Humberto Carrillo is the latest WWE call-up, joining the 205 Live roster.
After TJP backstage tried to answer Buddy Murphy’s open challenge, 205 Live GM Drake Maverick told TJP that the open challenge had already been accepted. Carrillo came out after Murphy cut a promo about his match at the Royal Rumble.
The two had a back and forth competitve match. At one point, Murphy feigned a knee injury. Carrillo took his guard down as turned his back to Murphy, who was being attended to by referees. Murphy jumped him, but Carillo cut him off, at one point sending Murphy over the announce table. The cruiserweight champion was able to cut him off, however, and pinned him with Murphy’s law.
Carrillo is best known for his run in Mexico under a mask as Ultimo Ninja, wrestling for the Crash and other independent promotions in Mexico since his debut in 2012. He signed with WWE and made his NXT debut back in August without a mask. He’s been used on NXT television mostly as enhancement talent, sometimes teaming with Raul Mendoza.
His name was listed among other 205 Live names as part of WWE’s Worlds Collide tournament that will take place during the Royal Rumble Axxess event starting on January 26. It was later removed, with WWE listing “a superstar to be named” in his place.
As was done in the Cruiserweight Classic, the match begins with a handshake. Tom Philips makes a point to note this is how things will be done from now on in all cruiserweight matches. The ropes will also be purple.
They lock up. Dorado takes control. They run around the ring and flip and tumble. They trade pinning attempts and headscissors. They each shake their fingers at each other. The crowd is into the match.
Swann dances and Dorado kicks him in the stomach. Swann throws Dorado out of the ring and dances some more. Swann goes for a dive but Dorado kicks his head. Swann is loopy and falls to the outside. Dorado dives and kicks Swann through the ropes, jumps to the apron, and lands a springboard moonsault.
Back from commercial, Dorado sends Swann hard into the corner and hits a spinning heel kick. He covers for two, then gets Swann in a headlock. The crowd cheers Swann to his feet.
Momentum shifts, and Swann hits a bunch of running forearms, followed by a kick to the neck. He covers Dorado for two. Swann has a crazy look in his eyes. He attempts a rolling frog splash, but Dorado counters and rolls into a cover for two.
Phillips mentions that you can only see this action on Monday Night Raw. If that’s true, Phillips, then how am I seeing it on Main Event?
Dorado goes for a German suplex, but Swann flips out and attempts a jumping DDT. Dorado pancakes him. He dropkicks Swann, then covers for two. The crowd cheers Swann to his feet. He’s definitely an early star of this division.
Swann charges at Dorado in the corner. Dorado kicks him in the face and climbs the second turnbuckle. Swann attempts to kick him but Dorado deflects, rolls down, and roundhouse kicks Swann in the head.
Dorado climbs the top rope and misses a shooting star press. Swann hits a spinning kick before launching into a rolling bridge pin for the victory. They shake hands after the match.
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Heath Slater & Rhyno defeated Breezango
Tom Phillips is offended by Breezango’s puffy shirts. Otunga does a good thing for once, telling him to stop judging everyone. Breezango wrestle in the shirts. This is really distracting for Phillips. He can’t stop talking about them.
Fandango dances for Slater. Phillips finally admits that he wants a puffy shirt. That solves that. Slater dances for Fandango. They trade shots and Fandango tags in Breeze. Slater’s fighting like a man in the midst of a renaissance.
Breeze kicks Slater in the gut. Breeze celebrates, lifting Slater to his feet. Slater reverses into a roll-up for two. Slater tags in Rhyno. Rhyno hits a tackle in the corner, then strike after strike. Otunga mentions that Kevlar isn’t in fashion right now.
Rhyno whips Breeze into the corner and runs at him, but Breeze kicks him in the face and tags Fandango. Rhyno hits a double clothesline. Slater jumps in and scares Breezango outside.
Back from commercial, Fandango covers for two. He tags Breeze. Breeze punches Rhyno. Rhyno attempts to get in the ring, distracting the ref, allowing Breezango to double team Slater.
Slater fights back, but Breeze rushes him into his corner and tags Fandango. Fandango sends Slater to the mat, then hits a spinning uppercut to the back of his neck. He covers for two.
Fandango grabs a headlock. The crowd cheers Slater to his feet. Slater sends Fandango out of the ring. Slater attempts a tag but Fandango pulls Rhyno to the floor. Rhyno slides back in the ring, distracting the ref, allowing another double team. Breeze lands the Supermodel Kick.
Fandango hits a falcon arrow and covers, but Rhyno breaks it. Fandango tags Breeze, who climbs the second rope and jumps right into Slater’s boot. He tags Fandango, who climbs the top rope but misses a flying knee.
Slater crawls to his corner and makes the tag just as Fandango tags Breeze. Rhyno hits a shoulder tackle and a belly-to-belly. He covers. Fandango breaks it but Slater takes him out. Slater blocks a Supermodel Kick from Breeze and spins him right into a Gore. Rhyno covers for the win.
Tonight’s episode start off with a recap of last week’s show, as well as highlights for tonight’s show. Round two concludes tonight, with the quarterfinals starting next week.
Rich Swann defeated Lince Dorado
Lince Dorado says he expected to be here because it’s all he’s ever dreamed about. He’s a hybrid luchador and will go toe-to-toe with anyone. He wants to showcase to the world what he can do, and that people should follow their dreams because they can come true.
They replay the video from a few weeks ago about Rich Swann, saying he grew up with a bad crowd but wrestling saved him, and people aren’t going to be expecting what he puts out there on the Cruiserweight Classic.
Good match, their styles complimented each other here and they had a good back and forth high flying match. I hope Dorado gets looks in other places as he’s pretty good. Dorado got big air wiping out Swann early with a springboard crossbody to the floor. Swann took him down and put him in a cool submission, kind of like a stretch muffler but Dorado’s neck was on Swann’s knee.
Dorado went for a German suplex but Swann got on his feet and rolled around, hitting a DDT. Swann hit a standing 450 but Dorado cradled him for a cool near fall. Dorado missed the shooting star press, which allowed Swann to hit a really cool looking phoenix splash for the win.
Swann will face the winner of the TJ Perkins vs. Johnny Gargano match later tonight in the next round.
They showed the closing moments of The Revival vs. Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa tag title match from NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II this past weekend, where Gargano was submitted after The Revival took out his knee.
Gargano was interviewed backstage, his knee was getting taped up as he talked about tonight’s match with Perkins. A lot of people expect him to win the tournament, and he doesn’t want to let anyone down. He’ll pour his heart out in the ring tonight and will reach one step closer to winning the CWC.
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Drew Gulak
Drew Gulak was told early in his wrestling career that he’d probably never make it, but he was determined. What makes him better is that he has a clear view of what you’re doing, and one move could put you out. He’s super confident.
Zack Sabre Jr.’s video is replayed as well, saying Harry Potter is not the only wizard from Great Britain, and he’s driven by his love of pro wrestling.
Gulak didn’t want to shake hands before the match.
Very good technical match. They worked a mat-based style since both are proficient in that area. Gulak broke out and tried to jump off the middle rope but Sabre caught him in an armbar. Gulak countered with a Gory special and worked on Sabre’s neck.
Gulak transitioned into a Boston crab but Sabre countered with a roll-up. Sabre got a kimura in but Gulak bodyslammed him, his foot hitting the rope upon landing. Big time palm strikes knocked Sabre loopy. Gulak tried the dragon sleeper, but Sabre somehow transitioned into a package pin and scored the win.
Gulak was reluctant to shake Sabre’s hand as he made his exit. Sabre will face Noam Dar in the next round.
TJ Perkins defeated Johnny Gargano
Another really good match. Out of everyone in the CWC, Gargano is probably the best overall worker not named Kota Ibushi. TJP has the charisma and work to make it very far. Some really good back and forth to start things off. Perkins caught Gargano in a leg scissors and even dabbed while doing it.
They went to the apron as Gargano knocked Perkins to the floor and did a running senton, his legs crashing on the bell table. Perkins made a comeback but Gargano took him to the top rope and looked like he was going for a powerbomb, but instead threw him face-first into the turnbuckle. That was a scary spot!
He lawn darted TJP into the other side of the ring but Perkins rolled through Gargano and targeted his injured leg with a leglock. Surprisingly, Gargano did end up tapping out, giving TJP the win. It’s funny that this was taped way before Takeover, but they still knew how to book Gargano’s loss. Kind of shows long-term booking can go a long way.
The quarterfinals are:
Akira Tozawa vs. Gran Metalik
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Noam Dar
Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi
Rich Swann vs. TJ Perkins
Really good episode this week. All three matches were strong. Not match of the year levels or anything like that, but all three were really fun TV matches.
While much of the call focused on NXT and the upcoming TakeOver Brooklyn: II special this Saturday, Triple H was more than happy to talk about the Cruiserweight Classic and Raw’s upcoming cruiserweight division.
Triple H said the project is something that he’s wanted to do for years. He felt that it was something that needed to happen and gives talent in that division an ability to shine that they maybe wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
The first question of the call asked Triple H about the process of creating Raw’s cruiserweight division. Triple H said Raw was the right place for the division given that it’s a three-hour show and needs more content. He said it provides something different for the lengthy show.
“We’re signing a lot of cruiserweights right now and I’m, you know, basically I’m creating a division. So, I’m going around and signing guys and I’m also keeping an eye towards the future as well, I don’t need to have every single cruiserweight right now, I just need to have a decent amount. And they will be working NXT, they will be working NXT live events, and they’ll also be working Raw as cruiserweights. The opportunity is there to do both.” Triple H said.
Kota Ibushi has been one of the cruiserweights that has earned significant praise in the CWC, and our Dave Meltzer asked about his contract status on the call.
Ibushi had insisted that he was interested in working for the WWE while continuing his work elsewhere as a freelancer, but while saying they’re open to different things, Triple H seemed to reject that idea.
“I think when it comes to the cruiserweight division we’re looking for something solely WWE and keeping it in-house.” Triple H said.
Later in the call, Triple H was asked whether we would see a cruiserweight champion crowned on the CWC final but said we’d have to wait and see. He concluded the call by praising many of the competitors in the tournament, noting that they’ve created something special. He said that they’re still deciding what the next opportunity is.
