Free Match Friday is a weekly feature from Diva Dirt. Every Friday, we’ll spotlight a great indie match available to watch for free online. Some of the best wrestling in the world is happening in high school gyms and sports bars and even, occasionally, in an appropriate venue for a wrestling match. This week, our free match is a brilliant match between Valkyrie and Killer Kelly at GWF.
Your mileage may vary, but I hate when a match seems overrehearsed, more dance choreography than fight choreography. It’s one thing for two competitors to have each other well-scouted, it’s another for one or both to clearly already know their opponent’s next move before they’ve even decided to do it. Verisimilitude – the quality of appearing to be real – is an essential part of great wrestling.
This tight match-up between Portugal’s Killer Kelly and Ireland’s Valkyrie is a perfect example of a match with verisimilitude out the wazoo. It seems unrehearsed without coming off sloppy: the counters in particular really feel spontaneous and reactive, like both competitors are actually pulling them out at the last second. They manage to maintain a good rhythm without turning the match into a dance by keeping the rhythm rooted in their characters and the narrative.
It’s not a flashy match by any means, but it’s gripping all the same, in large part because Killer Kelly and Valkyrie both seem like the other is putting them through the ringer. Kelly has already been scooped up by WWE, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Valkyrie followed her to the UK Performance Center. Not when she’s putting out matches like this in a dime. This is just fine, fine wrestling from two brilliant young performers.
Check back in with Diva Dirt next week for another great free match from the world of independent women’s wrestling.
