Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 6 Finale

Lost Boys (Chase Holliday/Hoodfoot) vs. Aaron Williams/Gary Jay

PAS: I don't think the tag format totally worked, although this had some moments. Hoodfoot is always going to entertain in this style, and he clubbed Williams with a huge shot to the back of the head, and finished the match with a gross suplex on Williams and some ground and pound. Jay looked better in this match then he did in his first match, but I don't think this style is for him. He doesn't seem like he has the pacing and selling down and just wants to get in his indy offense. He did hit hard though, which mitigates some sins.

ER: It seems like a liked bigger parts of this a lot more than Phil, even if we have the same complaints. Once they got past joking about the UWFI tag rules in ring, I thought this settled in pretty nicely. Holliday had some nice palm strikes, including a cool almost uppercut shot as he was getting up, really looked like it cracked Jay. Jay had a couple of things that were way too "regular indy match" and that's my least favorite stuff when it turns up on a specialty show. The little mule kick to take out Holliday's knee, followed up with a big downward strike closed fist, just made everyone involved look stupid for it not drawing any kind of penalty. The commentary couldn't call the punch what it was, and the ref even looked like he hesitated and wasn't sure if he should point it out. 

But I probably liked his fighting spirit roaring elbow after a Hoodfoot backdrop driver much less. Tons of matches in this series have ended with suplexes that weren't as gruesome as Hoodfoot's, and if you really want to get your favorite 90s puro spots into your match, well, maybe you should crib from the right fed. Nobody is doing Michinoku Pro hops at the end of exchanges either. But I really liked the whole finishing stretch, with Holliday getting surely KO'd by Williams, only for Holliday to be close enough to tag in Hoodfoot at the 9 count. I thought the Hoodfoot/Williams shootout was among the best strike exchanges in their entire series, felt really intense and was filled with shots. Williams gets trapped in a huge trap arm German, and then Hoodfoot throws them downward strike elbows for the stoppage. I've said it before, but this style benefits from hot finishing stretches, always great to go out on a super high note. 

Freddie Hudson vs. Lexus Montez

PAS: I haven't loved Montez so far on this show, but he and Hudson have clearly worked each other a bunch and had a nice rhythm. Both guys hit nice suplexes, I especially liked Hudson's teardrop, and Montez does a cool roll through into a kimura for the tap. Got me a little more excited to see Montez in the Middleweight tourney, and he was initially a name I wasn't pumped about.

ER: Rhythm is a good word for what we got here, and it was fun. Commentary points out how these two have met several times before in Paradigm, but never under UWFI rules. Those kind of details added to the way Hudson played things, which was as a guy happy to be there and work a different style against a familiar worker. It added a fun edge to things, and both delivered big snap suplexes that looked worthy of a count. Totally agree on Montez's kimura finish as well, didn't expect the spot to go that direction and I kept getting more into it the more Montez appeared to improvise bending Hudson's arm. 

Big Beef Gnarls Garvin vs. Lord Crewe

PAS: Crewe has quietly become one of the best guys in this fed, and this was the high energy slap fight you want from this matchup (and a solid improvement on their first match). Both guys threw real heat here. Beef had a couple of big sack toss suplexes, and the back slap to the ear which Crewe used to drop Beef was a real equilibrium buzzer.  I liked how Beef wouldn't let the ref count on his suplex, he was pressing forward and it eventually cost him.

ER: I thought this kicked ass, totally the kind of match I wanted them to have. Beef really chucked Crewe on a couple of throws, and Crewe is either a great suplex bumper, or is a crazy man who leans shoulder first into painful throws, and I don't care which one of those it is. The stand up looked like it had real consequences, and I somehow always forget how much snap Crewe can get on his close quarter striking. It's hard to get a lot of momentum behind strikes when you're dodging return fire and standing half an arm's distance away, yet Crewe really cracks Beef several times. His backhand to the back of Beef's head was killer, loved how Beef dropped for it, and I really like the storyline of Beef getting more and more frustrated that Crewe is the guy adding crooked numbers to his loss column. Beef doesn't lose any aura, even though Crewe wasn't winning on banana peel finishes. 

Yoya vs. Robert Martyr

PAS: These guys train together, and they really have fun chemistry. The brawling on the floor isn't completely kosher with the rules, but I liked Yoya's shot with the guard rail and how it caused Martyr to sell for the rest of the match. But I didn't think the tap out and restart added much to the match, and we easily could have done without it. I did like how Martyr tried to fight his way into suplexes and the finishing headbutt was super nasty and a meaningful KO. Good stuff, and I would be into this being run back. 

ER: Great chemistry, and an over-complicated fight that didn't need this many story beats, but the work and chemistry almost made all the beats work. Every time I would find myself going "well they didn't need to do..." I would still be interested in where they were going. The roll to the floor came off well, but it did feel odd seeing Yoya trap Martyr's arm in the guardrail and kick it. Yoya hasn't really been a guy who takes shortcuts in his matches, and it's odd to have him be such a giant killer who never quits, and then have him cheat for the first time against the one guy who is closest to his size. Or maybe I'm looking at it all wrong and it's a great small guy thing of being way meaner to other small guys while trying to earn the respect of the largest guys. Fight the guys nobody expects him to be with honor, fights the other small guy like there can only be one small guy. 

The controversial stoppage was a bit odd, not sure I understood any of it. Martyr clearly tapped, then begged his way into a restart. In 2nd grade I almost got sent to the principal's office, which would have been my first visit there. I was warned plenty of times using the classic grade school "clothespins on a colorfully drawn stoplight" method, and once you get moved to the yellow light you know you're one misstep from red. So I hit read, and the class ooooooooooed and I shamelessly pleaded with Mrs. Setterlund to have mercy, total groveling act, dancing like no one was watching. And it worked, and it was at least another 3 years until I actually got sent to the principal's office for the first time. BUT if I was a babyface pro wrestler and clearly lost a match, I would not grovel and beg to get the match restarted. I thought Yoya looked cool as hell for agreeing to a restart, even though I don't understand it. I really liked Martyr struggling and selling while trying throws, and I loved Yoya's rolling armdrag. I do wish Martyr had left the thigh slaps at home though. His strikes looked good without slaps, and you don't need slaps on back elbows, and I thought the slaps on the finishing headbutt were really egregious. Back elbows and worked headbutts look cool, just let them breathe. 

Max the Imapaler vs. Alex Kane

PAS: I really liked what we got here, but I think it was a bit too short. Max does a great job of conveying menace and I totally bought them dominating early, even with as strong as Kane has been put over. That belly to belly throw was especially sick, but I did think two suplexes put Kane down a bit too easily. The German Max threw was nice, but it wasn't "put an undead monster to sleep" nice. One or two more moments really could have made this something special.  

ER: I thought this was cool as hell, and was about the length I was expecting based on how the length all of these hiss showdowns have been on Contenders. Kane has been such a steamroller, it was cool to see Max just go right at him. I thought their German looked awesome, Kane appears to have that inverse Lawler magic where he is as great a punch salesman as he is a puncher. Kane folds real well on this German, comes off like a guy who really knows all angles of a suplex, taking and giving. both had their chance to show off cool belly to belly suplexes, with Max doing a short deadlift and just dropping Kane, like men after carrying a 40 lb. bag of cat litter up the stairs. Kane's belly to belly has this gorgeous followthrough, just moving Max's dead body and driving them into the mat. The landing looked so heavy that I was actually expecting a stoppage. This felt like more than one minute. 

The Lifers (Matthew Justice/Bobby Beverly) vs. Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor/Dominic Garrini)

PAS: This worked better than the first tag match, but I don't think this was the best way to pay off the Team Filthy vs. Justice feud for the season. Justice is best in wilder, brawling UWFI matches and this was by far the longest UWFI rules match PPW has done. It had a much more deliberate pace, which exposes some of the seams way more than something quick and nasty. I did like Lawlor and Garrini as grinder mat wrestlers who would take both Justice and Beverly down and tie them into knots until they had to grab the ropes. The finish run between Justice and Lawlor was pretty exciting, exchanging slaps, with Lawlor having the advantage until Justice checked his kick, hit a spear, and landed some sick knees to the temple for the KO. I honestly think the match would have been better if it was just a singles between those two, and that was basically just the last finish run on its own. 

ER: This was too long for me, too meandering, too out of sync with the rest of the vibe these shows have given us. I didn't even dislike anything that happened, and I love all these dudes, but it felt like an on paper WCW dream tag match that gets more time than any other TV time that week, and doesn't really do much with that time. There's a 12 minute Finlay/Jericho Nitro match that I think is incredibly boring, and I don't think I've called any other Finlay match in history "boring". This wasn't boring, but it didn't go the places I wanted to, and there were still some fun moments along the way. I laughed at and loved Dom's fun rolling ankle pick, just slowly somersaulting in all unassuming and suddenly he's an anaconda around Justice's leg. The final showdown between Lawlor and Justice was great, awesome mini war, and I wish we would have had a 5 minute tag of that kind of stuff rather than what we got. Still, loved these guys. 

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 4

Hardway Heeter vs. Austin Connelly

PAS: Wild 90 second match, as we have come to expect from Connelly. He rushes Heeter and they exchange hard winging shots, until Connelly hits a nasty elbow and a gutwrench suplex leaving Heeter laying. They did a post match angle with Kerry Awful berating Heeter and calling him a pussy and a loser, which took a bit of the shine off of Connelly's first win, but I am happy to see him get the duke and hopefully move on to bigger and better things.

ER: This really kicked ass, and felt like it had some solid turns for only 90 seconds. People are already timing Connelly's match starting charge, and I like how Heeter caught him with a knee, but they both kind of responded like they were both surprised by it. It's like Connelly has at least 5 seconds of Tasmanian Devil where he is just going to be invincible, and I love it. Even when he wrestles Heeter to the ground, Heeter is landing hard shots to Connelly's back that Connelly doesn't seem to even notice as he's elbowing Heeter in the face. Connelly throws three slaps in the corner that lead to a plausible standing break, and we get an actual well done elbow exchange. Heeter throw nice, sharp, lunging lefty elbows with a good amount of force behind them, and then gets leveled by one of Connelly's. Connelly bounced Hardway off his head with a gutwrench suplex, looked like the kind of whiplash that should end things. Great scrap. 

Yoya vs. Flash Thompson

PAS: This was my favorite Thompson match so far. He was really fun as a smirking prick bully, using his size to manhandle Yoya until he got too cocky.  I really liked him shit talking as he stuffed Yoya's shoot, and he broke an armbar attempt with some really sick stomps to Yoya's temple. Finishing minute was very cool with Yoya hitting a nasty jumping knee, stunning Thompson. Flash fired back with a palm strike (which looked like a KO shot), but Yoya survived and jumped onto Flash's back, and with the help of some strikes to the temple locked in a choke. Very cool stuff.

ER: I came into this anticipating the upset, just because I don't think I've ever seen them give such huge odds for/against any of the fighters until now, with Thompson coming in as something like a -450 favorite. Yoya is the smallest competitor in this, they set deep odds, I think we know how this pro wrestling thing works. This was a great showing for dickhead heel Flash, a really disrespectful performance with amusing cheapshots and eventually comeuppance. He is A Guy Asking For It throughout, throws an elbow to the back of Yoya's head while they were on the mat, tosses Yoya like a bag of laundry, kicks at his head while breaking a hold. I dug how he started unnecessarily throwing bigger shots, which gave Yoya the chance to actually dodge. When Flash was just throwing leg kicks and working smart, he was on pace to finish in two minutes. But when you commit to a haymaker you leave yourself open if it misses, and Yoya hits a boss leaping knee under the chin for a nice knockdown. He misses another wide swing and Yoya pounces on his back for the tap, and in true dickhead fashion, Flash denies tapping afterward. I'm not sure I totally bought Yoya pulling off this upset, and would have liked it even more if Flash *almost* got caught, but didn't, and didn't learn his lesson. That would have set up a more interesting match down the line. Still, I liked the actual work in this a lot. 

Damyan Tangra vs. Isaiah Broner

PAS: Love Broner, he is one of my favorite guys in this promotion. He comes off like such a dangerous badass, like French Montana's bodyguard who has a bunch of felonies. Tangra is WW4A guy who has a mat wrestler gimmick. Fun structure here, with Tangra trying lots of takedown attempts and Broner using his core strength and base to shrug them off. Broner also drops Tangra with a nasty body shot. Tangra is able to stun Broner with some head kicks, but makes the mistake of going for a German. He gets shrugged off and wasted with a spinning back elbow. Would be into seeing more Tangra, and Broner vs. Dustin Leonard next week should be fucking killer. 

ER: I really liked how annoying Tangra was here, just gluing himself to Broner and tangling him up in annoying ways. I'm not sure I've seen something quite like this, as Broner was on his feet the whole time but because of Tangra's annoyingness he kept having to buckle and reach like someone was trying to trip him up during a game of Twister. Broner has hands, so Tangra just hugs his way in close and takes away that reach. It might not be super effective as a long term strategy, but it's annoying, and when you annoy someone it can force them to make mistakes. And once there is a bit of distance, that's when Broner lands a hard right to Tangra's spleen to put him down. I liked Broner's selling when Tangra lands some kicks, how he doesn't go down for a grazing high kick but leans forward as if he's trying to maintain his center of gravity. Broner sold the kicks like someone who has been having drinks with friends, and realized just how much he had when he tried standing up from the table. The back elbow finish was sick, love a great back elbow. 

Dominic Garrini vs. Ron Mathis

PAS: This was the chickens of Mathis's Shooter Ronnie gimmick coming home to roost.  Garrini tooled him on the mat in a fun way, intentional giving him openings and then countering him. Mathis was able to muck it up a bit, but this was mostly Garrini showing off. Loved the finish with Garrini taking the back and - as Mathis countered - suckering him right into a triangle choke which put Mathis to sleep. Garrini does a lot of different things as a wrestler, a lot of which I like, some I don't. I think he has really found himself in this context. Indy wrestling has plenty of W*ING Kanemuras, they need more Katsumi Usudas. 

ER: I appreciate Mathis committing to the bit and still trying to goof off against someone like Garrini (also, I like how in Mathis's tale of the tape bio it says he "really likes PPW UWFI Rules matches"), even pointing out that Garrini didn't get him with a strike and only grazed his mohawk. Garrini toying with people is a great look for him. I think there is pressure on guys with non "pro wrestling" skills to learn those and better blend in with pro wrestling, but I think there is more value in incorporating your unique skillsets into a pro wrestling frame work. Dom is at his best when he shoehorns his legit skills into a match, and it will always be better than him doing pro wrestling sequences. 

Derek Neal vs. Ron Bass Jr.

PAS: First time I have seen Bass, and I was into him. He is a big fat guy with short arms, and seems really into hitting hard. He had some nasty clubbing clotheslines and used his fat well, which is welcome. I need to track down some non UWFI stuff for sure, feels like he would make an awesome Blackjacks tag team with Manders. I didn't like Neal in his Gary Jay match, and wasn't into him here. I thought the finish looked especially weak. You don't want the guy clearly throwing softer stuff to get the knockdown, and he broke out his windmill arms for the ground and pound. Want to see more Bass, have seen enough of Neal.

ER: Certain things in wrestling excite me more on paper than they should, and "oh hey so Outlaw Ron Bass's actual son is wrestling now and he's a big fat guy" is all the information I would need to know to make me seek out some Ron Bassito. And, I loved him. He's shaped more like a small Akebono or a large Jake Milliman than Ron Bass, with his big broad back and egg torso, and he absolutely lays it in. He threw a couple of lariats with almost no runway, and they were great enough that they would look like a finish if he dropped an elbow right after. I think his bumping reminded me of Milliman too, the way he took a thrust kick to the stomach by almost rolling off his feet. I am with Phil on the finish, didn't think any of Neal's stuff looked like it should fell Bass, and the match stopping slaps were just hitting forearms. Bass looked like he was just dealing with them, not being damaged by them, and that's precisely how they should have been sold. 

Jordan Blade vs. Max the Impaler

PAS: Battle of the non-binary beasts! I thought this was pretty awesome. Max really projects menace well, coming off like a total monster, and they made Blade (who is really strong) look small. Blade would constantly work for submissions and Max would just power their way out of. The question was whether Blade could sink in something before they got got. Max's Hughes slam out of the triangle attempt was nastier than Matt Hughes' original, and the final KO knee did the job for sure. Blade was pretty slick with their submissions and I really bought that they were going to pull off the win, until I didn't buy it. Post match they set up Max vs. Alex Kane which was a match I had no idea I wanted to see, until I really wanted to see it.

ER: This is how you do a satisfying ground and pound stoppage! Blade was really good at staying in things and tying up Max, throwing constant open hand slaps at Max's head while working for any submission she could get. Max seemed to working this like a horror movie villain, where she welcomes any attack Blade can muster, knowing she can finish at any time. It's a risky strategy, but it gave us a cool chance to see a bunch of Blade's cool tricks. I liked how active Blade was during submissions, quick to throw in strikes, and it was fun seeing how Max would break them. I don't know if I can say the Hughes Slam was nastier than the original - I mean, Matt Hughes ran that man across the entire damn octagon - but I love seeing a cool powerbomb out of a triangle attempt. Blade's hanging armbar looked great, and Max's knee strike to flatten Blade was excellent. Sign me up for Max vs. Kane. 

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series 2 Episode 2

Cole Radrick vs. Yoya

PAS: This reminded me of a WEC Batanamweight fight, little guys moving fast and pressing a lot of action. Yoya really impressed me here, he did a bunch of really cool spinning mat attacks including one spot where he goes for an armbar, gets lifted by Radrick off the ground, spins on to his back for a choke and then slips right back into the armbar. Only flaw in this match was Radrick's selling, he sells this big kick like he got brain trauma with his arms sticking straight out in the air. That is cool stuff, but this promotion stops fights for way less, and it wasn't plausible that the ref would let him continue. Outside of that I enjoyed this a lot, interested to see what Yoya does in Bloodsport next week.

ER: I loved Radrick here and thought his selling was excellent. I've seen plenty of people try to work the fencing response selling into pro wrestling, and it almost always looks incredibly stupid (with the stupidest ever being Jimmy Yang taking a Tank Abbott punch in WCW), and here it looked like Radrick clearly had a concussion. And as Phil said, that was why that ended up being a pretty pointless use of such a realistic sell. We've seen a dozen matches in this UWFI series alone that have been stopped for less than a man visually suffering a traumatic brain injury, so the idea that the match wasn't immediately stopped was ridiculous. That really should have been the finish if they wanted to work that spot into the match, makes no sense to give a guy a standing 8 after he's doing a horizontal Frankenstein impression. 

That aside, everything else ruled. Yoya is super small and super quick, and Radrick can use cool power offense against him even though he is small against most other guys. At one point he does a fisherman's buster that starts with both men lying flat, just powers Yoya up. Radrick's selling was strong throughout, loved how he leaned into all of Yoya's strikes, fell into the ropes after a few of them without ever coming off as "acting". The shotgun kick that lead to the should-have-been stoppage looked great, really would have completely worked as the finish. But I did love Yoya pouncing with punches to try to capitalize, and Radrick really paid back that kick with wicked hammerfists and elbows before locking in a wicked armbar for the tap. These guys want to get a lot of their ideas into these quick fights (and Yoya has been one of the biggest "get my ideas in" guys in this series so far), but they really need to save some of them for later in the series. Can't have two cool finishes in one fight, you'll burn out the concept. 

Ron Mathis vs. Nick King

PAS: Mathis works a comedy gimmick on these shows as a garbage guy who claims he is a shooter. I get why you want to mix things up stylistically, but it doesn't do it for me. I liked King on last week's show, but he gets squashed here which is a shame. I would have rather seen King use his skill to flummox Mathis a bit, before Mathis figures it out. Instead he was a comedy guy claiming to be a shooter who steamrolls an actual guy in that style. Nice rear naked choke though.

ER: I was really looking forward to seeing more of King after his fantastic debut last week, and this was not quite what I wanted. What they did was good, but it was not the thing I wanted to see. Mathis rushes King with body blows that King anticipates, and outquicks Mathis into a great Vader/Inoki German suplex. When he recovers, Mathis comes in with a couple strong front chancery suplexes, then locks in the chancery again, but instead of going for another suplex he twists hard into an awesome rear naked choke for the tap. Paradigm has been good at bringing in unknowns and working them up the ladder through this series (guys who were unknowns in season 1 are now treated like known quantities, getting matched up with season 2 newcomers), so I know it's just a matter of time before King is getting to bigger matches. So, within context, I think this worked. 

Freddie Hudson vs. Alex Kane

PAS: Hudson is a former PPW champion who was returning to the promotion, and got a takedown here and even a suplex, but this was a Kane showcase. Kane really uses his hips when he throws people, and that head and leg clutch suplex he uses as a finisher is really sick. This US shoot scene needs an Otsuka, and Kane might fit that bill.

ER: I love when a new guy comes along with real suplex power, and Kane is like new Cobb. I like the set up of the match, with Hudson making his Paradigm return. I like the story of the guy with more matches in a promotion than anyone, returning to find the landscape is different than when he was last here. He comes into the match happy to be here, gets a nice suplex, but once Kane gets down to serious business it is over quick. Kane can really muscle guys around, and that Mark of Kane finisher of his is like he's throwing someone as far as he can after tying them up in La Nieblina. 

Kerry Awful vs. Aaron Williams

PAS: Awful was a lot of fun here, working this like Wellington Wilkins Jr., this old carny wrestler who might not know jujitsu but knows how to twist a wrist or pop a knee. I liked how he taunted Williams early to "take the cowards way out" by grabbing the ropes, which leads the crowd to chant "Coward" at him when he takes a rope break of his own. Williams had some moments too, and the finish was great with Williams hitting an Anderson Silva front kick and going for a stretch muffler for some reason, which Awful turned to a crucifix sugar hold for the tap. 

ER: This was a nice change of pace from the other matches this episode, worked very differently, a little more tentatively but not shying away from hitting each other. Williams' kicks all looked cool, loved when they went for a knucklelock and Williams kept kicking at Awful's head with axe kicks and front kicks. I actually thought this was going to end way earlier than expected, as Williams locked in a sick grounded full nelson that could have gone a few different directions, but Awful broke it by reaching back and clawing at Williams' head. The finish was awesome, thought the Silva front kick looked spectacular, and I loved the wrinkle of Williams going for an ill-advised stretch muffler but not locking it on quickly enough, allowing Awful to tap him with a slick anaconda crucifix. Very cool. 

10. Tom Lawlor vs. Lord Crewe

PAS: I think this is Lawlor's best performance in this style. Crewe is a guy with a bare knuckled fighter rep, and it was great to watch Lawlor ground him and work as a mat master. Loved how he kept controlling with a hammerlock, and how decisive and powerful his takedowns were. Lawlor had an awesome looking Anaconda vice head and armlock, and his reverse triangle choke finish was class. I thought Crewe was fine as a brawler who found his moments, although he should have left his spinning Vampiro kick on the drawing board. Lawlor versus Justice should be a lot of fun, and I hope he works it like this. 

ER: Love seeing Lawlor work a match like this with blinders on, working patiently through Crewe's strikes to land takedowns and work subs, all of which looked finish worthy. Lawlor was able to really convincingly work in a leg scissors submission and make it look like something that could happen in MMA, and I love that submission. There are a lot of ankle lock spots in wrestling now, hard to make one stand out, but I loved Lawlor refusing to break his ankle lock on Crewe, Crewe trying to kick him off, Lawlor grapevining the leg while yelling a FUCK YOU, Crewe hanging in with a worthy attempt of his own before wisely getting to the ropes. Crewe's standing strikes look better than most in this series, long arms sneaking in powerful shots, and once he started landing on Lawlor I loved all of Lawlor's muscle memory takedown selling. I really loved the sequence of Crewe missing a haymaker to set up a Lawlor rear naked choke, which I thought for sure was the finish, until Crewe slipped out and absolutely BLASTED Lawlor with an elbow strike to the cerebellum. Goddamn I thought Lawlor was hit so hard his spinal column separated. Hard to pull off two zombie sells on the same hour of TV, but I can't see any other way to sell that elbow other than Lawlor getting turned into a zombie statue. Lawlor's inverted triangle looked fantastic as a finish, thought this whole thing kicked ass. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series Episode 4

ER: Paradigm put on a better show last week than AEW did, so we're dedicating the Wednesday night slot to Paradigm this week. Better show gets written up fresh the next week. 

YOYA vs. Don't Die Miles

ER: I liked the standing portions of this a lot more than the grounded portions. I especially liked how we started, with Morales getting a quick German and then a nice flying knee. Later he snuck in this cool hooking kick to YOYA's chin that I think should have at least gotten a knockdown. They have a lot of points to work with in these matches and they hardly ever get used, instead moving right on from the best looking strike in the match. But I thought a lot of the ground work looked bad, especially the striking. YOYA had mount and was throwing little slaps off Miles' arms, and half of them weren't even making contact with the arms. I thought Miles fighting for a fireman's carry looked good, but stuff like that kept taking a backseat to unconvincing YOYA takedowns or a standing slap sequence that went too long. I liked the finish, with YOYA hitting a Saito suplex and holding on to slip on an armbar, but for a guy supposed to be working an "in over his head" angle, I thought Miles showed far more poise. 

PAS: I liked how frantic everything was, this approximated one of those insane WEC Banatamweight fights with tiny guys just going after everything a million miles an hour. Really liked the open 20 seconds with the Miles suplex and big knee, and Yoya is so small that even a small guy like Miles can throw him in interesting ways. I thought some of the stand up exchanges were really bad, you can do fast hands stuff and have it look effective even if it isn't stiff, but this looked like two guys swatting flies. Finish was cool, and I would be into a little dudes shoot division, but I am not sure overall this entirely worked.

Tommy Kyle Dean vs. Janai Kai

PAS: Both wrestlers have Tae Kwon Doe black belts, but unfortunately this felt more like half speed dojo sparring then a competitive wrestling match. Felt like they were practicing rather than fighting and the KO shot either missed entirely or was the victim of a bad camera angle. 

ER: Yeah this really didn't feel like an actual match. This felt like two people playing a fighting game only neither person knows the button combos so 80% of the fight is high right kicks. Occasionally you get lucky while button mashing and come out with something cool (like Dean's leg scissor takedown and Kai's heel axe kicks to break the follow up kneebar), but the kicks all looked like two people practicing distance rather than trying to hit each other. The fast front spin kick by Kai into the KO hook kick by Dean had great form, but agree that it either missed by a foot or made totally silent connection. Either way, it fell flat as a finish, but it only makes sense to miss the finish kick since none of the other kicks seemed to land. 

Robert Marytr vs. Jeffery John

PAS: The start of this match didn't do a ton for me, felt a little formless and the shots weren't doing much. Then John hits a gross sounding headbutt, which Martyr sells like a MMA fighter who is dropped, including trying to take down the referee. Martyr is able to get his bearings, grab kind of a half choke and takedown, and land some sick Pride stomps to the back of the head for a KO. Great finish run will go a long way, and love Martyr as a guy with fun realistic knock out selling. 

ER: This was fun, thought it picked up early with a great Martyr knee, and that headbutt that downed Martyr was a great moment. I loved Martyr's selling, fully bought into it, thought he looked legitimately loopy and I love a well used/well done ref takedown spot. The stand up didn't always look great but I liked how both guys were using head movement and it lead to some interesting stuff. The finish was real sick, with Martyr fighting through the cobwebs and getting a real mean choke, looked like the kind of thing a big brother locks in way too hard after he catches his annoying little brother in his room, and the stomps to the head for the stoppage looked sick. 

3. Hoodfoot vs. Isaiah Broner

PAS: Tremendous atmosphere, really felt like a West Oakland fist fight between two of the baddest guys in Fruitvale. Loved all of the pissed off shit talking and mean mugging. There are basically three moments in this match, they come together throwing, and Broner grabs Hoodfoot and throws him down. They get back up again exchanging and Broner drops him with a sick short hook. They go at it again and Hoodfoot hits a fast Saito and two big swinging forearms to the head for a KO. I loved all three moments, I kind of wanted one or two more - this was maybe 2 minutes long - and it could have been a killer 3 and half minutes. I wanted Broner to get to his feet after the Hoodfoot KO, even if only to get dropped again. Still I adore Hoodfoot as a guy with one punch KO power, and he really brings something special. And I'm really into Broner too, just a pair of badass looking tough guys. I would totally be into running this back again. 

ER: This really did have a great feel to it. A lot of these matches have been fun, but they can feel a little faceless. This felt like two big personalities having a big showdown, and most importantly: These were two guys I *wanted* to see fight. Any fight has the potential to be a good fight, but I love a fight where I just want to already SEE the guys fight. Hoodfoot has become a fast favorite of mine, and Broner has a great look, great vibe. Last week we had one of my favorite sub 3 minute matches, and now we have one of the great sub 2 minute matches. This is the kind of stand and trade I can get behind, as they just start swinging arms and seemed fine to keep that up until either of their Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot heads popped off. I bought into Broner getting the potential upset, and loved how the had him drop Hoodfoot first, loved that advancing short hook he cracked him with. Hoodfoot's Saito suplex is really great, like the fast kind of backdrop drivers that Kobashi used to take right on his head, and I love how he wasn't messing around and got right to throwing those forearms. I wish we got twice as much as we did, and I don't think it honestly would have taken a ton more for me to want to add this to our MOTY List. Run this back, let 'em go 5 minutes, then let 'em take over the indies. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Paradigm Pro: UWFI Contenders Series Episode 3

Big Beef vs. Crash Jaxon

PAS: These are a pair of big dudes who both lost their first match, and this was a fun Beef showcase. Jaxon had a moment or two, but mostly was eating big shots including a nasty stunning slap, and a couple of big suplexes including a nasty German, plus a wrenching powerbomb for the KO. Jaxon is a good foil for these matches, his size makes it really impressive when he is dropped. 

ER: Beef comes off like a real bulldozer under these rules, and I love watching it. Jaxon threw some iffy looking kneelifts (the first two he did I had no idea what they were even supposed to be until commentary called them knees, just looked like a silly little leap), but he certainly hung in there to take some gnarly strikes from Gnarls. Beef backed him up with a right hand, and landed some nasty crossfaces on the ground. I dug Jaxon trying to stuff a suplex attempt so it wound up looking like Beef dropped him with a leaping Flatliner. Beef's clubbing forearms to the back really echoed and the shoot powerbomb for the win looked really cool. 

Hardway Heeter vs. Chase Holliday

PAS: Heeter comes in to Waiting Room so the old DC punk in me is on his side. Holliday has a medal which he puts on the line in the match. They tried a bit too much here, seven suplexes in a three minute match is total overkill. I actually liked some of the non-suplex stuff a lot, Heeter had a nice jab to the body and the coolest thing in the match was Holliday's jumping knee, but then they just went back to suplexes (none of which looked great). Finish was pretty bad too, with Holliday trying Goodrich elbows which didn't land well at all.

ER: Before he had his first match, I noticed Heeter standing around me during a SUP show during SCI 2019 weekend. I thought he had a cool look, jacked dude with glasses, strong beard, rocking no shirt under a vintage jean jacket. Coming out to Fugazi just adds to all that cool. I'm with Phil, in that the suplex stuff did not work for me at all. It wasn't even that I thought there were too many (there were), but most of them were set up in the most pro wrestling way. If you're going to set these things up with one strike that almost connected, why not just do other pro wrestling finishers? Let's see a bad stomach kick to set up a twist of fate, or maybe someone can wait around bent at the waist to take an axe kick. I like the parts where they were keeping each other at bay with strikes, like Heeter's great jab to the body, or Holliday's swarm of open hand strikes that allowed him to get in close. But just throwing a strike and then hitting a vertical suplex, with no fight whatsoever? I'm sure I could have been into this more if there was some decent struggle, instead of guys taking wrestling suplexes. I much rather would have seen them work around Holliday's early match grounded front chancery and build to his great running knee as the finish. Instead we got Goodridge elbows that all looked like Holliday was trying to rub off one of Heeter's nipples. 

1. Austin Connelly vs. Lord Crewe

PAS: This was my favorite match of the series so far (it's either this or Hoodfoot vs. Flash from Episode 1). Connelly wrestles this like you might imagine Buzz Sawyer would have worked UWF. He charges Crewe, swarming him with wild shots and a Karelin lift which wasn't hit clean, but in a cool way. Crewe peppers him with kicks and slaps and Connelly just keeps moving forward, landing a big slap to the ear and a second big Karelin lift. They exchange big shots until Connelly gets dropped to his butt, with Crewe following up with a nasty sliding elbow for the KO. Whole thing was super intense scrap with constant forward movement.

ER: This was so great, genuinely in the conversation of greatest under 3 minute matches ever. Connelly is billed as a crazy man, and he ran in with no defense the entire time, scrambling for takedowns like an animal (commentary laughed at him using Groundhog Style, which is great), and Crewe just threw full arm strikes the whole time. Connelly threw him with a Karelin lift that Crewe sandbagged (Connelly still got him over) and later muscled Crewe over with a waterwheel suplex. But Crewe just picked this guy apart, throwing more landed strikes in 2 minutes than we've practically seen in this entire UWFI series so far. He was just smacking Connelly above the ear, in the temple, in the mouth, in the forehead, any direction Connelly turned there was an open hand to greet him. Crewe threw a couple nice high kicks whenever Connelly was stunned, and ran in with a sliding elbow for the finish, and all of it looked great. These guys were total maniacs, really showed what kind of special exchanges are possible in this format. 

YOYA vs. Akira

PAS: I liked this a lot too, YOYA is really tiny and it allows Akira to pull off some pretty cool shit throwing him around the ring. Akira is normally a death match guy, but pulled off some slick shit here, including a monkey flip into a cross arm breaker and Indian death lock choke combo.Akira also landed a sick headbutt to break a leg bar, a crazy running back elbow and a koppo kick. YOYA was really fast and used hand speed and some leaping submission attempts. Finish was sick with Akira doing a lifted keylock suplex into a keylock submission which looked like it ripped out Yoya's shoulder. There was a pretty lame run in post match by DD Trash setting up a future tag match outside of UWFI rules, but the in ring part of this match was cool.

ER: This was a lot of fun, and they had a ton of ideas, although I'm not sure we needed every single one of their ideas. I think my problems were more with layout, as YOYA took a ton of hard shots that each counted as a knockdown, and I just did not buy his big comebacks down the stretch. 125 lb. is really small, making that 65 lb. weight difference far greater. I'm under 160 and the idea of me taking knees in the face and being on "Bambi legs" and taking more of the same for 5 minutes, followed by me getting a couple throws on someone weighing 225 lb. sounds laughably implausible. YOYA had some really cool stuff that really worked, and his sliding rolled through kneebar by far one of the coolest things we've seen on the UWFI shows so far. But Akira unloaded so many tricks on him for so long, and I'm not sure I would have bought those throws at any point of the match anyway. 

There were several different pieces of Akira offense that I thought were the end of the match, like YOYA shooting in for a takedown only to meet a perfectly timed knee to the chin. That happens a minute in, and I can't get too excited for a wicked spinning backfist several minutes later, no matter how great it looked. The finish was at least the most disgusting part of the match, and I was genuinely scared for YOYA's elbow, shoulder, and arm. When Akira yoinked YOYA up into the keylock I thought that was the finishing submission right there. I didn't expect him to THROW him by that same arm and then keep the hold applied! Disgusting finish, though it's kind of wild that the 125 lb. guy absorbed more punishment in this match than anyone in any match so far. 

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