My thoughts on the first Cruiserweight Classic episode.
SPOILERS, if anyone hasn't seen it yet.
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SPOILERS below......
Overall, I love the way they presented this show. I love when WWE realises the power of variety, it's what made NXT so different after all and a success in the end. I was a bit worried since this is at Full Sail, they would just have it like NXT with a different ring apron, but they changed a lot which was cool as hell. The entrance way in the corner and the lack of a ramp gave it a more ROH/indie feel, which I imagine is exactly what they were trying to go for, while the way they talked pre-match, the way they had the refs act pre and post-match and the general presentation of the whole thing was really cool. Had that feeling of "legit competitive sport" around it that most WWE TV doesn't have in this day and age, which is well cool to see. I like it. On to the matches!
Alejandro Saez v Gran Metalik - I generally don't like lucha style wrestling, so I wasn't expecting this to be a great match. Turns out it was far better than I expected it to be. I thought the two had some good back and forth, and the rope walk splash and shooting star press to the outside were both really cool moves. I liked the corkscrew Saez went for as well. Kinda expected him to win since he was so hyped up and they kept going on about him dropping down to hit the weight limit, but Metalik was cool, and he looked like he will bring a lot to the table in this competition. Also that's as close as you're getting to a planting piledriver on WWE TV ever again, and that's always a good thing.
HoHo Lun v Ariya Daivari - Holy christ, what the fuck was this mess? Daivari looked strong and accomplished, and put across some really good offense that made him look dominant...and he lost. Lun looked like he had started wrestling about 20 minutes before the CWC kicked off...and he won through to the next round? His selling was terrible, he had no charisma or ring presence and his style was just so bizarre. Shaking everything off to win with a transitional, pretty weak looking German suplex was wank as well. Midway through the match I was wondering how this kid even got on the roster for this event, and then he goes on to win? Garbage. Hopefully Noam wins and armbars him to death in round two.
Clement Petiot v Cedric Alexander - This was better again, but two matches in a row where they went with the heel/face dynamic that you really really don't need in tournament wrestling. However, that's WWE for you, and this match worked well in spite of it. I liked the early work from Cedric and the way Petiot cut it off with some aggressive shit in the middle of the match. They looked like they knew each other quite well, and the work they were both doing was pretty solid. That lumbar check finisher looks pretty ace as well, and Alexander could turn out to be pretty good in the tournament if he gets the right opponents.
Kota Ibushi v Sean Maluta - Yes! This was properly good. Did not expect Maluta to be this good, even with a guy like Ibushi to guide him through the match, but he stepped up and went toe to toe with Kota, which was great to see. When he landed that superkick near the end....the impact...I actually thought he was going to win off that, which was great. There was no way Ibushi was ever losing, but that superkick hit so hard I genuinely thought for a second he might. Other than that, the back and forth was great, and I loved how they made Ibushi look super strong without it being a squash at this early stage. The two of them looked great, that springboard moonsault to the outside was fantastic, and the pele kick that came before it looked brutal. Maluta ate all of that. Ibushi hitting the most impactful powerbomb in many a year was also ace. Easily match of the night, and a very very strong first round encounter overall. Ibushi is surely winning this tournament. He is so much more polished and accomplished than everyone else in this tournament so far.
Overall, I enjoyed the show. Two solid matches, one ace match and one utter, utter garbage mess of a match, but as a whole it was a good show. I'd like to see these matches get more time, but I guess we'll see more of that as the tournament progresses and there are fewer guys left in.
Edited by user 14 July 2016 20:00:43(UTC)
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