Match of the Week 3/10 - 3/16: Chicky Starr vs Invader #3 - Scaffold Match

[Matt D]

Will's match.

 

To me, the best part about the PR I've seen is how well they utilize the gimmicks at the center of the gimmick matches. I'm not a violence junkie. I'm not a vampire. But if i'm watching a gimmick match, I want the gimmick to matter, and I want it to matter logically. Well, there's no real way they can't make this gimmick matter; look at how high up the scaffold is. Look at how that thing rocks. Look at how they're not afraid to take bumps on it. Holy crap.

 

The story is real simple. Invader #3 is stronger in every way. He'll bite, punch, stomp, and keep going back to a front facelock for control. Chicky comes back with low blows and eyerakes and tries his own punch/kick/stomping. One guy dangles his legs off the side. The other one dangles his legs off the side. Invader breaks out a suplex and a snap mare and this crazy dropkick. Chicky does some great rabbit punches and bleeds a lot.

 

It ends with Chicky thinking he's won it but Invader hanging on and them then reversing the hanging on spot, but it doesn't go nearly as well for Starr. His bump is ridiculously terrible looking. Just a straight down feet first jamming.

 

This was a really logical match because it almost couldn't not be. At the same time I've seen some crummy scaffold matches and this kept things moving and there was an incredible sense of danger at every point. Every stomp was amplified by it to a huge degree and I think they realized that. The couple of big spots they did (Dropkick, suplex, slam position) would be next to nothing in any other match but here they were nuts, but none of them seemed out of place or overly sensational. The finish worked because of Chicky's bleeding. I could totally buy that he looked down and couldn't see the ground well. They were that high up.

 

Learning from my mistakes of last time I watched the singles match and Stick on a Pole (pole on a stick?) matches that are available too. That helped me have some context and I actually liked the "on a pole" match a lot. I guess it has a bad rep, but it was another match where they were really working the gimmick and jockeying for position.