Drew Gulak vs. Mark Andrews
It's so easy for these two to tell a good story w/ their in-ring styles. Gulak is a gritty grappler who hates flips, and Mandrews on the other hand does quite a bit of FLIPS. A pretty lovely dynamic, and they sure had a pretty damn fun match here - Gulak was really awesome all the way through from his first, brutal takedown on; loved how he owned Mandrews on the mat, and his matwork overall was really great. Mandrews makes some good, flippy comebacks, and eventually the match gets more & more intense as Gulak starts lightning Mandrews up with his very nice strikes. ***1/4
Keith Lee vs. Travis Banks
These two had some absolute BANGERS in PROGRESS a few years back, and while this one was never gonna reach the level of those ones, it was still really enjoyable. Simple formula of Keith Lee mauling Travis w/ his strikes & throwing him around, and Travis answering by being the aggressive little man he is, with his very good work fighting from underneath. They did an angle w/ his knee in some match earlier apparently, and I liked how it subtly came into play here with him not being able to be as fast with his combination set-ups as usual. Good stuff. ***1/4
Dominik Dijakovic vs. TJ Perkins
What a funky looking match up, in a very compelling way, and they sure delivered a very good one. There's a pretty big size difference between the two, so they went with the most obvious dynamic possible of Dijak dominating, and TJP having to fight from underneath. TJP brought some very nice, creative stuff in his comebacks, and I loved the arm targeting of his. That Armbar counter was so awesome. Dijak was really good too with his vicious work on top & selling of the arm. Impressive stuff by both men, and one helluva sub-10 minute match overall. ***1/2
Dominik Dijakovic vs. Tyler Bate
This was also real good. Dijak was very vicious throughout, even made some of the most simple & basic holds, that are often just restholds in matches, look absolutely amazing. Bate from underneath was awesome as well; he brought the energy, and I really liked some of the brief arm targeting he did in the beginning, and then during the finish. ***1/4
Drew Gulak vs. Jordan Devlin
Loved Devlin's aggression here; he borderline matches Gulak's viciousness on the mat, and that was pretty surprising. Gulak also kind of worked the match as a babyface, and he sure rocked that role very well against Devlin who was 100% the heel here. Good match. ***1/4
Jordan Devlin vs. The Velveteen Dream
Dream has his mid-section taped up, so that was the psychology of the match. Devlin was pretty awesome with his work over it - also loved his smugness throughout. Dream's selling was sadly pretty spotty; he sold really good when Devlin was dishing the offense on him, but then he was doing his Death Valley Driver roll set-ups perfectly one moment later. It didn't drag the match down too much though, as it was mostly Devlin on the offense, and I dug the dynamic between 'em, but it definitely could've been even better than it was had Dream sold better. ***
The Velveteen Dream vs. Tyler Bate
The story of Dream's taped up mid-section continued here, and I am happy to report that his selling was better here than it was in the match vs. Devlin. He sold dramatically when Bate had him grounded, and then on the offense he did some solid fighting-through-the-pain selling. ***1/4
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