WWE Global Cruiserweight Series: Progess Wrestling Qualifying Matches

The entire WWE Global Cruiserweight series seems like something fantasy booked by RSPW-F in 1998. Really weird that is something that is actually happening. Since Segunda Caida are 90's Kids at heart we will review it all.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Flash Morgan Webster 4/24

PAS: I am not 100% sold on Sabre Jr. yet, but he has been in some of my favorite matches of 2016. In those matches he mostly plays game underdog who takes a beating and uses his guile and craft to sneak advantages. This however was Sabre working on top as a Fuchish torturer of a young game kid. He was really nasty here, he threw a Tiger suplex which looked like it dislocated Webster's shoulder, he had some neck cranks which looked like he was trying to twist the kids head off. Webster showed some spunk, and had some ok highspots, although he didn't have the vertical leap to really make them look great. I liked heelish Sabre Jr. a bunch, and hope we get to see more of that from him.

ER: I think I am totally sold on Sabre at this point. Maybe an older version of him wasn't as good, but now I'm pretty sure he's legit. And as things start this whole thing is just tremendously British. Webster looks like Jay from the Inbetweeners, and the ref looks like Neil. Made me want to snack on some jammie dodgers while watching. Or some pickled onion meanies. Mmmmmmmm. Sabre was an awesome dick here, and Flash had plenty of cool stuff of his own (although Phil is right in that he doesn't totally have the leaps to make all his highspots look good, but it kinda adds to his charm). That tiger suplex spot is devastating, set up perfectly and I really kind of wish was the finish, but damn what a spot. Even not being familiar with Webster's offense it looked the whole time like he was going for a rolling cradle and not just setting up a spot for Sabre, and I like how that brutal move grew from that. Sabre cranking on limbs and contorting Webster's spine made my body ache. I have no clue how Webster's arms weren't just hanging limply from two dislocated shoulder sockets by the end. This whole thing was really fun.

Pete Dunne vs. Jack Gallagher 4/24

ER: We're fast becoming big Gallagher fans at SC, and this was another great performance. Even though I thought the whole match could have added up to more, I really liked both guys in this. Dunne I had never seen before and he had some cool things (really liked him using his own leg to yank his leg out of Gallagher's grasp, or digging his knuckles into the back of Gentleman Jack's neck), and Gallagher did great little spots of selling that were so well done and so natural that they easily could have gone unnoticed. Him rubbing out his neck the same spot where Dunne was digging in his knuckles, minutes after that was done; him locking on a gorgeous rolling half crab and sucking teeth while shaking out his left hand that had moments before been worked over; he has just so many nice attention to detail moments that make you really want to focus on all sorts of stuff, as you know your focus will be rewarded. I'm really loving this "new" wave of UK indy guys, it's the most I've been actively interested in present day UK wrestling ever, at least since 2001ish when I first saw guys like James Mason and Doug Williams. It's a shame Dunne is eliminated as I know there's going to be people in the tournament who won't be nearly as fun, but I loved that I didn't actually know who was advancing while watching it. I *assumed* it would be Gallagher, but didn't know, so when Dunne got a couple really great nearfalls I totally bought them. That one with him grabbing the ropes totally got me, which is a testament to how nicely these two let things play out. Fun stuff.

PAS: I am totally in the bag for Jack Gallagher he is the best grappler in the world right now and really delivers some awesome little touches, countering a suplex by slipping into an guillotine choke, delivering a kneecap kick float into an ankle lock, he is just doing things on the mat no one else is pulling off. I do want to give some love to Pete Dunne though, what a marvelous dickbag. His meathead faces, his little ponytail, his Bruiserweight nickname,  his nasty cheap shots like digging his knuckles into Jack's neck or twisting his fingers, just a complete asshole. I thought his bar brawl bullshit melded really nicely with all of Gallaghers mastery.

PAS: It will be really interesting to see how these guys do on WWE TV, they are both such idiosyncratic wrestlers, and I am curious to see how they look against guys like Sombra or Busick. Gallagher I imagine will be first round cannon fodder, but I just hope he makes a stop off at EVOLVE when he is the US, Gallagher vs. the Catch Point guys would be amazing

ER: I'm really excited for both guys going over, excited at all the potential match-ups. This really does feel like a tournament that 17 yr old me would be booking, and it still doesn't totally seem like a real thing. It's surreal to see clips from a tiny British indy show on WWE's website and youtube channel, but I am loving that this is a thing.

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Complete WWE Cruiserweight Classic

This is one of the more fun major fed booking ideas in history, and my former teenage cruiserweight superfan self is kind of flipping out about it. Phil and I will be watching all of the matches in the series and compiling them all here.

Qualifying Matches

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Flash Morgan Webster - Progress Wrestling 4/24/16
Jack Gallagher vs. Pete Dunne - Progress Wrestling 4/24/16
Noam Dar vs. Josh Bodom - Revolution Pro Wrestling 5/1/16
Fred Yehi vs. TJ Perkins - EVOLVE 5/7/16
Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams - EVOLVE 5/7/16
Anthony Nese vs. Lince Dorado vs. Drew Gulak vs. TJP vs. Johnny Gargano - EVOLVE 6/11/16

Tournament Episodes

Round One - 7/13/16
Round One - 7/20/16
Round One - 7/27/16
Round One - 8/3/16

Round Two - 8/10/16
Round Two - 8/17/16
Round Two - 8/24/16

Quarterfinals - 8/31/16
Quarterfinals - 9/7/16

Dark Matches

Finale 

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2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Briscoes/Cheeseburger v. War Machine/Moose

15. Briscoes/Cheeseburger v. War Machine/Moose ROH 3/12

ER: It's hard to beat a good 6 man tag. You can get guys with loose allegiances, different styles, and different skillsets, but as long as things keep a certain pace you can hide a lot of weaknesses and have an insane amount of fun. Whether you credit the format or the wrestler, this is the best I've seen Moose look, the best I've seen Cheeseburger used, and the most fired up I've seen Jay Briscoe in over a year. Cheeseburger got to hit some shoteis, some splashes that were never seen as threatening, he got to do some Mikey Whipwreck avoidance spots where the larger guys would just hurt themselves (including a nice run where Moose flies into the ringpost and Hanson bronco busts the turnbuckles), and most importantly he gets used as a weapon. We get several great spots with him getting thrown into other guys, the craziest being him getting caught on a dive and then thrown back into the ring by War Machine, only to get caught by Jay which leads directly to Mark hitting a wild tope and then Jay taking out War Machine with an even meaner, faster, low tope. Jay was awesome in this, and his brawling segments with Rowe and Moose were the highlights. Rowe is clearly the worker in War Machine even though Hanson is featured more, and he and Jay kick the shit out of each other. Later on when Moose and Jay are taking turns kicking each other it's like Moose finally turned the corner into becoming a good worker. I mean it helps when Mark Brisoce flies insanely into your spinning lariat, but still Moose looked good. Cheeseburger gets a nice triple shotei spot, only to see everybody recover and all kick him at the same time from different angles. He gets tossed around a lot here, as he should be, but usually the tosses aren't so mean. Moose planting him with a low angle german after catching the alley oop from Hanson is worth the price of admission. 6 man tags are just the perfect structure for 6 guys of varying ability to go in and have a great 15 minutes of action, and this all held to that philosophy.

PAS: This was a nice example of the strength of a six man tag, because outside of the Briscoes I am not sure if any of these guys are good wrestlers and I really enjoyed this. I had never seen Cheeseburger before, and he is Haiti Kid level skinny, he might weight less then 100 pounds and has no muscle development at all, I mean most tiny indy guys at least have some bulk to them. He does take a brutal beating and I liked how he avoided guys and made them hurt themselves, I am not sure I ever buy any offensive move as anything but a comedy spot though. War Machine look awesome, but there stuff should really be more violent, I want Ray Rowe to kill folks, and he just never does it for me. This did make me remember how much I love the Briscoes and I should make a wrestling resolution to watch more of them.


2016 MOTY MASTER LIST

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