Double review tonight, thanks to DylanWaco's suggestions. I'm watching Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon in two for both. First, a submission match from the TCW show posted on December 23, 2013. Second up is their rematch posted on January 6, a 30 minute iron man match. Let's do this.
Submission Match: Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon
Walker's noticeably bigger than Sigmon. The announcers are spot on when they say he looks like a hell of an athlete. Sigmon ducks between the ropes when Walker nears him. Walker's chasing, trying to tie up and test strength. Sigmon wants none of that. He's back to leaning against the ropes, cowering in a corner after one Walker suplex.
Walker tries to single leg Sigmon, but Sigmon catches him in a headlock. The two are trying for quick submissions like wristholds and armbars, but no luck for either guy yet. It's a few minutes in when Sigmon starts to work in more common pro wrestling moves. They go outside, where Sigmon fails to throw Walker into the stairs. Walker hops up on them anyway and moonsaults Sigmon.
Back in the ring, Walker chopblocks Sigmon and starts to wrench on the ankle. Walker breaks down the knee and even throws in a spinning toe hold. I pop, Sigmon grimaces in pain. Sigmon tries to punch Walker off of him and Walker admonishes him with a hard smack on the chest.
Sigmon takes the fight back outside the ring. This time he manages to throw Walker into the steel steps. Sigmon gets Walker back in the ring so he can work over the shoulder. Sigmon is doing a fine job selling the knee, even on offense. Walker trips Sigmon and slaps on a figure four leg lock, targeting the knee once more. Sigmon's howling in pain, Walker's screaming "tap! tap!", and the two jockey for position. Sigmon finally rolls Walker over, reversing the figure four's pressure, but he has to let go after a few seconds.
Sigmon goes right back for Walker's left shoulder once he can. He has what looks like a triangle choke on Walker, who looks like he's gonna pass out. Walker slowly inches up, gets the bottom of his feet on the mat, and keeps on rising while Sigmon tries to tap him. Walker powers Sigmon up into the air, spins around, and tosses Sigmon into the corner.
Walker puts Sigmon down with a hard knee. He gets a stretch muffler on Sigmon, but Sigmon's too close to the ropes and he clutches on to the bottom one for dear life. Sigmon escapes to the outside and grabs the ring bell. The ref can't rip it away, getting tossed aside by Sigmon. Sigmon turns back around just in time to eat a knee from Walker that slams the bell against Sigmon's head. He's unconscious. Walker puts the stretch muffler back on and the ref checks on Sigmon. Sigmon's not responding and the ref calls for the bell, giving Walker the win by ... knockout? That's what the ring announcer calls it as. The announcers are confused, but they the add that the ref had no choice.
Match rating: ***3/4. Really good match. Great selling by both guys. Sigmon selling the leg was some of the best I've seen lately and it reminded me of Minoru Suzuki against Tanahashi. But I'm a ridiculously huge Suzuki fan, so all good qualities remind me of him. Anyway, big thumbs up on this one. I was going to critique it for being a bit short, but then I realized I had been watching it for 15 minutes, not 10. Sure went by fast.
Iron Man Match: Vordell Walker vs. Sigmon
These two have some unfinished business after the way that last one ended. Walker gets to claim victory in their last contest. Sigmon has a legitimate defense: how do you lose a submission match without submitting? Time to square this one up.
First thing I notice: a timer ticking up in the corner. It's a little touch, one I like that a lot. Sigmon slaps Walker at the onset. Walker's pissed and scoops Sigmon up, carrying him around the ring before slamming him down. Sigmon rolls outside the ring to compose himself for a minute before getting back in there. Sigmon's headbutting Walker and putting him in a headlock, which Walker escapes with a back suplex. Walker throws in an arm hold for good measure. Sigmon breaks the hold and goes back outside again.
Walker can slap Sigmon around in there and out strike him any day in an fair fight. Sigmon's not dumb enough to let that happen. He hides in the ropes and sucker punches Walker when the ref is between the two. Sigmon gives Walker a few hard chops in the corner, but Walker reverses their positions and throws a few of his own, much stiffer chops.
Sigmon keeps playing dirty rather than trying to square off with the superior athlete. He shoulders Walker's gut when he has Walker in the corner, trying to wear him out. That's Sigmon's gameplan while he controls the match. Beat on Walker, not with high impact moves or submissions, but with chops, shoulders, and chinlocks to grind it out. Sigmon O'Connor rolls Walker when he has him from behind. The ref's in a bad spot and Sigmon knows it. Sigmon pulls up on Walker's tights, getting the pin. Sigmon's up one.
Walker's mad as hell. He chases Sigmon outside and slams his head against the announcers' table. They get back in the ring and Walker still looks steamed. Sigmon gets back in control of the match and throws Walker through the ropes. He pulls up some of the mats around ringside, exposing the floor. He wants to suplex Walker, but Walker fights it off. Walker shoves Sigmon into the ring steps and grabs him tight once Sigmon nears again. Walker hits a frickin' overhead belly-to-belly, sending Sigmon onto the exposed floor. He's hitting Sigmon while Sigmon gets back up and lunges at him. Sigmon moves in the nick of time and Walker crashes into the ring post. This match is heating up fast. Sigmon gets Walker inside and climbs to the top. He tries a diving headbutt but this time it's Walker who evades a big move. Walker hooks Sigmon's arms and rolls him over for the three count. One fall each.
They're supposed to get a 30 second break between falls. This one only goes about 20 before Sigmon jumps Walker. Sigmon's going for bigger moves now. He manages to suplex Walker and follows up with a "Japanese strangehold" instead of a simple chinlock. Walker's able to power out of that. Sigmon throws Walker into the corner twice, whipping him sternum-first. The two end up battling on the top rope. Sigmon makes Walker buckle over in pain. He leaps over Walker and hits him with a hard sunset flip powerbomb. He covers Walker immediately and gets a pinfall while his feet are up on the bottom rope. Sigmon two, Walker one.
We're past the halfway mark when fall four starts. The two of them are outside where they were before, the spot by the ring steps and the exposed floor. Sigmon throws Walker into the ring steps. Walker take a hard, flat back bump right into them. The ref has to keep the ten count going. Sigmon gets to catch his breath as Walker fights to even stand. He's about to get in the ring at the count of nine but Sigmon hits him with a baseball slide.
Sigmon is in control for a while until Walker overpowers him and pancakes him against the corner. Walker powerslams Sigmon, then hits something like a sideways exploder after that. Sigmon dodges a knee and grabs Walker by the waist. Walker fights out of it with some hard elbows.
The announcers are adding a lot to this match. They're not perfect, but they're a lot better than most. They put the match and the moves over rather than themselves. The play-by-play gets excited at the right times. Like when Walker knees the hell out of Sigmon, who was busy taunting. Walker throws himself on Sigmon and gets another three count. We're 20 minutes in and it's two to two.
Both guys can barely stand when the next fall starts. Actually, Walker can't at all. He's still kneeling while Sigmon stumbles around. Sigmon hits a big clothesline that flips Walker over. Sigmon has to army crawl his way to Walker. It takes a bit too long and Walker can kick out at three. Walker gets Sigmon with an inverted piledriver but Sigmon kicks out at two. Sigmon Germans Walker but he can't bridge it for the pin. He goes for a diving headbutt from up top as his encore. It's only good for two. Walker kicks out just in time. The two get back up and they're trading chops, forearms, and punches. The nearfalls flow free. Walker hauls himself up to the top rope. He's thinking moonsault, but Sigmon throws his weight on the top rope to cut off Walker. He's up behind Walker and hits another German, this time from way up there. Sigmon doesn't go for the pin. He wants Walker up. Walker eats a lariat. It looked a bit weak, but Walker stays down for the three. Sigmon three, Walker two.
Four minutes left. They exchange chops. Walker buckle bombs Sigmon. It's not the Michael Elgin toss into the turnbuckle, but more of a proper powerbomb with Sigmon's back smacking the top of the turnbuckle. Walker clotheslines Sigmon. He gets Sigmon in a Boston crab; Sigmon fights to get the ropes. Sigmon manages to get out of that, only for Walker to throw on the stretch muffler. He cinches it in, dead center of the ring. Sigmon gets out, but the damage is done. He's limping badly. Walker dives into Sigmon's knee. A figure four follows. Sigmon's grimacing and fighting to reverse it. He drops his shoulders down to the mat, exhausted, and almost gets pinned before he can get them back up.
One minute left. Sigmon's fighting it. He turns the hold over on Walker. Walker rolls through and gets it back on Sigmon. Sigmon nabs the rope with 25 seconds left. Walker's hustling his ass off. He tugs Sigmon back to the middle of the ring and slaps on another figure four. He's wrenching it in. 10 seconds left. Five, four, three, two, one. The bell rings, this one is over. Sigmon's slapping the mat. He's had enough. Sigmon outlasted Vordell Walker this time.
Walker extends a hand to Sigmon after. Sigmon looks at the crowd, contemplating if he should trust Walker or not. He puts it out there for Walker, but slowly raises it away before Walker can shake it. "You're a loser!" And the winner's gonna limp out of here now.
Match rating: ****1/2. Loved it. Sigmon's selling is top notch once again. Love the call back to the submission match with the knee work. Naturally, the figure four isn't good for a fall, yet they still made it feel dramatic. They had a narrative in mind for the match and they stuck to it superbly. Walker's the bigger man, the better athlete. Sigmon's gonna have to pull this one out by hook or by crook. He manages to do it too. All the while they're wrestling as good of an iron man match as I've ever seen.
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