Last week, the cruiserweight classic debuted and gave a slew of new talent a time to shine. Tonight, we see TJ Perkins make his WWE debut and Tajiri returns to the company for the first time since the 2006 ECW One Night Stand PPV. Mauro and Bryan hype up the event and go to Corey running down the brackets. Corey recaps the match results and we see tonight’s card. Tajiri comes out in the opener looking a bit more in shape than he did in TNA. He will face Damian Slater, an Australian who talks about coming in the underdog in every company he’s been in and wanting to win everyone over. Mauro talks about how Australia gave us the Kangaroos and Outback Jack.
Slater does a ton of arm-based matwork, but uses the ropes to get a brief edge. Tajiri lands his signature sick kicks to the back and elbows. Tajiri locks on a Kimura, but Slater makes it to the rope. Slater hits a discus kick and a corkscrew dive to the floor. Slater hits some kicks in the corner and lands a tornado DDT before hitting a slick sliding knee for 2. Slater goes to take the legs out, but Tajiri responds with kicks, and even sicker kicks standing up. Tajiri locks on the Tarantula to a huge pop. Slater ducks under the buzzsaw kick, but eats a handspring elbow and the buzzsaw kick ends it.
TJ Perks vs. Da Mack is up next. We get clips of TJ’s background, talking about wrestling since he was 13, being homeless at one point. Nothing about his TNA run is mentioned. Da Mack is from Germany and his video begins with disco and him moonwalking. TJ is in a baggy version of his TJP getup in TNA and he’s got a pretty slick theme. Da Mack gets a dance-heavy theme that fits him perfectly. Mauro brings up another German dancing wrestler – Alex Wright. We get a handshake to start things off.
Armdrag into a tumbling exchange leads to TJ hitting a dropkick. Bryan puts him over for getting an edge and checking his hair in the process. TJ plants him with a modified headscissors and then dancing a bit. Da Mack gets two leapfrogs and a dropkick – right out of Sanada’s playbook from the opening night of the G1. Mack gets an uppercut and takes him down. He tosses him in, but TJ flips through and gets a Boston Crab along with a rocking horse and then a Muta lock. TJP gets pulled down face-first on the apron. Mack hits a somersault dive and almost overshoots TJP.
Mack showboats and TJP flips into a Muta lock. Mack gets to the rope while Mauro puts over Muta and how you can watch his work on WWE Network. Mack forearms him, and TJP hits a European uppercut. Perkins goes for the double-arm gutbuster, but Mack gets a victory roll for 2. Mack hits a top rope Beautiful Disaster kick for 2. Perkins puts him into the 619 position for a triangle dropkick and a 450 misses. Mack goes for a spinning headscissor, but eats a facebuster and then the fireman’s carry kick hits. TJP locks on a kneebar and wins via tapout.
Lince Dorado faces Mutafa Ali next. Ali is from Chicago and is a 13 year veteran. He has trained in every style and is shown doing an imploding 450 splash. Lince is a 10 year veteran “as Lince Dorado” and has lucha libre experience. We see some Dragon Gate USA footage with him. Ali comes out in a slick bomber jacket and Bryan talks about Ali also being a police officer. His black and white gear is pretty slick. Lince is known as the Golden Lynx because he always lands on his feet.
We get a handslap instead of a hanshake by Ali. Ali pounds away in the corner, but Lince gets a spinning headscissors takedown. Ali avoids a roll and hits a running knee off the apron. Lince chops him, but Ali avoids a corner charge and hits a neckbreaker for 2. Lince lands a couple of kicks, but gets picked up and kicked in the spine for 2. BME gets 2 for Ali and a dropkick gives Lince an edge.
Ali’s backfist is avoided and he spinkicks him into the buckle. A springboard rana hits for Dorado and then hits a triangle dropkick before hitting a headscissors takedown off the apron to a “holy shit” chant. An Asai moonsault hits for Lince! A crossbody gets 2 for Lince, but Ali gets a jawbracker, but then eats a Pele and a springboard reverse rana for 2.5! Ali is put up top, but Ali hits a Spanish Fly for 2. Ali goes for the inverted 450 and Lince goes up top and hits a gorgeous SSP for the win.
Akira Tozawa faces Kenneth Johnson next in our main event. Tozawa says that whether fans know him or not, they’ll be entertained by him and he’s always dreamed of wrestling for WWE. Johnson says he’s a hard-fighting man and he’s determined to keep going. He’s here to inspire others and take them on his journey. Tozawa comes out in his slick black and orange getup and he says he’s the best at everything. Johnson gets a pretty good little rock anthem. He saw HBK make his entrance at WrestleMania XII and was hooked every since. He was trained by Curtis Hughes, did a WWE tryout but was told to work on his stutter – so he fixed it and he’s back now. We get a handshake to start things off.
Mauro talks about how Johnson would talk two miles to get to the bus stop to go to Funaki’s school. Tozawa gets a facelock and then a go-behind. Johnson wrings the arm, but rolls with Tozawa when he tries to escape. Tozawa gets a hammerlock and headlock. Johnson takes him down and gets a leglock, but Tozawa counters, so he turns it into a facelock and rolls with it.
Tozawa grinds with a headlock and gets a shining wizard off a sunset flip counter for 2. Big chop exchange between them leads to Tozawa starting with a chop and then just slugging him. Tozawa gets a seated abdominal stretch, but Johnson fights out. Discus forearm by Tozawa, but Johnson gets a calf kick. German hits Johnson, but he recovers and they take each other down with a double lariat. Johnson hits a big forearm, but it fires up Tozawa for a forearm combo. Johnson is fired up and hits a Codebreaker for 2. Johnson hits the inverted Unprettier for 2. Johnson gets a victory roll for 2.9, but Tozawa hits a snap German! A deadlift snap German ends it! This was outstanding a star-making performance for Johnson. This was an excellent match, and a better show than the first week – which was still darn good.
Screenshot Gallery –
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