Intrust Bank Arena– Wichita, KS – Tuesday, January 22, 2019
General Manager Drake Maverick introduces tonight’s two matches – Humberto Carrillo against Gran Metalik, and a Triple Threat Match between Kalisto, Akira Tozawa, and Hideo Itami.
Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Aiden English are on commentary.
~MATCH #1~
Humberto Carrillo defeats Gran Metalik at 10:33. Both men show off their agility in the early going, responding to each other move for move. Momentum swings back and forth, as both men are putting in the effort, but the crowd isn’t really responding. They do pick up a little bit down the stretch, and Carrillo gets a nice pop for his headstand moonsault that gets the pin. Solid match here but so far Carrillo is just a guy and nothing about him really stands out. I’m not done with him, I’m just not sure what they’re expecting out of him at this point.
Rating: **¾
Backstage, Maverick is with Drew Gulak and Gentleman Jack Gallagher. Maverick is trying to sell them on Carrillo’s tremendous upside. They’re not buying. Then, Tony Nese barges in and asks for a rematch with Noam Dar. Maverick says he’ll consider it, and Nese isn’t thrilled.
Elsewhere, Akira Tozawa and The Brian Kendrick cut a promo about his Cruiserweight Title opportunity on Sunday. Kalisto and Lince Dorado get similar promo time.
Just before going out for the match, Kayla Braxton gets a word with Hideo Itami and Ariya Daivari. They mention that Itami has never won WWE gold and he really wants to add that to his resume.
~MATCH #2~
Hideo Itami defeats Akira Tozawa and Kalisto at 12:18 in a Triple Threat Match. No corner men are out for this match, which I think is great. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy comes out to scout his competition. After the initial flurry, Itami settles in and he isolates Tozawa and Kalisto, and that way can beat them both up. That works for a little while, but things get complicated when Murphy decides to interfere, and since there are no disqualifications, he attacks of three of his upcoming challengers. The Champ gets a little too cocky, and he gets taken out and sent to the floor by Kalisto and Tozawa. Back in the ring, Tozawa and Itami go at it but neither man can put the other away. Kalisto breaks that up briefly, but he gets sent to the floor. Itami connects with the falling knee strike on Tozawa to get the win. Good action here, and involvement from the Champ made sense.
Rating: ***¼
JZ Says
The main event was a good preview for the upcoming four-way match, and Itami going over was the right call. I’m not too sure where this Humberto Carrillo push is going, but his match tonight was pretty solid so let’s see where it goes.
