Walter vs Ilja Dragunov (Progress - 7/7/2019)

I know I am a little on an island being super high on this one, but I am going to make the case for this being considered.  I think - at the very least - Ilja is absolutely Walter's equal in this match, but it is what I see as an all-time great run from Walter taking an interesting turn that makes this match absolutely incredible. This is part of a grouping of matches that I feel like don't get quite as much buzz on the whole from Walter (at least compared to say some of his work with Riddle or his matches with Thatcher, Darby, or the PWG Sabre match). As Walter as transitioned from being a world beating bruiser to being a world beater who people are catching up to he has added elements of desperation. Sometimes this comes off to me as overbooked and sort of unsatisfying. Sometimes it works to put guys over really well and create much more interesting story-lines. In some ways I think Walter is still working through the process of being that character and also adopting some more WWE-ish qualities. In all it means over the past calendar year or so Walter - to me - has been much more hit or miss. Where as I thought Walter was pretty much good for a 3.5 star match every time he stepped in the ring before, now I feel like he is either pushing the boundaries of his best work or he is sort of under-performing in some ways. But it is that consistency before that also feeds into how great some of his recent matches are.

Here, and I wont go into a move by move, you get a really great dynamic between the two. Ilja is actually the guy who has Walter's number so Walter being a little more tentative makes sense. His offense, which here leaves almost no room for error is fantastic. Walter is very tight in his movements, paying attention to detail at almost every turn. Additionally, he needs a little help. Ilja takes the Enzo bump with the ropes early the match and that shifts the match in a big way. All of this is stuff that i really really like about the dynamic of the match.

The action itself is great. There isn't a lot of slippage anywhere. Most everything is pretty tight. On top of that, and I really think this is important, there is an over-the-topness to the movement between the moves and even some of the selling that very much reminded me of some late 70s to mid 80s wrestling. its the kind of thing I think would get shit on by some people right now, but made it jump off the screen to me and really added to my enjoyment.

Finally, this match accomplished something pretty hard. Walter finishes the match not with one of his primary finishers and they put it together simultaneously elevates Ilja in losing and reminds that Walter - even being kind of a shit head - is maybe the most dangerous dude in wrestling. Walter more or less hits Ilja with everything and it doesn't work. Then he just goes for murder lariats which Ilja pops up at 1 from only to get put back down with more murder lariat for the finish. It really puts over Ilja's style, his ever say die psychopath crazy energy and at the same time shows us that Walter is still king shit.