Forever Forward Fridays

Alex Shelley (c) VS Bandido - Prestige Wrestling Championship 5/29/2022

JJZ: Fucking dream match my guy. Great clash of styles in this one baby cakes. Shelley was always great at selling the mouth. Such a little thing but so smart. In my opinion Chris. Shelley had a great game plan with working on the leg to slow down the flippy dippy. He really was out smarting Bandido in the beginning of the match. Bandido had some amazing explosive offense in the second half of the match that had me on the edge of my seat. The back and forth was insane. Really couldn't tell what was gonna happen. Loved this one.

CJD: Unpredictable is a great way to describe this match. Like I legitimately couldn't tell if Bandido was hurt after that dragon screw and I don't want to know. What I do know is they worked the match masterfully from that point on to make you believe anything could happen. The early portion was beautiful, poetry in motion even by Shelley's standards. Bandido really hung in there and brought a great energy as the challenger. The fans bought him to pull off the upset and if this was the opener (did I hear that right?) this must have been one hell of a show live. Also great job on the commentary, Veda Scott in particular was making points literally as I was thinking them. I'm sad to say goodbye to Alex after 4 tremendous matches. It's safe to say there's never too much Shelley for this belly!

Forever Forward Fridays

Alex Shelley VS Trey Miguel - IMPACT Wrestling 5/13/2022

CJD: Alright we've only done this once before but fuck it. Let's hold up our imaginary title and go with the same guys back to back. If these two had 10 matches online I'd watch all 10 of them. This one had the hammer down a bit more, a bit less consistent with the selling. And we know the finish if we were listening to the commentary to our previous match. But these two are so masterful that they still had me guessing the finish late. Miguel had fire in this one that I think surpassed his great performance in your match. And I liked seeing the similarities and differences between how they worked the different settings. I hope this isn't the last time I've seen these two wrestle.

JJZ: I'm a huge fan of Tom Phillips fyi. Very excited you picked this match. I love when we finish a sentence that the other person started. Goddammit Alex Shelley is so fucking smooth. And Trey is so raw and fresh. It really makes for a perfect match up. When you watch Shelley wrestle you can see his layers of experience. It's like visual scar tissue in his movements. Miguel has such freedom and energy in his offense. Kind of a perfect paring. The thing that is great about both of these matches is that they aren't over the top like most matches these days. They kept you on the edge of your seat but didn't overstay their welcome.

Forever Forward Fridays

Alex Shelley VS Trey Miguel - The Wrestling Revolver 6/11/2022

JJZ: I don't think I've seen Trey Miguel before but who fucking knows. I'm happy that I was able to shoot you back a really recent Shelley bout since your jawn was greener then goose shit Alex. And with that said my boy is still smooth and silk. I'm sitting here trying to think of what 90s wrestlers I can compare him too. Maybe Dean? Both are fantastic workers but never that top level talent? Also I always wanted both of them to get bigger pushes. Also really liked Trey in this match. I was worried that because Shelley is such a vet he would dominate the offense and Miguel would be working from under most of the match. But he was not, and he was going for it. That dude wanted this match to be talked about. Some really great spots with a ton of BDE in this match.

CJD: I have no idea why Impact uploaded this match other than the history these two have there as well. But god damn am I glad they did. John no lie I enjoyed this as much as any match we've ever played forward. I am familiar with Trey Miguel but this is the most recent I've seen him and needless to say he's leveled up. I think I used this word for the Shocker match too but I'll say it again. Chemistry. This match had it off the charts. The style these two worked together, technical, fast paced, snug, smart, exciting. They were feeling that Big Deano Energy for sure. They had me hooked beginning to end, and the only time my mind wandered they brought things right back to Shelley's arm like they were in my head. The crowd was great, the commentary even better. What a fucking match!

Forever Forward Fridays

Shocker VS Alex Shelley - TNA Slammiversary 6/19/2005

CJD: So this match immediately caught my attention but I decided to gloss over it and try a few other Shocker outings. He's not looking so hot these days unfortunately. I was going to dig into his classic stuff when I decided, why not go with PIF favorite Alex Shelley?? He can take us across many bridges thematic with our Friday journey. I might have even seen this match before as it's the night Joe debuted. But I sure didn't pay attention to it like I did this time around if so. This match exceeded all my expectations. Shelley is so young, Shocker is so seasoned, and they meld their styles beautifully. Both guys really shine in this contest of one upsmanship. There are little touches that let the match breathe and pace it out nicely that I didn't expect from this kind of match in TNA at this time at all. This one was a discovery for me, I hope it is for you as well!

JJZ: Expectations blown away man. This was fantastic. Honestly CJD I thought you played forward the best of a bad bunch. I'm going to remember this match for a long time. God man, Shelley is so smooth. He applies his moves so effortlessly. Like breathing for him. I know I didn't do you any favors with Shocker but this is why Play it Forward is beautiful baby. I loved this beyond any of my expectations. I'm not lying this match just changed my mood for the day. The finish was a great short story ending for this psychology. Now with Shelley I got an endless wonderful amount of opportunity for greatness my guy.

Goodnight Sweet Prince

Alex Shelley (c) VS Claudio Castagnoli - UWA Hardcore Lightweight Championship 2/17/2006

JJZ: These two. These two beautiful humans arefuckingincredible. I expected so much from this match and of course got so much more. With just reading who is in the match you know the quality you're going to get. Watching people wrestle with the same passion on a small Indy show like this as they do on a huge dome or stadium show is what makes these two special. Not special talents or just wrestlers but special people because they treated that crowd to one hell of a match and that's why as a wrestling fan I love these two.

CJD: You caught me totally off guard with this one! When I saw the link I thought for certain this was a match I own on DVD between these two from a few months previous. Instead you exposed me to a match between two guys I absolutely love that I without a doubt never would have seen otherwise. That's what PIF is all about. There were moments in this match of pure beauty and I'd expect no less. Claudio wrestling for a lightweight championship when he's bigger than most modern heavyweights is amusing to say the least. They cut a great pace early, made the title feel big, had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands at the end, and sent it home with a really solid finish. Also I'm way into this entrance music from Shelley! And I'm way into this vault of UWA Hardcore matches we tapped into these past two weeks.

There's A New Generation Coming And We Really Gotta Stand Up To Them

Jushin Thunder Liger/Ultimo Dragon VS Motor City Machine Guns - UWA Hardcore 5/26/2007

CJD: I had a few matches in mind for my pick and this was absolutely not one of them. It was a total curiosity while searching for other stuff and I'm so glad made time for it. It's deceptively good, on the surface it might seem to merely be fan service to two legends coming in from overseas. If you dig deeper though it's really fundamentally sound tag wrestling. If you were to put this in front of a modern NJPW crowd it would gets tons of attention as opposed to something I never knew existed that has a few hundred views.

JJZ: This was a fun match. Pretty basic psychology but the crowd was super into it which made even the smallest things seem huge. Shelley and Sabin played the heel role well and the crowd ate up the hot tag. I couldn't tell the time frame of the match because the video quality was poor but Ultimo and Liger seem ageless anyway so it doesn't really matter. I'm like 50/50 on Sabin. He didn't do anything to blow me away this match but he did provide a strong base for the two vets. Shelley as always impressed me with the smallest things. He never disappoints with his attention to details. I'll have some happy hunting for the new champ.