WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 10/6-10/12

NXT 10/9/19

Drew Gulak vs. Lio Rush

ER: I don't think this hit the heights of Lio's singles match with Lorcan, but it shows that Rush is a great addition to the cruiserweight division, even though I'm still pretty surprised they put the title on him (though maybe I shouldn't be since they opened the show with a title match which is kind of unique). I liked how Rush would use his flash to get ahead, because Gulak showed early that he was going to catch him and punish him whenever possible. Gulak tries to fight that aggression at the bell by matching it, and Rush just sidesteps him. I thought Gulak was great at selling his own missed dropkick, rushing to his feet but being out of sorts, and it almost costs him a quick loss. Rush hits a standing shooting star, nice tope, but I was definitely more about Gulak in this one. I love how he would move things to each new sequence, and really liked him reversing a roll-up into the Gu-lock, and stretching Rush's limbs behind his back, stomping and dropping elbows on his arm. Rush has cool body control, and it makes matches against stretchers like Gulak even more fun, because Gulak can sit there and twist and turn and flip Rush's body in the coolest ways. I really loved with Gulak picked him up in a fireman's carry, then quickly flipped him into a torture rack position before dropping him with a neckbreaker. I don't know if I've seen someone maneuver into a torture rack so easily, without it looking super cooperative. But Rush is a total loon and that means we get awesome moments like Gulak dropkicking him off the top and Rush crashing into a couple of NXT ring boys in their folding chairs. They did a nice set of reversals around the Gu-lock, with Gulak catching Rush in it again but Rush escaping to get his own dragon sleeper. The best part of it was that they weren't having Rush go hold to hold with him, as Gulak expertly spun through the dragon sleeper within seconds. Too many matches make the mistake of going into a brainless reversal sequence where both guys skillset is suddenly equal, and I like how they kept Gulak as the one whose submissions could finish. I do think they hit the ending a little quick (and I think we missed several minutes of commercial break action), even though I liked how they set up the top rope fighting and Gulak eating the frog splash. But the bow got tied a little too neatly at the end for me. I was hoping for another false finish or two.

PAS: I thought this was pretty great, and I do think that shorter matches will fit these guys better. I love a lot of 205 live, but the bloat is real. I thought the opening flurry was great. Lio has one of the best topes (non-lucha division) in the world, and I loved how Gulak trying to match pace with Rush cost him, and Rush trying to match holds with Gulak backfired on him. The big bump before the commercial break was great, although I hate when someone new is on offense after coming back. Rush has incredible body control, his springboard stunner should be dumb, but looks awesome, and I love how he sells the collision of his own offensive moves. A frog splash should hurt both guys, and Rush always reacts to the contact. Finish did seem a bit abrupt, but I think Rush is the right guy for the belt as it moves to NXT. Love Gulak, but Rush has WCW Rey Jr. potential, and with the right care can mean something on a TV product. Feel free to run this back a bunch though.

205 Live 10/11/19

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Drew Gulak/Tony Nese

PAS: This was another solid tag match between two teams which really match up well. Nese kept the Neseness down, we got one bit of kip up breakdance nonsense, but mostly he was fine. Burch is the other guy in this match I am hit or miss on, and he was solid too, nasty uppercuts, and straight punches and nothing too complicated. You are in this for Gulak and Lorcan and they both delivered, Lorcan especially was totally amped, and his big offensive run of uppercuts and a pair of reckless dives was really breathtaking. I did think the finish felt a bit decisive and I would hate to think Gulak is being marginalized after losing the belt, but otherwise this was the kind of entertaining match which I hope we can keep getting.

ER: Yeah I thought this was really good, even if I thought it petered out at the end and came dangerously close to losing me when all four guys wound up standing around hitting each other and then paired off for bad looking phone booth fighting shortly before the finish. I didn't like that. But I liked most of the rest of this! As Phil said, this was all about Lorcan and Gulak, and those guys owned in this match. I don't have the same level of problems with Burch as Phil does, I think he's a good complementary player to Lorcan, and feels like when Doc Dean or Robbie Brookside would show up on WCW syndication. I didn't like them anywhere near as much as I liked Finlay, Regal, or Taylor, but they were a welcome stylistic presence and added nicely to the mix. Burch throws hard shots, has no problem getting hit, throws a nice missile dropkick and uppercuts, and plays like a nice complement to the guys I really like. But I dug Gulak and Nese cutting off the ring and working over Burch, especially loved how Gulak tagged in and hit a nasty headbutt and slammed Burch into the bottom rope (later there was a cool moment where Nese . This was all building to the exciting Lorcan hot tag, easily one of the best hot tags in the game, and it's impossible to not love him  flying sideways and horizontally into guys with uppercuts, hitting bananas dives (I love his cannonball to the floor where he seems to not care who he hits), and doing his Catch Point Ultimate Warrior routine. Nese's 450 always ends with him practically faceplanting, and as we always say Nese is at his most interesting when he's putting himself in danger. I didn't love the ending, agree that it felt too definitive, and my least favorite moments of the match all happened towards the end. Still, I like this format, and the specific things I disliked about it have not been commonly used by them so I'm hoping they abandon them.

And I'm mainly talking about 4 man standoff spots, obviously, because when has that spot EVER looked good? It's a bad spot to steal from the indies, because I cannot point to one instance of that spot ever looking anything but stupid, anywhere. At least we know why people still do the Frye/Takayama spot, it's a spot associated with a famously brutal and insane fight moment. What moment is associated with 4 goofs standing around waiting to see who gets hit next? These 4 actually made that spot look BETTER than it typically looks, at least throwing headbutts into the mix. But who has made 4 people standing around taking turns hitting each other look actually good? I've never seen it.