Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Darby Allin (EVOLVE 1/13/18)
SOUND THE ALARM, WE GOT OURSELVES A MATCH BUILT FOR ME!
At times I feel like I’m on an island but I truly appreciate a match that can exist in a background and not call upon me to pull from a world of context. I don’t invest in many wrestler’s stories, I care about the in-ring tale and mechanics. Is that so wrong? For this reason, a match can’t be too complex, though most matches that attempt such intricacies become overblown messes more often than not anyway. This match focuses on a simple story, the plucky underdog from the underground versus a champion who is cockier than ever with the technical skills to back it up.
Watching Zack in this match was a unique experience because it was as if I watching the performer Quentin Moody told me he was for the first time. He was the brash technician who escalates a match, tortured opponents, who makes moments feel important. He was not the Zack I was entirely accustomed to. After a brief burst of initial offense, the match was owned by ZSJ. Love Zack collecting himself on the outside after the attack so he could essentially get back to an even playing field. Darby couldn’t take advantage of pacing or Zack being against the ropes. Then Sabre stretches Allin. Even when Darby takes it to the ground, Zack leverages he way into taking the advantage. Darby looks good on the mat, he’s not making mistakes in a traditional sense. Usually, technician’s will snag a limb that’s hanging out there but even when Darby is defending himself Zack like a thief in the night comes away with a leg, an arm, or a neck that didn’t even appear to an option until it was too late.
The match isn’t nearly as digestible without Allin’s performance. The lad has shown he can take dumb bumps but here he showed that is true calling might be a stretchy boi. Darby is down a whole lot but he’s never out. Zack will leave him writhing in pain on the mat but he’s grunting as a reaction to him slowly trying to get a seated position. Unlike a lot of selling when getting owned by a technical wizard, Darby makes it look good. It ain’t effortless and that’s okay.
There’s a lot to dig during the ending portion of the match, lengthier than a run. Darby doesn’t get a lot of opportunities and when he does he look likes a wounded warrior. There are a ton of chinks in the armor but there’s a lot of GRIT. After the first “big” comeback Zack goes from cool and confident to an egotistical prick. Time and time again ZSJ has put Darby in a tough spot. Now Darby wants to show he can hang? The Englishman will have no part of that. The exchanges come off superheated. Darby is out there earning everything he gets. At one point Sabre throws a mean kick to the leg of Darby before he even stands all the way up and that’s when you know the CODE OF HONOR IS CANCELLED! He won’t out-and-out break the rules but he isn’t going to do the most ethical things. Both dudes are trying to land their signature stuff which in this case is intricate pinning attempts? Maybe that’s why this stretch is so palatable. These lads aren’t kicking out of powerbombs from the rafters, they are kicking out of limb tangling pins.
Me, big mark finishes, absolutely adores the bow put on this. It isn’t quick and it’s “flashy”. It is effective though. After all the pain Darby had endured and all the submissions that Zack latched on, yeah, the ending is a bit of a homerun.
PS Lenny Leonard absolutely crushes it from commentary table. Expertly contextualizes the moments that Darby and Zack already make feel important because of the in-ring build and performances. While commentary isn’t a necessity for these sorts of matches that work tremendously well in a vacuum, having a helpful guide giving the footnotes on elements of the match without providing superfluous info that bogs down the essential story beats don’t hurt.
Spandex Are Still Cool 