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[2019-10-26-OTT-Fifth Year Anniversary] Jordan Devlin vs David Starr


paul sosnowski

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Unlike their first encounter this year, this definitely trended towards the melodramatic and overambitious. In many ways, it reminds me of Punk vs. Cena in that the real asset here was the crowd. Where Punk and Cena wrestled a mostly fundamentally sound match though, Starr and Devlin up the intensity and go for big emotional setpieces in line with everything OTT's done from WALTER-Starr at WrestleRama onwards. Tonally, it fit what OTT's been doing but I couldn't help but feel that some goodness was left on the table and sacrificed to the need to "tell a story" as opposed to just work a match. But they laid everything in and the tension was there for the most part. The emotion was definitely there and the crowd came along with them the whole way through. Hard to complain too much when the right person wins and the crowd is in love with the action. A flawed match but a great match nonetheless.

****1/2

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The atmosphere they create surpasses Joe Vs Kobashi. The hype package, the entrances and the ring introductions are some of the best ever. They start the match with a tackle and a scrap and the room erupts. Starr is still able to work some of his technical stylings and it doesn't look a hair out of place. They take a tumble outside and they actually manage to pull off a convincing countout tease spot. The boxing segment worked exceptionally well, but I thought the match's cracks started to show when Starr started licking Delvin's blood from his hands. Starr is a tad of a hammy actor and they get a little bit too melodramatic and self-indulgent with the story telling. All of the hi-jinks with the referee and the belt were a bit too much for me. Despite all this,  I was on edge of my seat, wanting to find out what would happen next. The ending comes out of nowhere and the crowd go ballistic. This is an excellent match, that could been a serious contender for one of the greatest matches ever if they just managed to put a lid on the over-dramatic and self-indulgent stuff. 

★★★★½

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