2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki vs. Masada

78. Low-Ki vs. Masada HOG 12/7

PAS: Stiff, compact brawl which surprisingly saw Ki get thrown around for much of the match. I can't remember the last time (if ever) I have seen Ki get eaten like this. He is a great bumper and really good with his timing, so it's a fun role for him. Masada jumps Ki early and roughs him up, including press slamming him throat first on the guardrail. Ki fires back with chops and some nasty 12 to 6 elbows, but he's mostly selling. I especially loved Masada's quebradora, it looked like it broke Ki's tailbone. Masada goes for the skewers, which gives Ki the opportunity to hit the Woo Dropkick and double stomp combo (and that double stomp looked like it might have broken Masada's collarbone) for the win. This is as close to Ki vs. Necro as we are going to get in 2019.

ER: This felt like the kind of match every promotion for the past 20 years has wanted Low Ki to do, but can't actually get him to do. Low Ki is almost always the smaller man in a match, and yet he rarely works matches as if he's a Rey Mysterio underdog. Instead Low Ki has gone into every match like he is 20 lb. bigger than any opponent. Low Ki opposite Da Hit Squad? Low Ki is now 300 lb. You know there have been promoters who wished he would take a beating for 90% of a match, if only because they themselves want to see Ki take an extended ass kicking. But Low Ki is a guy who works so credibly that there hasn't been a size difference yet that hasn't been able to close. And yet here he makes Masada look massive, and gets beaten around the building. Low Ki is one of the most inventive bumpers of all time, so seeing him get bounced and angled off tons of surfaces is great fun. Masada hotshots him on the guardrail, drops him with a quebradora, and fills in the spaces nicely with awesome kneelifts and uppercuts that knock Ki onto his heels. Ki is really good at taking a beating, selling that beating, but also being constantly active. Some guys take a move and then wait around until being picked up for the next move, but Ki is always actively selling something, and always taking any shot he can. If he's down holding his ribs and Masada is approaching with something new, Ki is going to try to punch him in the throat or get in at least one sharp knee strike if he's going to eat two. I loved how Masada's obsession with his death match ways is what cost him, as he tries to stab Ki with BBQ skewers which gives Low Ki the only opening he needs. Low Ki could not have landed more on Masada's chest with his match finishing double stomp, just quick violent revenge paying back a surprise beating.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST