I disagree, I think he was. He didn't have to hit him squarely in the face/head. There are really hard hits, then there are malicious, intentional blows directly to the head. This was the latter. Just a brutal, brutal hit. I just watched it a few more times and it gets worse the more you see it. Ward obliterated Shipley's face/head. Shipley will suffer short-term and long-term effects from this hit. It's the fact that the hit was directly to Shipley's head that irritates me the most and why I think it was so bad.