Results courtesy of Dylan Kaplan who estimates a crowd of 350
– Uriel Eary (w/ Gabriel Ealy) defeated Adrian Jaoude
The big guys used twin magic with Gabriel hit a side slam for the win.
– Mandy Rose defeated Aliyah
– Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) defeated Angelo Dawkins and Kenneth Crawford
Otis did a monkey flip in to Tucker who caught Dawkins in a scoop slam for the finish.
– Roderick Strong defeated Steve Cutler
– Lince Dorado defeated Buddy Murphy
Finish was a hurricanrana pinning combination for the win.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Elias Samson
The Drifter went for a superplex but Oney rolled through for the pin.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka and Liv Morgan defeated Peyton Royce and Billie Kay
Pre-match, Royce and Kay were bad mouthing LIv, calling her gutless which brought her out to get beat down before Asuka made the save. Finish was an Asuka lock on Royce.
– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Cedric Alexander and Patrick Clark defeated SAnitY (Eric Young, Sawyer Fulton, and Alexander Wolfe) w/ Nikki Cross
Finish was Nakamura hitting the Kinshasa on Wolfe to send everyone home happy.
In addition to the Bayley vs. Dana Brooke match that was announced earlier, WWE added another bout to the card for next Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on Wednesday afternoon.
A six-man tag match featuring members of Raw’s cruiserweight division will pit Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado and Sin Cara against Drew Gulak, Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari. The match is scheduled for the Hell in a Cell kickoff show and will be the WWE PPV debuts of Alexander, Dorado, Gulak, Nese and Daivari.
It is the second cruiserweight match scheduled for the show, with WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins also set to defend his title against Brian Kendrick.
The card for Hell in a Cell is:
Raw Women’s Champion Sasha Banks defending against Charlotte in a Hell in a Cell match
WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens defending against Seth Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match
United States Champion Roman Reigns defending against Rusev in a Hell in a Cell match
WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins defending against Brian Kendrick
Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day defending against Cesaro & Sheamus
Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Bayley vs. Dana Brooke
Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado & Sin Cara vs. Drew Gulak, Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari (kickoff match)
Sabbatelli and Moss used their new finisher, which is Moss setting up a Gory Bomb and Sabbatelli hitting a clothesline off the ropes on the way down, to pick up the win. The finisher looked great.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Austin Aries
The match was worked around headlocks, and Lorcan won with a violent one similar to Brian Kendrick’s submission.
– Elias Samson tried to cut a promo but was interrupted by TM61. The Drifter ended up trying to cheap shot them, but they bounced him around before he ran out of there. Shane Thorne then played their theme on the air guitar while wearing The Drifter’s scarf.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Daria Berenato tor retain her title
Berenato tapped out to the Asuka Lock.
– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Cedric Alexander & Tye Dillinger defeated Samoa Joe, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake
Nakamura hit a Kinshasa on Cutler to end a wild one. Joe and Nakamura mixed it up, and there was some great action by Cedric. Everyone looked great in this match.
Submitted by Liam Renner & Scott O’Donovan from the APG Federal Credit Union Arena
– Lince Dorado defeated Blake with a shooting star press.
Blake is now doing a Rick Rude-type gimmick and got a lot of Matt Hardy “Delete” chants coming out. Solid match that had some fan interaction that included a “We Want Murphy” chant. Dorado won with his 360 splash from the top rope.
– Liv Morgan defeated Aliyah
They kept it simple. Morgan wore black and orange (Orioles colors) so she was the babyface despite crowd not knowing much about either. Started slow but picked up midway through. A great series of near fall counters that saw both women rolling around the ring for about 10 seconds picking up 1-counts over and over on each other. Crowd came alive during that portion of the match. Morgan won with her finisher and got a decent reaction.
– The Authors of Pain defeated TM61
Crowd wasn’t very interested in this one. TM61 did fight back after the finish and stood tall, which got a nice reaction. Sluggish and boring throughout. Mostly Authors of Pain working over a member of TM61 for before a hot tag, brief back and forth and finally the Authors of Pain winning. TM61 cleaned house after the match after the Authors of Pain tries to continue the punishment.
– No Way Jose defeated Elias Samson
Mostly a comedy match. Jose was massively over. Samson sang a song about how the town of Bel Air and its people suck. The Drifter entered first, cut a promo threatening not to sing his song. As the crowd cheered that he wasn’t going to sing, he paused, looked into the audience and said “I see you kid, you want to see me sing and I won’t let you down” before being booed terribly and signing a song about how Baltimore sucked.
Jose came out to a loud ovation and dancing by most of the crowd. Quick match with some hard hitting portions, Jose won in the end and danced his way to the back.
– Bobby Roode defeated Cedric Alexander in a great match.
Alexander came out to a great ovation and Roode’s blew the roof off the place. Great back and forth action, great showmanship and spots. At one point, Roode kicked Alexander’s legs out from under him while on the top rope, Cedric bounced off the top rope and went head first to the mat leaving the crowd gasping but the match would continue without pause. Many near falls but in the end Roode would use a low blow and ref distraction to help him hit his finishing DDT variation for the win. The crowd dueled “Lets go Cedric! Bobby Roode!” chants throughout and in the end Roode both guys received a standing ovation after the match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Peyton Royce with the Asuka Lock in a pretty basic match.
Royce entered to “Asuka’s gonna kill you” chants. Asuka received a very warm reaction from the crowd. Most of the match saw Royce beat down Asuka before finally Asuka started “hulking up”, smiled and unloaded a flurry over punches and kicks, followed by a brief exchange that saw her counter a clothesline to the Asuka lock for the submission victory.
– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & Tye Dillinger defeated Austin Aries & Samoa Joe in the main event.
Aries and Joe enter first, Joe got a loud ovation and “Joe” chants. Dillinger got a great pop and fans seemed to really be into him. Nakamura entered to his usual insane ovation. Dillinger and Aries started off, a great spot happened about a minute in that saw Dillinger taunt Aries with his “10” gimmick, Aries got up and challenged him to a arm strength test by holding up one hand that got a “5” chant from the crowd.
Dillinger and Aries would go back and forth “10”-“5”-“10”-“5” until Aries tried to trick the crowd by eventually holding up 10. Back and forth for a minute, followed by Dillinger getting worked over for a bit before Nakamura makes a hot tag, all 4 men brawl for a minute and Nakamura hits the Bomaye/Kinshasa for the win.
After the match, Nakamura and Dillinger would pose to cheers, Nakamura eventually took the mic, thanked the crowd, posed some more and went to the back to end a great night of action!
Submitted by Steve Phelps from the Altria Theater in RIchmond, VA.
– Lince Dorado defeated Elias Samson
Samson played a song with his guitar doing a heel rundown song of Richmond. Dorado hit him from the back to interrupt him to the crowd’s delight. Dorado picked up the win by pinfall.
– Peyton Royce defeated Liv Morgan
Royce won by pinfall. Solid match and good reaction for both.
– The Authors of Pain (without Paul Ellering) defeated TM61
Authors of Pain won in a decent match. Typical ground and pound offense from the Authors of Pain. Some nice spots from TM61.
– A promo was shown in the back with Blake, and Tye Dillinger interrupted him to set up a match for later on.
– Cedric Alexander defeated Austin Aries
Best match of the night so far. Alexander got the win by pinfall.
– Tye Dillinger defeated Blake
Dillinger was over with the crowd like no one else. By far the biggest pop of the night. Dillinger picked up the win after an above average match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Aliyah to retain her title
Big heat for Aliyah and huge pop for Asuka. Crowd ate up everything she did. Asuka carried most of the match and won with the Asuka Lock.
– Samoa Joe & Bobby Roode defeated NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & No Way Jose
Crowd was on fire for this match. Roode was over with the crowd. Nakamura, not surprisingly, had the crowd going wild. Joe and Roode picked up the win via submission when Joe submitted No Way Jose at the 18:53 mark. Roode hit a low blow on No Way Jose to set up the end.
Nakamura cleared the ring when they try to beat down Jose to send the crowd home happy with a pair of Kinshasas
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.Great night overall. The place was packed and the crowd was super loud and into it during everything. Even the beginning and mid-card matches got huge ovations and both the heels and faces were showed equal respect by the crowd.
Submitted by reader Brian Whitehorst from The Consant Center
Crowd was rather light tonight for an NXT show, estimated somewhere between 1000-1500 people.
– Lince Dorado def. Wesley Blake in 7:45
Lots of comedy from Blake with some from Dorado. This was a Dorado showcase.
– Liv Morgan def. Aaliyah in just under 7 minutes
This crowd wasn’t into at first, but came around when the pace quickened.
– Authors of Pain def. TM61 in 8:41
Crowd kept chanting “D-Lo Brown” at AOP. It diidn’t seem like anyone was familiar with TMDK but they showed off some impressive work.
– No Way Jose def. Elias Samson in 10:10
Big pop for NWJ ollowing some heel mic work from Samson.
Intermission
– Bobby Roode def. Cedric Alexander in 13:44
Huge pop for Cedric as he was a surprise, but Roode also got a great reaction. This was the best match of the night with lots of Cedric offense and 2 counts. Roode won after he distracted the ref and low blowed Cedric when the ref couldn’t see it.
Asuka took this one, even though we got more Royce offense than expected.
– Tye Dillinger and NXT Champion Nakamura def. Samoa Joe and Austin Aries in 17 minutes
Nakamura hit the Kinshasa to Aries for the pin. Dillinger took most of the match leading up to the Nakamura hot tag. We didn’t get much of the champ in this match as he came out in a neckbrace selling a neck injury. Aries was in there mostly for his team.
The Big News: Andrade “Cien” Almas turned heel on Cedric Alexander after the duo lost their tag team main event.
The Medium News: The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic kicked off with The Revival and The Authors of Pain picking up victories.
The Little Beaver Sized News: Samoa Joe destroyed the debuting Dan Matha and gave William Regal one week to give him Shinsuke Nakamura.
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The Authors of Pain defeated The Bollywood Boyz in a first round Dusty Classic match
Straight out of the CWC, Harv and Gurv Sihra are here to go two-on-two with the undefeated Authors of Pain. This was not the night for the duo from India, but they did get a little bit of offense in along the way.
Akam and Rezar made short work of the former GFW Tag Team Champions, finishing them off with the combo side Russian leg sweep/lariat, which is called The Last Chapter.
In the next round, they will face the winner of No Way Jose & Rich Swann vs Tony Nese & Drew Gulak.
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Rich Swann defeated Patrick Clark
Clark held up his side of the match and didn’t look totally out of place, but between the two of them it’s obvious the right person is on Raw right now. Swann hit a superkick and won after a handstand into a standing moonsault.
I love Rich Swann’s theme.
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We saw video of Cedric Alexander vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas from a few weeks ago and how it now leads to them as teammates in the Dusty Classic against The Revival tonight.
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Last week, Liv Morgan was getting checked on in the trainers room when Billie Kay and Peyton Royce walked up and made fun of her.
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Peyton Royce w/Billie Kay defeated Danielle Kamela
NXT has put the two Australian women together here, as Royce and Kay are friends. Kamela was both a dancer and a cheerleader before trying out at the Performance Center. Kamela has a lower center of gravity, which made her fall hard when Royce kicked her in the face.
This was a very basic match. The fans got behind Kamela when she was being held in a chinlock, but this was not her night. Royce won with a knee to the side of the head and a fisherman suplex. Tom Phillips called it a northern lights suplex, and Corey Graves said Mauro Ranallo wouldn’t have screwed that up.
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Bobby Roode & Tye Dillinger cut a promo backstage, with Roode not allowing Dillinger to talk at first and then doing his Glorious pose when Dillinger tried talking.
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The debut of Dan Matha didn’t happen
Dan Matha actually doesn’t look nearly as ripped when walking to the ring as he did in video packages.
We were spared from seeing his debut by Samoa Joe running out and beating the crap out of Matha, much to the fans delight. At first all we saw were fans laughing and looking off to the side, then Joe came out and destroyed him.
Not that I was looking majorly forward to this debut, but it seems weird that they built it up for weeks just for him to be a guy taken out by Joe in 30 seconds.
Anyway, Joe cut the promo he has every week where he orders William Regal to give him Nakamura or the title, finally giving him one week to make a decision.
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No Way Jose & Rich Swann cut a promo saying they became a team because the NXT Universe wanted them to be partners. They ended their promo by singing “Can you handle this? No way Jose.”
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Sanity is coming next week. That’s good. Sometimes we all need help. Wait…wrong kind of Sanity.
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NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival defeated Cedric Alexander & Andrade “Cien” Almas in a first round Dusty Classic match
Alexander and Almas worked well together, but The Revival are a really good team. It was last year in the Dusty Classic that they got the start of their push, making it to the semifinals before losing to Samoa Joe & Finn Balor.
Revival got the heat on Almas, specifically targeting his left shoulder. Dash and Dawson really have perfected that “80’s tag team” gimmick, but are not doing it in a gimmicky way, if that makes sense. They are a modern tag team that uses 80’s psychology in their matches.
Alexander got the hot tag and took out both men, and he probably would have fared better in a handicap match, as Almas was more of a hindrance than a help. At the end of the day, the champs picked up the win, pinning Alexander with a Shatter Machine.
The Revival will now face the winners of Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs. HoHo Lun & Bin Wang in the next round. I don’t know if that match has been taped, but I think it’s safe to assume Gargano & Ciampa will be advancing.
Almas snapped after the match, turning heel by attacking Alexander! I guess he read what I wrote and decided to take it out on Alexander. Almas dropped Alexander face first on the ring steps before walking out to a chorus of boos.
That does it for this week. Next week Sanity debuts, Joe gets his answer from Mr. Regal, and the Dusty Classic continues. Until then remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big News: Samoa Joe threatened to destroy everyone on the show and then was never seen again.
The Medium News: Cedric Alexander debuted and defeated Andrade Almas
The Little Beaver Sized News: The Asuka-Liv Morgan feud continued
I’m back! I want to thank Paul Fontaine and Jeremy Peeples for filling in for me the last two weeks. The CM Punk fight and Backlash, back to back, left me so depressed that I beat up my computer and needed to purchase a new one.
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The show began with a recap of the Nakamura-Joe angle from last week. Who was driving Joe’s getaway car? Will that ever be mentioned again?
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Speaking of Samoa Joe, NXT kicks off with the former NXT Champion marching to the ring. The announcers informed us that we still don’t know Nakamura’s medical status. Oh well, it’s only been 7 days.
Despite the announcers not having it, Joe had Nakamura’s medical report, stating the current champion had back, elbow, shoulder and clavicle issues, but despite all that this, Nakamura will not require surgery but will require 6-12 weeks of rest and rehab.
Joe demanded William Regal come out and either make a title match now or strip Nakamura of the title and hand it to Joe.
Out came our dapper NXT General Manager who confirmed the medical report Joe had is legit. However, he does not know Nakamura’s status as of now. He stated that the problem Joe caused will be taken care of. Joe left the ring and told Mr. Regal face to face to make things right or he would injure the entire roster.
The last time Joe threatened that, he attacked Mojo Rawley and no one else.
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– Cedric Alexander did a promo regarding his NXT debut against Andrade Cien Almas. He said tonight is only the start of his journey. He asked Mr. Regal for the best and so, he was given Almas.
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– Liv Morgan has vowed to not bow down to Asuka. To show how serious she is, she took her hat off. Asuka walked up and told her let’s find out if she is ready.
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Austin Aries submitted Oney Lorcan
Two months ago, Lorcan upset Tye Dillinger and then went away. Maybe the winner’s purse money was so much that he took an extended vacation. The two men exchanged headlocks at the start of the match, which led to a half-hearted dueling chant of “Let’s go Oney/Austin Aries” that Aries orchestrated. Lorcan did not appreciate these shenanigans, so he slapped on the headlock.
Corey Graves called Lorcan’s A Series Of Unfortunate Headlocks a “unique offense” which isn’t technically a lie. Aries got tired of headlocks and threw Lorcan over the top rope, smashing his back on the ring apron.
Lorcan screamed to signal his comeback. Lorcan did a series of corner hip attacks where he would bounce off the opposite turnbuckle first. Aries came off the top rope and Lorcan took his head off with an uppercut that looked more like Street Fighter than Cesaro. Despite all this, Aries cut him off and won with the Last Chancery.
After the match, Aries cut a promo on Hideo Itami. Aries said last week he was at home because he had better things to do than be here on his day off. He would call Itami out right now, but Itami is a coward so he would not come out now. This brought Itami out, but Aries literally ran away when Itami got in the ring.
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We got a video package for the soon to be debuting, ripped Dan Matha, coming our way in two weeks.
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Last week, WWE.com were catching up with Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa after their tag match on the Cruiserweight Classic finale when they were attacked by The Revival. Gargano & Ciampa got the better of it and The Revival ran away when security ran in.
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Billie Kay pinned Aliyah
Welcome to the NXT woman’s division in 2016. This was a match between two inexperienced ladies who each need a lot more training. Billie went for her running boot, but Aliyah moved out of the way and hit a flipping neck breaker for a near fall. Billie hit the running boot on attempt #2 and picked up the win.
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Mandy Rose from Tough Enough threatened to eclipse Ember Moon. I honestly dislike her more now that Graves has centered his “Eva Marie infatuation” onto her now.
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They are doing Asuka vs Liv Morgan next week alleviating my fears that this was going to be like Camacho vs Adam Rose from 2014 where they built up a nothing match for six weeks.
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Cedric Alexander pinned Andrade Cien Almas
The fans popped big for Cedric and were more than a little disappointed for Almas. Stephanie McMahon got put over for bringing Alexander to Raw and Triple H got credit for bringing him to NXT. Alright, then.
Tom Phillips brought up that Almas is a former IWGP Intercontinental champion, but doesn’t mention that he beat Nakamura for the title. Almas has this ability to turn the crowd in his favor, which is the exact opposite of how it used to be. When he debuted, he got the big reaction and then everyone turned on him. Nowadays, people are apathetic to him coming out, but he gets them behind him as the match goes on.
Cedric jumped so high on a tope that the ropes could have been six inches higher and he still would have cleared them. Almas used a deadlift power bomb for a near fall, which got him nervous when Alexander kicked out. Almas used his double moonsault that hasn’t beaten anyone and then got frustrated when he didn’t win. Alexander won with the Lumbar Check backbreaker.
After the match, Alexander and Almas hugged as the show went off the air.
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That does it for another week of NXT! Until next week when Asuka sends Liv Morgan back to New Jersey, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Image: WWE. Results courtesy of David Stepp. An estimated attendance of 300 people.
– Noah Potjes defeated Patrick Clark
Potjes used the Overdrive/Playmaker to pick up the win.
– Aliyah defeated Mandy Rose
Aliyah used a Northern Lights suplex for the win.
– Kenneth Crawford & Angelo Dawkins defeated The Ealy Twins
Crawford got the win with a standing SSP.
– Cedric Alexander defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Alexander hit the Lumbar Check for the win.
– Billie Kay defeated Liv Morgan
Kay won after using the torture rack.
– In-ring promo with Beautiful Blonde Blake. He asked Charly Caruso to leave his ring as there was only room for one beautiful person. The promo was about how beautiful he was.
– Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton w/ Nikki Cross defeated Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi
Wolfe and Fulton won with their double team finish, which is something like a Magic Killer yet ends in a suplex rather than on the side. Cross was chaotic at ringside, wanting to fight anyone she could and had to be restrained by her own stablemates.
Raftaar locked in a submission hold for the win, he wrenched back on Clark’s arm while keeping him held down.
– Mandy Rose defeated Liv Morgan
This was a good match. Morgan hit an STO for a near fall, but Rose was able to get the win after hitting an angels wings front slam.
– Sawyer Fulton & Alexander Wolfe w/ Nikki Cross defeated Niko Bogojevic & Tucker Knight
Physical mean guy match, Fulton and Wolfe won it with their double team finish which is set up like a Magic Killer into a back slam. Cross attacked the losers and needed to be pulled off of them.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Wesley Blake
These guys worked really hard. They did a lot of physical clotheslines and uppercuts. Blake went for a splash and missed, allowing Lorcan to hit an uppercut and lock in a single leg crab for the win.
– The Authors of Pain defeated Kenneth Crawford & Angelo Dawkins
The powerhouses were just too much for the energetic faces. Authors took their time in this match before hitting their assisted lariat finish for the win.
– Dan Matha cut an in-ring promo. He was passionate about how he doesn’t understand the cruiserweights getting all this attention when they look like the people in the crowd. He called himself a “God damn fire breathing dragon” and issued an open challenge that wasn’t accepted. He was booed angrily as he left.
– Billie Kay defeated Aliyah
Kay has used a torture rack to wear her opponents down lately. Aliyah had a few good hope spots but was put down with a big boot.
– Cedric Alexander defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Great action in this match. Almas worked as a heel and these two were incredibly athletic. They did some speed work before a stand off. Almas hit a splash to the outside. Alexander was able to avoid the knees in the corner, hit a flying elbow, and then nailed a lumbar check for the win.
It saddens me to admit that modern pro wrestling has held very little for me over the last decade. As a fan since the late 1970s, it’s been hard to watch WWE, especially Raw, for a long time. I have found quite a bit of joy, and even passion, in being a historian of pro wrestling, often discovering new nuggets of gold in my journey such as the pioneer era of wrestling and the rich history of lucha libre.
As time has gone by, I often wondered to myself if the story of pro wrestling had simply been told. All good stories have an ending, and even TV shows eventually have a series finale. Had professional wrestling outlived its ability to tell a meaningful story?
Then, to my amazement, the promotion I expected it the least out of surprised me the most with this summer’s WWE Cruiserweight Classic tournament.
Know that I am not a workrate mark. I cut my teeth on Ron Fuller against Bob Armstrong, and Jerry Lawler verses the monster of the month as these programs had far more to do with interesting storytelling than in-ring action. I was hooked on larger than life characters telling stories of athletic conflict through ring battles for championship belts and personal pride.
In the modern era, these elements have often been missing, replaced by seemingly endless monologues about heel general managers, and silly, often never followed up on, stipulations left me empty and uninspired. I just want to see two people fight over something they feel is important enough to fight over. In general, pro wrestling and storytelling is not that hard — simply a conflict over something important. But, modern pro wrestling often forgets that “something important” part.
Then, along comes the CWC that is full of people I’ve largely never heard of. Going into it, I figured it was modern “flippy floppers” doing largely three minute matches without any psychology. I became amazed that a company that endlessly pushed Roman Reigns down people’s throats and produces the never ending Raw every week put together such an utterly perfect show.
For starters, the show is the perfect length.
I get just the right amount of pro wrestling in an hour that leaves me wanting more. The CWC is the first pro wrestling show in decades that has left me excited and anticipating the next show. There are no endless monologues taking up valuable time, no dead crowds draining the life out of the show, no commentators being force fed soundbites for the next video game release. Rather, it is excitement literally from bell to bell; an atmosphere of fun and energy with modern graphics and style.
The Cruiserweight Classic has done a tremendous job getting me to care about people I had never heard of previous to seeing them on the show.
I have been told seemingly forever that it takes years to make a pro wrestling star and to “get over” as the verbiage goes. Yet, I know from nearly 40 years of wrestling experience that I can immediately think of dozens of big stars who took only a few years or less to be giant stars like Lex Luger, Nikita Koloff, Sting, Magnum T.A., Bill Goldberg, the Road Warriors, and so many more. A simple video package before each match tells me all I really need to know about each person. By the time episode five aired, I cared more about Cedric Alexander than Reigns by at least a million times over.
The diversity of wrestling styles on this one show is amazing and refreshing.
I have long struggled to enjoy the “WWE style — a bland one-size-fits-all formula made to fit nicely into a three to five minute TV match. But on the weekly CWC show, I have seen such diverse styles as the amazing Jack Gallagher with his escape artist moves, Gran Metalik and his full fledged lucha libre style, Kota Ibushi and Akira Tozawa with their strong style influenced wrestling, and more mainstream wrestlers like Brian Kendrick nicely added into the mix.
And then, there was episode 5.
This was one of the best single episodes of a pro wrestling show I have ever seen. The story of Alexander was perfect, and the best example I have seen in years in how to get someone over by losing. Even though he was eliminated, I was on my feet at home cheering him and chanting along with the crowd to sign THE PERSON WHO LOST THE MATCH. Thank God there is still someone writing wrestling that understands how to do this. When Triple H came out, hugged Alexander, and gave the crowd a thumbs up, it was one of the most emotionally charged moments I have seen on a wrestling show in years.
Keep in mind that was only the second time I had ever seen Alexander wrestle in my entire life. What an absolutely great job.
I would be remiss if I didn’t brag about the commentary of Daniel Bryan and Mauro Ranallo. This duo has done a straight up excellent job calling this tournament without hyperbole or pretentiousness. I have actually learned a lot about the wrestlers and the psychology of the matches from listening to them. Imagine that!
I am very happy to say that I finally have faith in modern pro wrestling again. All it took was the WWE Cruiserweight Classic to do it.
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka met her TakeOver challenger in the ring when the Empress of Tomorrow and Bayley signed on the dotted line to make their rematch at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II official.
Ember Moon is ready to TakeOver
Brooklyn will also see another notable match in the women’s division, as Ember Moon will compete in her first televised appearance inside of a WWE ring.
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa shine
It was announced on last night’s edition of NXT television that Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa would officially challenge NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival for the belts in Brooklyn. And the team of Gargano and Ciampa looked impressive as they made quick work of Tucker Knight and Patrick Clark.
Get Hyped: Samoa Joe vs. Mojo Rawley
After last week’s attack, Mojo Rawley looked to get revenge on Samoa Joe. But it was the NXT Champion who came out on top, leading to a confrontation between him and TakeOver challenger Shinsuke Nakamura.
CWC Video Highlights —
Gran Metalik takes on Tajiri
The second round of the Cruiserweight Classic began last night, and the first match of the round saw Gran Metalik take on Tajiri.
It was Metalik who came out on top last night, but with Raw establishing a cruiserweight division, it seems likely this isn’t the last we’ve seen from Tajiri inside of a WWE ring.
Kota Ibushi and Cedric Alexander face off in an instant classic
In what may be the best match of the tournament, Kota Ibushi and Cedric Alexander battled in an instant classic.
It began with some mat wrestling, before incorporating some high flying, and ended in a strong style brawl. Ibushi was able to score the win, but an appreciative crowd made it clear that it was a star-marking performance for Alexander.
Cedric Alexander and Triple H share a special moment
As the show went off the air, the crowd thanked Alexander for his performance and passionately cheered for him to be signed. Triple H then came out to shake Alexander’s hand and bring him to the back, giving a thumbs up to the crowd in the process.
An emotional Cedric Alexander discusses what’s next
In the back, a visibly emotional Alexander said that despite losing, the match was a win for him. And he talked about what’s next for him in his career.
Kota Ibushi is interviewed after his win
Through a translator, Kota Ibushi was interviewed and praised Alexander’s performance.
Gran Metalik discusses his win
After defeating Tajiri, Gran Metalik was interviewed in Spanish by Andrea D’Marco and discussed what the win meant to him.
Mauro Ranallo and Daniel Bryan welcome us to the second round of the Cruiserweight Classic tournament. Bryan mentions his favorite part of the first round was the great battle between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano.
Corey Graves welcomes us to the next round as well, and after putting over the first round, shows us the two matches taking place tonight.
Gran Metalik defeated Tajiri
The same Gran Metalik video from a few weeks ago was shown, followed by a new Tajiri video. Tajiri mentions that he’s been wrestling maybe longer than some of these guys have been alive. He says that age is a disadvantage, but before he retires he wants to do something great.
Fun television match. Both guys looked really good. Metalik has slowed it down some in NXT but is still really good, especially with the mat wrestling which I haven’t seen too often from him.
I’ve heard conflicting reports on Tajiri since he’s left WWE but he looked really good here; with his experience in Mexico they gelled really well.
They did some good mat wrestling and traded submissions, with some cool transitions in between. Metalik came back with a huge senton from the top rope that leveled Tajiri. Tajiri made a comeback and did a running dropkick to Metalik in the tree of woe position.
Tajiri trapped Metalik in a submission but Metalik kicked Tajiri’s face to free himself and hit the (formerly known as) Dorada Screwdriver for the win.
In the next round, Gran Metalik will face the winner of the Jack Gallagher vs. Akira Tozawa match.
Kota Ibushi defeated Cedric Alexander
Cedric Alexander says he’s had many people tell him he couldn’t make it, but he’s going to make them eat their own words and will prove he’s one of the best today. This is the apex of the industry, and he says he will make it here.
Kota Ibushi’s motivation is to make people happy. He’s wrestled all over the world, and now he will wrestle in front of the world.
Incredible match, easily the best of the tournament so far. Both guys were on point. Ibushi looks to not have missed one step at all since his return from injury, and this is easily the best I’ve seen Alexander look.
In my mind, Alexander went from someone who has a ton of potential to someone who is a can’t miss superstar based on this match alone. Just tremendous and a must watch.
Some great high flying back and forth to start. They had a pretty even match until Ibushi planted him with a big kick. He went for the middle rope moonsault to the floor but Alexander dodged, entered the ring, and hit a senton to the floor. Crazy.
They came back in and Ibushi LEVELED Alexander with a crazy dropkick. Ibushi sent him to the outside with an exploder and hit an Asai moonsault to Alexander on the floor. Ibushi went for a top rope rana but Alexander landed on his feet and there were some more crazy back and forth spots.
Alexander picked up a ton of near falls as the crowd went bonkers for this match. Alexander missed a double footstomp which allowed Ibushi to make his comeback and hit the press powerbomb for the win.
A clearly emotional Alexander stood in the aisle to a roaring “Thank you” chant from the crowd. The crowd then started chanting “Please sign Cedric.”
Triple H came out and shook Alexander’s hand, escorting him to the back as he gave a thumbs up to the crowd. They cheered and started doing the “Yes” chant as the show went off the air.
Final Thoughts: Obviously the main event is the match to see, but the show overall was fun, with Tajiri vs. Metalik also being a very good match. Check the show out as a whole.
Les Thatcher is back from his weekend training seminar and is ready to talk the WWE Cruiserweight Classic and a lot more!
We’ll start with a quick rundown of how the camp went and a young man who had a gimmick that got the attention of one Les Thatcher, but probably not for the reasons the young man was hoping for.
We’ll segue into two great opportunities at greater exposure WWE got this week: John Cena hosting the ESPYs (14:12) and Brock Lesnar’s win over Mark Hunt. Did WWE get the most out of those events this past week and can they in the future?
After that, we’ll spend time on the debut of the CWC (21:33) both as a TV presentation and the wrestling matches themselves, as well as some of the wrestlers.
We’ll close the show with the mailbag (41:47), Les and Vic at the movies (or not), Final Deletion vs. the Wyatt Compound (47:00), if Les ever worked with an agent on his matches (57:04), and some history on classic wrestling venues (61:43).
