The Edition
By Daniel Taylor
Welcome readers to the second issue of The Edition. This issue instead of finishing off the column I’ve been working on, I decided to follow in Nate’s footsteps and write a match review. But then I was left with a little problem – what match would I review? There were so many I wanted to review, but I choose instead to review not only one of my top five matches of all time, but one of the most technically sound matches I have had the pleasure of watching. This match is of course the battle between one of Britain’s greatest exports ‘The Anarchist’ Doug Williams and one of my favourite wrestlers currently working in the United States – American Dragon. If you haven’t seen the event and want to be surprised, I guess you shouldn’t read the review as it is a tournament, and it might ruin the finish for you, but if you don’t mind I hope you enjoy my views. Comments and opinions are welcome, in fact I’d appreciate them, so don’t hesitate contacting me.
Before we start, I suppose I should explain my grading system. I use a star system, much like that used by Stu Max does over at the Wrestling Viewpoint, however my system is much more relaxed seeing as I haven’t seen nearly as much wrestling as he has. My reviews also may seem a little off occasionally, as I am somewhat of a Deathmatch Mark, and I actually shamefully find Wifebeater/Zandig matches entertaining *shudders*. But I hope you do enjoy my thoughts, no matter how different that may seem. Now, to the match!
Doug Williams heads down to the ring to the surprising support for ‘The Anarchist’. You could put this down to the fact that Williams is wrestling on a complete other continent to his home country of England, thus the fans haven’t seen his heel work overseas. American Dragon noticeably limps down the ramp to cheers with his ‘No Self-Esteem’ theme blaring. Dragon impressed a lot of the fans the night before with his match with Spanky, which I consider the best match from the first day. The two head into the ring and the referee checks each man for weapons or things hidden in their tights, and gives them the low-down on the rules before the bell rings, and we’re off!
The two circle each other around, jockeying for position. They each try a few little soft swings at each others feet before locking up in the center. Dragon snaps on an arm breaker and wrenches it as Williams screams in pain. Dragon hits a take down, still holding onto the arm breaker and continues to wrench on the arm. Williams hits a kip-up, then counters the arm breaker with a roll into a ankle submission. Williams focuses on Dragon’s injured ankle from his match the day before as he pulls and tugs on Dragon’s leg and ankle, but Dragon struggles to the ropes quickly thus breaking the hold.
The two walk off their sore arm and leg respectively, before tying up again in the center of the ring. Dragon locks in a side headlock, but Williams shrugs him off into a whip into the ropes. Dragon comes back and goes for a shoulder block, but Williams stands his ground. The two stare at each other, with Williams talking some trash, before Dragon runs into the ropes. Dragon comes back, but slides under Williams and hits a Japanese leg drag. Both men up, Dragon with the leg take over. He holds on and hits a few elbows to the upper leg and a few leg wrenches. The two trade some stiffish punches. They sell pretty well for each other. Williams eventually counters into his own leg submission, once again focussing on Dragon’s injured ankle. Dragon scrambles to the ropes.
Both men to their feet, and Dragon strikes first with a leg take down. He focuses on Williams’ calves again with stiff kicks and another leg submission similar to what Dragon’s been focussing on the entire match thus far. Williams counters with a bridge, and maneuvers (don’t ask me how) into a beautiful sunset flip for a two count. Dragon is back up quickly and hits another leg takedown/submission combo. Williams tries to counter with chokes and some headlocks using his forearms. Dragon’s shoulders both touch the mat for a one count. Williams maneuvers into a schoolboy like position for two. Dragon tries to break the lock with stiff kicks to ‘The Anarchist’s’ calves, before locking in tighter for leg submission. The two both try to break each others submissions with kicks, before rolling out onto the floor. Both guys slowly get to their feet and are back in the ring by the count of five or six.
The two head in for a test of strength in the lockup, but Dragon hits another stiff kick to Williams’ calve. He stiffs it again, and goes for another but this time Williams catches Dragon’s leg and spins him around, before hitting a BIG clothesline that slams Dragon down onto the mat. Williams gets a two count. He picks Dragon up and whips him into the ropes for a back elbow, before a beautiful gutwrencher suplex for a two count just as the five minute warning goes. Williams throws some stiff uppercuts, before whipping Dragon into the corner. ‘The Anarchist’ locks in from behind. Dragon tries to counter with elbows, but Williams ducks and his a picture perfect northern lights suplex to bridge for a VERY close two count. Williams is back up with a few knee drops and stomps, before picking Dragon up and hitting a few uppercuts. He whips Dragon into the corner, but is met with a high kick to the chin, followed by a spinning drop kick as the crowd comes to life with “Dragon, Dragon, Dragon” chants.
Dragon slips around the back of Williams and locks in a full nelson and tries for a dragon suplex, but Williams throws him off his back onto the mat. Williams runs full steam at Dragon, but Dragon avoids the speeding Brit, but ‘The Anarchist’ jumps onto the ropes and hits an absolutely beautiful swinging DDT for a big guy on a smaller man. Williams locks in a crossface, but it’s too close to the ropes and Dragon is basically on the ropes immediately.
Both guys are up and Dragon works his way into back lockup. He goes for a suplex, but is blocked twice, before stiffing Williams and hitting a nice (even if it is a little sloppy) leg-swinging snap suplex. Dragon grabs Williams and locks in a full nelson, but it’s countered to a back lock. Williams runs Dragon into the corner, rolls back and ends up on top of Dragon in a roll up position for two.
Both guys get up and trade STIFF chops, uppercuts and punches that had me cringing. Williams bounces off the ropes and takes Dragon down with a BIG right forearm. The crowd let out a chorus of “OHHHH”s as Williams collapses, exhausted.
Williams makes his way to his feet and hits another picture perfect bridging northern lights suplex. Amazing that Williams can still hit these beautiful northern lights suplex’s after such a stiff, hard match. This suplex gets another two count. Williams goes for some more uppercuts, but Dragon counts. Two stiff kicks, followed up a by a dragon suplex for two. Dragon double-underhook’s Williams on the mat and goes over into the bridge for an amazing submission move! Williams yells in pain, before giving up! Dragon breaks off the submission as the referee raises his arm before collapsing to the mat, as the crowd give them a standing ovation. Both struggle to their feet and embrace in a true show of sportsmanship. Dragon badly limps off to the back, bleeding from the mouth from a number of the stuff shots as the crowd chants his name.
The match lasted 9:30, and there were no real slow spots. The match was a high speed mat centered bout, in which both wrestlers gave and took their fair share of punishment. Both guys in the beginning singled out parts of the opponent’s body and focused in on them – Dragon’s ankle was targeted, as were Williams’ calves and upper legs. Overall I really enjoyed this match, and popped big time when Williams submitted. Great stuff from both guys. ****1/2
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