With the sheer volume of wrestling available on-demand these days, there’s always going to be something hiding away in the back catalogues. Here’s an example from Beyond’s deep library.
Of course, last October, over wXw’s World Tag Team Festival weekend, we had a re-do of this match as a superfight at the Ambition matinee show. Some five and a half years earlier, they’d done it in front of a smaller crowd in Blackwood, New Jersey, in the main event of Beyond Wrestling’s dojo show at the home of the CZW academy. Emil Jay and Sugar (do do do do do do) Dunkerton are on commentary for this one.
Quick Result:
Biff Busick beats Timothy Thatcher via ref stoppage in 18:00 (****)
Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick
Back in these days, Thatcher was billed as coming from Brampton, which is about as far north you can get in England without falling into Scotland…
We open with a handshake, before Busick took down Thatcher… and stepped back to allow for a restart. Thatcher returns the favour, but Busick scrambles into the ropes, before he got taken into the corner, with a scramble needing the referee to separate them. Or at least, try… Commentary tells us that this is just a day removed from Busick losing the finals of Best of the Best, having wrestled three times in one night. That may play into things here, as the pair continue to go tit for tat, albeit in a clean way as another tie-up into the ropes was broken cleanly. Thatcher comes in with a wristlock, but Busick took him down for less than a one-count, before a knuckle lock took Thatcher back in with another wristlock/armbar, torquing away at Biff’s arm.
Busick counters with a side headlock, but Thatcher extricates himself, only for Busick to get his foot to the rope to break the armbar. Biff comes back with a side headlock, but he’s pushed off as a returning shoulder tackle barely fazes Thatcher… who can’t quite catch a Fireman’s carry as Busick slips out into a rear naked choke that’s swiftly broken in the ropes. On the mat, Thatcher goes back to the wrist as he tried to pin Busick at the same time he went for a submission… adding a neat bridge on the hold as well, not unlike how Axel Dieter Jr. did his hammerlocks back in the day. Thatcher tries to focus on Busick’s arm, but Biff rolls free and manages to catch Thatcher with a hammerlock, only for Timo to power out and take him down with a chicken wing en route to another hammerlock.
Busick rolls free but can’t break an armbar yet, but the sweat helps him slip free as a surfboard stretch on the mat had Thatcher in trouble. Thatcher tries to reverse the double arm stretch, but he’s grounded again before finally getting up to reverse it… only for Biff to keep the momentum going as he goes back to square one. A rear naked choke stops Thatcher from trying again, but he too slips out as an armbar attempt almost ended with Thatcher getting pinned. They go back and forth on the arm, with Thatcher scissoring it as he tried to apply the armbar, and it works too as he manages to get a Fujiwara armbar on briefly before Busick rolled free and began to pepper Timo with right hands. An uppercut caught Busick as he ran off the ropes, but he kicks out at one as Thatcher again went back to the arm, eventually ending in the ropes.
Busick’s straight back to his feet with elbows as he tried to KO Thatcher, seemingly ending the “wrestling” portion of the match for him. Thatcher matched it too, landing a running European uppercut to knock Busick off the top rope and onto the ring apron. Biff’s able to roll back into the ring, but Thatcher hits a floatover butterfly suplex for a near-fall, before rolling into the Fujiwara armbar… which Biff pushes out of as he sneaks in with a backslide for a near-fall. A half-nelson suplex dumps Thatcher high on his back, before a rear naked choke from Busick kept Thatcher on the deck. Thatcher powers up and backs into the corner to break it, as we’re back to duelling European uppercuts and chops, before they simply whaled away on each other. Thatcher’s headbutt annoys Busick, who slaps back, only to get uppercut’d into the corner as the tempo raised again.
Thatcher’s back with a side Salto suplex as he hurled Busick into the corner… then again out of it, rolling the gutwrench into a Fujiwara armbar. There’s a rope break, as Busick rolled to the apron, but he’s brought back in as Thatcher lifts him up for a superplex… but Thatcher’s knocked down as Busick came back with a mounted rear naked choke. A reverse Judo throw has Thatcher on the mat, with Busick locking in a Bully choke… and that’s all folks! Thatcher’s out, and after the referee does the arm drop gimmick, that’s the stoppage. If you’re a fan of the mat-based style these two offer, you’ll absolutely adore this match – a war of attrition on the mat as the pair looked to outwrestle the other, before downing tools and just going “screw this” as they switched to strikes for a spell, only for mat wrestling to win it in the end. ****
The match is more than worth it just to hear Thatcher swear in his English accent at the end! Get on this – this match (and the entire show) just dropped over on IWTV.live…