2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Dickinson vs. Thatcher

51. Chris Dickinson vs. Timothy Thatcher Beyond Wrestling 7/24

PAS: Beyond has been running a Dickinson challenge series leading up to his match against Sekimoto at the end of the month.  They bring in Thatcher and they have exactly the match that is promised on paper. Really minimalist thudding professional wrestling. Lots of nasty slaps and hard forearms, uppercuts and kicks. I really liked all of the work in Thatcher's leg lock, the leg lock can be a time killer hold, but Thatcher kept adjusting and twisting the ankle and Dickinson turned red with pain and constantly made little attacks to reverse or escape. The announcers kept talking up Dickinson's second wind, and he took a pretty big beating, before firing back and winning with a nasty piledriver and Pazuzu bomb. I liked the idea of Dickinson being a hard enough hitter that he can win a match even if he is down on the cards.

ER: This was a nice, boiled down, compact version of what these two can do, and it's pretty clear that we like what these guys do. Both guys are so good at conveying struggle and at making time killer seem important, that I like a shorter match length on them as it just adds more weight to everything they do. We don't need Dickinson dropping several nasty death valley drivers, just one in the right sequence can be enough. Both guys work hard on the mat so that it always feels like things are advancing, and I dug a couple of Dickinson's reversals; it's like the sweatier he got the more dangerous he got, as there were at least two times Thatcher had him in something potentially dangerous and Dickinson expertly slipped out and locked on something nastier. Dickinson grabs an armbar at one point that I thought looked finisher-worthy, and early on he rolls through into an awesome kneebar. It really felt like he knew where to keep his limbs farthest from Thatcher while still working for his reversal, loved that moment where Thatcher was blindly reaching for Dickinson's free arm and Dickinson kept it away long enough that he was able to reverse due to Thatcher's tunnel vision. Both guys lay in uppercuts and kicks, thought Thatcher's uppercuts looked especially jarring and I loved Dickinson's whipping kick to a kneeling Thatcher. Dickinson's straight drop death valley driver (almost like a northern lights bomb), and the piledriver rolled into the Pazuzu Bomb was a great exclamation point finish. And what put it all over for me was that awesome high leverage pin by Dickinson, with him bringing backslide energy to a straight pin, sliding down Thatcher and putting all his weight on Thatcher's legs.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST