Horatio

I was so glad to find the match of the year 2022; it's Lawlor/Moxley from Defy.
I was also so glad to find the match of the year 2022; it's Liv vs Shayna from Clash at the Castle in Wales~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First of all, I didn't really *get* Liv Morgan before. I like'd Shayna; her bullying seem'd reasonable in a division where *someone* would cry when she lost. It was a get-out-of-the-fast-lane sort of thing, from my vantage. However, I did notice that Liv did her own unique, fancy spots as well Shayna did her bullying, although neither lady was having matches that seem'd complete and compelling. In this match, not only did Shayna finally find the opponent she always deserved, Liv Morgan surpass'd my expectations of her as a wrestler and moreover, as a fighting champion.

What can I say about the match? It's center'd around Liv's weak left arm that Ronda Rousey had benten out of shape. But, it's less about the challenger's limbwork and more about the champion's survival, which makes it a rare thing of beauty. I'm not sure how long the match went on for. 8 minutes? 10? 12? From the start, it was obviously going to end too soon... Does that make it four stars out of five? I don't know. If so, it cements that 5 stars go to the memorable, while 4 stars go to the fantastic. I might go ahead and give it 5 stars anyways, because it's freak'n mindblowing how long it's been since I've seen a match this good.

Liv puts on a Mysterio-level offensive clinic while taking a KENTA-level ass-whooping. Her running hurrican comes basically out of nowhere like 3 seconds into the match, and her matwork is, well, relentless. Sasha Banks was doing more of this sort chain-wrestling back then, but not with the most apt opponents, and it came off kind of noodle-y and loose; in this match, I see Liv working like a lucha tecnico to Shayna's British heel. She sells the injure'd arm based on some of her own offensive matwork rather than waiting for it to get re-injure'd [storyline wise (perhaps, reminding Shayna to go for the arm, but probably not)]. It's more likely she knew exactly what Shayna was going to do to her arm in this match and she wrestles faster than the men to end this match ASAP, but I never got the feeling she was overselling, being overwork'd, or underselling with all of the explosive offense she had to pull to finally end it.

I'm going to say this is one of those 5 star matches just because it's freaking perfect. Shayna's not yet as ornery as she may someday be, so her taking one on the head and dying from it seem'd completely plausible; while Liv going in sore but leaving unscathed also seem'd reasonable considering the match didn't overstep its boundaries in time. This was a sprint of sorts, but based around a mat wrestler attacking an arm, it's something different altogether. Like those old Velocity cruiserweight matches, or the 13 minute Rey/Eddie from Halloween Havoc, this was a rare thing of perfection. Moxley and Lawlor put years of blood, sweat, and tears into their April '22 match. Liv and Shayna brought the past, present, and future of pure wrestling into Wales on this night at Clash of the Castle.