Best of WWE 2011 - Matt Striker?

One of the WKO guys pimped Striker's recent series with Darren Young. Matt Striker? Had to check it out.

Added to THE REST:

Matt Striker vs. Darren Young - NXT 8/9/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ7bZaft59s

Not a great match and probably not even top 50 for the year thus far, but it's totally worth checking out. Grisham & Regal are a quality duo on commentary, and it's so refreshing to see commentators talking about the guys in the match and putting them over. Striker looks lost in the opening parts, which is a good thing: he hasn't worked in 3 years. He throws some good punches and cool arm drags until Young catches him with a fist on the apron, and then he hits a neckbreaker. Really dug Striker's selling at that point, but you could tell he didn't quite have everything right. Like his commentary, it seemed like he knew what to do but tried to hard to do it right, so he does this goofy reach to the crowd, which might've worked with a close-up, but he didn't get the close-up. Not a major knock on the match, though. Young hits a great over-the-head belly-to-belly and looked great in general. He also busted Striker's nose, and the inadvertent blood looked great combined with quality facial expressions from Striker. Awesome spot where Young chucks Striker, who takes a shoulder-first baseball slide bump into the ring post. Looks great and sets up Striker selling his arm throughout the match, which is quality. His hope spots are cool but weird. He busts out a gory bomb, which looks great, but I think if he goes back to working full time, he'll have make sense of his move set. Here, it felt like he picked out cool moves to do and then did them.

But the match is a ton of fun. Young goes back to the arm repeatedly, and it has a cool story: young & hungry star tries to prove a point against a veteran who hasn't worked in a while and wants to prove he can still go. Pride & all that. Worth checking out.

ADDED:

#24 - Darren Young vs. Matt Striker - 8/16/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN3va1BJzq0

Better match and something I'd call "really good," whereas the first was something I'd call "surprisingly good." Felt like Striker watched back tapes of himself to get the goofiness out of his mannerisms and really nail them down. He also doesn't fuck around with arm drags in the early going because Darren Young dissed him too much, so he wails on the kid. Legitimately awesome punches in the corner from Striker. Lawleresque. Then Young hits a cheap shot and throws some punches of his own, which pisses Striker off. He goes back on offense and alternates between chops and forearm smashes. Beautiful. Outside, Striker stomps Young's hand against the steps, which Young sells really well. And then Striker works the hand briefly, and then busts out a swank roll-through armbar on the targeted limb. I wish Striker would've wrenched at fingers on the injured hand throughout the armbar, but it was still an awesome sequence and a terrific shine period. Young's cradle counter looked great, and I dug that he took control by simply being quicker than Striker: Young is more fit & active. He already got himself over as a dickhead in the build by bullying an interview guy, so here, he doesn't need to further establish his heelishness. Instead, they make him look like the better athlete, which doesn't hurt Striker because he's still shaking off the rust and shows tons of heart-- really, he comes across as a natural babyface, with sympathetic faces and fiery comebacks while working from the bottom.

Crafty spot on the apron: Young goes for a neckbreaker like in the last match, but Striker counters only to eat a back suplex. Striker's sell is great: he looks hurt but also frustrated that he let the younger guy outfox him. Young works Striker's ribs briefly, which is a good thing as Young's finisher targets the ribs. Then he goes for a springboard shoulder block from the apron in, only for Striker to catch him and hit a rope-elevated neckbreaker. Awesome spot, but Striker left him too close to the ropes and it cost him. Reminded me of the Lawler/Miz Elimination Chamber match. Finish is terrific: a cool strength spot from Young that also made him look crafty and went back to the ribs. Check this one out.

Also, it looks like this might lead into a Regal/Young program. They had fun stuff on Superstars last year-- Regal beat the shit out of Young, who established his bump-freakishness-- and Young looks even better now, and it should be a blast with the roles reversed.

Best of WWE 2011: THE LIST