Watching Tajiri kick the ever-loving shit out of someone will never get old. He even threw in some cool wrist and hammer locks, but those were just for show. This was all about the feet. Slater had some cool-looking moves, including a slick pinning combination that I really can’t describe. I would watch him again.
Perkins is a star. Sign him now. He’s a total package: looks, promos, showmanship and offense that can either be super flashy, aerial or hardcore technical. He’s becoming a huge favorite of mine. Da Mack was a lot of fun to watch with his own stylish offense. This was easily match of the night. Perkins locks Da Mack in a Boston crab, grabs Da Mack’s arms, then stands up...Da Fuck was that?
Dorado and Ali started off pretty slowly, particularly Ali. But then it turned it a crazy ass spotfest. After an apron-to-floor headscissors, a springboard reverse rana, a Spanish fly and an inverted 450, the match ends with a simple shooting star press? The SSP looked so sweet though. Unfortunately, Ali had to receive medical attention after the match and couldn’t even participate in the winner announcement. Hopefully he's OK.
WWE? Tozawa? Wow! This guy should be on the main roster too. Such presence – the mannerisms, facials and yelling. That quick jab to the face in the middle of such a heated chop battle was Piper-esque. And the deadlift bridging German was insane. Johnson got to look really competitive, with tons of counters and reversals.
Next week...holy crap: Sabre Jr/Dux, Gulak/H Sihra, Bennett/Nese, Kendrick/Mendoza
Everything was great! I was a pretty big Tajiri guy when he was in ECW, he hasn't slowed or kicked any slower or softer than he did back then. Seriously his kicks snap like a fucking whip! I kind of felt bad for Damian Slater because the crowd had little to no reaction to most anything he did, but who cares it's TAJIRI!
TJ Perkins is ready for the big time. Dude carries himself like he was returning rather than debuting. Him and German Da mack had a good match. I was totally against Mack, because I was severely dissapointed when it wasn't Lucha Underground's Willie Mack and also who wears cornrows in 2016? I gotta say his Micheal Jackson disco-era funk music hooked me. Like seriously I played it so often I tracked down the full version and put it on my phone. He wasn't bad, he was having fun out there and had a stronger reaction than Damina Slater and was way less awkward than Kenneth Johnson later in the show.
Mustafa Ali has a good look also. Lince and Ali had the straight up spotfest (in the best of terms) high flying match of the evening and it got some audible yelps from me. Particularly the headscissor whip from the apron onto the ramp. Don't now about Lince Dorado's mask though. Bucktooth overbite tiger man had me doubled over when I saw it up close.
More Japanese wrestlers I like! If Tozawa just kept screeching at the crowd for five minutes it would of still been match of the night for me. Johnson was ok, but he was either too slow or missed a step several times. The forearm battles between the two stood out to me as well as the snap German Suplex. Plus the nice spot where the crowd starts yelling like Tozawa and motions for them to be silenced. Then goes back into wild yelling after they obey. Wrestling comedy transcends language differences! I want him signed like today.
Highly recommend everyone here to watch this episode. It told more story in an hour than the draft after months of prep.
Ali looked like he had a cold & accidentally took the Tylenol PM right before the match. Just sluggish & not crisp. And either he botched the reverse 'rana sell, or decided to take the illest head bump I've seen outside All-Japan. I'm guessing the first (although it looked like the leg was the legit knock). I'm wondering if they went home early or maybe even switched the winner because of the injury.
Kozawa is awesome. More Kozawa please. Wait, you're going to almost certainly fight Jack Gallagher next? Prayer is answered!
TJ? I'm not seeing it as much. He seems like he'd kill it in the cruiserweight scene in 1995 WCW, but beyond that?
35 years later, it seems like WWE still doesn't know how to do anything but go with the generic Bill Watts-style "inspirational babyface" push for any debuting black wrestler (I think it was Vince added the "who overcame hardscrabble childhood" to this), which claims Swann, Alexander, and now Johnson.
Question: will there be a first round upset? So far, all the guys with promos in Bracketology or higher indy profiles have one (with the slight exception of Gran Metalik over Alejandro Saez, who got a little time in Bracketology). They could really put someone over as a "Giant Killer" with a first round upset - say, Raul Mendoza over The Brian Kendrick - instead of waiting for the third or fourth round, and also advance the overall story a little more.
I'm feeling really good about picking TJP to win it all. That guy is magic. He's TV-ready right now, and while I initially had him pegged as an NXT mainstay, I wonder if now he goes straight to RAW for whatever Cruiserweight shenanigans they may or may not have planned.
BTW, did anyone notice that they didn't say a damn thing this last week about RAW's supposed Cruiserweight division, after making such a big deal of it the week before? I mean, we all got awfully confused by Kalisto getting sent to Smackdown, but none of this is adding up right now.