10 thoughts on CWC week 7 – Lince Dorado, Zack Sabre Jr, TJ Perkins

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

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1. Round 2 of the Cruiserweight Classic continues, and it’s only a couple of weeks until the inaugural CWC champion will be given a generic-looking trophy designed by some guys who used to have a reality TV show.

2. We kick off with a recap of last weeks events with Noam Dar, Brian Kendrick and Akira Tozawa all advancing to the next round in good to great matches.

3. Our first match of the night is Puerto Rico’s Lince Dorado taking on charismatic American Rich Swann, who dances to the ring with the crowd on his side. Feeling like it could go either way right up until the end, this was a highly entertaining match with amazing high spots, frequent counters and genuine passion. Swann eventually picks up the win with a Phoenix splash that lands right on Dorado’s head. Ouch.

4.  Next up we have the hard hitting Drew Gulak facing technical wizard Zack Sabre Jr, and the match starts out with some frantic chain wrestling as both men try to gain an advantage. As things progress more and more submissions are attempted, with Gulak managing to keep pace with Sabre Jr.

5. If the crowd wasn’t into technical wrestling a few weeks ago they certainly seem to be into it now, which is testament to the skills of both Sabre Jr and Gulak. Fun segment towards the end as Zack and Drew basically slap the crap out of each other, then Gulak tries to lock in his dragon choke but gets reversed by the British wizard.

6. Sabre Jr finally picks up the win with a rolling pin combo, and Gulak shows a display of good sportsmanship on his departure by shaking Zack’s hand. I could see Sabre Jr going to the final round, but skilled as he is I’m not sure he’s got what it takes to best Ibushi at this point.

7. Our main event for the evening is the increasingly arrogant Johnny Gargano vs TJ Perkins from the Philippines, who certainly has some nice moves for a young guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gargano’s attitude ends up costing him the match, but I hope they delay the inevitable breakup of his team with Tommaso Ciampa.

8. This is the final match of the second round, and Perkins takes control early with some smooth chain wrestling and submissions. The commentators sell Johnnys injuries from Takeover II, where he and Ciampa were robbed of the title by the most boring tag team in NXT. Gargano sells like a pro and makes TJ look great, managing the tough task of looking strong while bumping like a maniac.

9. Gargano comes close to taking out his own knee on a flip dive to the outside, but is still able to kick out of a pin attempt from Perkins following a front suplex double knee drop. TJ keeps working the knee as Johnny hits a vicious lawn dart into the turnbuckle, a move which could be very dangerous if done incorrectly. After a marathon match TJ Perkins locks on the knee bar and Gargano is forced to tap out.

10. Another great episode of CWC, although I’d be a little surprised if we saw anyone from tonight (with the possible exception of Zabre Jr) in the final. Either way, I look forward to seeing which of these Cruiserweights are going to turn up on NXT…

JT is a hot air balloonist, writer and tattoo aficionado. He writes about movies, science, music, video games, action figures and professional wrestling.