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Sports Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Go2Sleep02
- Start date
Charlotte is having a match with Iyo? This could be interesting.
Well I am glad to see Carlito back in the ring, he is still young and is probably a good decision to return so all will remember him.
Alright folks! It is time that I continue the review of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic! In this article, we'll be covering Round 2 featuring plenty of solid matches! If you wanna check out the first round matches, feel free to check them out here. With that being said however, let's get into the second round!
In a very similar manner to the first round, we'll be covering this episode by episode to make things easier to read!
We'll be continuing off from Episode 5!
With that however, we now conclude the second round of the Cruiserweight Classic! Kota Ibushi and Cedric Alexander put on an absolute barnburner I would highly recommend checking that out and there's some other contests that are worth checking out too. The quality of this round has increased compared to the last round however which is a definite plus. This next part will be the final part as it'll combine all of the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals (otherwise it'd be a fairly short piece for the next one) so that'll be dropped soon! Until then though, be sure to check out the best match of this round at the very least!
In a very similar manner to the first round, we'll be covering this episode by episode to make things easier to read!
We'll be continuing off from Episode 5!
To kick off the second round of this tournament on Episode 5, we have two matches on this episode first starting off with:
Gran Metalik vs Tajiri - RATING: ****
Just a quick recap Metalik defeated Alejandro Saez in the first match of the tournament whilst Tajiri defeated Damian Slater to get to this point. Metalik had one of the best individual showings in the first round whilst Tajiri looked fairly competent. To be quite honest with you, this is probably the best match you’ll get out of Tajiri at this age and at this point of his career. He looked fairly good in this match but Gran Metalik looked like a star once again to me just like he did in the first round. Now don’t be fooled expecting Tajiri to be working like he was in the late 90s/early 2000s because at this point he’s past that but in this match his chemistry with Metalik was fairly good which considering how their styles are very complimentary and how both guys have worked Japan as well as Mexico makes sense. Some of my favourite parts of this match include some very slick grappling at the start which just looked butter smooth (the transitions especially) as well as both men’s strikes (in particular one spot where Tajiri kicks Metalik whilst he’s down leading to Metalik retaliating with a brutal overhand chop). Gran Metalik just looks great all match long and I’d say probably the best opponent you could’ve given Tajiri. Metalik did however end up picking up the victory with the Metalik Driver (which for some reason Mauro calls the “Metalik Screwdriver”) after Tajiri misses a Buzzsaw Kick. I really liked Tajiri’s story this tournament and he certainly put in the effort to go along with it. It was just that he was outclassed by a younger guy in Metalik in the end. No complaints about his run at all. After this tournament, Tajiri would go on to have a brief stint with WWE before he left as they decided not to use him due to his age before going to AJPW where he’d have a few reigns with their Junior Heavyweight Championship amongst other belts.
In our main event for this first second round episode, we have this big contest being…
Cedric Alexander vs Kota Ibushi - RATING: ****1/2
Cedric Alexander ended up defeating Clement Petiot to make it into the second round whilst Kota Ibushi ended up defeating Sean Maluta. Both men had impressive showings in the first round so this matchup was looking very good on paper. This will probably on its own be the longest review piece for Round 2 and for damn good reason. The best way to describe this match would be spectacular. This match flies by in terms of how quick it goes, only lasting a total of 15 minutes in total. These two pace those 15 minutes like it’s a G1 Climax match with both men pulling out everything in their arsenal in order to win. The strikes in this contest were beautiful starting with a back elbow from Cedric which you could hear throughout the entire arena. That angered Ibushi who retaliated with a brutal kick which you could also hear throughout Full Sail. The emotions conveyed in this match whether it be desperation shown later in the match by Cedric or the anger shown throughout the strikes of both guys just goes to show the elite level that both these guys are at. Ibushi at this point was and still was one of the best wrestlers on the planet which very quickly shows in how he’s been putting together an incredibly stellar tournament first with fairly good match against Sean Maluta in the first round and then by putting on far and away the best match in the tournament so far against Cedric Alexander in this second round. Not only did Cedric hang with one of the best wrestlers in the world, he had the crowd behind him in this match and they were biting at the near falls that Cedric could pull off the biggest win of his career. One of the best near falls was the final near falls of this match in the closing stretch with Cedric hitting a fantastic looking Brainbuster which only led to a 2 count for both guys to pop up and Cedric to catch Ibushi with a spinning back kick straight to the face which led to the closest near fall (props to Ibushi for popping his shoulder up right before 3 for maximum effect). I could talk about the many spots and the many things in this match that just looked beyond incredible and world-class but we’d be here all night. I just wish that this match got a few more minutes just to tease that 20 minute time limit draw even more. Ibushi ended up picking up the victory after a combination of a German Suplex, head kick and Golden Star Powerbomb for the 3 count.
In a rare post-match occurrence for this tournament, the crowd is chanting “Thank You Cedric” and “Please Sign Cedric” with Cedric being visibly emotional after what was an incredible match. Out comes Triple H who gives the crowd a thumbs up indicating that he will in fact listen to the people and sign Cedric. Now this could be a whole different article in itself but it’s a damn shame that after this, WWE end up dropping the ball with Cedric Alexander despite signing him. Cedric goes on to be signed and relegated to 205 Live for the early part of his WWE tenure. He wins the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the pre-show of WrestleMania 34 in 2018. He then drops it later in the year to Buddy Murphy in Australia before eventually getting a main roster callup. Unfortunately, that’s really the peak of Cedric Alexander’s career post CWC as whilst he may end up in good hands with The Hurt Business, after that he’s just relegated to Main Event mostly and it’s a crying shame because they could’ve done so much more with him and I believe that the fans think the same. What could’ve been an incredible face in the midcard scene or even in the main event scene was just left to be a tag team guy or even a low midcard guy which is an unfortunate misuse of Cedric Alexander.
Gran Metalik vs Tajiri - RATING: ****
Just a quick recap Metalik defeated Alejandro Saez in the first match of the tournament whilst Tajiri defeated Damian Slater to get to this point. Metalik had one of the best individual showings in the first round whilst Tajiri looked fairly competent. To be quite honest with you, this is probably the best match you’ll get out of Tajiri at this age and at this point of his career. He looked fairly good in this match but Gran Metalik looked like a star once again to me just like he did in the first round. Now don’t be fooled expecting Tajiri to be working like he was in the late 90s/early 2000s because at this point he’s past that but in this match his chemistry with Metalik was fairly good which considering how their styles are very complimentary and how both guys have worked Japan as well as Mexico makes sense. Some of my favourite parts of this match include some very slick grappling at the start which just looked butter smooth (the transitions especially) as well as both men’s strikes (in particular one spot where Tajiri kicks Metalik whilst he’s down leading to Metalik retaliating with a brutal overhand chop). Gran Metalik just looks great all match long and I’d say probably the best opponent you could’ve given Tajiri. Metalik did however end up picking up the victory with the Metalik Driver (which for some reason Mauro calls the “Metalik Screwdriver”) after Tajiri misses a Buzzsaw Kick. I really liked Tajiri’s story this tournament and he certainly put in the effort to go along with it. It was just that he was outclassed by a younger guy in Metalik in the end. No complaints about his run at all. After this tournament, Tajiri would go on to have a brief stint with WWE before he left as they decided not to use him due to his age before going to AJPW where he’d have a few reigns with their Junior Heavyweight Championship amongst other belts.
In our main event for this first second round episode, we have this big contest being…
Cedric Alexander vs Kota Ibushi - RATING: ****1/2
Cedric Alexander ended up defeating Clement Petiot to make it into the second round whilst Kota Ibushi ended up defeating Sean Maluta. Both men had impressive showings in the first round so this matchup was looking very good on paper. This will probably on its own be the longest review piece for Round 2 and for damn good reason. The best way to describe this match would be spectacular. This match flies by in terms of how quick it goes, only lasting a total of 15 minutes in total. These two pace those 15 minutes like it’s a G1 Climax match with both men pulling out everything in their arsenal in order to win. The strikes in this contest were beautiful starting with a back elbow from Cedric which you could hear throughout the entire arena. That angered Ibushi who retaliated with a brutal kick which you could also hear throughout Full Sail. The emotions conveyed in this match whether it be desperation shown later in the match by Cedric or the anger shown throughout the strikes of both guys just goes to show the elite level that both these guys are at. Ibushi at this point was and still was one of the best wrestlers on the planet which very quickly shows in how he’s been putting together an incredibly stellar tournament first with fairly good match against Sean Maluta in the first round and then by putting on far and away the best match in the tournament so far against Cedric Alexander in this second round. Not only did Cedric hang with one of the best wrestlers in the world, he had the crowd behind him in this match and they were biting at the near falls that Cedric could pull off the biggest win of his career. One of the best near falls was the final near falls of this match in the closing stretch with Cedric hitting a fantastic looking Brainbuster which only led to a 2 count for both guys to pop up and Cedric to catch Ibushi with a spinning back kick straight to the face which led to the closest near fall (props to Ibushi for popping his shoulder up right before 3 for maximum effect). I could talk about the many spots and the many things in this match that just looked beyond incredible and world-class but we’d be here all night. I just wish that this match got a few more minutes just to tease that 20 minute time limit draw even more. Ibushi ended up picking up the victory after a combination of a German Suplex, head kick and Golden Star Powerbomb for the 3 count.
In a rare post-match occurrence for this tournament, the crowd is chanting “Thank You Cedric” and “Please Sign Cedric” with Cedric being visibly emotional after what was an incredible match. Out comes Triple H who gives the crowd a thumbs up indicating that he will in fact listen to the people and sign Cedric. Now this could be a whole different article in itself but it’s a damn shame that after this, WWE end up dropping the ball with Cedric Alexander despite signing him. Cedric goes on to be signed and relegated to 205 Live for the early part of his WWE tenure. He wins the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the pre-show of WrestleMania 34 in 2018. He then drops it later in the year to Buddy Murphy in Australia before eventually getting a main roster callup. Unfortunately, that’s really the peak of Cedric Alexander’s career post CWC as whilst he may end up in good hands with The Hurt Business, after that he’s just relegated to Main Event mostly and it’s a crying shame because they could’ve done so much more with him and I believe that the fans think the same. What could’ve been an incredible face in the midcard scene or even in the main event scene was just left to be a tag team guy or even a low midcard guy which is an unfortunate misuse of Cedric Alexander.
Moving onto Episode 6 now which continues the second round matches and we continue with…
Akira Tozawa vs Jack Gallagher - RATING: ***1/2
Tozawa’s first round wasn’t exactly the best matchup admittedly but that’s pretty much due to how green his opponent was in Kenneth Johnson. Jack Gallagher on the other hand had a fairly good first round contest against Fabian Aichner where both guys looked impressive. This match was solid as both guys put on a good performance here. The way the match was structured was very simple: Gallagher started off all fun and games making a fool of Tozawa by waving at him whilst he had him trapped in an Indian Deathlock, handstanding out of a headlock but also most notably tying him up in a ball (also known as the Paradise Lock to most people) which then led to Tozawa getting annoyed and as a result starts hitting him with some brutal shots. This then leads to Gallagher getting serious and starts attacking the left leg of Tozawa which Tozawa sells really well even when he’s delivering offense such as his Snap German Suplex. Tozawa was about to put the match away with his Deadlift German Suplex but Gallagher grabs onto the left leg as a last ditch effort before Tozawa overpowers him thus hitting the maneuver for the 3 count. To make a really British summary of how this match was: cracking stuff. After this tournament, Gallagher would be signed to WWE and put on their 205 Live brand where he’d stay for his entire tenure. He was released in 2020 due to certain circumstances and has not wrestled since but instead going into Bare-knuckle Boxing and MMA.
Our next match on Episode 6 would be…
HoHo Lun vs Noam Dar - RATING: *1/2
HoHo Lun had probably the worst match of the first round against Ariya Daivari so we’re looking to see some improvement or redemption here from him. Noam Dar also had one of the worst matches against Gurv Sihra (only a quarter of a star difference between that match and the Lun/Daivari match) so again hopefully we’re looking to see a better performance/showing for Dar. Admittedly, this match was technically an improvement for both men but this still sucked. This match felt really lifeless and I couldn’t really tell you if it was down to Dar, Lun or the fact the crowd was just so quiet for this match like they didn’t care at all who went through here. There were some very small details that looked nice like Lun doing a Fisherman’s Buster, bridging and then raising up the leg he was selling because he couldn’t hold the bridge and even a Michinoku Driver from Lun which actually looked surprisingly brutal. Now shockingly I can’t name anything notable Dar did in this match it just felt like he was going through the motions and sleepwalking through this. The most he did at times was do his stupid kissing his hand taunt or his arms behind his back taunt with some very lifeless work on the leg. I’m all for limb work and technical wrestling don’t get me wrong but when you do that stuff, you have to do it right. You have to get your audience invested, be able to care and do it well enough to get your crowd to go “oh crap he’s weakening him for (insert submission hold here) which could end the match” but I just didn’t feel any of that here even when Dar did apply his Champagne Superkneebar submission that ended this match merciifully. After this tournament, HoHo Lun ended up finding some success and a home in Dragon Gate doing English commentary which whilst I’ve never listened to Dragon Gate’s English commentary team, I’m sure Lun does a very good job and seems better suited for that than being in the ring.
In the final match of Episode 6, we have this contest in our main event…
Brian Kendrick vs Tony Nese - RATING: ***1/2
Kendrick ended up having the second best match of the first round with Raul Mendoza in my personal opinion where he looked pretty good so maybe with any luck he can keep this streak of good matches up with Tony Nese (also most notably just like Kota Ibushi, this is Kendrick’s second main event match as part of these episodes). From one of the best matches to one of the worst however, Tony Nese had one of the worst matches of the tournament in the first round against Anthony Bennett so similarly to HoHo Lun, we’re looking to see improvement here (although after that Lun/Dar match I’m not getting my hopes up). Before I get into the actual match, I do want to point out in these video packages that I would say Kendrick’s story so far has probably been the most interesting of them all. His narrative being that this could be his last hurrah, his career resurgence or even the last opportunity like this he might get because of his age is quite a powerful story to tell so I do want to say that they did a really good job conveying that emotion in this package. As for the actual match, the match itself was pretty good but I feel like it went a little bit too long for my liking. The opening to this match was pretty solid with Kendrick sprinting out of the gates just to get destroyed by Nese kneeing him straight in the head and it led to Nese dominating the early parts of this match. Nese most certainly had a better showcase in this match against Kendrick compared to his first round match against Anthony Bennett which is most certainly a good thing. Kendrick on the other hand very similarly to his last match was the veteran looking to pick his moments whilst also taking advantage of everything he could from Nese’s beard, to the turnbuckle pad to even fish hooking at any available opportunity. Kendrick’s matches in this regard have a uniqueness to them in the sense that he fights with desperation to win which is conveyed through the little details of what he’ll do to win which I’m a big fan of. All in all, had this match maybe had a few minutes trimmed off I’d have given this a higher rating but alas. Kendrick picked up the victory after Nese missed a 450 Splash and locked in the Bully Choke for the instant submission victory. After this tournament, Nese was signed by WWE and put on their 205 Live brand where he’d stay for basically his whole tenure. In his time there, he won the Cruiserweight Championship from Buddy Murphy at WrestleMania 35 before being released in 2021. He would then go to AEW where he would team with Ariya Daivari and Josh Woods as part of the team: Varsity Athletes.
Akira Tozawa vs Jack Gallagher - RATING: ***1/2
Tozawa’s first round wasn’t exactly the best matchup admittedly but that’s pretty much due to how green his opponent was in Kenneth Johnson. Jack Gallagher on the other hand had a fairly good first round contest against Fabian Aichner where both guys looked impressive. This match was solid as both guys put on a good performance here. The way the match was structured was very simple: Gallagher started off all fun and games making a fool of Tozawa by waving at him whilst he had him trapped in an Indian Deathlock, handstanding out of a headlock but also most notably tying him up in a ball (also known as the Paradise Lock to most people) which then led to Tozawa getting annoyed and as a result starts hitting him with some brutal shots. This then leads to Gallagher getting serious and starts attacking the left leg of Tozawa which Tozawa sells really well even when he’s delivering offense such as his Snap German Suplex. Tozawa was about to put the match away with his Deadlift German Suplex but Gallagher grabs onto the left leg as a last ditch effort before Tozawa overpowers him thus hitting the maneuver for the 3 count. To make a really British summary of how this match was: cracking stuff. After this tournament, Gallagher would be signed to WWE and put on their 205 Live brand where he’d stay for his entire tenure. He was released in 2020 due to certain circumstances and has not wrestled since but instead going into Bare-knuckle Boxing and MMA.
Our next match on Episode 6 would be…
HoHo Lun vs Noam Dar - RATING: *1/2
HoHo Lun had probably the worst match of the first round against Ariya Daivari so we’re looking to see some improvement or redemption here from him. Noam Dar also had one of the worst matches against Gurv Sihra (only a quarter of a star difference between that match and the Lun/Daivari match) so again hopefully we’re looking to see a better performance/showing for Dar. Admittedly, this match was technically an improvement for both men but this still sucked. This match felt really lifeless and I couldn’t really tell you if it was down to Dar, Lun or the fact the crowd was just so quiet for this match like they didn’t care at all who went through here. There were some very small details that looked nice like Lun doing a Fisherman’s Buster, bridging and then raising up the leg he was selling because he couldn’t hold the bridge and even a Michinoku Driver from Lun which actually looked surprisingly brutal. Now shockingly I can’t name anything notable Dar did in this match it just felt like he was going through the motions and sleepwalking through this. The most he did at times was do his stupid kissing his hand taunt or his arms behind his back taunt with some very lifeless work on the leg. I’m all for limb work and technical wrestling don’t get me wrong but when you do that stuff, you have to do it right. You have to get your audience invested, be able to care and do it well enough to get your crowd to go “oh crap he’s weakening him for (insert submission hold here) which could end the match” but I just didn’t feel any of that here even when Dar did apply his Champagne Superkneebar submission that ended this match merciifully. After this tournament, HoHo Lun ended up finding some success and a home in Dragon Gate doing English commentary which whilst I’ve never listened to Dragon Gate’s English commentary team, I’m sure Lun does a very good job and seems better suited for that than being in the ring.
In the final match of Episode 6, we have this contest in our main event…
Brian Kendrick vs Tony Nese - RATING: ***1/2
Kendrick ended up having the second best match of the first round with Raul Mendoza in my personal opinion where he looked pretty good so maybe with any luck he can keep this streak of good matches up with Tony Nese (also most notably just like Kota Ibushi, this is Kendrick’s second main event match as part of these episodes). From one of the best matches to one of the worst however, Tony Nese had one of the worst matches of the tournament in the first round against Anthony Bennett so similarly to HoHo Lun, we’re looking to see improvement here (although after that Lun/Dar match I’m not getting my hopes up). Before I get into the actual match, I do want to point out in these video packages that I would say Kendrick’s story so far has probably been the most interesting of them all. His narrative being that this could be his last hurrah, his career resurgence or even the last opportunity like this he might get because of his age is quite a powerful story to tell so I do want to say that they did a really good job conveying that emotion in this package. As for the actual match, the match itself was pretty good but I feel like it went a little bit too long for my liking. The opening to this match was pretty solid with Kendrick sprinting out of the gates just to get destroyed by Nese kneeing him straight in the head and it led to Nese dominating the early parts of this match. Nese most certainly had a better showcase in this match against Kendrick compared to his first round match against Anthony Bennett which is most certainly a good thing. Kendrick on the other hand very similarly to his last match was the veteran looking to pick his moments whilst also taking advantage of everything he could from Nese’s beard, to the turnbuckle pad to even fish hooking at any available opportunity. Kendrick’s matches in this regard have a uniqueness to them in the sense that he fights with desperation to win which is conveyed through the little details of what he’ll do to win which I’m a big fan of. All in all, had this match maybe had a few minutes trimmed off I’d have given this a higher rating but alas. Kendrick picked up the victory after Nese missed a 450 Splash and locked in the Bully Choke for the instant submission victory. After this tournament, Nese was signed by WWE and put on their 205 Live brand where he’d stay for basically his whole tenure. In his time there, he won the Cruiserweight Championship from Buddy Murphy at WrestleMania 35 before being released in 2021. He would then go to AEW where he would team with Ariya Daivari and Josh Woods as part of the team: Varsity Athletes.
We now move on towards Episode 7 which is the culmination of second round contests with our final 3 matches. We start off with…
Lince Dorado vs Rich Swann - RATING: ***1/2
Lince Dorado had one of the best first round matches with Mustafa Ali with both guys just going balls to the wall to put out a quality match. It certainly left a lasting impression as we hope Lince can have a repeat performance especially given the level of competitor he’s competing against here. Rich Swann had a fairly solid first round bout against Jason Lee in which he showcased a lot of how good he can be in the ring so I have no doubt really that he should be able to put on a just as good showing at the very least against the Golden Lynx here in this second round match. This match was quite crisp for the most part with both Lince and Swann showcasing more of their arsenals and as a result, it led to both guys looking good. There was a couple things I’d nitpick from this admittedly so I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the Lince/Ali match from the first round with notable nitpicks really being the dancing early in the match along with a really weird interaction where Swann did the same jumping Hurricanarana he did in the first round and Lince just didn’t go with him. The spot looked like it was supposed to be Lince going with him but turning it into more of a roll but it just came off awkward. Outside of that however, these two got to show off what they do best and that being some high-flying with a mix of solid strikes in there accompanied by a hot crowd that was eating it up. Both guys had each other scouted as well which made for some really good spots with Swann’s finisher from the first round (the Standing 450 Splash) being blocked by the knees and Lince going for the Shooting Star Press which Swann moved out of the way. Swann decided to follow up on that with a beautiful Phoenix Splash (which looked like he landed on Lince’s face a bit) that led to the 3 count as Swann advancing to the Quarter-Finals. After this tournament, Lince Dorado went on to sign with WWE and was mostly relegated to the 205 Live brand for the most part. He’d later join up with Gran Metalik & Kalisto in order to form the Lucha House Party for a little while until both Metalik & Lince were released by WWE at the end of 2021. Following his WWE tenure, Lince went back to the independents such as MLW where he’d go on to win the MLW World Middleweight Championship in 2022 as well as making appearances in promotions such as Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Our next match consists of…
Drew Gulak vs Zack Sabre Jr. - RATING: ****
A tale of two different kinds of first round matches for these two as Drew Gulak didn’t have the greatest match with Harv Sihra to kick off his tournament. A good result for him statistically but in terms of the workrate department, it wasn’t exactly anything that lit the world on fire. As for Zack Sabre Jr, his first round match against Tyson Dux was a fairly compelling one from the technical side of things and one that made him a notable wrestler to keep an eye on in this tournament. Both men’s styles are very complementary to each other with both guys having very technical styles along with submission based finishers (the Gulock Dragon Sleeper in the case of Gulak and a plethora of submissions in ZSJ’s case). Now I have to say, this was quite the sleeper hit for me and your enjoyment of this will vary based on your thoughts on submission wrestling as a whole but this rocked. Gulak set the tone for this match before the bell even rang by rejecting a handshake from ZSJ and then the second the bell rang, these two started grappling to the point where I was questioning if I was on two times the speed it was fast enough. These two just constantly tried one upping each other with every submission they did wanting to make the other tap to prove that they were the best technical wrestler in the world but neither succeeded. There were some slick counters and transitions that were as smooth as butter and I was just enjoying it. Towards the end of this match, they decided to start slapping each other in the face which certainly got the crowd going a little bit before Gulak managed to get a hold of ZSJ for the Gulock. However, like ZSJ himself said: “Harry Potter isn’t the only wizard from England” and proved as such by reversing the Gulock into his signature European Clutch rollup which got the 3 count over Gulak. More of this please. After this tournament, Drew Gulak went on to sign with WWE and was initially relegated to the 205 Live brand. He went on to win the Cruiserweight Championship from Tony Nese in 2019. He would soon lose it to Lio Rush on an episode of NXT in late 2019. Afterwards, he would continue his tenure but instead moved up to the main roster working on the SmackDown brand until he was eventually moved down to NXT. Shame we can’t get the PowerPoint presentations back because we very truly miss them.
In our final match of the second round we have…
Johnny Gargano vs TJ Perkins - RATING: ***3/4
Johnny Gargano ended up having the best match in the first round against Tommaso Ciampa so he comes into this match with a chip on his shoulder: can he retain having the best matches in this tournament? Well his dance partner for this affair is TJ Perkins who had a very flat match with Da Mack in the first round but I’m sure Perkins can work a very good match so here’s to hoping this one delivers. This match was definitely an improvement from Perkins’ first round match and Gargano continues his streak of pretty good matches. This one didn’t really slow down for the most part with the main story going in being that Gargano’s left knee being hurt from a tag title match against The Revival at NXT Takeover Brooklyn II since ironically Gargano had to submit to a leglock/kneebar. How appropriate that TJ Perkins just so happens to use a kneebar called the TJP Clutch as his finishing move that conveniently locks both legs up. Notable spots in this one include a Lawn Dart where Perkins sells it really well, a dive to the outside from Gargano where he hit his legs off the timekeeper’s table as well as the finish being captivating in the sense that it played perfectly into the story being told. My only problem with this match is I felt it lacked that next gear to take it up a further notch hence the below 4 star rating. TJ Perkins picked up the upset victory here with the aforementioned TJP Clutch that made Johnny Gargano tap out and advances to the Quarter-Finals.
Now before I get into what Gargano did after this tournament, I do believe that this was the correct booking decision considering Perkins’ finisher and how it plays into the Brooklyn match and I don’t think at this stage of Gargano’s career he needed to win this tournament or really go any further than he did. I’ll get more into the semantics of what I believe the correct decision in my eyes was later on (probably after the finals) but just wanted to clear that up. As for what Gargano did post tournament, Johnny Gargano continued his run in NXT eventually winning the NXT Tag Team Championships with fellow DIY member Tommaso Ciampa. They’d soon however lose the championships and become destined to fight forever in 2018 with a grand total of 3 Takeover matches in a row that main evented. Gargano would eventually go on to win the NXT Championship in 2019 in a match against Adam Cole which completed his Grand Slam achievement at the time for NXT. Gargano would leave WWE for a while in 2021 but would eventually come back in August of 2022. Unfortunately however, WWE have currently been fumbling the bag with Gargano on the main roster with him not really doing much. Hopefully over time, that may change but for the moment, it’s a matter of “Will they put stock behind Johnny Gargano on the main roster? Or will they not?” Only time will tell after the DIY reunion that is currently taking place.
Lince Dorado vs Rich Swann - RATING: ***1/2
Lince Dorado had one of the best first round matches with Mustafa Ali with both guys just going balls to the wall to put out a quality match. It certainly left a lasting impression as we hope Lince can have a repeat performance especially given the level of competitor he’s competing against here. Rich Swann had a fairly solid first round bout against Jason Lee in which he showcased a lot of how good he can be in the ring so I have no doubt really that he should be able to put on a just as good showing at the very least against the Golden Lynx here in this second round match. This match was quite crisp for the most part with both Lince and Swann showcasing more of their arsenals and as a result, it led to both guys looking good. There was a couple things I’d nitpick from this admittedly so I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the Lince/Ali match from the first round with notable nitpicks really being the dancing early in the match along with a really weird interaction where Swann did the same jumping Hurricanarana he did in the first round and Lince just didn’t go with him. The spot looked like it was supposed to be Lince going with him but turning it into more of a roll but it just came off awkward. Outside of that however, these two got to show off what they do best and that being some high-flying with a mix of solid strikes in there accompanied by a hot crowd that was eating it up. Both guys had each other scouted as well which made for some really good spots with Swann’s finisher from the first round (the Standing 450 Splash) being blocked by the knees and Lince going for the Shooting Star Press which Swann moved out of the way. Swann decided to follow up on that with a beautiful Phoenix Splash (which looked like he landed on Lince’s face a bit) that led to the 3 count as Swann advancing to the Quarter-Finals. After this tournament, Lince Dorado went on to sign with WWE and was mostly relegated to the 205 Live brand for the most part. He’d later join up with Gran Metalik & Kalisto in order to form the Lucha House Party for a little while until both Metalik & Lince were released by WWE at the end of 2021. Following his WWE tenure, Lince went back to the independents such as MLW where he’d go on to win the MLW World Middleweight Championship in 2022 as well as making appearances in promotions such as Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Our next match consists of…
Drew Gulak vs Zack Sabre Jr. - RATING: ****
A tale of two different kinds of first round matches for these two as Drew Gulak didn’t have the greatest match with Harv Sihra to kick off his tournament. A good result for him statistically but in terms of the workrate department, it wasn’t exactly anything that lit the world on fire. As for Zack Sabre Jr, his first round match against Tyson Dux was a fairly compelling one from the technical side of things and one that made him a notable wrestler to keep an eye on in this tournament. Both men’s styles are very complementary to each other with both guys having very technical styles along with submission based finishers (the Gulock Dragon Sleeper in the case of Gulak and a plethora of submissions in ZSJ’s case). Now I have to say, this was quite the sleeper hit for me and your enjoyment of this will vary based on your thoughts on submission wrestling as a whole but this rocked. Gulak set the tone for this match before the bell even rang by rejecting a handshake from ZSJ and then the second the bell rang, these two started grappling to the point where I was questioning if I was on two times the speed it was fast enough. These two just constantly tried one upping each other with every submission they did wanting to make the other tap to prove that they were the best technical wrestler in the world but neither succeeded. There were some slick counters and transitions that were as smooth as butter and I was just enjoying it. Towards the end of this match, they decided to start slapping each other in the face which certainly got the crowd going a little bit before Gulak managed to get a hold of ZSJ for the Gulock. However, like ZSJ himself said: “Harry Potter isn’t the only wizard from England” and proved as such by reversing the Gulock into his signature European Clutch rollup which got the 3 count over Gulak. More of this please. After this tournament, Drew Gulak went on to sign with WWE and was initially relegated to the 205 Live brand. He went on to win the Cruiserweight Championship from Tony Nese in 2019. He would soon lose it to Lio Rush on an episode of NXT in late 2019. Afterwards, he would continue his tenure but instead moved up to the main roster working on the SmackDown brand until he was eventually moved down to NXT. Shame we can’t get the PowerPoint presentations back because we very truly miss them.
In our final match of the second round we have…
Johnny Gargano vs TJ Perkins - RATING: ***3/4
Johnny Gargano ended up having the best match in the first round against Tommaso Ciampa so he comes into this match with a chip on his shoulder: can he retain having the best matches in this tournament? Well his dance partner for this affair is TJ Perkins who had a very flat match with Da Mack in the first round but I’m sure Perkins can work a very good match so here’s to hoping this one delivers. This match was definitely an improvement from Perkins’ first round match and Gargano continues his streak of pretty good matches. This one didn’t really slow down for the most part with the main story going in being that Gargano’s left knee being hurt from a tag title match against The Revival at NXT Takeover Brooklyn II since ironically Gargano had to submit to a leglock/kneebar. How appropriate that TJ Perkins just so happens to use a kneebar called the TJP Clutch as his finishing move that conveniently locks both legs up. Notable spots in this one include a Lawn Dart where Perkins sells it really well, a dive to the outside from Gargano where he hit his legs off the timekeeper’s table as well as the finish being captivating in the sense that it played perfectly into the story being told. My only problem with this match is I felt it lacked that next gear to take it up a further notch hence the below 4 star rating. TJ Perkins picked up the upset victory here with the aforementioned TJP Clutch that made Johnny Gargano tap out and advances to the Quarter-Finals.
Now before I get into what Gargano did after this tournament, I do believe that this was the correct booking decision considering Perkins’ finisher and how it plays into the Brooklyn match and I don’t think at this stage of Gargano’s career he needed to win this tournament or really go any further than he did. I’ll get more into the semantics of what I believe the correct decision in my eyes was later on (probably after the finals) but just wanted to clear that up. As for what Gargano did post tournament, Johnny Gargano continued his run in NXT eventually winning the NXT Tag Team Championships with fellow DIY member Tommaso Ciampa. They’d soon however lose the championships and become destined to fight forever in 2018 with a grand total of 3 Takeover matches in a row that main evented. Gargano would eventually go on to win the NXT Championship in 2019 in a match against Adam Cole which completed his Grand Slam achievement at the time for NXT. Gargano would leave WWE for a while in 2021 but would eventually come back in August of 2022. Unfortunately however, WWE have currently been fumbling the bag with Gargano on the main roster with him not really doing much. Hopefully over time, that may change but for the moment, it’s a matter of “Will they put stock behind Johnny Gargano on the main roster? Or will they not?” Only time will tell after the DIY reunion that is currently taking place.
With that however, we now conclude the second round of the Cruiserweight Classic! Kota Ibushi and Cedric Alexander put on an absolute barnburner I would highly recommend checking that out and there's some other contests that are worth checking out too. The quality of this round has increased compared to the last round however which is a definite plus. This next part will be the final part as it'll combine all of the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals (otherwise it'd be a fairly short piece for the next one) so that'll be dropped soon! Until then though, be sure to check out the best match of this round at the very least!
ZippyDoo200
Banned deucer.
That smackdown was lit
i totally agree, it's synonymous, i mean the history speaks for itself.
smackdown has bounced around move that if anything but.. i wouldnt be shocked seeing new owners be like "why fight MNF?"
sincerely hope they don't
ZippyDoo200
Banned deucer.
Love me some Dirty Dom and Logan Paul
Lol yeah, considering the meltdown he had on Twitter before and after the Tuesday Night "War" a few weeks ago. Though I gotta admit, the card-stacking both sides would do would be hella fun to watch.
Also, congrats to Lyra Valkyria for winning the NXT Women's Championship! I've liked her all the way since she debuted for NXT UK so I'm very happy to see her finally get her moment.
She beat The Man? Congrats KyriaLol yeah, considering the meltdown he had on Twitter before and after the Tuesday Night "War" a few weeks ago. Though I gotta admit, the card-stacking both sides would do would be hella fun to watch.
Also, congrats to Lyra Valkyria for winning the NXT Women's Championship! I've liked her all the way since she debuted for NXT UK so I'm very happy to see her finally get her moment.
if MJF vs Kenny don't lead to The Elite being MJF's partners vs. Bullet Club Gold i'll be very disappointed.
That said I think that's the way it's going.
*late edit* as i wrap up Dynamite later: It's a shame theres so many instances of (for example) wrestlers like Okada & Danielson never sharing a company - imagine them having 6-10 years of being the main stars to have that Rock/Austin, Edge/Cena, Dusty/Flair type feud played out over YEARS.
That said I think that's the way it's going.
*late edit* as i wrap up Dynamite later: It's a shame theres so many instances of (for example) wrestlers like Okada & Danielson never sharing a company - imagine them having 6-10 years of being the main stars to have that Rock/Austin, Edge/Cena, Dusty/Flair type feud played out over YEARS.
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It's gotta be MJF teaming with the Acclaimed. They can't just tease us (and poor Max Caster) with the possibility and not deliver. Samoa Joe may be on the team as well unless MJF just reneges on the deal to give him a title shot and goes with Billy Gunn instead. But I'd prefer it as MJF, Joe, and The Acclaimed (sans Billy) bc that would be a really funny team.
I love Max (fellow Long Island boy like MJF too so we ride hard for em out here - off topic but I actually have a boss who works with some of the indie feds and such up here like Create-A-Pro (where I believe MJF and Max is from) and etc so that's pretty cool). I get that'd kinda feed into more of this "No, MJF is a babyface, he's just a d-head baby - hence "OUR Scumbag" pitch atm lmao, I just selfishly want that since we know MJF aint losing it to Kenny, maybe a mutual respect type deal (since The Bucks still think he's cool in kayfabe off that BTE spot lmao)
Also seen enough of Acclaimed v Gunns.
Ill enjoy either and we all know if MJF does hit the scissor with The Acclaimed or even just Max it'll POP the crowd, won't be mad either way just idk kinda like the idea of Kenny v Switchblade again too but i'm sure that'd distract from it being MJF v Jay soon so I get it lol. (was lowkey hoping that could be the next angle once MJF beats em both -> Omega vs. Switch - they got enough for (obligatory in AEW) Trios matches and Omega vs Switch being the selling point on top)
I mean... they do have a new PPV coming..... Omega vs Switch and Hung Bucks vs Juice & The Gunns as 2 additions to the card definitely sounds nice?
idk... I don't really have much interest in seeing an Elite/BCG feud outside of Kenny vs Jay and maybe another Jay vs Hangman match cus the one they had a few weeks ago cooked. Though it was weird how their feud got randomly dropped after All Out.
Uhh... idk how he is. Their gimmicks are wildly different.
Well this is what I heard from MJF lol
ZippyDoo200
Banned deucer.
MJF needs to head off to WWE. Nobody else in AEW is as young and as good as he is.
Kenny Omega (my personal favorite wrestler) is good thoever.
Kenny Omega (my personal favorite wrestler) is good thoever.
Maybe, but we will see if he gets fired from AEW. (I just realized if he does get fired his father Tazz might come back to WWE to with his son)
Or he could've joined TNA, he could've joined any other brand for all we know. But you could be right about him joining AEW again