[2015-08-15-LDN Wrestling] Clive Myers vs Johnny Kidd

[Ma Stump Puller]

A REALLY good match, which is shocking given Clive Myers was 69 here! Dude was doing arm wrench rolls and leg takedowns like he'd never stopped despite the fact he'd not been wrestling since the 90's. Of course there's a lot of that classic WoS comedy as well, which might turn some off. Me personally, it was used effectively and never went over the top to the point of negating the stakes of the match. There's also some expected sloppiness given, well, both men are pretty old here, so the more speedy stuff can come off pretty rough and tumble. That being said, the work in general is well done despite their limitations, with Kidd getting in some pretty awesome bits of just technically dominating Myers but letting his guard down and playing the usual prat-faller otherwise. Myers obviously does fumble a bit given the old lad is almost 70 here but at the same time he really gets his role as a smart-working old man of the sport who can still pull off the tricky stuff when needed. He does this weird version of a Figure Four where he bends the other leg and steps on it while doing the move, like I've never seen that before and it still looks awesome. He also escapes a leg vice by placing his foot on Kidd's face before moving his whole body back and slapping the leg to make it look like he did it with the force of the sit-up; generally you would never see that in a match these days, but somehow it works here.

Kidd keeps trying for the second fall after taking the first with a backslide, but gets desperate and tries leap-frogging the ref to ambush his opponent before getting countered with a good school boy roll-up to even things out between the pair. They go into a "sprint" (though you'd be hard pressed to consider it as such) but fair credit to the two for making it pretty tense, ultimately Myers finally gets the win with a great slap-kick to the stomach and a rolling bodyscissors. Myers gets a standing ovation after the fact, which is well deserved given his performance here: the guy while having some obvious issues with speed and timing is still a pretty good worker who can bump and move around, and he works his aspect of the match as a smart vet real well. It's a bit bonkers to see him seamlessly get back into the groove of things despite sme fumbles. Kidd also makes him look as good as possible while working a good foil; he's also technically talented but he puts that to the side mostly to make Myers the star of the show, which he doesn't need much to do with but still. Probably one of the best 60+ year old performances I've seen so far and generally a great footnote to end Myers' career with, quite solid.