Chris Hero vs Willie Mack
The kind of star vs lower down guy formula match that Hero has pretty much perfected over the last couple of years. In the same vein as his matches with Bonham, Gatson and Tozawa, and Willie brings tonnes to the table. Both guys beat the shit out of each other, including one lariat near the end in particular which looked like it could have killed a man. So very stiff, and it was paced and built really well. Willie's comeback was a little too easy for my liking, as he essentially no sold a match-ending move, but still great shit.
Kevin Steen vs Dave Finlay
This was not an epic bout, as it was a first round match and felt like one, but it was still really fucking good. Both guys brought it hard, and I loved all of the brawling and ripping at each other's faces. Finlay cheapshotting Steen instead of getting drawn into exchanges was classic. The legwork was sold great and well done from both ends too.
Claudio Castagnoli vs El Generico
Off the of my head I think this is almost certainly their best match together. Claudio has great chemistry with Generico like he does with Quack in that he's great at catching and bumping around for all his spots. They botched a rana spot but Claudio channeled Finlay himself and used it as an excuse to start beating the shit out Generico with a barrage of suplexes, and from that point on the match was fucking crazy and unpredictable. Some absolutely insane counters down the stretch that had me losing my mind, and the finish was very well done. Probably my favourite match from the show.
El Generico vs Willie Mack
Mostly just a fun comedy match. They had a dance-off, and I admit it got a laugh out of me. They did some Human Tornado tributes, with both guys going for the corner low-blow spot. This was supposed to be the "light" match for Generico as he had to work 3 times in the same night, but both guys still worked pretty hard near the end and it was still pretty damn stiff.
Kevin Steen vs Eddie Edwards
This was just "there". Not offencive but not particularly good. They started with a rote shoulderblock exchange, did a lot of comedy around poking each other in the eye and some other stuff. Eddie throws some mean kicks, and Steen biting him and mocking the American Wolves (to which the crowd chanted "Bite the wolf", ugh) was fairly entertaining, but then they lost me at the end when they traded superkicks like chops.
The Young Bucks vs The Kings Of Wrestling
I am glad both Hero and Claudio wrestled their BOLA matches, because if this was their swan song I would have been dissapointed. This was a long match that was like 90% comedy and the Kings making the Bucks their bitches. It's fun in premise but when it goes 25 minutes it can get boring. There was more incest gags at the Bucks which I didn't care for, but Claudio showing his power and stretching them out was fun stuff. I laughed at one of the Bucks begging "Please Claudio, don't!" before getting smacked. The Bucks were boring as always whenever they were on offence, and Hero was a non-entity despite being good off the hot tag, but really it was the length that killed it.
Kevin Steen vs El Generico
Like the FB match, I didn't come away blown away by this, but it was still a pretty fun hate-filled sprint. Much tighter than the FB match. Steen constantly playing to the crowd is easily his worst trait but I dug him taunting a kid in a Generico mask, and the big spots (dives from both guys, a tornado DDT up the wall) impressed. Some cool counters, and plenty of hate. It walked the fine line on overkill, but I think given the stakes and history it was on the right side. The finish was sick and I also thought the stuff that happened after the match with Generico bringing the kid in the ring and Steen smashing the trophy was pretty cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment