LINCE DORADO & KALISTO VS. TONY NESE & BUDDY MURPHY
Nese does a springboard moonsault, which was awesome, and I don’t ever remember seeing him do that before. It’s certainly not his normal style, he’s usually just speed and power, not high-risk. Kalisto is the one taking the punishment in the match, as he gets worked over for a good 5-10 minutes before finally making a hot tag to Dorado, who enters the ring with a double cross body from the top rope to take out Nese and Murphy.
Dorado hits an awesome springboard double Stunner to both guys. That was sick. Murphy distracts Kalisto, who looks like an absolute idiot grabbing through air at the ropes with Murphy a good 15 feet away before getting rolled up from behind by Nese to end the match. Nothing great here, a couple good spots, but it left me unimpressed.
Match rating: Three Gold Medals
NOAM DAR VS. SEAN MALUTA
Both the ring announcer and the commentators called him “Sean Mulatta”. That’s a great start. I know I’ve seen him wrestle in NXT, but he didn’t leave enough of an impression on me to remember anything about him. He’s pretty vicious on Dar’s surgically repaired knee. They show TJP watching the match backstage, so obviously his feud with Dar isn’t over. A running knee by Dar ends a quick match. There was hardly anything to this match. Even as a squash, it could’ve been done a lot better.
Match Rating: Two Gold Medals
Cedric Alexander vs. Gentleman Jack Gallagher and Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa are both happening next week. I’m especially looking forward to Rush vs. Tozawa.
MUSTAFA ALI VS. HIDEO ITAMI
A lot of quickness in this match, both guys show it off with counter after counter until Ali connects with a dropkick. He’s definitely taking Itami out of his game early, you can see Itami getting frustrated. Ali looks like he hurt his lower back on his somersault dive to the outside and that will likely play a big part in the match.
It’s REALLY gonna play a part after Ali gets dropkicked spine first into the ring post. Damn that looked painful. Ali has no offense for a good five minutes after that. Just as it looks like he gets rolling, he literally rolls right into a roundhouse kick tot he face. Brutal. He recovers and tries the same thing and time connects with an X-Factor for a two count. I really don’t agree with old finishers becoming just regular parts of current wrestlers’ move sets. The springboard stunner is an example. There’s a few guys who do it now and it devalues the original move The X-Factor and the Michinoku Driver are other examples.
Ali hits one of the best power bombs I’ve ever seen, but only gets a two count. To steal a JR line, he folded Itami up like an accordion. I’m surprised Itami was able to recover from it so quickly. Itami hits his own awesome move, an overhead toss into the corner with Ali hitting the turnbuckle spine first and upside down. Itami dropkicks the steps after Ali moves then Ali hits a jumping DDT from the top rope. It’s gettin’ WILD!
Ali sets up for the 054, but he nearly collapses on the top turnbuckle, playing out the storyline of him coming back from illness too soon. Itami hits three basement dropkicks for the win. I’m not sure how the dizziness/sickness angle is going to play itself out going forward, I don’t really see how it furthers anything. Just don’t let him wrestle until he feels better, angle over. Anyway, it was the first really good match of the night.
Match Rating: Seven Gold Medals
Overall Show Rating: Four Gold Medals
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