ShittyLittleBoots Posted April 23, 2017 Report Share Posted April 23, 2017 Starts off with some awesome mat work, love watching these 2 go at it - eventually Thatcher gains the advantage, and we get a super awesome control segment w/ him working over Riddle. Thatcher on the offense was a thing of beauty, loved watching him lay those knees in & lock those submissions. Riddle is really good working from under - he gets some awesome hope spots in including almost hitting Thatcher with the Bro To Sleep only for Thatcher to counter it into a Fujiwara Armbar. LOVE IT. If there's a better opening match on any card this year, I'd be surprised. ****1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul sosnowski Posted April 26, 2017 Report Share Posted April 26, 2017 Boots.....I will admit I haven't watched last weekend's Evolve shows yet. But if you are telling me that Riddle vs Thatcher 4 1/2**** Keith Lee vs O'Reilly 4 3/4**** Yehi vs O'Reilly 4 3/4**** Rush vs Sabre 4 3/4**** Riddle vs Galloway 4 1/2**** These must be the best shows of the year by far!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted April 26, 2017 Report Share Posted April 26, 2017 Good match here to start the weekend. It was smart to get this out of the way first since Tim was heading elsewhere. I don't think these two have yet to have the mat controlled, long form classic that they could have but this was maybe their closest effort. The ground work here played well into the escalation of the match overall and it was a definitive first defense by Riddle for the WWN title. ***1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShittyLittleBoots Posted April 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2017 Boots.....I will admit I haven't watched last weekend's Evolve shows yet. But if you are telling me that Riddle vs Thatcher 4 1/2**** Keith Lee vs O'Reilly 4 3/4**** Yehi vs O'Reilly 4 3/4**** Rush vs Sabre 4 3/4**** Riddle vs Galloway 4 1/2**** These must be the best shows of the year by far!!! I do think that these have been the best shows of the year so far. In particular 83 is definitely my #1 right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap Posted April 26, 2017 Report Share Posted April 26, 2017 I honestly didn't like this one as much. I thought it was good in that it set a tone and everything was fairly well executed, but this was very much a Riddle showcase in a way. it never really felt like he was in danger to me. We never got to the next level grittiness of Thatcher's best stuff. I still liked it, but I gave it what Soup did, ***1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted April 26, 2017 Report Share Posted April 26, 2017 Solid match that like most Riddle outings doesn't go too long. Thatcher is very much hit or miss for me, and this was an occasion where his intensity and style added to a match, in no small part because it didn't get bogged down in killing time. Force him to work a pace and borrow a page from Brian Cage's Mr. GMSI gimmick and you have a really effective heel. Not a particularly great match but that wasn't what they were going for as this felt more like a character showcase for both to play their roles. ***1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puropotsy Posted May 9, 2017 Report Share Posted May 9, 2017 I would have liked to see it go a little longer but man this was great. Riddle was in a role of having surpassed Thatcher but still had to duke it out with him here. Great technical wrestling. **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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