D-Lo Brown vs. Spike Dudley

[6.0] "Thought this was actually pretty good for a nothing C-show match. D-Lo is kinda the uncrowned king of doing these sort of mini-matches and Spike has always had a underrated dynamic that he did well for someone who definitely never fit the traditional "wrestler" look or style. The theme is more or less about respect: D-Lo plays the more cocky lad here who consistently underestimates his far smaller opponent, allowing him to grab on for holds and counters. I thought the grappling while a bit weird for these two was fairly solid: Spike is surprisingly good at pulling for random counters, namely getting out of a hammerlock with a arm-drag takeover into a armlock, or countering a scoop slam-mid move by hooking the arm into a key lock. Shit like that isn't really seen often by him, so it was interesting getting more of a Catch-influence out of the guy. Of course this goes into more traditional sequences as D-Lo goes into his arsenal of power moves to get the advantage, namely a nasty full on backdrop toss onto the mat or a Snake Eyes on the barricade. Spike gets in his usual spots like the corner stomp and the spinning Frankensteiner but D-Lo takes over again with a vicious throw into the turnbuckle: Spike does it Bret-style, full speed right into the thing, looked like he died lol. Spike gets the crowd going while in a bearhug, but his running spear/headbutt gets caught with a calf kick, which honestly looked like it could slot right into a NJPW Jr spot and you'd never tell the difference, looked amazing. He hits the second one on the money but his crossbody is countered into a big Gunnslinger that almost goes all the way into a neckbreaker instead. Finish has Spike barely get the win after a sunset flip and D-lo shows respect afterwards after teasing a post-match beatdown. But yeah, real easy quick match to get though and pretty fun all things considered, especially given how well these two work together. Wouldn't say "hidden gem" but surprisingly robust for a 6 minute sprint."