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Sports Pro Wrestling Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Go2Sleep02
- Start date
AEW gets another massive get in the form of the "Rated R Superstar" Adam Copeland (FKA Edge in WWE)
This Roster continues to get more and more insane.
Can't wait to see what kind of matchups he gets to be apart of over the next few years, especially against potential opponents from New Japan.
What are some of the matches you guys wanna see?
Wait, how could Christian wanna fight his old partner? I need some help with this idea.
MJF VS Edge, Sting VS Edge, Or Jericho VS Edge.
Nice. Well, I guess it only made since to WWE to make Carmelo Hayes lose his title. Maybe to go up to main roster? Well anyway is everyone ready for Fastlane? I am hyped about it a lot.
im a massive Jericho fan, but i hope they hold off on this for a lil bit, so many things even Adam said he was looking forward to prior.
not taking anything from Jericho but Edge himself said "I wanna work with young talent." - only reason I don't say the same for Sting cus that was Edge marking out a bit with his words (hell I would've too in those shoes haha) - you couldn't wipe that smile off his face in the scrum
they'll (Jericho) get their match, but both are already made (kinda like a tag match idea with guys they take under their wing)
considering Judgement Day give him so much credit for helping them i REALLY wanna see him be that in AEW now too.
i'd personally love to see Adam Copeland v. Malakai Black - an obvious subtle nod to his Judgement Day & more importantly Brood/Ministry days prolly inevitably mentioned vaguely to make a *SINGLES - PLEASE MORE MALAKAI SINGLES MATCHES, TONY (sorry)* match really pop.
Edge and Malakai on the mic against each other? Yes please...
(and i ofc support an MJF match as a fellow (to the devil himself ofc lol) Long Islander MJF stan lmao)
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Uh.... about that. Poor guy only reigned for 3 days.
Ohhh man that's a feud I didn't know I wanted until now!
Hate that for Trick (think despite why they did it was a bit like "why not just wait to give it to him then?") but it was TOTALLY about next week and going against AEW since they loading that NXT card (not taking sides just stating obvious)
getting Christian involved in a Malakai/HoB feud (hell could even make Matt/Jeff Hardy (was Brood once lmaoo for nostalgia since Matt/Adam seem civil now) or Gangrel pop in or since Adam said he wanted to build his younger talent maybe a new "Brood-esque" stable with him in Gangrel's role?
def wanna see him vs. Pentagon Dark too if they do ever let Adam feed his "Darker wrestling roots" in that sense!
I really hope TK can resist the urge to do E&C vs the Hardyz (because they are sooo washed)... but he's definitely going to do it at some point (whenever Edge and Christian are done feuding). Maybe even a double retirement match.
And AEW stacked their card as well - no matter what, the fans win!
And AEW stacked their card as well - no matter what, the fans win!
whats some of yalls fav indies? i know a bunch but not familar with many outside of the Northeast/New York area (stuff like House of Glory) and ofc bigger name ones like GCW, MLW etc. (I dont count ROH as an Indy anymore since it's under TK/AEW lol)
edit*: christian is top 3 heels in the business rn imo, 4 if i can hear a good argument he's not 5. his whole "how's your dad?" scummy gimmick works so well, and as much as i much as i love my dad and miss him (RIP) this is the first time i seen any character kinda "mock that" (for obvious reasons) and be like "Goddamn he's good" lmao.
where do i apply for christian to be my role model now? lol
edit*: christian is top 3 heels in the business rn imo, 4 if i can hear a good argument he's not 5. his whole "how's your dad?" scummy gimmick works so well, and as much as i much as i love my dad and miss him (RIP) this is the first time i seen any character kinda "mock that" (for obvious reasons) and be like "Goddamn he's good" lmao.
where do i apply for christian to be my role model now? lol
I don't really watch much Indie wrestling unless a name I like pops up on a GCW/Prestige/etc card. DPW seems to be doing a lot of good stuff - especially booking joshi wrestlers whenever possible. Speaking of joshi, idk if it counts as an indie but the newly launched Sukeban had their first show 2 weeks ago and I really enjoyed it.
At this point, would Impact count as an indie? Probably not because they're bankrolled by Anthem but they have the look and feel of an indie now lol
At this point, would Impact count as an indie? Probably not because they're bankrolled by Anthem but they have the look and feel of an indie now lol
I use sumn like MLW as the cutoff for Indy cus while they have pretty decent presentation, they obviously ain't a "mainstream company" (hence their suit against WWE for tryna sabotage that)
AEW got toys in stores and a cable deal for example --- "Mainstream" in that sense.
iMPACT i'm sure some eggheads would call "a glorified Indy" but the fact they been around essentially as long as ROH and have had big funding I don't give them that.
I won't disrespect Japan and try and speak to what they consider "Indy or not" since i mean... NJPW is obv their big promotion (now, current day) and only recently started including the women side a bit more... that said i LOVE Joshi (but not very versed, just dont know where to catch everything easily) but I will say I think lowkey they got some the best talents male or female going rn.
Stardom World and WRESTLE-UNIVERSE are the official streaming services for the big 2 Joshi promotions - Stardom and TJPW. The shows usually end up on archive.org a few days after they're released on official platforms (at least in Stardom's case). Outside of that, you'd have to go to like Chinese video sharing sites and other seedier places to see em for free.
Well well well I think its that time I finally did it folks!
Greetings once again! Today I’ve decided to follow up on a piece I’ve been teasing for a little while but never quite gotten round to until this current moment in time. That’s right folks this time you have the Incog review of the Cruiserweight Classic! The Cruiserweight Classic was a 32 man tournament that WWE hosted in 2016 featuring wrestlers from promotions all over the world. These varied from American wrestling promotions such as CZW & EVOLVE, British wrestling promotions such as ICW and PROGRESS Wrestling, Japanese wrestling promotions varying from NJPW and Dragon Gate along with several other wrestling scenes worldwide including Germany, Mexico and more! This tournament served as a pathway into the eventual recreation of WWE’s Cruiserweight Championship which the winner of this tournament would receive and eventually would lead to the creation of WWE’s side show for the Cruiserweight division: 205 Live.
I should warn you that this first installment will actually be a preview of all 32 competitors and their backgrounds before entering this tournament with the Round 1 Review starting off on the next post.
Now with all that out of the way, here’s the bracket for the tournament!
There's some juicy matchups on this bracket at least in the first round most notably Ciampa/Gargano but I'll get onto each of these briefly as I do the preview. With that being said, going in alphabetical order we’ll start by previewing…
Akira Tozawa - Akira Tozawa is an absolutely fantastic wrestler to have included in this tournament. If you could’ve picked any guy to represent Dragon Gate in this tournament, this was absolutely the right guy. Prior to this tournament, the most you might’ve heard about Tozawa would’ve been if you’d seen his excursion to America and most notably PWG when he was working with studs like Chris Hero and Kevin Steen or if you was a Dragon Gate watcher who had watched some of his work in Japan whilst he was leading factions such as Monster Express. His Dragon Gate work was fairly good and had success capturing gold whether it be the Open the Brave Gate Championship (think of it like DG’s Intercontinental Championship) or the Open the Twin Gate Championships (basically Tag Team Championships). There’s a lot to check out if you’re wanting to watch more of his work. I’d definitely recommend those aforementioned contests with Chris Hero and Kevin Steen but if you want to watch his Dragon Gate stuff, you can watch either some of his Brave Gate reign or some of his tag work with Shingo Takagi. His first round opponent is Kenneth Johnson who doesn’t have too much experience in the ring so only time will tell how I’ll find that match to be.
Alejandro Saez - Alejandro Saez is an interesting competitor to put in this tournament as pretty much unless you’ve scoured the Chile independent wrestling scene like WWE have, you’ll most likely have never heard of this guy prior to the tournament. According to research, Saez worked a little bit for Pro Wrestling NOAH prior to this tournament too so you might have seen him in a tag match but not have remembered him. With that being said, I’m not expecting a ton from Saez but he has a chance to prove me wrong in his match against Gran Metalik who is very experienced.
Anthony Bennett - When I first saw Anthony Bennett get revealed for this tournament, I thought to myself “Who is this and why does he look like nothing but an absolute goofball?” I had no idea who he was so I had to research. All of Anthony Bennett’s work before this tournament came in a promotion called MFPW in America so there was nothing really you could find on this guy unless you were in the New Jersey area watching this promotion. This makes Anthony Bennett more of an unknown commodity in this tournament. Hard to know how his ring work is until he gets in the ring against Tony Nese as he could be either a complete flop or a hidden gem.
Ariya Daivari - Ariya Daivari for those who don’t know is the brother of Shawn Daivari who used to work WWE back in the mid 2000s managing wrestlers such as Kurt Angle, Mark Henry and even The Great Khali but also would just do singles work from time to time. Ariya comes into this tournament trying to surpass what his brother did in WWE and that’s being relevant and also a tournament winner. Looking into Daivari’s past bookings, nothing too much sticks out in terms of the promotions he’s worked prior to this tournament except a squash match on Main Event against the aforementioned Great Khali and interestingly working the Ring Ka King promotion in India that was owned by TNA at the time. He has a chance to impress against HoHo Lun.
Brian Kendrick - Brian Kendrick to most fans probably needs no introduction. Most people like myself before this tournament will have known him either under the ring name of “Spanky” in the early 2000s or as Brian Kendrick who teamed with Paul London to win the WWE Tag Team Championships in the middle of 2006 or lastly as The Brian Kendrick who was flanked by Ezekiel Jackson in 2008-2009. Regardless going into this tournament, Brian Kendrick was probably one of the most well known names for a casual viewer, especially one such as myself at the time. His first round match is against Raul Mendoza who certainly seems like an interesting prospect. We’ll see if Kendrick can keep up in the Round 1 review.
Cedric Alexander - Before this tournament, Cedric Alexander was working for Ring of Honor and wasn’t really being utilised all too much but on preview, is definitely one of the more widely recognisable names in this tournament. Compared to others who are more unknown commodities, Cedric Alexander at least has a notable history and that gives him something over other competitors. As for his in ring talent, we’ll see how that is starting in his bout against Clement Petiot.
Clement Petiot - Clement Petiot prior to this tournament had mainly been working around the world but mostly in Europe. Notable places include the Netherlands, England but most notably his native home country of France. Nothing majorly notable unfortunately but hopefully he’ll have something notable after his first round match against Cedric Alexander.
Da Mack - My knowledge on Da Mack is very limited with the most I actually know being that Da Mack worked for German promotion wXw quite regularly and was once in a tag team called Hot And Spicy with Axel Dieter Jr (the now Ludwig Kaiser at the time of writing this and formerly Marcel Barthel) but also apparently the wXw Shotgun Champion going into this tournament. Da Mack was never really somebody who lit the world on fire as far as I’m aware but I’d have to ask someone who’s more educated on wXw and the German independent scene. His inclusion in this tournament and what he can do should be visible after his match against TJ Perkins.
Alejandro Saez - Alejandro Saez is an interesting competitor to put in this tournament as pretty much unless you’ve scoured the Chile independent wrestling scene like WWE have, you’ll most likely have never heard of this guy prior to the tournament. According to research, Saez worked a little bit for Pro Wrestling NOAH prior to this tournament too so you might have seen him in a tag match but not have remembered him. With that being said, I’m not expecting a ton from Saez but he has a chance to prove me wrong in his match against Gran Metalik who is very experienced.
Anthony Bennett - When I first saw Anthony Bennett get revealed for this tournament, I thought to myself “Who is this and why does he look like nothing but an absolute goofball?” I had no idea who he was so I had to research. All of Anthony Bennett’s work before this tournament came in a promotion called MFPW in America so there was nothing really you could find on this guy unless you were in the New Jersey area watching this promotion. This makes Anthony Bennett more of an unknown commodity in this tournament. Hard to know how his ring work is until he gets in the ring against Tony Nese as he could be either a complete flop or a hidden gem.
Ariya Daivari - Ariya Daivari for those who don’t know is the brother of Shawn Daivari who used to work WWE back in the mid 2000s managing wrestlers such as Kurt Angle, Mark Henry and even The Great Khali but also would just do singles work from time to time. Ariya comes into this tournament trying to surpass what his brother did in WWE and that’s being relevant and also a tournament winner. Looking into Daivari’s past bookings, nothing too much sticks out in terms of the promotions he’s worked prior to this tournament except a squash match on Main Event against the aforementioned Great Khali and interestingly working the Ring Ka King promotion in India that was owned by TNA at the time. He has a chance to impress against HoHo Lun.
Brian Kendrick - Brian Kendrick to most fans probably needs no introduction. Most people like myself before this tournament will have known him either under the ring name of “Spanky” in the early 2000s or as Brian Kendrick who teamed with Paul London to win the WWE Tag Team Championships in the middle of 2006 or lastly as The Brian Kendrick who was flanked by Ezekiel Jackson in 2008-2009. Regardless going into this tournament, Brian Kendrick was probably one of the most well known names for a casual viewer, especially one such as myself at the time. His first round match is against Raul Mendoza who certainly seems like an interesting prospect. We’ll see if Kendrick can keep up in the Round 1 review.
Cedric Alexander - Before this tournament, Cedric Alexander was working for Ring of Honor and wasn’t really being utilised all too much but on preview, is definitely one of the more widely recognisable names in this tournament. Compared to others who are more unknown commodities, Cedric Alexander at least has a notable history and that gives him something over other competitors. As for his in ring talent, we’ll see how that is starting in his bout against Clement Petiot.
Clement Petiot - Clement Petiot prior to this tournament had mainly been working around the world but mostly in Europe. Notable places include the Netherlands, England but most notably his native home country of France. Nothing majorly notable unfortunately but hopefully he’ll have something notable after his first round match against Cedric Alexander.
Da Mack - My knowledge on Da Mack is very limited with the most I actually know being that Da Mack worked for German promotion wXw quite regularly and was once in a tag team called Hot And Spicy with Axel Dieter Jr (the now Ludwig Kaiser at the time of writing this and formerly Marcel Barthel) but also apparently the wXw Shotgun Champion going into this tournament. Da Mack was never really somebody who lit the world on fire as far as I’m aware but I’d have to ask someone who’s more educated on wXw and the German independent scene. His inclusion in this tournament and what he can do should be visible after his match against TJ Perkins.
Damian Slater - I must admit I had to look up Damian Slater cause I couldn’t remember this guy to save my life barring the fact that he was the only representative from Australia in this tournament. According to my research, this guy has certainly done a lot of wrestling dating all the way back to 2003 apparently. A lot of his stuff is on independent promotions in Australia such as PWA and MCW just before the CWC but interestingly enough he had a couple matches in Japan for the promotion Zero-1 in 2012 under the name Ocean Neal including a singles match against Masato Tanaka. He has one of the more intriguing matches of the first round going up against Tajiri.
Drew Gulak - Drew Gulak was a name that stuck out to me as a name I’d seen in EVOLVE before this tournament. At this current point in his career, Drew Gulak was the leader of the stable known as Catch Point in EVOLVE which featured several notable wrestlers including TJ Perkins, Matt Riddle along with Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi. He’s a very technical wrestler but I’m not sure how he’s going to fare with Harv Sihra.
Fabian Aichner - Fabian Aichner is certainly a name I’ve not heard of going into this tournament and doing my research I can see why. He hadn’t really gotten a place to shine and showcase his craft to a big stage with his notable work only really being in small promotions across Europe. Hopefully this match against Jack Gallagher should be his opportunity to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
Gran Metalik - Gran Metalik is a fascinating case to me. Before entering the CWC, Gran Metalik was working CMLL in Mexico under the name Mascara Dorada. Now unfortunately I haven’t had the pleasure of watching his work there but this tournament might make me look into some more of his work. He also worked NJPW a few times, usually during NJPW/CMLL collaboration shows or the occasional IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship challenge. Given his style of wrestling, I’m definitely interested to see how his match with Alejandro Saez will end up being.
Gurv Sihra - Similar to a lot of the competitors in this, Gurv Sihra, one half of the tag team “The Bollywood Boyz” was not a competitor I’d heard of in the slightest. Upon research, I found out that both Gurv and Harv both worked for the promotion ECCW initially under the tag team name “The Bollywood Lions” before they eventually became the Bollywood Boyz. As a tag team wrestler, I’m unsure how he’s gonna fare with Noam Dar but maybe it’ll be something entertaining.
Harv Sihra - Similar to a lot of the competitors in this, Harv Sihra, one half of the tag team “The Bollywood Boyz” was not a competitor I’d heard of in the slightest. Upon research, I found out that both Harv and Gurv both worked for the promotion ECCW initially under the tag team name “The Bollywood Lions” before they eventually became the Bollywood Boyz. As a tag team wrestler, I’m unsure how he’s gonna fare with Drew Gulak but maybe it’ll be something entertaining.
HoHo Lun - HoHo Lun isn’t really a name I’ve heard of at all going into this tournament. You’d be required to really check out the Chinese independent scene which I believe as research is telling me HoHo Lun was the pioneer into establishing that scene. That could mean he’s the best wrestler in China or he’s just getting the basic fundamentals going for everybody else. I’m likely leaning towards the latter. We’ll see how he performs against Ariya Daivari first.
Jack Gallagher - Jack Gallagher was a name I’d heard of in the British independent scene only due to PROGRESS posting how Jack Gallagher qualified for this tournament on their YouTube channel (I should note that not everybody had to qualify only certain individuals strangely enough) in a match against Pete Dunne before he took off into the stratosphere. Gallagher prior to this tournament was working mostly British promotions with PROGRESS and ICW being the most notable but also interestingly enough worked BJW and Zero-1 back in 2013 under the name Jack Anthony. He has a good opportunity to showcase his work here against Fabian Aichner.
Drew Gulak - Drew Gulak was a name that stuck out to me as a name I’d seen in EVOLVE before this tournament. At this current point in his career, Drew Gulak was the leader of the stable known as Catch Point in EVOLVE which featured several notable wrestlers including TJ Perkins, Matt Riddle along with Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi. He’s a very technical wrestler but I’m not sure how he’s going to fare with Harv Sihra.
Fabian Aichner - Fabian Aichner is certainly a name I’ve not heard of going into this tournament and doing my research I can see why. He hadn’t really gotten a place to shine and showcase his craft to a big stage with his notable work only really being in small promotions across Europe. Hopefully this match against Jack Gallagher should be his opportunity to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
Gran Metalik - Gran Metalik is a fascinating case to me. Before entering the CWC, Gran Metalik was working CMLL in Mexico under the name Mascara Dorada. Now unfortunately I haven’t had the pleasure of watching his work there but this tournament might make me look into some more of his work. He also worked NJPW a few times, usually during NJPW/CMLL collaboration shows or the occasional IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship challenge. Given his style of wrestling, I’m definitely interested to see how his match with Alejandro Saez will end up being.
Gurv Sihra - Similar to a lot of the competitors in this, Gurv Sihra, one half of the tag team “The Bollywood Boyz” was not a competitor I’d heard of in the slightest. Upon research, I found out that both Gurv and Harv both worked for the promotion ECCW initially under the tag team name “The Bollywood Lions” before they eventually became the Bollywood Boyz. As a tag team wrestler, I’m unsure how he’s gonna fare with Noam Dar but maybe it’ll be something entertaining.
Harv Sihra - Similar to a lot of the competitors in this, Harv Sihra, one half of the tag team “The Bollywood Boyz” was not a competitor I’d heard of in the slightest. Upon research, I found out that both Harv and Gurv both worked for the promotion ECCW initially under the tag team name “The Bollywood Lions” before they eventually became the Bollywood Boyz. As a tag team wrestler, I’m unsure how he’s gonna fare with Drew Gulak but maybe it’ll be something entertaining.
HoHo Lun - HoHo Lun isn’t really a name I’ve heard of at all going into this tournament. You’d be required to really check out the Chinese independent scene which I believe as research is telling me HoHo Lun was the pioneer into establishing that scene. That could mean he’s the best wrestler in China or he’s just getting the basic fundamentals going for everybody else. I’m likely leaning towards the latter. We’ll see how he performs against Ariya Daivari first.
Jack Gallagher - Jack Gallagher was a name I’d heard of in the British independent scene only due to PROGRESS posting how Jack Gallagher qualified for this tournament on their YouTube channel (I should note that not everybody had to qualify only certain individuals strangely enough) in a match against Pete Dunne before he took off into the stratosphere. Gallagher prior to this tournament was working mostly British promotions with PROGRESS and ICW being the most notable but also interestingly enough worked BJW and Zero-1 back in 2013 under the name Jack Anthony. He has a good opportunity to showcase his work here against Fabian Aichner.
Jason Lee - Jason Lee, similar to that of HoHo Lun was a fairly unknown commodity going into this tournament. Both represented China’s wrestling scene but to the casual eye, not really a recognised name. According to research, before this tournament Jason Lee had worked entirely around Asia with Zero-1 in Japan being the most notable of the lot but Jason Lee also was working for promotions in Malaysia and even Singapore. He’ll get his chance to show what he’s learned across Asia against Rich Swann.
Johnny Gargano - Johnny Gargano coming into this tournament was one of the more well known names due to being on NXT TV quite regularly. At this point, he was in the DIY tag team with Tommaso Ciampa as well as working several independent promotions from EVOLVE to past promotions he used to work for such as Dragon Gate USA to PWG showcasing the hard work Gargano put in to get to where he was here. On the note of Tommaso Ciampa, he faces off with his tag team partner in what’s sure to be the highlight of this round.
Kenneth Johnson - Researching into Kenneth Johnson, this guy barely has any matches to his name prior to this tournament. Very concerning because it probably means he’s very green compared to the rest of this tournament yet allegedly by the logic of WWE: is one of the 32 best cruiserweights in the world. I’ll believe it if he has a good match with Akira Tozawa.
Kota Ibushi - Where do I even begin with Kota Ibushi? He’s the biggest name in this tournament next to Zack Sabre Jr and in my personal opinion is one of the craziest yet one of the best wrestlers in the world. His volume of work varying from matches with Kenny Omega in DDT to matches with Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura in NJPW certainly showcase as much. It’s incredibly intimidating how talented he is even when he’s willing to throw a Moonsault off a balcony. In this instance, Kota Ibushi has a relatively unknown opponent to work with in Sean Maluta so we’ll see how this match pans out.
Lince Dorado - Lince Dorado isn’t a name that immediately stands out to people like myself in this tournament. That is of course unless you watched some of Lince Dorado’s previous work in CHIKARA, Dragon Gate USA or even EVOLVE. He’d done his fair share of rounds before this tournament starting from the late 2000s according to research. Known best for his high-flying style, we’ll see what he can bring to the table against Mustafa Ali.
Mustafa Ali - Mustafa Ali didn’t have any notable promotions of work that he did previous to this tournament at least from what I could see. Research shows that he worked for AAW a little bit which I’m slightly familiar with due to a match I watched a while ago but past that I recognise nothing of the promotions he worked for. Also notable that Mustafa Ali was actually a substitute for a Brazilian wrestler named Zumbi who couldn’t get visa issues cleared before the tournament so Ali was the replacement for him. This is a huge opportunity to show what he can do especially because he wasn’t originally scheduled to be in this tournament against Lince Dorado.
Noam Dar - Noam Dar I’d heard a bit about coming into this tournament but most notably watched his match for British wrestling promotion WCPW at the time against Jay Lethal. That match against Jay Lethal sold me on Dar going into this tournament. To go with WCPW, Dar was working promotions in the UK at the time such as ICW and PROGRESS. This is Dar’s opportunity to continue that momentum starting off against Gurv Sihra.
Raul Mendoza - Raul Mendoza was a complete unknown to me before this tournament but my first impression when I saw him during the CWC introductions was that I was very curious to see how he’d do. Research suggests that before this tournament: Mendoza had worked a lot in Mexico with brief appearances in AAA and also working for DTU (The promotion of which Flamita came out from) as well as working for Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2014 under the ring name “Jinzo”. Quite the surprisingly well rounded background! He absolutely has one of the best chances to shine against well-known veteran Brian Kendrick so hopefully he ends up doing so!
Johnny Gargano - Johnny Gargano coming into this tournament was one of the more well known names due to being on NXT TV quite regularly. At this point, he was in the DIY tag team with Tommaso Ciampa as well as working several independent promotions from EVOLVE to past promotions he used to work for such as Dragon Gate USA to PWG showcasing the hard work Gargano put in to get to where he was here. On the note of Tommaso Ciampa, he faces off with his tag team partner in what’s sure to be the highlight of this round.
Kenneth Johnson - Researching into Kenneth Johnson, this guy barely has any matches to his name prior to this tournament. Very concerning because it probably means he’s very green compared to the rest of this tournament yet allegedly by the logic of WWE: is one of the 32 best cruiserweights in the world. I’ll believe it if he has a good match with Akira Tozawa.
Kota Ibushi - Where do I even begin with Kota Ibushi? He’s the biggest name in this tournament next to Zack Sabre Jr and in my personal opinion is one of the craziest yet one of the best wrestlers in the world. His volume of work varying from matches with Kenny Omega in DDT to matches with Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura in NJPW certainly showcase as much. It’s incredibly intimidating how talented he is even when he’s willing to throw a Moonsault off a balcony. In this instance, Kota Ibushi has a relatively unknown opponent to work with in Sean Maluta so we’ll see how this match pans out.
Lince Dorado - Lince Dorado isn’t a name that immediately stands out to people like myself in this tournament. That is of course unless you watched some of Lince Dorado’s previous work in CHIKARA, Dragon Gate USA or even EVOLVE. He’d done his fair share of rounds before this tournament starting from the late 2000s according to research. Known best for his high-flying style, we’ll see what he can bring to the table against Mustafa Ali.
Mustafa Ali - Mustafa Ali didn’t have any notable promotions of work that he did previous to this tournament at least from what I could see. Research shows that he worked for AAW a little bit which I’m slightly familiar with due to a match I watched a while ago but past that I recognise nothing of the promotions he worked for. Also notable that Mustafa Ali was actually a substitute for a Brazilian wrestler named Zumbi who couldn’t get visa issues cleared before the tournament so Ali was the replacement for him. This is a huge opportunity to show what he can do especially because he wasn’t originally scheduled to be in this tournament against Lince Dorado.
Noam Dar - Noam Dar I’d heard a bit about coming into this tournament but most notably watched his match for British wrestling promotion WCPW at the time against Jay Lethal. That match against Jay Lethal sold me on Dar going into this tournament. To go with WCPW, Dar was working promotions in the UK at the time such as ICW and PROGRESS. This is Dar’s opportunity to continue that momentum starting off against Gurv Sihra.
Raul Mendoza - Raul Mendoza was a complete unknown to me before this tournament but my first impression when I saw him during the CWC introductions was that I was very curious to see how he’d do. Research suggests that before this tournament: Mendoza had worked a lot in Mexico with brief appearances in AAA and also working for DTU (The promotion of which Flamita came out from) as well as working for Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2014 under the ring name “Jinzo”. Quite the surprisingly well rounded background! He absolutely has one of the best chances to shine against well-known veteran Brian Kendrick so hopefully he ends up doing so!
Rich Swann - Rich Swann is probably one of the most recognisable names in this tournament if you’ve followed his journey. Swann has worked his rounds around the world at this point with him working for PWG, EVOLVE, Dragon Gate, Dragon Gate USA but also most notably signed to NXT prior to this tournament making him one of three wrestlers representing the NXT brand in this tournament! That’s just the start of his work which should make him a really exciting wrestler in this tournament. He has a perfect opportunity to showcase what he can do against Jason Lee.
Sean Maluta - I hadn’t heard of Sean Maluta at all going into this tournament so I don’t really have any expectations of him. I decided for the sake of this preview however that I’d do some Sean Maluta research! Now unfortunately pre CWC, there’s barely anything on him with all of his work coming out of a different promotion also called WXW (different from the more well known one) so this match with Kota Ibushi is probably the biggest match of his career.
TJ Perkins - Prior to this tournament, TJ Perkins had done a fair share of rounds around the world. From PWG (under the name Puma initially), Impact also known as TNA (under the name Manik) along with EVOLVE as part of the Catch Point faction amongst others, TJ Perkins wasn’t exactly a name you’d hear talked about too much unless you were familiar with his work on the independents and thought he stood out. He has a chance to showcase everything he’s learnt against Da Mack.
Tajiri - Where do I even start? Tajiri has been wrestling since at least 1994 and is probably next to Brian Kendrick, the name most WWE fans will know the best in this tournament. His first major exposures to the world came from working in ECW at the end of 1998 as well as WWE (known as WWF at the time he joined the promotion) in 2001. Tajiri is a veteran of the business who’s been working for nearly 30 years at this point (at the time of the CWC around 20+ years) and it’s really good to see him working this tournament. He gets to return against Damian Slater which should be interesting.
Tommaso Ciampa - Tommaso Ciampa coming into this tournament like his partner Johnny Gargano was also working for and signed to NXT. He was in the same DIY tag team with Gargano but was working different independent promotions from bits of EVOLVE, PROGRESS but mainly his big note of relevancy at this current point in his career was his tenure in Ring of Honor where he won the ROH Television Championship. He faces current partner Johnny Gargano in what’s sure to be the biggest match in the first round.
Tony Nese - My first impression of Tony Nese was “Who is this guy? Does this guy love flexing his abs?” but my research shows before the CWC that Nese had done a considerable amount of work in promotions such as Dragon Gate USA (and Dragon Gate in Japan), EVOLVE along with PWG. Most of his body of work features him in a tag team with Caleb Konley under the team name “The Premier Athlete Brand”. He faces Anthony Bennett in what’s set to be an intriguing match.
Tyson Dux - Prior to this tournament, Tyson Dux wasn’t really a name I’d heard about at all to be quite truthful. I decided to do some digging to see what I could find out about what he’d done and what I found was quite interesting. Dux had mainly done work for the independent scene in Canada working for most notably SMASH Wrestling! Additionally, he’d also worked in Japan a few times for AJPW and Zero-1 which is quite the background. Something also to add is that Tyson Dux apparently worked for WWE back in 2004 but was pretty much relegated to Sunday Night Heat and Velocity. This is his best chance at a redemption arc starting against Zack Sabre Jr.
Zack Sabre Jr. - Going into this tournament, the name Zack Sabre Jr was one of the names I’d heard the most about. Sabre was known at this point in time for being one of the best technical wrestlers on the planet with his unparalleled submission holds and having a comparison to that of Daniel Bryan in that regard. Before this tournament, Sabre was working pretty much all over the world varying from European promotions like RevPro, PROGRESS and wXw, Japanese promotions like Pro Wrestling NOAH and American promotions such as PWG and EVOLVE the former of which Sabre was actually their world champion going into this tournament. He has a chance to show off his wizardry against Tyson Dux in the first round.
Sean Maluta - I hadn’t heard of Sean Maluta at all going into this tournament so I don’t really have any expectations of him. I decided for the sake of this preview however that I’d do some Sean Maluta research! Now unfortunately pre CWC, there’s barely anything on him with all of his work coming out of a different promotion also called WXW (different from the more well known one) so this match with Kota Ibushi is probably the biggest match of his career.
TJ Perkins - Prior to this tournament, TJ Perkins had done a fair share of rounds around the world. From PWG (under the name Puma initially), Impact also known as TNA (under the name Manik) along with EVOLVE as part of the Catch Point faction amongst others, TJ Perkins wasn’t exactly a name you’d hear talked about too much unless you were familiar with his work on the independents and thought he stood out. He has a chance to showcase everything he’s learnt against Da Mack.
Tajiri - Where do I even start? Tajiri has been wrestling since at least 1994 and is probably next to Brian Kendrick, the name most WWE fans will know the best in this tournament. His first major exposures to the world came from working in ECW at the end of 1998 as well as WWE (known as WWF at the time he joined the promotion) in 2001. Tajiri is a veteran of the business who’s been working for nearly 30 years at this point (at the time of the CWC around 20+ years) and it’s really good to see him working this tournament. He gets to return against Damian Slater which should be interesting.
Tommaso Ciampa - Tommaso Ciampa coming into this tournament like his partner Johnny Gargano was also working for and signed to NXT. He was in the same DIY tag team with Gargano but was working different independent promotions from bits of EVOLVE, PROGRESS but mainly his big note of relevancy at this current point in his career was his tenure in Ring of Honor where he won the ROH Television Championship. He faces current partner Johnny Gargano in what’s sure to be the biggest match in the first round.
Tony Nese - My first impression of Tony Nese was “Who is this guy? Does this guy love flexing his abs?” but my research shows before the CWC that Nese had done a considerable amount of work in promotions such as Dragon Gate USA (and Dragon Gate in Japan), EVOLVE along with PWG. Most of his body of work features him in a tag team with Caleb Konley under the team name “The Premier Athlete Brand”. He faces Anthony Bennett in what’s set to be an intriguing match.
Tyson Dux - Prior to this tournament, Tyson Dux wasn’t really a name I’d heard about at all to be quite truthful. I decided to do some digging to see what I could find out about what he’d done and what I found was quite interesting. Dux had mainly done work for the independent scene in Canada working for most notably SMASH Wrestling! Additionally, he’d also worked in Japan a few times for AJPW and Zero-1 which is quite the background. Something also to add is that Tyson Dux apparently worked for WWE back in 2004 but was pretty much relegated to Sunday Night Heat and Velocity. This is his best chance at a redemption arc starting against Zack Sabre Jr.
Zack Sabre Jr. - Going into this tournament, the name Zack Sabre Jr was one of the names I’d heard the most about. Sabre was known at this point in time for being one of the best technical wrestlers on the planet with his unparalleled submission holds and having a comparison to that of Daniel Bryan in that regard. Before this tournament, Sabre was working pretty much all over the world varying from European promotions like RevPro, PROGRESS and wXw, Japanese promotions like Pro Wrestling NOAH and American promotions such as PWG and EVOLVE the former of which Sabre was actually their world champion going into this tournament. He has a chance to show off his wizardry against Tyson Dux in the first round.
With that all being said, this concludes the Cruiserweight Classic Preview. Round 1 Reviews will be up very soon as this will be split into more than likely 3-4 parts beyond this point. With that, for now I bid you adieu until the next one!
Well well well I think its that time I finally did it folks!
Greetings once again! Today I’ve decided to follow up on a piece I’ve been teasing for a little while but never quite gotten round to until this current moment in time. That’s right folks this time you have the Incog review of the Cruiserweight Classic! The Cruiserweight Classic was a 32 man tournament that WWE hosted in 2016 featuring wrestlers from promotions all over the world. These varied from American wrestling promotions such as CZW & EVOLVE, British wrestling promotions such as ICW and PROGRESS Wrestling, Japanese wrestling promotions varying from NJPW and Dragon Gate along with several other wrestling scenes worldwide including Germany, Mexico and more! This tournament served as a pathway into the eventual recreation of WWE’s Cruiserweight Championship which the winner of this tournament would receive and eventually would lead to the creation of WWE’s side show for the Cruiserweight division: 205 Live.
I should warn you that this first installment will actually be a preview of all 32 competitors and their backgrounds before entering this tournament with the Round 1 Review starting off on the next post.
Now with all that out of the way, here’s the bracket for the tournament!
There's some juicy matchups on this bracket at least in the first round most notably Ciampa/Gargano but I'll get onto each of these briefly as I do the preview. With that being said, going in alphabetical order we’ll start by previewing…
Akira Tozawa - Akira Tozawa is an absolutely fantastic wrestler to have included in this tournament. If you could’ve picked any guy to represent Dragon Gate in this tournament, this was absolutely the right guy. Prior to this tournament, the most you might’ve heard about Tozawa would’ve been if you’d seen his excursion to America and most notably PWG when he was working with studs like Chris Hero and Kevin Steen or if you was a Dragon Gate watcher who had watched some of his work in Japan whilst he was leading factions such as Monster Express. His Dragon Gate work was fairly good and had success capturing gold whether it be the Open the Brave Gate Championship (think of it like DG’s Intercontinental Championship) or the Open the Twin Gate Championships (basically Tag Team Championships). There’s a lot to check out if you’re wanting to watch more of his work. I’d definitely recommend those aforementioned contests with Chris Hero and Kevin Steen but if you want to watch his Dragon Gate stuff, you can watch either some of his Brave Gate reign or some of his tag work with Shingo Takagi. His first round opponent is Kenneth Johnson who doesn’t have too much experience in the ring so only time will tell how I’ll find that match to be.
Alejandro Saez - Alejandro Saez is an interesting competitor to put in this tournament as pretty much unless you’ve scoured the Chile independent wrestling scene like WWE have, you’ll most likely have never heard of this guy prior to the tournament. According to research, Saez worked a little bit for Pro Wrestling NOAH prior to this tournament too so you might have seen him in a tag match but not have remembered him. With that being said, I’m not expecting a ton from Saez but he has a chance to prove me wrong in his match against Gran Metalik who is very experienced.
Anthony Bennett - When I first saw Anthony Bennett get revealed for this tournament, I thought to myself “Who is this and why does he look like nothing but an absolute goofball?” I had no idea who he was so I had to research. All of Anthony Bennett’s work before this tournament came in a promotion called MFPW in America so there was nothing really you could find on this guy unless you were in the New Jersey area watching this promotion. This makes Anthony Bennett more of an unknown commodity in this tournament. Hard to know how his ring work is until he gets in the ring against Tony Nese as he could be either a complete flop or a hidden gem.
Ariya Daivari - Ariya Daivari for those who don’t know is the brother of Shawn Daivari who used to work WWE back in the mid 2000s managing wrestlers such as Kurt Angle, Mark Henry and even The Great Khali but also would just do singles work from time to time. Ariya comes into this tournament trying to surpass what his brother did in WWE and that’s being relevant and also a tournament winner. Looking into Daivari’s past bookings, nothing too much sticks out in terms of the promotions he’s worked prior to this tournament except a squash match on Main Event against the aforementioned Great Khali and interestingly working the Ring Ka King promotion in India that was owned by TNA at the time. He has a chance to impress against HoHo Lun.
Brian Kendrick - Brian Kendrick to most fans probably needs no introduction. Most people like myself before this tournament will have known him either under the ring name of “Spanky” in the early 2000s or as Brian Kendrick who teamed with Paul London to win the WWE Tag Team Championships in the middle of 2006 or lastly as The Brian Kendrick who was flanked by Ezekiel Jackson in 2008-2009. Regardless going into this tournament, Brian Kendrick was probably one of the most well known names for a casual viewer, especially one such as myself at the time. His first round match is against Raul Mendoza who certainly seems like an interesting prospect. We’ll see if Kendrick can keep up in the Round 1 review.
Cedric Alexander - Before this tournament, Cedric Alexander was working for Ring of Honor and wasn’t really being utilised all too much but on preview, is definitely one of the more widely recognisable names in this tournament. Compared to others who are more unknown commodities, Cedric Alexander at least has a notable history and that gives him something over other competitors. As for his in ring talent, we’ll see how that is starting in his bout against Clement Petiot.
Clement Petiot - Clement Petiot prior to this tournament had mainly been working around the world but mostly in Europe. Notable places include the Netherlands, England but most notably his native home country of France. Nothing majorly notable unfortunately but hopefully he’ll have something notable after his first round match against Cedric Alexander.
Da Mack - My knowledge on Da Mack is very limited with the most I actually know being that Da Mack worked for German promotion wXw quite regularly and was once in a tag team called Hot And Spicy with Axel Dieter Jr (the now Ludwig Kaiser at the time of writing this and formerly Marcel Barthel) but also apparently the wXw Shotgun Champion going into this tournament. Da Mack was never really somebody who lit the world on fire as far as I’m aware but I’d have to ask someone who’s more educated on wXw and the German independent scene. His inclusion in this tournament and what he can do should be visible after his match against TJ Perkins.
Damian Slater - I must admit I had to look up Damian Slater cause I couldn’t remember this guy to save my life barring the fact that he was the only representative from Australia in this tournament. According to my research, this guy has certainly done a lot of wrestling dating all the way back to 2003 apparently. A lot of his stuff is on independent promotions in Australia such as PWA and MCW just before the CWC but interestingly enough he had a couple matches in Japan for the promotion Zero-1 in 2012 under the name Ocean Neal including a singles match against Masato Tanaka. He has one of the more intriguing matches of the first round going up against Tajiri.
Drew Gulak - Drew Gulak was a name that stuck out to me as a name I’d seen in EVOLVE before this tournament. At this current point in his career, Drew Gulak was the leader of the stable known as Catch Point in EVOLVE which featured several notable wrestlers including TJ Perkins, Matt Riddle along with Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi. He’s a very technical wrestler but I’m not sure how he’s going to fare with Harv Sihra.
Fabian Aichner - Fabian Aichner is certainly a name I’ve not heard of going into this tournament and doing my research I can see why. He hadn’t really gotten a place to shine and showcase his craft to a big stage with his notable work only really being in small promotions across Europe. Hopefully this match against Jack Gallagher should be his opportunity to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
Gran Metalik - Gran Metalik is a fascinating case to me. Before entering the CWC, Gran Metalik was working CMLL in Mexico under the name Mascara Dorada. Now unfortunately I haven’t had the pleasure of watching his work there but this tournament might make me look into some more of his work. He also worked NJPW a few times, usually during NJPW/CMLL collaboration shows or the occasional IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship challenge. Given his style of wrestling, I’m definitely interested to see how his match with Alejandro Saez will end up being.
Gurv Sihra - Similar to a lot of the competitors in this, Gurv Sihra, one half of the tag team “The Bollywood Boyz” was not a competitor I’d heard of in the slightest. Upon research, I found out that both Gurv and Harv both worked for the promotion ECCW initially under the tag team name “The Bollywood Lions” before they eventually became the Bollywood Boyz. As a tag team wrestler, I’m unsure how he’s gonna fare with Noam Dar but maybe it’ll be something entertaining.
Harv Sihra - Similar to a lot of the competitors in this, Harv Sihra, one half of the tag team “The Bollywood Boyz” was not a competitor I’d heard of in the slightest. Upon research, I found out that both Harv and Gurv both worked for the promotion ECCW initially under the tag team name “The Bollywood Lions” before they eventually became the Bollywood Boyz. As a tag team wrestler, I’m unsure how he’s gonna fare with Drew Gulak but maybe it’ll be something entertaining.
HoHo Lun - HoHo Lun isn’t really a name I’ve heard of at all going into this tournament. You’d be required to really check out the Chinese independent scene which I believe as research is telling me HoHo Lun was the pioneer into establishing that scene. That could mean he’s the best wrestler in China or he’s just getting the basic fundamentals going for everybody else. I’m likely leaning towards the latter. We’ll see how he performs against Ariya Daivari first.
Jack Gallagher - Jack Gallagher was a name I’d heard of in the British independent scene only due to PROGRESS posting how Jack Gallagher qualified for this tournament on their YouTube channel (I should note that not everybody had to qualify only certain individuals strangely enough) in a match against Pete Dunne before he took off into the stratosphere. Gallagher prior to this tournament was working mostly British promotions with PROGRESS and ICW being the most notable but also interestingly enough worked BJW and Zero-1 back in 2013 under the name Jack Anthony. He has a good opportunity to showcase his work here against Fabian Aichner.
Jason Lee - Jason Lee, similar to that of HoHo Lun was a fairly unknown commodity going into this tournament. Both represented China’s wrestling scene but to the casual eye, not really a recognised name. According to research, before this tournament Jason Lee had worked entirely around Asia with Zero-1 in Japan being the most notable of the lot but Jason Lee also was working for promotions in Malaysia and even Singapore. He’ll get his chance to show what he’s learned across Asia against Rich Swann.
Johnny Gargano - Johnny Gargano coming into this tournament was one of the more well known names due to being on NXT TV quite regularly. At this point, he was in the DIY tag team with Tommaso Ciampa as well as working several independent promotions from EVOLVE to past promotions he used to work for such as Dragon Gate USA to PWG showcasing the hard work Gargano put in to get to where he was here. On the note of Tommaso Ciampa, he faces off with his tag team partner in what’s sure to be the highlight of this round.
Kenneth Johnson - Researching into Kenneth Johnson, this guy barely has any matches to his name prior to this tournament. Very concerning because it probably means he’s very green compared to the rest of this tournament yet allegedly by the logic of WWE: is one of the 32 best cruiserweights in the world. I’ll believe it if he has a good match with Akira Tozawa.
Kota Ibushi - Where do I even begin with Kota Ibushi? He’s the biggest name in this tournament next to Zack Sabre Jr and in my personal opinion is one of the craziest yet one of the best wrestlers in the world. His volume of work varying from matches with Kenny Omega in DDT to matches with Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura in NJPW certainly showcase as much. It’s incredibly intimidating how talented he is even when he’s willing to throw a Moonsault off a balcony. In this instance, Kota Ibushi has a relatively unknown opponent to work with in Sean Maluta so we’ll see how this match pans out.
Lince Dorado - Lince Dorado isn’t a name that immediately stands out to people like myself in this tournament. That is of course unless you watched some of Lince Dorado’s previous work in CHIKARA, Dragon Gate USA or even EVOLVE. He’d done his fair share of rounds before this tournament starting from the late 2000s according to research. Known best for his high-flying style, we’ll see what he can bring to the table against Mustafa Ali.
Mustafa Ali - Mustafa Ali didn’t have any notable promotions of work that he did previous to this tournament at least from what I could see. Research shows that he worked for AAW a little bit which I’m slightly familiar with due to a match I watched a while ago but past that I recognise nothing of the promotions he worked for. Also notable that Mustafa Ali was actually a substitute for a Brazilian wrestler named Zumbi who couldn’t get visa issues cleared before the tournament so Ali was the replacement for him. This is a huge opportunity to show what he can do especially because he wasn’t originally scheduled to be in this tournament against Lince Dorado.
Noam Dar - Noam Dar I’d heard a bit about coming into this tournament but most notably watched his match for British wrestling promotion WCPW at the time against Jay Lethal. That match against Jay Lethal sold me on Dar going into this tournament. To go with WCPW, Dar was working promotions in the UK at the time such as ICW and PROGRESS. This is Dar’s opportunity to continue that momentum starting off against Gurv Sihra.
Raul Mendoza - Raul Mendoza was a complete unknown to me before this tournament but my first impression when I saw him during the CWC introductions was that I was very curious to see how he’d do. Research suggests that before this tournament: Mendoza had worked a lot in Mexico with brief appearances in AAA and also working for DTU (The promotion of which Flamita came out from) as well as working for Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2014 under the ring name “Jinzo”. Quite the surprisingly well rounded background! He absolutely has one of the best chances to shine against well-known veteran Brian Kendrick so hopefully he ends up doing so!
Rich Swann - Rich Swann is probably one of the most recognisable names in this tournament if you’ve followed his journey. Swann has worked his rounds around the world at this point with him working for PWG, EVOLVE, Dragon Gate, Dragon Gate USA but also most notably signed to NXT prior to this tournament making him one of three wrestlers representing the NXT brand in this tournament! That’s just the start of his work which should make him a really exciting wrestler in this tournament. He has a perfect opportunity to showcase what he can do against Jason Lee.
Sean Maluta - I hadn’t heard of Sean Maluta at all going into this tournament so I don’t really have any expectations of him. I decided for the sake of this preview however that I’d do some Sean Maluta research! Now unfortunately pre CWC, there’s barely anything on him with all of his work coming out of a different promotion also called WXW (different from the more well known one) so this match with Kota Ibushi is probably the biggest match of his career.
TJ Perkins - Prior to this tournament, TJ Perkins had done a fair share of rounds around the world. From PWG (under the name Puma initially), Impact also known as TNA (under the name Manik) along with EVOLVE as part of the Catch Point faction amongst others, TJ Perkins wasn’t exactly a name you’d hear talked about too much unless you were familiar with his work on the independents and thought he stood out. He has a chance to showcase everything he’s learnt against Da Mack.
Tajiri - Where do I even start? Tajiri has been wrestling since at least 1994 and is probably next to Brian Kendrick, the name most WWE fans will know the best in this tournament. His first major exposures to the world came from working in ECW at the end of 1998 as well as WWE (known as WWF at the time he joined the promotion) in 2001. Tajiri is a veteran of the business who’s been working for nearly 30 years at this point (at the time of the CWC around 20+ years) and it’s really good to see him working this tournament. He gets to return against Damian Slater which should be interesting.
Tommaso Ciampa - Tommaso Ciampa coming into this tournament like his partner Johnny Gargano was also working for and signed to NXT. He was in the same DIY tag team with Gargano but was working different independent promotions from bits of EVOLVE, PROGRESS but mainly his big note of relevancy at this current point in his career was his tenure in Ring of Honor where he won the ROH Television Championship. He faces current partner Johnny Gargano in what’s sure to be the biggest match in the first round.
Tony Nese - My first impression of Tony Nese was “Who is this guy? Does this guy love flexing his abs?” but my research shows before the CWC that Nese had done a considerable amount of work in promotions such as Dragon Gate USA (and Dragon Gate in Japan), EVOLVE along with PWG. Most of his body of work features him in a tag team with Caleb Konley under the team name “The Premier Athlete Brand”. He faces Anthony Bennett in what’s set to be an intriguing match.
Tyson Dux - Prior to this tournament, Tyson Dux wasn’t really a name I’d heard about at all to be quite truthful. I decided to do some digging to see what I could find out about what he’d done and what I found was quite interesting. Dux had mainly done work for the independent scene in Canada working for most notably SMASH Wrestling! Additionally, he’d also worked in Japan a few times for AJPW and Zero-1 which is quite the background. Something also to add is that Tyson Dux apparently worked for WWE back in 2004 but was pretty much relegated to Sunday Night Heat and Velocity. This is his best chance at a redemption arc starting against Zack Sabre Jr.
Zack Sabre Jr. - Going into this tournament, the name Zack Sabre Jr was one of the names I’d heard the most about. Sabre was known at this point in time for being one of the best technical wrestlers on the planet with his unparalleled submission holds and having a comparison to that of Daniel Bryan in that regard. Before this tournament, Sabre was working pretty much all over the world varying from European promotions like RevPro, PROGRESS and wXw, Japanese promotions like Pro Wrestling NOAH and American promotions such as PWG and EVOLVE the former of which Sabre was actually their world champion going into this tournament. He has a chance to show off his wizardry against Tyson Dux in the first round.
With that all being said, this concludes the Cruiserweight Classic Preview. Round 1 Reviews will be up very soon as this will be split into more than likely 3-4 parts beyond this point. With that, for now I bid you adieu until the next one!
I legit wish WWE did this again. I know more companies got certain stars signed now but this would be so good again.
I am, it is very COOL that he will be in the ring next Smackdown.
It was very good for its time and definitely looking at some of the people in this tournament now compared to back then gives you quite the perspective to see what trajectory their careers went down. I'll be covering that as the reviews go up. There's so much talent out there from people in WWE to AEW to people all over the world that the possibilities for incredible matches and talent for a CWC 2 would be endless in my eyes.
Ladies and gentlemen with the CWC Preview done and dusted, it is time that I begin the Round 1 reviews for the Cruiserweight Classic! If you wanna check out the preview, that's not too far from this one so feel free to read that if you so desire but it's time for the CWC!
For the sake of formalities and making things easier to read on here: I'll be splitting the first round off episode by episode so there's gonna be 4 in this instance.
So that concludes the first round review of the Cruiserweight Classic! Certainly some crackers in there but also some really nice hidden gems! Would most certainly recommend watching some of them but other ones such as the 1 star matches are most certainly avoid at all costs. With that, I'll be back with Round 2 at some point soon!
For the sake of formalities and making things easier to read on here: I'll be splitting the first round off episode by episode so there's gonna be 4 in this instance.
We start off the show with our first Round 1 contest being…
Alejandro Saez vs Gran Metalik - RATING: **1/2
This match was relatively short but accomplished its goal: showcase both guys and get off to a solid start. There were some really good displays of athleticism from both Saez and Metalik here such as Metalik’s rope walk missile dropkick, his rope walk splash and his springboard tope conhilo which especially looked fantastic. Saez showed off some springboards of his own like a springboard dropkick, a Shooting Star Press off the apron which looked fairly good as well as a missed Spiral Tap. A very goofy moment happened at the start where Saez pinned Metalik, only got a 1 count and was complaining to the ref how it was a 3 count which was quite comical yet absurd. This match ended after Metalik hit the Metalik Driver on Saez (where his mask fell off) for the pinfall victory. After this tournament, Alejandro Saez went on to wrestle a bit more for Pro Wrestling NOAH before going back to his home country of Chile to continue developing the scene in his country. His most recent match took place in 2021 where he won the CNL Tag Team Championships before mysteriously not having them anymore.
This then leads to our second contest of the first episode which is…
Ariya Daivari vs HoHo Lun - RATING: *
Now this match on paper looks absolutely miserable. Moreso because these two haven’t had anything prominent on their record prior to this tournament which doesn’t give me much hope. This however is the perfect opportunity to quickly talk about the Mauro/Bryan commentary duo on that note: I don’t think you could’ve picked a better duo to put on commentary for this tournament. They’re both fairly educated and just work so well off each other. This match really did not do it for me. I just couldn’t get into either Lun or Daivari. They had some okay spots but nothing really that made me go “oh wow I wanna see these guys in Round 2”. The crowd were behind HoHo Lun chanting for him which was something I’ll probably never see again but alas. This match mercifully came to an end after Lun hit Daivari with a Bridging German Suplex for the 3 count. Daivari went on after this to sign with WWE and was assigned to their 205 Live brand. He didn’t end up doing much on the show mainly having undercard/filler feuds during his tenure. He was eventually released and went on to sign with AEW where he teams with Tony Nese and Josh Woods as part of the team: Varsity Athletes.
In our second to last match of the first episode we have…
Cedric Alexander vs Clement Petiot - RATING: **1/2
Crowd was heavily behind Cedric for this one and really this match served to showcase his talents. Petiot did an okay job, he had little bits that looked good but not a ton to talk about. It definitely achieved the goal of making me want to see more Cedric in Round 2 but definitely didn’t make me want to watch more Petiot. Cedric won after hitting Petiot with the Lumbar Check for the win. Petiot after this tournament went on to work with wXw in Germany where he still works to this day in which he won the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship twice from Axel Tischer (FKA Alexander Wolfe in WWE) and Jurn Simmons respectively. An overall successful career for Petiot under the name Tristan Archer.
In our main event for the first episode we have this match…
Kota Ibushi vs Sean Maluta - RATING: ***1/4
Now this matchup most certainly was interesting on paper for a Round 1 match. You have Kota Ibushi a world-renowned superstar and well known for work in Japan against a relatively unknown wrestler in Sean Maluta who has relation to the legendary Anoa’i family (being a cousin of Afa) so certainly this match has the most allure to it in that regard. This match was solid for what it was. It absolutely showcased Ibushi and what he can do from his kicks to his high-flying offense. Maluta had some good moments but there was a bit of a botched tope conhilo unfortunately. That aside though he looked good just didn’t have the crowd investment that Kota Ibushi had. Ibushi ended the match with a Golden Star Powerbomb. Maluta after this tournament would proceed to work more WXW but would also work some NXT tapings, 205 Live and also other promotions in America such as AEW and EVOLVE. This match succeeded in highlighting Maluta to the rest of the world.
This ends the first 4 matches of the Cruiserweight Classic. Some not too bad stuff going into Episode 2.
Alejandro Saez vs Gran Metalik - RATING: **1/2
This match was relatively short but accomplished its goal: showcase both guys and get off to a solid start. There were some really good displays of athleticism from both Saez and Metalik here such as Metalik’s rope walk missile dropkick, his rope walk splash and his springboard tope conhilo which especially looked fantastic. Saez showed off some springboards of his own like a springboard dropkick, a Shooting Star Press off the apron which looked fairly good as well as a missed Spiral Tap. A very goofy moment happened at the start where Saez pinned Metalik, only got a 1 count and was complaining to the ref how it was a 3 count which was quite comical yet absurd. This match ended after Metalik hit the Metalik Driver on Saez (where his mask fell off) for the pinfall victory. After this tournament, Alejandro Saez went on to wrestle a bit more for Pro Wrestling NOAH before going back to his home country of Chile to continue developing the scene in his country. His most recent match took place in 2021 where he won the CNL Tag Team Championships before mysteriously not having them anymore.
This then leads to our second contest of the first episode which is…
Ariya Daivari vs HoHo Lun - RATING: *
Now this match on paper looks absolutely miserable. Moreso because these two haven’t had anything prominent on their record prior to this tournament which doesn’t give me much hope. This however is the perfect opportunity to quickly talk about the Mauro/Bryan commentary duo on that note: I don’t think you could’ve picked a better duo to put on commentary for this tournament. They’re both fairly educated and just work so well off each other. This match really did not do it for me. I just couldn’t get into either Lun or Daivari. They had some okay spots but nothing really that made me go “oh wow I wanna see these guys in Round 2”. The crowd were behind HoHo Lun chanting for him which was something I’ll probably never see again but alas. This match mercifully came to an end after Lun hit Daivari with a Bridging German Suplex for the 3 count. Daivari went on after this to sign with WWE and was assigned to their 205 Live brand. He didn’t end up doing much on the show mainly having undercard/filler feuds during his tenure. He was eventually released and went on to sign with AEW where he teams with Tony Nese and Josh Woods as part of the team: Varsity Athletes.
In our second to last match of the first episode we have…
Cedric Alexander vs Clement Petiot - RATING: **1/2
Crowd was heavily behind Cedric for this one and really this match served to showcase his talents. Petiot did an okay job, he had little bits that looked good but not a ton to talk about. It definitely achieved the goal of making me want to see more Cedric in Round 2 but definitely didn’t make me want to watch more Petiot. Cedric won after hitting Petiot with the Lumbar Check for the win. Petiot after this tournament went on to work with wXw in Germany where he still works to this day in which he won the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship twice from Axel Tischer (FKA Alexander Wolfe in WWE) and Jurn Simmons respectively. An overall successful career for Petiot under the name Tristan Archer.
In our main event for the first episode we have this match…
Kota Ibushi vs Sean Maluta - RATING: ***1/4
Now this matchup most certainly was interesting on paper for a Round 1 match. You have Kota Ibushi a world-renowned superstar and well known for work in Japan against a relatively unknown wrestler in Sean Maluta who has relation to the legendary Anoa’i family (being a cousin of Afa) so certainly this match has the most allure to it in that regard. This match was solid for what it was. It absolutely showcased Ibushi and what he can do from his kicks to his high-flying offense. Maluta had some good moments but there was a bit of a botched tope conhilo unfortunately. That aside though he looked good just didn’t have the crowd investment that Kota Ibushi had. Ibushi ended the match with a Golden Star Powerbomb. Maluta after this tournament would proceed to work more WXW but would also work some NXT tapings, 205 Live and also other promotions in America such as AEW and EVOLVE. This match succeeded in highlighting Maluta to the rest of the world.
This ends the first 4 matches of the Cruiserweight Classic. Some not too bad stuff going into Episode 2.
Episode 2 then features another 4 matchups from the first round this time kicking off with…
Damian Slater vs Tajiri - RATING: **1/2
You’ll probably notice 2.5 tends to be my common rating for some of these first round matches. This contest wasn’t necessarily bad it played some of the old Tajiri hits like the Tarantula, the Handspring Back Elbow as well as the classic Buzzsaw Kick with a couple of cool things from Damian Slater like a cool rollup worth mentioning and an interesting dual kick spot from both guys but this didn’t have too much substance to it unfortunately. Tajiri ended up winning this match with the aforementioned Buzzsaw Kick in very short order. Damian Slater went back to working with EPW in Australia after this tournament. So much for the World Beater conquering the world I guess!
PS: They also showed a Damian Slater video package but didn’t show one for Tajiri which was also a bummer.
Following that contest we have…
Da Mack vs TJ Perkins - RATING: **1/4
This matchup was a bit of an eye roller when I saw this as a Round 1 match. With Mack being more known for a tag team with someone who outshined him and TJ Perkins being known at the time for mainly work in TNA and across the world that wasn’t necessarily bad but not really talked about, I wasn’t exactly excited to watch this specific Round 1 match. HoHo Lun vs Ariya Daivari aside, this is probably my least favourite match in the tournament so far. I was not a fan of the showboating at the beginning from TJ Perkins deciding he wants to dab (gosh i find that cringey) and Da Mack also deciding to be a Michael Jackson ripoff with the moonwalking and his showboating. Once we got away from that, there were some good elements in this match but not enough for me to get into it. Perkins won this match after locking in the TJP Clutch forcing Mack to tap out. Mack went back to wXw after this tournament ended where he’d have middling success winning the wXw Tag Team Championships twice with “Bad Bones” John Klinger and Tarkan Aslan respectively.
In our semi-main for this second show we have…
Lince Dorado vs Mustafa Ali - RATING: ***1/2
This one on paper before the tournament was probably in my opinion the most unknown commodity type of match in the first round. I don’t think many people knew what Lince or Ali could do in the ring, myself included for that matter at this period in time. What I can say though is THIS is what I was looking for in a first round matchup. When you have such a small window of time, making effective use of that time and both guys coming out looking great is just a sign that you’ve done a good job. Ali started off not getting a big reaction from the crowd but by the end of the match, they most certainly respected him. Ali had impressive displays of athleticism from a top rope Spanish Fly to a Reverse 450 that missed just looked amazing. Lince Dorado however looked just as good if not arguably better. Some of Dorado’s spots from a Headscissors off the apron to the floor or even a Springboard Reverse Rana just looked as smooth as butter. Both guys did really well and certainly got my attention. Best match of the first round thus far. Lince ended up winning following a Shooting Star Press from the top rope. Following this tournament, Ali proceeded to get signed by WWE. He went on to 205 Live and had some stellar matches there and also on the main roster too. Unfortunately, it’s a crying shame that WWE hasn’t used his full potential to the level it could be used because boy oh boy Mustafa Ali is a fantastic in ring talent (side note at the time of editing this review for future proofing, Mustafa Ali was recently released from WWE which just shows how much they really dropped the ball with him.)
Our main event for this show has to follow that really good Round 1 match and the main event would happen to be…
Akira Tozawa vs Kenneth Johnson - RATING: **1/4
This one is a real head scratcher for a main event especially considering Kenneth Johnson’s wrestling background because this does not scream a main event match to me. Onto the match itself however, this was not that good. Now I will say it’s probably better than Da Mack vs TJ Perkins but my reasoning for this low rating is more due to Kenneth Johnson rather than Akira Tozawa. I have 0 complaints about Tozawa from this match. He looked fantastic in the stuff that he did especially with the Snap German Suplex it was just a thing of beauty. Kenneth Johnson unfortunately looked very out of place here to me. His offense wasn’t convincing, it looked very bizarre and his in ring work seemed very limited here with most of his work being headlocks and wrist locks. He did a really funky dive that looked odd too towards the end of this match before eventually Tozawa hit him with a Deadlift German Suplex (weird how there’s multiple people with German Suplex finishers in this tournament) for the win. Kenneth Johnson according to my research only went on to wrestle a few more times after this with his most recent match being a 35 second match against Aleister Black in 2020.
Damian Slater vs Tajiri - RATING: **1/2
You’ll probably notice 2.5 tends to be my common rating for some of these first round matches. This contest wasn’t necessarily bad it played some of the old Tajiri hits like the Tarantula, the Handspring Back Elbow as well as the classic Buzzsaw Kick with a couple of cool things from Damian Slater like a cool rollup worth mentioning and an interesting dual kick spot from both guys but this didn’t have too much substance to it unfortunately. Tajiri ended up winning this match with the aforementioned Buzzsaw Kick in very short order. Damian Slater went back to working with EPW in Australia after this tournament. So much for the World Beater conquering the world I guess!
PS: They also showed a Damian Slater video package but didn’t show one for Tajiri which was also a bummer.
Following that contest we have…
Da Mack vs TJ Perkins - RATING: **1/4
This matchup was a bit of an eye roller when I saw this as a Round 1 match. With Mack being more known for a tag team with someone who outshined him and TJ Perkins being known at the time for mainly work in TNA and across the world that wasn’t necessarily bad but not really talked about, I wasn’t exactly excited to watch this specific Round 1 match. HoHo Lun vs Ariya Daivari aside, this is probably my least favourite match in the tournament so far. I was not a fan of the showboating at the beginning from TJ Perkins deciding he wants to dab (gosh i find that cringey) and Da Mack also deciding to be a Michael Jackson ripoff with the moonwalking and his showboating. Once we got away from that, there were some good elements in this match but not enough for me to get into it. Perkins won this match after locking in the TJP Clutch forcing Mack to tap out. Mack went back to wXw after this tournament ended where he’d have middling success winning the wXw Tag Team Championships twice with “Bad Bones” John Klinger and Tarkan Aslan respectively.
In our semi-main for this second show we have…
Lince Dorado vs Mustafa Ali - RATING: ***1/2
This one on paper before the tournament was probably in my opinion the most unknown commodity type of match in the first round. I don’t think many people knew what Lince or Ali could do in the ring, myself included for that matter at this period in time. What I can say though is THIS is what I was looking for in a first round matchup. When you have such a small window of time, making effective use of that time and both guys coming out looking great is just a sign that you’ve done a good job. Ali started off not getting a big reaction from the crowd but by the end of the match, they most certainly respected him. Ali had impressive displays of athleticism from a top rope Spanish Fly to a Reverse 450 that missed just looked amazing. Lince Dorado however looked just as good if not arguably better. Some of Dorado’s spots from a Headscissors off the apron to the floor or even a Springboard Reverse Rana just looked as smooth as butter. Both guys did really well and certainly got my attention. Best match of the first round thus far. Lince ended up winning following a Shooting Star Press from the top rope. Following this tournament, Ali proceeded to get signed by WWE. He went on to 205 Live and had some stellar matches there and also on the main roster too. Unfortunately, it’s a crying shame that WWE hasn’t used his full potential to the level it could be used because boy oh boy Mustafa Ali is a fantastic in ring talent (side note at the time of editing this review for future proofing, Mustafa Ali was recently released from WWE which just shows how much they really dropped the ball with him.)
Our main event for this show has to follow that really good Round 1 match and the main event would happen to be…
Akira Tozawa vs Kenneth Johnson - RATING: **1/4
This one is a real head scratcher for a main event especially considering Kenneth Johnson’s wrestling background because this does not scream a main event match to me. Onto the match itself however, this was not that good. Now I will say it’s probably better than Da Mack vs TJ Perkins but my reasoning for this low rating is more due to Kenneth Johnson rather than Akira Tozawa. I have 0 complaints about Tozawa from this match. He looked fantastic in the stuff that he did especially with the Snap German Suplex it was just a thing of beauty. Kenneth Johnson unfortunately looked very out of place here to me. His offense wasn’t convincing, it looked very bizarre and his in ring work seemed very limited here with most of his work being headlocks and wrist locks. He did a really funky dive that looked odd too towards the end of this match before eventually Tozawa hit him with a Deadlift German Suplex (weird how there’s multiple people with German Suplex finishers in this tournament) for the win. Kenneth Johnson according to my research only went on to wrestle a few more times after this with his most recent match being a 35 second match against Aleister Black in 2020.
With Akira Tozawa vs Kenneth Johnson completed, we now move onto the third part of the first round! The 9th match in this first round and the first match to start off the third show of the CWC features…
Tyson Dux vs Zack Sabre Jr. - RATING: ***
This match based on the rating you might be surprised but I enjoyed this one. This was a good showcase of Sabre at least for this period of time and Dux was keeping up. Notable things from this match mainly include Sabre’s arm work and Dux just hitting some crisp maneuvers but this was primarily the Zack Sabre Jr show. Sabre ended up picking up the victory after applying the Jim Breaks Armbar forcing Tyson Dux to verbally submit and also proving that Harry Potter is not the only wizard in England. Tyson Dux after this tournament ended up going back to the Canadian independent scene primarily working for SMASH Wrestling similar to how he was before the tournament.
Our next matchup includes…
Drew Gulak vs Harv Sihra - RATING: *1/4
Boy where do I start with this one? This one was just not a fun match in the sense that it was just incredibly flat. Harv Sihra didn’t exactly do anything that stood out to me and Gulak had a couple cool things like his Diving Clothesline and his finishing move the Gulock which ended up putting this one away which is basically a cool Dragon Sleeper with a bodyscissors. Don’t waste your time on this match. Following this tournament, Harv Sihra ended up in a notable role along with his brother Gurv under the name Samir Singh becoming a manager for Jinder Mahal on SmackDown when he was the WWE Champion in 2017 before eventually being released and going back to the independent scene a few years later.
Following that match we have…
Anthony Bennett vs Tony Nese - RATING: *
I’d really like to know why Anthony Bennett wears two pairs of shuttershades: one for his eyes and one for his hair it looks extremely silly. To the match however and well… this was another stinker. I didn’t think we could close in on Daivari/HoHo Lun level of bad but boy we did. Bennett looked really out of place here although the reason for that could be the fact he might’ve been injured as there was a moment right before the finish where the ref stops Nese from going for the 450 Splash to check on Bennett. Ref seemed to say he was fine which led to the 450 Splash for the win by Nese but this was just Nese getting his stuff in and Bennett being there. After this though, Anthony Bennett would continue to work MFPW but with the addition of getting more experience behind him in CZW.
In the final match of the 3rd episode we have our featured match…
Brian Kendrick vs Raul Mendoza - RATING: ***3/4
I want to take this time to just say that Raul Mendoza kicked ass in this match. I know the story focused more on Kendrick and how it was more his second chance in WWE and what not but Raul Mendoza just got to absolutely shine in this match. From beautiful looking moves like a swing into a leglock/kneebar and the absolutely stunning Coast to Coast with Kendrick in the Tree of Woe, Mendoza just looked so good here in everything he did. Kendrick played the role of the crafty veteran who would do anything it takes to win this tournament. He had this desperation in his face, he’d use clever ring awareness to take advantage of Mendoza when he could such as using the ropes whether it be kicking Mendoza with his mouth in the ropes or even playing possum allowing him to throw Mendoza into the ropes which led to the finish of Kendrick locking in the Bully Choke for the submission victory. Both guys played their roles well here and it showed in the best match of the tournament so far. After this matchup, Mendoza would be signed by WWE and mainly be a tag team player in the faction Legado Del Fantasma under the ring name “Cruz Del Toro” before they eventually got called up to the main roster and joined up with Rey Mysterio under the newly revived Latino World Order faction. Honestly wish they used Mendoza in more of a singles spotlight but it’s good to see after this tournament that he got to show some more of what he could do.
Tyson Dux vs Zack Sabre Jr. - RATING: ***
This match based on the rating you might be surprised but I enjoyed this one. This was a good showcase of Sabre at least for this period of time and Dux was keeping up. Notable things from this match mainly include Sabre’s arm work and Dux just hitting some crisp maneuvers but this was primarily the Zack Sabre Jr show. Sabre ended up picking up the victory after applying the Jim Breaks Armbar forcing Tyson Dux to verbally submit and also proving that Harry Potter is not the only wizard in England. Tyson Dux after this tournament ended up going back to the Canadian independent scene primarily working for SMASH Wrestling similar to how he was before the tournament.
Our next matchup includes…
Drew Gulak vs Harv Sihra - RATING: *1/4
Boy where do I start with this one? This one was just not a fun match in the sense that it was just incredibly flat. Harv Sihra didn’t exactly do anything that stood out to me and Gulak had a couple cool things like his Diving Clothesline and his finishing move the Gulock which ended up putting this one away which is basically a cool Dragon Sleeper with a bodyscissors. Don’t waste your time on this match. Following this tournament, Harv Sihra ended up in a notable role along with his brother Gurv under the name Samir Singh becoming a manager for Jinder Mahal on SmackDown when he was the WWE Champion in 2017 before eventually being released and going back to the independent scene a few years later.
Following that match we have…
Anthony Bennett vs Tony Nese - RATING: *
I’d really like to know why Anthony Bennett wears two pairs of shuttershades: one for his eyes and one for his hair it looks extremely silly. To the match however and well… this was another stinker. I didn’t think we could close in on Daivari/HoHo Lun level of bad but boy we did. Bennett looked really out of place here although the reason for that could be the fact he might’ve been injured as there was a moment right before the finish where the ref stops Nese from going for the 450 Splash to check on Bennett. Ref seemed to say he was fine which led to the 450 Splash for the win by Nese but this was just Nese getting his stuff in and Bennett being there. After this though, Anthony Bennett would continue to work MFPW but with the addition of getting more experience behind him in CZW.
In the final match of the 3rd episode we have our featured match…
Brian Kendrick vs Raul Mendoza - RATING: ***3/4
I want to take this time to just say that Raul Mendoza kicked ass in this match. I know the story focused more on Kendrick and how it was more his second chance in WWE and what not but Raul Mendoza just got to absolutely shine in this match. From beautiful looking moves like a swing into a leglock/kneebar and the absolutely stunning Coast to Coast with Kendrick in the Tree of Woe, Mendoza just looked so good here in everything he did. Kendrick played the role of the crafty veteran who would do anything it takes to win this tournament. He had this desperation in his face, he’d use clever ring awareness to take advantage of Mendoza when he could such as using the ropes whether it be kicking Mendoza with his mouth in the ropes or even playing possum allowing him to throw Mendoza into the ropes which led to the finish of Kendrick locking in the Bully Choke for the submission victory. Both guys played their roles well here and it showed in the best match of the tournament so far. After this matchup, Mendoza would be signed by WWE and mainly be a tag team player in the faction Legado Del Fantasma under the ring name “Cruz Del Toro” before they eventually got called up to the main roster and joined up with Rey Mysterio under the newly revived Latino World Order faction. Honestly wish they used Mendoza in more of a singles spotlight but it’s good to see after this tournament that he got to show some more of what he could do.
Onto the final show of the first round being Episode 4 here which starts out with…
Jason Lee vs Rich Swann - RATING: **3/4
Gotta say I really liked Rich Swann’s theme song for this tournament (which is the first time I’ve mentioned the music in this tournament I’ll note that its been hit or miss) and he just oozes this natural energetic vibe that really makes you wanna get behind the guy. As for the match, for the length it went it was very short yet effective. Swann got to show off some of his best stuff such as a jumping Hurricanarana off the middle rope as well as a really impressive standing 450 which was what ended up picking up the win. Can’t leave out Jason Lee however as everything he did in this actually looked really smooth and clean. After this tournament, Jason Lee ended up doing really well for himself as he found a place within the Dragon Gate promotion at the end of 2017. From there, he ended up winning their mid-card title but also their tag team titles so I’d say fairly successful all things considered!
Moving onto the next contest we have…
Gurv Sihra vs Noam Dar - RATING: *1/4
Very similarly to his brother Harv’s match, this match felt lifeless. There was just nothing to this match that I could get invested in, I don’t know if Dar was off his game here or if he was just going through the motions but there wasn’t really much he could do to carry Gurv to a good match. Dar mercifully put me out of my misery by ending this match with the Champagne Superkneebar. Following this tournament, Gurv Sihra ended up in a notable role along with his brother Harv under the name Sunil Singh becoming a manager for Jinder Mahal on SmackDown when he was the WWE Champion in 2017 before eventually being released and going back to the independent scene a few years later.
In our second to last match of the first round we now have…
Fabian Aichner vs Jack Gallagher - RATING: ***
This match like the first match on this episode was fairly solid with both guys getting to shine in their own respective ways. Gallagher got to shine and showcase little bits of his stuff like his grappling whilst Aichner on the other hand had more spotlight with moves like a Guillotine reversed into a Powerbomb and also a beautiful looking Springboard Moonsault. A really good way to showcase both guys here. The match came to an end after Aichner missed a Frog Splash and then Gallagher would follow up with a Headbutt and Dropkick in the corner for the victory. A gentleman’s three would be the only appropriate rating for this match. After the tournament, Aichner went on to be fairly successful after being signed to the WWE and mainly working in NXT and NXT UK. On those brands, he joined the Imperium stable led by WALTER/Gunther. He would see success by winning the NXT Tag Team Championships with fellow Imperium stablemate Marcel Barthel and eventually all 3 men would go up to the main roster to be one of the highlights of WWE TV.
Our final first round match is the one we’ve all been waiting for…
Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa - RATING: ****
This is the first chapter in the Gargano/Ciampa rivalry and both men certainly delivered. There are so many spots I could talk about in this match that were just outright brutal like the Air Raid Crash on the apron or just violent like the Elbow Ciampa delivered that knocked spit out of Gargano’s mouth within the first few minutes. Both Gargano and Ciampa put out a really good performance here with in my eyes more of a good performance from Ciampa displaying this viciousness that made him live up to the nickname Psycho Killer. Gargano in comparison played a fantastic babyface with heart and guts to him just constantly trying to fight back no matter how much he was beaten up and no matter how many times Ciampa would put him down with a big move, Gargano would kick out and get up. This match eventually came to the end after Ciampa made an attempt at a Bridging Fujiwara Armbar but got countered into a Crucifix pin by Gargano leading to a 3 count. Most certainly the best match of the first round they really did save the best for last. Check this match out. Following this tournament, Ciampa went on to have huge success in NXT winning the NXT Tag Team Championships with Johnny Gargano later on in 2016, the NXT Championship two times in both 2018 as well as in 2021 before eventually going up to the main roster to have some quite middling success so far. (However since typing this review Johnny Gargano has just returned to the main roster and reunited with Tommaso Ciampa as the tag team DIY)
Jason Lee vs Rich Swann - RATING: **3/4
Gotta say I really liked Rich Swann’s theme song for this tournament (which is the first time I’ve mentioned the music in this tournament I’ll note that its been hit or miss) and he just oozes this natural energetic vibe that really makes you wanna get behind the guy. As for the match, for the length it went it was very short yet effective. Swann got to show off some of his best stuff such as a jumping Hurricanarana off the middle rope as well as a really impressive standing 450 which was what ended up picking up the win. Can’t leave out Jason Lee however as everything he did in this actually looked really smooth and clean. After this tournament, Jason Lee ended up doing really well for himself as he found a place within the Dragon Gate promotion at the end of 2017. From there, he ended up winning their mid-card title but also their tag team titles so I’d say fairly successful all things considered!
Moving onto the next contest we have…
Gurv Sihra vs Noam Dar - RATING: *1/4
Very similarly to his brother Harv’s match, this match felt lifeless. There was just nothing to this match that I could get invested in, I don’t know if Dar was off his game here or if he was just going through the motions but there wasn’t really much he could do to carry Gurv to a good match. Dar mercifully put me out of my misery by ending this match with the Champagne Superkneebar. Following this tournament, Gurv Sihra ended up in a notable role along with his brother Harv under the name Sunil Singh becoming a manager for Jinder Mahal on SmackDown when he was the WWE Champion in 2017 before eventually being released and going back to the independent scene a few years later.
In our second to last match of the first round we now have…
Fabian Aichner vs Jack Gallagher - RATING: ***
This match like the first match on this episode was fairly solid with both guys getting to shine in their own respective ways. Gallagher got to shine and showcase little bits of his stuff like his grappling whilst Aichner on the other hand had more spotlight with moves like a Guillotine reversed into a Powerbomb and also a beautiful looking Springboard Moonsault. A really good way to showcase both guys here. The match came to an end after Aichner missed a Frog Splash and then Gallagher would follow up with a Headbutt and Dropkick in the corner for the victory. A gentleman’s three would be the only appropriate rating for this match. After the tournament, Aichner went on to be fairly successful after being signed to the WWE and mainly working in NXT and NXT UK. On those brands, he joined the Imperium stable led by WALTER/Gunther. He would see success by winning the NXT Tag Team Championships with fellow Imperium stablemate Marcel Barthel and eventually all 3 men would go up to the main roster to be one of the highlights of WWE TV.
Our final first round match is the one we’ve all been waiting for…
Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa - RATING: ****
This is the first chapter in the Gargano/Ciampa rivalry and both men certainly delivered. There are so many spots I could talk about in this match that were just outright brutal like the Air Raid Crash on the apron or just violent like the Elbow Ciampa delivered that knocked spit out of Gargano’s mouth within the first few minutes. Both Gargano and Ciampa put out a really good performance here with in my eyes more of a good performance from Ciampa displaying this viciousness that made him live up to the nickname Psycho Killer. Gargano in comparison played a fantastic babyface with heart and guts to him just constantly trying to fight back no matter how much he was beaten up and no matter how many times Ciampa would put him down with a big move, Gargano would kick out and get up. This match eventually came to the end after Ciampa made an attempt at a Bridging Fujiwara Armbar but got countered into a Crucifix pin by Gargano leading to a 3 count. Most certainly the best match of the first round they really did save the best for last. Check this match out. Following this tournament, Ciampa went on to have huge success in NXT winning the NXT Tag Team Championships with Johnny Gargano later on in 2016, the NXT Championship two times in both 2018 as well as in 2021 before eventually going up to the main roster to have some quite middling success so far. (However since typing this review Johnny Gargano has just returned to the main roster and reunited with Tommaso Ciampa as the tag team DIY)
So that concludes the first round review of the Cruiserweight Classic! Certainly some crackers in there but also some really nice hidden gems! Would most certainly recommend watching some of them but other ones such as the 1 star matches are most certainly avoid at all costs. With that, I'll be back with Round 2 at some point soon!
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