The WWE Global Cruiserweight show

[topropepodcast]

I think Kota gets upset in the semis, and the final is Metallik and TJP, with them both coming to Raw.

[JKWebb]

I kind of got the feeling, while watching last night's episode, that we are heading towards a TJP upset. They really seem behind him. I don't think they'll put the win on Kota if he truly is not going to come in full time. I think the Sabre Jr. match from last night was probably my favorite one of his thus far in the tournament. I enjoyed it. The CWC has just been a blast.

[El Dragon]

I still firmly stand behind Metalik being the winner of this tournament, beating Ibushi in the final. I think anyone but Kota in the final will kinda be shit on a bit.

[C.S.]

This is a Kayfabe News article, but it's a very funny commentary on, er, the commentary.

 

CWC competitor performs Yes Lock, Bryan exclaims he’s never seen anything like it

 

http://www.kayfabenews.com/cwc-competitor-performs-yes-lock-bryan-exclaims-hes-never-seen-anything-like/

[Johnny Sorrow]

Holy fuck, I hated Sabre vs Dar. During the quick "mat wrestling" back and forth of trying to get holds it didn't look like they were trying to lock anything in. I'll give credit to the fact that the finish looked sick, but the rest of the match stunk, IMO. If that's what floats your boat than good on ya and I hope you liked it , but I thought it was fucking terrible. And as much as I'm digging Mauro, calling the crowd there an "educated audience" cause they dig this shit is just the worst pandering to dummies.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I really liked Swann vs Perkins after the first five minutes or so. I'm not a member of the Church Of Sellingtology but this was good shit.

[Indikator]

And as much as I'm digging Mauro, calling the crowd there an "educated audience" cause they dig this shit is just the worst pandering to dummies.

 

Do you realize that this should be praised and not perceived as an insult?

[Codysseus]

I thought ZSJ was better in his match with Noam Dar, but the match didn't work for me. Dar's *so* awkward. There were multiple times where I couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny with his selling. So much of this match seemed contrived, so as much as I thought some of the stuff they did was neat, I never really got invested. After all the leg work on ZSJ, he hurts his arm so they can have a clever finish where he can't use his arm for the Rings of Saturn. but his leg's fine now and...yeah. I don't get it. Maybe that would've worked better for me and seemed more natural if the rest of the match wasn't similar.

[JKWebb]

Haha, yeah I was saying the ZSJ match was my favorite of his (in CWC), but to clarify, it's nowhere near my favorite of the tournament. I didn't hate it like Johnny. One of my problem's with ZSJ is his lack of emotion. I also agree that Kota has to be in the final. I don't think I was paying attention to the brackets when I stated TJP would win. They do really seem behind him though.

[Migs]

They've been able to make people in them having a good match with Ibushi - so my thinking is they have to use him all the way through the tournament. I'd also bet on Metallic pulling the upset in the finals.

[C.S.]

And as much as I'm digging Mauro, calling the crowd there an "educated audience" cause they dig this shit is just the worst pandering to dummies.

 

I interpreted that as him covering up for the relative silence of the crowd.

 

Mauro: Look at this "educated" audience. They're sitting on their hands, silent, watching intently like a Japanese audience. This is reminiscent of the time Keijo Muto - the Great Muta - won his 3rd of 50 IWGP World Heavyweight Titles in the Tokyo Dome. (I'm exaggerating wildly, of course.)

 

Fact: These people don't care about these wrestlers or this match at all, but hey, here are a few claps and some light applause.

 

Bryan: I wrestled Keijo Muto in Virtual Pro Wrestling 64 for the Nintendo 64, which was only available in Japan, and Muta had some of the hardest kicks in all of professional wrestling. I lost a close match due to jetlag.

[World's Worst Man]

I thought ZSJ was better in his match with Noam Dar, but the match didn't work for me. Dar's *so* awkward. There were multiple times where I couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny with his selling. So much of this match seemed contrived, so as much as I thought some of the stuff they did was neat, I never really got invested. After all the leg work on ZSJ, he hurts his arm so they can have a clever finish where he can't use his arm for the Rings of Saturn. but his leg's fine now and...yeah. I don't get it. Maybe that would've worked better for me and seemed more natural if the rest of the match wasn't similar.

 

Agreed on Dar. He's awkward and he actually kind of sucks. No idea at all why the WWE is interested in him.

 

The Perkins-Swann match was alright. Swann wasn't embarrassing this time and I kind of liked the "friends mocking each other" bit. There's something sterile about Perkins though. He's not bad, he just doesn't seem totally natural.

[jcmmnx]

Sabre has the worst selling and facial expressions of anyone on WWE tv right now. Is there a reason he has to sit up after every big move with a stupid look on his face like he's trying to remember where he left his keys? Most of the time he acts like he's above selling then when he tries to do it it's awful. I have no idea how he gained a rep as a great worker when half his game is dogshit.

[C.S.]

Agreed on Dar. He's awkward and he actually kind of sucks. No idea at all why the WWE is interested in him.

I don't get it either. I realize he's not French, but his weird mannerisms would make him perfect for a New La Resistance team.

 

There's something sterile about Perkins though. He's not bad, he just doesn't seem totally natural.

 

Sterile is the perfect way to describe Perkins.

[Grimmas]

The shutting on Sabre Jr is so bizarre to me. Yes this tournament is not his best work, but he's doing pretty good for the opponents he has. I liked the Dar match.

 

Anyway, he's been great in Evolve this year.

[sek69]

I don't see how it's bizarre, none of his matches in the CWC have been setting the world on fire, and not everyone follows Evolve.

[The Thread Killer]

I don't follow EVOLVE, but I'd heard buzz about ZSJ. I'd never heard of Noam Dar before the CWC. To be honest, I haven't been one little bit impressed with either of them. I was somewhat relieved to see that I am not the only one who finds Dar awkward and rather lame. I have no idea why WWE signed him. Based on what I've seen of him so far, I could never see another Noam Dar match again and live a long, happy life.

 

As far as ZSJ...yes, it doesn't help that I had read/heard good things. But I'm pretty sure that even if I had never heard tell of him before, I still wouldn't have been impressed with him based on his performances in the CWC. With all honesty, what has there been to be impressed about? He has been lackluster and uninspiring at best. I'm certainly not going to go and seek out more of his work based on what I've seen. In my opinion - and this is just my opinion - Sabre dropped the ball so far in the CWC. He shit the bed.

 

This tournament has been an opportunity for those booked to really grab people's attention and make a name for themselves. Some have succeeded. Look at Cedric Alexander. I can't count the number of Cedric matches I saw in ROH, and he never impressed me. I thought he was bland and average. In the CWC he took the once in a lifetime opportunity combined with quality of opponent, and RAN with that mofo. Ditto Kendrick. He grabbed the audience, and shook them by the neck, screaming "I CAN STILL GO DAMN YOU." Ciampa and Gargano similarly took their shot with gusto. Jack Gallagher is a guy I am now seeking out. Hell, I might even go to one of his last indie bookings here in Toronto next week.

 

Other guys have been just good, or have performed to the level they were more or less expected to. Some guys were not so good. (I'm looking at YOU, Ho Ho.) But Zack Sabre is one of the rare cases of a guy coming in with a rep and for my money, he hasn't shown me much except that he needs new tights, he has a bright red nose, and he could probably stand to spend more time in the gym and less time trying to come up with cutesy counter holds.

 

There, I said it.

[WingedEagle]

ZSJ is someone I've never been able to understand the fuss about. He's smooth and wrestles pretty smartly. Beyond that I think he comes up short in most departments. He offense is incredibly light, and while stiffness is not any kind of prerequisite in wrestling, his offense legitimately doesn't look like it would hurt me or any of my friends. And we're not tough guys. There's zero impressive impact. Most of his spots and chain sequences also look terribly cooperative in that they often look as though he's relying on his opponent to help him through them. It would also help if he developed his selling beyond the glassy eyed / eyes roll back in his head. Great name though.

[Grimmas]

I can understand not being impressed by him or thinking he lives up to the hype. I get all that.

 

It's this talk of him being awful or the worse in the tournament that completely baffles me.

[El Dragon]

Well, if we are going just by tournament work, it's an easy argument to make that he's been one of the weaker guys to have made it to even round 2. He's yet to really have a blow away good match, and the "he hasn't faced good opponents" argument doesn't hold, cause Drew Gulak as pretty damned great. He's had the worst tournament out of anyone in the final 4, and if it weren't for Dar, the same would probably be said of anyone in the final 8.

 

It also hasn't helped that Jack Gallagher came across as a 20 times better version of someone working a very similar style. Also, his strikes look like shit, and he's an awful seller.

[sek69]

I don't think ZSJ has been awful as much as there's been a lot of guys I've been more impressed with in the tournament. He just comes off as a guy transported from World of Sport, which doesn't seem to fit in a group like this. Plus, yes, Jack Gallagher is basically the same guy with all the Sports Entertainment aspects WWE would want someone to have.

[Cap]

I really love and hate ZSJ. I tend to like his work more than dislike, but his style is such that it can really hit or really miss. I think his WOS influence - because it is so much more pronounced than others - really needs to reach a sort of fusion with the style of his opponent and surroundings. I agree that it hasn't really hit full on in this tournament, but I don't think he has been terrible because so much of this tournament has been showcase stuff and that is what he has been doing in a lot of ways. I like ZSJ, he just hasn't really jumped off the page and has seemed a bit disconnected in places. It is all made worse by their clear highlighting of him.

[C.S.]

It's this talk of him being awful or the worse in the tournament that completely baffles me.

In case this is a reference to my post, I said he was one of the worst people still in the tournament (I probably posted that during the final eight). That's a pretty important distinction.

 

Still, yeah, none of ZSJ's tournament matches have set the world on fire. His match with Dar was probably the best for both of them, but Dar is another guy I've gone on record as seeing very little in.

 

It also irritates me - and I assume others - that they had a much better version of ZSJ in Jack Gallagher and had him inexplicably lose in the second round.

[Jimmy Redman]

I thought Zack vs Dar was good, but there was a moment where Dar threw a tope for no reason that made me realise that for the cruiser division on Raw, there needs to be a heel who's gimmick is knocking a guy to the floor, feigning to run for a dive and then stopping, flipping off the crowd and telling the ref to start the countout. It's not a dynamic that works for the CWC, but on Raw someone has to be the anti-cruiserweight. Dar works for that spot since he seems like a natural heel and is billed as a ground guy. Anyway I liked this just fine (more than I was expecting maybe) with the dueling limbwork, and the fact that Dar abandoning the leg for the arm was his downfall. Finish looked disgusting.

 

TJP/Swann exceeded my expectations and was pretty good. I liked the use of the cutesy dance-off stuff early, and how Swann in particular used it to transition into something more serious by taking it personally. I also liked how they got to the legwork, with Swann landing on it, but TJP not going after it and the announcers wondering why, until they realised that maybe he didn't see Swann get hurt...until he DID see it and then started working on it. It was really well done, a good example of making things seem "real" as they play out in front of you. Swann sold the leg well, and TJ having his own bad back to deal with added another wrinkle. Finish was a little movesy but still, good stuff.

 

On another note, I kind of dig how so many of these matches involve injuries and limb work angles. There are a lot of them, but it fits in so well with the whole pure sports build~! of it all. Along with the idea of competing wrestling styles and jetlag and stuff, is also the idea that the match is a fight and in a fight if you're doing a bunch of moves designed to weaken or hurt the other guy, they're likely to get injured to some degree. If you're doing a bunch of moves called "high risk", it makes sense that sometimes you end up injuring yourself attempting something. And then it makes sense for the other guy to exploit your injury. It's not just the magic of pro wrestling moves that allows guys to hit them one after the other for two counts until one magic move gets the three count at the end. There's a logic there, both to the moves used during the match, and to why the match ends the way it does - usually because an injured limb is put in a submission hold or buckles at the wrong moment or whatever. Pure sportz build~!

 

The semis look wide open which is cool. They played it up like Zack was injured coming out of his match so maybe that plays into the semi and gives him an out to lose to Metalik. Ibushi is the biggest star but they push him so much that I can see an upset happening, particularly since he isn't signing up. But Ibushi vs Metalik is probably the best finals match on paper.

[Ryan Faulconer]

I haven't seen any of the CWC (I don't have the network up here) but I wanted to pop in and say that there is a fair bit of ZSJ and Jack Gallagher (Will Ospreay too if he were relevant to the conversation) on youtube and dailymotion - perhaps "other" places as well . As a fan of ZSJ I can't relate to the apathy towards him in this thread at all. His matches with Chris Hero have compliment his style and Hero's quite well. It was a clash of styles for sure...but more like a Clash of the Titans-style clashing than awkward mishmash clash. I can't say I'm much of a Noam Dar fan either but some searches online probably give you a handful of good matches as well. Those matches may be against ZSJ/Ospreay/Scurll/etc but a good match is a good match is a good match...or so they say. There must be ten or more UK promotions with footage freely available online.

 

Fans like what they like but I just had to add my two cents in defense of some of the subjects discussed.