Sami Callihan

[Phil Schneider]

Here is my live review of the awesome Callihan v. Finlay match

 

Sami Callihan v. Fit Finlay 7/26/11

This is why I took a bus to NYC and it delivered everything I wanted it to. Finlay was rocking orange and white gear, I am not sure whether that means he has converted to Protestantism, but I would really be into Apostate Finlay vs. soon to be released Mistico. Man does Finlay look like the baddest fucker in the world live, Barrel chest, thick forearms. He looks like a guy who owns a Belfast bar and once split a mouthy British soldiers head open with a pool cue. Sami comes right at him at the bell and he runs directly into the hardest forearm I have ever seen live. I thought that Finlay knocked him out cold, I would have been a little bummed to take a four hour bus ride for a seven second match, but it might have been worth it. The match goes from there with Sami getting in Finlay's face and paying for it. There is a great moment early when he slaps Finlay and Fit responds with a no hands bar fight headbutt. Sami fired back the best he could, he just blistered Finlay with chops to the throat, and hit a couple of big running kicks and his running forearm. Really cool story here with Callihan trying to earn Finlay's respect and Finlay making him earn it by kicking the shit out of him. There was this point where Callihan has Finlay in the corner, Finlay calls for the break and as the ref gets between them Fit kick Sami in the kneecap. Callihan responds by screaming something like "forget the cheapshots, lets go strike for strike and see who is toughest." Finlay responds by cheap shotting him in the knee again which was such a great "fuck your fake puro fighting spirit" moment. Finlay is here to kick ass and cash a check, he doesn't have shit to prove to anyone.

Finish run was perfect, Sami gets him to the floor and goes for his tope, Finlay dismissively walks away leaving Sami to fly throat first into the guard rail. He is fucked, but still sharp enough to trip Finlay when he was trying to get into the ring. Sami goes to the top, but gets swept off taking a big fall into the ring. Finlay hits a Celtic Cross, which Sami kicks out of. He is beaten but still flips Fit off, Finlay hits him with another Celtic Cross for two again. Sami can barely lift his body off the mat, but still flips the double bird to Finlay. At this point Sami looks like Patricia Arquette at the motel room in True Romance. Finlay finally lifts him up and absolutely plants Callihan with his awesome jumping tombstone for the three count. Fuck I had forgotten how beautiful Finlay's tombstone was. Just a great match, which I can't wait to watch again. Callihan has spent much of this year having good matches with chumps, I am glad he got to get in with someone above his level. Finlay is fucking back, which is the most exciting thing in wrestling in 2011, I want to watch every time he steps into a ring.

Post match Finlay gets on the mike and puts over Callihan as one of the toughest guys he has been in the ring with, with a raspy Lawrence Tierney voice which he attributes to Callihan's chops. Anthony and I decide to bail on Chuck Taylor v. Johnny Gargano and go eat some Bon Chon Chicken. It was a one match show for me, and that match totally delivered so no complaints for me. If EVOLVE books a rematch, they sell a ticket to me.

[Phil Schneider]

I said in 2014 Callihan would have to get released or make WWE TV to make my list, and he has gotten released and has been pretty great on the indies so far. His pair of EVOLVE tags are my two favorite matches of 2016 and I liked his Hero AAW singles a fair amount as well, this is going to be a pretty short run of stuff before the deadline, but I imagine it will get him on my list somewhere

[Childs]

His return to the indies is one of my favorite things in 2016 wrestling.

[Dylan Waco]

I loved the Sabre match live. Best use of dueling limb work I've seen in a while

[JRGoldman]

I think if you place heavy value on highest quality matches or if you place heavy value at being the representative of a style, Callihan should be a lock for a list. I think he has a top 10 that stacks up to just about any of his peers, and while the style itself may be looked down upon, his death match work is miles better than any actual US death match worker.

[El McKell]

A real mixed bag of a wrestler, terrible in his short WWE run, a deathmatch guy who isn’t good in deathmatches, I hate when he spits on his hand and I once saw him live and he broke a fan's umbrella for literally no reason. But when he’s on he delivers these very dynamic performances and he is something unique in a sea of cookie cutter US indie wrestlers. I liked his iron man match with Adam Cole when it happened like 10 years ago and I’m not gonna ruin memory of it by watching it again and hating it.

What I watched for this so far and my match ratings
Sami Callihan vs Danny Havoc (12/12/09) ***
Sami Callihan vs Fit Finlay (26/07/11) ***¾
Sami Callihan & Zack Sabre Jr vs Chris Hero & Tommy End (22/01/16) ****½
Sami Callihan vs Mike Bailey (03/02/16) **¼
Sami Callihan vs Pentagon Jr (22/06/18) ***