FIVE COURSE GRAPS #31 — Troy Ryan
© Photography by World Wrestling Entertainment
Something I’ve always liked to do when watching wrestling is pick out specific and small moments and try to draw them back to various points of influence in wrestling history. Wrestling’s history often finds itself going back to… well, itself and I always find it fascinating to see what sources the wrestlers of today will draw from to craft their own history, influence and visions for professional wrestling.
I had an idea of how I wanted to explore wrestling history while also drawing back to the wrestlers of today that I love and here I am finally executing it, look at me go. So now I must answer the question that some of you are hopefully asking, what is Five Course Graps?
The main reason I started this whole Wrestling Odyssey thing was to have a way for me to explore as much wrestling as I possibly can, while also having a medium through which I can review and express my thoughts on everything I see. While writing has taken much of a backseat in my creative endeavours in recent times due to burnout and general writer’s block, I am proud to say the desire is back thanks to this new Five Course Graps idea I have.
The gist is simple enough: I ask someone who works/has worked in professional wrestling in any major capacity for 5 matches that are major influences on their style of wrestling, tastes in wrestling, what they want wrestling to look like etc. and review them for this blog to both explore wrestling I (likely) haven’t seen and to get a better understanding of what influences the wrestlers of today.
From the South East in Margate, we head diagonally back up to the North West as we keep our trend with the big men, taking a look into the wrestling mind of legitimate strong man, ‘Super Athlete’ Troy Ryan. A native of Hull, Troy’s been surging through the North West and beyond as one of the scene’s premier big boys, having spent a large chunk of his career alongside the now retired Anderson Daniels as ½ of Meat Wagon. Since Anderson’s forced retirement, Troy has driven the wagon as a singles, most notably spending 2026 in a feud with the MCPC in Futureshock and winning CATCH’s 2025 Hoss Style tournament. With our Troy introduced, let’s take a look at the 5 matches Troy Ryan would say made Troy Ryan.
MATCH #1: HULK HOGAN vs THE ROCK, 17/3/02
*This match came up on Dijak’s matchlist so after a re-watch, my opinions have stayed the same and the review has been lifted.
Wrestling is never about moves, it is about presence.
Icon vs Icon. That’s the tagline this match has, and it lives up to it. Possibly the 2 most easily recognisable names & faces in wrestling history against each other in a legitimately MAMMOTH clash, though it’s not the Hogan that’s synonymous with the name. This isn’t the Hulkster clad in red & yellow, flying red, white and true and talking about Hulkamania running wild, but it’s Hollywood Hogan clad in black & white with a hefty feather boa and sunglasses, spitting on anything that is sacred. With that in mind, you would think the crowd would be behind Rock, right?
Wrong. So wrong. This crowd is FULLY in on Hogan and it takes a while, but the match soon flips once this sets in. Hogan starts dismissive and cocky but the colour bleeds back in as the match progresses and the Hulkster comes out to play. See, that cockiness gets Rock PISSED as he starts throwing shoves and grimaced faces to a surprised Hulk, but what makes the whole thing sing is how the crowd reacts. The crowd would audibly tell Rock to fuck off if they could synchronise themselves, that’s how in favour of Hulk they are here. Rock can’t do anything without being washed under a sea of Canadian jeers while anything Hulkster does is met with a sea of Canadian cheers. It gradually turns Rock back to his corporate ways of old as the match progresses, constantly grimacing at the crowd with anger & disgust at how they’re treating Hogan compared to him.
The environment drives both men to near toxic decisions. Both men don’t really have much regard for the rules so the match is almost thrown out a few times or led into disarray. Hogan starts dismantling the announcers table, Rock tries to introduce a chair, Hogan just throws Rock into the referee or gouges Rock’s eyes, despite his own heelish ways, nothing is undoing the steel fortitude of the crowd and their support for Hogan. It all builds to some weight belt shots as the ref’s down. Hogan first, but then Rock gets the upper hand and takes the belt for himself for some sweet revenge. He hits Rock Bottom, but Hulk kicks out AND HE FUCKING HULKS UP!! He takes the punches, he shakes it off, he points his finger and a building of Canadian wrestling fans are sent back 20 years to when they used to watch the Hulkster do that to the villains of their childhood, and the feeling it produces is magical. It’s that irreplaceable nostalgia that wrestling’s winding, long-form history can provide without having to go back and watch old-material, rather the old material coming back to you in a present day form.
However, the Hulk Up isn’t long for the world. Hogan’s Leg Drop fails to get the job done (JR’s commentary on that leg drop with ‘HE BEAT ANDRE THE GIANT WITH THAT MOVE’! is top drawer), so he tries another but it’s a miss and Rock lands the People’s Elbow to prevail.
The first draft choice for wrestling matches elevated by a crowd, and what elevation it gives here. Very, very good and shorter than you’d expect, too, and that’s a good thing!
When asked to offer insight on the match, Troy said:
“It’s a shame I name this because Hogan’s obviously a shit bloke but this might be my favourite match of all time. I love it for the storytelling, the reaction and engagement with the crowd, hell even the commentary with THAT line of ‘HE BEAT ANDRE THE GIANT WITH THAT MOVE!’. There isn’t a move in this match I couldn’t teach a trainee to do in an afternoon, but the reactions they get out of those moves are electric. Influenced me a lot as a wrestler regarding the importance of sincere crowd work and wrestling for the people in attendance.”
SHIBRUVA RATING: 8.5/10
MATCH #2: KURT ANGLE vs REY MYSTERIO, 25/8/02
Rey Mysterio is just so goddamn good.
Going into this, Kurt was lasered in on breaking Rey’s ankle as punishment for weeks of humiliation at Rey’s hand. Rey hears these threats and welcomes them by only looking to humiliate Angle further, jumping him from behind during his entrance and trying to send him for an early bath. It was mentioned a few weeks ago when covering matches recommended by Danny Jones but Rey is one of few babyfaces who can pull off sly, underhanded tactics and not have it smudge his heroic character, because with someone of his stature, it comes off as smart and not desperate.
Rey initially has Kurt’s number but Kurt gets a great cut-off from a 619 and we launch into an extended heat segment that also shows one of Rey’s greatest strengths, the hope spot. Rey gets a pin counter with a casadora for a close 2, but Angle chops him down as soon as he’s up. Rey goes for a headscissors to try and floor Angle, but Angle catches him with a backbreaker. Rey gets out of a submission with a roll-up for another close 2, but Angle chops him down again. These repeated moments where Rey almost levels the match help build the anticipation for the moment where he reverses the momentum and it sticks in his favour, rather than immediately swinging Angle’s way shortly after. The spacing and timing of these moments too are fantastic, and Angle is very good at filling the gaps in between with his heat, making sure to acknowledge the crowd and their jeering as he does so.
Rey soon manages to make the momentum reversal stick as he goes through a comeback, the highlight being a beautiful dive over the referee AND the top rope onto Angle on the outside. Rey’s hastiness and fluidity in his comeback only help to amplify the urgency that Rey came into this match with in wanting to end things quickly & efficiently. Things don’t work out for Rey, though. Nothing he hits is able to keep Angle down and even when he goes for a twisting hurricanrana off the top rope, Angle manages to keep himself sturdy to counter it to the mat and get Rey back into the Ankle Lock as he taps out.
A superb opener and one of the most elementary sprints in modern wrestling. A simple story, wonderful pacing, nothing done wrong, a match impossible to truly pick holes in.
When asked to offer insight on the match, Troy said:
“The perfect opener and the start of my favourite PPV ever. Shows a match doesn’t need to be long to get over. All action but it doesn’t compromise on selling and storytelling; just the perfect opening match.”
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SHIBRUVA RATING: 8.4/10
MATCH #3: THE NASTY BOYZ vs THE STEINER BROTHERS, 27/10/90
Even with my limited knowledge of Meat Wagon, I think it makes sense that a team like the Steiners would end up on Troy’s list. A team of 2 meaty men with more brawn than brains in the ring (no offence) that take to their opponents with sheer brute force more than anything else.
Going into this match, I had no idea what to expect. My knowledge on both teams is limited but I’ve come out of this wanting more because this was FANTASTIC. A perfect showcase in how to drag out a heat segment and actually have it mean something. The match starts hot with a brawl before settling with the Nasty Boyz taking control off the back of a sly chair shot as a counter to an early Steineriser, launching a VERY lengthy heat segment on Scott. What makes this heat segment great is the focus and dedication they come into it with. They may look like they have stinkbombs in place of brains, but Brian & Jerry come in with a molded strategy, targeting Scott’s lower back with laser-sharp commitment. Bearhugs, camel clutches, strikes, slams, boston crabs, everything they do is guided at the lumbar region and it’s exemplified by Rick’s unruly panic as he tries to interrupt proceedings only to be offset by Knobbs & Saggs liquid chemistry. They maintain quick tags with great isolation to keep Rick always out of Scott’s reach, with the match paced so wonderfully and the in between so full of ideas that you’re not left bored of their work, but still yearning for Rick to finally get in there and mess ’em up.
Of course, the heat segment isn’t without great hope spots. Scott can briefly find offence but the Nastyz are just quicker to the punch than he is and it makes the moment that Scott finally bungles a tag to Rick all the more satisfying as the Dog faced Gremlin (some nickname, that) comes in to clean house with Steinerlines. Admittedly, Scott’s selling is very much not there when it comes to the passive, in between moments outside of the moves themselves and the comeuppance happens WAY too fast but this match is absolute fucking heat. Wonderfully paced, a very well done story with fantastic work done throughout to maintain attention, and a great, if too brief ‘get his ass!’ moment at the finish. I adored this.
When asked to offer insight on the match, Troy said:
“I’ve probably robbed more from this match than I have from any other match. Tag team wrestling will always be my favourite and this is a wonderful showcase of it. I used to think the Nasty Boyz were crap until I saw this, too!”
SHIBRUVA RATING: 8.8/10
MATCH #4: BROCK LESNAR vs KURT ANGLE, 16/9/03
WWE’s 2003 was epitomised by the long running feud between Kurt Angle & Brock Lesnar on Smackdown. Two freak athletes cut from the same freak athlete cloth, their feud through the majority of the year anchored the blue brand through 2003 and it all culminated with a 60 minute Iron Man match (on free TV!) to end their feud for the title.
The approach in this match is fascinating. Lesnar is aware of his own capabilities, but he’s also aware that Angle can match him and go the distance over 60 minutes, so Lesnar opts to subvert expectation and play the match cheap, by making it all about distance, both the statistical points difference and the physical creation of distance between he & Angle to kill time. Early on, Lesnar opts to use a chair in full view of the referee to put himself a point down, wailing on Kurt with it only to then hit an F5 and draw things level, meaning he got in a lot of offence without any difference made to the score. It’s these cheap & easy tactics that make up Lesnar’s gameplan as he gradually pisses off Angle more and more by not playing into what the expectations for the match were.
Lesnar continues to shithouse points. He uses the Ankle Lock, Kurt’s own move to get another point and then extends his lead to 3–1 via countout, taking as much time as possible to dole out offence as to give Angle less time to mount any potential points comeback. Angle has the gas tank to get in offence, but there’s nothing he can do about the sand running down the timer so Brock opts to exploit THAT rather than Angle’s condition, something that takes a lot more whittling to expose. However, through the match, Brock’s knee is starting to get worse as Angle very slowly chips away at it, with a lot of Brock’s time killing at the start done in protest to that targeting.
That knee becomes Angle’s saving grace. Brock soon goes 5–2 up as both men exhaust countless pin attempts to try and wean some energy out of their opponent and Brock even goes as far to take out the referee and hit Angle with a low blow and a belt shot just to get another point. All the while, the knee is still getting worse and becoming more of an issue for Brock as Angle keeps getting more and more on it. Brock hits an F5 on one leg but the pain shooting through his knee means he can’t make the pin in time and it’s ultimately for nothing. The gap between them makes comfort for Brock as he goes unusually out of character and takes to the skies but like Icarus, he falls as Angle throws him off the top and gets a pin to claw one back. Angle soon gets another fall back with the Ankle Lock.
With only 3 minutes left, Angle has to stay on him. He focuses the knee, he wears him down with suplexes but Brock’s tactics ultimately pay out a jackpot. Even with one knee, and even with a mistake getting him into an Ankle Lock 20 seconds from time, Brock has just enough wherewithal to gut through the Ankle Lock, running down the clock in the hold with the score at 5–4 to prevail and become champion.
A very good exploration of the Iron Man match and how its ruleset can be utilised with strategy in mind. Not a mindblowing, fantastic match but a very good match that isn’t as much of a slog as its runtime and stipulation would let on.
When asked to offer insight on the match, Troy said:
“Two of the best cutting loose. Unfortunately, I happen to like some matches with some shit blokes in it but original run Brock is the best wrestler I’ve ever seen. I love this match, and I think it would get a lot more love if it happened today.”
SHIBRUVA RATING: 8.2/10
MATCH #5: BATISTA vs TRIPLE H, 26/6/05
I am stunned it’s taken over 30 editions of this series for Big Dave to come up but I’m also not stunned that Troy Ryan was the first one to suggest him, just look at him!
I’ll admit, I was apprehensive going into this as there are 3 ingredients in this mixing bowl that I’m not awfully fond of: Triple H, Hell in a Cell and a long runtime, and I also think those first 2 are a deadly combo. However, while this match wasn’t great, it certainly exceeded the expectations I had for it. The story going in of HHH trying to take back his crown after Batista usurped him from his throne on Raw by betraying him after winning the Royal Rumble is good, and you can feel the tension present in the match. Batista in particular is great at channelling his hatred for HHH into his offence; he’s really good at taking time between moves to observe the condition he’s put HHH in as blood spills down his face as a result of the punishment and expressing his joy at seeing it.
Sadly, the same can’t be said for HHH. He gets a pretty early period of control over Batista to dole out his own punishment but nothing about his tone or body language gives any form of presence. No expression that he’s insanely focused, no communication that he’s revelling in the bloodshed of it all, no panic at Batista getting back in control, everything he does feels so passive which isn’t what you want in a bloodfeud ending match inside one of the most infamous bloodfeud ending stipulations in wrestling. Speaking of the big steel milk crate, I feel like more could’ve been done with the limitations the cage creates and how you have to (quite literally) think outside the box with the stipulation to make the most of it. However, most of their offence with the cage is pretty routine, mainly throws into the cell wall. The moments where both men coat the chainlink in their opponent’s blood by rubbing their faces on it is fantastic, I’ll give them that.
What makes the lack of emotion on HHH’s all the more upsetting is how the offence is paced. A lot of it is given time to breathe so the brutality can sink in (there’s a fucking barbed wire chair in this!) but they barely do anything to fill in the gaps that most of the match becomes a slow moving blur of punches and weapon shots, amidst 2 pretty great gushers from both men. Between chain punches, a sledgehammer being introduced and the occasional move onto steel steps, a lot of what is done in this match feels very same-y. There’s no real innovation within their own movesets beyond doing a move onto a bit of tat and it makes the match feel a bit grey, the last thing you want for the end of a bloodfeud. The finish of this match is absolutely killer, though; Batista gets HHH up for the Batista Bomb while he still wields the sledgehammer but enough has been done to HHH that he can’t get the sledgehammer shot off in time and Batista hits the Batista Bomb to end a pretty average match.
There’s good bits here & there, but you have to wade through a lot of ehhhh to get there.
When asked to offer insight on the match, Troy said:
“I don’t normally like Hell in a Cell but this might be the best one, especially with the pre-match promo package. Big Dave in the white gear and big gold belt. Batista, for me, is someone who I think is super underrated and someone I take a lot of inspiration from. He’s not talked about as much as his contemporaries because his peak wasn’t as long but he was absolutely rad. The right level of bloody violence makes this match feel like a big deal, though it’s probably 5 minutes too long.”
SHIBRUVA RATING: 6.5/10
