nice scrambles with Muller landing some nasty elbows and headbutts to the sternum, his offense was definitely less dynamic, but more painful looking. Bushido wins with a jumping enziguiri which didn't land full, but looked OK. Compact and fun.

Punch Drunk Istria vs. Danny Jones

PAS: This was pretty good too, mostly grappling, which was solid, with one really great taking of the back by Jones. We get one exchange of slaps which rang out, with Istria landing one on the ear and transitioning into a cross armbreaker for the tap. Too short to really get a great idea of either guy, but certainly solid.

Laurance Roman vs. Shigehiro Irie

PAS: Another short but solid match with Roman trying to wrestle with Irie and getting tossed around the ring. Irie does nice job of using his power here, and eventually smothers Roman with a choke. Really hard to get any idea of Roman who basically gets overwhelmed.

A-Kid vs. Chris Ridgeway

PAS: This was the longest and fanciest of the first round matches. Most of the Ambition matches feel like guys just sort of sparring until a finish, this was a match with spots. There were some cool ones, Ridgeway hits a high kick which A-Kid does a great crosseyed sell of. Ridgeway was really throwing heat.  Kid does a cool Minoru Tanaka armbar take down into a crossface, and Ridgeway hits some big chest kicks into a Fujiwara. The shortness of Ambition matches kept this from bloating and it was pretty good stuff. Wouldn't mind seeing more of both guys.

Punch Drunk Istria vs. Rico Bushido

PAS: I really liked this, much more mat work from Bushido then in his first match, and he looked perfectly content. He would do a bunch of really athletic pass attempts to try to get mount, while Istria would grab limbs and twist. He spent most of the match twisting the arm and working for a chicken wing. Finish was great with Bushido countering the hammerlock with an exploder and then hits a thrust kick to the stomach for a body shot KO.

ER: This was a fun bit of twisting, agree with Phil that the passes in this - which made up the bulk of the big moments - were fun and aggressive and it was neat seeing the risks taken. Bushido would roll in like an impatient Sakuraba, one time doing a shoulder roll and trying to come up with an arm, another time sliding in on his back which allowed Istria to shift his hips and affect Bushido's landing. We get several fun scramble moments, I really liked at the beginning of the match where Bushido accidentally fell hard out of the ring; I never know if things like that are planned or if that was a built in way to make him more aggressive, but either way I liked it. Istria kept looking like he would lock in something nasty about Bushido's arm or wrist, and I loved the surprise exploder with just a simple front kick to the stomach being the finish. Taking a big foot to the lower abdomen would surely put me down, and I thought it worked great as the finish here.

Shigehiro Irie vs. Chris Ridgeway

PAS: This was worked like a poor man's Vader vs. a poor man's Takada which is a fun match structure. Irie is eating his opponents up a bit in this tourney, so we didn't get to see as much of Ridgeway in this match as his first round. I really liked Irie's clubbing forearms, and the forearms to the back of the head are a hell of a finish. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: An Ishikawa master class, the kind of all time performance we can expect from one of the true greats. Thatcher tries to hang on the mat but gets out thought over and over, and eventually just starts throwing big shots, he has the size advantage and is going for the KO before Ishikawa can wrap him up with a submission. Or he would use big shots to set up simpler submissions hoping to stun Ishikawa enough so that Ishikawa couldn't trade with him, but found opportunities to sneak in a body shot or a nasty chop to the shoulder blade. At one point he ties up Thatcher's limbs and cracks him with a headbutt. The finishing run was totally awesome, Thatcher slips out of a guillotine, gets mount and starts raining down big forearms, Ishikawa evades, grabs the leg and transitions from leglock to Fujiwara to leglock, to STF for the tap, everytime Thatcher would try to counter, Ishikawa would shift to a different attack, some of the coolest counter grappling I have ever seen, what a legend. Great, great match which is going to be in contention for a top of a MOTY list all year.

ER: Magnificent match. As I was watching it I was thinking this might be the best shootstyle match this decade, and by the time the match was over I knew it was among the best shootstyle matches all time. This really stands proudly next to the best fake fighting has to offer, a fully exhilarating use of 15 minutes. This may be the most actual offense we've ever gotten from a Yuki Ishikawa match, which is a weird thing to be happening now that he's in his 50s. I always viewed him as more of a Fujiwara-like defensive wrestler, and here even when he's taking shots from Thatcher it feels like he's setting something up. And both guys to lay in some savage shots, with Ishikawa dishing out hard downward strikes to Thatcher's trap and collarbone (while tying up his head and arm) and we get a huge KO punch moment that was timed perfectly. Thatcher threw some chilling strikes, a gorgeous combo when Ishikawa pulls guard and Thatcher punches stomach while immediately following up with an elbow to the jaw, and several punches right to Ishikawa's neck. Strikes seemed like the only way Thatcher had any kind of advantage. His slaps landed harder, he threw more elbows, but almost all of them seemed out of desperation because Ishikawa was sending him regularly scrabbling for the ropes.

Ishikawa is so masterful here, turning any pass into a dangerous submission attempt, and turning every submission attempt into two other submission attempts, some at the same time! There were several moments where Thatcher looked about to tap, and I wasn't sure what specific hold at that moment was going to be the breaking point. Ishikawa looked filled with glee as he would trap Thatcher's leg, work an STF, pull an arm aside and start bending that while never letting up on his original hold. We get great moments of Thatcher desperately reaching for ropes only to have Ishikawa grab his reaching arm and start punishing it. This honestly felt like the most master class of all Ishikawa matches, improbably arriving in his 52nd year. I loved the aggression from both, with every strike thrown with the intention of opening up an opponent for a more dangerous follow up, and every sub getting worked as a possible finish. There are several years where this would have been the #1 match, and this is now two years in a row where we've been presented with a very difficult to beat MOTY contender very early in the year. If any matches start approaching this one for the #1 spot, we'll be viewing some class.

Shigehiro Irie vs. Rico Bushido

PAS: That last match is a nearly impossible act to follow. I appreciate how they tried to work a much more theatrical and flamboyant match, and while it didn't fully work for me, I think it was a smart choice. Bushido really leans into the Bruce Leroyness of his attack, lots of lightning strikes and wild kicks. Irie probably oversold some of the goofier shots which took me out of it. I did really like the finish, with Bushido leaping into a crazy choke, only to see Irie backpack bomb him on the turnbuckles. Bushido does this really fun concussion sell and falls right into the Kata Haji Me for the tap. Fun if not a little silly, and a fine finish to a nifty card.


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wXw Ambition 8 3/11/17 Review

PAS: Ambition is the yearly shootstyle tourney which WXW runs in the middle of the their 16 Carat tourney. I have enjoyed some of these I have seen in the past (Bryan Danielson ran shit in the first one) and this has a bunch of guys I like in it, matches in this tourney tend to be short, so I thought I would give it a shot

WXW Ambition 8

Bobby Gunns v. David Starr

PAS: Starr is a guy I have semi-liked before, he was a state amateur champion and a good grappler although in his indy matches he tends to get a little go-go spotfesty. Here he pretty much just showed off his big throws and fast takedowns. Didn't get much of a sense of Gunns, although I liked how he used digit manipulation to break Starr's grip and get the armbar.

Jeff Cobb v. WALTER

PAS: This was really short, two minutes or so, and was basically two big spots, Cobb giving WALTER (who is a legit 320) an overhead belly to belly suplex, and Cobb powering out of a triangle choke with a big powerbomb. Liked both spots a lot, would have liked this going 5 minutes instead of 2.

Marius Al-Ani v. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: I enjoyed this, Al-Ani was game, and while he wasn't in Thatcher's class on this mat, he did enough interesting things to prove he belonged. Finish was pretty cool with Al-Ani hitting a high kick, but leaving himself open for a standing choke by Thatcher.

Matt Riddle v. Mike Bailey

PAS: This was the best first round match, pretty classic striker v. grappler match with Bailey using his fast feet to get an advantage standing, while Riddle beasted him on the ground. I really dug Bailey's near KO on a high kick, and the finish was great with Riddle using an ankle pick while trapped in a rear naked choke.

ER: Fun hot and quick action from two guys I really like. Bailey's kicks looked incredible here, even moreso than usual, like that early lightning fast spinkick that almost disconnected Riddle's hand from his arm. Bailey is good at keeping Riddle at bay with kicks, and I loved the near KO when Riddle tried to close the distance. Finish is cool with Bailey thinking he has his choke sunk in but Riddle pulling out the buzzer beater counter. Love these guys.

Bobby Gunns v. Matt Riddle

PAS: Gunns slaps Riddle a couple of times, and Riddle hits two nasty open hand body shots, takes him down and taps him with a modified twister in about 45 seconds. Unlike Cobb v. WALTER which felt way too short, this was about the right amount of time and made Riddle look like a beast.

ER: Only a minute long, but a really awesome minute. Gunns was immediately over his head but scrambled admirably, but you could see Riddle two steps ahead of Gunns' couple reversal attempts, but he still looked like he was supposed to be there. Riddle just floated around him on the mat and tapped him, and it all looked great.

Jeff Cobb v. Timothy Thatcher

PAS: These guys have matched up a bunch, but I haven't seen the classic they have in them (although I need to watch their EVOLVE match), they weren't trying for a classic here, but this was pretty great. This was a short grappling heavy exhibition with Cobb beasting Thatcher on the mat, he did this nasty shoot small package where he bent Thather like a collapsable sofa bed. Really liked Thatcher pulling out an armbar from the ground for the quick tap. Fun match which really delivered a great match in the style of this fed.

ER: Jeez Louise would you look at Cobb? He's like a man cosplaying as a cinder block. As Phil said, this wasn't worked with the goal of having a "great match", but it was great within the style of the tourney, and a great showcase for what these two can do. The grappling is great, with Thatcher throwing short knees to Cobb's breadbox and going for all sorts of painful crossfaces. He was really great at trying to throw Cobb off his grip by jamming a palm into his jaw, rubbing a forearm across his teeth, and it looks like it makes Cobb angry. You won't like Cobb angry. The build to Cobb finally unleashing an awesome gutwrench was the best, and he follows it with a tough German. BUT, Thatcher shifts and lands flat instead of more painfully on his shoulders, and yanks that arm off. Awesome display here.

Timothy Thatcher v. Matt Riddle

PAS: These guys had my favorite non Black Terry match of 2016, and had another killer match here. Thatcher will do Thatcher no matter what, so which keeps Riddle away from some of his more irritating Super Indy tendencies. Riddle was a monster here, just incredibly fast go-behinds and scrambles, some of the more impressive amateur grappling I have seen, I loved him maniacally flipping away to try to escape the wrist lock. Thatcher couldn't keep up with Riddle athletically, but he is great at finding an opening or two to twist and rip at an arm or foot. I really liked Riddle's aggressive knees on the ground, although the final finish knee was kind of lame. Great stuff overall though, and it really delivered on the promise of this tournament.

ER: Agreed, their August Evolve match was the only match that my heart even considered putting over Terry/Wotan. And this is also really awesome (until a fart sound ending). The scrambling in this was off the charts and I loved the frustration building up in Thatcher. Both guys struggle wildly when one of them grabs a limb, with Thatcher bending Riddle's ankle until Riddle gets leverage on Thatcher's ankle, Thatcher trying to rip an arm off and Riddle whipping around like an animal caught by the tail. Riddle won his second round match in a minute and Thatcher drew Cobb AND had minimal rest in between each fight, so I love how he was the first to really go for almost untoward strikes, landing brutal downward striking elbows to Riddle's jaw. Those things landed so violently that I thought they were going for a KO finish. I loved how Riddle barely beat the 10 count, walking himself up the turnbuckles and slumping into them to buy a couple seconds. Riddle responds with nasty knees to the side, and ends up draping Thatcher over the bottom rope. This was ramping up pretty crazily, but sadly it all falls apart right at the end. I didn't love Thatcher's face first fall leading to the 8 count, felt like a really manufactured bump in something like this, but I then immediately wished it was the finish as Riddle whiffs on a KO kick that "knocks out" Thatcher. What a bummer of a finish, and it's hard not to have the previous 10 minutes spoiled by it. I can't believe they didn't call an audible.


ER: Fun show, and the final two matches were good enough to land on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. No telling how high that final could have gone with a better finish. As Phil told me, 2017 so far is the year of great matches with poop finishes.

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