Timothy Thatcher

[BillThompson]

NorthWest Wrestling Alliance: Unknown Event (04-05-2008) Dan Daniels vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

More early Thatcher, and hes still in the process of molding his style in this one. He works over Daniels' arm, but he's not as vicious as he later would be nor is his attack as focused as it would become. Still, the arm work is present, even if the destination point is missing. Even at this stage in Thatcher's career Daniels comes across as a prop more than anything else. He does have one wicket Lariat though, I'll give him that much. This match also features an early Thatcher spot that he has dropped, and I'm glad he did. He goes for a Small Package, and then Thatcher and his opponent roll back and forth and in circles while maintaining the Small Package position. An interesting idea in theory, but in execution it does very little to progress or add to the match.

[BillThompson]

PREMIER Wrestling: Cobb vs. Tannen (09-29-2013) Dylan Drake vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

A maddening match. The framework of a well worked match is present, but neither man is willing to fully commit to the gameplan of the other. Things start going south when Drake goes for a Dragon Screw Legwhip, but Thatcher isn't prepared so he bumps the wrong way for it. He still sells the move, but he makes Drake look pretty foolish in the execution. Drake's leg based offense has good intentions, but it's too soft and all over the place. He seems to think that yelling and then dropping to the mat should convince us that he's hurting Thatcher's leg despite it being all too obvious that Thatcher's leg was never in a position where Drake dropping down while grapevining it would hurt said leg. The idea of Drake working over both of Thatcher's legs is interesting, but it's poorly executed mainly due to Thatcher deciding to not sell the work. Thatcher hitting a Deadlift Gutwrench Suplex looks impressive, but it's pretty stupid considering he's supposed to barely be able to walk. The finish sums up the match nicely as Thatcher stops a Dragon Screw Legwhip attempt by basing out and then swiftly moves into a Cross Armbreaker. It's a sequence that looks great, but makes no sense as Thatcher hasn't worked over Drake's arm all that much, nor should he be able to base out with two supposedly severely damaged legs.

 

A bad performance from both men, but especially egregious from Thatcher as he is capable of so much better.

[BillThompson]

NorthWest Wrestling Alliance: Salem (03-21-2008) Paul Raze vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

Despite being earlier than the previous NWWA match I reviewed, Thatcher seems to have more of an idea of how to transition and tie his moves together in this match. It's all very slow so that Raze can keep up, but the methodology is more akin to present day Thatcher than green Thatcher. Thatcher is still getting there when it comes to bumping and selling for his opponent, but even in a match like this it's clear as day that he is operating on a different level than Raze when it comes to putting a match together and getting the ins and outs of a wrestling match. That's not to say that Thatcher is great here, because he's not, but it is interesting watching him put the pieces together while still struggling with aspects like movement, timing, how and when to amp it up, and so on and so forth.

[BillThompson]

All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (06-16-2012) Dave Dutra vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

This is for Thatcher's APW Universal Championship.

 

Pretty good match until it degenerates into nothing but finishing moves and nearfalls for the final couple of minutes. The camera is up close, right alongside the ring, and it really gives an indication of how much better Thatcher is than Dutra. I like Dutra, he's a good pro wrestler, but the camera reveals how much more snug, crisp, and stiff Thatcher is compared to Dutra. It also relays how Thatcher makes Dutra work for everything. That's something Thatcher does that I wish more wrestlers did today, there;s no easy transitions with him. At one point in the early going Dutra attempts a DDT out of nowhere and Thatcher sandbags him. It's not the point in the match for that and Thatcher makes him work to get into a better time and place within the match to hit such a move. A pretty good match, but a great showing for Thatcher who really shines with the camera up close enough to show in fine detail how smoothly rugged his transitions are, how hard hitting his offense is, how well he bumps, and so on and so forth.

[BillThompson]

All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (01-05-2013) Oliver John vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (07-15-2012) Mustafa Saed vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

This is a two out of three falls match.

 

Uh, yeah, bringing in Mustafa is bad enough, but bringing him in to wrestle a ten minute best two out of three falls match, that's just asking for terribleness. And terrible this is; Mustafa lumbers around throws some awful looking strikes and a few times times bumps for something Thatcher throws. But essentially this is Thatcher placating the bigger star who is appearing for a lot of money and thus the promoters want him to go over. The end result is a match that is nothing like a Thatcher match, and one where he is made to look pathetic.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: St. Peter's Hall (07-29-2007) Kassy Summers & Timothy Thatcher vs. Honor Society (Drake Frost & Sir Samurai)

 

This is an Intergender Barefoot Thumbtack match for the Honor Society's Tag Team Championship.

 

A bag of legos also becomes involved at some point, along with lighter fluid and trays of hot sauce. It's all pretty ridiculous, and pretty awful, but it's interesting to see Thatcher function in such a match. Any pretense of him being classically trained is tossed out the window and he takes on the tough guy role of tossing dudes into piles of thumbtacks. But man, does he ever bump, and that's where Thatcher shows versatility in this match. He's thrown into the thumbtacks, misses a Double Stomp and lands right in the thumbtacks, and does the lion's share of the work for his team. He's still not able to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, but, as previously stated, it is an interesting watch nonetheless.

[BillThompson]

Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: Unknown Event (02-10-2103) Timothy Thatcher vs. Willie Mack

 

This is for Mack's CWH Television Championship.

 

A match that is okay, but brings up an interesting talking point. Thatcher works over Mack's arm the first opening he gets, but by the end of the match Mack has largely ignored all of the work. Now, I'm usually one to put the blame on the person selling. Thatcher clearly and definitively worked over Mack's arm, and he should sell the injured arm throughout. However, in a setting like this versus a wrestler like Mack maybe working the arm is putting Mack in a bad spot. He needs to get in his stuff and pop the crowd, it's an indie crowd who wants their entertainment and that means Mack hitting his spots. Maybe the onus should be on Thatcher to vary his gameplan and wrestle a less limb focused match? I don't know, I still find myself thinking that Mack should sell, but it's food for thought either way.

 

As to the match itself, it's okay I guess. There are patches that are hard to see, but they are minor. I can see the charisma that Mack possesses, but I'm not sold on him as a complete package yet. Thatcher does his thing, he looks good doing it, but Mack shrugs it all of and makes his big comeback to pop the crowd.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (03-18-2012) Rik Luxury vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

Missed chunks of this thanks to two dudes standing in front of the camera. That's okay though because what I could see was pretty good. Luxury had the spot of the match when he and Thatcher engaged in the no-sell German spot. Luxury hit a German, Thatcher no sold and hit one of his own. Luxury popped up and yelled attempting to no sell but instead he yelled "shit" grabbed his back and hit the floor. It was quite the humorous spot, although I suppose it does kind of stick out in a match that is otherwise serious and hard hitting. Luxury appears to have some decent strikes and hits his moves with snap. Thatcher is able to be very physical with Luxury, and he really lays into his European Uppercuts. I'm willing to peg the match as good with a well done hard hitting performance from Thatcher, but I would have liked to have been able to see the whole thing.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (12-11-2011) Sal Thomaselli vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

Up until the last three or so minutes I really liked this match. It's still good, but man do those final few minutes suck the life out of the joint.

 

An angle opens things up, as Thomaselli bitches about Thatcher not being able to beast him clean, and then Thatcher surprises him with a Schoolboy for the quick pin. Crowd pops big for that, and is really into it when Thatcher agrees to keep going to prove he can beat Thomaselli another time. Of course this is turned around on Thatcher as Thomaselli takes every opening he sees to turn this into a brawl. In the fray Thatcher hurts his arm and Thomaselli is all over that hurt arm. He essentially pulls a Thatcher as he beats the crap out of Thatcher's arm. Lots of interesting work from Thomaselli, and Thatcher in on point with his short term selling.

 

Thatcher has a fiery comeback, including a hard Lariat that I can't recall him using before or since (which is a shame because it would make a good addition to his repertoire). Up until this point the match has been really great, and very compelling. It remains compelling, and the audience seems to love the final couple of minutes, but Thatcher's use of his arm pretty much lost me.

 

At first Thatcher goes for his really dumb London Bridge is Falling Down (which is essentially a Twirl Reverse STO), which I'm glad he's dropped in his recent work. The first try is fine, as he can't execute the move because of his damaged arm. However, after Thomaselli hits a Spinning Fisherman's Buster Thatcher goes for his move again, and connects. He then moves into the Thatcher Stretch, again putting all the torque on his injured arm. A few more back and forth moves that ignore all of Thomaselli's limb work, and then Thatcher latches on the Thatcher Stretch again for the submission. The crowd seems very happy, and I wish I could be too, but Thatcher is pretty awful in the final few minutes of the match.

 

A lot of limb work that doesn't factor into the ending and is ultimately ignored doesn't make me a happy camper. Thomaselli and Thatcher looked great for the first twelve minutes, then the final three happened and they looked pretty bad. Hitting move after move for a bunch of nearfalls does nothing for me when it ignores everything that has come before. Thomaselli seems like a decently talented chap, but him and Thatcher should have provided a much better match.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (11-19-2011) Timothy Thatcher vs. Sir Samurai vs. Bobby Hart vs. Rik Luxury

 

This is a Four Way match.

 

Not much I can say about this match, as a lot of stuff happens but none of it means a thing. I'm not sure why SPW uses the stupid tag in-tag out rules for their four man matches, but they really hamper any build or suspense behind everything up until the actual finish. To that end Thatcher does a lot of his usual stuff, but it matters not because nothing in the match matters.

[BillThompson]

Pro Wrestling Bushido: Warriors Way Tournament '12 (04-29-2012) Johnny Goodtime vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

This is for Thatcher's PWB Heavyweight Championship.

 

One of those matches where a lot of it is great, but a lot of it is hard to see. There's a large outside the ring segment in the middle of the match, as well as two over the top rope bumps, where I couldn't see a thing. Not a negative against the work, but I can only go off of what I can see. What I could see was pretty great though. Goodtime is an interesting talent, he's really energetic and moves around the ring with great agility for a guy his size. At times this creates problems as his body is slow in catching up with what he's going for, such as a Side Headlock Takedown where he almost spikes Thatcher on his head. Still, Goodtime makes for an interesting match, because he has a physicality and presence that guys like Dutra lack, and he can really bring the fight to Thatcher.

 

This time out Thatcher's leg is being worked over, and Gooditme goes after it in interesting ways. One such way is a Stretch Muffler Sharpshooter. Highlight of the leg work has to be Thatcher's attempts to climb the ropes. His leg shakes the entire time, he struggles just to make it to the middle rope, and he easily falls off the ropes. It's a small thing, but a sequence like that is what makes me really find Thatcher to be a superb worker.

 

Anyways, there's a spirited rally to the finish, and that's really the only place where the visible part of the match falters. I still don't completely but the Thatcher Stretch as an out of nowhere finisher. Maybe I'll come around on it at some point, but not yet. Him using it here after not having worked over Goodtime's arm since the opening minutes of the match rings false.

 

Good match though, with great selling and a great all around performance from Thatcher.

[BillThompson]

Pro Wrestling Bushido: Warriors Rising (08-26-2012) Johnny Goodtime vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

This is for Thatcher's PWB Heavyweight Championship.

 

The bloom comes off the rose for Goodtime in this encounter. It becomes pretty clear in this one that outside of his energetic athleticism he doesn't have a whole lot to offer. There's no selling or bumping that is noteworthy, and his ability to connect with the crowd is put to the test when his more athletic spots and energetic mannerisms don't have much of an effect on said crowd. Luckily Thatcher is on top of his game here, recognizing early on that he has to do a mite of carrying this time around, and that's what he does. He keeps Goodtime's time on offense to brief spurts, which helps to make his limited offense mean more. Unfortunately, a problem with that is Thatcher does a lot of limb work, but Goodtime isn't really interested in effective selling. Overall this is what I would call a decent popcorn match, it is good from time to time, but doesn't leave much of an impact. Though it was fun to see Thatcher take control of a match and bring a guy back from the brink of completely losing the crowd.

[BillThompson]

Sacramento Wrestling Federation: Ring Warriors Revenge (10-06-2012) Oliver John vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (Unknown Date) Timothy Thatcher vs. Drake Younger

 

Younger strikes me as a guy who sees something done in a ring, decides it's cool, and then has to do it in his match. There's no rhyme or reason for most of the stuff he pulls out in this match. Silly Throat Thrusts, sure toss em out in the middle of a running the rope sequence for no discernible reason. Northern Lights Suplex out of nowhere, why not? Better yet, mug to the crowd and lock in a Muta Lock, because that makes the least sense of all. Basically, Younger isn't a good professional wrestler in this match. Maybe he's better at other times, but he's downright awful here. I don't even know why he bothers letting Thatcher do any arm work, because he continually shrugs it off at random so he can do some more yelling and bad pro wrestling. This is very much the Younger show too, as he takes a lot of the match for himself and doesn't really give Thatcher much of anything to work with. Problem is everything Younger does is bad, and thus the match is equally bad.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (09-18-2011) Honor Society (Sir Samurai & Timothy Thatcher) vs. Faction (El Flaco Loco, Paul Isadora, & Sal Thomaselli)

 

This is a Handicap match.

 

Pretty much a nothing match. This exists to get Isadora over as a monster killer. There's one key problem with that, Isadora is not a competent monster. He's wooden, slow, and his every movement is a chore to sit through. Samurai and Thatcher try to put him over big time, but there's only so much they can do with such a stiff. As for Thatcher himself, he has one nice hot tag segment but otherwise he blends into the background for most of the match. It's not really his match so I can't fault him for that, but still, this isn't a feather in his cap or anything.

[BillThompson]

PREMIER Wrestling: Kratos vs. Dutra (11-22-2014) Joe Graves vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.

Reviewed at Free Pro Wrestling.

 

World Wrestling Network: A Wrestling Odyssey (04-04-2014) Timothy Thatcher vs. Drew Gulak

 

Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.

[BillThompson]

EVOLVE Wrestling: 31 (08-08-2104) Timothy Thatcher vs. Drew Gulak

 

Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.

[shoe]

I thought I'd move my thoughts to here from Modern Indie Wrestling.

 

I got the Evolve show and overall thought it was a good show. The Ricochet vs. Timothy Thatcher match is worth taking a look at. Bell to bell they got 17 minutes and I wanted at least 3 to 5 more minutes to really flesh out the finish. I thought the body of the match was really well done. We get a feeling out process to start. Thatcher works different holds looking for a chink in the armor. He finds it and goes after the arm. Thatcher is great at destroying the arm with crisp, hurty looking arm locks. The key spot is we get a modified divorce court on the ring apron. Now Thatcher is a shark here destroying the arm. Ricochet does a solid to good job selling his arm. He was great at reaction selling to the arm. Thatcher got a good 8-10 minutes of working over Ricochet with some hope spots mixed in. Ricochet is in control and is using assorted kicks and high flying . He has Thatcher reeling.In the spot of the match Ricochet goes up for a 450 or something and Thatcher catches him in a Fujiwara armbar. Ricochet escapes, and we get the finish that felt kinda rushed. 3 3/4* I really want a rematch between these guys.Some people might feel Thatcher took too much of the bout. I didn't feel that way

[van_Fair]

I really liked the Thatcher vs Ricochet match from Evolve 37.

 

Is it just me or did Thatcher look a bit bulkier than normal. He towered over Ricochet and I think it helped the match a lot. This was quite literally a clash of styles. The so called Future of flight against a guy who is almost exclusively mat based wrestling. Thatcher like always did a great job working the arm and Ricochet did a good job selling it. At first it seemed weird that he worked the arm and not the legs, since you would assume he would try to keep the flyer grounded. But it made sense as the match went along and Thatcher kept locking in the Fujiwara armbar. It also had the advantage that Ricochet could continue doing his high flying stuff without having to no sell. The reversal of the moonsault into the Fujiwara armbar was a thing of beauty and could have made me think it was the finish, If I didn't knew that Ricochet was going to challenge for the Evolve title at the next show.

 

As a side note: They had a wretched crowd. Completly dead for most of the match, but to be fair it wasn't their fault since the crowd was dead for most of the night.

[Phil Schneider]

I didn't love that match, I thought it was a little fish nor fowl. Ricochet was a little too grounded to break out too many cool spots, and Thatcher was limited by having to work around Ricochet's limits on the ground. Though both guys had better matches the next night

[BillThompson]

EVOLVE Wrestling: 32 (08-09-2014) Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick

 

This is a match in the EVOLVE Wrestling 2014 Style Battle Round Robin Challenge Tournament.

 

I liked this a lot, but it fell just short of being great. It's really, really good though. The early hand manipulation by Thatcher is really something, just the way he visibly wrenches Busick's wrist and makes it seem like he's really grinding down on Busick and damaging his body. Thatcher's also great with facial expressions, the looks of disdain he gives when Busick escapes holds is a real treat. For his part Busick is crisp as well, although his offense was a little too unfocused for my liking. My biggest gripe with the match was the stop-start nature of stretches of it. For as much chemistry as these two have it felt like they weren't on the same page a lot. Still, though this would be around a ***3/4 match, and that's still a darn good match in my book.

[BillThompson]

EVOLVE Wrestling: 33 (08-10-2014) Timothy Thatcher vs. James Raideen

 

This is a match in the EVOLVE Wrestling 2014 Style Battle Round Robin Challenge Tournament.

 

Raideen is very limited as a wrestler. He has some nice Chops, but that's about it. Luckily this was kept very short, and Thatcher pretty much got the best possible match out of Raideen. Lots of rudimentary stuff, and a lot of hand holding from Thatcher. In the end there's only so much he can do with such a limited wrestler, but he manages to get the most out of what Raideen can do. Not a terrible match, which is a testament to Thatcher;s ability to guide Raideen, but merely a passable match.

[BillThompson]

EVOLVE Wrestling: 34 (09-13-2014) Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Timothy Thatcher

 

Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.

[BillThompson]

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (12-18-2011) Sir Samurai, Virgil Flynn, Mike Hayashi, Bobby Hart, & Timothy Thatcher vs. Faction (Sal Thomaselli, Cjay Kurz, Paul Isadora, & Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend))

 

This is an elimination match.

 

Frankly put, a lot of this match is dead weight. Because of that it's very rarely good as for the most part the guys who can work are stuck in the ring with the dead weight. There's also a decided lack of flow or purpose behind the match, and it really shows. It ends up being a bunch of guys hitting moves and throwing strikes without meaning or import, and that stuff in a vacuum isn't interesting to me. Thatcher isn't in this that often, but he does pretty good in a long selling segment he gets. That's about it though, as his participation overall is very minimal and he adds very little to the match. Essentially this is a match that can easily be skipped.