If you've ever seen these two wrestle, you can probably imagine what sort of match you're about to see. WALTER is the hard hitting giant, and Fenix is the feisty athletic superstar. While Fenix isn't afraid of WALTER, and they establish early that he's willing to stand up to him, he's certainly overmatched physically. I liked the commentary saying that Fenix presents problems that WALTER hasn't seen before. It's a nice way of making Fenix feel special, while also turning the tables on the usual "how is the small guy going to beat the big guy?" It is very quick before that sentiment is put to bed as WALTER quickly begins to dominate the match as you would expect.
The key aspect of this match is Fenix's mask, which WALTER goes after very early into the match. I'm torn on this, as this happens to be the best part of the match - which I'll go into a bit later. But it also serves as my main gripe for the match. It doesn't feel earned. Going after the mask is presented in wrestling, and in this match, as this extremely personal and vindictive act. I think going for it so early into the match sort of devalues that concept because it didn't feel like the preceding moments warranted it. The commentary team tried to play it off as WALTER being frustrated that Fenix got the better of a couple of exchanges, but those exchanges were brief and ultimately didn't build any momentum for Fenix, nor did they give him a near fall.
To give an example of this concept done right, I'd go back to Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho from Extreme Rules 2009. That feud hadn't totally centred around the mask, but it had been hinted in promos. When Jericho goes for the mask at the end of the match it makes sense because he'd been pushed to the limit by Rey, and it was his last desperate move. That felt earned. WALTER going for the mask just felt like a move that didn't need to happen in this match, and they didn't give me a reason to believe it was necessary.
Beyond that, I had a couple of niggly issues with timing where it felt like WALTER waiting just a half second too long while waiting for Fenix to hit a move. When I say it's a niggly issue, I mean miniscule but I thought it worth pointing out.
Gripes aside, this is a terrific sprint between two wrestlers I'm a big fan of. I was surprised at a) how short the match was and b) how long it felt watching it. That's not to mean that they packed too much in, because a lot of it felt like it had time to breathe in those spots. Unfortunately I did feel that was offset by a beginning which seemed brushed off as if they wanted to jump right into the middle of the match. This again plays into my original issue about the mask spot. Some of the highlight spots were Fenix's escapability and the unique counters he had; WALTER clubbing Fenix out of mid-air; and an absolutely beautiful top rope power bomb.
I mentioned earlier how I was torn about the mask tearing earlier because while it's my main complaint about the match, it also leads into my main praise about the match. This match feels special because of how authentic the later mask stuff was. Fenix's mask coming off after the ace crusher felt so smooth and natural and threw me off when I watched it. The cleverness in this spot is how it delays Fenix getting the pin, causing WALTER to get enough time to kick out. It plants the idea in the fan's minds that Fenix could have won, but just got unlucky. It also adds to the strategy of WALTER going for the mask as it ultimately saved WALTER in this moment, and helped him finalise his win. The mask stuff continues to push this match, as a fan provides Fenix with a replacement mask. This may or may not have been a pre-planned spot, but I don't care and in either case it came off as a genuine and heartfelt moment from the fans to Fenix. All this escalates to the conclusion of the match which felt like a logical progression to the story they were telling.
This match left me wanting more and to see them wrestle again, so in that regard it was a success. I went into this thinking that it would be a typically great match from two people I enjoy, but I was surprised in the direction they decided to take the match. The mask spots changed the dynamic of the match which made it feel unique, and how it was incorporated makes this match stand out. Overall despite my issues, I thoroughly enjoyed this, and would love to see more between these two.
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