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| Photo Credit: Gregory Davis/DDS |
Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada (c) vs. Kalamity and Hailey Hatred, SHIMMER World Tag Team Championship Match, SHIMMER Vol. 46, 3/17
Originally published in my review for SHIMMER Vol. 46
The tag match on Vol. 45 between the challengers here and the team of Kana and LuFisto was balls-out crazy intense, and even though I felt it short, I wasn't sure any two teams could have kept that pace up for longer than what they did. Then the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions stepped in and showed everyone that they weren't to be underestimated. As if being compared to Lufi and Kana is a bad thing, but hey, when you go big rather than go home, it's good that the two you're upstaging are two of the best in the world.
If the pace in that aforementioned match was breakneck, the one here was absolutely decapitating. Oh man, it was like none of these four wrestlers wanted to even know what taking a breather was. Okay, there were a few submission spots, but it was strike after strike, dodges as the form of defense, counters heaped upon counters, untagged saves whether they were preemptive or reactive. I think I got a bit woozy while watching this.
And yeah, seeing the three thicker competitors speeding through this match like they were on Adderall, it bears noting that Kurihara, the smallest wrestler by far, may have been its standout performer. I mean, usually, when someone busts out the casadora, it takes a little while to get balanced and figure out where they're going with it. Kurihara just as quickly as she split herself into the grasp of Hatred swung into the roll-up pin. That was impressive, just a smidge more impressive as her flattening Kalamity with the high-angle uranage suplex for the win. Amazing, amazing stuff.
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| Photo Credit: Gregory Davis/DDS |
Short reason why this match is on here: I felt like I needed a cigarette afterwards.
Long reason as to why the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship match made the list is a bit more detailed than that description, although it was true. Even though I watched it months after the fact on DVD, I felt a bit winded after watching these four joshis hit gears that most wrestlers don’t even come close to discovering. Just when I thought that there was going to be a respite in the action, oops, there goes another counter, or there goes another kick to the goddamn skull, or hey, dueling submission holds! Traditional American wrestling dictates that there should be cooldown periods in a match, and I generally appreciate them. But even at such a blistering pace, I can dig purely athletic contests where if you don’t knock your opponent out or get the most leverage on a pin, well, they’ll come back with their limit break, especially when the competitors in the match are sold to me as the cream of the crop.
Of course, there are two ways I can be cued in on what kind of standing the performers are in. I can be told, or I can be shown. I’ve seen Hamada and Kurihara enough times to know that they have the pedigree, and obviously, they showed me again in this match, although the real stars were in defeat. Ray cartwheeled on the top rope. Read that again, she fucking cartwheeled on what amounted as a tightrope, so she could do a kick (and she did it twice!). Her signature move is snatching the victim out of a straight cartwheel and hitting her with a power bomb, which she did here. The only person I’ve ever seen hit harder with a spear than Leon was Goldberg, and that includes a bunch of people who have size on the diminutive looking-but-big hitting joshi. I’m not sure this match is for everyone, but I’m not everyone. It certainly was the best kind of “I hit you, you hit me” match I’ve seen all year.
Tyson Kidd vs. Justin Gabriel, Superstars, 3/29 (airdate)
This was one of the best six-minutes-or-fewer sprints that I've seen in a good long time. The two work so well together in athletic type counter-fests, but two spots here for me put this over the top. First, during the aforementioned counter-fest, Gabriel subtly tripped up a leapfrogging Kidd. I love simple counters to basic wrestling movements like that. Moments later, Kidd gave Gabriel a side Russian leg sweep into the guard barrier, which was a way sicker bump than what you'd normally find in a short Superstars match on the week before WrestleMania. The finish was nice too, even if it looked slightly sloppy. That being said, sloppiness doesn't hurt if it looks like a "real" struggle or if it's "fight-like".
Ricochet vs. Mike Cruz, DGUSA Heat, 3/29
Watch it here!
As far as sprints between two flippy guys go, you could do a lot worse than this match. The contest started out slow, as these kinds of things are wont to do, but once it heated up, man, did it heat up. Both guys were clean and slick with their exchanges midway through, but then in the home stretch, they started throwing bombs. Ricochet went to the ropes for a springboard back elbow that Cruz caught and countered with lightning quickness into a stiff, snap German suplex. I think if you’re not going to get a whole lot of time, your signature spot has to be abrupt since you can’t really build to one as easily. Ricochet’s Mind Trip-shooting star press combo to finish the match was a good put down. Great, low-card scrap that really put Cruz on my radar, which was probably the intent.
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
I've wanted to see Zack Ryder get a shot in longer matches, and in the last Smackdown before WrestleMania, I got that wish. He's in there with Drew McIntyre, one of the best in-ring guys WWE has. Drew is so methodical with his offense, and Ryder played off of it very well. The best part for me was when McIntyre had Ryder down on the canvas and hit him with a boot scrape across the face. It was the epitome of brutality. McIntyre took Ryder's signature spots really well too. I loved his reaction after taking the Broski Boot. This was the kind of match that we'd usually have gotten on Superstars around that time or on Main Event now, which is a compliment.
Gunner vs. Kyle Matthews, DSCW House Show, 3/30
Watch it here!
Clichés are clichés because there’s a ringing of truth to them. The “David vs. Goliath” battle is as much a wrestling cliché as any of them, but when it’s done right, it’s sublime. Matthews vs. Gunner at this Deep South show was the textbook definition of one, even if in the end, Goliath won this one. The match started out with a show of respect between the two competitors, but as we’d learn, the respect would only be mutual as long as Gunner was in control.
Once upon a time, Gunner, as Phil Shatter, was a Georgia indie standout who ended up catching the eye of Impact Wrestling. The man underwhelmed on Spike TV, but watching him here, I’m beginning to think it was the company’s fault and not his own. He assumed the role of the bully so well here, from the moment when Matthews got his first advantage and he stopped wanting to shake hands until the finish. Working big is an art, and Gunner had it on lockdown this match. It also speaks to how well Matthews played the underdog. Then again, we all knew that, at least those of us who follow him on the Tubes or read this blog.
The match itself was chock-full of tasty nuggets. Matthews has one of the best enzugiris in the biz, one that was prominently on display in this match. Gunner busted out some feats of strength himself, nearly deadlifting Matthews onto his shoulders towards the end. Maybe my favorite spot of the match was in the beginning, in the feeling out process even. Matthews countered Gunner into a grounded headscissors, to which Gunner escaped by kipping up. It felt almost like a throwaway sequence, but I thought they pulled it off so well. It’s the little things, sometimes, but they only are memorable if the big things are also done well, which was the case here.
CM Punk (c) vs. Mark Henry, WWE Championship Match, RAW, 4/2
The main complaint about the Punk/Jericho match from Mania was that Punk didn't sell the back enough. Well, he did, it was just a day later against Henry. This was an epic match on both ends. It was a classic war of attrition. Punk threw everything at Henry, but Henry kept firing back with his full thrust. Every time Henry picked Punk off mid-air, it was an "oh sh..." moment. When Punk finally took Henry off his feet, it actually felt like an appropriate crescendo. The best bump of the match, Henry dumping Punk to the outside, actually led to the countout finish. On the surface, it was a letdown, but at the same time, it was the RAW after Mania, protected both Henry and Punk and set up for another match down the road, even if the post-match angle set up a rematch with Jericho. Little did we know Henry would be on his way out of the company for an extended period of time, robbing us of a prolonged program between the two. But hey, at least we did get one more match out of it.
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| Screen Grab Credit: SMVOD |
They really didn't waste time getting into the shit here, did they? Thorne greeted Hatred with a kick to the boobs and a spike to the head. She showed color really early in the match, but she wore it well. She must have learned in Japan. Of course though, the woman who'd conquered the JWP would fire back with some offense of her own, culminating in her sitting on Thorne's back, smiling and holding up a sign Colin Delaney had made earlier that said "WWE Superstar." How appropriate, since she should be making big bucks (although she certainly doesn't need WWE's restraints they'd put on her because she's a woman). Hardcore matches sometimes can cross a line, but this match did a good job straddling it, even with Hatred slamming a barbed wire-wrapped 2x4 into Thorne's crotch at one point. I don't care who you are or how worked a match is; it takes courage to risk genital mutilation in the name of professional wrestling. It is to be commended.
ACH vs. AR Fox, 30 Minute Iron Man Match, AIW Straight Outta Compton, 4/6
Originally published in my review for Straight Outta Compton
This match was supposed to feature Fox going up against Uhaa Nation. The two had a pretty intense feud in AIW, but when Nation got hurt 'Mania weekend in DGUSA, they had to scramble for a replacement. I am so glad they picked ACH and even gladder that they kept the 30 minute iron man stipulation, because this match was the rare one that deserved every allotted second it got. Here were two men who were known more for their aerial prowess going into the fray not only showing superior athletics and acrobatics, but outstanding psychology, pacing and a grasp of the moment.Kekoa vs. Bobby Fish, ECWA Super 8 Tournament First Round Match, ECWA Super 8, 4/7
The psychology came mostly at the end of the match. With the time winding down, the two started trading roll up and flash pin maneuvers to try and get the decisive pinfall that might win them the match. It wasn't just the fact that they were doing the pin attempts with the lightning quickness, but they showed great urgency as well. It's one thing for guys to trade roll ups and to have the announcers superimpose a narrative over it, but it's another for you to be able to see that even with the commentary muted. Both guys displayed frantic nature superbly. Then, when ACH got the final pin on the reversed Mahistrol, him going to the ropes and trying to run the clock out may have been my most favorite thing in any match this year to date. Fox trying to yank him from the ropes reeked of desperation. It was perfect, sublime.
But that isn't to say this match was all the kinds of things that you had to look for. There were some pretty goddamn fantastic spots in this match as well. You come to expect that from guys the caliber of ACH and Fox. These guys make their bones on doing mind-blowing shit that even Neo in The Matrix would be jealous of. My favorite athletic thing they did in the match was when Fox followed ACH out of the ring. ACH hurried over, tripped his legs out from under him, causing him to fall seated on the apron HARD. ACH then hit a bulldog lariat and I think I nearly went into apoplexy. It's hard for me to pick out every good thing in this match, because I'd just be transcribing it verbatim. This match needs to be seen to be experienced fully. I am doing it no justice at all.
Originally published in my review for ECWA Super 8.
Everyone knows Fish can bring it in the ring. People have seen the Danielson and Callihan matches, but they were products of the EVOLVE environment. Some might call them sterile. I wouldn't, but they were definitely more athletic contests between serious wrestlers. From even his ring entrance, coming in to the "Imperial March" from Empire Strikes Back and taunting fans in the front rows, Fish was dedicated to being the bad guy for the evening.Sam Shields and Chris Rockwell (c) vs. Matt Burns and Asylum vs. Damian Dragon and Matt Saigon, ECWA Tag Team Championship Match, ECWA Super 8, 4/7
And what a bad guy he was. He heeled it up in ways that I didn't even know he had in him. He yelled at fans, taunted them and then using his superior ring talents to further his agenda, worked over Kekoa's knee relentlessly. The local hero had his hurdle that he had to surmount, and for a time, it looked like he was going to climb that mountain and take out Fish. Wincing in pain even during his comebacks, Kekoa showed me that he was ready for prime time. Alas, the Flyin' Hawaiian succumbed to Fish's deadly kneebar as many do, but he left an impression on me that he definitely belongs in the discussion when it comes to great wrestlers.
But yeah, Fish was the story here. The technical side and the moves and the intensity are all only portions of a match. When you can engage the crowd, you get what pro wrestling is all about. Fish proved tonight that he's a complete pro wrestler, and that all he needs is a change in environment to emote some of that essential personality needed to become an all-timer.
So what happens when you put a stock modern indie-style tag team, the spiritual successors to TeknoTeam 2000 (although a rapidly improved version of them) and a kitschy team of Canadian bruisers with the best ironic ring gear ever into the same ring? Magic happens. While Fusion DS was an adequate team and the Midnight Sensations were really good, the unquestioned stars of this match were Asylum and Matt Burns, also known as the Flatliners. Why they aren't a tag team in WWE or at least TNA is beyond me.
Then again, if they were a tag team in either company, holy shit, they wouldn't be a tag team for much longer than it took for them to make the main roster. Then we'd be deprived of stuff like them completing each other's stall suplexes or doing roshambo for the "right" to do a plancha on four other weary dudes on the outside of the ring. Sure, this match had a ref bump and a run in from the most racially insensitive tag team this side of Mexican America in the Nigerian Nightmares, but hey, not even that could take away from the awesome that was the Flatliners going all Canada all over everyone's asses.
Jon and Trey Williams vs. Chip Day and Mike Posey, DSCW House Show, 4/7
Watch it here!
You say “Southern Tag Wrestling,” and images of the Rock ‘n Roll Express get conjured up. Ricky Morton getting his ass beaten before making the hottest of hot tags to clean house and get a big win. Good formulas work because they’re good formulas, duh. But every now and again, a formula could use a bit of freshening up. Enter the Washington Bullets and Jimmy Rave Approved. Jon Williams spent a good part of the opening of the match taking both members of Rave’s boys to the woodshed before going Ricky Morton so hard that he almost went cockeyed and grew a blond mullet. What made it a great heat segment though was how fresh the bad guys’ double team moves and offense in general were. At one point, with Jon seated in the corner, Posey ran at him on the apron, and Day charged from the floor, both hitting kicks to the badly-banged up brother in longer tights.
When Trey got into the ring, the place exploded. That crowd was probably a third smaller than most major indie crowds or even TNA crowds, and they knew how to react to a hot tag. Learn a lesson, folks. Anyway, after the Bullets were able to get some of their fun offense in, the match ended with a flurry of superkicks by the rudos and a well-placed referee distraction spot where Posey started arguing with the ref and just handed him off to Trey. Of course, Trey also ended up getting brained in the back of the head with a kick to eat the pin. Sometimes, you don’t need to cheat when the ref’s back is turned. Sometimes, you just need it to be able to double team one tag partner and tattoo the other one while he’s not looking.
Tyson Kidd vs. Michael McGillicutty, WWE NXT, 4/11 (airdate)
I love matches where the ring is used as a weapon. I also love matches that are a contrast of styles between a big guy goin' CLUBBERIN and a spry guy doing high flying stuff all over the place. Obviously, I was a fan of this match with all that being said. McGillicutty had his brawling shoes on, and this clearly was the best match of his that I've seen. I loved when he countered a Kidd dropkick to the outside by pulling the ring skirt out and crotching him on it. That's one of the best developments of 2012, more people using the ring skirt as a weapon. Kidd using it later on in the match was a good bit of symmetry. I also loved the hell out of Kidd's new twist on the Sharpshooter. Just an inventive new submission hold to cap off a fine match on NXT.
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| Photo Credit: Texas Anarchy |
Originally published in my review for Peace, Love, and Anarchy
Can it really be a good hardcore match if weapon usage was sparse and far between? The only time they really broke out a weapon was when Palmer teased the staple gun. Then again, ACW is about changing perceptions. The hardcore here wasn't about weapons, but it was about heights. I guess you could say the balcony at the Mohawk was the weapon. I'll get back to the balcony usage later, because that wasn't the whole story here.Robert Roode (c) vs. James Storm, Impact World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match, Lockdown, 4/15
To marginalize this match to that balcony is to discount all the work that Summerlyn and Palmer did to get to that level. There was mat wrestling, EXCELLENT mat wrestling, to start. Palmer did the sit ups during the figure four. Summerlyn had enough, got PISSED, and busted out her best WAR RACHEL scream while charging at Palmer. That was part of what made the match such a great affair.
But back to the balcony. Man, there was just so much to dissect from it. There was the tension of them battling on the way up. They traded shots and teased the leap and toss from it. The absolute shock on Summerlyn's face when Palmer NO-SOLD the first toss was just priceless. The way she just stood there in shock when he scaled back up and accepted her fate. I mean, it was epic theater. Epic, epic theater.
I don’t remember how well this match was received when it actually happened. I can’t comment on how pissed people were that Storm didn’t win to get revenge for all the shit that Roode pulled on him in the last four months. Maybe not watching it until WELL after the fact, after Bound for Glory even, helped put the finish, which was a clever way to end a cage match, in perspective. The match didn’t technically start until after Storm was bloodied and Roode having taken a bunch of damage itself, but that was part of the mood-setting. Storm wasn’t playing the role of the cerebral assassin but as the revenge-crazed redneck looking to draw blood more than anything. That’s the only reason why he’d chase Roode outside the ring when he had no incentive to, right? Wouldn’t an outside brawl favor the Champion?
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| Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com |
How appropriate that going into the final leadup to the finish that the only man left standing in the ring was Earl Hebner. Roode, Storm, and Hebner’s son, Brian (victim of a superkick eaten when Roode pulled him into Storm’s oncoming path)? Their war had become such a tempest of rage and hate that it claimed an innocent victim. Of course, it was a storm that was meant to continue, which is what made the accidental kick through the cage door work so well. Storm was so consumed by hate that he didn’t notice Roode was standing right between the apron and the cage door. In classic, Sisyphusian, TNA manner, the bad guy won and continued to frustrate the good guy. Catharsis was to be delayed for six more months. But as a finale to their second act? Well, I dug it.
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Just when you think that they couldn't come close to their original match two weeks prior, two of the best wrestlers in the world went out and did themselves one better across the pond. Both men brought their A-games to this match. Henry tossed Punk into the ringpost, and Punk did a guardrail walking leaping bulldog. The coup de grace was Henry catching Punk running off the apron and tossing him into the guardrail HARD. It looked like neither Henry nor Punk had any care in the world whether Punk lived or died on that. The crowd added so much to the match too. It really picked up in the second half of the match when the two were starting to get into the back-and-forth that is the trademark for most WWE main event matches. The chair-aided elbow to end the match was godly. Just godly. I wish these two could just wrestle every week, or at least let Henry and Dolph Ziggler take turns wrestling Punk.
Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma vs. Brian Cage-Taylor and Ryan Taylor, DDT4 First Round Match, PWG DDT4, 4/21
Originally published in my review for DDT4
The opening match sets the tone for the show most times. A lot of times, it's the slowest match, the one where the competitors feel out the crowd, see what floats, and end up building to a minor crescendo that acts as an appetizer for the meatier matches. The RockNES Monsters and Fightin' Taylor Boys took that formula, took a shit on it, and wiped their asses with the tickets.Roderick Strong and Sami Callihan vs. El Generico and Willie Mack, DDT4 First Round Match, PWG DDT4, 4/21
The action started fast and furious, and it didn't stop until the match was over. There were planchas and pescados. There were suplexes and springboards. Cage-Taylor did squat thrusts on a vertical suplex attempt and hit both guys with a German at the same time. Yuma broke out what I think may have been the first ever fisherman's suplex out of nowhere. Double team moves all over the place. It was beautiful.
RockNES finished the match with a move they called Explosive Amnesia, but if you forget this match after watching it, there's something wrong with you. On what may have been the best complete card of the year, it was the opening match that shone the brightest.
Excalibur and Kevin Steen joked that the ring moved during this match with how hard the guys, Mack and Callihan especially, were going into the corners. I'm not sure they were completely joking. This may have been the hardest hitting match of the entire tournament, and a lot of it was due to Callihan, looking to make a mark in his PWG debut, moving like a cannonball on methamphetamines. I had to give it up to Mack though for taking maybe the most fearless bump of the entire tournament as well. HE let Roderick Strong drag his junk along the second rope. Worked or not, I'm not sure I'd have the courage to let anyone do that to me.
Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Kevin Steen, Chikara Grand Championship Match, Chikara Hot off the Griddle, 4/28
This match was three parts emotional brawl, one part Steen yukking it up to rile the pro-Chikara crowd, and two parts psychological selling. It wasn’t even your normal leg or arm either. Basically, Steen attacked Kingston’s hand, which was brilliant because of how it tied into Kingston’s offense. Even though it was third from the top, the match had a main event feel, which may or may not have been ruined by the finish from where you may have been sitting. Personally, in terms of it being a continuation of a feud that still had a half-a-year to go, I thought it was a perfect finish. Hell, even from a single-serve finish, it made so much sense. Steen knew he wasn’t kicking out of a second Backfist to the Future. Why go out on his shoulders when he could exact a final measure of humiliation despite his loss? I dug it.
Sara del Rey vs. El Generico, Chikara Hot off the Griddle, 4/28
Originally published in my Hot off the Griddle review
There are cases where the best match on the card is unexpected. There are also cases where the one you're expecting to rock the house does totally that. This is a case of the latter. I bought this show with the express interest of watching El Generico and Sara del Rey, two of the top five wrestlers on my 2011 TWB 100 ballot, work magic against each other, and I got just that. With the Grand Championship match proceeding the way it did, the absolute right call was to have this match close the show.Honorable Mentions:
The match had all the big spots you'd come to expect from a Generico match, but I've noticed he's upped his grasp of psychology in 2012. Here, it manifested itself in his tentativeness slowly eroding away at the thought of having to violate societal norms by striking a woman, with del Rey playing her role as angry and disrespected competitor looking to be treated as an equal just as adeptly.
Add that in with Generico's flair for the dramatic and del Rey's pinpoint kicks (she may be the best striker in wrestling), and you have the formula for a fine main event, worthy of holding up Chikara's end of the bargain for the big doubleheader. While it turned out to be the kickoff of del Rey's farewell tour to the indies, making it bittersweet, it's still one of the best matches of 2012.
- Athena vs. Nicole Matthews, SHIMMER Vol. 46, 3/17
- Kana vs. Mercedes Martinez, SHIMMER Vol. 46, 3/17
- Player Uno and Stupefied vs. Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma vs. Matt and Nick Jackson, PWG World's Finest, 3/17
- Alex Koslov vs. Kyle O'Reilly, PWG World's Finest, 3/17
- El Generico (c) vs. Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards, PWG World Championship Match, PWG World's Finest, 3/17
- LuFisto and Kana vs. MsChif and Christina von Eerie, SHIMMER Vol. 47, 3/18
- Sara del Rey and Courtney Rush vs. Leva Bates and Allison Danger, SHIMMER Vol. 47, 3/18
- LuFisto vs. Leon, SHIMMER Vol. 48, 3/18
- MsChif and Christina von Eerie vs. Hailey Hatred and Kalamity, SHIMMER Vol. 48, 3/18
- Cheerleader Melissa (c) vs. Saraya Knight, SHIMMER World Championship Match, SHIMMER Vol. 48, 3/18
- Cedric Alexander vs. Caleb Konley, NEW March Mayhem, 3/24
- CM Punk (c) vs. Chris Jericho, WWE Championship Match, WrestleMania XXVIII, 4/1
- Tyson Kidd vs. Hunico, Superstars, 4/5 (airdate)
- James Storm vs. AJ Styles, Impact, 4/5 (airdate)
- Kane vs. Randy Orton, No Disqualification, Smackdown, 4/6 (airdate)
- Sugar Dunkerton vs. Eric Ryan vs. Alex Colon vs. Gary Jay, AIW Straight Outta Compton, 4/6
- Jeremy Wyatt (c) vs. Michael Strider, Metro Pro Championship Match, Metro Pro TV, 4/7
- Eddie Kingston and Homicide vs. BLK Jeez and Joker, JAPW Tag Team Championship Match, JAPW 14th Anniversary Show, 4/14
- Low Ki vs. Dan Maff, JAPW Championship Match, JAPW 14th Anniversary Show, 4/14
- Jessicka Havok (c) vs. Marti Belle, WSU Spirit Championship Match, WSU/NWS King and Queen of the Ring, 4/14
- Angel Blue (c) vs. Barbi Hayden, ACW American Joshi Championship Match, ACW Peace, Love, and Anarchy, 4/15
- ACH (c) vs. Gary Jay vs. Shawn Vexx vs. Jaykus Plisken, Anarchy Championship Match, ACW Peace, Love, and Anarchy, 4/15
- Player Uno and Stupefied vs. Matt and Nick Jackson, DDT4 First Round Match, PWG DDT4, 4/21
- Kevin Steen (c) vs. Sami Callihan, PWG World Championship Match, PWG DDT4, 4/21
- Stockade and Apollyon vs. Tony Nese and Ryan Rush, NYWC Borrowed Time, 4/22
- Dasher Hatfield and Mark Angelosetti vs. Obariyon and Kodama, Chikara Hot off the Griddle, 4/28