I'm Just Drivin' Nails In My Coffin

Darby Allin VS Ace Romero - Limitless Wrestling 11/30/2018

CJD: It's been a while since I've played forward a wrestler I'm barely familiar with, and I'm more than happy to roll the dice with Ace Romero this time around. I know he's a big man who can move and not much else. This was a good intro as him and Darby work twice as hard to compensate for their size difference and the result is the most entertaining car crash sprint I've seen in a while. Allin's psychology is a bit odd but logical and Romero plays off it perfectly. There's some flubs along the way but I doubt you'll count it against this one.

JJZ: We are in the modern day Indy mix now my friend. The size difference makes for a natural psychology that Darby and Ace get to right away. Classic speed VS strength. Darby is flying around like a depressed finch trying to get effective offense in while Ace lays it in when he is able to get his hands on Allen. I would like to see Ace doing more dominating power moves in future matches and get away from his "I'm big but can fly" thing he does. Interesting crowd for this show. I saw people sitting with full winter coats and hats on to people in tank tops. Also saw some fans dressed in their Sunday best. It was curious. While Ace was a great crash mat for Darby I think Allen was the star of this match. I really got the sense he knew it would take a lot of high risk to win the match and he went to it.

Still Today I Hear The Pain We Made, Death Machine

Sami Callihan (c) VS Darby Allin- AAW Heavyweight Championship 5/31/2019

JJZ: Alright. So I picked this match mainly because I'm not super familiar with Darby. I have seen a handful of matches but not enough to have a full opinion. Interesting mic spot to start off the match. Adds a little story off the bat. I'm expecting a pretty violent bout from what I do know of these two. I have and always will hate the spit that the Death Machine adds into his matches. But maybe that's why he does it. I think both wrestlers do a good job of telling a story on top of a stiff and brutal match. Good psychology. Loved the finish. I mostly enjoyed the indy feel of it. I can't remember AAW running in this building before and if I didn't know any better I would guess it was a venue IWA Mid-South ran back in the day.

CJD: I've seen quite a bit of Darby and still don't think I have a fully formed opinion. But I'm looking forward to digging into more of his catalog for next week's pick. So I guess I'm more of a fan than not. I'm used to him working something like 30/70 at best, sometimes even less offense than that, so this match is already a bit different. Say what you will about Callihan but in an age when true heels are rare, he is 100%, hate his fucking guts, HEEL in this match. Spitting and all. I liked diamond in the rough Sami going up against guys like Necro and Finlay more than grown up douchebag Sami. But either way he's a guy who refuses not to get a reaction and I respect that. This match was fun, there's not a ton to it, but there doesn't really need to be. I think the loose brawling structure lends to that IWAMS vibe too and I'm not mad about that one bit.