WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Finale

1. Gran Metalik v. Zack Sabre Jr.

ER: This one didn't really move me, but I thought it was a fun match with plenty of nice spots. They worked a really impressive fast pace almost the entire match and had a fun clash of styles. Sabre gets a lot of hate and it's odd to suddenly find myself as an almost Sabre defender. What's odd about it is my opinions on him haven't changed over the last year, but the online consensus opinions on him seemingly have. So while my opinions have stayed static - he being a guy who does a lot of things I like, has been in several good matches, and is also capable of doing plenty of things I dislike - I've somehow shifted from liking him less than the line, to seemingly liking him more than the line. "His strikes look bad" is something I've heard a lot, but...he doesn't ever position himself as a striker. He throws strikes, many of them, and they're never meant to be sold as KO blows, they mainly seem to get thrown to disorientate his opponent to set them up for what he's actually good at, submissions. I wish they would have played up the tradition of submissions in UK and lucha libre, but I guess it was more important for Mauro to scream out names of the same few Japanese wrestlers he really liked. Just because Katsuyori Shibata also does a penalty kick, some tells me that no, Mauro, Sabre's kick was not "inspired by Katsuyori Shibata". I liked how Sabre would use Metalik's speed to kind of lure him into a cranky sub, using Metalik's own momentum off a springboard or other flying attack. Those seem to be his most effective, like catching Gulak in that armbar off a lariat, I liked him shifting his hips to turn or Metalik splash into a triangle, or leaping onto him to wrench in a sick octopus. Metalik is always very smooth, but did a couple things that surprised me, like when he tossed in a nice headbutt during otherwise lax strike exchange. I wasn't actually sure who was going to win and that certainly added to the fun of things, and this was the first time I liked Metalik's build to his finisher. In the other matches he always seemed to kick out of a devastating move, then merely stand up and do his driver. Here I didn't get that same feeling, and he also hit the driver much faster than in the other matches. There was no struggle to lift Sabre, just a quick lift and a drop. So I did not love the match, but there was plenty to like, and I felt they filled the time well.

PAS: I enjoyed parts of this, Metalik had some fun llave which nicely played off the British style of ZSJ, when they were exchanging holds it was pretty good, when they were exchanging shots it really wasn't. Metlalik had a couple of nice highspots although it is more graceful then violent. I second the enjoyment of the Metalik driver, it was by far the best it has been used.

2. Kota Ibushi vs. TJ Perkins

ER: I thought this was an exceptionally fun juniors match, and I'm sure if I thought long and hard about it I could find some kickouts or some selling lapses I didn't care for, but while watching it I was definitely synced up with the vibe of the crowd, and as this match went on the crowd was hot as hell. Hot crowds can do wonders for a match, and this crowd jumped me right in there with them. That moment when TJP kicked out of Ibushi's powerbomb, and a guy in a Bullet Club shirt was standing up to celebrate Ibushi's certain victory, and the camera caught him right in the middle of his STUNNED realization that TJP had kicked out? That shit is awesome. Being in the moment is becoming more and more of a lost joy, and it's infectious getting sucked into a moment. Both guys were very generous here, Ibushi tossed out some great kicks, and I liked how his aggression would lead to a couple of TJP's reversals. The moonsault that hit knees, and TJ's simple grab of the kneebar from that was satisfying. The nearfalls were good and the kickouts were exciting, and on this one I sadly *knew* TJP was winning it, and I could only imagine how exciting some of the nearfalls would have been had I not. But this match felt like the right match to have.

PAS: I enjoyed this a lot too, loved how TJP kept going after the leg and some of the snatches were really great looking, I totally freaked out over him turning the pele kick into a kneebar, such cool shit. Ibushi really laid in his kicks too, I especially loved him pummeling Perkins in the ropes, really felt vicious like something Hashimoto might do, rather then just a junior guy landing kicks that sound good as a spot. Still Ibushi had been built up as so indestructible in this tourney I never really bought any of TJP's near falls and the final finish didn't feel like enough. If Kendrick didn't bring him down with a burning hammer, how did a leg lock do it?

3. Noam Dar & Cedric Alexander vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa

ER: Really fun tag with a real colossal flop of an ending. Gargano and Ciampa are a really good team, both bring out some good things in the other. Noam Dar is still there because...well, nobody has any idea why Dar is there. But he's still digging around in his ears before the match, just like his last match. What is with that? He was doing it so much in the beginning of his match against Sabre that I was positive it would play into the match. But, no, Dar apparently just digs around in his ears a bunch with his fingers. I know I adjust my glasses as a nervous fidget, maybe Dar just jams fingers into his ear canal. Maybe he has an inner ear problem that messes with his balance, and can possibly explain why he looked so terrible in this match. But Gargano's kicks and Ciampa's knees were on point the whole match, and seeing a guy pinball between kicks and knees is a fun diversion from the more common superkick party. The spot with Gargano superkicking Cedric while he was on Ciampa's shoulders was sick, and they really got in a great groove during their car crash spot, one guy hitting a move seamlessly into him taking a move, and so on. And then Dar decides to do that stupid "head tucked against the turnbuckle" spot. Now, it's only a mildly stupid spot when it leads to the guy with his head stuck getting immediately superkicked. Every second beyond that initial tuck the stupidity of the spot increases exponentially. So of course Noam Dar was going to leave poor Ciampa out there to dry, and make him have to pretend to have his head stuck in a turnbuckle for an eternity. This was far worse than the legendary "Jeff, goddammit!" spot where Rico had to lose his balance for 30 seconds because a meth head was out of position. No, this is just Dar being horrible. He traps Ciampa's head, and then goes about his business in the rest of the match, leaving Ciampa just flailing and flopping in place, like he was about to be finished in Mortal Kombat. What a lousy place to be put in. Totally took the wind right out of the match. Maybe it was a comedy spot and I was out of the joke? They didn't do a whiff of comedy the rest of the match, so doing one in the final minute of the match would certainly be strange placement...

PAS: This match was based mainly around people being kicked, kneed and elbowed violently in the head, and that was a nifty twist on your normal workrate tag. Alexander opened up the fun by absolutely nuking Ciampa with a dropkick, and the whole match is mostly guys trying to dislocate each others jaws. It got a little repetitive, although lots of KO shots in a tag works better then lots of KO shots in a singles match (a big problem in Chris Hero matches) because guys can roll out and take a breather or tag someone else in. I agree with Eric about the head tuck spot, super dumb in concept, looked silly and really hurt the momentum of the match. Real problem with a lot of todays indy guys they feel like they need to horn in all of their comedy spots in every match, whether it works or not.

4. TJ Perkins vs. Gran Metalik

ER: Am I the only one who thinks Metalik looks like a mascot for Tecate? I can't be the only one. Is it just because I live in an area with a high hispanic population, and they all drink Tecate? No. Look at this can. That can is Gran Metalik in beer can form. Moving on! I thought this was a fun match that built nicely, but had small disconnects running throughout; spots that didn't hit flush, over cooperation on holds, little moments of the guys checking out of the corner of their eyes to see if the other was in position. And those kinds of things are going to happen. They just seemed more on display here than before. All of the opening mat stuff had those moments, the worst being TJ slapping Metalik's sides and Metalik just offering up his arms to complete a pendulum submission. But things did build nicely even if there was that disconnect. Both got to show off their apron ranas, and there was always that danger of Metalik slipping up and getting caught in the kneebar. This didn't have the drama of some of the other matches throughout. I didn't actually think of this before the tournament started, but there was FAR more drama involved in "I don't want to be eliminated" storylines than in "I want to win" storylines. Maybe it's because we love an underdog, and by the finals we don't have an underdog. Neither guy backdoored his way into the final match. So it didn't have that built in drama of the rest of the tournament matches, especially the 2nd and 3rd rounds. But things still build nicely in their own way, and I liked the finish with Metalik going for a giant top rope version of his finisher, that had been a killshot through the whole CWC, and it failing as he lost his balance, leading directly to TJ locking on his kneebar, than crossing the leg to definitively end things.

PAS: The main problem with the show for meis that they basically were left with four guys I didn't care about. It is a little like the NCAA tourney, in the early round you get all the fun Middle Tennessee State style schools with big upsets, and by the end it is just Duke v. Kentucky again. I also thought some of this felt a little off, Metalik jumped early on the basement dropkick, there were a couple of pillow soft kick and elbow exchanges, just a little more ragged then you would hope from a match between two normally smooth wrestlers. There was some individual stuff I liked, Metalik's dive looked cool, and I loved the final kneebar, but this was pretty forgettable for a final.


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WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Dark Matches

Oney Lorcan v. Cedric Alexander

PAS: Orney Locan is the ex Biff Busick, it is a pretty oddball name, but Biff Busick is also a pretty terrible name, it sounds more like a NXT create a name then the name that got created. After loving the Ibushi match, I am back to being unimpressed with Alexander. All of his stuff looks good, but he is more Tony Neeseish then an actual great wrestler. Lorcan was a nasty fucker in this, his leaping headbutt was awesome as was all of his different uppercuts, would have liked to see him break out some grappling, but he was great as a guy hitting hard. Worth watching just for him.

ER: Biff Busick at least sounds like the name of a human man. I personally have never known a person named Biff, but I have known two different men named Butch. But Oney Lorcan sounds so alien that you assume that it's an anagram or spells something foul backwards or rhymes with a dirty expression (Boney Porkin'?). But whatever, he's still awesome. His chops sound like they are getting the Lucha Undergound sound sweetening, he tosses out a bunch of uppercut variations that could look silly but instead look brutal, and then tosses out THAT headbutt. Cedric really does come off as "athletic guy doing athletic things" too often, but he also knows how to deliver some cracking strikes, and Lorcan takes some nasty stuff from him like that big suplex into the buckles. I thought most of this was super fun, and only kind of highlighted the additional awesome matches that could have happened if Lorcan had been in the CWC instead of a couple of the duds. Oh, and "It's hard not to get excited with action like this!" wins Daniel Bryan the award for "Vaguest Soundbite That Comes Up 4 Times Per Match While Playing Smackdown vs. Raw". You know you can picture Michael Cole saying it after you just did a snapmare as Trish Stratus.

Drew Gulak/Tony Nese v. Kenneth Johnson/Lince Dorado

PAS: Perfectly fun little tag match. Johnson is pretty green, but does have a nice underdog charisma, and plays nicely off of Gulak as jersey dirtbag Fuchi. Gulak is a beast, I loved his  JYD headbutt to break up a pin, Gulak is pretty much always worth watching no matter what he does. Neese is still kind of a lame-o, but he and Gulak had some fun double teams and I could see them as a nice team. If they end up doing something with Crusierweight tag wrestling I could dig this tag team.

ER: With the color scheme and makeshift team setting this had a feel of an early 2000s Velocity match, which gave it an almost inherent likability, even though I don't really like three guys in this match. Gulak is a favorite of mine, but Nese is more of an RVD without the dangerous bumps. Dorado has some of my least favorite offense, and Johnson just isn't very good. BUT, despite his badness Phil is right that there's some kind of charisma there, something to like. He may have done one of the worst double leg takedowns I've ever seen, but I oddly likely Johnson throughout this. Nese could only improve by working with Gulak, and I did love the two of them cornering poor Kenneth. Gulak locking on that nasty lucha sub was a highlight, as was Nese doing the one arm powerbomb to the floor, onto Dorado. Also liked how Gulak literally brushed off Dorado's strikes, because, yeah, those strikes looked brush-offable. Nese continues his streak of almost 450ing his face into the mat. This was just one of those odd matches that I didn't really think was good, but enjoyed watching it for the duration. It's not so much that I'm a complicated person; burdensome would be perhaps more appropriate.

Ariya Daivari/Sean Maluta v. The Bollywood Boyz

ER: I was prepared to dislike this one, but by the end it pretty easily won me over. That seems more like a testament to a simply worked traditional tag formula, but it won me over nonetheless. Bollywood Boyz definitely play better as a team than as singles, and Daivari is now seeming like the best guy in the tournament that got the most silent reaction. I started out groaning as I don't really care for the whole Bollywood dancing routine. It feels like actual guys from India doing an Indian minstrel show. But that died down as the match went on, and as they started working like an Indian Fantistics I got into it. Daivari bumped all over for them which helped them out a bit, as he made a double team battering ram in the corner look great and later flew recklessly and painfully to the floor. The Bollywood Boyz tandem offense kind of makes up for the looseness of some of it, although Gurv (?) throws a nice elbowdrop and had a fine hot tag. Plus, they're all tasseled out which is bonus gravy. Maluta didn't look great, seemed really lost at how to get into position for double teams, and capped it by throwing a really bad and awkward dropkick off the middle. Still, fine formula tag which showed the Boyz as a team wouldn't look out of place on the roster, and that Daivari is certainly the better Daivari.

PAS: Daivari did look great here, bumping around, being kind of a contemptuous dick to the Bollywood Boyz shtick. He felt like a guy who should stick around, maybe team him with Prince Mustafa Ali in a Saudi prince who comes to college and uses coke and BMW's to bang sorority girls gimmick. Bollywood Boyz clearly have a ton of experience working basic tag matches, and know when to work a hot tag, when to get heat etc., it felt very professional without really inspiring me.


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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 9/7/16

1. Noam Dar vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

PAS: I am pretty deep in the skeptic camp on both guys, so I was pretty surprised how much I enjoyed this. These guys have clearly worked each other a ton, and this had a the feel of a practiced touring match, still it was a pretty entertaining one. I really loved all of the early amateur stuff with ZSJ adding some cauliflower to Dar's ear. I thought the arm vs. leg story was pretty well done, with both guys adding some nice flourishes to it. ZSJ slipping during the penalty kick was a nice bit of subtle selling, especially from a guy whom subtlety isn't a strong point. I also loved the double stomp while Sabre's leg was on the ropes, reminded me of the kind of nasty shit KDX used to do to Sasuke's leg right before he went out for surgery. I am also always a huge fan of the double kneebar roll to the floor spot. I did think some of Dar's strikes looked pretty dainty, and the end section where Sabre's arm was hurt too, might have been a little too cute. The all legs Rings of Saturn was really cool, but maybe leave that for a match where your leg hadn't been torn up all match. I did like how Mauro and Bryan started questioning Dar's strategy when he switched to the arm. This was the best job of commentary these guys had done, Mauro cut his "shades" down a bit, and they actually articulated the nuance of the story.

ER: I really liked this, and like Phil I was also surprised (even though I have suddenly found myself on more of the "defending Sabre" side of the fence, which is weird). Both do some things I don't like (Dar moreso than Sabre) but both found some fun twists I liked, and Sabre does plenty of things I actively like. I liked Dar falling slightly short on his dive and instead of both men lying there selling (which seems like what happens whenever guys do a tope) he got up immediately and tossed Sabre back in the ring for a possible pin. I liked a lot of the more complicated indy-ish segments, especially Sabre going for a flying uppercut and Dar turning his body just in time to catch Sabre on his back and deliver and almost backslide driver. Sabre does some nice subtle things that he doesn't get a lot of credit for, like the slip on the PK Phil mentioned (and god, fuck off already Mauro, with your "Penalty Kick ala Katsuyori Shibata!" We get it, wrestlers do moves that other wrestlers have also done. Shut up.), and the spot setting up the tope where he got tossed to the apron but his foot accidentally hung up on the top rope, so he kicked at Dar's face with that hung up leg until getting knocked to the floor. I liked in the Gulak match how Sabre got easily outstruck, and in this match when Dar threw a couple of soft left hands Sabre made sure to toss some hard cupped hand strikes at Dar's ears. The early scrambly stuff was good, the knee bar reversals were good (and I'm with Phil, always love the roll to floor in a leg lock spot) and that finishing submission was just disgusting. Both of Dar's arms looked popped out of their sockets and I just love the slow progression of it, fighting for the rings of Saturn, bending the top arm back, hooking his own legs, and then snapping his legs shut. I always love the slow, struggling sub set-ups in Sabre matches, seen earlier this tournament against Tyson Dux when he slowwwwly bent Dux's wrist back away from the ropes. Really awesome stuff, and a real pleasant over-delivery.

2. TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann

PAS: I also thought this match exceeded my expectation by a fair amount. Starts out as a rope running backflip contest as one might expect. I am not Vader so I have no real problem with that kind of thing, you could go back to the 50s and watch French Catch dudes do that same sort of one ups manship. Swann and TJP are a pair of guys with impressive kip ups and headscissors too. Then Swann hurts his knee and he does an awesome job of selling the damage while Perkins works over it. Swann would still hit moves, but not have the snap or elevation on them, really the way you would expect a real world knee injury to play out, Kerri Strug still did the vault. Bryan did a great job pointing this out on commentary, and it really added to the match. I also loved Swann's hook kick, such a nasty looking version of the played out superkick. Finish was exactly what it should be. I question the sense of booking two leg injury matches on the same show, but they were both good.

ER: This was really good, and I'm super impressed by Swann here. And I don't really have tons different to say about it than Phil already said. I also have no problem with backflip counter wrestling and if I'm gonna watch two guys do it, then Swann's kip ups and TJ's flips out of headscissors are pretty awesome to watch. So I was enjoying it just fine, but then things leapt up another level once Swann landed wrong on his knee on the floor, and TJ belted him with the slingshot dropkick to the apron. And Swann's knee selling was just excellent the rest of the match. Instead of a bunch of moments with him lying on the mat going "My kneeeeee!" and then getting up and doing his spots, we had a guy still doing his spots but noticeably slowed and less effective, a guy leaving himself open to TJ's kneebar more than he otherwise would. This match was certainly one of Bryan's better commentary moments as I hadn't picked up on what Swann was doing until Bryan pointed out his lack of height on the tornado DDT, and from there I was hooked. Loved him tiring himself out dragging TJ to the corner for his 450, and TJ just grabbing the heel. All of TJ's heel hook/kneebar snares were simple and logical, that kick exchange was awesome (fully agree on how cool Swann's hook kick is), and loved the quickness of the finish, with all the cumulative damage finally catching up to Swann and leaving him with no option. Awesome stuff here.

ER: I was really impressed with both matches this episode, both exceeded my expectations but stand on their own no matter the expectations. Both landed on our 2016 Ongoing MOTY List, which shouldn't be much of a shock with how the tournament has gone so far.

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/31/16

Back for another week of Mauro SHADES OF Ranallo screaming and shoehorning longwinded references into matches!

1. Gran Metalik vs. Akira Tozawa

ER: I like Tozawa (and really liked him in his match against Gallagher) and I like Dorada (although I like him most in trios) but this was a match between two guys I like that left me mostly hollow. The flow seemed off, the build seemed stunted, and the finish was another lame Metalik finish where he takes his opponents' finisher, then just stands up and hits his own to win. I liked individual segments and started getting momentarily into things when I thought Metalik was going to be working heel. That moment where he strolled up to a kneeling Tozawa, paused, and then roundhouse kicked him in the face? I was on board. But any kind of dickhead behavior ended there, and we went into a series of segments that seemed almost disconnected from anything that happened earlier in the match. We even get a silly little "epic" strike exchange that only adds to the directionless feel of the match. But Tozawa at least tried to bring some personality to the proceedings, and he gamely - if not ridiculously - got into position for Metalik's highspots (on two occasions having to wander halfway around the ring or roll all the way to the center), but Metalik's highspots at least deliver. His topes especially always see him bury his head deep into his opponents' neck and chest, never bailing early on first contact. I love Tozawa's snap Germans, so was bummed to see him hit two, only to see both men then struggle to their feet and Metalik hit his driver finish for the win. It's a pretty uninteresting finish, an annoying example of Tozawa somehow being more tired from hitting his moves than Metalik was from taking them. TL;DR, things looked good, I like both guys, this didn't move me.

PAS: I thought this was fine, but never really came together. Felt like the most 2016 juniors matchish of all the tourney matches, no real story, no real . Both guys have cool looking spots but just kind of throw them out willy nilly with no connection between moves. I did love Metalik's dropkick which pinned Tozawa in the ropes, I am a big fan of this tourney bringing back the violent dropkick. I also thought both guys had cool dives. Still ultimately a forgettable match, this really should have been Tajiri v. Gallgher.

2. Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi

ER: This was a great match, a match that I really loved with a story I was really into, with a major hitch in the middle of the match that I'm having trouble reconciling with the rest of the match. Kendrick has been a revelation in the CWC, as nobody was talking about him before this special, and suddenly he's come off (to me, anyway) as the clear best guy in the tournament. And considering the tourney has two of my absolute favorites in Drew Gulak and Jack Gallagher, this was not something I was expecting. But Kendrick is legit and his scrappy underdog stop-at-nothing approach has been easily my favorite thing in the CWC. I love him going for countout wins and trying to sink in that choke (never though something as simple as a posted up side headlock could get over so huge), kicking the middle rope into Ibushi's groin, dropping his neck over the actual corner turnbuckle while on the apron, doing awesome, incredibly precise things like getting his knees up on a standing moonsault and then in one motion rolling Ibushi into a small package, and then always going back for more on Ibushi's neck. It all lead up to that ultimate of neck crunching spots, the Burning Hammer, and here it couldn't have been delivered any more brutally. And it got a 2 count, and really never factored into the rest of the match. Ibushi sold his neck great in the moment, but jeez what a monkeywrench to jam into the middle of a match. I'm sure I'm far from the only one who views the move as (perhaps foolishly) sacred. It always felt like the go-to joke answer amongst my friends, to perfectly capture overblown indy match excess. "Well they finally put him away with a second Burning Hammer through chairs." We still laugh about some early 2000s Dateline type expose on "the dangers of backyard wrestling" that showed a kid dropping his friend with a Burning Hammer on a picnic table in a park. It's the ultimate death move in a fake sport, and there it was right smack dab in the middle; kicked out of, no less, not even delivered too close to the ropes, with Ibushi's body accidentally rolling to the floor and Kendrick unable to capitalize. But it's in there and there's no ignoring it, so I guess at minimum we can just flip out that we saw a freaking Burning Hammer on WWE TV. That's worth something. And for his part Ibushi was good. His kicks were nasty, his flying is graceful, and he looked like he was getting choked deeply by Kendrick. Now Kendrick helped out those kicks by flopping and leaning in and going down like a shot, no denying that. I loved the match and it just added to my full on over the top love of Brian Kendrick. A deep dive on current Kendrick is certainly in order and will be a fun new project for me. And damn does the CWC keep bringing these terrific pre-credits moments, with Gargano/Ciampa, HHH/Alexander, and now Bryan coming into the ring to cry and embrace Kendrick. Goddamn CWC, I need to clean my house because things are getting dusty in here.

PAS: Kendrick was really amazing in this match. I loved him trying to steal the win early, all of his desperate alleycat attacks, and all of the big near falls. Just masterful conducting of a wrestling match. Kendrick is a buck fifty at most, so I guess I buy his burning hammer not being as devastating as a 275 pound Kenta Kobashi's, still this really builds up Ibushi as basically unbeatable, if a neckbreaker on the post, a sliced bread, multiple bully chokes and a fucking burning hammer don't put him down, how can I buy anything done by anyone else beating him? Feels like they have booked themselves into a bit of a corner, especially because there really isn't anyone compelling left in the tournament. All the great stories are over, seems inevitable that it will be a ZSJ v. Ibushi final, and that is a really underwhelming finish. Don't want to get too down as this really was a hell of a match, and the Kendrick performance in this tournament was truly amazing. Right up there with Liger's 1994 J-Cup run in an all-time tourney run.

ER: Even with that Burning Hammer genie let out of the bottle, the Kendrick match was an easy choice for our 2016 Ongoing MOTY List; here's hoping we get even more Kendrick scrapping his way onto our list this year.

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/24/16

1. Rich Swann vs. Lince Dorado

ER: Hey! This was awful! This felt like 8 minutes of two guys doing wind sprints. I hardly remembered any of the moves that happened, just felt like two guys running around, back and forth, occasionally slapping a leg and doing something that approximated hitting the other. Lince pulls out of every strike and every impact, like he's almost afraid of touching Swann. Their punchy slappy exchange was just so...so bad. It looked like the body movements of a competitive Olympic table tennis match. It did not look like two men HAVING A WAR or whatever hack spot they were going for. "This is their version of Frye/Takayama" screamed Mauro. Yes. Their version is the shittiest possible version. Very little of this landed with me. I couldn't wait for it to stop.

PAS: I thought this was fineish. Nothing amazing, but I didn't have the vitriol that Eric had for this match. It was an indy juniors spotfest, and didn't last forever, which is the normal sin for this kind of match. Some stuff looked awful, like their Frye tribute, but the double jump kick was really stigg and I liked the reverse rana by Dorado. Swann's phoenix splash was nasty looking, usually dives with that many rotations land soft, Swann landed hard.

2. Drew Gulak vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

ER: I liked this much much more. I was bummed that Gulak didn't advance but didn't think he had much chance to. I am happy that he didn't get dominated, and was satisfied that the ending was Sabre catching him with an almost flash bridging pin. The opening standing grapple stuff was some of my favorite stuff in the whole tournament so far, the way they would work around each other grabbing at arms and wrists and bending until their leverage point was up, allowing the other to flip the switch. I loved Gulak's aggression, slamming him into ropes, jumping off the bottom rope with stomps, and I loved Sabre working from more of a counter point of view. A lot of people have problems when he just requires people to stand still and take a move, and I agree his stuff works best when he uses someone's momentum against them, like when Gulak went for his awesome flying clothesline and Sabre reversed it into a Fujiwara. And I love when Gulak counters counters, like when Sabre blocked a sunset flip so Gulak shifted his momentum back to catch him. The slap and kick exchange is getting weird and bitter criticism but I liked it. I liked that the timing was off and a third of the strikes didn't land, because the shit that landed landed with a crack, with both guys thrown off and letting limbs fly. I'll take that any day of the week over your elbow-my elbow double jack off fist pump exchanges.

PAS: This was really good, it was very counter wrestling based but all of the counters were very aggressive and it never felt like a do si do. The early mat scrambling was awesome, and I loved the structure of the match with Gulak always moving forward and Sabre looking for openings in his aggression. It is exactly the way the match should be worked, ZSJ looked silly bulldozing his opponent in round one, he is pretty great however as an overmatched guy who can capitalize on mistakes. I also liked the slap exchange, of course Sabre's slaps aren't great, he is supposed to be a guy outmatched in a slugfest, and when he got suckered into one he got cracked, certainly that last Gulak slap was very nasty. Honestly one of my favorite Sabre matches ever, this is a good match structure for him, and it works way better in a 10 minute match then a 25 minute EVOLVE main event where he has to take a long beating and kick out of a bunch.

3. TJ Perkins vs. Johnny Gargano

ER: For two quick counter indy moves matches on one show, I at least enjoyed most of this one, but these two are better at what they do than Dorado and Swann. TJP winning was a legit surprise for me, as rightly or wrongly I had Gargano pegged as a finalist. Gargano came in selling the leg and did a mostly admirable job with it, allowing for a few moments of convenient healing, and there were a couple of moments where either man's crack timing was off a hair, leaving one man standing still waiting to take something; but for fast paced your signature moves counter my signature moves wrestling, this was fun junk food. TJP is super slippery and watching him fire on all cylinders, slipping in and out of ropes, is fun. The pins were locked on tight and looked incredibly tough to kick out of, the lawn dart spot is just freaking crazy (and really would have made sense as a finish), Gargano overshooting the senton into the barricade was nuts, and loved that TJP's already established heel hook was successful.

PAS: The CWC has done a really good job about making me care about guys I haven't given a shit about before. The Gargano v. Ciampa match is the most I have cared about either guy and I got invested in Cedric Alexander in the Ibushi match, and couldn't care less about him before or after. This match tried something similar with Gargano fighting through his knee injury from the future, but most of this match was the kind of disposable juniors stuff EVOLVE keeps running as CWC showcases. TJP had some cool spots, and the lawndart bump was especially nutso, but this was near falls for the sake of near falls. Didn't hate it, but it didn't engage me.

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/17/16

1. Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Gallagher

ER: Really fun performance from both guys, really fun match. Part of me was grumpy that Gallagher didn't advance, but at the same time I really thought Tozawa turned in a killer performance. It would have been really easy to let Gallagher's performance steamroll him. Gallagher was the clear crowd favorite and had them in the palm of his hand from before the bell. "But American indy crowds go nuts for all things Japan!!" thought Tozawa, bewildered. But he sucked it up, was a game sport through all of Jack's awesomeness, through all of Jack's silliness, and Jack was more then willing to take Tozawa's nastiest stuff. I loved Jack's progression through the match, as he's super goofy to start, doing little things like licking his thumbs to easier slip them into and break a waistlock, setting up a comedic Indian deathlock, trapping him in a Nieblina before kicking his butt to break it...the more comedy happened the more restless I got and the more I wanted limb wrecking Jack. And lo and behold the leg work gets increasingly mean, and Tozawa starts working increasingly stiff. Jack keeps finding all sorts of awesome ways to take apart a leg, attack a hip or knee joint, roll into a surprise single crab when Tozawa takes too long to do a move; Tozawa blows Gallagher up with a flying kick out of the corner (replays look like Jack took it right under the chin), big senton, hard forearms and those awesome snap German suplexes. Tozawa sells the leg really great, Jack rips apart the leg really great, and by the home stretch I was left saddened that one of these two wouldn't be advancing, while one of Noam Dar or HoHo Lun would be.

PAS: I really loved this match. Gallagher losing in the second round is the biggest booking blunder in this tourney, as I think he might be the most impressive and most over guy in the whole thing. I think the difference between the Gallagher comedy spots in this match and the kind of Chikara bullshit I hate, is that this didn't require Tozawa to be a good sport. He didn't have to pretend that there was a real grenade or that he was hypnotized, he could actually get more and more pissed that he was being clowned, which led to that big short left hand and the second part of the match. Gallagher switched into killer mode awesomely and I loved how he mixed in vicious submissions with selling all of Tozawa's stuff. The ankle pick counter may have been one of the coolest submission counters I have ever seen, I must have rewound it five times. Loved the finish too, with Tozawa fighting for the German as Jack fought for the leg. It is totally nuts that Gallagher was the only British import out in the first round as he totally smokes Sabre and Dar.

2. Noam Dar vs. HoHo Lun

ER: So, I haven't been following tapings for these at all as I don't want to be spoiled, but were these taped in order? Did these two seriously just try and work a worse version of the previous match? Are there agents working this tourney? I imagine there would have to be. No matter where this match was taped relative to Tozawa/Gallagher, somebody must have said "Hey maybe don't all of you go out and work leg based matches". This match had exact spots practically lifted from Tozawa/Gallagher, like that slower, shittier single leg that Dar did. Lun looked better than his first match, but his facial selling is really embarrassing. I enjoyed the match more than I expected to, but it was just terribly placed after the first match, and whoever did the bracketing really pulled a boner on this one. Also, any wrestling that inspires singing from the crowd is almost always inherently shitty.

PAS: Yeah this was taped in order, the weird match placement is really my only beef with this tourney, no idea why you run asian with a german suplex v. brit with leglocks right after vastly superior asian with a german suplex v. vastly superior brit with leglocks. Better then either guys first round match, but Dar is clearly the turd in the punch bowl.

3. Brian Kendrick vs. Tony Nese

ER: Man alive do I love Brian Kendrick. Is this how he's been working for the last few years!? Who's doing the Kendrick 2014-2016 deep dive? Because Kendrick has been my favorite guy in this tournament. I've always liked him, but never anywhere near as much as his two matches in the CWC. He's wrestling completely different than I remember, like a cornered raccoon. And this whole match was just really exciting for me, because I assumed Nese would be advancing, and I didn't want Nese to advance, and I knew there was at least some chance that Kendrick would advance. So the fan in me really took over and I just really wanted Kendrick in and Nese out, so every Kendrick kickout was exhilarating and every Nese rope break was crushing. When the first bully choke failed to put away Nese I thought Kendrick was a goner for sure, that he had gotten a good showing and almost beat the muscled up guy, but couldn't pull it off. All of the spots with Kendrick fighting over his armbar, kicking at Nese's face, hyperextending that arm, I was hooked in and dying with every second. Phil totally nails it by comparing Kendrick to both Finlay and Tarek the Great. He's been a super accurate fusion of those two in all of the best ways. He has the inventiveness and tightness of all the little things, just like Finlay. Finlay wasn't just about tight strikes, he was also one of the best at setting up opponents' offense and getting into position for things, making the misses plausible and making the hits expected and nasty. Kendrick sets up Nese better than anyone I've seen, adding credibility to stuff that has looked less so in other Nese matches I've seen. Kendrick doesn't cheat. Not cheat in the way that a heel cheats, but cheat in a way that the wrestler knows what move is coming next because they've planned things out. You don't get a sense that he's cheating to set himself up to remember the next sequence, he's just unbelievable and making every sequence seem unplanned and natural; doesn't cheat by ducking early on spots that are supposed to miss, or sitting up early on Nese's missed moonsault, just genuinely comes off as a guy who's escaping by the skin of his teeth. He's this scrappy underdog who's going to use every part of the ring and every part of his body to win, and it's kind of amazing to watch. Kendrick has just come completely out of nowhere to be one of my absolute favorite wrestlers. I love it.

PAS: This was very good. Kendrick didn't appear to be wrestling at all in 2014-2016 and he has come back like Jordan wearing the 45. Neese is a goofy bum, and he made him mostly look great. I loved the idea of Kendrick trying to jump him at the bell and getting drilled. Then its Kendrick trying everything he can to survive Neese until he can get his head cleared. Loved all of the crazy Finlay style rope and turnbuckle attacks and that bully choke reversal sequence was awesome. Not sure I liked Neese tapping so quickly on the finish, felt like it would have taken the match to another level if Kendrick made him pass out while gripping him like a junky holding on to the last vial. So weird that Brian Kendrick is basically working as 2002 Tarek the Great but I love it.

ER: So this was another great hour of wrestling TV, and the Tozawa/Gallagher and Kendrick/Nese matches were both easy additions to our 2016 ONGOING MOTY LIST, which again seems like it has potential to be full pf CWC matches by the end of the tournament.


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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/10/16

1. Tajiri vs. Gran Metalik

ER: This felt like a match that would have got 10 minutes on Nitro while the crowd went nuts and Schiavone talked about the nWo the whole time. I really liked a lot of this, even though the ending was really unimaginative, anticlimactic and flat. Tajiri looked real good throughout, loved his momentum shifting armdrags and sneaky kicks. Tajiri had a bunch of fun kicks (you heard it here first!), and that moment where he kicked a kneeling Metalik in the chest, and Metalik just stood up, slapped him, and Tajiri just stood there? That was the best. I really liked the mat stuff, had some smooth lucha flow and some vaguely unprofessional behavior, made me want to see Tajiri match up against guys like Blue Panther or Virus (and made me realize that we've never gotten to see an extended matwork run from Tajiri before). We get one of Metalik's big beautiful dives, Tajiri gets his leg dragon screwed through the ropes in a nice spot.....and then the ending just felt flat as hell. Tajiri kicks Metalik in the head, Metalik falls down....then just gets back up and does his finisher to Tajiri. That's just about the most uninspired way I can think of to end a good match. It was like they both remembered they left their stoves on and had to get out of there as fast as possible. Did my Network feed jump ahead or something?

PAS: I dug this more then Eric, I thought the opening matwork stuff looked like Negro Navarro or Solar maestro stuff which was crazy to see on WWE TV. Tajiri's mat counters looked awesome, that lifting press headscissors counter was truly beautiful, Metalik stuff was fine, but Tajiri looked world class on the mat. Feels like Tajiri v. Jack Gallagher is the dream match that came out of this tourney. I loved all of his kicks as usual, and he has so much more character then most of other guys still in. Metalik is fine, he has cool spots, but this feels really clearly like the wrong guy went over.

2. Kota Ibushi vs. Cedric Alexander

ER: Sometimes when watching a match I can see that the crowd is into it, and feel myself not seeing whatever it is they're seeing. But this match? I was right there with them, and it was an exciting and unexpected reaction. Ibushi and Alexander are two guys who I don't really have strong opinions on. I have liked matches with both, I have disliked matches with both. In matches of theirs I like I typically don't get driven to seek out more of their work, and in matches of theirs I dislike I don't get turned off from watching them in the future. They operate in that zone of guys who don't surprise me when a match is good, but I never expect it. And this match wasn't really the kind of match I like, but damn if that crowd didn't just draw me right into the whole thing. I surprised myself by how much I suddenly wanted Cedric to win, and that is a testament to the emotional performance that he put on. It wasn't because Ibushi was playing subtle heel, it was wholly because Cedric just worked like he deserved to win, and I wanted him to get that win. There were a couple kickouts I didn't care for, but who can really argue as obviously it slayed the live crowd and I totally get it. Both guys did things I dug, especially Cedric's early match back elbow. I wish Ibushi didn't leap up so quickly after that big ass brainbuster, but it was soon in the rearview as I flipped out over Ibushi's massive powerbomb and big kicks and that death wish German suplex. These guys got me invested and made me really excited for everything that was happening, despite having minimal opinions on them beforehand. It's a special reaction that doesn't happen often.

PAS: People really talked up this match, and I figured I wouldn't like it, 2016 near fall juniors wrestling is very much not my thing. Still I got caught up in this, I am giving a lot of credit to the announcing, the match had a simple story of a young guy with a family getting his big shot, coming so close and falling just short and both Bryan and Ranallo did a great job spelling it out without Joey Stylesing it. This tournament is pretty unique in wrestling history, as most of these guys in here aren't signed, for many of them it is their one shot. I can't think of any thing like it. This felt like a semi-final match at Wimbledon where a guy ranked 85 makes it to fifth set against Nadal before succumbing.  The last minute was really great, the quick kick after the brainbuster kick out was an awesome near fall, and I totally bought into Alexander's devastation at losing. HHH's little thumbs up at then might be the only thing he has ever done I actually liked. Emotional wrestling is something that the WWE normally does terribly, it is usually hammy Shawn Michaels horseshit, here we have two weeks in a row where it has been done well.

ER: Both matches were clearly wonderful, probably the most unanimously beloved hour of TV wrestling I've seen since some of the high end Lucha Underground episodes. Both matches landed on our 2016 ONGOING MOTY LIST, and it's starting to feel like this tourney will be producing many more that land on that list.

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/3/16

1. Jason Lee v. Rich Swann

ER: I suppose WWE must have really wanted one of the Chinese guys to advance to the 2nd round, but after this few minutes I wish we would have gotten another Jason Lee match. Ho Ho Lun was arguably the greenest guy in the tourney, Lee had some presence and personality (loved him telling Swann to bring it while Swann was dicking around), had some real cool kicks (that snapped off mule kick to Swann's temple!) and a weird uppercut, and had no problem running into Swann's kicks. Swann can do some crazy things with his body, and he doesn't have that same problem that afflicts Petey Williams style flippers: His stuff actually hits with impact. His standing splash and *standing* (crazy) 450 hit with a thud (well, as much thud as a 165 pounder can thud...), he doesn't look like he's covered in flubber and just bounce off everything. Ending felt a little sudden, but I liked what we got.

PAS: This was fun stuff, I thought Swann might have been a little overacty with his charisma faces, but overall I liked his shtick, he really has crazy agility that leap into the rana may have been even nuttier then the standing 450. Swann being this crisp and athletic and being this over kind of makes guys like Tony Neese and Lince Dorado kind of obsolete, if Swann can do the same stuff but land with impact and not wrestle like a robot, why do we need those dudes.

2. Noam Dar v. Gurv Sihra

PAS: Not good, both guys seemed like they were on different pages, and while parts looked OK, most of it looked kind of weak sauce. I get why they want to push Dar, but he seems like he needs some more seasoning to get a push on TV, I am assuming he is out next round and should just hang around the training center for a while. Bollywood Boys should use their TV time to get more random indy bookings, but they don't seem ready for prime time.

ER: Yeah, they got lost a couple minutes in and looked like they spent the next 3 recovering. They would just kind of stand there filling time until you'd see a lightbulb go off like "oh right, the spin kick!" I thought Mauro and Bryan covered nicely on a couple of the noticeably clunky spots, and sadly before things stumbled I was enjoying Sihra, especially that nasty back elbow he busted out. Dar is a bit too muggy for me, for what he's trying to do, something I didn't care for in his qualifying match either. Bryan was good at pointing that out, even reasoning that he's so young that he's just excited to be there. This was the first match that the commentary was more interesting to me than the match itself. I was much more interested in hearing about Sihra's proud, blind grandfather listening to the CWC, than I was watching Dar throw another thigh slap dropkick.

3. Jack Gallagher vs. Fabian Aichner

PAS: YEAH!! Segunda Caida favorite Jack Gallagher makes his big show debut. Gallagher has been sporadically available over the last couple of years but every time he showed up he looked awesome. I think Gallagher is the best mat worker in the world right now, incredibly slick at the kind of WOS tribute stuff he does here, as well as really awesome fast and violent shootstyle matwork. It is funny how much better Gallagher is at the counter wrestling British stuff then Sabre Jr., kind of exposes ZSJ the same way Swann exposes dudes like Neese, and man alive was that dropkick finish amazing looking. Aichner was really fun too, his suplex throw into a powerbomb was totally nuts and the double jump moonsault was one of the bigger highspots of the tourney (although it was totally numbnuts to show him practicing that move during the preview video, took a lot of the surprise out the move). Think they should keep him around after this tourney. Gallagher however was at another level and looks like one of the best guys in the world, we have been saying it for a while, glad to see everyone else get a chance to see it too.

ER: This was too much fun and it was amusing hearing Bryan clearly marking out on commentary for every single movement Gallagher made. We all saw that moment in the early 2000s when indy workers started seeing WOS tapes, we all saw moments where guys would awkwardly shoehorn lady in the lake spots into their matches after they saw a Johnny Saint match for the first time, and gradually have seen a lot of WOS elements bleed into indy wrestling. But Gallagher is really the first one to actually feel transported from the early 80s and not just doing a tribute act. He does things so seamlessly and naturally that it feels like he was raised in a box with only WOS tapes to watch, and he just thinks that this is genuinely how people fight. I had never heard of Aichner before and came away impressed. If Swann and others hadn't already exposed Nese then here's a guy with the exact same 200ish lb. muscular build doing the same cool shit as Nese, but throwing in more interesting power spots and also able to hang with cool mat reversals, but also doing basic stuff like locking on a chinlock that actually looks painful. Gentleman Jack has such a wonderful quirky personality, like when Conan O'Brien's "Gentleman Masher" boxing character or Conan playing 1800s throwback baseball. His reversal teases, his astonished facials at Aichner's reversals, the ability to look silly one second while blasting a stiff dropkick the next, all great stuff. Loved Aichner's vertical suplex into a powerbomb, just a real great showoff spot, and Gallagher plants himself brutally on the landing. Gallagher's finishing dropkick seemingly broke physics, as he was able to plant the dropkick and then basically land a cannonball all in one motion. Man, among Kendrick, Gallagher and Gulak I have no idea who I'll be pulling for (but they damn well better make Gulak/Gallagher happen).

4. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

PAS: Pretty impressed by this match. I came into this match not liking Gargano and having no real opinion of Ciampa and they really sucked me with the story they were telling. These two were given some advantages that other guys in this tourney didn't have, the emotional background is a gimmick the same way blood or weapons shots are, they also got the kind of big dramatic near falls that the other tourney matches really didn't have. Still they took those advantages and used them well, Ciampa really laid into Gargano including some truly nasty back elbows and huge bombs. Gargano's offense is pretty indy, but he did a good job milking the 2 counts and I did like how he pulled out the win at the end. The finish with Ciampa devastated that he couldn't pull of the victory but still hugging his friend had real pathos. Probably the second best match of the first round and it wasn't a match I was particularly looking forward too.

ER: I'm with Phil on this one, I wasn't coming in expecting much but the simple story worked for me, and both guys familiarity with each other added to this. Ciampa laid it in the whole match and Gargano was right there to take it. That back elbow to kick of the striking was really something, and Gargano had a great spit take and tumble to the floor. And the familiarity was great as it kept revealing itself throughout the match, giving nice built in transitions to both guys. Gargano catches a punch to hit one of the more believable trapped arm superkicks with Ciampa's head against the buckle, later after getting hit with a dive Ciampa catches Gargano with a brutal knee when Johnny was coming in for his slingshot spear. Ciampa's knees looked great throughout which made the kill shot moment of truth have a bit more heft, as he knows his knees have been great and he hesitates before the kill shot. The ending flash roll up sequence was good and a nice surprise, as the match sucked me in enough that I wasn't sure who would win. I figured Gargano was the favorite, but also figured they didn't really have any 1st round upsets, so maybe we were due. I did think Gargano took a bit too much offense without giving back, but I loved the post match hug, with Ciampa plopping down next to his friend. Reminded me of the Baba/Rusher hug in my favorite tag match (them vs. Hansen/Tenryu from '89). Great end to the 1st round.


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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 7/27/16

1. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyson Dux

ER: Okay, Jim Breaks just got mentioned several times on WWE TV, and that is just the kind of surreal I wanted as the tournament got closer. The match was a continuing trend of a lot of first round matches, as we get a lot of ZSJ's greatest hits applied in a sort of exhibition-y way. For a fairly long 1st round match, Dux really didn't get a whole lot of his own, and what he got was a little disappointing. His forearm shots looked weak, his clothesline had no follow through, his DDT was limply applied but saved by Sabre doing his vertical plant off of it. Where Dux did excel was putting over ZSJ's submissions, really screaming during the wrist work, really getting frustrated every time a basic move like a cravate or headlock takeover of his would get rolled out of immediately by Sabre. I really like Sabre's routine, I'm not longer a "this guy is in matches I like but I don't think I like him" kinda neighsayer, but I was hoping for a little more "match" in this one. I did love the finish and the camera caught great angles: Dux reaching slowly for the ropes as ZSJ keeps bending his fingers and wrist away from the ropes, before eventually locking on the sub.

PAS: I thought this was fine, a couple of ZSJ's transitions were really cool, and I liked the initial section with Dux using basic offense to counter the fancy stuff. When they got to hitting each other though it didn't look very good, Dux looked off a bit and Sabre is never going to excel in a slugfest. Finish though was totally awesome, loved all of the chaining of holds into the final submission, that is the kind of thing that he does better then almost anyone.

2. Drew Gulak vs. Harv Sihra

ER: Did Sihra really say in his pre-fight package that he "wanted to do something with his heritage in wrestling, but not so stereotypical....so I chose Bollywood". Uhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmm. Are there...other? parts? of Indian culture that Americans casually know about and stereotype? That feels like the most stereotyped part of Indian culture. Was a cow worshipping curry eating convenience store owner just too on the nose for American audiences? Had do go DEEP underground into Indian culture with this...Bollywood, was it? Anyway, I really dug this match. Gulak was super generous with Sihra, while also dealing out my personal favorite brand of violence. Gulak's my favorite current guy in wrestling and there was a whole lot to like here, loved the way he ran into Sihra's stuff, the dragon sleeper looked flat out vicious, he threw one of the greatest top rope clotheslines you've seen (seriously, a list of great looking top rope clotheslines would be a short list) and overall they gave us a super satisfying, competitive, perfect WorldWide match. Awesome stuff.

PAS: Eric liked this more then I did, Gulak looked good as always, but I didn't think these guys were on the same page for most of the match. I did really like the ankle counter Sihra used and how he went back to it to try to counter the dragon sleeper. Neat bit of callback wrestling nicely called by Ranallo and Bryan. Really weird production having Sabre and Gulak go back to back on the same show. Grappling is a hard sell to WWE audiences and it is weird to force feed it to the audience like this

3. Anthony Bennett vs. Tony Nese

PAS: I thought this was pretty bad, there are a ton better tiny guys on the indies then Bennett if you wanted some 140 pound guys in this tourney. Feels like that should have been Lio Rush's spot, maybe Flip Kendrick. Nese is technically fine, but kind of a dull jersey meathead. Has a very Petey Williams feel to him, a smarter wrestler would know not to have even steven forearm exchanges with a kid you outweigh by 50 pounds, but Nese just does his stuff. Worst match of the tourney so far.

ER: The funny thing about the even steven forearm exchanges was that Bennett's looked better than Nese's. So not only was Nese playing on the level with a guy 75% of his size, but he was getting outstruck by him. Bennett was pretty clunky and Nese is one of those muscled up guys who never lands with a lot of weight, like that Hulk movie with Eric Bana, where CGI Hulk is just bouncing around feeling weightless. Agree with Phil that Bennett was a weird choice. If they wanted another tiny flier, there were better choices. His forearms were ironically the only part of his offense I enjoyed. He had some terrible looking jumping clotheslines, like he had only studied clotheslines from Kofi Kingston. And every time he would land off a dropkick or other leaping move, it looked like he had no clue how to land that move. You don't realize how graceful certain wrestlers and moves usually look, until you see somebody flopping around like a dying fish after hitting a dropkick.  You often see sloppy execution, you don't really get to thinking about sloppy landings. Ending is weird as the ref almost stops the match because it appeared Bennett might have been injured, so everybody stopped....but then the ref was like "okay, just go ahead and do your flippy move. Never mind. Sorry, everybody!" I liked Nese's superkick on the floor, didn't totally dislike the whole thing as much as Phil, but yeah this was down there.

4. Brian Kendrick vs. Raul Mendoza

PAS: This however was the first great match this tourney has run. Love Kendrick as new age Kid Kash, ex-pretty boy turned into grizzled veteran asshole. He went from looking like Leonardo DiCaprio to looking like RR/RW Battle of the Sexes era Puck. He is the heroin addict bullying Bubbles. Most I have ever liked Kendrick.

INDY LUCHA RISE UP! Mendoza looked awesome hitting everything with speed and precision, selling the bloody mouth great and totally winning over the crowd. Makes me want to go down a Jinzo youtube hole. Loved the story of this, with the kid having all the athleticism which Kendrick lost and Kendrick having to resort to every dirty trick he knows to pull it out. Finish was perfect for what they are doing, and I totally want Kendrick to win this whole thing now.

ER: Oh man this was good. If this match is an accurate representation of current Brian Kendrick, then I'm now pissed at Kendrick not having enough people championing his current work. Phil's Kid Kash comparison is dead on the money and this really is the best version of Kendrick I've seen. The look, the attitude, the cheating; this Brian Kendrick to the one wearing baggy vinyl jorts and throwing terrible fivearms on hot tags? Yes, please. I've also never seen Mendoza before and boy was I impressed. The guy is super polished and does everything 100%, no half-assing anything he attempts: no loose limbs on his headscissors, no dodging out of a move that he wasn't supposed to know was coming, no light shining through strikes, no moments where he had that vacant look in his eyes thinking about his next sequence. It's too bad the CWC doesn't have alternates like the early UFC PPVs, just as an opportunity to have some of the better 1st round losers get extra matches against each other (and, you know, get some extra footage to justify flying all of these guys in). Mendoza was snug and Kendrick was just as snug, more than I ever remember him being. Kendrick suckers him into great cheating moments, especially the nasty curb stomp type move into the ropes. Have a guy with braces bite the rope and then you kick the rope? Man that's some sadistic shit. Having another human bite anything is kind of weird and fucked up on its face, but someone with braces? Those things cut your mouth the hell up. Mendoza having braces and wrestling without a mouth guard is as crazy as guys taking wild bumps to the floor while barefoot. Mendoza doing a Fuerza bump to the apron to avoid hitting the buckles was choice, he hit with a thud on his plancha, finish run was killer with Kendrick doing an obvious weird possum sell before grabbing Mendoza's waistband to send him throat first into the bottom rope, then doing a gorgeously nasty reverse headlock takeover into a sick choke for the win. This was a simple match done to perfection, moves to logically set up other moves, no wasted movement, easily no question best match of the CWC tournament up to this point.

ER: Best episode of the CWC so far obviously, and the Kendrick/Mendoza was so good that we added it to our 2016 Ongoing MOTY List. It's a real gem and hopefully a sign of greater things to come in this tournament.


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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 7/20/16

1. Tajiri vs. Damian Slater

ER: I know nothing about the Australian indy scene, so again I love how far reaching WWE actually made this whole CWC. It's about the last move I expected from them when this was announced. And I liked Slater in this. There were really basic things that he didn't do very well, like he seemed tentative on wristlocks and lockups, seemed to be some hesitation during sequences. But he did some nice dead arm selling off Tajiri's kicks, hit a really slick and awesome fireman's carry roll through into a bridging pin, tossed out a tornillo that Tajiri caught kind of awkwardly, and most importantly he fed into Tajiri's trademark offense. Tajiri was sort of a let down as he ran through a standard 4 minute Tajiri Jakked/Metal match, even doing things in the same order as he used to, just a little slower. He just kind of skulked around waiting for Slater to get into position for his signature offense, when I thought he should have been a little more aggressive about getting Slater there. He felt a little sleepwalk-y. Plus all those teenage Tajiri fans watching ECW in 1999 went on to become indy kickers, so he kind of came off like a Jerry Lynn or Christopher Daniels, still working the same game that was novel in '99 but not as effective in 2016. That said, I'm excited to see how he looks in a non "showcase" setting in later rounds.

PAS:  I liked Tajiri way more then Eric did here, I loved all of his little carny counters like reversing the hammerlock by walking through the ropes and his hammerlock where he used the knee to hold down the opposite arm. Those kicks are still nasty looking and really nicely timed. Slater was fine, had a couple of slick moments, but had such a generic look and offense, nothing that made him stand out.

2. TJ Perkins vs. Da Mack

ER: Thought TJP looked really great here, didn't care much for Da Mack's 2000s indy tribute gimmick. TJP has tons of tricks to show off, so a showcase to potential new eyeballs works nicely. Him hitting his usual stuff so crisp only added to things. His spin kicks looked great, his roll throughs into subs looked good, the way he maneuvered off of and through the ropes looked kung fu flick smooth. Mack hits a really nice flip dive over the buckles and almost landed grossly face first on a spinning flapjack, but also threw a bunch of weak uppercuts, cribbed Human Tornado's old jive kicks (I get stealing spots from your favorite guys but man is that a super specific thing to lift) and overall didn't come off like a guy I'm going to seek out.

PAS: Yeah fine TJP showcase, I have seen a ton of him before so his stuff wasn't new to me, but for folks who weren't trading for NJ Dojo tapes 10 years ago I imagine it looked awesome. Mack had a really nice dive but his shtick was pretty bush league.

3. Mustafa Ali vs. Lince Dorado

PAS: This felt like an IWA-MS showcase match from 2005 with green indy guys busting out a bunch of their big spots to earn the post match Ian attaboy speech. The big spots were big spots, that reverse rana was seconds away from breaking Ali's neck, but looked awesome. Still the connective tissue of the match was pretty bad, these guys have been doing this along time and they really should have had better looking simple stuff.

ER: This match kinda won me over by the end, even though I fully recognized it as an Eliminators style "stand there and take my shit" type of match. Dorado has some big spots but usually doesn't hit all of them clean. So for him to go go go and not actually flop was pretty exciting. It made every spot seem bigger, wondering if THIS was going to be the one that was going to murder himself or Ali. Plus seeing a freaking springboard reverse rana and a double jump springboard Spanish Fly on WWE TV is just totally surreal. Ali almost lost me towards the beginning as his missed moves to get into position for Lince's shit looked flat out baaaad. That slow motion spinning backfist was so ugly that Danielson had no choice but to bring up how terribly slow it was on commentary. Then he missed a charge in the corner, when Lince jumped to the apron, so Ali somersaulted out of the corner and then just slowly stood up and turned around. It looked so terrible. "Well, gotta stand up and turn around and take some more offense I suppose." But Ali won me over by taking all sorts of stupid shit and missing some flying moves in ways that alllllmost look like he barely rotated in time. He flopped painfully on a missed moonsault and later on an inverted 450. The springboard reverse rana was nuts, dug Dorado's little sliding kick that planted the flat of his boot into Ali's forehead, Ali was a nutjob for taking that big ol' headscissors off the apron to the floor, and yeah. I knew what this was, but they busted ass and won me over at the end.

4. Akira Tozawa vs. Kenneth Johnson

PAS: Really dumb for both of the last match of the last two shows to have the exact same match layout. Japanese overdog having too much trouble finishing off green kid with lots of heart. Johnson is pretty sloppy and green and parts of this were actively stinky. Tozawa has a bunch of charisma and that final pair of german suplexes looked great, but I thought this was the worst match of this show.

ER: I...actually didn't dislike this. Johnson does do too much choreographed sexy dance fighting, has some offense where you aren't actually sure if he did a move or took a move, and good heavens that missed flipping whateverthefuck off the top (that landed 5 feet from where Tozawa would have been even if he hadn't moved) was atrocious. But compared to his first round peers I thought he showed way more acuity than Ho Ho Lun. I actually enjoyed the very opening with both men rolling wildly while in a wristlock, reminded me of when my cat accidentally got a paper bag hooked around her neck and ran wildly through the house to try to get the bag off. And even in some of his more aimless mat reversal segments he would surprise me by doing a competent hammerlock into side headlock. He ate Tozawa's stuff nicely, ate that nice high jump senton, took some kicks to the guts. Tozawa is going to be fun in later rounds, those scoop and delayed Germans are arguably spot of the show so far. The snap on that scoop one and the way Johnson folded through it was like the floweriest poetry. If someone had a looped gif of that as their sig it feels like something I would get stuck watching like 6 times through every time I scrolled past their posts. But then that delayed German where he just pops him over like nothing, just awesome. I liked Johnson here more than I've ever liked Killshot. That's not saying much, but it's not nothing.


COMPLETE CWC GUIDE

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 7/13/16

PAS: Helmsleys fake Liev Schriber documentary voice was pretty bad. I get they probably couldn't afford Liev, but they could have at least sprung for Pablo.

1. Gran Metalik vs. Alejandro Saez

ER: Metalik is Mascara Dorada, and I have never seen Saez before. And Saez might have the absolute goofiest "stagger" selling I've ever seen. Watching him twitch around the ring after Metalik hit a superkick, well...it was something. His facials in general are just absurd. Dorada hits a big springboard flip dive, Saez surprises me with a shooting star off the apron, and Dorada wins in about 4 minutes. This wasn't much, any Dorada lightning match is more interesting than this. Saez hit a nice SSP but man was he goofy.

PAS: Saez was XL in Chile and I saw him during that brief period where a bunch of Chilean youtube showed up. I remember him as an amusing crowbar, and he was a little less crowbary here. That SSP off the apron was really nasty as was the high kick that set it up. I had no problem with Saez's facial selling, I am in on Chilean crowbar John Tatum, that is a wrestler I want to watch. Metalik is obviously a pro and will do fine.

2. HoHo Lun vs. Ariya Daivari

ER: I've not seen either of these two, but I must say I'm happy WWE went so far out of their way to bring guys like Lun into this. Quite the unexpected move. That said, Lun does not seem ready for prime time. He has super weak strikes, doesn't really have expressive selling, and was part of a few awkward behind the curtain moments (the worst being when he was breaking Daivari's grip, and Daivari was flexed as if struggling to maintain grip, and Lun moves his hands off Daivari's arms to clearly show Daivari was just struggling against himself). Yeah yeah we all know it's a show, but man did Lun expose some things here. Daivari looked a lot better here than his brother looked in Lucha Underground, so that's a plus. Daivari had a lot of polish and I much would have rather seen him advance. He missed big, smothered Lun with a headlock, fed into...whatever it was Lun was supposed to be doing. I think they were supposed to be moves. But one can't be sure.

PAS: Daivari had nice pop on his stuff, everything looked very sharp and professional. Lun is a guy who trained himself watching youtube, and kind of wrestles like it. I think it is cool that they got a Hong Kong backyarder into the tourney, no reason to have him advance though.

3. Clement Petiot vs. Cedric Alexander

ER: Didn't get much of a feel for Petiot here. His control segments were sound, but kinda boring. I liked his discus clothesline and liked how it set up Cedric's finisher, dug Cedric's big springboard clothesline, but this felt like they could do more with the limited time. And less Bryan talking about grinding.

PAS: Thought Petiot was fine, he and Davari should both be singed and be put together as a workhorse NXT tag team to put over guys they think have futures. I haven't care for Alexander in longer matches, but his flashy stuff works good in a five minute TV match.

4. Kota Ibushi vs. Sean Maluta

ER: Maluta seems pretty raw, fairly tentative, does some goofy stuff (top rope codebreaker, ugh), but I liked his big bump off the top to the floor off an Ibushi Pele kick, and liked his stiff superkick (with Ibushi turning right into it and falling like a felled tree). Maluta almost kills himself on a flip dive, catching the ropes and then getting a lucky break by hitting feet first on the apron with his momentum taking him into Ibushi. Most of this is a mini showcase of some trademark Ibushi flying, his slingshot moonsault to the floor, his nice standing moonsault, some quick kicks, nothing you haven't seen before if you've seen one Ibushi match.

PAS: I thought the announcers did a nice job of selling this as potential 16 v 1 seed tourney upset, and the match was worked like that. Maluta had no real shot coming in, but maybe Ibushi's neck is hurt or he has jet lag. Maluta's nutty blown dive really worked in the context of this match, he probably shouldn't have tried it, but he needed to try some David strategies to have any shot. That superkick looked great and was sold great and ended up being a big near fall. I thought this was an actively good match, and better then a lot of your pimped NJ Ibushi "classics"

ER: Well, let's hope the matches kick up a notch once we trim some of the first round dead weight. I love the idea on paper of giving these unknown guys showcase matches, but so far the unknowns have only shown that they don't have tons to show yet.

PAS: I thought this was good first show, Ibushi v. Maluta was good stuff and I thought a lot of the first round losers showed some real promise.

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic: EVOLVE 5 Way

Anthony Nese vs. TJP vs. Lince Dorado vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Drew Gulak EVOLVE 6/11

PAS: This was kind of a mess. All of the faults of four and five ways lots of cutesy double teams and goofy I hit you so you suplex him spots. Not sure if anyone came out of this looking good. Lince Dorado had some nice dives but outside of that, not sure if there is anything to recommend. Neese qualified for the tournament by winning this, but I didn't want to see more of him. He had some especially bad punches, and his long singles section with TJP was a PWG wankathon at its worst. I hope the CWC isn't like this.

ER: I think Phil is being a little harsh on this, even if it wasn't overall good. For example I only counted one "cutesy double team" spot, and it wasn't until 12 minutes into an 18 minute match (there were 2 if you count Dorado's armdrag/headscissor combo, but that's a pretty common lucha spot). Phil's right about nobody coming out of this looking very good though. We're used to seeing these guys in actual matches, so it always rings hollow when 4 guys get separately eliminated in 18 minutes. Serious question: Is the "Johnny Wrestling" chant meant to mock Gargano? Is the wink implied? Because it would always start immediately after he would do something really terrible. We know fans chant "you can't wrestle" at Roman Reigns because they're ashamed of their penises, but why do they chant "Johnny Wrestling" after Gargano raises his hand hiiiiiiigh about his head to bring it down into a thigh slap (you've never seen thigh slaps with less misdirection), or after he overshoots and whiffs on a somersault senton? What joke am I not a part of? I thought individual guys looked good in individual moments of this, depending on their dance partner. Dorada doesn't do much for me with his imitation lucha spots, TJP easily gets a bit too vacant in the eyes thinking about what spot to do next in matches like these, Gulak is one of my 3 favorite guys in the world but I actually really dislike him in these multi man matches. I'd just rather see him in a singles. Gargano had a terrible showing. He's not a favorite of mine but he usually looks better than this. And Nese, the man meant to be featured, had some really nice left hands, great chops, great short left forearms, but would get too in the "strike combo" zone where guys would have to stand still while he went through his rehearsed strike dance. 1-2-knee 3-4 legsweep 5-6 soccer kick. The final 6 minutes where Gulak and TJP essentially had to work a handicap match, setting up a Nese offense exhibition? Brutal. The layout of this match blew. But I actually enjoyed most of it up until the EC3 interruption/restart. I thought Gulak worked around Gargano's signature offense nicely, thought TJP came up with some nice offense teases to set up others' offense, thought Nese looked fine until he became the featured "fighting for his dream" worker of the match. But yeah, you've seen all these guys in better - WAY better in some cases - stuff than this.


COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE CWC

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic: EVOLVE Qualifying Matches

Drew Gulak v. Tracy Williams EVOLVE 61 5/7/16

PAS: Awesome match, really a showcase for the style of wrestling these guys represent. Violent mat wrestling with William using his power to get advantages, while Gulak played the role of the more skilled veteran. The match then built to some pretty great bomb throwing, with William really unloading some huge lariats and throws, and Gulak throwing some thudding chops and dropping him with his great bodyslam into the ropes. Williams gets rolling and it looks like he is going to overpower Gulak before Drew snatches him out of midair with a dragon sleeper, just an awesome flash finish and a capper to a great match. Catch Point is my favorite thing in wrestling right now.

ER: Gotta second Phil on this one, Catch Point is definitely my favorite thing in wrestling right now. I love that sometimes their matches don't necessarily have a coherent story or narrative, not necessarily follow a "work the knee, guy fights through knee pain, knee eventually gives out" type line, but more just two talented guys with a bunch of tricks, who are always prepared to catch somebody with an unexpected trick. Gulak is probably my #1 guy in wrestling right now, running a tight race with Hero,   and I just adore all the tricks he breaks out in a match. He doesn't put the blinders on and go for one way to the finish, he really blends into a match and takes opportunities as they come, while commanding an awesome control over all these little things. All of his pinfall roll-ups feel like things that could legitimately pin a man. His sunset flip is killer, his crucifix is great, they look like actual pinfalls. He does stuff every match that I'm not sure I've seen, and not in some sort of dorky innovator of offense way, but neat little wrinkles to his work. At one point he put his arms up to block a Williams forearm and caught the forearm with his forearms, but then dropped his left arm to shake it out as the strike likely hurt, which led to the left side of his face being opened up to Williams' next forearm. He easily just could have taken two forearms in the strike exchange, but he decided to make it more interesting. He's really great at fighting to the ropes, looking for openings, reversals, hits one of the greatest spinning lariats, hits one of the greatest headlock takeovers where it just looked like he locked in a super snug headlock and went right over, with Williams having to decide if he's going over too, or if his head is going to get popped off his shoulders like an action figure. But Gulak also breaks out awesome, more complicated things, like the sub where he has Williams' left leg grapevined and is grabbing his right leg and bringing it down with force over his own shoulder, like a cross between an indian deathlock and a stretch muffler. Too bad we'll likely never get to see Gulak get a lucha run as I would love to see him against guys like Virus and Blue Panther. I don't get too into fantasy dream booking but damn would 10 minutes of those matches make my year. I've spent this whole time talking up Gulak, but Williams keeps getting better too, and I liked all of his pump dropkicks and like how he represents a more traditional "pro wrestling" style within Catch Point. Who's gonna get me my Catch Point shirt!?


WWE CRUISERWEIGHT CLASSIC GUIDE

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Yehi v. TJP

Fred Yehi v. TJP EVOLVE 5/7

PAS: I really like that EVOLVE booked Catch Point explodes matches for these qualifiers, love all four guys and love when they wrestle each other. This felt a little like a TJP showcase which makes sense with him going over in the match. Yehi was awesome, but took a bit of a backseat so TJP could shine. TJP has a different feel to these kind of grappling heavy EVOLVE matches, he can hang with the guys on the mat, but throws in some more luchaish counters. Love his Santo headscissors and how he slips it in to counter a harder edged series of takedowns. Yehi really had his moments, I love his stomps on the cuniform bone, just vicious looking and he is great at using them to chain into other cool stuff, he also has some really explosive takedowns, I am really enjoy watching Yehi improve week after week

ER: I love Yehi, but was really not into TJP in this one. I'm officially tired of him shoehorning his "stuck in the ropes" feint into every match, because then everybody just has to charge at him. They always miss. What was their plan if he hadn't moved, to just do a running headbutt for the first time in your career? I've seen him insert it more organically into matches before, but here it was glaring and felt disconnected from the rest of the match. The worst part about TJ in this match was his constant spot calling during all of the mat stuff. It was first year John Cena bad. He was just making ultra casual conversation the whole match, sometimes leaning right into Yehi's ear, other times just leaning back in a hold and suggesting the next reversal to Yehi. And lo and behold, then a reversal would come. It was a level of not-giving-a-fuck that I haven't seen in some time, and something I haven't seen at all from any of the other Catch Point guys or Thatcher or others who use more grappling.  Yehi really can't do any wrong at the moment and I really liked him here. His body part specific stomps are great, I love how he just plants the foot, and I love how he uses stomps to distract a guy while he's about to lock something else on.  I dug his sub that got the (inadvertent) false finish, and the ring bell miscue actually added a little accidental drama for me as I avoided knowing who advanced. So once the bell accidentally rung in Yehi's favor I thought maybe the timekeeper knew Yehi was winning but wasn't sure when. But then I also thought it may have just been a mistake. But it made the finishing run a little more interesting. I also thought Phil made up "cuneiform bone". I thought Cuneiform was an experimental jazz record label.


WWE CRUISERWEIGHT CLASSIC GUIDE

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WWE Global Cruiserweight Series: RPW Qualifying Match

Noam Dar v. Josh Bodom RPW 5/1/16

PAS: Kind of an odd match to run as a qualifier. You figure these would be more showcases for the guy going over, but this was more of an angle based match. Dar hurts his arm early and Bodom works it over with Dar doing a nice job of selling. They also do a bunch of spots with Bodom's stable mates interfering.  I didn't get much of a sense of Dar's stuff, although I loved his final kneebar and the fight over the finish.

ER: I was unfamiliar with both men going into this, and I came away liking Bodom and thinking Dar is one of those guys who I may like or dislike depending on the opponent. He has a lot of hammy facials and pauses before hitting offense, and I have a feeling against some guys we'd have to suffer through extended periods of schtick. For a 12 minute match this took forever to get going. We get a long stand off and several singing chants from the crowd which made it an easy choice to watch most of it on mute. I've heard dozens of Hey Jude renditions, I don't need to hear an indy wrestling crowd's take. Bodom had a nice snap to a lot of his stuff and I liked the way he pressed on. Dar was really effective at selling the arm, really wisely able to use only his good arm throughout the entire match and never dropping it for brief moments of convenience. The interference felt odd and out of place, as Phil mentioned, and I would have liked a different structure, but by the end this won me over.


WWE GLOBAL CRUISERWEIGHT SERIES GUIDE

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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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