Part of me enjoyed this a lot more than I'd have expected. The other part recognises that it'll probably never really be my thing, but I thought there was lots to like. There was a whole lot going on outside the ring and it led to a bunch of weapons getting tossed into the mix, but surprisingly it never felt overly hokey to me. Something like Jimmy Jacobs v BJ Whitmer was one of the best blood feuds of the 00s and it was at its best when they kept the trappings to a minimum (or minimum for 2007 US indie wrestling). When they got in the cage they started adding in all sorts of props and even had ring staff bring them into the cage while the match was going on. The stunts sort of became a bigger focus than the hatred and flat out attempted murder and you wish they stuck to just stabbing each other in the head with a railway spike. Everything with the weapons in this actually felt pretty organic and added to the desperation and chaos of it all, though they subbed in some scissors for the railway spike and sure enough that was still the best of the weapons stuff, so maybe that tells us something. Bull resorting to stabbing Aja in the arm was borderline disturbing, especially with Aja being horrified at it all. It's Aja Kong and she herself has stooped to deplorable levels in this match alone. Yet here she is, this wrecking ball of a woman, appalled at what her opponent is trying to do to her. I guess it went a bit longer than my attention span was willing to hold for (though probably not long by most peoples' standards) and I wish Bull made a little more of Aja going after the leg, but the finish is one of those moments that can fire a match to legendary status and make you forget about those other quibbles. I'm glad I finally checked it out after all these years.
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