At the end of the day, I’m actually a really simple guy to please. Take two guys who hit real hard and smash them against each other for a bit and I’m bound to call it a great match. That’s exactly what this match is but there’s a decent amount of though that goes into this that’s pretty clear even early on. While the meat of this match that makes this so fun are the strike exchanges, I do appreciate the effort that both AJ and Keith put into timing and selling those strikes. Keith, in particular, does a really good job of timing how to express the wear and tear of being battered in with the heavy hands of AJ Gray. AJ Gray’s a known hot commodity at this point but I really feel this is one of those performances that should get Bryan Keith way more bookings in way more places.
Both these guys definitely have definitely been digging into their All Japan tapes as the structure and moveset do harken back to those classics. Keith, especially, throws a pretty decent gamengiri or enzuigiri that he leans on to win back some momentum in the deeper waters of the match. Much like All Japan at its worst though, I do think this match gets a tad excessive as it goes on. Gray clearly wanted to give Keith a real good showing here, thus Keith survives a bit of an extended finishing stretch before finally being put down. It’s nothing that’ll derail the match but overall, I feel like we could have had something a little tighter and more explosive.
As it is though, it’s an incredibly fun and hard hitting match filled with the kind of brutal action that’s an easy win on any card. Well worth seeing.
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