Tuck Everybody

The Tuckman VS Damian Slater - World-Beater Wrestling Chain Wrestling Flow Roll

CJD: And we're back! And right off the bat we're getting weird here. I watched a couple of Tuckman matches and had a backup if you didn't think this counts as a pro wrestling match. Honestly it's borderline. I sure ain't finding a date for this one on cagematch. This is what some circles of the internet refer to as a "grapplefuck," and I can see why this style of wrestling is silly to some people. It definitely works better layered into a match with different peaks and valleys. Guys like Danielson and ZSJ obviously excel at that. But it was so refreshing seeing someone as young as The Tuckman honing his craft against a veteran in Slater. A veteran I'm totally unfamiliar with! We're covering a lot of new ground for me these days, which is something about Play It Forward I'll always love. This is such an easy watch that even if you had decided you'd rather switch to a more traditional match, I don't mind forcing you to spend 5 minutes on a prime specimen of the fine art of grapplefucks. I don't mind one bit.

JJZ: This is really fucking interesting. It was calming to watch this. Everything so was smooth and fluid. And zero talking. Just weaving in and out of chain wrestling. Damian Slater is someone new to me also but he seems like he knows what he is doing. Makes me think that's what the NXT kids see when they started getting trained by Robbie Brookside or Johnny Saint. This is 100 percent what play it Forward is all about. I'd love to know which wrestlers watch this to get ideas. Like was Ren Narita at the NJPW Dojo watching this to pull out shit during the Young Lions cup. Very happy with this!

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.