Slim J vs B-Boy
Scenic City Invitational 2019 First Round Match
08/02/2019
Soddy-Daisy High School, Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, United States
(reviewed 08/09/2019) Quality opener that, as with past openers in this tournament’s history, does well to establish the tone of this show moving forward. 2016’s Jimmy Rave vs John Skyler was methodical and mean, illustrating that all the skill in the world can be upended by a well-executed trick. The Joey Lynch matches of the last two years were far spottier and fast-paced. Here, two slick veterans show how creative and crafty they can be but never forget that they’re meant to be trying to win the match, something other SCI competitors have gotten hung up on before. Every time I watch him Slim J pulls out some feat of highflying that completely blows my mind and often it’s something incidental to the match, something he merely does in transition. In comparison my favorite thing about B-Boy is the ways in which he exhibits weakness, the ways in which he sells being a capable, calculated ass-kicker who’s just briefly been knocked off his game by a quick cutoff. We get plenty of both those things in this match, as B-Boy struggles to stack more and more big offense on Slim J’s shoulders and the southerner does everything he can to outpace the one guy in this tournament who can match him for experience. Hardly the best match you’re gonna see all year—or on this show—but I think it’s plenty good. Slim J manages to reverse a brainbuster attempt into a small package for the win.
