OTT’s final Dublin show of the year had some good action in it – and today we’re looking at an unexpected gem from the midcard of their latest Contenders show.
Coming right after a tag match that perhaps changed the course of OTT’s women’s division, where Debbie Keitel and Valkyrie turned on their tag team partners, we’ve got Jordan Devlin up against Terry Thatcher – the man whom until October had been the NLW champion.
Terry Thatcher vs. Jordan Devlin
You think Jordan was looking at just the surnames here as he perhaps had his sights on regaining his OTT title?
We start with a tie-up as Devlin took Thatcher into the corner, before he went for a wristlock as he showed his experience and dominance early. After wrenching the arm back, Devlin throws a knee as the crowd were actually chanting for Thatcher… who reversed the hold but quickly lost it as Devlin throws him to the mat from the wristlock. Effortless. Thatcher tries to slam his way free, but Devlin’s still got the wrist as we’re back sort-of to square one. A roll-up barely gets Thatcher a one-count as he’s busting out some pinning attempts to try and keep Devlin on the back foot, following up with dropkicks to take Jordan outside… before a springboard body press to the outside was swatted away with a forearm.
On the outside, Devlin lit up Thatcher with chops, rough housing him around the ringside area as Thatcher was almost turned into a tackling dummy. Back in the ring, there’s more chops, before Devlin wiped him out with a dropkick as there was another threatened comeback. A surfboard arm stretch is next, which Devlin turned into a version of Zack Sabre Jr’s old Young Boy Killer as he tried to pop out both of Thatcher’s shoulders in one go, all while the duelling chants turned into a cacophony.
Somehow Thatcher got free and scored with a crossbody off the top, then a shotun dropkick… and a regular one into the corner, before a tiltawhirl DDT spiked Devlin for a near-fall. Heading outside, Thatcher catches Devlin with an Asai moonsault into the crowd, but Devlin gets back into the ring first… only for Thatcher to do the symbolic thing with the braces, before his neckbreaker’s countered into a sheer drop brainbuster by Devlin! Devlin keeps up the offence with clotheslines that rocked Thatcher, almost in the same vein as David Starr (cough), before he caught Thatcher with a standing Spanish Fly! Thatcher lands a desperation lariat that Devlin tried to fight out of, before the pair exchange more slaps ahead of a right hand from Devlin. There’s a leg lariat that Devlin misses, allowing Thatcher to hit a spinebuster for a near-fall.
Thatcher heads up top, but he’s caught… and reverses things with a reverse ‘rana off the top that looked to spike Devlin! He’s back up for a Macho Man elbow, but it’s good for only a two-count before Thatcher tried to charge at Devlin… and ends up eating a German suplex for his troubles. From there, Thatcher countered a package piledriver into a Destroyer for a near-fall, then came even closer from a clothesline, before he headed up for a 450 splash that rudely ends via the knees of Devlin, who responded with a pull-up back suplex and Ireland’s Call for a near-fall… before a package piledriver finally did it.
Despite being outclassed, this was a hell of a showing for Terry Thatcher, who should have opened a few more eyes beyond the OTT hardcores with this showing. ***¾
2019 looks to be an interesting year for OTT in so many ways – with the Tivoli closing, and OTT recently announcing that they had also lost their “secondary” venue on Suir Road, the promotion has a major headache to contend with when it comes to running shows.