West Coast Wrestling Federation
West Coast Muscle Athletic Center (Yuba City, California)
WCWF Heavyweight Championship
There are a few Indie wrestlers currently working the “back-to-the-basics” gimmick, Timothy Thatcher among them. What Thatcher has over someone like Drew Gulak is that for the most part he actually sticks to the basics. He doesn’t just play the role of mat wrestler and then throw some turnbuckle power bombs in for good measure. He has a good grasp of basic mat wrestling but there often feels like there is something missing in his matches.
This match – for example – is technically fine and there were sequences that were quite fun. As a whole though, there is something missing from moving this match from a technically proficient but immediately forgettable basic holds-oriented match to something more akin to a good Bryan Danielson indie match or even a top-shelf holds-based Chris Hero match. Perhaps this is stretching things, but I am not altogether sure there is much difference between a normal Thatcher mat work match and high end Ian Rotten mat work. It is all fine, but there is something missing.
Thatcher is in the ring with a lesser opponent in Dave Dutra in this match, which doesn’t help. Dutra is largely a warm body most of the time and a bit sloppy at moments. The best Thatcher matches I have seen are versus Oliver John and John routinely looks like the better wrestler in all of those matches. Thatcher is perfectly fine – there should be far more opportunities for him in high-profile Indies – but he like more Chad Collyer than Bryan Danielson at this stage in his career.
Mat Work | Watchable | Individual Performance (Thatcher)
