This is a match I had a lot of thoughts on, and when I did my original Road Report of the show, I wrote a fair bit about, but definitely not as much as I wanted to. This is more of what I wanted to say. I have so much more I could say about every match on this show, but the attention span of a goldfish and I also don't want to over-talk about this show. It was a very meaningful show to me though and a much-needed boost in my will to express my thoughts.
The first thing you see after the match graphic fades is Dylan Hales and Tim Bosby dawning matching purple tracksuits. Dylan is key to Bosby being a hated character, at least in this match, which is something I'll get into later on, but I wanted to make sure to bring up the matching, flashy tracksuits as it's something I can't let go un-talked about. Being the first one out the curtain, wearing a purple tracksuit, it immediately establishes him as a real piece of shit. Like the guy who immediately goes to the mall when the tax refund rolls around and walks out with 4 bags of designer clothing. Kind of guy that you tell "Ok, dude. Let's relax a little bit." In a lot of cases, I think this could take focus away from the wrestler he's managing, but what Dylan does well is redirecting the anger you're throwing at him towards Bosby. Every action is a hateful one as well, he lets nothing go by without getting those extra groans in. He can't even enter the ring without trying to humiliate the referee. What an asshole!
Slim J makes his entrance to applause from everyone in the building, and reciprocates the love by making sure to high five every person he possibly can. Bosby and Hales come out with a "Don't let these "people" touch me!" body language, Slim is walking towards the people, dancing, high fiving, and giving everyone an extra reason to root for him. Not that they needed another though, as I'd said in my original blog about this show, Slim J is a legend in this region and has decades worth of good will built up. I don't even have to use metaphors or comparisons to show you how loved he is, you just have to really put it into perspective. A skinny white guy wearing an upside down visor, blinged out skull mask, and who has things like "Gizzot Bizzalls" inscribed into his gear is unanimously adored. Slim is the man.
We open up with a collar-and-elbow tie up, quickly resulting in Bosby sending Slim across the ring. You can see in Slim's face that he knows Bosby ain't just another wrestler. In our second tie up, Slim rolls Bosby into an armbar, showing that HE ain't just another wrestler, but in a completely different way. Bosby is a strong, athletic monster who will soon be a force on the indies. Slim is a constantly innovating veteran, whose wrestling mind was molded during the same generation of talent such as Amazing Red, Brian XL, Insane Dragon, I could go on and on. It's not just a battle of good vs. evil, but of an athletic marvel who's not quite seasoned yet and a creative, flashy, well-regarded veteran. It's Zion Williamson vs. Kyrie Irving if you were to ignore injuries, suspensions, and antisemitic documentary sharing, and a whole lot of other stuff. Bosby gets the better of Slim through physical means, Slim returns by getting the better of him in an unorthodox way, throwing him off his game through diverging his expectations of what's to come through a lockup. He's teaching Bosby that you can't expect your average pro wrestlers movement out of Slim J. A lesson he surely learned by the time he was able to reach his foot out onto the rope for a break.
Slim struggles to irish whip Tim, finding himself sent right down to the mat with an AWESOME shoulder block. Sometimes you can be as creative and/or confident as you want, just to be reminded running into a brick wall is still running into a brick wall. You know what happens following a shoulder block, a drop down! I thought Slims positioning on this was great, as it looked more like he was trying to trip Bosby and not just going through the motions. Not to get too off-topic, but one thing I've always wanted to see in wrestling is for someone to push up on their drop down to trip their opponent mid-air. I have wanted to see this since I was a child and if this has happened and I've just not seen it, please send me it. To get back on topic, Slim follows the dropdown by diverging Bosby's expectations again. Where he expects Slim to leap frog him after the drop down, Slim instead baits him into running right into his patented headscissors takedown. Slim sends him out of the ring with a dropkick, and asks the crowd if they want to see him dive. After the crowd gives him the obvious answer, he jumps, but is stopped by Dylan Hales. This guy cannot let us have shit. This gives Bosby the proper opportunity to turn the momentum in his favor, coming from behind Dylan with a forearm, followed by a back suplex onto the apron. A small detail I really like is that instead of tossing Slim freely onto the apron, he really drags and forces Slim down on it. It really made it look more brutal. I also love that Bosby sold having to use his left arm that Slim had targeted prior. This isn't your average "I'll give you immediate selling, but I'm gonna be ready to forearm you with the arm you're targeting in 2 minutes." Every time Bosby has to do anything involving the left arm, which he does try to limit, he emphasizes how much pain it's putting him in.
Bosby is good at getting a lot out of a little. He really puts an extra oomph on things like uppercuts and scoop slams. This is what I think really helps him and Slim in terms of chemistry, as Slim is ready to give you a lot out of a little on the other end of things. Bosby wants you to think his scoop slam is torturous, Slim wants you to think the scoop slam might be too much for his body to handle. Bosby wants to milk heat out of every little action he does, Slim wants to milk support out of every groan and ache. They are perfect matches for each other and are completely on the same page. THIS IS THEIR FIRST TIME FACING OFF!!! One of my favorite moments of the match is when Bosby turns Slim J inside out with a nasty irish whip into the turnbuckles. This gave Slim the chance to utilize his absolutely underrated facial expressions and gave Bosby the opportunity to talk his shit to a chorus of boos. After a sequence of counters, Slim is able to get Bosby back into an armbar on his hurt arm. This is still Tim Bosby though, who uses his good arm to power Slim off of the ground and send him right into the turnbuckles. He follows this up with a belly-to-belly that video cannot do justice. Slim flies across the ring. He gives Slim J a few kicks while he's down, and this is where I was REALLY able to bask in Slim J's greatness.
What I really love about Slim J's babyface comeback is that instead of just playing to the overall crowd, Slim J makes sure to look into every person in the buildings eyes while he's mustering up the power to fight back. Instead of immediately going up during the "Slim J!' chants, he takes his time and makes it feel personal with the crowd. While he's on the ground, fighting to get back on his feet, he's using the pain in his eyes and lip quivers to ask for your help. He's mentally reaching out to YOU in Row 1, Seat 19 and YOU in Row 3, Seat 4, to will him back on. A common positive you hear from people who love independent wrestling is the intimate atmosphere. Slim J uses the intimacy to the best of his abilities and gets everyone involved in the match through these personal interactions. You might not be the one in the ring wrestling, but you feel like you're succeeding every time he's able to catch Bosby offguard. It's no different than when everyone in the arena is going crazy during an away team free throw and they miss. You aren't on the court playing, but you're doing everything in your power to turn the tide for your guys. It's a great way to get the fans more into it, as they feel like they're actually playing a part in the outcome of the match. Slim J doesn't play to the crowd, he plays to YOU.
This is where I would like to discuss Dylan Hales' involvement in the match, as he was also great in his role. Where Slim communicated with the crowd non-verbally, Dylan Hales just walked up to everyone in the crowd and told them they were stupid and their mom was fat. This might sound silly, but I really think this is where the purple tracksuit was most effective, as it just pisses you off to get insulted by Dylan Hales wearing this purple tracksuit. It just makes everything he says so much worse. Anytime someone responds back, he brings it back to Bosby, flexing Bosby's greatness on the fans. I hate to use so many sports analogies, but it was another great way to get fans personally into the match and on Slim J's side in the same way that you want your shit-talking friend's team to lose. You may have called my mom fat and told me Slim J is old and washed, but I'm going to laugh right in your face whenever the guy you've been talking up the whole match gets beaten by my guy, you purple tracksuit motherfucker. It was a winning formula by all 3 parties. Babyface that's getting personal interactions in with the crowd in a positive way, heel manager that's getting personal interactions in with the crowd in a way that wants you to see him be made to look like a fool, and finally, a heel that knows how to make everything he do look so monstrous while also showing exposed vulnerability.
Bosby looks so ahead of his years in this match. When I looked on cagematch and found out we were born in the same year (2004), it completely changed my rewatch of this match. This guy just turned 22 years old and knows how to milk an irish whip AND sell limb targeting. He destroys Slim's back in this match, with backbreakers, powerbombs, submissions, the whole portion of this match where he's dominating looks soooo brutal. It's like he can't do a move that does not look extremely inspired. He does a one-armed swing into a dragon sleeper that is so demoralizing to watch. It sucks the air out of the room just like any good comeback halting would... until our man Slim J gets us right back into it, powering up more the louder the crowd gets. He tears the shirt! HE PUNCHES DYLAN HALES! HE GETS THE WIN! OUR HERO SAVES THE DAY AND PREVENTS US FROM BEING TOLD "I TOLD YOU SO" BY THE GUY WHO SAID THE GUY A COUPLE SEATS OVER'S SISTER WAS FAT! HE PUTS A COCKY TIM BOSBY IN HIS PLACE! EXPERIENCE OVER POWER! HEART OVER STRENGTH! WE did it!
You hear a lot on podcasts, tweets, YouTube videos, etc, about playing to the camera, playing to the crowd, making sure the audience digests what they're seeing. Not only do Slim J, Tim Bosby, and Dylan Hales let the audience digest what they're seeing, they make each individual person feel like they're the 4th person involved in the match. A wondrous match that gets the most out of its crowd and some of the best, most natural feeling performances you'll see all year. I fully believe genuineness is the key to a lot of great professional wrestling, and Slim J is as genuinely himself as he could possibly be. When you put him against someone ready to tear him down and a man on the outside ready to brag about it right in front of your face, you get exactly what you want: great stuff.
If your promotion doesn't have Tim Bosby in it, FUCK YOU.
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