Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano at NXT New York (and other Dream Matches!)

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time I have a monster for you, as I have been wanting to check out those controversial NXT Main Events for a while- I remember one half of the BOD completely enamored with all the flashy moves and endless kickouts, and the other half pooh-poohing them and dismissing them as mindless “MOVEZ!” and doing kickouts as fake drama. Now to test my wrestling snobbery as I brave Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano for the vacant NXT Title in NXT New York… in a Two out of Three Falls Match!

Then it’s over to All Japan for a pair of ROAD WARRIORS matches! In both, they face the team of main eventer Riki Choshu and midcarder guy Yoshiaki Yatsu! The second time for the NWA International Titles! Come see just how wild the Roadies were in 1985-86. Then it’s “Ravishing” Rick Rude vs. Outback Jack in another of Jack’s matches as a jobber with theme music! And finally, it’s more World of Sport, as Rollerball Rocco takes on Marty Jones in a predecessor to the match I reviewed last time!

NXT TITLE (VACANT)
TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS:
JOHNNY GARGANO vs. ADAM COLE:
(NXT TakeOver New York, 04/05/2019)
* OH YEAH I REVIEW SOME NXT!! This was… highly divisive on the BOD. With Scott and others going *****, a lot of people dismissing it because of the MOVEZ nature of it, and even Meltzer going **** despite his adoration of those same MOVEZ. So I always wanted to check out some of this stuff, and see if I could be a wrestling snob about it assess it in a scholarly manner. This is from when NXT was like “WWE’s Indie”, with indie darlings doing indie-style matches packed with stuff (which some insisted were practiced ages beforehand, explaining why they were better than “Main Roster” stuff… of course now we know that referees dictate the entire match in the ring TO the wrestlers via road agents).

Gargano is a teeny-tiny bearded guy with a decent, if skinny build (those arm-veins show he’s on the gear), and an Iron Man vest (he’s billed at 5’11”, but unless the average height of the front front is 6’1″ that ain’t happening- the in-ring reveals he’s even shorter than famously puny Cole). I’ve never seen him before, so I’ll look at a last of his moves so I can know what’s supposed to be important, haha. Speaking of shorties, here’s ADAM COLE, famously bird-boned AEW star (he was dumped from WWE during the “Late Vince Era” and popped up in AEW to sell nothing and try to get babyface pops as a heel, turned babyface, then intermixed it all with months-long injuries). He looks pretty much like he does in AEW- thin-armed and a frail-looking body, only sometimes showing a flexed muscle. What’s really “this guy is a WRESTLER?” about him is actually that giant head- it makes his small body look even more off-putting. Those Boris Zhukov proportions but on a thin man. Looks like Gargano is the heel and Cole (“BAY BAY!”) is the babyface according to fan reactions. Cole’s in slate-grey trunks, Gargano’s in red with Indie Kickpads. Said to be 16,000 fans here in NYC.

Cole looks especially scrawny from the side, revealing that his body has no depth to it. And check out the size of that melon! He’s actually taller than Gargano but looks harmless because of his odd body type.

FIRST FALL: After a full minute of posing and fans chanting, Gargano whirls around Cole on the mat and springs off him, then they work pin attempts early-on. Cole mostly works a headlock, psyching Gargano out, then each avoids strikes until Gargano hits a pithold in a “pause for applause” spot. They’re both quite quick, I’ll give ’em that. Niles on commentary sort of tries to explain to fans their physiques showing how “they’ve both trained for a long match” and puts over their cardio. Gargano responds to a drop-down with a headlock, requiring Cole grabbing the ropes, then they slug it out and Gargano suckers him with a rana. Okay that push-off to the ropes was WEAK- this is what makes wrestling look a look like “gymnastics”- when they’re too gentle. The mat stuff was tight, at least. Cole is too short to go over the ropes on a clothesline right, and Gargano gets a dropkick to the floor. Cole suckers him with a head-kick and works some strikes, then a chinlock. LOTTA time-killing here. Cole is calling hella-spots in a dragon sleeper as Gargano milks the strikes thrown his way, and twin cross-bodies cause a double-down. Oof, with no upper body mass, that’s cartilage-on-cartilage!

Gargano hits an overhead belly-to-belly, rolling enzuigiri and slingshots spear to repeatedly out-strategize Cole at every step, then Cole weirdly stops doing a superkick and Gargano hits a spinning flatliner from the second rope- ah, Gargano “psyched” him again, acting like he was gonna jump. They reverse suplexes and Cole hits a backstabber in the corner for two, then they try rollups to put over their desires to end the first fall and get a quick win- things get a bit gymnastic-y with the counters as they smoothly roll around (often countering moves that haven’t started yet) until Cole hits an enzuigiri, but he lowers his kneepad for the Last Shot (running enzui-knee smash) and gets rolled up for two. Now it’s THIGH-SLAP TIME as quick kicks to the lower body, then Cole does a slow jog and they start “countering” stuff as lightly as possible- it straight-up looks like they’re playing instead of wrestling at points, Cole, “swinging Gargano back” so he’s on his knees for the Last Shot at (13:53). OOOOOF- the worst thing in the entire first fall was the finish, lol. Looks like htey’re wiped from the quick pace, though. Funny shot of the crowd has three guys all “YEAHHHH!” and a sea of bored-looking faces behind them, haha.

Dig the unbridled excitement of the fans behind these three happy dudes.

SECOND FALL: Cole pounces and bounces a dazed Gargano around, doing the “quick and easy” dusting off of his hands (… is he a heel, now?), then hits a German and a Last Shot to the face to try a quick pin- two! Gargano fights to the apron, catching Cole with a spear when he gets on the apron too casually. Camera’s in WAY too close as you can hear and see them chatting when they bump into each other on the floor, then Gargano cannonballs him off the apron with an inch of contact (called out by Niles). Gargano leaps into the ring for a slingshot DDT but ends up in a fireman’s carry, flipping onto Cole’s knee to the back of the head (ushigaroshi) for two. Cole is now selling the toll the match is taking, and sits on the top rope, “pulling” Gargano to him, but gets lifted off a powerbomb and hit with a SUPER Air Raid Crash (more of a mountain bomb because it’s a back bump not a neck one, but still) for two. Apparently that’s his old partner Ciampa’s move. Both are lying down a bunch, Gargano tries his slingshot DDT again, can’t get it, then stuns him with an enzuigiri and hits it on the ring apron, sending them both to the floor! Yeah, that’s AEW’s current style, alright- slow start to increasing movez, then a fight on the apron for a big move. Gargano “shows his character” by refusing to win by count-out (… so he’s the good guy?), gets beaten up for it, but back in, Cole pulls down his pad again and gets caught in the Fujiwara armbar, and when Cole escapes and crucifixes him, rolls through and hits a Gargano Escape (over-the-shoulder crossface) for the submission (5:59). Clever move by Cole to give up immediately so he’s not hurt for the third fall.

THIRD FALL: Gargano puts over exhaustion (and has a blood spot on his forehead) while Cole just looks huffy he had to lose a fall. They stare each other down and slug it out into an AEW HOCKEY FIGHT (that horrible-looking one where they slap each other while hugging), Cole making sure to wipe the hair from his eyes during it, then stopping a charge with a boot, then another, but eats a big rolling lariat that flips him over. D-I-Y (superkick to kneeling dude) misses and Cole keeps springing up a bunch, then brainbusters Gargano onto his knee for two. The “what does it TAKE?” face breaks out on Cole, and he keeps aiming for the Panama Sunrise (a Canadian destroyer with a tiny bunny-hop before it), but Gargano over-the-shoulders him and LAUNCHES him into the turnbuckles from a charge, then hits a full nelson spinning face slam for two. They do the “we’re exhausted so we FIGHT FROM OUR KNEES!” spot (which is justified given the match length… but they’re 10 minutes from the end so it’s still weird), not really drawing much reaction except for the “BOO!/YAY!” punches (ideally that spot should have people murmuring at the incredible fortitude of two nearly-dead warriors using the last of their energy in this manner), then stop each other’s kicks and hit each other with thigh-slap enzuigiris and stereo thigh-slap superkicks. oof, replay is RIGHT on the thigh-slaps too, lol. Cole finally superkicks him in the back of the head, leaving him dead-eyed for a Straightjacket German- two! Cole is like “what’s it take?” and they miscommunicate (Cole is probably supposed to throw a clotheslined to get countered, but Gargano has to hug his arm instead and turn it to a submission), Cole hits a backdrop suplex, but misses the Bunnyhop Destroyer and gets superkicked, then eats the Poison Rana into a superkick, but Cole rolls out of the ring. Okay, that’s good at least- puts over the move but “saves it” by having bad luck screw Gargano.

Cole recovers super fast and wheelbarrow Germans him into the ring apron. This FINALLY gives us our first “This is Awesome!” chant, which usually happens 10 minutes into AEW matches these days. Gargano is DEAD, until naturally he isn’t, as he hits a draping DDT when Cole re-enters the ring and then scores another Slingshot DDT with perfect agility. Cole rolls out and takes a tope suicida as Gargano sprints around, but Cole now superkicks him AGAIN and hits the Bunnyhop Destroyer- two! The fans bought that and we get our first big pop 30 minutes in, AND our first “SHOCKED KICKOUT FACE!”. This is obviously before AEW made that an “only two counts, ever” move. At least they put this over with a full minutes of drama and oh god now they’re doing ACTING~~, Cole dumping him and talking shit after getting over his disbelief. This causes Gargano to get fired up, but putting Cole on a table backfires when he takes the Fairytail Ending (sit-out pedigree) through it. Cole goes full-cowardice and demands a count-out win, but Gargano does the “sprint in at 9.9” thing, only to eat a superkick… for two. The fans pop for that despite the 900 other superkicks doing NOTHING. They exchange superkicks but Gargano counters the Sunrise to Gargano Escape, only to release when Roderick Strong hits the apron. Kyle O’Reilly uses the distraction to gouge his face while Cole is tapping out in the renewed hold, and make googly-eyes and they hit a big double-team clothesline/legsweep… two! Cole weeps, and gets backdropped onto his boys- Gargano cleans house on them (AFTER the finisher through a table, a tag finisher and a German into the apron) and runs into TWO superkicks, then the Last Shot… for two! Crowd loses it’s shit again, Cole panics again, then talks more shit to Gargano and tries the Last Shot again- this misses and Gargano swings him into Gargano Escape again, Cole nearly makes the ropes, but Gargano swings back and Cole finally taps out at (16:17)- Gargano is NXT Champion!

This was… tough to assess, haha. They do some good matwork to start, and some appropriate stuff to “go long”- pausing for impact, lying around to sell, working simple headlocks and stuff. But then the match has to get gymnastic-ized with “lightly tap the other guy and send him flying” and “smoothly and gently roll into a move that the other guy is already countering so you’re both clearly rolling around in a choreographed motion”. Impressively, they didn’t spam MOVEZ in the first two falls, tried for moves and failed before hitting them (and they were game-changing moves), etc. Though you’d think a submission guy like Gargano would try to WORK LIMBS or something given the match time (given that two straight falls ended with a submission, you’d think he’d TOUCH THE FUCKIN’ ARM, but no). The third fall is where the “MOVEZ!” really breaks out, but in theory it’s a big enough match to justify some of it. Commentary talks about them bringing old moves they don’t use anymore out of the mothballs out of desperation. But yeah, it turns into Hit a Big Move- Two! Hit a Big Move- Two! Folks dismiss this as “2.9 Wrestling” for a reason. The 9 billion superkicks are a problem, too- something like a dozen are hit during the match, almost all of them look like shit, and they’re accompanied by dramatically-obvious thigh slaps… and then not even sold! And neither guy really puts over the punishment while they’re doing stuff- they sell and sell, but then spring up and hit the moves with no difficulty, because “hit it fast and with a lot of snap” is the only way they know how to do things. Then they pull out these “long match” tropes like “fight from their knees”, except they do this to sell exhaustion with TEN MINUTES LEFT, and the next ten minutes contains tons of running around, lightning fast superkicks, and more. You don’t do those things just to do them!

Fans were very clearly bored and uninterested for the first 20-25 minutes, having been trained by this point to expect big moves and kickouts and that no big NXT main event ended earlier than 19 minutes in. And then they at last get to the MOVEZ, they actually take care to protect some (Cole rolls to the floor once; the big kickout has 2 minutes of drama after it instead of follow-up moves)… and then Gargano goes into full 2.9 Mode, as they throw everything in the world at him, including a finisher through a table, cheating, a tag finisher, a finisher that won LAST fall, and nothing. Never having seen Gargano before, I’ll say his precision/execution is impressive. He knows how to sell being dizzied or “fighting through the dizziness to move”. A bit too heavy with the “open-eyed death sell” because he kicks out like five times after doing that. His “character selling” sucks ass, though- he only seems to know to make “dazed faces” and never looks like… pissed off or defiant or anything. Is he even human? Not ONCE does he ever respond to the fans or act like there’s even a person watching the match (ie. WORK). He never even responds to any of Cole’s stuff with any “work” either- as in the character stuff that is kind of the point of wrestling (not the MOVEZ). It’s just “Get knocked down and dead-eyed- TWO! Get knocked down and dead-eyed- TWO!” the whole match long. uh, except for the first two falls where basic finishers are all it takes. Is the first two like the Survivor Series or something? Also these kind of MOVEZ-heavy spectacles, done too often, are why these guys are fragile as hell today. Now Adam Cole, whose entire style was ignoring big moves like they didn’t hurt, is now having his career ruined by innocuous bullshit that doesn’t look like it should hurt anybody. How’s THAT for irony?

Rating: **3/4 (All in all, I can see why people like it, but calling it the “Best match EVER!”-the YouTube comments are full of that- is guilty of the worst sin of all- ENJOYING WRESTLING INCORRECTLY! They like it TOO MUCH and that’s wrong and should be ashamed! There’s some good stuff and solid build, but it’s riddled with flaws and “Kickouts = Drama”)

THE ROAD WARRIORS (Hawk & Animal, w/ Paul Ellering) vs. RIKI CHOSHU & YOSHIAKI YATSU:
(All Japan, Oct. 22nd 1985)
* Oh yeah I’m looking up some ’80s ROAD WARRIORS stuff. I’ve actually seen very little of their run when they were huge and all over the place- most everything is from their WWF run or later. They were THE SHIT in the ’80s, as they were the first big acts to rip off the “Mad Max” look and wrestler-ize it, with giant roided bodies and a “quick match” brutal brawling style. It was so obviously amazing that they got over everywhere. An immediately explosive pop at someone’s theme music was called a “Road Warrior Pop” before it was an “Austin Pop”. And this is from an All Japan appearance, as they were so cool they got over in Japan as well, without the benefit of long matches- but their look and raw aggression alone easily carried the day (even here, with simpler GREEN makeup). And they’re against a top AJPW star in Choshu, plus the “pin-eater” midcarder Yatsu. And right away you see the difference between “Road Warriors” and “other wrestlers” because they wait until the riff of “Iron Man” comes up to reveal themselves, barrel down the aisle smashing fans out of their way, then immediately hit the ring and start brawling with the natives. Because waiting for “the ring bell” and “traditional introductions” is for SISSIES. Like their desire to kick ass was too overwhelming and they just couldn’t wait.

Animal dumps Yatsu & Hawk brawls with Choshu and shoulderblocks him out. Animal slams him & Hawk adds a fistdrop & powerslam. Animal keeps knocking him down, but Riki toeholds him and throws on the Scorpion Deathlock early, but Hawk waffles him. But both guys do feather-light lariats into a double-down that has the fans ROARING- double tags lead to speedy Yatsu bouncing Hawk around, but Hawk goes to the eyes and press-slams him. Animal’s lariat gets two. haha he does a pithold and Yatsu twice tries to armdrag him, Animal ignoring one and like… being forced down and falling on the second. Animal whips him into Hawk’s 2nd-rope shoulderblock- big reaction for the kickout. Yatsu rolls away and Choshu throws shots, but Hawk presses him off. Yatsu’s back in already and can barely get a hold on Hawk (ie. make him sell)- a bad German hits and the natives hit a double dropkick & double suplex. Riki goes for the Scorpion again, but Hawk does PUSHUPS when he’s turned over, and before Riki can turn around and complete the move Animal rips his head off. Yatsu gets destroyed in the ring with multiple lariats, but Animal throws the ref away and it’s the All Japan Fuck Finish at (6:10). They’re DQ’d for that. But Riki grabs a chair after a double-press slam and… they awkwardly push and prod each other, unwilling to go swinging with the chairs.

An interesting look at the Warriors in Japan. You could really see how green they were, as they’d hit great moves, but suddenly when they have to actually SELL they’re like “Wait, what? What do I do?” and crumple up all weird, or just lean down instead of taking bumps, and start fucking up their opponents. Like everyone’s going “… and now what?” and don’t really know how to communicate spots or just “go with the flow” the way most wrestlers would in Japan. The Warriors had only been around for a year and a half or so at this point, and Hawk debuted in ’83, explaining some of that clumsiness. What was there was pretty fun, but Choshu was barely in the match, leaving Yatsu to bump around, and they didn’t feel like selling his shit.

Rating: ** (a quickie little TV brawl)

NWA INTERNATAIONAL TITLES:
RIKI CHOSHU & YOSHIAKI YATSU vs. THE ROAD WARRIORS (Hawk & Animal, w/ Paul Ellering):
(All Japan, 06/12/1986)
* A rematch! A year later, the same teams fight. Seeing the Roadies backstage is fun, because you can see them deliberately wait for the EXACT moment to come out the entrance- they wait for the first couple slow riffs, but once the song REALLY starts, they barrel out the door to get the most out of that moment in the song. Real though goes into that! And they smash their way through the fans, but poor Animal trips over the gate, lol. This time they very nearly charge the natives once they hit the ring, but I guess are settled down enough. The Warriors seem less “new hot challengers” and more “established stars”, as Hawk’s traditional corner pose gets a great reaction. Their makeup game is more on point, with Animal now having his famous spider/web look.

You can see Animal’s improvement from last time, as the typically powerful Choshu is EASILY flung off twice, Animal making sure to show off his big muscles afterwards. They mess up a bump (Animal drops too qucikly for a face-slam), but Animal knows to slap his arm to indicate “lariat’s coming” so Riki ducks it and comes off the ropes at an odd angle to flatten him with his own! Hawk saves at “2”, and Animal counters a whip with a powerslam- Yatsu pulls HIM off, and so Hawk hits a huge jumping shoulderblock, but misses a big legdrop. They’re measuring their attacks more than just wildly brawling. Hawk slugs him to stop a sunset flip, but builds his SmackDown! Meter instead of following up and eats a backdrop suplex. Yatsu comes and actually throws punches and a dropkick, Hawk again doing the “fall to his knees” sell, but resists a German by grabbing the ropes, then BLASTING the kid with an elbow on the break. Hawk just hauls him up into a press-slam, then tosses him into Animal’s arms for a lariat to the crown of the skull for two- Riki saves, and Animal rests with a chinlock. Hawk beats on him as it slows down until Yatsu rolls out to Choshu, who trips up Hawk for the Scorpion Deathlock immediately- Yatsu flies in with an assist, so Animal clubs Riki so they can slowly work him over with shots until he scores a Riki Lariat. Yatsu hits a backdrop & bulldog (bad bump by Hawk), then a Spike Piledriver hits! Riki & Animal lariat each other and Yatsu hits a Bridging German on Hawk… but Paul Ellering hits the ring and it breaks down into a 3-on-1 brawl as it’s the All Japan Fuck Finish at (6:34). Yatsu eats a dozen hammer shots & a double-clothesline and Choshu is double-press slammed, leaving Yatsu a bloody mess as the Warriors finally get sent away amidst the chaos.

This is an interesting one- it’s clear Hawk & Animal had improved as workers, as they weren’t getting caught up on their opponents as much, and doing more measured, “watch what I’m about to do” worked stuff vs. just crazy, messy brawling, but it almost loses something because of it. Like, LEARNING THE WRESTLE almost robbed them of some of the Wild Cokehead Energy these two ruffians had utilized beforehand. We barely saw any of Riki, either- he must REALLY take it easy during tag matches, lol. All he does is hit lariats and go for his Deathlock.

Rating: **1/4 (sorta better than the first match, and definitely more competently wrestled, but still disappointing and short)

“RAVISHING” RICK RUDE (w/ Bobby “The Brain” Heenan) vs. OUTBACK JACK:
(WWF Wrestling Challenge, Dec. 20th 1987)
* One more Outback Jack match! I swear I couldn’t find this at first, but it’s been up for 4 years. Heenan has a neckbrace on from a beating he took, and Rude’s in plain red tights and hasn’t quite got all his catchphrase out here- “I’ll show your old ladies what Simply Ravishing is all about”.

Rude starts off hot with a bunch of strikes, but Jack catches him with his head down and throws some punches. But Jack charges into a foot and goes down. Rude slams him into the mat a few times, but Jack comes back with an eyepoke- Rude quickly ignores his offense and counters a whip, boots him in the gut, then hoists him into the goddamn Argentine Backbreaker (!!- Outhouse Jack is HUGE! How fuckin’ strong is Rude?) for the submission at (1:31). Well that’s decisive. Typical kinda ugly “interrupt your shit with mine” Outback match, but the finish has even Monsoon impressed.

Rating: 1/4* (a kick & punch match without much flow to it)

MARK “ROLLERBALL” ROCCO vs. MARTY JONES:
(World of Sport, 5/8/1978)
* This was apparently said by William Regal to be his favorite match, so WE’LL SEE. Rocco is of course one of the best heels of the era, but I’m unfamiliar with Jones, who looks like a jobber and has a curly bit of ’70s hair and long red tights.

They start with some SNUG mat-wrestling, just latching onto each other, Rocco working the arm but getting taken down with an STF like move, then eating a STIFF shoulderblock and aggressively booting Marty from the ground and getting tied up in the ropes- paying off frustration already. Rocco boots him down, then elbow smashes him on the back of the head for an “8” count, but gets his arm wrung a bunch, gets a dirty break, then gets it worked again. Rocco with a ripcord shoulderblock with some real stink on it as Round 1 ends. Next round, he gets kicked from the mat and is so incensed he just beats Marty’s ass on the ground, hitting him again and again to no Warning card from the referee (to the commentator’s frustration) but Jones is wise to him and snags two armdrags, and when Rocco shows off with a kip-up, armdrags him out of THAT and the heel has to beg off! Hah! He pouts about that, but keeps scoring “that one last shot” from the mat, and throws kicks- he takes a sunset flip but kicks low (the ref’s up in their faces so misses it), only to miss a dropkick by a mile and eat a straight punch to the head, going down and nursing the wound. He briefly comes back, then after the bell HEADBUTTS Jones, and for some reason doesn’t even get Warned! Boo, ref! Rocco with a full nelson & monkey flip in R3, but Marty drops down to stop a second and Rocco has to grab the ropes. Marty gets whipped to the corner, but on the next springs off with great agility to lessen the impact… and leaps right into a back elbow! His next thing is countered with a gut-punch, and a kick to the throat and bodyslam finishes at (1:20 of R3) to Rocco. Haha, you know it’s 1978 when a BODY SLAM does it.

Rocco matches are such a treat, lol. This is how he sells a judo flip.

At Round 4, Rollerball snapmares him and grinds on that hold, but Marty fights free and flips him UPSIDE DOWN into the corner off a wrist-flick. Rocco quickly gets a high backdrop to agonize him, but gets careless and charges in, himself getting backdropped and cross-bodied for three (1:12 of R4), equalizing them! They start off Round 5 getting snippy, but Marty fireman’s carry’s him and then invents Go 2 Sleep right in 1978 by dropping him on his knee, lol. Okay it was to the gut but STILL! Rocco shoves him off from the mat but misses a kneedrop and has to push him to the floor, then clobbers him off the apron- STILL no Warning. But he tries another and gets blocked and missile dropkicked, sending him to the floor to recover. Jones gets badly hurt from hitting the corner, but when Rocco tries again, grabs him by the hair and SLAMS him forehead first into the other one- awesome counter! Monkey flip! Rocco blocks a second with an elbow but eats a backdrop! He gets a toe on the rope and they mat wrestle- Rocco FINALLY gets a Warning for throwing Jones out by the hair, but Jones quickly smashes him into the corner again and gets his OWN Warning for a second one. They collide in a HUGE double-shoulderblock and are both up at “6”, then Rocco sails over the top rope and onto his feet missing a charge. Rocco scores a headbutt & snapmare and works counts, but eats two shoulderblocks and FLIES off of another monkey flip, then takes a big bump off a dropkick, but Jones tries another and slams himself in the corner, hurting his knee. He does a half-circle “Homer Simpson celebration” run selling that, and Rollerball slams him for the pin at (1:19 of Round 6). Rollerball wins! He issues a challenge for Jones’s belt, and I think this is the impetus for the last one I reviewed then, lol.

I didn’t feel this one quite as much as the other Rocco performances- it felt like they were taking it easy for the first two rounds, only light cheating, and Rocco only started doing the big bumps later one Everything building up to lethal body slams as finishers might be part of it, haha. Or just how they stuffed all the good stuff into the last 3 rounds. It almost felt like Rocco’s bumping was carrying the entire thing- not that Jones was useless (he’s seen several times moving VERY quickly and sells well for Rocco’s stuff) but he barely stood out here. The matwork was solid, but nowhere near as good as other World of Sport stuff I’ve seen. Still quality stuff overall, though! Rollerball is maybe the GOAT bumper.

Rating: ***1/4 (another good WoS match, albeit not as good as the others I’ve seen)