BUDDY MURPHY VS. GRAN METALIK
These matches between Murphy/Nese and the members of Lucha House Party have been absolutely incredible. I’m really looking forward to this one. Early on Metalik shows his athleticism and Murphy shows his strength and brutality. We see Metalik flying and bouncing around while Murphy uses strikes and throws. I have a feeling we’re going to see both wrestlers’ full arsenals before the match is over.
Metalik hits a nice sunset flip power bomb from the top rope, and I’m hoping from there the match picks up a bit. There had to be some rest holds to conserve some energy if they plan on going full bore for the rest of the match, and I hope that’s the case. Metalik starts to take over and going through his array of dives before Murphy knocks him onto the top turnbuckle balls first. Murphy catches Metalik’s dropkick attempt and counters with a huge power bomb for a two count.
Now business REALLY picks up and the two start hitting some high impact moves at a frantic pace. This is what I was waiting for. Metalik Driver gets a two count. Metalik jams his knee on a flip, Murphy takes advantage with a running knee to the face and Murphy’s Law for the win. Not as good as the previous matches I’d mentioned, but entertaining nonetheless.
Match Rating: Six Gold Medals
POST-MATCH PROMO: BUDDY MURPHY
He says he’s the biggest and fastest cruiserweight and he’s going to win the Cruiserweight Championship in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. He sounded pretty lame here in a mostly pointless promo.
Promo Rating: Three Bobby Lashleys
MUSTAFA ALI VS. MICHAEL THOMPSON
Hideo Itami comes out and cuts a promo in Japanese and English taunting Ali. I didn’t think the announcers even know the jobber’s name because they never said it until the match was just about over. It was over quickly. I love that 054. Ali is able to beat Thompson while keeping his eyes on Itami most of the match to show him YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, I’M BACK AND I’M READY FOR YOU! Ali looked tremendous in this match. That’s on Thompson too, who sold extremely well and made Ali look flawless. You can say it’s easy to just go out there and get your ass kicked, but no, it’s not. A bad sell job by a jobber makes the star look bad, and we’ve all seen that happen on multiple occasions. This match was about making Ali look strong and in tip-top shape, and it accomplished exactly that. That’s why even though it was a total squash:
Match Rating: Eight Gold Medals
Hideo Itami Promo Rating: Four Roddy Pipers
BACKSTAGE PROMOS: NOAM DAR & LIO RUSH
Dar pokes fun at Rush and points out that he was younger than Rush when he debut. Rush tells him to keep Rush’s name out of his mouth, but his promo sucks compared to what we usually get from him.
Noam Dar Promo Rating: Three Stone Colds
Lio Rush Promo Rating: One Bobby Lashley
CEDRIC ALEXANDER & AKIRA TOZAWA VS. GENTLEMAN JACK GALLAGHER & DREW GULAK
It’s a little surprising to see Alexander and Gulak start the match. People have been wanting to see Alexander get Gulak back for the recent attacks, and they usually save that until late in the match. Then again, it was more of a tease than anything, as Gulak quick tags in Gallagher, who immediately starts with his body manipulation techniques before Cedric’s athleticism and talent gets him the upper hand.
After Alexander and Tozawa pull the double feint punch on Gallagher, we get Gulak and Tozawa as the legal men. Nice to see Tozawa turns the tables on the submission specialist with an Octopus Stretch. A blind tag by Gallagher has Tozawa in trouble, and the match moves to the heels’ corner of the ring. Tozawa is bound to take some punishment for a few minutes here to set up a hot tag to Alexander.
Smart, quick tags by Gallagher and Gulak keep the tired and beaten down Tozawa in the ring and keep the heels fresh. It also keeps the cruiserweight champion out of the ring. Gallagher smartly hits him with a cheap shot, and he and Gulak are able to double team Tozawa in their corner while the referee (little Naitch, see my profile pic!) is busy stopping Alexander from getting into the ring. Classic heel tag team tactics.
Tozawa is able to hit a DDT and get to Alexander while Gulak gets to Gallagher. Alexander gets a few near falls, including one off of one of my favorite moves, the Spanish Fly. After a distraction by Gulak, Gallagher hits a dropkick on Alexander for a two count, broken up by Tozawa, then tags in Gulak. They hit a clothesline/running chop block high/low maneuver on Alexander for a two count, another awesome move.
Another awesome move is Tozawa’s missile dropkick, which he hits on Gallagher after tagging himself in, then he follows it up with a suicide dive. Gulak pulls Gallagher out of the way of Tozawa’s Senton finisher, then Gulak and Gallagher smash Alexander into the ring post. Gallagher head butts Tozawa and Gulak comes in to finish him off with the Gu-Lock. Heels win. I like the flow of the match and the way it was executed. I’m a little iffy on the finish, but it seems like Gulak may be destined for bigger things soon, as evidenced by his appearances on Raw the past two weeks. Just as I say that, Gulak gets a Cruiserweight Championship match next week.
Match Rating: Six Gold Medals
Overall Show Rating: Six Gold Medals
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