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[1st Rd] PETE DUNNE vs. SAMI CALLIHAN


PETE DUNNE vs. SAMI CALLIHAN  

78 members have voted

  1. 1. Choose One


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There's always been something about Sami that just doesn't click with me. I can't place exactly what it is, maybe a charisma issue, but I just can't get into him. Or maybe it's just me.

 

Further, the UK Tourney was one of my favorite events maybe ever on top of a good-great year for Dunne so it's a pretty easy vote for Dunne.

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From what I saw of Pete I like his style a lot.  If going strictly off the UK tournament and NXT matches I'd pick him easily.  But I'll still check the matches posted in here to see how the rest of his year has been.

The only Sami matches I've seen the past year (yet) are from LU.  His style works there and the crowd seems to like him a ton.  He's pretty good, but has that missing something to make me fully invest into what he's doing (can't put my finger on what that is though)

If I were to choose now I'd lean towards Dunn, but will catch the matches over the weekend to see if Sami sways me.  But I can't help but wonder if they faced off against each other.  I'm sure that would be brutally awesome.

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3 years ago, Pete had the best match I've ever seen in person vs Zack Sabre Jr, when he was just nice generic face Pete Dunne. The fact that he's managed to evolve so much, not only in terms of match quality but in terms of injecting personality into his matches, is amazing. He's had such a great year. Sami has been good too - really dug the Calihan/Havok vs Stevie Boy/KLR match from Southside in October - but he's the lesser member of the Bruisercats this year.

Also, this feels like a good place to stick a link to this documentary that aired a few years ago, where a young Pete shared his wrestling ambitions. Also features a 16yr old Tyler Bate with full moustache doing an SSP into a load of foam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20XJqRXxtSY

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I'm not as familiar with Pete Dunne going into this, but I didn't have to watch too much of his stuff to vote against Callahan, who looks like VD on feet in the ring to me.

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Just now, Michael Sweetser said:

Dunne did more in that UK title tournament and in the final alone than Sami did in anything in NXT.

And Sami's NXT run wasn't this time period so what is your point? (Sami left NXT Nov 2015)

Or is this just a "I thought he sucked awhile ago so clearly he must suck now" thing?

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Just now, nate said:

I'm not as familiar with Pete Dunne going into this, but I didn't have to watch too much of his stuff to vote against Callahan, who looks like VD on feet in the ring to me.

And you wonder why this is the last year of March Madness

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Just now, RIPPA said:

And Sami's NXT run wasn't this time period so what is your point? (Sami left NXT Nov 2015)

Or is this just a "I thought he sucked awhile ago so clearly he must suck now" thing?

Ponit taken, but I saw Sami's match with Ricochet and he showed me nothing to show me that getting released from NXT was anything but a smart move.  Still going Dunne.

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2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

And Sami's NXT run wasn't this time period so what is your point? (Sami left NXT Nov 2015)

Or is this just a "I thought he sucked awhile ago so clearly he must suck now" thing?

Nothing's as bad as the guy who said last year something to the effect of, "Sami failed in NXT but is thriving on the indies, so that means the indies must suck."  Sami just seems to bring out the dumbest "logic" in people.

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It's both easier and harder to produce and be effective in a controlled environment. We haven't seen a lot from Dunne as of yet in said environment, but they told a tight two day story with him where he delivered exactly what he needed to.

On the other hand, I think Sami's also carried himself very well in Lucha Underground so far. I'm only through Aztec Warfare 3 but he's one of my favorite parts of this season, so it's not like he can't manage it either; it just seems like NXT was a bad fit.

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I thought the Sami/Ricochet match was solid.

Funny/interesting story: I used to book Darby Allin when he just out of training, and he would drive up with my Vancouver guys to Kelowna. He was "Darby Graves" then and had more hair and hadn't fully developed the psycho/weirdo/creep gimmick he has now in Evolve. He worked for me twice and I was happy with his work, then he asked if I would book a fellow trainee of his (King Khash), and that's when things fell apart:

a. They drove up on their own instead of with the crew, not telling me until the afternoon of my show...so I paid for a car with two empty seats to come up from Kelowna to Vancouver.

b. They showed up late and never helped with setup; then asked to open the show and leave immediately afterwards. They asked for no input from anyone, and basically ignored every other member of the crew.

c. When I asked them if they really thought, as greenhorns, if it was a good idea to show up late and leave early and refuse to help out, Khash essentially said he had no problem with that. Obviously I never booked either one again...although Darby was really more guilty by association. Good to see him getting exposure, though, as I did like the kid.

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34 minutes ago, nate said:

I'm a bit confused by this statement.

Your aren't voting for a guy because you think he looks silly

Why should I bother finding actual wrestling matches to watch?

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I'm pretty sure he's making a joke saying Callahan's in-ring work looks horrible....which is true to me as well.  I thought his stuff in Lucha Underground was mostly terrible, and the only thing I remember liking that he was involved in was when he was getting fucked up by Mil Muertes.  Sami's match vs Ricochet is 99% because of Ricochet to me, I think he's one of the best wrestlers in the world and he makes all his opponents shine.  The fact that Sami's in this tournament at all over everyone who lost a play-in, is preposterous to me.

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58 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Your aren't voting for a guy because you think he looks silly

Why should I bother finding actual wrestling matches to watch?

Not at all this, more what SolidGoldBomb said.  I have never been a fan of Callahan's in-ring style.  I try to give him a chance whenever I can, though, but I knew after those first two Dunne matches that I would not be putting him over Sam this year.

And I'll even admit that I liked more of what I saw from Callahan in this voting period than I have any other time.  I just had more enjoyment watching Dunne.

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I had never seen Pete Dunne before the CWC qualifier, and he was absolutely great in that. The fact that he got rid of the topknot and stepped it up another gear is what makes him feel special. Truthfully the body of work for the year probably isn't there for him to go really far in the tournament, but I feel he gets the nod here against Callihan purely in terms of his force of presence on the British and World scenes.

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As of this posting, Dunne is leading 40-8.  If Dunne hadn't been in the UK tournament, there wouldn't be 40 votes in this poll, period.

I think Dunne's heel work is great and he's just fine in the ring, but the idea that he just blows Callihan away is baffling to me.  Of course, we also have people in this thread claiming Callihan/Ricochet was all Ricochet, so clearly I am watching different wrestling than most of you.

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3 hours ago, EVA said:

As of this posting, Dunne is leading 40-8.  If Dunne hadn't been in the UK tournament, there wouldn't be 40 votes in this poll, period.

I think Dunne's heel work is great and he's just fine in the ring, but the idea that he just blows Callihan away is baffling to me.  Of course, we also have people in this thread claiming Callihan/Ricochet was all Ricochet, so clearly I am watching different wrestling than most of you.

But he was in the UK Tournament.  SO if it wasn't for the WWE giving him World Wide Exposure, he wouldn't be so popular?  It's telling that you say it like it's a bad thing.

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Dunne's had a nice breakout this year, Callihan seems to have forgotten what made him good most of the time before he went to WWE in the few instances I saw him, so Dunne was an easy choice.

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As much as I have loathed Sami in previous years, his work in AAW this year hasn't been bad. His first match vs Pentagon Jr where Pentagon won the title was much better than it had any right to be. Sami still relies too much on outside brawling, but he hasn't been nearly as dreadful this year. So he gets a vote from me.

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