Our Story So Far…
– Matty Star and Sparrow had been teaming as the Legend Killers since 2014 in IPW, winning titles and riling up fans.
– In November, Star won an Instant Ticket match, earning him a shot at any championship.
– Sparrow was also in the match, but he sacrificed himself to help Star win because Star said he would use the Ticket to get the Killers a tag title shot.
– In December, James Jeffries won the IPW Heavyweight Championship in a three-way with Ryan Slade and Bob Holly. Immediately after that match, Star cashed in his Instant Ticket and pinned Jeffries with help from Miss Frankie Jay, becoming the new champion.
– After defending against Jeffries in a lumberjack match, Star said the only thing missing was his best friend, Sparrow, so the matchmaker announced that Star would defend against Sparrow at the next show.
– By the way, Sparrow and his wife just had their second child together.
Now on to the match!
I like this match because of the dynamic between the two former partners. They’ve had a singles match last year, but it was part of a tournament, and they were on much better terms. Now, Sparrow is fired up about being betrayed by his long-time friend, and he’s looking for payback. Matty is quite dismayed and tries to get Sparrow to calm down, but Sparrow just steps right to him. Using a rope break to force Sparrow to back off, Matty tries to sneak attack him, but Sparrow catches him and proceeds to dominate him in and out of the ring for several minutes.
Matty gains the advantage with an unorthodox “slam” onto the top turnbuckle. Then he slows things down and tries to keep Sparrow grounded. It works for a while, but of course, the smaller man comes back and takes to the air a couple times.
This puts them back on even ground, and it turns into a slugfest, followed by a series of counters. Matty finally lands a big one – a draping roll of the dice – and we enter the bomb-dropping portion of the match. Roll of the dice…kick out. Busaiku knee…kick out. Top rope German suplex…kick out. Michinoku driver on the apron…long pause…selfie kick…kick out. Thankfully, there are gaps between these moves; it’s not a spam-fest.
And then my favorite part: Matty yells at Sparrow, “Why’d you have to ruin everything?!” That’s so telling. In his mind, he was justified in breaking his promise, and Sparrow should have just gone along with it. It’s so telling about the heel’s mentality and the disconnect between him and Sparrow. Then he goes for Sparrow’s move, eat defeat, but Sparrow escapes and hits a selfie kick of his own.
Matty dodges another kick but can’t get the pin with a roll-up. Sparrow avoids a running knee, Matty ducks a kick and pushes Sparrow at the referee, Sparrow is distracted by trying not to hurt him, and Matty nails him with another selfie kick to put him away.
Very good stuff by my standards. I can’t wait to see them match up again.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Matty takes the mic and asks who’s next, and former champion Ryan Slade runs in and attacks. Matty escapes, but Slade says he’s getting the next shot at the title. Then, after he chases Matty away, the man Matty beat for the title, James Jeffries, comes out to talk to Sparrow. He tells the crowd that he and Sparrow are brothers-in-law, and he runs down Matty Star for leading Sparrow down a dark path. He knows that it won’t be long before Sparrow hangs up the boots to spend more time with his family, so he suggests they tag up and work together as brothers until that day. Sparrow doesn’t say anything, but he hugs James and they raise each other’s arms.
No, I’m not crying, it’s just the dusty air here…
Hook the Leg, Man! 