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!

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?!?