Styles make fights, and the most recent episode of Impact Wrestling proved that karate beats lucha libre.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey put his X-Division Championship on the line against Mascara Dorada (aka Gran Metalik in WWE). The match started with Bailey trying his hand at besting Mascara Dorada at his own game in lucha libre. Mascara Dorada wasn’t falling for that and gained the upper hand in those exchanges. Bailey shifted strategy to striking. Mascara Dorada earned the edge in that aspect as well.
Bailey then found the right combination of karate and ninjutsu to shift momentum on a sneaky slingshot arm drag down to the floor. Mascara Dorada dug into his bag of tricks for a tornado arm drag and suicide dive. Bailey focused on taking out the legs with a reverse figure-four. Mascara Dorada reached the ropes for the break. The action was so hot to this point that the referee lost his shoe.
Bailey unloaded kicks to his weakened opponent and landed a running corkscrew shooting star press.
BEAUTIFUL Twisting Shooting Star from The X Division Champion!@SpeedballBailey #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/mrR4PTFMrl
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 16, 2022
As the match progressed, Mascara Dorada’s best chance at victory came off a fancy super hurricanrana.
.@Mascaradorada24 saw Ultima Weapon coming and landed a INSANE Rana!#IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/6RRdHE8xgP
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 16, 2022
Bailey had too much karate to handle in the end. He got his feet up on a springboard moonsault from the luchador to turn the tide. Speedball hit the mark on precision kicks to the head and connected on his signature cyclone kick. Bailey finished with the Ultima Weapon shooting star double knee drop to the spine. Victory belonged to the champ.
Ultima Weapon CONNECTS and makes 8 successful title defenses for @SpeedballBailey!#IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/QWmwrF6aKe
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 16, 2022
Well, that settles that. Karate is clearly the superior fighting technique to lucha libre. Chuck Norris would be proud. Perhaps Impact can score an appearance from the karate icon at the upcoming Bound For Glory PPV to support Bailey.
Are you convinced that karate trumps lucha libre inside the ring? How about in a bar fight?
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