JJZ: So as far as I can remember I haven't seen anything from Santino Bros Wrestling before. They are a California promotion and school. Now I've always been a Brody fan but Tyler Bateman has never really moved the needle for me. Not saying I dislike him but I've never seen a match of his that totally sold me on him. I remember hearing that these two had some great matches so I was excited to pop this on. I'm a way bigger fan of the 30 minute iron man over the 60. It's wrestled with more urgency and this match had a slow start but picked up very quicky. Honestly this did not feel like 30 minutes at all. I really liked the booking of the falls. One fall I don't believe I've ever seen before or the psychology of why it mattered at the timing of the fall. Everything was hit clean and looked tight. The only negative I can see is someone talking about the end but honestly I liked it too. Makes me wish I was following the storyline going in. I hope you enjoy but now this will probably open some more conversation.
CJD: This match had a lot to it, even for a half hour ironman. I personally like the full hour if it's a big show main event once in a blue moon, but also prefer the half hour in most every other circumstance. One thing I don't like in a half hour ironman is when they only have a fall or two... what was the point of the stip? This match clearly doesn't have that problem. Some of the falls were really interesting, like you said. The live commentary over the PA is always weird to me, I give these guys lots of credit in this intimate venue for not letting the wisecracks and crowd banter throw them off too much. I loved the personal feel of the rivalry between these two. The mind games from Bateman, the little bits of dialogue back and forth, the physicality that implied a familiarity. Some of the mirror spots and such didn't look perfect but more often than not when something wasn't executed cleanly they played it to get over the constant struggle. Bateman really impressed me here and I'm blown away to see he's 40 and has been wrestling for 20 years. No wonder he feels like a veteran matador masterfully corralling a baby bull at points in this match. I really enjoyed watching this, although I felt it had some issues with the pace being too stop and go, maybe taking that criticism I have of some half hour ironman matches to the extreme. And I'll be honest, I didn't care for the overall finish at all. So I'm going to pull out the spoiler tag in this post and ask you this. Which fall did you think was so unique and what did you like about the overall finish? I'll close out the spoiler free comments with this. After nearly 200 matches shared here at PIF this one still stood out to me and in a good way. Great little big piece of pro wrestling here.
CJD: This match is like the champion of a kingdom defending it against an invading beast he's not sure he can slay but he doesn't dare show any fear. You know I've been excited to share with you some of Swerve's run as Ace of DEFY. Well if this isn't the match I wanted to play you most, it's number 2 with a bullet. I really can't say enough about Strickland's time In DEFY. There aren't many Aces in wrestling history that made me watch every second after every match to see what sort of promo they'd cut or punctuation mark they'd close the show with. That's that Onita level shit. And for my money, that was Swerve in DEFY. On first watch I thought this match was fantastic but outstayed its welcome by the slimmest margin. On second watch I'm not so sure. I'd go so far as to say this might be a little more of a JJZ match than a CJD match. Either way I loved it the first time around and it only got better with age. This is a war where the damage only builds and builds. We've been crashing hard at Swerve's House lately and I'm a little sad it'll be time to pack our bags and go. But what a stay it's been.
JJZ: Man do I enjoy watching Defy. The production quality is so well done for an independent promotion. I literally know nothing about this match going in but the feel is so intense that I know this is huge. Commentators can say that a match is the biggest of all time but it don't mean shit if the feeling of the match isn't jumping through the screen. This match had all of that and more. The crowd was vibrating. The heat between Brody and Shane was steaming. In that moment in time that was the biggest match in the world. It is what wreslting fans want to watch and what wrestlers want to create in that ring. Brody King and Shane Strickland for the Defy title was a special match. The story was excellent. The execution was excellent. Everything was excellent. I'm embarrassed to admit the first time I tried to watch this I feel asleep. It had nothing to do with the match and everything to do with working too many hours and not getting the proper amount of sleep. On second watch you better believe my eyes were wide open. Thank you for playing this forward to me. Thank you Swerve for these four great matches we've shared.
