Full disclosure here, Martyr’s a Twitter mutual that I encountered online in the early days of my channel. As such, I’ve been acquainted with him long before he began taking prominent bookings across several promotions on the indie scene today. Take that information for what you think it’s worth.
I’ve seen Martyr become progressively more sought after in indie wrestling in the past year but none of his matches really sparked too much enthusiasm from myself. He’s fundamentally sound and his reputation for being a student of wrestling’s history are known at this point though, marking him as a decent prospect if given the time and space to develop.
All that being said, this is his first great match. It’s set up quite nicely in an online vignette that Limitless is kind enough to include in the event broadcast as well. The vignette plays on one of my favorite tropes in wrestling–someone’s bruised pride allowing him to be goaded into accepting a fight that they otherwise wouldn’t have.
The size difference between JD and Martyr is substantial and it’s a key part of what makes this match so great. That is to say, for a solid chunk of this, JD beats the absolute tar out of Martyr. I’m a sucker for a big hoss with heavy hands and boy does JD let fly with some absolutely murderous shots in this match. He batters Martyr’s chest into hamburger meat and the opening segment tells the classic story of a cocky young upstart realizing he’s bitten off far more than he can chew.
Of course, having such an easy time early on has its own problems. JD dips into the same well of offense one time to money and it gives Martyr just enough of an opening to go after the bum wheel that JD was nursing. Martyr in control probably is the weak point of the match as his own strikes simply can not help but pale in comparison to JD’s. But there are still highlights like Martyr realizing he’s not even strong enough to get JD off the floor and back into the ring. There’s also one of Martyr’s early pinfall attempts only getting him a one count–another strong indicator of the gulf of ability separating these two.
While Martyr’s control does bring things down slightly, JD’s eventual comeback is fantastic. He lets loose even more gruesome chops, including a particularly vicious one to a Martyr coming off the top rope. Martyr’s growing concern from JD’s arsenal comes across loud and clear as the larger man ragdolls him around. Martyr survives just enough to make the most of this encounter but a pissed off JD Drake is not something that one can easily overcome. Martyr poked the bear and he got mauled for his trouble.
A really strong match from one of indie wrestling’s last great veterans putting one of its young new prospects through the ringer. A classic kind of story that gets told with every generation and never really gets old.
