Hawke’s Top 20 February 2017 Matches

Notable Omissions: Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki, Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito, Kurt Angle vs. Alberto del Rio, Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Will Ospreay, Kento Miyahara vs. The Bodyguard

Just Missed the Cut: Tyler Bate vs. Trent Seven, Keith Lee vs. Tracy Williams, Fred Yehi vs. Chris Dickinson vs. Anthony Henry vs. Austin Theory, The Elimination Chamber

 

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20. Matt Riddle vs. David Starr – CZW – 2/11/2017

This was for Starr’s wXw Shotgun Championship and Riddle’s PROGRESS Atlas Championship.

This was a really fun match. Both titles being on the line telegraphed a screwy finished, but they at least made sure that the journey was satisfying in it of itself.

Both guys were just whacking each other super hard and flying around to make sure the whole match was entertaining.

The schmozzy ref bump fuckery shenanigans leading to a double DQ was unfortunate, but it honestly felt worth watching anyway. That is an accomplishment. (***1/2)

 

19. Mark Andrews vs. Mark Haskins – OTT – 2/4/2017

This was a fun competitive battle that managed to avoid a lot of Haskins’ worst instincts as a performer. Andrews is genuinely one of the most fun performers in all of wrestling going today, and he truly brought out the best in Haskins.

The pace was awesome. The sheer physical chemistry between these two was beyond impressive. The action was jaw-dropping at times. They could have stood to not do as many nearfalls, but that is merely a nitpick in what was otherwise a very fun contest. Kudos. Haskins won via armbar. (***1/2)

 

18. AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz – WWE – 2/7/2017

#SDLive is so fucking great right now that this four-way overcame a Tower of Doom. This was a bloody hoot and a bloody shoot. Everyone was working a million miles an hour. Everyone was trying to bust out big stuff. Everyone was trying to finish each other off. It was great. They even gave The Big Breakfast the clean-ish win over AJ which made this feel moderately significant. GOOD STUFF. (***1/2)

 

17. Keith Lee vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – Evolve – 2/24/2017

This was really fun. Lee was a complete mismatch for Zack, as his size and strength advantage were both just too much for Zack to overcome. Zack tried to work his submission strategies, but he could not do nearly enough damage before Keith finished with the jackhammer. GOOD stuff. (***1/2)

 

16. The Big Guns (Zeus & The Bodyguard) vs. NEXTREAM (Kento Miyahara & Jake Lee) – AJPW – 2/17/2017

This was for The Big Guns’ AJPW Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

This was a good time. Both teams just came ready to brawl and that they did all around the arena at points.

There was a great sense of urgency to all the action. It really felt like both teams were going for the win at all times. It makes such a difference in match quality and was something that was missing from the big matches in January for AJPW.

The match also had the dual purpose of setting up the future Miyahara/Bodyguard Triple Crown Championship match, and it did that effectively. Bodyguard even got to pick of the W here as he finished Lee off with a bodypress slam. Good stuff all around. (***1/2)

 

15. Bayley vs. Charlotte – WWE – 2/13/2017

This was for Charlotte’s Raw Women’s Championship.

On one hand, this match was very successful within its own bubble, was enjoyable from beginning to end, and lead to the wonderful moment of Bayley winning her first main roster championship.

On the other (if obvious) hand, Bayley winning her first title on television seemed so wrong especially with Wrestlemania right around the corner. Honestly, Bayley vs. Charlotte with Bayley winning her first title AND ending Charlotte’s PPV winning streak could be built up to the point that it could easily main event Wrestlemania.

On a slightly less important note, it was also frustrating that Sasha Banks attacked Charlotte right before Bailey won. Yes, Sasha was evening the odds for Bayley after Dana Brooke repeatedly interfered, but it still took a little something away from Bayley’s win.

Regardless, this was a fun match that everyone should watch. It just could have been more. (***3/4)

 

14. AJ Styles vs. John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt – WWE – 2/14/2017

This was for The BRAY~!’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

This was a really fun sprint where all three guys were just constantly trying to finish each other almost right away. If they spent ten minutes before that portion doing nothing of note or value just to make it longer, the match would have been infinitely less satisfying. Instead, they just got right to business. Cena ate the Sister Abigail again to lose. (***3/4)

 

13. Lio Rush vs. Shigehiro Irie – PWB – 2/25/2017

It’s not clear why Lio Rush and Shigehiro Irie decided to put on a shoot in Bumblefuck Indie, USA, but their effort should be appreciated all the same.

They did a very wise thing and decided to take advantage of the “big vs. small” story that was just sitting right there for them. These two could tell that story in their sleep.

They didn’t settle for that though and instead used that frame to enhance this incredible athletic display. The effort here was PPV worthy for whatever reason, and it was a very compelling match as a result.

The only knock on it was that the match went through a slight lull once Irie took control. Things heated up soon after that though, and it did not come close to ruining the match.

Make sure you check this one one. (***3/4)

 

12. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. AR Fox – AAW – 2/4/2017

You can watch this match here.

These two just went out and delivered one of those show-stealing matches that was all about fun, good action, and spacing out things well. They didn’t tell this wonderfully nuanced story or anything like that. It was just two very over guys trying use their skillsets to put away the other. It was very entertaining from beginning to end, and it will probably be one of the best AAW matches of the year. Penta won with a middle rope Canadian Destroyer. (***3/4)

 

11. ACH, AR Fox, & Fenix vs. The Killer Cult (Sami Callihan, Dave Crist, & Jake Crist) – AAW – 2/17/2017

You can watch this match here.

This match was fucking nuts. All six guys were flying all over the place and busting out everything for the entire length of the match. They clearly went into the match with the intention of putting forth their best effort possible, and they clearly succeeded.

There were a handful of moments where the match did not succeed as fully as they intended, but those moments were clearly far and few between. This was a very fun match that everyone should check out and continued AAW’s streak of delivering a genuinely memorable match on almost every show of 2017. Fenix beat Sami with a flipping piledriver to set up a future title match. (***3/4)

 

10. Drew Galloway vs. AR Fox – Style Battle – 2/10/2017

This was a first round match in the second Style Battle of 2017.

This was a really good match. They wisely applied the basic “big vs. little” story here, and the rest basically took care of itself. These two also clearly have tremendous physical chemistry which means WWN should consider using this as a launching point for a larger, cross-brand feud for them. The work here was super good and fun, but it would be great to see what would happen if they turned it up a notch. Galloway won with a Giant Swing Future Shock. (***3/4)

 

9. Matt Riddle vs. Michael Elgin – GPW – 2/19/2017

This was for Riddle’s PROGRESS Atlas Championship.

This was both a very good match and a great start to Elgin booking himself in his own promotion.

The match itself was everything that there is to like about Matt Riddle. Riddle works matches as if he is always trying to win. There was not a ton of wasted time. It was just two dudes trying to beat the shit out of each as quickly as possible. Riddle just happened to take this one.

Riddle really brought out the best of Elgin here in a manner that Elgin would do well to replicate elsewhere. He clearly has the potential to still be a great indie wrestler if he wants to be. This could be a major year for him outside of the NJPW bubble.

It is also important to note that Elgin did very well for himself and his own promotion here. The company openly discussed on the show how he is the literal owner. With that in mind, he didn’t put himself on last over the promotion’s championship. He didn’t try to outshine Riddle in any way. He didn’t put himself over. These things need to continue.

Everything about this suggests a potentially bright future for GPW. Let’s hope for the best. (***3/4)

 

8. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee – NJPW – 2/11/2017

This was for Kamaitachi’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

This was your typically good Kamaitachi/Lee match. As usual, they did a ton of insanity but spaced everything out in a manner that made each moment of insanity actually stand out. This was one of the better ones for sure, but basically every match between these two is worth watching. They just have insane chemistry and work one of the most fun styles of wrestling out there. Kamaitachi won with the Time Bomb. (***3/4)

 

7. Donovan Dijak vs. Marty Scurll – Ring of Honor – 2/11/2017

This was for Scurll’s ROH Television Championship.

In what appeared to be his write-out of the company, Donovan Dijak decided to steal the show one more time and prove just how badly ROH missed the (gold) boat on him.

This match was all about Dijak. He busted out every ridiculous move that he has in his arsenal. He got to look like a tank of a wrestler. He got to prove how much he believes in the Code of Honor (going for a handshake during the match led to him being cut off initially and then led to Scurll getting the upperhand at the very end).

Dijak threw everything he had at Scurll. Scurll even managed to kick out of Feast Your Eyes (which feels like the first time in ROH anyone has done that). Scurll then managed to make him cleanly submit to the chickenwing.

Goodbye, Donovan Dijak. ROH clearly did not deserve you. You got to go out swinging though while proving that ROH fans will still get vocal and whipped into a frenzy if you actually present them with something that’s worth being invested in. (***3/4)

 

6. Kongo Kong vs. Sami Callihan – AAW – 2/4/2017

You can watch this match here.

This was for Sami Callihan’s AAW Heavyweight Championship.

This was so good. Sami tried to jump Kongo as he’s wont to do. That failed though because Kongo is Kongo. Kongo then proceeded to destroy Sami even as the champ continuously tried to fight back.

Sami was not going to get this done on his own though, clearly. OINK showed up at one point, but that just caused more and more people to come down. That led to Kongo doing a dive onto about six people which was delightful.

Sami then resorted to throwing powder in Kongo’s face and then giving him a DVD through a chair. Sami managed to retain, but Kongo basically kicked out at 3.0000001.

This match allowed Kongo to be Kongo and forced Sami to be the best Sami. It was a #SamiSprint. Sami got his ass kicked. Kong did the ass-kicking. All was well. (****)

 

5. Shigehiro Irie vs. Curt Stallion – GPW – 2/19/2017

This was a semifinal match in a tournament to crown the first Glory Pro Champion.

This should be one of those matches that gets passed around to indie wrestlers everywhere because so many wrestlers should be working like these two did here.

They maximized their time. They told a compelling story that used the classic wrestling tropes of “big vs. small” and “vet vs. young boy.” (Two ideas that ALWAYS go well together.)

They tried exceptionally hard and made sure to work as intensely, physically, and with as much urgency as possible. It then had an amazing exclamation point finish with Irie doing a suplex into a coquina clutch to end Stallion in sudden and dramatic fashion.

In other words, it should be of no fucking surprise that the crowd was worked into a goddamn shoot over this one.

It’s also worth noting how much harder Irie worked here compared to other places on the US indie scene. He looked like one of the best guys on the scene (which he probably is) here, and it really revealed a lot about what wrestlers think of the places he works at. (****)

 

4. Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin – Evolve – 2/25/2017

This was so fucking good. They were so smart about how they worked the match. They had about nine minutes, and they managed to make every moment matter.

Darby started the match with a coffin drop to the floor on Ego and The Gatekeepers. Ego responded by toss Darby from the stage into a ringpost.

Ego thought it was all over he decided to handcuff Darby’s hands behind his back to really do some damage. All hope appeared to be lost, but Darby then made a wild NO HANDS comeback. This was one of the coolest comebacks you’ll ever see.

Ego needed an avalanche powerslam, an RKO, and a powerbomb to the still-handcuffed Darby to put him away. It was a classic case of both guys coming off well. Yes, Ego won “cleanly,” but look what it took to actually win “cleanly.”

This was just fucking fantastic and will likely be one of the best and most memorable matches of the year in all of wrestling. What the fuck. (****1/4)

 

3. Fred Yehi vs. Brian Cage – FIP – 2/11/2017

This was for Yehi’s FIP Championship.

THIS WAS GREAT!  Yehi took it right to the FAR larger gentleman before the bell even started. He wouldn’t have much of a chance otherwise. Cage didn’t panic though and just relied on his strength and size advantage to get (and then maintain) control.

Yehi couldn’t match Cage in either of those departments obviously. He had to get crafty in a manner that only Yehi can do. He went after the pressure points. He went after the limbs. It was grand.

Perhaps in a longform match, that strategy would have worked for Yehi entirely on its own. They working such a delightful and blistering pace though that Yehi’s tactics would not work in time.

Cage’s response to Yehi’s strategy was just to deliver as many death blows as possible. Yehi just was not doing enough damage to keep up. Cage would finish him long before this long con strategy of Yehi would pay off.

What could Yehi do? He simply took advantage if FIP’s unique rules. There are no rope breaks in FIP, and Yehi managed to use to apply a rope-assisted Koji Clutch. Cage had no refuge and was forced to submit.

This was one of the best matches of the year. (****1/4)

 

2. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Timothy Thatcher – Evolve – 2/25/2017

This was for Thatcher’s Evolve Championship.

This was absolutely fantastic and felt like a proper blowoff to one of the most polarizing and inconsistent world title reigns in recent memory.

In his nearly 600-day Evolve title reign, Thatcher proved time and time again that he could do solid b-defenses, the spectacle match, and the epic. He could work either role in a match in a compelling manner like working on top as he did in this one against Zack or work very underneath against “The WWN Icon.”

That is not to say that Thatcher was in any way a perfect performer. Far from it in fact. Thatcher really struggled to ever change up his game especially when he was thrown a curveball in the ring. If someone could not work his style well, he rarely adjusted what he did to account for that. That is a flaw of his that he needs to correct 100%.

At some point during his reign, you began to see (anecdotal evidence alert, of course) a lot more criticism of Thatcher’s work and Evolve’s decision to keep him as their champion sprout up. Eventually, it just became the narrative that Thatcher was not performing well in 2016 and was a poor choice to be the champion of Evolve.

While the pros and cons of Thatcher being a long term champion for Evolve are certainly worthy of discussion, the notion that Thatcher got worse (or was no good in the first place) was absurd.

Obviously, once a wrestler gets pushed to a high level on almost every show (as almost any champion would be), they become subjected to more intense scrutiny. That is of course fair in it of itself, but that does not necessarily mean the criticism itself is as well-thought out as it should be.

To get to the point, Thatcher was really good when he was put into a position to succeed. When he was put into a position to fail, as he was over and over again, he failed.

When Evolve insisted on doing two bullshit finishes with Matt Riddle, he failed. When he and Riddle were just allowed to do a match, he succeeded.

When the main long-term program that Thatcher got was with someone whom he had little chemistry with, he failed. (A program that somehow involved him not carrying around the belt for some ungodly reason.) When he got to do big matches with people he had great chemistry with, he succeeded.

When he was forced to do c-defenses with talent who were not over as challengers, he failed. When he got to do b-defenses with wrestlers who were actually over, he succeeded.

This was not all said to say that Thatcher had a great reign or that he is one of the best wrestlers in the world necessarily. It needs to be stated though that Thatcher succeeded quite a bit as champion and there were very clear reasons why he failed beyond his own stubbornness regarding working the wrong matches with the wrong wrestlers time and time again.

 

With all that out of the way, we have this match. The end of Timothy Thatcher’s Evolve Championship reign. Regardless of how you feel about The Thatch Man’s reign in general, it would be hard to claim that he did not at least go out with a bang.

Thatch and Zack had struggled in 2016 to not pick up the pace of their matches when the context clearly dictated that they needed to do so. They thankfully corrected that here.

Thatcher was actually the one to try to speed things up right away. That backfired, as Zack immediately fended him off and threatened to put Thatch away early.

Thatch managed to endure that initial onslaught and took control of the match. While the pace did slow down after the initial flurry, the intensity thankfully never let up.

The second half of the match was about Thatcher attempting to put Zack down while Zack was forced to desperately cling to life while he himself kept looking for an opening.

The drama down the stretch was off the charts. Thatcher had won so many matches where it seemed likely he would lose that you genuinely could see a scenario where he left here with the belt once again.

Zack seemingly tried every submission he knew, but Thatcher always managed to find an opening. What was Zack to do? Apply like twenty submissions simultaneously so that Thatcher had no choice but to verbally submit.

This was amazing and a clear MOTYC. Seek. It. Out. (****1/2)

 

1. Io Shirai vs. Shayna Baszler – Stardom – 2/23/2017

This was for Io’s World of Stardom Championship.

Wrestling is great. Especially when it features the best wrestler in the world, Io Shirai.

Io was tested in a completely different manner here than she was the month prior against Viper. There, Io had to take on the monster who had a massive size and strength advantage. Here, Io had to take on the former UFC fighter who was clearly a submission expert.

Baszler took it right to Io and seemed to have a winning strategy. She went after Io’s right arm early on with some deadly-looking submissions. Io needed a game changer so she busted out a Frankensteiner, a massive dive to the floor, and then even attacked Baszler with a chair.

That threw Baszler off her game, and it got her away from her effective strategy. She instead started throwing out kicks and attempting to choke Io out. While these were dangerous maneuvers and weakened Io, they did not exploit the damage done earlier to the arm.

Baszler finally went back to the arm at the end, but she already missed her window. By that point, Io had too much momentum and was throwing out too many signature spots. Io was eventually able to finish her with the tombstone/moonsault combo.

This was some absolutely fantastic pro wrestling. Great action. Great story. Great environment. Great fun. (****1/2)

 

We end this list-icle with a reminder to check this link out if you’re interested in the fight against the rise of fascism!