What's the story, connoisseurs of comically contested confrontations?
Keeping with the trend of lighter reviews for the month of April as wedding season draws nearer and nearer, I decided to do some pandering this week, if you will. I explain more, if you read more, but I went into this weeks review unsure of what I was getting into and came away from it feeling happy I ventured out of my comfort zone.
So join me, dear reader, find out what's new in my week of wrestling.
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| SPW |
Weekly Roundup
Here's what I watched for the week;
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Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Aiden Rex - SPW Mayhem - 05/30/2025
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| Two technical tacticians taking their time. SPW |
Want to start this review off by giving a big 'ol shoutout to my homies out in Singapore. Did you guys know that I have nearly as many readers in Singapore as I do Canada? The country I live in? If my stats are to believed, I have almost twice as many page views from Singapore as from the United States. That's completely bonkers, to me. How did you guys find me? What am I doing that resonates with you guys? Or, a better question would be, are my stats to be believed? Or are all my Singapore readers just people using a VPN? Is that how that works? I'm only computer literate enough to basically understand how that stuff works. Once you start getting into the nuts and bolts of things, you've lost me.
Either way, cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com, hit me up and let me know how you found me. I'm genuinely curious!
But that's not important right now! What is important, however, is that I finally bit the bullet and did something I've been meaning to do for a good while now. After seeing how such a large percentage of my readership comes from Singapore, I decided to see what the wrestling scene out in that portion of the world looked like. As best I'm able to see, Singapore Pro Wrestling, or SPW, is the biggest promotion going in Southeast Asia. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to explore wrestling from all over the globe, and not just watch the heavy hitters and the big promotions everyone knows. I want to dig into the nooks and crannies, watch promotions that maybe only get a couple hundred or a thousand eyes at most, really see what kind of wrestling is out there. When I found out Singapore not only has a wrestling scene, but that it's thriving, I was salivating. Unfortunately, I can't squeeze it into my usual rotation right now, but I do plan on keeping SPW on my radar for the foreseeable, as long as matches like this one keep happening.
I did a bit of digging through the SPW libraries recent matches to find something that stuck out to me, something that screamed "watch me!" There were a couple of tags that looked enticing, some singles that looked promising, but this match absolutely jumped out at me. After Zack's recent classic against Nigel McGuinness at AEW's Forbidden Door last month (featured in Weekly Watchlist 063), I couldn't help but want to watch even more of this technical wizard do what he does better than most. Not only that, but I knew SPW would be crazy to not put one of their absolute best against ZSJ, so it was a no brainer to pick this match, in my humble opinion.
The venue for this match is about what you'd expect for a mid-sized indie to run. A convention hall of some sort that can hold a couple hundred people on both the ground floor and the elevated balcony. The ring looks to be a couple feet smaller than your standard 20x20, maybe a 18 or even a 16. The apron looks a couple inches wider as well. These are just the things you notice when you are mentally ill and only watch wrestling day in and day out. Most people will just see a ring and be like "cool! Wrestling!" But all I can think is "I wonder how big this ring is." I know, there's something very wrong with me.
ZSJ gets right in the face of Rex from the opening bell, as confident as ever that he'll be able to steamroll this kid into dust in a few minutes. To his credit, Rex doesn't back down, getting right back in the face of ZSJ, giving it back to him in equal measure. The bell rings and both men advance in low stances, meeting in the middle as they trade lightning fast holds, transitions, counters and submission attempts. Both men are too fresh and slippery for anything to work this early on in the match. But it doesn't stop them from trying.
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| Nothing like an early morning scramble. SPW |
Back to the middle they return, this time, they lock up at a slower pace, knowing they'll need to be more tactical and methodical to get the upper hand on their opponent. Zack gets early control with a front facelock that he almost has Rex locked in. He breaks free, only to get his left leg picked as he falls to the canvas. Wasting no time, ZSJ works at the knee joint of Rex, pulling him up by the shin and forcing his knee joint to hold his full body weight off the canvas. Rex twists out, but Zack stays on top of him; literally. A quick bow and arrow like hold stops Rex in place, and a cloverleaf of the legs pulls him to centre. Zack flips Rex over to his back, kneeling on the knot he's created with Rex's ankles, leaving his opponent to rock back and forth, prying at the pressure Zack has effortlessly created.
This opening is the perfect example of how you take the opening of an inch and turn it into a mile of real estate. Zack effortlessly went from a simple leg lock to a hold that puts a great deal of pressure on Rex in seconds. He never gives him a chance to figure out where he is in the ring, always shifting and moving him somewhere new, applying new, agonizing pain with each transition.
Rex is clever, however, snatching the left arm of ZSJ and twisting him around into a hammerlock, relieving the pressure on his feet and forcing Zack to go on the defensive, draping a foot on the bottom rope to break the hold. If you're that close to the ropes, why use up the extra energy to try and break a hold yourself? Use the ring to your advantage. Smarter, not harder.
They reset in the middle, taking a chance to shake out the damaged limbs before Rex shoots in for a waistlock on ZSJ, wasting no time as he grabs the left arm of Rex to break the hold. He starts to go for a double wrist lock, but opts for a single as he bends and forces Rex to the canvas, making him move with the pain instead of against it, following the path of least resistance. Zack bends and wrenches at the left wrist of Rex, weakening the smaller joints in an effort to weaken the rest of his offence.
Back in the middle, they find themselves in a double knuckle lock, with ZSJ trying to twist Rex's wrists around and around, but Rex breaks a hand free and drops to the canvas, using his positioning to take Zack down off his feet now, turning the tables on his opponent. Zack isn't down for very long, however, kipping up and stepping over to break the hold, standing in the centre and dismissively looking at Rex as if to say "that the best you've got, huh?"
Resetting in opposite corners, they meet in the middle again with Zack getting the better of Rex, again. He steps on one hand and bends the other arm back at a disgusting angle, shifting his position; as well as Rex's, so he steps over the shoulders of a seated Rex while holding both arms straight behind his back. Zack has decided to hone in on the shoulder of Rex here, doing everything he can to rip his arms out of their sockets. Getting a bit too cocky, Zack pulls Rex to his feet, allowing him to flip through to relieve the pressure on his shoulders, instead putting it on ZSJ. They twist in the middle for control, with Zack bridging, twisting, and taking the back of Rex to tie him in a straight jacket choke.
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| The jacket is on tight. SPW |
Pulling Rex down with vicious intent, Zack takes him down and tries to hold him in a leg scissors, hoping to squeeze the oxygen from his lungs. Rex is still to fresh, however, flipping back out of the hold and getting Zack in the straight jacket choke instead! Zack calmly pulls himself to his feet, twisting his arms free with a standing bridge to reapply it on Rex, but he breaks the hold by snapmaring Zack to the middle of the ring. Diving for a leg, Rex takes ZSJ down and rolls for an ankle lock, but Zack kick him off. Rex is on his feet before Zack, who turns around a second too slow, his left leg getting sniped by a basement dropkick from Rex, dropping Zack to the canvas and out to the apron for air.
Keeping the pressure on, Rex dropkicks Zack off the apron and onto the floor, leaving him in no mans land as Rex catches his breath in the ring all by himself. Getting to his feet, Zack is gentle when stepping with his left leg, the shot to his thigh doing more damage than he may want to let on. Back in the ring, he hobbles around for positioning against Rex, who shoots out a kick to Zack's bad leg, staggering him to the ropes. Changing his stance, Zack keeps his left leg back, keeping it well away from the feet of Rex. It doesn't do a lot of good, however, as a quick thrust kick drops Zack to the canvas again. The referee makes a move to check on Zack but nearly catches a foot under the jaw, the former IWGP Champion not interested in his sympathy.
Zack is back vertical, but a bit unsteady as he meets Rex in the middle again. He shoots in for the left leg and drops Zack to the canvas, but again, he kicks Rex off before rising back to his feet. But Rex is determined, another kick and another pick of the leg, but Zack kicks him off again. Might want to wait before going for that leg again, pal, Zack is still too fresh for that to work on him just yet. This point is made abundantly clear when Rex shoots in for the leg again, making the fatal mistake of putting his head between Zack's shins. Not wasting a second, ZSJ twists his legs around, snapping the neck of Rex with vicious speed and intent.
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| Oh nice! Free chiropractic adjustment! SPW |
His attention set on someone heckling him in the crowd, ZSJ dedicates this kick to them, opening up the shoulder blades of Rex with a punt that wouldn't look out of place on the football field (or soccer, for us on this side of the pond). A cravate is sinched in on Rex before a snapmare into another neck snap attempt, but Rex slips free, using a modified dragon screw to weaken his leg further. With Zack on his stomach, Rex ties his legs up as if he is to pull him back in a surfboard stretch, but instead opts to just drive both knees of ZSJ into the ring.
Fighting from guard, Zack breaks Rex's leg lock by grabbing his ear and twisting, further proving that sometimes the worst move can happen to the smallest part of your body. Rex lets the hold go instantly to try and break the hold, but Zack uses it to get back to his feet and drive a European uppercut into the chest of Rex. Nasty stuff. Another European and Zack goes for a double wrist lock, but Rex slips free and takes him down, using another modified dragon screw to the leg of Zack. But he's already got a counter figured out, snapping off a vicious kick to the head of Rex when he lands on the canvas.
Rex goes for an actual dragon screw this time as both men stand, but Zack holds fast, twisting his neck when Rex lands flat out on his back. One of the first pin attempts of the match comes after a huge double underhook suplex is landed by Zack, drilling Rex into the ring. He makes it out at two but is clutching his neck after getting free. More European's from Zack but Rex refuses to give in, countering one into a backslide pin attempt, but ZSJ escapes. Rex stays on the canvas as Zack gets to his feet, staggering over to his prone opponent, expecting him to be easy prey.
Boy, was he wrong. Rex snatches the leg of Zack in a grapevine kneebar, dropping him flat out as he wrenches and hyperextends the knee of ZSJ. Zack stays seated, preventing Rex from fully locking out the hold, applying a double wristlock to relieve some of the pressure. All it takes to break the hold is for Rex to sit back, breaking the wristlock as Zack shoots back in pain. Acting on instinct, Zack sits up and paintbrushes Rex with a slap across the face. They trade shots back and forth but Zack gets the upper hand; as far as strikes are concerned. It's Rex that gets the better of ZSJ, rolling him over to put even more pressure on his leg, forcing Zack to go for the ropes to break the hold. Rex lets him go and ZSJ crawls to the apron, adjusting his kickpad to tend to his bad wheel.
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| He got got! SPW |
With Zack back in the ring, Rex goes for a tornado DDT, but gets hung out to dry when Zack shoves him off mid rotation, leaving him to land stomach first on the ring. Within seconds, ZSJ has an armbar applied on Rex, using that one limb to twist and transition around his entire body. First, the fujiwara, then a lebell lock into a version of the Rings of Saturn. With Rex turned over to his back, a double wristlock is found before his head is trapped by a headscissors. The twisting and shifting has brought them both close to the bottom rope, with Zack a second too late to stop Rex's leg from shooting out and finding the bottom rope, breaking the hold.
Getting to his feet first, Zack stomps the pinned left arm of Rex to try and shatter his forearm into dust, the savvy tactician growing tired of playing around. Wrenching and twisting his arm around, he hyperextends it with a disgusting snap over his shoulder, using the trapped limb to keep him in place for a pelee kick, but Rex avoids the shot just barely! Seizing on the opening, Rex lands a dropkick on the back of ZSJ and an enziguiri as he stands. Charging out of the corner, whatever Rex had in mind was thwarted by Zack, as he scooped Rex up and into a nasty driver, holding him down for a close pinfall attempt.
With Rex seated in the middle, Zack goes for a kick that would have sent his head into the nosebleeds, but he ducks the shot just in time. Stopping ZSJ as he stumbles out the corner with a leg pick, he bends and twists Zack around into a tight figure four pin attempt, barely getting out at two. It's clear that both of these men are searching for an answer here in the third gear of this match, knowing, maybe even hoping that they are in the closing moments of this match. They trade quick pin attempts back and forth, each kickout leads to the other mans pin, back and forth they go until both men need to take a chance to collect themselves.
Back on their feet, Rex attempts to wear down Zack with European uppercuts but they have little effect, whereas a single shot from ZSJ sends Rex stumbling back to the ropes. A cocky smile crosses the face of Zack, knowing he's got this match well in hand if he can keep things in his favour. Confident in his ability to absorb, Zack opens his arms and allows Rex to give him another shot; and so he does. But it has little effect. Dismissively, Zack slaps Rex across the face, dropping his exhausted challenger to the canvas in a heap.
Refusing to give in, Rex feels energized by the crowd and forces himself to stand, ZSJ removing his wrist tape in a way that says "alright kid, let's wrap this up." Rex lands Europeans over and over, but Zack presses forward, eating each shot as if they are nothing. Backing Rex against the ropes, he's in his face and begging for him to do something. Again, he opens himself up and again with the Europeans, but a ZSJ sized slap doubles Rex over. Zack pulls Rex in for a definitive driver to seal the deal, but Rex slips around and latches onto Zack's back with a sleeper, but in a surprising "big brother" moment, Zack just stands there as Rex tries harder and harder to sap the life out of him.
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| He's got him in the contraption! The doohickey! SPW |
Changing gears, Rex catches Zack's arm as he goes for the ropes and uses it to twist around for a pin attempt off a leg grapevine. Rex has ZSJ held in a submission that has both his legs trapped as well as splayed open, manipulating both the hip, knee, and shins all at once. Pressing up with all his might, Zack works his way up and out of the hold, sitting out only briefly before Rex bends him back again. Doing everything he can to pry himself free, Zack is able to loosen the hook made by Rex's foot, but it only loosens the pressure by so much, with ZSJ sitting back up to try and escape the hold by getting to the ropes. Thankfully, he makes it.
With Rex snatching his bad wheel, Zack is a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, but he fires off forearm shot after forearm shot nonetheless. This time, however, it's Zack who gets caught with a shot under the jaw, with a single slap from Rex dropping Zack to his knees. Zack isn't down for long, however, back on his feet as Rex charges in for a dropkick- but Zack had him scouted! He stands with his wounded leg wide open, an opening you'd be foolish to not capitalize on. Rex, of course, goes for the bait, but Zack picks his leg up and shifts to the side just in time, leaving Rex to crash and burn as Zack winds up and delivers a heinous kick to the chest.
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| Gotcha! SPW |
Frustrated after his pin attempt did not get him the much desired win, Zack goes back to delivering European uppercuts that stagger young Rex over and over. He even leaves himself open for shots, but nothing Rex lands seems to have any effect at all. It's a losing battle, but Rex refuses to give in. A snapmare and a kick to the chest levels him on the canvas, with Zack confidently striding around the ring before laying in kicks as Rex stands back up. These end up costing ZSJ, as Rex catches one kick after another, landing dragon screws on each one. He pulls Zack to centre and hooks an ankle lock, which ZSJ tries to counter into an armbar, but Rex gets the lock put right back on again.
Zack rolls through and Rex tries to hold on for the ride, shooting in for a waistlock but Zack slips free, ultimately getting caught by Rex with a huge, spiking, tornado DDT! With Zack wounded in the middle, a shining wizard catches him in the jaw as Rex goes for a cover, but it's only two! Again, he goes for the ankle lock, but Zack holds fast, trying for the ropes but getting pulled back to centre. Hooking his right leg over his left, Zack escapes and gets to his feet, taking the back of Rex only for Rex to get the upper hand with a standing switch, driving Zack into the ropes as they roll back and trade pin attempts once again!
Escaping from everything else, both men try their own rear naked chokes, back and forth they try, with Zack ultimately standing out of one of Rex's attempts, only for Rex to tie him back up on the canvas again! Moving faster than lightning, Zack is able to snatch the left arm of Rex and bar it, tapping him out in seconds! Zack wins!
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| As sudden as a heart attack. SPW |
This match was absolutely fantastic. It's easy to forget sometimes that awesome wrestlers can exist elsewhere in the world and, while I'm sure a lot of the heavy lifting came from Zack here, Rex more than held his own! He was exceptional! I really want to watch more of SPW and see what else this roster has on offer, if this is anything to go off of. It was technically brilliant with no holes and holds that made sense given what each man was trying to do. The crafty Zack against the equally crafty, but still a bit wet behind the ears Rex (10 years is still pretty new to the business, right? Otherwise my argument completely falls apart.) I'll be keeping SPW on my radar, that's for sure. Well done, Rex.
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Well, that was a whole lot of fun, wasn't it?! Man, am I glad I decided to see what my friends in Singapore are watching. This stuff rocks! If you guys have any match/show, or even wrestler recommendations from Singapore/elsewhere, hit me up! I'm in the mood to keep broadening my horizons.
But, until then, I've got a wedding to prepare for. My next review will be my final review before I tie the knot, sorry to disappoint any readers who were trying to swoop in before it was too late. Afraid that ship has long since sailed.
Until then. Stay safe, be well, love each other.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
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