World Wrestling Network: A Wrestling Odyssey (04-04-2014) Timothy Thatcher vs. Drew Gulak

What’s this rounds stuff?

This is a Rounds match for Drew Gulak’s Combat Zone Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.

What I would have done for the falls in this match to have made more of an impact. I’m not sure why, but in a match that was built around a back and forth struggle, all three falls were very quick and lacked any sort of struggle. I suppose the Backslide finish can be excused, because it’s a Backslide. But, the Fujiwara Armbar finish and the Ankle Lock finish came too easily and too quickly. There was no struggle to either finish, and ultimately that hurt the match plenty.

The finishes not conveying the struggle of the rest of the match is a big deal because the rest of the match is a giant struggle. Timothy Thatcher and Gulak know how to grapple, and the match plays this out. Early on they establish a back and forth counter hold pace to the match and that never truly relents. There are moments when the match turns into a slugfest, but those are isolated moments, and said moments are more to get across the viciousness of Thatcher’s European Uppercuts than anything else. For the most part Gulak and Thatcher trade holds, and work to maintain those holds while employing crisp, yet haggard, transitions.

Hold for hold wrestling appeals to me, that should be obvious by this point. I tend to write about those sort of matches quite a lot. I wouldn’t say this match is the best that Gulak or Thatcher have to offer. That being said it’s still a fine example of hold for hold wrestling. Both men are on top of their game, really bringing it with the way they transition from move to move. At one point Thatcher hits a Deadlift Gutwrench Suplex and he floats right over into a Fujiwara Armbar. Another time Gulak executes a Leg Pick Takedown and maneuvers right into an Ankle Lock. The thing is, those aren’t two isolated examples, the match is full of well executed transitions that make prefect sense within the flow of the match.

The actual finishes are troubling, and in the canon of great Timothy Thatcher and Drew Gulak matches this ranks near the bottom. That still means it’s a great match though, and a great match is nothing to sneeze at. Gulak and Thatcher worked a match that hearkened back to the days of World of Sport, and they did so in exemplary fashion. Finishes that matched the struggle of the rest of the match would have been a large boon to this match. Said match is a pleasurable watch though, because great grappling is still great grappling.

Cheers,
Bill Thompson