AKIRA TOZAWA VS. GENTLEMAN JACK GALLAGHER w/DREW GULAK & THE BRIAN KENDRICK
Two guys with excellent technical skills. Not a lot of guys can frustrate an opponent the way Gallagher can, but Tozawa almost equals him in that department. Unfortunately for Tozawa, Gallagher has backup in Gulak and Kendrick that run interference and provide distractions. Following a Kendrick distraction, Gallagher begins picking Tozawa apart with the body manipulation that he’s known for.
Gallagher may have the body manipulation and submission expertise, but Tozawa has high-flying ability, speed, and holy shit KICKS! Gallagher goes up to the top rope, which is not his milieu, and I think it’s going to cost him. Tozawa of course counters and hits his ridiculously high seated Senton for the win. Great back-and-forth match, and huge win for Tozawa with the numbers stacked against him.
Match Rating: Six Gold Medals
After the match, Drew Gulak re-introduces his PowerPoint presentation, picking right up where he left off months ago. Kendrick attacks Gulak and Gallagher before they can attack him, but he can’t hold off the two-on-one attack.
Beat Down Rating: One Randy Orton
Drake Maverick confirms we’re getting a “can’t miss” match between Hideo Itami and Mustafa Ali. Hell yeah!
KALISTO w/GRAN METALIK & LINCE DORADO VS. TJP
TJP’s background is as a masked luchador, so it’s easy for him to keep up with Kalisto and to have an awesome chain-wrestling match. Kalisto seems to be frustrating the hell out of the cocky TJP, who needs to get his focus back if he’s gonna win this match. Kalisto needs to stop screwing around with walking on his hands and get serious, because that only works to annoy the opponent for so long.
Inevitably TJP does kick him in the gut while he’s walking on his hands and takes control of the match. He tries to rip off Kalisto’s mask but just rips the part that hands down his back. TJP stops a Kalisto comeback with something awesome that looked like a springboard Russian leg sweep. Kalisto went for the move where he bounces off the second rope and hits a reverse body block, and TJP jumped along with him off the rope. Terrific-looking move.
TJP is great at transitioning one move into another, that’s why I said this would be an awesome chain-wrestling match. He makes a big mistake by taking WAY too much time to climb the top ropes and taunt the crowd once he got up there, and Kalisto easily rolled away from his attempted splash. Big comeback for Kalisto and a basement-rana for a two count.
For these great cruiserweight matches, I start out the review trying not to do a play-by-play type analysis, but there’s so many great things that just keep happening that I end up writing all of it down. I never go back and edit myself, I like to keep a good flow, I hope this makes it kind of a unique way to review matches. Back to the match, Kalisto hit… some fucking awesome thing called a Victory Bomb, it was some sort of reverse Sunset Flip type thing off the top rope… I’m not even going to begin to try to describe it, just watch it yourself. Kalisto has such a great offensive arsenal. After Kalisto goes for Salida del Sol, TJP hits a dropkick to the knee then locksin the knee bar, and is even able to hold on to it after Kalisto rolls his body weight over for a pin attempt. Amazingly, Kalisto is able to hold on and get to the ropes.
If I was there, I would definitely start a “this is awesome” chant. TJP ALMOST gets Kalisto’s mask off, but Lince Dorado comes running down to distract him, and Kalisto gets the roll-up win. Disgustingly, TJP attacks Kalisto after the bell, and is able to unmask Kalisto and make off with it as a trophy while Kalisto’s Lucha House Party brethren shield his face.
Terrific action here, and a great ending with TJP once again getting a mask.
Match Rating: Eight Gold Medals
Overall Show Rating: Seven Gold Medals
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