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!

Brooks Run Into The Ocean, Man

Adam Brooks VS Robbie Eagles - OPW Heavyweight Championship 7/1/2023

CJD: They mentioned Eagles on commentary in your match so my mind was already going in this direction. Hearing Brooks' actual entrance music this time makes the overdub in your match that much more hilarious. Very different tones. This was way more of a crash pad match as I believe you call them, and since it was the opener you can see why. It was frantic with a great back and forth pace and very good chemistry between these rivals. As I believe Aiden English (I'm positive that's no longer his name) says on commentary, they do a good job of eliminating space in this match, making it feel like both guy wants to maintain body control and ring retail. Not everything was hit perfectly in this and I think that kind of helps make it feel like more of clash. There's some similarities with your Ali match but a lot of differences. I thoroughly enjoyed both.

JJZ: Man I love Robbie Eagles. I really think he is underrated. He keeps it super tight with mixing in a good amount of high flying. Brooks had a solid showing with both of these matches. Now CJD, I don't think I've said crash pad but I have said this was a junk food match. This could fall into that category for me with the added ingredient of it being a title match. I do think Eagles and Brooks brought a big match feel to this while keeping the pace up and taking risk early and often. I was biting on the falseies and was happy to have gotten familiar with OPW. Seems like a good company with a loyal fan base. Hope to bring more of their matches to the blog in the future.

In Ali We Trust

Adam Brooks (c) VS Mustafa Ali - OPW Heavyweight Championship 9/22/2024

JJZ: Did not expect to take Ali in this direction but boy did this match over deliver for me. I'm sure I've seen Adam Brooks before but can't recall. Maybe NXT UK? I dunno. I think one of the best things about Ali is he seems like he has chemistry with everyone no matter what their style is. The smoothness between the two was almost like dancing. Solid crowd that was hooked bell to bell. Brooks and Ali had some beautiful highspots that just made you say "Jesus Christ!" Both guys were determined to put on a memorable match and I believe they did.

CJD: Wow this one caught me totally out of left field. I'm pretty certain I've never seen Adam Brooks before, and that was one hell of a first impression. You mentioned how smooth this one was, that was something I noticed, but I also really appreciated how much Brooks ground Ali down. Besides one or two really cool moments, Brooks was more focused on hurting Ali than anything else. That created a great dynamic for Ali to shine and the crowd was all that much more along for the ride because of it. This could have easily been a your move/my move trade off with a big fireworks finish and everyone would have went home happy. But they elevated things a bit higher than that which I appreciated very much. It still was a bit of a big indie moves match but not in a bad way at all. It felt important and that's a credit to everything that went into it, both in and out of the ring. What a great showcase for a promotion I'm totally unfamiliar with. What is this, Friday on a Tuesday?!?