(photo credit to GD Photography.)
This was for Gunns’ WXW Shotgun Title.
If you’ve seen this match before, you will never forget either the match itself, or at worst, a few minute stretch in it.
Before that though, and independent of maybe the spot? idea? segment? of the year, it is kind of just a fun little efficient midcad match between two guys who, on paper, maybe do not match up all that well, and another piece of proof from this show of how you really ought to just wait and see sometimes. These two do not immediately match up on paper, with Gunns being more of a character guy at this point despite having a few great matches to his name, and Bailey being all action. Both are really good at their specific things, but not so much historically when they try and overlap, especially when one considers Gunn’s penchant for arm work and Bailey’s less-than-perfect selling in limb-focused matches. It’s not to say that this looked like total shit on paper, so much as that a bridge had to be made somewhere, and neither of these two had proven to be all that great at or all that interested in building bridges.
Sometimes all you need is one good idea to build that bridge though, relieving either man of the responsibility on their own.
Or rather, sometimes you need one really really really really fucking great idea.
To be clear, it is not perfect.
Mike and Bobby get a little scatter brained sometimes in terms of the arm work that Bobby Gunns puts in, Bailey is still not the world’s greatest seller in terms of a specific focus of a match, along with other real minor ass complaints here and there about some facials, the few bouts of shout-selling that the match maybe doesn’t earn in some moments (this especially doesn’t matter because they really really earn it in other moments), issues getting moving, not committing entirely to the one really cool thing they do.
None of this especially matters all that much.
When Gunns adds onto that arm work by not only bending Bailey’s pinky entirely backwards, but then uses his wrist tape to hold it there for a real good chunk of the match, all of those smaller complaints just have a way of rushing right out the back side of my head, as if they never existed in the first place.
It is both the coolest and grossest thing in the world at once.
(Hard to imagine why I love this match, I know.)
The idea alone would have elevated an already great match somewhat above its station, but it’s the work they add to it that does so much.
Bailey has it there for at least three or four minutes, and it makes every single thing a thousand times more interesting. Obviously, Gunns’ attacks on the hand in that position are way grosser now, a punt to the hand or wrist that clearly catches the bent pinky first are the most brutal part, but even regular attacks on the arm have way more weight to them like this. It also makes Bailey’s own attacks so much more dramatic and sympathetic. His inability to grab the ropes when he tries to climb or hook his hands for a Dragon Suplex feels more genuine because, fuck man, look at his hand.
There’s this stretch where he tries to throw palms with his right hand but Gunns keeps ducking and Bailey repeatedly almost falls over as a result of how weird the other side probably feels and/or how desperately he’s swinging, leading to him hitting Bobby with one from the left featuring the four fingered hand. Usually, that’s the sort of thing I hate to see, but in this moment, with this great a set up, there’s a real triumph to it, and to Bailey finally getting some distance from all this.
Bailey gets his finger free and does a few moves and nearfalls, disappointingly sort of giving in to what’s expected, but thankfully, it’s over before too long, allowing at leat for an idea this great to be close enough to the climax to still feel important. Gunns wins with a double armbar with his legs and a Stretch Muffler with the arms for good measure.
Again, it is maybe not the best finish in the world. Given the novelty of the match’s greatest feature, I would have preferred that playing more of a role, or alternatingly, Gunns reverting back to being a truly despicable goon when this fails, but it still works. You can buy Bailey having a real hard time getting out because of the messed up hand, and it doesn’t really hurt Gunns’ entire thing, because he is naturally scummy enough that there’s kind of a cap on how legitimate he can ever feel, in the best way possible. Good pro wrestling.
2018’s reigning and likely full-term leader in the what is the name of this blog awards.
HANDWERK 