Lanny Poffo vs. Ron Garvin, ICW early 80s-ish
Fiercely
competitive match which felt really unique. Theatrics or contrived
spots were almost completely absent, so compared to wrestling these days
this felt like UWF. There were also no lengthy hold segments but
several fighting scrambles. We start with Garvin leveling a merciless
beating on Poffo. Poffos litheness and scrambling and bridging out of
pin attempts was impressive. Very nice moment where Poffo tries to grab
Garvins legs as he slides into the ring and Garvin sprawls out and goes
for a small package. Poffo is able to hit a random punch to the body
which Garvin sells like Volk Han would sell a body punch in a RINGS
match, which essentially resets the match. You could argue that may have
been a bit too easy, but it established that the momentum could shift
at any moment and a continued beatdown probably would've gotten boring.
There was a moment where Poffo kept going for pins on Garvin, trying to
find the right angle, before Garvin muscles him off. Poffo immediately
goes for a front headlock as Garvin looks to get up, so Garvin picks him
up and slams him into the corner before beating the fuck out of him.
That felt more real and epic than any turnbuckle move I've seen in a
long time. Garvins beatings got even more brutal and intense as the
match continued. He was really ripping up Poffo with chops and kicks to
the midsection. Poffo had one slightly goofy standing moonsault, but
other than that he knew what to do. When Poffo was able to bang Garvins
head into the steel post the match turned epic. Poffo continueing to
work his bleeding, loopy opponent by further cracking his head against
the steel and staying on him with gnarly punches and boots while Garvin
kept firing back with his brutal offense was really fucking good. Garvins comeback headbutt has to be one of the sickest of all time. Poffo
angling with his legs under Garvins shoulder to roll him up when Garvin
tried to kill him with kneedrops was such a sweet moment that most
dipshits with a "technical wrestler" gimmick would never think of doing.
Also, extremely well-timed sleeper hold spot. This was some really fucking good pro wrestling.
Opening 10 minutes or so were basic but very intensely wrestled. Lots of fierce fighting over holds. Once again, Rogers bridging and twisting out of holds and pin attempts was really cool. They teased a cage bump early, so both guys ended up being more cautious. After some good weardown work involving Lanny taking some hard bumps into the corners, we get a pretty epic second half with both guys punishing each other with punches and headbutts. Poffo also hit these really brutal looking FUTEN-esque knees to the back of Rogers heads which I didn't expect. Due to the high stakes and both guys selling in a big way, it felt a bit like the US version of a the ending of a lucha de apuestas which is on the money considering this was also a hair match. Rogers headbutts were nasty, I just wish we had seen some blood but that may have been due to the video quality, at one point he definitely seemed to be working over Poffos eye. Poffo hitting a punch flat on Rogers nose was amazing and by far the highlight of the match. Cage bumps felt pretty epic, especially the crazy slingshot bump into the face, as well as Poffo getting his leg caught under the steel and flying into Rogers knee. Nice, feel good finish. For a match with epic scope using mostly basic moves this was quite great.
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