Joseph and Colette Discuss Adam Priest vs. Daniel Makabe

Also, BIG EGG is a year old now! It's all about BIG EGG!

Colette Arrand
Before we start talking about the match, BIG EGG just turned one — we should introduce what we’re talking about and why.

Joseph Montecillo
[Joseph Montecillo is typing…]

Colette Arrand
I’ve got two words for you, Joseph:

Joseph Montecillo
…

Colette Arrand
Hunter Month.

Joseph Montecillo
Goddamn it.

So we've been talking about wanting to shine a light on less favorable work with BIG EGG to celebrate the anniversary. And we wanted to do so with probably a fairly light target that most people can agree deserves the vitriol he gets. And it just so happens that one Hunter Hearst Levesque has a career stock full with some truly, truly dogshit matches. We'll be covering four of them in the weeks to come, all of which are upsetting for so many different reasons. Unless, we somehow find we have some long hidden fondness for one of them (we probably won't).

Colette Arrand
The fondness I hold for Hunter is that for about four minutes in 2002 he wore that denim and leather outfit when he came back from injury. He was the hottest guy in the world for those four minutes. Then he started talking. After that, he started wrestling. Otherwise I think of him as the biggest threat to the kind of wrestling I enjoy that’s risen up since, well, Vince McMahon. And even then, at least Vince didn’t pretend to love great wrestling. I will probably talk about how much I hate that Hunter and Shawn’s vision of wrestling is currently dominant. I hate him, Joseph. I’m going to regret this.

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Joseph Montecillo
Luckily, today we're talking about two wrestlers infinitely more talented than Triple H in Daniel Makabe and Adam Priest. Two of my favorites in the 2020s indie scene.

Adam Priest vs. Daniel Makabe and the Morality of Leg Work

Colette Arrand
A little treat before we both go to hell. I really liked this match, too. Even found myself debating the merits of adding a half star, but I think that was homesickness. Unquestionably one of the best matches of the year, though. Everything about it is so tight.

Adam Priest and Daniel Makabe Prove That Georgia Is a Workrate State

Joseph Montecillo
These two wrestlers are not known for bloat or overambition. Makabe especially, I have never ever seen go above 20 minutes or so, and there's a real special joy in watching a wrestler who actively shuns overreaching. Priest has flirted with some bloat in the past, the Uncharted Territory finale match vs. Kevin Ku suffers a lot from going way, way too long even if all the action contained within is quite strong. It's no shock that the rematch with Ku which doesn't breach the 20 minute mark ends up being one of the best of 2023. These are two guys who seem to really, really revel in the smaller, finer details of wrestling and it's just easier to contain all that in a tighter package than stretching it out.

Colette Arrand
I think part of that is that, when you’re going less than 20, you have to make everything count. A significant number of wrestling fans have been conditioned to think of runtime as an indicator of quality, like a 40 minute match allows for more story to be told, but this match does what a lot of those ones try to do in 12 minutes, forcing both Makabe and Priest to reach higher levels of meanness or desperation quickly, and never anything less than viciously.