Ilja Dragunov vs "Speedball" Mike Bailey

 ILJA DRAGUNOV VS "SPEEDBALL" MIKE BAILEY (10/21)

    Ilja Dragunov has debuted in AEW. It still feels kind of surreal, but he has debuted, and it is an amazing fit for him. Originally, I did not consider Speedball to be an opponent (I don't know how) but looking back it is a perfect first opponent for Ilja.

    The match had a neat segment at the start where Speedball would dodge all of Dragunov's chops attempts, it prolonged the inevitable fiery chop (the first question I had when I heard Ilja was AEW-bound was how hard that first chop he hits is going to be). It was really great psychology.

    It's really freaking hard-hitting throughout. The damn chops and kicks were just gorgeous, I always say with thigh-slaps I can excuse them if they actually are hitting them super hard, so I don't have a problem with Speedball's thigh slaps. 

    Oddly enough, this match was not about Ilja for me. It was about Speedball Mike Bailey. Not only was the leg selling on point the entire match, but the amount of punishment dished out and received by Bailye transcended the match. The way Bailey would bump and sell for every piece of offense Dragunov threw at him, it made this match way better.

    As for Dragunov, yeah, he hit hard. Duh. He hits really hard, he's intense, we know this. We had a genuine MOTYC on our hands, but there were so many moments where it felt like Dragunov should've went down after this kick or sold better after this kick but instead he just got back up and/or countered. The biggest example of this was when Dragunov ran right at Bailey and he got hit with a Sakuraba vs Nakamura WK 7-esque kick that sent him down, the kick was straight to the face, it was brutal, and Dragunov should have stayed down for a bit. Yet right after, he chopped Bailey's leg. Little moments like that that happen throughout the match are what prevents me from rating this any higher.

    All in all, this was really good, but with a bit better structure and selling on Dragunov's part, we had something really special brewing.

My rating: 3.75*