[2019-04-04-Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow 2019] Shane Strickland vs Zack Sabre Jr

[paul sosnowski]

Talk about it here

[Bix]

What the fuck was that?

Obviously, going in I knew that this would be Great Technician Shane Strickland, a style he's way too insistent on working in spite of not being nearly as good at it as he when he's Workrate Indie Superstar Shane Strickland. But I didn't expect him to take a good 80% or more of the match. I have no clue where he got the idea that he should work like this in a regular basis, but it's made him significantly less enjoyable and I hope he returns to form in WWE. This completely lost the crowd, and with good reason.

[Beast]

Really enjoyed this. My first Strickland match and he impressed. The commentary by Excalibur and Kevin Kelly sold the story of Strickland being done in by his need to try and beat Sabre at his own game, but Sabre patiently waiting for Strickland to make a mistake. It was a slower pace than the previous matches on the SuperShow, helping it stand out in a positive way for me.

Biggest criticism I can give is that some of the holds, while looking effectively painful, required the opponent's cooperation in getting set up, but Sabre and Strickland were so great at telling their overall story that it didn't matter in the end.