To the fans in attendance at EVOLVE 35, Timothy Thatcher was already a star. He’s walking in to his fifth match with a big pop behind him and a shit-eating grin on his face. Somewhat out of character for the taciturn mug we’re used to seeing. But it’s good. And this is a match where, clearly, Thatcher was being given room to stretch his legs. His opponent was Tracy Williams, better known to us in the future as “Hot Sauce” for no particular reason.
They had a match.
The honest truth is that nothing in particular stands out to me about this match. Explaining why is difficult, or perhaps more accurately, it’s unclear. There was grappling, there were suplexes, there were elements that I should have connected with. There were times when Tracy Williams seemed to have Thatcher in jeopardy, in a hold with some reputation and after a respectable enough sequence. And yet he didn’t really have Thatcher in trouble. He didn’t make me feel that Thatcher was. And, it turned out, he really wasn’t.
It has something to do with the intensity, but it’s not only that. Tracy was plenty engaged and was ready to fight. His grappling wasn’t as tight as I would have liked and his transitions were loose and maybe it’s those elements all coming together that failed to draw me in. The lack of communicating danger to me as a viewer.
I’ve talked before about my concept of the “second gear”, the point where a match becomes up in the air. This match is a good illustration of what I meant, as far as separating the level of action from the level of danger. By the action, Thatcher vs Williams could be considered to hit a level up from where it started. They began with ground grappling and worked their way up to suplexes and heavy strikes. That’s true. But the match didn’t really lift to another level of excitement just because they started with bigger moves.
When I say there was an element missing, though, I don’t mean to say that either wrestler was lazy. Tracy definitely did try hard and Thatcher sold as well as he attacked. I just mean that they did not get to a point where I felt that Tracy Williams would actually win the match, where if he had won I would have thought it came out of nowhere and not in a satisfying manner.
Of course, this may have been a victim of short time, but there isn’t a reason that short matches can’t be great, or at least better than this turned out to be. Perhaps Williams is simply more of a slow burn wrestler. It’s possible. But in this case, the winner was who you thought it would be, by way of Fujiwara armbar submission. It seems that this is his established finish now which fits his barebones aesthetic. Apparently later in the show, Biff Busick challenged Thatcher, and I hope that one ends up being a good bout.
Technique B
Intensity C
Drama D
Excitement D
Okay Match
