--Pre-Show--
Matt Makowski vs. Rory Gulak
Damn, this was a good match. Great example of a preliminary match that was designed to showcase the style expected on the show. Some good defensive mat work by Makowski with his constant moment, grapevining Gulak’s legs while beneath him. Gulak had some great suplexes, even if they were pro-style german suplexes, they still looked great. Some of his palm strikes to the body were nice as well. A great transition with Makowski turning a O’Connor Roll into an armbar - it was just a totally nutty highlight. Knock outs are always fun in wrestling. Makowski victorious! ***1/2
--Main Card--
Anthony Henry vs. Zachary Wentz
It’s good to see guys like Wentz who focus on the high flying aspects of wrestling have the platform to show off what they can do in a completely different style. Henry is pretty much stuck in EVOLVE and the lower indies like Black Label Pro (Not a slight, I love BLP), so he gets a spotlight too. Both put it to good use, having a short and compact match where both were frantically going for each other’s limbs. It was a good way to bring some energy to the show. There was some excellent transitions where they’d use each other’s momentum to flip into an armbar counter. Great finish with the Triangle finish by Henry after countering Wentz’s superman punch attempt. ***1/4
Allysin Kay vs. Nicole Savoy
I don’t usually watch US Women’s Wrestling (mostly because I can’t find it online) but when I do, Savoy is number 1 to watch for me. Love her style and it plays off well in the match. Nothing too flashy. Some great struggles for the kneebars early in the match, great transitioning attempts by Allysin Kay. Kay being the more experienced of the two keeping control with her use of side control - which was a great touch to add to the whole dynamic. Savoy’s palm strike flurries were good and allowed for some brief hope spots. The ground and pound sections were great as well and lead into the latter end of the match perfectly well. I thought the set up to certain submissions like the twister ruled. Loved the Omoplata countered into the elbows finish by Kay. Great finish to a pretty great match. ***1/2
Anthony Carelli vs. Simon Grimm
I remember being seven years old watching Raw one Friday night (a 7 year old wasn’t ever going to be allowed to stay up on Monday in my household, so Fridays was my wrestling day) and seeing Anthony Carelli come out of the italian crowd, face Umaga for the WWE Intercontinental Title and now, here he is. A tatted up dude unleashing some brutal elbows to the neck. I love his work on top. He was so relentless with his offence whether it was his strikes or holds. Him doing it all to the heel’d up Simon Grimm makes it all the better. I did think the match lost steam after a while though which brought the match down a bit. ***
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Timothy Thatcher
If you had an “ace” for these shows, Thatcher would be the closest thing behind Barnett (maybe more so because of his previous involvement). His US Run is usually great but not well received with the live crowd which is just a stylistically problem rather than a quality one, GCW matches usually work well for Tim. Ikushisa Minowa is a PRIDE and Pancrase guy but he does have experienced with a pro-style with IGF where he once faced Necro Butcher and was actually Tiger Mask V which I unaware off until recently. There was some really good grappling here although I think it suffered from two totally different approaches, Thatcher was more active, wriggling around and trying to be more exciting (which is funny considering he once said that he aims to be boring as possible) whereas Minowa was willing to sit in holds much longer and focus on the struggle. I liked both approaches but it left the exchanges a bit cold at times. The finish was out of nowhere, which in a setting like this, wasn’t a bad thing. Good but not great for the aforementioned reasons. ***1/2
Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Tom Lawlor
Davey puts his catch wrestling training to great use as he dominants and ditcatcs the mat work with Lawlor being on the defensive and fighting from beneath. Even with his strikes, he far out matched Lawlor just to the weight he’d put behind them. All Lawlor could do is try and block and figure out holes he could exploit. Loved the way Davey Jr incorporated his powerslam into a match of this style. It just added to the idea of the whole show blending shoot with pro styles. The sliding lariats from Lawlor were awesome - just a total desperation move that lead to the finish where they leathard each other with strikes followed up by a wicked powerbomb. I went crazy, the fans went nuts. It was an awesome explanation point to an awesome match. ***3/4
Killer Kross vs. Nick Gage
A short but fun match. Marked out for Gage sticking the middle fingers up while in the rear naked choke. Hilarious. **1/4
Chris Dickinson vs. Josh Barnett
Not a ton of notes on this because quite frankly, I didn’t find it all that interesting. It felt too long and it wasn’t interesting enough for me. It didn’t connect like the other matches on the show connected. Love both guys, I even loved the Barnett vs Suzuki match but yeah, this felt flat to me. Shame because it was the match I was most looking forward to seeing and it turned out to be the worst match I saw on the show. **
Matt Makowski vs. Rory Gulak
Damn, this was a good match. Great example of a preliminary match that was designed to showcase the style expected on the show. Some good defensive mat work by Makowski with his constant moment, grapevining Gulak’s legs while beneath him. Gulak had some great suplexes, even if they were pro-style german suplexes, they still looked great. Some of his palm strikes to the body were nice as well. A great transition with Makowski turning a O’Connor Roll into an armbar - it was just a totally nutty highlight. Knock outs are always fun in wrestling. Makowski victorious! ***1/2
--Main Card--
Anthony Henry vs. Zachary Wentz
It’s good to see guys like Wentz who focus on the high flying aspects of wrestling have the platform to show off what they can do in a completely different style. Henry is pretty much stuck in EVOLVE and the lower indies like Black Label Pro (Not a slight, I love BLP), so he gets a spotlight too. Both put it to good use, having a short and compact match where both were frantically going for each other’s limbs. It was a good way to bring some energy to the show. There was some excellent transitions where they’d use each other’s momentum to flip into an armbar counter. Great finish with the Triangle finish by Henry after countering Wentz’s superman punch attempt. ***1/4
Allysin Kay vs. Nicole Savoy
I don’t usually watch US Women’s Wrestling (mostly because I can’t find it online) but when I do, Savoy is number 1 to watch for me. Love her style and it plays off well in the match. Nothing too flashy. Some great struggles for the kneebars early in the match, great transitioning attempts by Allysin Kay. Kay being the more experienced of the two keeping control with her use of side control - which was a great touch to add to the whole dynamic. Savoy’s palm strike flurries were good and allowed for some brief hope spots. The ground and pound sections were great as well and lead into the latter end of the match perfectly well. I thought the set up to certain submissions like the twister ruled. Loved the Omoplata countered into the elbows finish by Kay. Great finish to a pretty great match. ***1/2
Anthony Carelli vs. Simon Grimm
I remember being seven years old watching Raw one Friday night (a 7 year old wasn’t ever going to be allowed to stay up on Monday in my household, so Fridays was my wrestling day) and seeing Anthony Carelli come out of the italian crowd, face Umaga for the WWE Intercontinental Title and now, here he is. A tatted up dude unleashing some brutal elbows to the neck. I love his work on top. He was so relentless with his offence whether it was his strikes or holds. Him doing it all to the heel’d up Simon Grimm makes it all the better. I did think the match lost steam after a while though which brought the match down a bit. ***
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Timothy Thatcher
If you had an “ace” for these shows, Thatcher would be the closest thing behind Barnett (maybe more so because of his previous involvement). His US Run is usually great but not well received with the live crowd which is just a stylistically problem rather than a quality one, GCW matches usually work well for Tim. Ikushisa Minowa is a PRIDE and Pancrase guy but he does have experienced with a pro-style with IGF where he once faced Necro Butcher and was actually Tiger Mask V which I unaware off until recently. There was some really good grappling here although I think it suffered from two totally different approaches, Thatcher was more active, wriggling around and trying to be more exciting (which is funny considering he once said that he aims to be boring as possible) whereas Minowa was willing to sit in holds much longer and focus on the struggle. I liked both approaches but it left the exchanges a bit cold at times. The finish was out of nowhere, which in a setting like this, wasn’t a bad thing. Good but not great for the aforementioned reasons. ***1/2
Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Tom Lawlor
Davey puts his catch wrestling training to great use as he dominants and ditcatcs the mat work with Lawlor being on the defensive and fighting from beneath. Even with his strikes, he far out matched Lawlor just to the weight he’d put behind them. All Lawlor could do is try and block and figure out holes he could exploit. Loved the way Davey Jr incorporated his powerslam into a match of this style. It just added to the idea of the whole show blending shoot with pro styles. The sliding lariats from Lawlor were awesome - just a total desperation move that lead to the finish where they leathard each other with strikes followed up by a wicked powerbomb. I went crazy, the fans went nuts. It was an awesome explanation point to an awesome match. ***3/4
Killer Kross vs. Nick Gage
A short but fun match. Marked out for Gage sticking the middle fingers up while in the rear naked choke. Hilarious. **1/4
Chris Dickinson vs. Josh Barnett
Not a ton of notes on this because quite frankly, I didn’t find it all that interesting. It felt too long and it wasn’t interesting enough for me. It didn’t connect like the other matches on the show connected. Love both guys, I even loved the Barnett vs Suzuki match but yeah, this felt flat to me. Shame because it was the match I was most looking forward to seeing and it turned out to be the worst match I saw on the show. **
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