Hawke’s Top 17 2016 Donovan Dijak Matches

Donovan Dijak is one of the most purely talented wrestlers in the world, and he delivered a number of memorable performances this year. You should really seek out his work in Beyond Wrestling where he is treated like a star. His midcard work in ROH is good, but they have never had any idea what to do with them.

 

17. Donovan Dijak vs. Kamaitachi vs. Jay White vs. Kyle O’Reilly – ROH – 10/21/2016

ROH has done a good job of producing some four-ways this year. This was yet another fine outing from them in that department. It never reached that final gear to make it really stand out in a significant way. It was still fun though pretty much from bell to bell. Kyle winning seems odd since it really does nothing for him, but whatever. (***)

 

16. Donovan Dijak vs. Tommy End – Beyond – 8/28/2016

15. Donovan Dijak vs. Cedric Alexander – ROH – 5/14/2016

This was a battle of two super-talented guys that have somehow been completely undermined by the ROH brain trust while guys like Adam Cole, Mike Bennett, Matt Taven, Adam Page, etc. get chance after chance to prove how much they are unworthy of the pushes they receive.

This was Cedric’s final ROH match for the time being as he moves on to WWN and NXT. Naturally, they have the commentary team bury him for the duration of the match for not living up to his potential. Then they of course cut away from the scene before the crowd can send Cedric off properly. This is the ROH we are stuck with, everyone. They fucking suck.

The match was perfectly fine and pretty fun to watch. It suffered from getting a poor reaction from the crowd. That should not be surprising given how poorly these two have been pushed but whatever. Time to move on. Thank you, Cedric. Dijak won cleanly with Feast Your Eyes. (***1/4)

 

14. Donovan Dijak vs. Jason Kincaid – ROH – 6/25/2016

13. Donovan Dijak vs. John Silver – Beyond – 11/6/2016

Tournament For Today 2016 First Round Match.

This was a really fun match and start to the tournament. The size difference obviously played a factor in the match, but they did a great job of conveying that it was not the deciding factor. Silver’s strength allowed to make the match competitive. He even seemed to be gathering necessary momentum to win. Unfortunately for him, Dijak managed to hit Feast Your Eyes outta nowhere to pick up the win. GOOD stuff. (***1/4)

 

12. Donovan Dijak vs. Sami Callihan – Beyond – 2/28/2016

Sami Callihan, tragically not a graduate of the Milford School, really toned it down here and delivered one of the least shitty performances while on top that I have seen from him. After the match looked like it was going to be about him taking a beating (something he genuinely excels at), he found an opening to chop down the big man and then went to work on a leg.

Dijak did a damn fine job of gradually selling the leg more and more so that it didn’t feel like it went from him having no leg to suddenly doing flips or anything. The gradual and consistent form selling a limb is something more wrestlers need to learn how to do. It even allows for moments like the finish where Dijak used all of his physical and mental willpower to just barely get Sami up for the Feast Your Eyes.

The match was certainly enjoyable and better than would have been expected going in. The match may have suffered from expectations though given the hype. It felt more like a fine midcard match than a great main event. (***1/4)

 

11. Donovan Dijak vs. Jay Lethal – ROH – 5/11/2016

This was for Lethal’s ROH World Championship.

So, Donovan Dijak is the best wrestler in ROH. He’s big. He’s goofy. He’s uncoordinated. He pulls off incredible spots. He hasn’t been ruined by PWG yet. He got a fun match out of Lethal. ROH of course cannot get out of their own way with him though and books him like shit. He does his best though with what is given to him. They should have just waited until a PPV to do this match so they could have switched the title because the Bullet Club interfering to accidentally save Lethal the title was so incredibly weak.  Check this match out. (***1/2)

 

10. Donovan Dijak vs. Brian Fury – Beyond – 12/11/2016

This was Brian Fury’s final match in Beyond Wrestling.

This was shockingly well done especially given that there were a lot of different things going on in this match.

As stated above, this was Fury’s final scheduled match for Beyond Wrestling on his retirement “tour.” Donovan Dijak was coming off his very first loss in Beyond Wrestling. Fury was also of course Dijak’s original trainer.

Dijak dominated the match, and he managed to get his beloved Beyond fans to boo him. The crowd completely rallied around the retiring Fury. It was a genuinely fun atmosphere which was impressive if you saw how dead the crowd was for the majority of the matches on the Beyond and Evolve shows on this day.

Fury finally started to fight back in the final third of the match. The match came down to a sequence where he survived a number of FEAST YOUR EYES. He would not die, etc. He challenged Dijak to do it one more time. Dijak foolishly went for it, and Fury then promptly reversed it into a Boston Crab to pick up the win.

The decision to have Dijak look while also having his finished kicked out of multiple times was certainly questionable to say the least. It did at least lead to a fun match. (***1/2)

 

9. Donovan Dijak vs. Jay White – ROH – 10/15/2016

8. Donovan Dijak vs. Lio Rush – ROH – 11/19/2016

This was a real solid match from the two best guys left in ROH. Dijak used his power and size advantage. Lio used his speed and striking advantage. They built the match around that for the most part. The match got progressively more and more nutty as it went along. Yay, ROH! Dijak won with Feast Your Eyes. (***1/2)

 

7. Donovan Dijak vs. Lio Rush – ROH – 7/16/2016

6. Donovan Dijak vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – Beyond – 11/6/2016

Men’s Tournament For Today 2016 Semi Final Match.

Goddamn, this was great stuff. Dijak was coming into it with an injured neck and leg due to the tag match he worked in the hour or so his first round tournament match. Why did he work a tag match? His ego has made him want to be the best singles AND tag worker in Beyond. This weakened him drastically and allowed Zack to dominate him in this match. Perhaps Zack would have won too, but he decided to focus on Dijak’s uninjured arm instead of the neck and knee. That may have given Dijak enough room to hit Feast Your Eyes outta nowhere yet again to win. GOOD stuff. (***1/2)

 

5. Donovan Dijak vs. Jonathan Gresham – 11/25/2016

My gawd, what a fine shoot between two of the best pro wrestlers in the world. From what I GATHER, Nova Pro does a really good job of telling stories with their core roster. They are not generally known from bringing in outside talent and just putting on cool matches. This seemed like a case of the latter though, and these two did not disappoint in the slightest.

They used the basic big-man/little-man story to their advantage. They mixed in a ton of creative spots. They timed everything well in terms of execution and in terms of maximizing crowd investment. They delivered an exciting and competitive final sequence that really caused the match to end on an exclamation point. This was low-key one of the better US indie matches outside of Evolve in 2016. Seek this match out now. Dijak won cleanly via Feast Your Eyes. (***3/4)

 

4. Donovan Dijak vs. Matt Riddle – Beyond – 11/6/2016

Men’s Tournament For Today 2016 Finals.

The men’s Tournament for Today was but a Trojan horse for the real story of the show: the end of Donovan Dijak’s undefeated streak.

Donovan had conquered the singles division of Beyond time and time again over the past year+. So much so that he began to try divert part of his focus to the tag team division in order to become the best tag wrestler in Beyond as well.

As such, on this show where he was already in the one-night singles tournament, DIjak also made sure to have a tag match. In that tag match with Da Hit Squad he got himself injured. Zack attacked the injuries in the semifinal match, but Dijak was able to escape with the win by hitting Feast Your Eyes outta nowhere.

He would try to repeat that feat against the other undefeated wrestler in Beyond: Matt Riddle. This time, Dijak would not be so lucky.

You see, Riddle has not been afraid to take a shortcut in Beyond and even got a boost from Chuck O’Neil in the semifinal match against Gresham. Riddle predictably got a boost here again.

The already injured Dijak would be attacked before the match by the jealous JT Dunn. After that was taken care of by Dijak’s tag partner, Chuck O’Neil took a cheap shot at Dijak’s arm that Zack was able to injure in the semifinal match. All this interference came before the match and happened so quickly that it was not bothersome. It was an explosion. Before you knew what happened, the real match was going on.

Dijak became a victim of his own ego, bad luck, and nefarious tactics from Riddle. By the time the match started, Dijak had no chance. He managed to hang on though and even pulled off the Feast Your Eyes outta nowhere. That got him the win in the previous two rounds, but Riddle just kicked out at 2.9. Riddle was then able to make Dijak – with two weakened legs, bad shoulder, and neck – tap out to the Bro-mission.

Now, Dijak has to re-focus. He must seek a rematch with Riddle. He must conquer Riddle. This is what Beyond needs to begin building to and then blow off on their next iPPV. Get it done. (***3/4)

 

3. Donovan Dijak vs. Trent? – ROH – 6/12/2016

Take two talented and motivated professional wrestlers. Give them a compact time period in which to work. Then watch as an incredibly fun match happens! Booking wrestling is incredibly hard folks, but it’s great to see ROH pull it off every once in a while.

The character dynamics were on point. Dijak takes everything seriously because he has a chip on his shoulder and wants to prove himself. Trent? is a goofball who turns it on when he needs to do it. He very quickly discovered here that he needed to do it.

The action was super fun, paced well, and the bigger spots were spaced out to have more impact. Very good job, everyone! Dijak won with a nasty chokebreaker. (***3/4)

 

2. Donovan Dijak vs. Lio Rush vs. Kamaitachi vs. Jay White – ROH – 8/19/2016

Fun. This was fun. In Ring of Honor. It would be surprising to hear such a thing if you didn’t know who was in the match. These are four of the most talented and enjoyable performers ROH has had for a couple of years. While it makes some sense to not go ALL in on White and Kamaitachi given their temporary roster status, the fact that Dijak and Rush are not two of the very top guys in ROH right now speaks incredibly unfavorably of their booking and talent evaluation process. Oh well. This match fucking ruled. Everyone go watch it. It reminded me of the Ricochet/Arik Cannon/Chuck Taylor/Adam Cole DGUSA match from 2010. Dijak won after Feast Your Eyes on Rush. (****)

 

1. Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee – Beyond – 5/29/2016

This was a hell of a contest. Dijak normally can overpower his opponents everywhere, but Keith Lee was too strong, big, and quick for that to work here. So, Dijak got to play the underdog here. Not only did he do that well, but he managed to do it in a gradual way where he didn’t realize he was the underdog until maybe halfway through the match. It was such a subtle yet important decision for how to work the match. Dijak is truly a prodigy.

While Dijak was obviously great, this match was a breakout performance for Keith Lee clearly. This guy is clearly something special. He has the presence, charisma, athletic ability, and in-ring storytelling ability to become a gigantic star on the indie scene. He basically controlled this whole match and paced everything and spaced out the bigger spots perfectly.

This match felt fresh as fuck and should be seen by just about everyone. Dijak and Lee need to be huge stars yesterday. Dijak managed to hit Feast Your Eyes for the win. (****)