Robbie Eagles vs. Jonathan Gresham (PWG Hand of Doom 1/18/19)

Despite its shorter length and lesser stakes, I much preferred this to the first Ospreay epic. Jonathan Gresham is one of that rare breed or wrestlers that can jam pack a short amount of time with great details and he does that wonderfully here. Both Gresham and Eagles work around holds for the majority of the opening stretch. Eagles tries to display his by focusing on a wrist lock early on in the match and even retains control over it for a decent stretch. But when it comes to submissions and counters, Jonathan Gresham’s always going to get to you in the end and he is able to seize a decent segment of control on the mat. Eagles does a good job making it believable that he can get the advantage by transitioning to more of his junior heavyweight style wrestling–striking well and flying high. He even does a great job of having targeting Gresham’s knee with a sweet springboard dropkick. Overall, this was a really great showing to display that Eagles can succeed not just in the overblown epic setting but in a smaller more concentrated match as well.