NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II 1/12/20

Trent Seven vs. Eddie Dennis

ER: Eddie Dennis has a wild set of reptile gear, full boots and toxic slime green snakeskin like he's some kind of early 90s straight to video punk. It's glorious. I like him and Seven as a match up, and there's some explosive stuff. The match starts with a wicked one armed powerbomb by Seven, planting Dennis after catching him charging in. Dennis takes Seven's offense really well, bouncing right off his head on a DDT, getting dumped to the floor with a snap German. But Seven's punishment gets even better with a fast tope and and a snapdragon suplex on the floor. Their pace is really impressive for the level of big moves they're piling up. It's like a weird crazy WCW Power Plant match if they only studied NOAH tapes, with some forearms and big flipping slightly complicated slams, threats of Burning Hammers and Emerald Flowsions, and Seven hitting a right forearm in the corner as hard as Misawa's best. There are a bunch of big complicated slams, and the absolute craziness peaks when Dennis launches Seven with a Razor's Edge to the floor like he was Mike Awesome. Totally crazy spot to lead to a finish, not like any other finish I've seen on NXT UK. This was a cool ass 8 minute gem, really scrappy and portent, filled with big slams and cool bumps. Hot as hell start to a TakeOver. 

Toni Storm vs. Piper Niven vs. Kay Lee Ray

ER: I really hated how they turned this match into a 3 way. I love Toni, but she felt like a real third wheel in the build to this match, and in the match itself. Niven won the title shot, and then the week before TakeOver Storm just demands Niven let her have the match, and then they put her in the match just because she said she should be in the match! It's awful wrestling storytelling, but she's also a kind of necessary distraction in the match, and allowed them to do some big things that would have felt silly to kick out of. I hate 3 ways as a rule, but they actually kept things at a great pace to start. Niven works really well in a 3 way, as one of her issues is insisting on working fast paced singles without always keeping pace. Here she's able to pace things out and is a great wrecking ball. Niven flattens Ray with a tope and misses a fast cannonball into the barricade, but is back to flattening when she breaks up a pin with a senton. The match gets pretty bad the more melodramatic they got, with dumb stuff like Ray finding a chair under the ring and choking Storm while showing tons of light on the choke, or a big dumb face off between Storm and Niven where the camera framed them. The "making movies" thing can be real painful, but when they went back to being dangerous things got good again. Nigel on commentary calls Kay Lee Ray the "Glaswegian Sabu" at one point, which sounds near blasphemous, but when she hits a somersault plancha to the floor and bounces her legs off the barricade and head off the floor, then breaks up a pin by spiking herself with a somersault senton, this could be an Actual Thing. She looked like she under-rotated on a crazy senton, and then took a powerbomb right after. That's nuts. Storm gets to visually beat Niven before Ray superkicks her off, and I guess now that sets up Storm/Niven which feels reductive, since Storm just shoehorned herself in to begin with. There was some really good stuff here though, a lot of it. This was actually my favorite match of either Niven or Ray in NXT UK, and Storm facilitated some of that. 

Tyler Bate vs. Jordan Devlin

ER: This was a big match with a big payoff and big in-match build, a singles match that actually felt mostly worthy of the long TakeOver match lengths. I think Devlin put his time in well, liked how a lot of the offense built, I mainly just didn't like the ways Bate would just pop up to start his own sequences. Now, Devlin works around most of that really well, finding fun ways to set up Bate's comebacks. Devlin kept using the ropes in fun ways, like cutting off a Bate dive and nailing a nice rope flip moonsault, choking him in the ropes, also getting caught in a torture rack-type fireman's carry when he went to slingshot in with a cutter. Devlin, unsurprisingly, was a real asshole here. He mocked Bate and added some extra sauce to holds and strikes, the best being Devlin dragging Bate down into a Romero surfboard, then bending back on Bate's chin until they were staring eye to eye, sicko stuff.  

Devlin is good at working enough actual offense that reversals of that offense actually make sense, and Bate is good at stepping up with someone like that. I do think it veered into move trading, with Bate constantly need to shrug off whatever had just happened to him to hop up and do something impressive, but luckily Devlin is good at facilitating those hop-ups and Bate can break out something impressive. Bate does an airplane spin that starts slow and ugly and looks like it will be a dud, but keeps going and going and by the end I loved how Bate started with a bit of struggle and then kept building speed. By the time he dropped Devlin I was dizzy on my couch, which sounds stupid, but I'm not sure I've seen someone do an airplane spin this fast. Devlin had smart counters to expected Bate offense, dropping him with a cutter to the apron that almost leads to a count out win (with Devlin amusingly kicking him around 8 to keep Bate out longer), and nailing him with a Spanish Fly to counter a Bate charge. Devlin incorporated a lot of learned behavior into reversals, but Bate mostly just took big moves and then decided to do his own moves. This was the match with the somewhat infamous "punch out" spot, which I actually think is "not actually as shitty as it was made out to be". It's kind of hilarious to me that of all spots, Bate and Devlin doing stand and trade got GIF'd and laughed at, because most feds run shows with worse standing exchanges up and down the card. Do Tyler Bate's arms look short and silly when he swings them? Short? Always. Silly? Sometimes. Give me a punch exchange like this every single time over turn taking elbows and forearms. I liked how some of their punches whiffed completely, because it's frankly silly when every strike in an exchange hits perfectly. Bate needed a big finish to firmly put away Devlin, and Devlin is always great at getting spiked on DDTs and flattened by powerbombs, and the crowd was along for every second of Devlin taking it. Perhaps this went too long

Mark Coffey/Wolfgang vs. Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel vs. James Drake/Zack Gibson vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews

ER: So, this match was insane. This was easily one of the greatest highspot ladder matches in history, not just WWE history. This was 25 minutes - normally a match length that I would argue is completely unnecessary for *most* matches - but due to the furious pace that this things was worked, I was shocked at how "long" the match was when it was over. This does not feel like a 25 minute match, because from minute one every single person is flying around the ring at breakneck speed taking bumps that surely shaved months/years off their careers/lives, and I don't think that pace even took a slight break until the 18 minute mark. Not only did they work wall to wall crazy spots and dangerous moments, but they did a great job of making every team seem like they could walk away with the belts. I thought they did so well without the ladders, chaining offense together faster and faster, utilizing all 8 guys to give proper rest and generally avoiding guys ignoring damage to get to the next spot in time, that I was kind of dreading this becoming a climbing contest when it settled down. So, they opted to never settle the match down, using the ladders at first in familiar ways, but then doing twists on familiar ladder match spots before exploding with some things I've never seen before. 

It is completely pointless to detail all of the spots that happened in this match, because it would take me twice as long to type everything than it would take you to find and watch the match. One of the cooler aspects was that every team in the match, worked like a team. They all had tandem offense that was not always their typical tandem offense, remixing some spots and adding in ladders to others, and all the teams actually felt like they had individual strategies. They kept the spot set-up time to a minimum, and when they did one gigantic crash spot that had everyone fall like dominoes, prolonging the punishment instead of everybody just landing like shit from one giant tower powerbomb. It's tough to pick a standout, but I really liked Wolfgang a ton. He's the guy doing crazy spots while also shaking his arm out after punches. Yeah, he'll throw big ass Mark Coffey over the top rope onto everyone and then vault out himself to powerslam Drake on the entrance ramp. But, while men lay dying on the battlefield around him, he's still remembering to sell that his fist hurts, and I love it. So Wolfgang was probably my favorite, but this was a team effort. Every guy got at least one big moment (at LEAST). Mark Andrews hit a perfect shooting star press off the ladder onto Coffey, he and Webster hit a wild tandem somersault senton off a very high ladder, and Grizzled Young Vets seemed to be on the end of all the worst punishments, especially poor James Drake. Drake got smashed with ladders and under ladders and under bodies so many times, poor guy spent most of the match kicking his legs and holding his insides. Imperium looked like real beasts, squeezing their double teams into a ladder landscape even better than the others, Barthel tossing smaller guys off the ladders into waiting arms of Aichner so they could be dropped on their heads. 

It's a match with nothing but great spots, but my favorite had to be Imperium punishing Webster. With Webster laid on a ladder, which had been propped up on the ropes, Barthel holds Webster down so Aichner can hit a springboard moonsault, with Barthel rolling OVER Webster at the last minute TOWARDS Aichner's moonsault, so he wouldn't be standing where Aichner's boots were going to whip. I mentioned the car crash spot, and it really was great. They brought 5 or 6 ladders into the ring, everyone was climbing on them and climbing over each other like World War Z, one guy getting knocked to the mat here, Barthel getting knocked all the way to the floor there, Webster amusingly setting up his ladder so it smashes Gibson in between his own ladder, total madness. Wolfgang goes bet mode down the stretch and spears Aichner so hard into a ladder that the ladder breaks into 4 pieces. I don't think I've ever seen a ladder snap right in half during one of these matches, even when someone falls onto one from a great height. I thought I was pretty burnt out on stunt ladder matches, but this one had me from go and was absolutely relentless. 

WALTER vs. Joe Coffey

ER: I thought this was a pretty great 17 minute main event that made the decision to be a 27 minute main event, and treated that extra 10 minutes as if the previous 17 were just a dream. It was admittedly a bit odd how the match seemed to position Joe Coffey as the babyface and WALTER as kind of a generic heel , but I liked the actual ring work a lot. WALTER worked this mostly as a big chopping monster, and Coffey was the smaller "babyface" who kept trying and throwing WALTER with suplexes. WALTER is great at a big man getting knocked off his feet, and I loved how all of Coffey's suplexes looked like he was having trouble lifting WALTER, because he *should* be having a lot of trouble suplexing WALTER. WALTER wasn't hopping into any suplex and it ruled. If Coffey was going to hit a Saito suplex, it was going to be low to the ground with a heavy landing for both, making the suplexes look more like something you'd see in a Hashimoto/Red Bull Army match. There were a couple odd miscues every time WALTER threw a big boot (one that was supposed to hit did not at all; one that was supposed to miss, hit, and was treated as a miss anyway), but mostly it was WALTER throwing heavy chops while Coffey kept deadlifting WALTER on suplexes. WALTER threw hard elbows, cranked Coffey's neck, and worked a nice STF, Coffey hit a boss shoulderblock off the apron (flying at WALTER like a torpedo), fought for a big German suplex, and hit a surprising moonsault. 

When WALTER accidentally hit the ref with a John Woo dropkick (and the ref sold it like a drama queen rolling down a very soft incline), things mostly fell apart. Coffey gets an immediate visual pin off a powerbomb, Alexander Wolfe and Ilja Dragunov run down and get involved, Dragunov knocks Wolfe into Coffey and they basically do a full match restart for the remaining 10. Nothing felt like it mattered down the home stretch, and WALTER - who had just been "pinned" by a powerbomb moments before - now has several winds and the two trade moves until one of those moves wins the match. Every big move (WALTER powerbomb, Coffey avalanche belly to belly) was used as a way for the guy taking the move to transition back to offense, and there were more miscues like Coffey mostly missing a big clothesline and them just repeating the spot right after. After WALTER chokes out Coffey he had to give the biggest acting performance of his life, acting vaguely threatened by Adam Cole. Cole looked tinier than both referees and the camera angles made it looked like a small child ran into the ring after WALTER's win. 

This was a top to bottom great show, with the only bad 10 minutes being the last 10 minutes of the main event. Every other match was a total over-delivery, making this easily one of the best TakeOver events. WALTER/Coffey was probably the weakest overall match, and that was a match I really loved until it went crazy with the booking. Highly recommend this show. 

Best Matches: 

1. Tag Team Ladder Match

2. Jordan Devlin vs. Tyler Bate

3. Eddie Dennis vs. Trent Seven

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Dar! Dawn! Niven! Seven!

Noam Dar vs. Trent Seven NXT UK 9/1 (Aired 9/25/19) (Ep. #61)

ER: Dar is a really annoying guy, but he also works stiff, and a really annoying guy who kicks really hard while annoying you is a great heel character. Dar also never shies away from a beating, so we had this great situation where Seven was returning after a few months and Dar kept taunting him, so Seven just started hitting Dar harder and harder. That's a great way to work a match. Dar gets too cocky with his taunting and every single time it lead to him eating a harder lariat and it was great. Dar works quick around Seven, bites him, yanks at his beard, annoying shit. Seven lands with a thud on a nice crossbody and hits a nice senton, but Dar is always really slippery and great at twisting things back to his advantage, and before long he's throwing hard kicks and uppercuts, crotches Seven on the top rope and kicks him in the collarbones. Dar keeps not only mocking Seven, but Tyler Bate as well, and winds up eating a nasty DDT going for a Tyler driver. Seven hits a nice tope and I really enjoyed the work around Seven's lariats. Dar makes Seven's 7 Star lariat look better than ever, running into it like a garage door got slammed onto his head. Dar kicks Seven's arm on another attempt and hits a nice lariat of his own, then rubs Sevens towel on his balls before getting hit with an even harder lariat. Dar pisses off Seven so much that Seven pounds away on him after that second lariat and goes on long enough to get DQ'd. Nobody really loves count out or DQ finishes, but NXT UK has been good at working strong DQ finishes on TV matches. I really liked the Joe Coffey/Dave Mastiff fight that ended with both guys counted out, and this was a cool match long story of Dar being the expert troll and chipping away at Seven until Seven snapped. A DQ felt inevitable in some ways and this was a satisfying conclusion here. 

Isla Dawn vs. Piper Niven NXT UK 9/1 (Aired 10/3/19) (Ep. #62)

ER: This was really cool, a slower more deliberate match with gritty matwork that we haven't seen in NXT UK women's matches. Niven always wants to work these modern go go go matches where the sequences seem too rehearsed, and Niven can't actually get up off the mat in time to keep the timing right. This was different. The mat and limb work is slow but satisfying, Niven working over Niven's arm and little micro swings in control. None of it ever builds to a stupid forearm exchange or mapped out reversals wrestling, just some smothering matwork with a few bursts of offense in between. Niven's slams had more purpose because Dawn wasn't getting up and running into her own next move, they were just planting her into the mat. Simple bodyslams, and then hitting something signature like her low crossbody. I like how Niven sold all of Dawn's strikes, and Dawn threw some sharp elbows before Niven would try to smother her again. Niven worked a cool straitjacket choke, but it's always interesting because it's never just Dawn sitting in the move in agony. Dawn pulls limbs out, fights against it, and it always looks difficult for Niven to hold onto. Dawn comes back with an awesome Saito suplex that Niven sells by staggering to her feet, then getting put down with a running Dawn knee. Dawn's suplex looked awesome and the ways she came back against the larger Niven were strong and believable, but I loved how Niven decided to stop fucking around and just grabbed Dawn by the hair and headbutted her. This was a little gem that was not worked how I was expecting it to be.

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Devlin! Ripley! Williams! Niven!

Jordan Devlin vs. Kenny Williams NXT UK 7/20 (Aired 8/28/19) (Ep. #57)

ER: Another of those great Devlin TV matches that work so excellently on NXT UK, but don't seem to translate to any other brand or setting. I don't think his NXT or 205 Live work has ever worked as well as his 10th best NXT UK match. It's the right setting for him to do interesting work, and well, there's a reason he keeps showing up within the top 2 spots of my NXT UK Wrestler Rankings. He's great at working as disrespectful heel who acts like too much of a dickhead and winds up firing up his opponent, then bumping big for them before shutting them down again with a kick to the forehead. Here he slaps Williams around a bit before slapping too much, and before long he's taking a high backdrop bump and scrambling to the floor. Things really pick up a notch when he violently shoves Williams into the apron then throwing him even more violently into the barricade. Devlin does cool things to work over Williams' back (in between kicking the hell out of him), dropping him with a backbreaker and bending him with a torture rack. 

Williams fights back with a big dive and some nice back elbow variations, throwing his full body cannonball style into the elbow. I loved Devlin cutting of the stupid rebound lariat with his Spanish Fly, and loved how the finishing stretch wasn't worked back and forth, and loved how well they integrated strong details like Williams missing out on a possible win because he leaned too far back in a pin. Williams got to a point and fought from there, but the final couple minutes were all Devlin. Williams had some success earlier in the match blocking Devlin offense by grabbing the ropes, and we get a cool callback to that for the finish. Devlin plants a great moonsault to the small of Williams' back for a big nearfall, then Devlin tries to drag him up into a his snap back suplex. Williams holds onto the ropes again, but this time it doesn't get him out of any kind of jam, as Devlin just Kawada kicks him in the head and face before getting that snap suplex for the win. Great little TV main, just the kind of thing Devlin does on NXT UK. 

Rhea Ripley vs. Piper Niven NXT UK 8/31 (Aired 9/4/19) (#58)

ER: This was Niven's best showing so far in NXT UK, and the kind of statement match that feels like it put Ripley back on the map. Women's division has been a disappointment for me in my UK watching, with one genuine standout in Jinny, and two strong seconds in Toni Storm and Ripley. But there hasn't been nearly enough for the women to do, there aren't enough match-ups, and the title matches have under delivered. But this match delivered. It had a cool simple story with Ripley working over Niven's back to slow her down, leaving her open to be hit with bigger offense. One of Niven's weaknesses is insisting on working a few go go go sequences, but being slow in those sequences, getting up slow off the mat, etc. Giving Niven an injured back plays into that weakness and gives better reason for it to be happening than "she is slow but insists on working a modern fast style". 

Neither back down on shoulderblocks and that is the kind of thing I love, and I'm a fan of Niven missing her senton to allow Ripley opening to attack with strikes. I dug her Steiner recliner and the violent way Niven back elbowed her way out. Niven threw four back elbows to break, and two of them missed. But as she was wildly throwing these back elbows blind, to get out of a hold, I love that fact that these weren't cleanly landed. Niven's Saito suplex -> cannonball -> Vader bomb is a great 1-2-3 to build to in her matches, similar to the way Dave Mastiff builds his matches (and Niven could do well by modeling her match structures after Mastiff's), and I love how she blocked a Riptide by nailing Ripley with a headbutt. I wasn't sure the Riptide was coming and thought it looked great when it landed, and capped off a great showing for both, at a time where more women on the roster need to stand out. Great timing. 

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Mae Young Classic Episode 7

1. Abbey Laith vs. Mercedes Martinez

PAS: This took a bit to get going, but by the end it got pretty good. Martinez is such a bruiser, my favorite spot in the match was her just stomping Laith square in the chest. During Laith's german suplex near fall cry face, I was just humming "Just like Pagliacci did, I try to keep my surface hid", her makeup is a total nightmare. I dug the finish with Laith trying to hard for her roll up and getting stuck with the fishermans buster.

ER: Early miscommunications in this were rough. Martinez is not good at those spots where she has to miss something so her opponent can capitalize. She always telegraphs the misses way too much. They awkwardly repeat a spot, and both seemed like they spent portions of this match lost, fans were even groaning during a cross-up and this was generally a pretty positive crowd. Things threatened to get good when Martinez stomped Laith in the chest, then took a nasty bump off the apron. Laith's crossbody off the floor looked like she could have posted her arm on the entrance grate.  I thought Laith's german suplex looked great, but thought most of this was a mess. I think Martinez has really underperformed this whole tournament.

2. Candice LaRae vs. Shayna Baszler

PAS: Sprint of the year candidate, and my favorite match of the tournament so far. Bayzler comes out and throws this jumping knee right into Candice's face and walks away with this great Kazunari Murakami style smirk. She misses a kick though, and Candice pushes her to the floor and hits a great looking tope into a spinning DDT, Bayzler is surprisingly great at catching dives, which isn't something you would think you would learn at Josh Barnett catch wrestling school. LaRae hits an octopus into her husbands crossface finisher. Baszler had a great almost tap near fall here, and it really felt like Candice might catch her, and there was also great second selling by Jessymyn Duke and Ronda Rousey, both really looked concerned and worried. LaRae tries for her top rop neckbreaker and gets ripped off the top right into the Bayzler choke. Shayna refuses to release it, and really comes off like an asshole. Awesome performances by both ladies and a hell of a short match.

ER: This really did feel like a great 3 minute Regal match on Nitro. Shayna's opening mocking kicks while holding LaRae's arm were great, really condescending. I thought Candice could have gotten Shayna to the floor a little better, her kick looked really light; but that dive into a tornado DDT was just insane; totally crazy, could have practically worked as a count out death move. That octopus hold was legit and the crossface moreso, with Shayna's facial panic really putting over the danger she was in. Her powering and slamming her way out of it perfectly got over her strength and her desperation. The finish was a killer as Baszler sets up for reversal without LaRae knowing, and drops to her doom right into the choke. Great stuff.

3. Piper Niven vs. Toni Storm

PAS: This didn't do a ton for me. Storm was really hamming it up with her facial expressions and it was approaching Davey Richards territory. I thought Niven's splashes were cool, but didn't really care for Storm's offense, feels like Lacey Evans might have brought the spuds for their fun match in the previous round. I really thought Storms leg drop looked crappy, this is a tourney with Kairi Sane's elbow, you are going to have to get more air under you to make me buy that finish.

ER: I liked this a lot more than Phil. There were a couple Storm facial sells that annoyed me, but I don't think they were enough to distract from a good match. The opening bridges and wristlock stuff was really cool. The double bridge segment was cool with an amusing handshake finish, Storm bridging up on her neck with Piper on her was legit impressive, and I love how it got paid off with Storm bridging again and Piper just splashing her guts. That was an awesome spot. All of Piper's splashes looked great, and I thought the missed cannonball was set up really organically, allowing Storm to get in her hip attack, which she nailed. And I don't get the criticism of Storm's legdrop, even if it didn't look great, because it was set up by a freaking german suplex from the middle turnbuckle! The suplex itself was easily enough to end the match, and her putting the stamp on it with a legdrop was just the equivalent of double tapping a zombie. Lesser matches would have had a suplex kickout for 2.9 drama, this actually lead directly to the finish. I do wish Piper would have advanced, however.

4. Kairi Sane vs. Dakota Kai

PAS: This had its moments, but I don't think it ever connected to a great match. Thought Kai could have used a little more offense, Sane seemed to have an easier time with her then either of her previous two opponents. I did like Kai missing the Warriors Way to set up her bad knee, it was a nice callback to the previous matches, and the elbow drop is always special. Still I thought this was missing a final gear.

ER: This felt like it would have made tons of cool GIFs, but didn't really build into a whole lot. I liked the same moments as Phil, thought Kai sold the knee nicely and the WW is a great way to set up an injury. Her running kick in the corner looked great and set up her missing the kick later on. Sane's sliding elbows always look killer and her Alabama slam looked like a bringer of concussions. Whether intentional or not I liked Kai getting legs up during the elbow drop to attempt a block. It very well could have been her just bracing for the impact though.

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Mae Young Classic Episode 5

1. Rachel Evers vs. Abbey Laith

PAS: This wasn't the mess that Evers first round match was, and has gotten a lot of praise in other places, but this didn't do it for me. It felt very 2017ish, full of forearm exchanges, your turn my turn wrestling, and agonized 2.9 near falls. This tourney has had a lot of different kind of styles, and this was their Seth Rollins v. Kevin Owens match, which for me is a hard pass. Top rope powerslam is a cool move in a vacumn, but if the very next move has the person taking the powerslam winning the match, what is the point.

ER: Yeah this really did nothing for me. It didn't even feel like your turn/my turn, it felt like they let Evers do tons of offense before Laith wins a powerbomb, with both doing tons of Godspell curtain call heavy breathing in between moves. Evers clearly looked better than that 1st round match, and I liked several parts of her offense, but that top rope powerslam should be a killshot. This just felt like it had no build, no flow. Both looked fine without actually accomplishing much.

2. Piper Niven vs. Serena Deeb

PAS: Great performance by Piper, as Serena really didn't bring a ton to the table. Really impressive job of crafting a fun monster v. underdog match in a tourney with a ton of those already and where the underdog really doesn't have a ton of impressive offense or bumping. I liked the simple wrestling story of Deeb trying to bodyslam Niven and failing until she succeeds, and since whoever the agent for this tourney has already run a half a dozen "big girl misses a top rope move and gets rolled up" finishes, I really bought that Deeb was going to win when she missed her big splash.

ER: Fully agree on Piper's performance. Not only did her own stuff look great, but she helped out Deeb tremendously on things that didn't really deserve to look good. You watch Piper violently snap herself back on a neckbreaker, and you see Serena not doing anything to cause that snap, and you just can tell Piper is pushing this thing. Piper gave her a lot and some of it really didn't look great, but it was crafted nicely and the build to Serena hitting the slam was good. I loved all of Piper's splashes and crossbodies and that Vader bomb, she really gets great full force and extension on them, reminds me of Big E. I'm totally with Phil on that finish, it seemed like every bigger gal that lost in the 1st round after taking for ever to do and then miss a top rope move. I saw Piper going back up and I'm going Nooooooooo, already pissed that they were letting Deeb advance, already writing angrily that they were trying to inorganically recreate the Brian Kendrick CWC run and it wasn't working...and then it wasn't the finish. Really happy Piper advanced, really great showing.

3. Princesa Sugehit vs. Mercedes Martinez

PAS: There are a lot of promising rookies in this tourney, but this was a match of professional veterans.  This match took a minute to get going, but I really liked the finishing run. Sugehit really wrenched the Fujiwara arm bar, and I loved all of the way Martinez countered out of it. The big Fisherman's buster was a significantly nasty finish that I bought it ending the match. Martinez has such a badass look, she really looks like the kind of lady who could kick most guys asses.

ER: A bunch of really good stuff here, and yeah this was two pros working a professional match. Rachel brought a lot insight into how Sugehit wears a lot of French high cut over the hip bottoms, and how most gals typically work in more of a boy cut short. Both were generous with the other, with Mercedes leaning way into some Sugehit kicks and both mapping out some nice counter sequences. The Fujiwara armbar was nasty and I thought for sure it was the finish. Watching her yank on that arm got one of the loudest reactions of the tournament from me so far, just kept naturally shouting OH! OH! with every pull. But I liked the counter out of it and agree that the fisherman buster works as a finish (you know, like that top rope powerslam in the first match, but whatever...). Martinez looks like Cris Cyborg decided to go into pro wrestling, though I would like more intensity from her. I hope WWE has some interest in Sugehit as it would be cool to see an actual luchadora there. I know they have Dark Angel under contract, but I think it's as a trainer.

4. Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair

PAS: This is the second Sane match in a row I have really liked, but ended up being more impressed with her opponent. That is actually a pretty good sign that Kairi is a great wrestler. Man what a star making performance by Belair though, she comes off like such a athletic marvel, she reminded me of early Goldberg or Dr. Death. The weave as Shoo Baby is such a creative idea and while it came off as more of a comedy spot in the first match, here she really tore her up with whips. The squat suplexes were awesome as was her throws and 450, I can just imagine her debuting on RAW and blowing the doors off the place. Sane was great eating all of Belair's stuff, and also had some real highlight moments of her own, I commented on her last match that Sane was more of a Manami Toyota style worker, and I was an Aja guy, she proves me wrong by unloading with an Aja level back fist, and then does her watch out below elbow. The fact that she doesn't always know where she is going to land adds to the coolness of the move.

ER: Instead of Goldberg or Dr. Death, maybe more Doug Furnas? That surprising flying mixed with legit power. There were a couple times where she looked like she was lifting and switching Kairi's weight without Kairi actually doing anything. The hair whip spot sounds cool on paper, yet the execution somehow FAR EXCEEDS however cool it sounds on paper. No Lucha Underground sound sweetening here, she just blasts Sane with shots. Both women have great charisma, loved Belair's slow turn entrance, loved Sane stomping on a kiss before flying in with an attack. The 450 was just completely unexpected. She had a real great "fuck it" face before attempting it, like she had been keeping it secret and practicing it after hours, and here she reaches deep and brings it out as a last chance move. Sane really works nicely as an underdog and as an...overdog? I'm saying she works well from behind and from ahead, takes offense really well, and once she gets a lead you can see her facially selling the momentum. That backfist was awesome (not quite Aja Kong breaking Chapparita Asari's face on Raw to Vince MacMahon's horror) and that "elbow" is nuts. I'd hate to be underneath it, but agree that not knowing where the hell she's landing is part of the charm, like a less dangerous version of Kidman's shooting star.

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Mae Young Classic Episode 3

1. Ayesha Raymond vs. Toni Storm

ER: A good match with a flat, poorly executed finish. I thought all the early stuff was good, the taunts over hand shakes leading to Raymond booting Storm in the chest, Storm's hip attacks, and especially Raymond's nasty strikes to the chest and throat (two nasty palm thrusts to the throat and a killer chopblock). Raymond didn't always take moves great, but sometimes that made them look more effective, like that backcracker out of the ropes. The finish took too long to execute and everybody saw it a mile away, the long climb of the ropes, getting into it with the fans at the worst time, really rote stuff. But overall I thought the match delivered.

PAS: I didn't really like this, Toni Storm was super try hard, with her wacky faces, stupid hat, eye black, it almost felt like Anne Hathaway trying to be an energetic women's wrestler. Raymond had some nice crowbar moments (at some point she raised a nasty bump on Storm's forehead), but I didn't care for Storm's offense and the finish was a mess.

2. Dakota Kai vs. Kavita Devi

ER: I was really digging the slow burn on this one, and was disappointed that they went to the finish immediately after Kai's comeback. The double stomp finish and kick looked fine, but it ended up feeling like a Randy Savage 5 minute Nitro match, where he just sells for 4.5 minutes and then hits the elbow for the win. Devi is clearly green but I liked her simple wrist control stuff, even the rope climbing armdrags that have seemed played out for years in cruisers had a nice thump to them; With her size advantage it made it more plausible she'd be able to pull off that kind of leverage move. She fully won me over with the press slam as I love press slams. I wish we could have had even just one more brief Devi control segment and maybe a reversal by Kai, but I liked the bulk of this.

PAS: I completely disagree about the finish, I really liked the pacing of this with Devi dominating with power moves, those rope walk armdrags looked awesome and violent, which those moves rarely are, it really looked like she was dislocating Kai's shoulder and Kai did a nice job selling the pain. I loved the idea of the veteran Kai getting over powered but capitalizing on the one mistake to hit a couple of big moves and get her out of there. The running kick and the double stomp were both big KO moves and I really liked that they ended the match. Thought this whole thing was great.

3. Sage Beckett vs. Bianca Belair

ER: Belair looks like she's cosplaying as the singer from Culture Beat's "Mr. Vain" video, but her braid is insane. That things is gonna get stepped on. This had some clunky moments but enough stuff that I liked. Although I HATED how they essentially did the exact same finish as the prior match. Who's the agent for this? Two matches in a row where someone slowwwwly climbs up top, poses a bunch, then misses their move and immediately eats the pin. Beckett has some nice power stuff although I always come away wanting her to be better than she is. She seems to get lost a little, but then will do something cool like that shotgun dropkick. Belair has to be pretty new, but she has some potential. I liked that she actually uses the braid as a whip. That's ridiculous. It would be better when she's a heel and uses it to choke.

PAS: This had some ups and downs, I liked the roughness of the early parts of the match, both ladies were throwing fast balls, and I really loved Beckett's body shot. Belair is clearly a great athlete and has some real explosion in her moves, but she is a rookie and parts of this felt rookish. Beckett has been around forever and probably should have been able to pull this together more. I agree the braid whip is an awesome move.

4. Piper Niven vs. Santana Garrett

ER: This was pretty easily the best match of episode 3, but I also probably liked it more because I was REALLY rooting for Niven and didn't think she was actually going to win. So my reactions to it were really similar to Brian Kendrick vs. Tony Nese in the CWC where I was positive Nese would advance but I wanted Kendrick to win so bad. That match was epic to me. This was not quite there, but it was real good. I was convinced Santana was going to advance and Piper was too easy to root for. Garrett has a lot of polish but doesn't totally do enough to interest me. She wrestles like someone who grew up watching Trish Stratus, which is fine, but something we have no shortage of. So Garrett would do her 2006 offense (including oddly hitting Mia Yim's finisher as a move just meant to knock Niven into the corner), but the money is whenever Niven would take over. She breaks out a couple of great low crossbody blocks, good clothesline, works a nice cravate (while JR wouldn't shut the fuck up about British cuisine), but the prior matches' sloppy agent work starts getting me nervous, because Niven climbs to the top. In the last 20 minutes we've already seen two bigger ladies lose matches when going up to the top, so I fully bought that Garrett's headscissors was the end. But Niven hits a great senton and a falling slam and I am happy. Really fun match.

PAS: I think I am going to be the low voter on this match. I liked all of Niven's big splash offense, loved her Mike Knox memorial diving bodypress, but I didn't like the way she took offense. She would do really big flips and rolls on Garrett's headscissors and rolling DDT's and it took all of the impact out of the moves. Garrett has been around forever (she worked a bi-sexual gimmick with Orlando Jordan in TNA) and knows what she should do in the ring, but I was pretty unexcited by her offense. It was fine, but I liked Kai v. Devi a lot better.

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