Watched some random indy stuff the other day and figured I'd talk a bit.
Bryan Danielson vs. Tommy End - 2010 wXw AMBITION
Or I think that was what the event was called. Anyway, the match is from a shootstyle tourney in Germany, and wXw posted it on youtube for free, I guess as kind of a teaser for the whole thing. Anyway, it's really interesting, at least. End doesn't really do a whole lot in the match, and I thought was selling wasn't very good. But Danielson looked great. I thought the mat exchanges were really engaging and organic and legit-looking. Basically, they go about 7 or 8 minutes, and they just trade some holds and maneuver for position, but in between lock-ups Danielson throws some really stuff kicks at End's knee to take him down. No idea how to rate something like this, but it's worth checking out.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPs_Y-djBBU
TJP vs. Munenori Sawa - EVOLVE 1
Was peeking around and saw Phil Schneider pimping TJP & Hero as two of the best guys on the indies today, and so I figured I should check out their shit from EVOLVE. Didn't think this was anything blowaway great or whatever, but I had fun with it. TJP looks awesome when he's doing fast matwork. Dude totally shines there. But the real fun of this match is when both dudes just stiff the fuck out of each other. Sawa is a bit goofy, smiling during the stiff exchanges and throwing some whacky "baseball" punch (winds up like a pitcher annnnnnnnd PUNCH!). I generally liked TJP's reactions to Sawa's strikes, and TJP's strikes looked good, too. Really awesome exchange where TJP eats the baseball punch, but then he kicks Sawa in the fucking face while he's winding up for the second one. Finish kinda irritated me. They had built toward Sawa's Shining Wizard, and TJP had taken a lot of headshots, so a Shining Wizard would've been a perfect KO-type move for the finish. Instead, Sawa hits it, TJP kicks out, and then Sawa locks in an octopus out of nowhere for the win. Silly. Still, fun little 10-minute match.
***
TJ Perkins vs. Bryan Danielson - PWG BOLA 08
Thought this was awesome. Not sure who's on commentary, but they talk about both guys' training and how TJP trained under Danielson somewhere, and they put over how TJP wants to prove he's the best wrestler in LA and that he can hang on the mat with Danielson. So we get lots of really nifty mat exchanges early on, setting up a really fantastic story. General structure goes like this: Danielson generally gets the advantage throughout the early mat stuff, but TJP establishes himself as competent and dangerous. He counters a rear naked choke with a slick leglock-type thing, and when Danielson breaks, he sells it really well, establishing TJP as a threat. But Danielson is clearly the better of two and refuses to take rope breaks to prove he can get out of anything Perkins throws at him. TJP, on the other hand, takes several rope breaks. They also throw some really stiff strike exchanges early on, which are all awesome. Danielson looks like he's slightly ahead of TJP early on, too. He probably tries to work even longer than he should, but eventually, he resorts to cheating, going back to the ropes and using them to his advantage. Pretty much the perfect way to characterize a heel in a match: he comes across as capable in the early segments, and then he seems smart for cheating when he's overmatched. Plus he flips the crowd off and looks like a smug fuck with a douchebag haircut. Only knock on TJP here is that I would've liked to see him sell Danielson's early armwork a bit more. It was a really small segment, but that would've been a really nice little touch, and Danielson was adding those nice little selling moments more than Perkins was, which made me notice what Perkins wasn't doing. Small thing, though.
Perkins gets control for a bit and works the knee, and then Danielson misses a flying Captain Falcon knee off the apron and crashes knee-first into the chair, which starts the REAL control segment for TJP. Don't remember it too well, but I remember thinking he busted out some swank holds and it all looked good. Finishing stretch is awesome too, with great nearfalls and threatening submission holds and a fantastic teased countout that pissed the crowd off. LOVED THIS.
****1/4
Bryan Danielson vs. Tommy End - 2010 wXw AMBITION
Or I think that was what the event was called. Anyway, the match is from a shootstyle tourney in Germany, and wXw posted it on youtube for free, I guess as kind of a teaser for the whole thing. Anyway, it's really interesting, at least. End doesn't really do a whole lot in the match, and I thought was selling wasn't very good. But Danielson looked great. I thought the mat exchanges were really engaging and organic and legit-looking. Basically, they go about 7 or 8 minutes, and they just trade some holds and maneuver for position, but in between lock-ups Danielson throws some really stuff kicks at End's knee to take him down. No idea how to rate something like this, but it's worth checking out.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPs_Y-djBBU
TJP vs. Munenori Sawa - EVOLVE 1
Was peeking around and saw Phil Schneider pimping TJP & Hero as two of the best guys on the indies today, and so I figured I should check out their shit from EVOLVE. Didn't think this was anything blowaway great or whatever, but I had fun with it. TJP looks awesome when he's doing fast matwork. Dude totally shines there. But the real fun of this match is when both dudes just stiff the fuck out of each other. Sawa is a bit goofy, smiling during the stiff exchanges and throwing some whacky "baseball" punch (winds up like a pitcher annnnnnnnd PUNCH!). I generally liked TJP's reactions to Sawa's strikes, and TJP's strikes looked good, too. Really awesome exchange where TJP eats the baseball punch, but then he kicks Sawa in the fucking face while he's winding up for the second one. Finish kinda irritated me. They had built toward Sawa's Shining Wizard, and TJP had taken a lot of headshots, so a Shining Wizard would've been a perfect KO-type move for the finish. Instead, Sawa hits it, TJP kicks out, and then Sawa locks in an octopus out of nowhere for the win. Silly. Still, fun little 10-minute match.
***
TJ Perkins vs. Bryan Danielson - PWG BOLA 08
Thought this was awesome. Not sure who's on commentary, but they talk about both guys' training and how TJP trained under Danielson somewhere, and they put over how TJP wants to prove he's the best wrestler in LA and that he can hang on the mat with Danielson. So we get lots of really nifty mat exchanges early on, setting up a really fantastic story. General structure goes like this: Danielson generally gets the advantage throughout the early mat stuff, but TJP establishes himself as competent and dangerous. He counters a rear naked choke with a slick leglock-type thing, and when Danielson breaks, he sells it really well, establishing TJP as a threat. But Danielson is clearly the better of two and refuses to take rope breaks to prove he can get out of anything Perkins throws at him. TJP, on the other hand, takes several rope breaks. They also throw some really stiff strike exchanges early on, which are all awesome. Danielson looks like he's slightly ahead of TJP early on, too. He probably tries to work even longer than he should, but eventually, he resorts to cheating, going back to the ropes and using them to his advantage. Pretty much the perfect way to characterize a heel in a match: he comes across as capable in the early segments, and then he seems smart for cheating when he's overmatched. Plus he flips the crowd off and looks like a smug fuck with a douchebag haircut. Only knock on TJP here is that I would've liked to see him sell Danielson's early armwork a bit more. It was a really small segment, but that would've been a really nice little touch, and Danielson was adding those nice little selling moments more than Perkins was, which made me notice what Perkins wasn't doing. Small thing, though.
Perkins gets control for a bit and works the knee, and then Danielson misses a flying Captain Falcon knee off the apron and crashes knee-first into the chair, which starts the REAL control segment for TJP. Don't remember it too well, but I remember thinking he busted out some swank holds and it all looked good. Finishing stretch is awesome too, with great nearfalls and threatening submission holds and a fantastic teased countout that pissed the crowd off. LOVED THIS.
****1/4
No comments:
Post a Comment