Hallowicked vs. Francis O’Rourke, WIA Supremacy (7/7/2013)

Sadly, the mat is not quite so wet this time.

This is perhaps not THE VERY BEST that these two can do against each other but it’s a sub fifteen minute match where every moment of the thing is really really good at minimum. Hard grappling, real mean striking, offense that all flowed perfectly and made sense, the whole works. The sort of match you’d turn on after reading “Hallowicked vs. Biff Busick” on a match listing somewhere and be incredibly satisfied with in the end. A match up with an incredibly high floor, so even a match like this that flies closer to floor than ceiling still feels great.

Biff wins with a Tazmission that’s dubbed THE FRANK CRANK.

Even while pretending to be dead, CHIKARA finds a way to get its hands on everything and make it just a little sillier for no real reason. Everybody always has to be this fucking CHIKARA version of themselves, it’s a real pleasure that Biff got out of this sort of sphere before the company actually made its proper comeback in mid 2014 and he got dragged into being mind controlled by a roving gang of frog birds from some place that only exists in a comic book.

Anyways, it’s Biff vs. Hallowicked, it doesn’t disappoint.

***

Drew Gulak vs. Francis O’Rourke, WIA Judgment Day (7/6/2013)

Again, Francis is Biff Busick’s bullshit little CHIKARA name because everyone has to be like some CHIKARA branded version of themselves. To go with that, one of the Batiri assholes is on the call with some non-descript goon and calls the entire match in a high pitched half-screeching voice. I can’t tell you to watch a match featuring that. I can’t. Some of you have given me money, there’s a trust here.

AND YET, IT’S BIFF VS. GULAK SO WHATEVER, YOU SHOULD WATCH IT.

The defining feature of this is not the grappling or them beating the god damned shit out of each other. That happens in every match. It’s why this is one of the great pairings of the decade, but it means that the presence of such things in any of their matches isn’t some novel thing to be blown away by. The thing here is actually that this match is conducted in the single sweatiest ring I’ve ever seen.

Next to wrestling shows to happen outside while it’s raining like the Okada/MiSu anniversary match in 2018 or Hogan vs. John Studd in Puerto Rico in 1985, I’ve never seen a wetter canvas. I can’t honestly remember other wrestling canvases that I would describe as wet at all, actually. It’s outright moist. It doesn’t help that this is July and there’s almost no way this building has AC,  so it gets worse and worse. Within like five minutes, the thing is covered and they’re slipping around when they run, they can barely climb the ropes, and it’s so wild to see from these two.

For the most part, it makes this way more interesting?!

There’s a recklessness to it now with them occasionally losing footing on suplexes and doing accidental head drops or falling into Lariats and landing in weird angles with them. I’m sure it was horrible to experience, it doesn’t seem like any fun at all. But it was a real blast to watch, and it’s a credit to these two that they were able to have the sort of match that such an environment only ever added to.

Every single Biff vs. Gulak match is a blast, and every single one of them is worth seeing. This is the rare one though that’s worth seeing for reasons beyond “it’s Biff vs. Drew, moron, watch it”.

But like seriously, it’s Biff vs. Drew, moron, watch it.

***1/4