By: Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt on Twitter)

2/3/2018

Welcome to week 2 of BODPodcast’s selection of the “Greatest Match of All Time…This Week”, where we award and recognize the past week’s best match. (Last week was the Miz and Roman Reigns for the IC Championship)

Ah…the difference a week makes (uh…you know…even though it’s been almost a week between the match and this post). We get to take a step away from the travesty that was (most of) RAW 25, at least from a wrestling perspective, and dive into five straight days of WWE programming. Every moment of which is an attempt to draw in an audience for the road to WrestleMania.

Sunday gave us two amazing Rumble finishes, fun title matches, and overall a great show from top to bottom. Both Royal Rumbles had wonderful stories, and the Brothers of Discussion could not be more thrilled to see Nakamura and Asuka head into WrestleMania as “main eventers”. However, there was a show this past weekend that gave us THE GREATEST MATCH OF ALL TIME… this week.

I was all in for Johnny “Wrestling” Gargano and Andrade “Cien” Almas. An almost 45-minute story from start to finish, the match started by reminding us of the struggles Gargano has faced since the break-up of DIY. Gargano was stabbed in the back by his tag partner, Tommaso Ciampa, sending him into a tailspin of loss. Building a Sami Zayn like storyline (the story of a man who can’t buy a win), we see the creation of a superstar…no…a wrestler, who reached a point of unending frustration and became practically content with losing.

Johnny is the Teflon type of character my brother and I have discussed on the podcast. No matter how often he loses, we jump right back on the bandwagon when the wins start coming his way. A guy who has been in the business for years (most of which were not with the WWE) and has earned a high level of respect. So, as an act of this respect, Gargano was given a chance to qualify as the number one contender for the NXT title. His victory in that match led to a resurgence of confidence for Gargano and an epic run to NXT Takeover. This seemed to be Gargano’s last chance to prove himself.

As I watch the championship bout a second time, I see that it never really slowed down. It was a good half hour of straight up wrestling and at some points…just straight up fighting. Riddled with Slingshot spears, knees to the face (jeez…like 5 times, as well as in the corner), missed moonsaults turned into standing moonsaults, super kicks, simultaneous lariats, false finishes, Gargano Escapes, and finally Hammerlock DDT’s, every moment defined the art of wrestling.

Gargano had the bout all but won more than once and at each instance Almas’ manager Zelina Vega proved her true worth, interfering (on multiple occasions) to ensure Almas could keep the upper hand. Her manipulations were orchestrated perfectly. The simultaneous feeling of frustration between observers and pro-wrestlers is very hard to achieve, and yet it was achieved at its highest level. The story coming into this match made it easy to believe that this could be Johnny’s moment. Then, just as we could grab…and even smell the carrot (I swear I could taste it), it was yanked away from us.

The wrestlers appeared to obey the chants ringing through the stadium. Fans chanted “fight forever”; Gargano and Almas happily obliged. Kick out after kick out, rope break after rope break, and continued interference of Ms. Vega kept this battle going late into the night. As our patience lessened and our frustrations mounted, Vega made her approach to Gargano once more…but this would be her final time.

An onlooker decides enough is enough and jumps the ringside barricade…wait no…its Gargano’s wife! Candice LeRae, the newest signee to the NXT development territory had been sitting ringside for most of the match. As most of us dreamed of jumping the ringside barricade and stopping Vega, LeRae took it upon herself to take care of that annoying, biting tick. The two battled away from the ring, leaving the end of this conflict to be handled by Gargano and Almas themselves.

The emotion in this war was strange for me. As the match went on, I began to see the strength in Gargano’s character and how his abilities had stretched the match into this lengthy triumph. I saw that his true success had already been achieved…and with that…I began to feel content with any ending, even Almas winning. It’s rare I ever feel this way, but the match had been so great up until this point, that I knew the smile couldn’t be wiped from my face. I finally gave up on being frustrated, on pushing for Gargano to pull off the victory and…well…on crying over false finishes.

In the end, this 10-star match (that’s right…I said it) finished with a Hammerlock DDT from Almas. Gargano ate the finisher and the ref finally hit the mat with his forearm for a third time. Almas held onto his title and Gargano…lay defeated in the ring. Where to go from here? The look on Gargano’s face sold this worry, even as his wife joined him back in the ring. What now?

The crowd cheered Almas as he walked out of the arena. A wonderful showing of appreciation for a great heel competitor. The type of heel that doesn’t need to hear the applause, but can still dominate in the ring.

As Gargano collected himself and sat up, you could see the lost look on his face. LeRae finally got him up the entrance ramp to let us witness the next element of Gargano’s story. A story we thought was wrapped around Gargano winning the NXT championship. Instead…it was Tommaso Ciampa surprising Gargano and LeRae from behind. Taking his crutch, which had been supporting his injured leg, Ciampa rang Gargano on his spine knocking him to the ground, writhing in pain. Without any word, Ciampa left the entrance ramp having hammered another nail into the coffin of their relationship. The storyline of the DIY breakup has now come back to haunt Gargano again…and led Gargano to the unfortunate answer of what’s next.

This match was chock full of emotion. Gargano’s chance to prove he’s still got it, the intense, non-stop thrill ride of the in-ring performance, the cheers for the heel, the standing ovation for Gargano, and of course, Gargano’s crash back down to earth after Ciampa’s return made this THE GREATEST MATCH OF ALL TIME…this week.

Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt on Twitter)

@BODPodcast for Twitter and Facebook