The Big Takeaway —
Neville will challenge Rich Swann for the Cruiserweight title at the Royal Rumble. After Alicia Fox cost Cedric Alexander a big match against Noam Dar, Alexander dumped Fox, causing her to have a meltdown.
Brian Kendrick had more trouble taking out Sean Maluta than Tajiri did, but also vowed to take care of Tajiri when the time comes. The parley between Jack Gallagher and Ariya Daivari was nothing more than a contract signing for an “I Forfeit” match at a future date.
Show Recap —
They opened with highlights over the last few weeks concerning the Cedric Alexander/Noam Dar/Alicia Fox angle, including last night where Fox kissed Dar, then rejected him, saying he couldn’t handle a real woman.
Noam Dar defeated Cedric Alexander
They had a long match. It wasn’t bad, but really just your generic long WWE match with nothing flashy or substantial. Dar is just there as a worker, not to mention the storyline of the match as a whole doesn’t make sense at all.
Dar gained control and did stereotypical heel rest holds and grinding down, working on Alexander’s arm. Alexander made a comeback and went for a springboard but Dar caught him with an armbar. Dar left Alexander’s arm prone on the apron and was going to do a running dropkick to the outside when Alicia Fox stopped him.
That allowed Alexander to hit a baseball slide and a clothesline off the top rope. Alexander was going for a moonsault when Fox pulled Dar’s leg out of the ring. Dar responded with a dropkick on Alexander for the win. Fox looked stunned by this. Um, you just cost him the match.
There was an Akira Tozawa hype video. Kalisto put him over huge. Tozawa will supposedly be coming soon.
Brian Kendrick came to the ring, and he wasn’t too happy over the events of last week where he was misted by Tajiri. He called him a sneaky snake and a sneaky sneak. He said that rest assured, next time he sees Tajiri, he’ll be choking on that mist. He pointed to his opponent, Sean Maluta, and said that if Tajiri can beat him, he’ll be lucky to survive 30 seconds with Brian Kendrick.
Brian Kendrick defeated Sean Maluta
This was what you’d expect. Kendrick underestimated Maluta’s ability and as a result Maluta got some good shine in, hitting the three amigos suplexes and a shining wizard for a good near fall. Maluta went for a frog splash, but Kendrick countered with knees and submitted Maluta with the Captain’s Hook.
Backstage, Fox couldn’t explain why she did what she did. Alexander said it wasn’t an accident and eventually said that they were done. Fox tried to explain but he wouldn’t hear it and left. Fox then proceeded to throw a fit.
It was now time for the parley, or “a gentlemanly way to end things” as Corey Graves put it. Gallagher said quite frankly, this needs to come to an end. He claimed that Ariya Daivari has besmirched his honor. Daivari said he doesn’t want peace. Gallagher said he doesn’t want that either. He pointed to a contract on the table for an “I Forfeit” match, which is basically an I Quit match.
Daivari said it’ll be his pleasure to make him forfeit. They both got up as Daivari threw away William (Gallagher’s umbrella). Gallagher then said he hoped the Queen wasn’t watching this as he attacked Daivari, leading to a pull apart. For all the weeks of buildup, this really got no response, except for when they got rid of the umbrella.
Rich Swann defeated Tony Nese
This was solid stuff while it lasted, but nothing out of this world. Nese did a good job in the match and looked impressive in spots. He had control of a lot of the match, but Swann pelted him with a kick to the temple to get the win.
Swann said for the past couple of weeks there’s been a man who resembles a gargoyle calling himself the King of the Cruiserweights. He said that’s wrong, as he’s the Cruiserweight champion. Neville came out, saying it isn’t Swann’s show and he begs to differ. Swann said he has ears like Dumbo and if he has a problem with that, come to the ring so we can solve it.
Neville called him an ignorant American and won’t step into the ring with him until he gets a title shot. Swann said fine, name the time and the place, because you can’t handle this. Neville said he can’t think of a better coronation than at the Royal Rumble. The two have a staredown as the show closed.
Final Thoughts —
This was a pretty bland show. The two major storylines being touted feel way past their expiration date and feel like they need to end, which at least they seem to be alluding to now by the way things went down tonight. The main event angle was fine, and at least sets up a big match for the Royal Rumble.
