Forever Forward Fridays

Savannah Evans VS Willow Nightingale - CCW 8/6/2022

JJZ: The first thing that pops out to me about this match is the fact that they wrestled like there were hundreds in the crowd, not 10s. The babe with power and the cannibal were going back and forth, trying to show who was the stronger of the two. I totally popped for the old school test of strength. Bring the 80s WWF vibes. Willow brings such energy and confidence into the ring with her. She is super bubbly but somehow also gives off a don't fuck with me vibe. Evans has just an old-school power house, hoss level of you don't want any of this. Super impressed with the level of wrestling Willow and Savannah brought despite the crowd.

CJD: The energy the crowd and the commentators brought to this match wasn't exactly dynamic, although I do love the call "a bridge you could walk over!" Thankfully the energy Willlow and Savannah brought turned things a notch up! Besides the raw power struggle, I love a match with some suplays that have some extra OOMPH and some of these really popped. Willow looks like a work in progress here but the potential is clearly there. Evans was such a revelation these two weeks, equally as impressive as a face or a heel, just super entertaining overall. I'm excited to dig into more Nightingale as I know her name has been all over lately. Thank you for opening this door for me my man!

Justice For Hidaka

Minoru Tanaka/Ikuto Hidaka VS Masao Orihara/Takeshi Ono - BattlARTS 10/19/1997

CJD: When I decided to play a tag match for our 2x MDTSOCWWKD to show how great he was at both sides of the coin, I didn't expect to stumble onto the most young boy lookin Hidaka I ever damn seen!! Add in some classic BattlArts action, swanky ass Ishikawa setting the table in vintage 90s puro TV fashion, and three excellent shootstyle/junior heavyweight hybrid dance partners... and what a stew this is John. These recent Tuesday matches are the stuff PIF dreams are made of man. So many different directions and flavors of what we love about pro wrestling (yes I'm a very culinary motivated individual). Speaking of food, the only slice of pizza in this match is courtesy of young Ikuto, but I love love the way he recovers. He's channeling some serious Kikuchi/Otani energy in this one. The heels bring it, Tanaka looks like he's about to blast off to the moon, I could watch matches like this all day every day.

JJZ: ThIs was fantastic, CJD! To be honest, I didn't realize which wrestler was young Hidaka until he was in the camel clutch. Ikuto took a bunch of licks during this match, but when his opportunity came, he layed it back in for sure. Also, big time appreciation for his bumping and selling. He made Ono and Orihara look like monsters. Hidaka sold a low blow like I've never seen before. I think he might have actually eaten it straight to the duck. All four wrestlers brought such fight and energy to the ring that day. I was also pleasantly surprised for the outside the ring action that took place. I don't recall too many Battle Arts matches where guys are being slung into the chairs. Maybe I just haven't watched enough. This made me a wonderous Sunday afternoon delight for us to share with everyone this Tuesday.

CJD: One last footnote, Hidaka just landed in something like the 500s in the Greatest Wrestler Ever poll, and that's a travesty of justice. I feel somewhat responsible as I said on pro wrestling only I'd help build his case but never got back to him. And now I can't figure out how to get back into my damn account but that's neither here nor there. All I'm saying is, this is I think the fourth Hidaka match we've shared at PIF over 8 years. Expect a hell of a lot more than that in the next decade as we try to right this wrong by the time GWE36 rolls out!!!

Forever Forward Fridays

Savannah Evans (c) VS Cheerleader Melissa - OCSW Women's Championship 4/14/2019

CJD: I watched this during our little spring break and the few times I'd tried to sit down to a match it wasn't clicking for me. So when I put this on and was immediately feeling the energy these women, this venue and promotion were bringing, I knew I probably had a match I'd be playing forward. And Melissa and Evans brought such a classic face/heel clash that I couldn't say no. Something about this match speaks to the first time I heard a bump on a mat live in person. It reignites a little spark of pro wrestling love in my old jaded heart. I knew nothing about Evans previously but I hope you have good options with her because her babyface energy here totally hooked me. And it was fun watching this era of Melissa with that veteran salt & vinegar baked in.

JJZ: Man, O man, do I love how independent wrestling this is. Cheerleader Melissa is so good, CJD. Old lion versus young lion. Totally not familiar with this promotion. OSCW seemed cool. It's hard to get a read on a promotion from a special event like this one, but Evans rapport with the crowd seemed like they had a solid fan base. Melissa plays a great heel. I think she is such a fantastic wrestler, but I really wanted Evans to break her foot off in Cheerleader's ass. Evans hooked me in with her selling. Little Plucky Underdog Babyface action. Really enjoyed watching some independent wrestling this Friday.

Reason Through MCs Inflicting Slatalities

Ikuto Hidaka VS Damian Slater - Wrestle Rampage 11/23/2012

JJZ: Oh Fuck Yes. Man do I love Ikuto Hidaka, and after Slater's two matches I think I got a little crush on him! Hidaka is so smooth and makes everything look effortless. After watching your last match with Slater I knew this would be another match young wrestlers should study. All the moves flowed and the storytelling was wonderful. I miss watching Hidaka on the regular. I would get so excited when you'd bust out a Zero1 VHS and we'd watch that grainy ass tape. Slater is someone I'm 100 percent gonna watch more of. A wrestler's wrestler in my opinion

CJD: A wrestler's wrestler is a great way to describe what we've seen from Slater these 2 weeks. What a breath of fresh air especially coming back after a little break for us. Hidaka is well documented as one of our favorites, I similarly got so excited when I saw that's who you were playing forward to me! This match was such a good back and forth struggle, with Slater looking a little outmatched or star struck early, then really turning the heat up on Ikuto, who in turn went to some classic limb work trying to set up that Shaaaaaawwwwwnn Capture! So many silky smooth moments within the struggle and extremely creative ideas, an arm drag fake out I've never seen, a transition into a spinning heel kick I rewound multiple times. Finish was a pleasant surprise and pretty much everything about this match was so refreshing. Beautiful choice my friend!

Tuck Everybody

The Tuckman VS Damian Slater - World-Beater Wrestling Chain Wrestling Flow Roll

CJD: And we're back! And right off the bat we're getting weird here. I watched a couple of Tuckman matches and had a backup if you didn't think this counts as a pro wrestling match. Honestly it's borderline. I sure ain't finding a date for this one on cagematch. This is what some circles of the internet refer to as a "grapplefuck," and I can see why this style of wrestling is silly to some people. It definitely works better layered into a match with different peaks and valleys. Guys like Danielson and ZSJ obviously excel at that. But it was so refreshing seeing someone as young as The Tuckman honing his craft against a veteran in Slater. A veteran I'm totally unfamiliar with! We're covering a lot of new ground for me these days, which is something about Play It Forward I'll always love. This is such an easy watch that even if you had decided you'd rather switch to a more traditional match, I don't mind forcing you to spend 5 minutes on a prime specimen of the fine art of grapplefucks. I don't mind one bit.

JJZ: This is really fucking interesting. It was calming to watch this. Everything so was smooth and fluid. And zero talking. Just weaving in and out of chain wrestling. Damian Slater is someone new to me also but he seems like he knows what he is doing. Makes me think that's what the NXT kids see when they started getting trained by Robbie Brookside or Johnny Saint. This is 100 percent what play it Forward is all about. I'd love to know which wrestlers watch this to get ideas. Like was Ren Narita at the NJPW Dojo watching this to pull out shit during the Young Lions cup. Very happy with this!

Spring Break

Hey gang, we're going to take a little break over here. Nothing major, we'll be back in our regular routine soon enough. In the meantime voting has begun for Greatest Wrestler Ever, and ballots are due May 5th. Feel free to research with our help going back through 8 years of match reviews to better inform your ballot! Now to scrap together my top 100 from multiple undated files on my phone, various google spreadsheets, and years old message board posts that I don't remember making in the first place....

Forever Forward Fridays

Cheerleader Melissa VS Jessie McKay - SHIMMER 5/3/2009

JJZ: Jessica McKay really impressed me this match, working a babyface style also so we got both sides of the coin with her PIF run. Cheerleader Melissa is honestly someone I always forget about and as soon as I watch her I get mad at myself because she is really good. The chemistry was great between these two ladies. McKay had some plucky underdog energy going on for sure. Melissa swinging Jessica into the gaurd rails was such a smart way to get heat. That move looks so painful. I know we talked about it before but man did the Shimmer crowd really show out for these events.  Melissa and Jessica used every minute they had to tell a complete and wonderful story.

CJD: I loved the beautiful simplicity of this match. Jessie was out of her depth but wasn't gonna back down unless Melissa put her in the ground. It was a fun, easy watch with some great moments. I've had a jumbled hectic couple of weeks and something about a match like this can be such a reset in the best way possible. I think that's one reason it can hook even a small crowd to this level. Melissa was a monster and McKay's growth from here to our last match, let alone now, is staggering. Also I'm loving these SHIMMER deep dives. Great pick my friend!

The Eagles Has Landed

The Tuckman (c) VS Robbie Eagles - PWA Soul Of PWA Championship 4/19/2024

JJZ: Alright babycakes! I really liked this match even though there was a little pizza. BUT, I think the announcers could've saved it by saying it was a result of that body part being worked over. Let me know if anything like that sticks out to you CJD! So what we have here is a returning star of a small promotion coming back to wrestle the current young star (and his student). Perfect independent wrestling storyline. Even though Robbie was in the Bullet Club I've never really seen him work a true heel role before. I think he did a pretty good job. The crowd was big time behind Tuckman, who I've never even heard about before this match. Natural heel babyface work from both guys. The crowd fueled Tuck's fire up and the second half of the match kept the strong psychology with a great back and forth. This was just a really solid match. Would love to watch more between these two.

CJD: Holy shit babycakes. Can you believe almost 8 years ago to the day, you played this ZSJ/Eagles match forward to me to crown our first ever Misawa Dick Togo Santo Outercontinental WWKD Champion?? And almost 8 years later to the day, Robbie Eagles has finally landed that most coveted title that has eluded him for nearly a decade, our imaginary utterly meaningless blog champion?!? I love that totally unplanned, we were both coincidentally watching PWA matches from different eras independent of each other for PIF, and one of those two paths somehow lead us to this insane time loop back to the beginning. That's some Dark Tower shit right there.

And I've been commenting to you that we've had some matches lately that give me big time old school PIF energy when we were first testing out this concept! Exciting, unusual matches that have substance but aren't dense, fun and dynamic but not too mindless either. This match checks every single one of those boxes. I went from thinking I wouldn't like Tuckman based on his intro to loving him by the end. I agree completely (and watched the match before reading your review) that the limb work absolutely played into a few awkward moments, and the commentary didn't always pick up on it. But man PWA was cooking with this one overall! Great experience for this live crowd, matches like this are special. I loved Eagles' heel work and presence. Speaking of the awkward moments too, the way they recovered from one of them, into a beautiful sell and a series of brutal strikes, was such a wonderful transition. And that finsh?!? Kiss all the chefs!! This is the stuff PIF was made for.

Forever Forward Fridays

Jessie McKay (c) VS Madison Eagles - PWA PWWA Championship 7/11/2010

CJD: I've always enjoyed Billie Kay in both goofy and serious roles in her time in WWE. I dont think I've seen any of her Jessie McKay days, so this was a treat as she really showed every side of her personality in this high stakes title match. The more I watch Eagles the more I think I must've watched something from her over the years, seeing how accomplished she was, but she also makes such a strong impression that I think I somehow have had her in a blindspot all this time?? I'm so glad you brought her into the PIF fold if so. This match has some 2010 commentary issues for sure, to shout out youtube commentor vandollism, but the presentation overall was so good from PWA that it didn't phase me. And the work the women did in this match did was even better. I know these two had other matches and I won't shy away from trying to lead us to another given the chance!

JJZ: Teacher vs student, lioness vs cub.  Simplest but best booking for a heated feud. This is both of our first time seeing Billie wrestle as Jessie McKay. She is good man. Her character work is incredible. I agree PWA does a very nice job on the production side. Also I'll shout out the announcers for really giving the back story and making everything with these two feel important. I'm coming out of this with a very high opinion Eagles. I need to check more of her stuff out. Just with Madison's two matches we watched I feel like the same as Del Rey, she was ahead of her time. She is super polished and talented. I bet PWA has a ton of hidden gems down there!

Forever Forward Fridays

Sara Del Rey VS Madison Eagles - SHIMMER 5/2/2009

JJZ: So excited to showcase to different sides of Del Rey with her two matches. In the match with Eddie she worked a great main event psychology. In this mid card match with Madison Eagles (sister in law of Robbie Eagles) Sara and Madison work such a traditional mid card match. Madison showcased her technical skills, having no problem keeping up with Sara. I really like that since Sara was coming off a rare loss, she seemed to be wrestling a little more aggressive and focused than normal. Shout out to the Shimmer crowd for make 50 to 100 people feel like 500 to 1000. I watched several matches from Sara before picking this one and man do I wish she could have worked during this current era of women's wrestling.

CJD: I play you a Robbie Eagles match on a Tuesday, and you go and swoop in with a Madison Eagles match on our totally separate brand Friday. I see what you did there!! Sneaky stuff. My favorite part of this match was definitely SDR coming off the big loss, and seeing how she responded against a very game opponent. I can't remember if I've seen Madison wrestle before but she brought the goods in this one. I loved how these two women pushed each other and had such a good back and forth flow. You're right that Sara doesn't quite get the flowers she deserves having such limited resources when she was in her prime. But when you go back and watch two matches of this caliber and know this is what she was doing night in and night out for years, it really gives you an appreciation for what a once in a generation talent she was. And then take into consideration her contributions since stepping out of the ring!