My humble apologies I've taken so long to get to this final part I've just required some time to myself and now I finally feel like posting it. Welcome to the final part of the Cruiserweight Classic which will feature not only the Quarter-Finals but also the Semi-Finals and the big Finals itself! After going through 24 matches already, we're down to the final 8. The following 8 competitors are: Akira Tozawa, Brian Kendrick, Gran Metalik, Kota Ibushi, Noam Dar, Rich Swann, TJ Perkins and Zack Sabre Jr. From here on, we'll start on the Quarter-Finals as listed below!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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
QUARTER-FINALS
The Quarter-Finals start off on Episode 8 out of 10 meaning very few episodes remain! We start off with our first contest being...
Akira Tozawa vs Gran Metalik - RATING: ****1/4
Both Tozawa & Metalik have been stellar in this tournament with their individual performances respectively so far. In terms of workrate, Metalik has Tozawa beaten out with a quality second round contest against Tajiri whilst Tozawa has been the more entertaining of the two in terms of the level of intensity he brings with moves like his Snap German Suplex. On paper, most certainly this could be the best match in the Quarters. This certainly lived up to the expectations that I had for it as this was both guys working at a really good pace for 15 minutes and it barely felt like they slowed down at all. From high-flying maneuvers from Metalik to beautiful offense from Tozawa both guys just looked like they belonged in this position. The crowd especially were hot for this as they really got behind Tozawa with all the AHs in this match whilst Metalik was just wowing with the crowd with his fantastic high-flying offense varying from his Tope Suicida to the absolutely stunning Hurricanarana from the ropes to Tozawa who was also on the ropes. This match was just a thing of beauty which both men should be proud of. Especially notable that Tozawa hit the very same Snap German into Deadlift German Suplex combination that beat both his previous opponents but Metalik managed to kick out really selling that Metalik was just the better competitor in this match in the end. Metalik ended up victorious in this 15+ minute contest with the Metalik Driver knocking Tozawa out of the CWC therefore advancing to the Semi-Finals.
After this tournament, Akira Tozawa went on to sign with WWE being put on their 205 Live brand for the majority of its tenure. Tozawa went on to win the Cruiserweight Championship on the RAW before SummerSlam 2017 from Neville but lost the belt right back to him at SummerSlam 6 days later. After this, Tozawa mainly went on to do low midcard stuff mainly losing in order to put others over but most notably in this time, went on to do shenanigans with the 24/7 Championship that WWE introduced. Currently at the time of reading this, Tozawa is working with Alpha Academy on RAW. Very unfortunate that Tozawa’s talents weren’t used for more than what they were because based on this tournament and his previous work in Dragon Gate, he absolutely could’ve amounted to more of a star at least in my eyes.
In our other Quarter-Final contest of Episode 8 we have our main event being…
Brian Kendrick vs Kota Ibushi - RATING: ****1/4
Kota Ibushi most certainly had the best match of the tournament so far in the second round against Cedric Alexander which got a lot of people talking and even got Cedric Alexander signed to WWE. Ibushi has absolutely been the biggest highlight of this tournament from an in ring perspective next to Gran Metalik i’d say. Brian Kendrick has had quite the sneaky good run in this tournament with solid contests against Raul Mendoza as well as Tony Nese managing to put out good contests with both guys. In the Quarter-Finals however, Brian Kendrick faces his biggest test against the most consistent performer in the tournament thus far. I have no doubt in my mind that this could be really good if their previous matches in this tournament are anything to go by. This match from the video packages to the end of the match itself and even the post-match which I'll get to a little bit later on in this review was great. Kendrick has been a treat in this tournament in the sense that he has the desperation and shows it off really well compared to everyone else. You look at him and you think damn he’s trying everything he can to win whether it be trying to bait Ibushi outside for a countout win or the constant focus on Ibushi’s neck from the Neckbreaker on the metal turnbuckle to even the Burning Hammer in this match that practically dropped Ibushi on his head/neck. It most certainly convinces me that Kota Ibushi’s neck is made of rubber for his neck to withstand the amount of damage it takes, especially with it being surgically repaired. Ibushi was his usual self here albeit due to the match’s pace, a little bit slower than normal but still put out the incredible volume of offense that he usually does from his brutal kicks to beautiful dives and I’d be wrong not to mention that German Suplex spot from the apron to the inside of the ring from the second rope in this match. I loved the callback in the finish where Ibushi goes for the Phoenix Splash and misses which then leads to Kendrick just like the Tony Nese match to slap on the Bully Choke straight away. Ibushi survives, rolls up Kendrick for a nearfall and then follows up with a head kick followed by the Golden Star Powerbomb which shatters Brian Kendrick’s dreams of winning the CWC whilst also sending Ibushi into the Semi-Finals. Post-match Kendrick gets very loud “Thank you Brian” chants and you can visibly see the emotion on his face after he just put everything he had into that match. This leads to Daniel Bryan coming down from the commentary table also very visibly emotional (you could tell based on his commentary that he was about to cry as well) going into the ring and giving Brian Kendrick a hug but also raising his hand to end the show. A very wholesome and emotional post-match which was just fantastic.
After this tournament, Brian Kendrick would be signed by WWE and put on their 205 Live brand. Just before the 205 Live brand was created, Brian Kendrick would win the Cruiserweight Championship just before the end of 2016 and held it for a little bit before losing the championship to Rich Swann. He would then continue for the rest of his WWE tenure to wrestle on 205 Live and Main Event before having his final match with the company at the late end of 2020. He would then take a year and a half layoff before returning to the independent circuit in May 2022 and continues to do so to this day.
Akira Tozawa vs Gran Metalik - RATING: ****1/4
Both Tozawa & Metalik have been stellar in this tournament with their individual performances respectively so far. In terms of workrate, Metalik has Tozawa beaten out with a quality second round contest against Tajiri whilst Tozawa has been the more entertaining of the two in terms of the level of intensity he brings with moves like his Snap German Suplex. On paper, most certainly this could be the best match in the Quarters. This certainly lived up to the expectations that I had for it as this was both guys working at a really good pace for 15 minutes and it barely felt like they slowed down at all. From high-flying maneuvers from Metalik to beautiful offense from Tozawa both guys just looked like they belonged in this position. The crowd especially were hot for this as they really got behind Tozawa with all the AHs in this match whilst Metalik was just wowing with the crowd with his fantastic high-flying offense varying from his Tope Suicida to the absolutely stunning Hurricanarana from the ropes to Tozawa who was also on the ropes. This match was just a thing of beauty which both men should be proud of. Especially notable that Tozawa hit the very same Snap German into Deadlift German Suplex combination that beat both his previous opponents but Metalik managed to kick out really selling that Metalik was just the better competitor in this match in the end. Metalik ended up victorious in this 15+ minute contest with the Metalik Driver knocking Tozawa out of the CWC therefore advancing to the Semi-Finals.
After this tournament, Akira Tozawa went on to sign with WWE being put on their 205 Live brand for the majority of its tenure. Tozawa went on to win the Cruiserweight Championship on the RAW before SummerSlam 2017 from Neville but lost the belt right back to him at SummerSlam 6 days later. After this, Tozawa mainly went on to do low midcard stuff mainly losing in order to put others over but most notably in this time, went on to do shenanigans with the 24/7 Championship that WWE introduced. Currently at the time of reading this, Tozawa is working with Alpha Academy on RAW. Very unfortunate that Tozawa’s talents weren’t used for more than what they were because based on this tournament and his previous work in Dragon Gate, he absolutely could’ve amounted to more of a star at least in my eyes.
In our other Quarter-Final contest of Episode 8 we have our main event being…
Brian Kendrick vs Kota Ibushi - RATING: ****1/4
Kota Ibushi most certainly had the best match of the tournament so far in the second round against Cedric Alexander which got a lot of people talking and even got Cedric Alexander signed to WWE. Ibushi has absolutely been the biggest highlight of this tournament from an in ring perspective next to Gran Metalik i’d say. Brian Kendrick has had quite the sneaky good run in this tournament with solid contests against Raul Mendoza as well as Tony Nese managing to put out good contests with both guys. In the Quarter-Finals however, Brian Kendrick faces his biggest test against the most consistent performer in the tournament thus far. I have no doubt in my mind that this could be really good if their previous matches in this tournament are anything to go by. This match from the video packages to the end of the match itself and even the post-match which I'll get to a little bit later on in this review was great. Kendrick has been a treat in this tournament in the sense that he has the desperation and shows it off really well compared to everyone else. You look at him and you think damn he’s trying everything he can to win whether it be trying to bait Ibushi outside for a countout win or the constant focus on Ibushi’s neck from the Neckbreaker on the metal turnbuckle to even the Burning Hammer in this match that practically dropped Ibushi on his head/neck. It most certainly convinces me that Kota Ibushi’s neck is made of rubber for his neck to withstand the amount of damage it takes, especially with it being surgically repaired. Ibushi was his usual self here albeit due to the match’s pace, a little bit slower than normal but still put out the incredible volume of offense that he usually does from his brutal kicks to beautiful dives and I’d be wrong not to mention that German Suplex spot from the apron to the inside of the ring from the second rope in this match. I loved the callback in the finish where Ibushi goes for the Phoenix Splash and misses which then leads to Kendrick just like the Tony Nese match to slap on the Bully Choke straight away. Ibushi survives, rolls up Kendrick for a nearfall and then follows up with a head kick followed by the Golden Star Powerbomb which shatters Brian Kendrick’s dreams of winning the CWC whilst also sending Ibushi into the Semi-Finals. Post-match Kendrick gets very loud “Thank you Brian” chants and you can visibly see the emotion on his face after he just put everything he had into that match. This leads to Daniel Bryan coming down from the commentary table also very visibly emotional (you could tell based on his commentary that he was about to cry as well) going into the ring and giving Brian Kendrick a hug but also raising his hand to end the show. A very wholesome and emotional post-match which was just fantastic.
After this tournament, Brian Kendrick would be signed by WWE and put on their 205 Live brand. Just before the 205 Live brand was created, Brian Kendrick would win the Cruiserweight Championship just before the end of 2016 and held it for a little bit before losing the championship to Rich Swann. He would then continue for the rest of his WWE tenure to wrestle on 205 Live and Main Event before having his final match with the company at the late end of 2020. He would then take a year and a half layoff before returning to the independent circuit in May 2022 and continues to do so to this day.
Moving onto Episode 9 now and this is the final two of matches of the Quarter-Finals. Of our two Quarter-Final matches, we start off with…
Noam Dar vs Zack Sabre Jr. - RATING: ***1/4
Noam Dar’s CWC run so far has been probably the most underwhelming to say the least. I don’t put that entirely down to him given he’s had Gurv Sihra & HoHo Lun as his opponents so far but stylistically this round he’s working with someone more in his field that can more than keep up with him. ZSJ’s run in the CWC on the other hand has been fairly enjoyable as the other wizard from England that isn’t Harry Potter (I’m throwing that at least once in every round he’s in lmao) has had fairly good matches against Tyson Dux & Drew Gulak. This round is gonna be pivotal in my eyes of how good Noam Dar’s CWC run overall has truly been. This match was probably the weakest match in the Quarters in my personal opinion. Now I couldn’t tell you entirely why cause I’m unsure as to why myself but I do feel that this one took a little bit for me to get into properly. The story itself was very simple: ZSJ targeting Dar’s left arm and Dar targeting ZSJ’s left leg for their respective submission holds. They took a fairly slow and methodical approach to this match with some bits being very hit or miss. I did however like some of the submission transitions they did in this match such as ZSJ throwing a flying Triangle Choke for Dar to turn it into his Champagne Superkneebar on the left leg he was working on but also the finish was a thing of beauty. ZSJ counters a Dar attack into a very smooth and slick takedown getting Dar down into a Rings of Saturn position. However, instead of using the arms and grabbing the head/neck like you normally would, ZSJ ended up wrapping his legs around the arms of Dar which looked brutal yet splendid at the same time which forced Dar to submit whilst Sabre was also throwing some headbutts at the shoulders of Dar. This match had some technically sound components but just lacked some pieces in order to put it all together like the ZSJ/Gulak match last round. Unfortunately that ends an underwhelming CWC run for Noam Dar.
After the tournament, Noam Dar was signed to WWE and put on their 205 Live brand. He would remain there for several years mainly engaging in lower card feuds with some talents such as Cedric Alexander (everybody knows about the beautiful Alicia Foxxxxxxx thing Dar was doing) before eventually making the move to the NXT UK brand. He would go on to win the NXT UK Heritage Cup before the brand was retired but Dar would take the cup with him to NXT 2.0 where he currently holds it to this day.
In our final Quarter-Final match-up, we have these two men facing off…
Rich Swann vs TJ Perkins - RATING: ***1/4
Rich Swann has been a bundle of joy to watch in this tournament with two really good contests against Jason Lee and Lince Dorado respectively. His charisma has been just natural but authentic as well as the reactions he’s been getting from the crowd. I’d be behind the guy winning the whole tournament. He’s matched up against TJ Perkins here however who’s been a bit hot and cold in terms of the match quality he’s been putting out in this tournament so far. Starting out with a dreadful match against Da Mack all about Michael Jackson dancing and dabbing to a really solid second round match with Johnny Gargano where he got the upset victory I’m wondering which TJ Perkins we’re gonna get in this match. Similarly to the Dar/ZSJ match that was before this, this match had the same issue minus a different formula. This match was sound but had components of greatness marred in with the fact that this match dragged for the over 15 minutes that it went. Swann did a fantastic job selling his leg that buckled on a Moonsault early on which I give full credit for and Perkins did a good job at attacking the leg. My issues lie in the pacing of this match which didn’t feel like it had another gear going for it at all. There wasn’t a sense of desperation for two guys wrestling to go into the Semi-Finals. I heard Mauro Ranallo state that we were at the halfway mark in the match (I should clarify that the Quarters have a 30 minute time limit) and I genuinely felt like we hadn’t seen enough to go into the higher echelon of matches that this tournament has put out. In my eyes it also didn’t help that the first chunk of this match was all fun and games with the stupid dabbing shenanigans but I digress. This match had its positives in the inklings of greatness we saw from the kicks Swann and Perkins were throwing to the leg work that Perkins was putting in that really could’ve been gotten to a bit faster. Perkins ended this match after beautifully catching Swann into a Detonation Kick followed by the TJP Clutch for the submission victory.
After this tournament, Rich Swann continued his tenure within WWE by moving to the 205 Live brand and ended up winning the Cruiserweight Championship from Brian Kendrick on the very first episode. He would hold the belt until the 2017 Royal Rumble where Neville would win the championship from him. From there, Swann would work with WWE until the end of the year where he’d be released from his contract. From there he would then go on to sign with Impact Wrestling where he’d win the Impact X-Division Championship as well as the Impact World Championship showcasing how incredible his talents truly are. He’d eventually lose the World Championship to Kenny Omega but still works with Impact Wrestling to this day.
Noam Dar vs Zack Sabre Jr. - RATING: ***1/4
Noam Dar’s CWC run so far has been probably the most underwhelming to say the least. I don’t put that entirely down to him given he’s had Gurv Sihra & HoHo Lun as his opponents so far but stylistically this round he’s working with someone more in his field that can more than keep up with him. ZSJ’s run in the CWC on the other hand has been fairly enjoyable as the other wizard from England that isn’t Harry Potter (I’m throwing that at least once in every round he’s in lmao) has had fairly good matches against Tyson Dux & Drew Gulak. This round is gonna be pivotal in my eyes of how good Noam Dar’s CWC run overall has truly been. This match was probably the weakest match in the Quarters in my personal opinion. Now I couldn’t tell you entirely why cause I’m unsure as to why myself but I do feel that this one took a little bit for me to get into properly. The story itself was very simple: ZSJ targeting Dar’s left arm and Dar targeting ZSJ’s left leg for their respective submission holds. They took a fairly slow and methodical approach to this match with some bits being very hit or miss. I did however like some of the submission transitions they did in this match such as ZSJ throwing a flying Triangle Choke for Dar to turn it into his Champagne Superkneebar on the left leg he was working on but also the finish was a thing of beauty. ZSJ counters a Dar attack into a very smooth and slick takedown getting Dar down into a Rings of Saturn position. However, instead of using the arms and grabbing the head/neck like you normally would, ZSJ ended up wrapping his legs around the arms of Dar which looked brutal yet splendid at the same time which forced Dar to submit whilst Sabre was also throwing some headbutts at the shoulders of Dar. This match had some technically sound components but just lacked some pieces in order to put it all together like the ZSJ/Gulak match last round. Unfortunately that ends an underwhelming CWC run for Noam Dar.
After the tournament, Noam Dar was signed to WWE and put on their 205 Live brand. He would remain there for several years mainly engaging in lower card feuds with some talents such as Cedric Alexander (everybody knows about the beautiful Alicia Foxxxxxxx thing Dar was doing) before eventually making the move to the NXT UK brand. He would go on to win the NXT UK Heritage Cup before the brand was retired but Dar would take the cup with him to NXT 2.0 where he currently holds it to this day.
In our final Quarter-Final match-up, we have these two men facing off…
Rich Swann vs TJ Perkins - RATING: ***1/4
Rich Swann has been a bundle of joy to watch in this tournament with two really good contests against Jason Lee and Lince Dorado respectively. His charisma has been just natural but authentic as well as the reactions he’s been getting from the crowd. I’d be behind the guy winning the whole tournament. He’s matched up against TJ Perkins here however who’s been a bit hot and cold in terms of the match quality he’s been putting out in this tournament so far. Starting out with a dreadful match against Da Mack all about Michael Jackson dancing and dabbing to a really solid second round match with Johnny Gargano where he got the upset victory I’m wondering which TJ Perkins we’re gonna get in this match. Similarly to the Dar/ZSJ match that was before this, this match had the same issue minus a different formula. This match was sound but had components of greatness marred in with the fact that this match dragged for the over 15 minutes that it went. Swann did a fantastic job selling his leg that buckled on a Moonsault early on which I give full credit for and Perkins did a good job at attacking the leg. My issues lie in the pacing of this match which didn’t feel like it had another gear going for it at all. There wasn’t a sense of desperation for two guys wrestling to go into the Semi-Finals. I heard Mauro Ranallo state that we were at the halfway mark in the match (I should clarify that the Quarters have a 30 minute time limit) and I genuinely felt like we hadn’t seen enough to go into the higher echelon of matches that this tournament has put out. In my eyes it also didn’t help that the first chunk of this match was all fun and games with the stupid dabbing shenanigans but I digress. This match had its positives in the inklings of greatness we saw from the kicks Swann and Perkins were throwing to the leg work that Perkins was putting in that really could’ve been gotten to a bit faster. Perkins ended this match after beautifully catching Swann into a Detonation Kick followed by the TJP Clutch for the submission victory.
After this tournament, Rich Swann continued his tenure within WWE by moving to the 205 Live brand and ended up winning the Cruiserweight Championship from Brian Kendrick on the very first episode. He would hold the belt until the 2017 Royal Rumble where Neville would win the championship from him. From there, Swann would work with WWE until the end of the year where he’d be released from his contract. From there he would then go on to sign with Impact Wrestling where he’d win the Impact X-Division Championship as well as the Impact World Championship showcasing how incredible his talents truly are. He’d eventually lose the World Championship to Kenny Omega but still works with Impact Wrestling to this day.
SEMI-FINALS
We have finally reached the 10th and final episode of the CWC with this one being a 2 hour special featuring both the Semi-Final matches along with the Finals itself. We kick this show off with a bang with our first Semi-Final contest being…
Gran Metalik vs Zack Sabre Jr. - RATING: ****1/4
Well here we are at the final four competitors in the tournament. Gran Metalik next to Kota Ibushi has probably been the biggest standout in this whole tournament with fantastic performances every round he absolutely deserves this spotlight that’s been put on him. Zack Sabre Jr has had quite the good tournament himself with his unbelievable tekkers that have just wowed the crowd and even fascinated me to how he manages to pull it off. Submissions like the one he did to beat Noam Dar in the last round are one of the many reasons why ZSJ is the best in the world at what he does because he never fails to surprise you nor does he fail to innovate at any position he’s in. This contest from the opening bell was absolutely fantastic. Not even 10 seconds into the match, Metalik dropkicked ZSJ out of the ring to hit a Tope Conhilo and followed it up with a Springboard Swanton for a nearfall. From there, they set the pace of the match with both guys just throwing everything they had at each other from submission holds to hard hitting strikes to delightful dives from Metalik. If ZSJ was known as being the other wizard from England that isn’t Harry Potter, in this match particular he’d be either Draco Malfoy or Severus Snape because he turned up the intensity from a little light-hearted and having fun to all business not relenting at all at any point. ZSJ looked world class here with everything he did but naturally your enjoyment will vary in some of those moments depending on how you view ZSJ’s form of technical wrestling. Metalik’s Lucha Libre was on full show here albeit had one little stumble on a handspring that he recovered really well and quickly from. I could talk about a lot in this match from ZSJ catching Metalik in a Triangle from a dive to the early onslaught that I mentioned earlier to even these two whacking each other with slaps, chops, uppercuts and kicks that just reverberated around Full Sail University. In a possible upset, ZSJ went to attack Metalik but ended up on his shoulders for a Metalik Driver that scored the 3 count therefore advancing Metalik into the Finals. If you want my honest opinion, I believe given that Metalik hasn’t had a single bad performance throughout this entire tournament, he was the correct pick to go into the final round out of these two men even if Zack Sabre Jr wasn’t signing with WWE. Also, didn’t know this was a thing but William Regal was in the ring post match giving Gran Metalik a Finalist medal which was like purple and silver which looked sick I had no idea they gave the Finalists those at all so that’s a cool little touch.
After this tournament, Zack Sabre Jr would go on to have even greater success after signing with New Japan Pro Wrestling. From the moment he signed with the company, he was given a prominent spotlight as the number 2 guy in the Suzuki-gun faction led by Minoru Suzuki. With incredible performances in tournaments like the G1 Climax, ZSJ would end up winning the New Japan Cup twice in both 2018 as well as 2022 but would end up failing to defeat Kazuchika Okada on both occasions. He’s currently at the time of writing the NJPW World Television champion after winning it at Wrestle Kingdom 17. Outside of NJPW, ZSJ would have success in other promotions winning championships such as the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship, the EVOLVE Championship but would also continue his reign as the PWG champion. ZSJ made the right call not signing the contract with WWE as in the end, he ended up way more successful and in a much greater spotlight than he would’ve gotten had he ended up signing with WWE. Here’s to more great tekkers from ZSJ and I’ll toast to that one with a cold beer (even if I don’t have any beer or drink beer at all lol).
In our other Semi-Final match, Gran Metalik’s opponent will be determined with this…
Kota Ibushi vs TJ Perkins - RATING: ****1/2
Kota Ibushi has quite truly lived up to his nickname for this tournament as I’d say he’s been the Golden Star in terms of the high level matches he’s been putting out. His past two rounds have been sensational but exquisite to watch and I have no doubt that this should continue the pattern. TJ Perkins has had a bit of a middling run in this tournament as he probably has the weakest catalogue of matches out of the men in the semi-finals. Their performances individually have been quite the contrast with Ibushi being the best performer maybe with an argument for Gran Metalik as mentioned earlier whilst Perkins has kind of just sat in the middle of the pack. Until this match that is. Most notably before anything else, there was no dabbing from TJ Perkins in this match which was an instant plus cause it showed he was taking this match seriously. This match was the second best match in the tournament so far next to Ibushi/Cedric. Perkins put on the performance of his life with this one just keeping up with Ibushi whilst making all of Ibushi’s offense look like a million bucks. From the brutal kicks to the Golden Triangle Moonsault to even the Golden Star Powerbomb that followed. TJ Perkins was able to survive every ounce of onslaught thrown at him. On this night, Kota Ibushi couldn’t best TJ Perkins no matter what he tried whilst TJ Perkins had one simple gameplan, one simple goal: Get that TJP Clutch locked in. That was his game plan the whole match and it showed with how he structured his offense. Perkins at any available opportunity whether it was a Golden Star Powerbomb reversal or even catching Ibushi’s Pele Kick would grab that leg at any given opportunity and inflict as much damage to Ibushi’s leg as possible. Ibushi had very few windows that he was giving however as he’d just constantly batter Perkins with kicks. Perkins finally found his biggest window however when he reversed the Golden Star Powerbomb into the TJP Clutch. At first, he only had a clutch on one leg which wasn’t enough. Then he proceeded to grapevine the legs so he had them both locked in but even that wasn’t enough to make Ibushi tap and Perkins knew this. As a result, Perkins went for Ibushi’s biggest weakness: the surgically repaired neck by grabbing it and wrenching it back enough to where the pain was too much to withstand forcing Ibushi to tap out in a shock upset that sends TJ Perkins into the Finals with Gran Metalik. Again very similar to the ZSJ situation, Kota Ibushi hadn’t signed a contract with WWE whilst Metalik and Perkins had signed contracts. Since it was announced that this division was going to RAW during the tournament, having two contracted cruiserweights in the Final looks a lot better for WWE as they can market it on their roster. That unfortunately came at the cost of Ibushi being unable to make the finals as a result but admittedly the correct decision considering the circumstances. This also unfortunately ends Kota Ibushi’s magnificent CWC run.
After this tournament, Kota Ibushi would go back to New Japan Pro Wrestling initially under the mantle of Tiger Mask W. He’d keep the mantle for a few months and after wrestling Kazuchika Okada at the 45th Anniversary Show, would eventually go back to being Kota Ibushi returning fully at the 2017 G1 Climax. In Ibushi’s New Japan tenure, he would go on to win the NEVER Openweight Championship, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, the IWGP Tag Team Championships and even the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Ibushi was also the first man to hold the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship which was created after unifying the IWGP Heavyweight Championship with the Intercontinental Championship. Also most notably during his NJPW tenure, he ended up reuniting the Golden Lovers tag team with Kenny Omega in 2018. Whilst they haven’t teamed as often in the current day since Kenny Omega left NJPW, they currently have been teaming together for tag matches when the occasion calls for it. Currently, Kota Ibushi seems to be working AEW but who knows if he’ll return to NJPW soon. Regardless, like ZSJ, he made the correct decision to not sign with WWE as he got a bigger spotlight overall elsewhere.
FINALS
After 30+ matches of reviewing, it finally comes down to our Finals in this tournament between…
Gran Metalik vs TJ Perkins Cruiserweight Classic Finals - RATING: ****
After both guys having brutal Semi-Final matches against Zack Sabre Jr and Kota Ibushi respectively earlier in the night, these two must be so beaten up maybe Perkins more than Metalik due to having the more recent match but also the amount of kicks he took from Ibushi in the last match. Before this match begins, out comes Triple H who clearly is here to win the tournament for himself and make this a Triple Threat match. In actuality, Triple H comes out to announce that the winner of this match will be the first WWE Cruiserweight Champion. As a result, this match is now a title match and let’s get into it! Considering both guys worked near 15 minute matches earlier in the night before this, for them to work another near 20 minute match not too long after and have it be this good is impressive by itself. I have to say: it looked like a rough night if you were TJ Perkins. First you get gunshot like kicks thrown at you by Kota Ibushi which looked like they already inflicted damage on how Perkins looked going into this match. That wasn’t helped by the fact Metalik decided to cave his chest in with more chops that sounded like they’d stop your heart. Surviving that level of punishment is one thing but when you factor in all of the offense Perkins took on this night especially with what Metalik threw at him in this match, it’s a miracle he managed to kick out. Metalik threw the kitchen sink at him and more. From a beautiful jumping Hurricanarana off the apron to the floor to the chops to all the flying moves like the Swanton and the Elbow Drop even to a Metalik Driver which Perkins became the first man to kick out of: TJ Perkins would not quit on this night. Perkins also threw everything he had left in the tank at Metalik as well but his main focus was constantly pursuing that TJP Clutch. That TJP Clutch was the key to his success as if he could lock it up, the match would pretty much be over. And that’s exactly what he managed to do in the end he constantly went after Metalik’s leg and after a Super Metalik Driver attempt, Perkins just about managed to slip out and lock in the TJP Clutch on one leg. He managed to get the other leg fully locked too which led to Metalik tapping out and giving TJ Perkins not only the CWC Trophy but the Cruiserweight Championship in the process. They worked this match really well and both men should really be proud of the performances they put on in not just this match but their matches earlier that night too. Gran Metalik might just be the MVP of this tournament with four out of his five matches being notebook worthy. TJ Perkins went from a middling performance to pulling out back to back great matches which certainly improves his overall tournament run for me.
This part might be a bit longer as I will be going over both Metalik and Perkins in this section. After this tournament, Gran Metalik signed with WWE and was assigned to the 205 Live roster. He mainly got paired up with the Lucha House Party consisting of himself, Kalisto and Lince Dorado where they’d mainly be in more undercard feuds on 205 Live. Soon they’d be moved up to the main roster where they were treated more as a low valued tag team until Metalik and Dorado were both released from the company in 2021. Since his release, Gran Metalik has since gone back to the independent scene working all around the world from AEW, Impact Wrestling, NJPW, ROH and his native home promotion CMLL in Mexico. It’s really unfortunate how WWE misused Gran Metalik when you consider the level of talent he showcased in this tournament. For him to not really get another opportunity like he did in the CWC to be the incredible wrestler he showed he could be was really unfortunate. I hope that on the independent scene he shows he can be that amazing wrestler he was here again. As for TJ Perkins, Perkins was naturally signed to WWE after winning the Cruiserweight Championship. He wouldn’t hold the championship for too long however as he would soon lose it to Brian Kendrick before 205 Live was even created. Perkins would then just proceed to mainly just be a guy in the shuffle on 205 Live until his release in 2019. He would then proceed to work around the world mainly in promotions such as Impact Wrestling, CMLL but primarily NJPW where he’d end up joining Will Ospreay’s United Empire faction and soon go on to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships with fellow partner Francesco Akira before eventually losing it to Bullet Club War Dogs. Unfortunately a case of a WWE talent going from the top of the proverbial mountain to the bottom of WWE’s pecking order before being released. I do believe that the best way to approach TJ Perkins’ run with the Cruiserweight Championship would’ve been to go down a heel route initially rather than the babyface run he ended up getting. That’s a story and a tale for another time however.
Thank you for reading this CWC Review! This took a lot of effort and quite a considerable amount of time with how much I ended up writing and reviewing. I may do another project like this in the future but only time will tell so I hope you enjoyed the review. As for what’s next, even I currently don’t know but I’m sure you’ll see something up in a matter of time. Until then however, it’s been a blast!
