The fast-paced Gen:X league took centre stage on the latest round of NGW TV!
A recap of a ladder match from last season opens up the show, including the bit where NGW almost did a reverse WWE as Chardonnay nearly took the ladder match contract on behalf of Bubblegum. Matt Myers won the ladder match to retain the Gen:X cup… which he needed to in order to get his title shot against Nathan Cruz, and the rest is history!
On a tangent, it’s a little jarring how far behind NGW is on TV, when you look at shows they’re promoting in 2018 versus what’s making air right now. Anyway, they’re not making Myers vacate either title, but we do need a number one contender for the Gen:X cup, so we’re getting this match.
Jake McCluskey vs. Robbie X vs. Bubblegum vs. El Ligero
Jake’s out with Roxxy, who is neither Little, nor a Miss in NGW, while Jake’s got the new moniker of “The Unique”. Eh, it’s better than “Mister Moonsault”, and the plaintive name that Bubblegum got, “bad guy”. You think they want us to boo him?Usual Gen:X rules apply, so we’ve a ten minute time limit here, with the bell starting when all four men are touching the top turnbuckle at the same time.
Apparently Joseph Conners will be on NGW next week, challenging for Matt Myers NGW title. I guess that answers our question over whether he’d be able to appear with that WWE deal…
Bubblegum goes straight for McCluskey as Ligero and Robbie just watched on, but it’s not long before this broke down into the “two in, two out” formula. Fifteen seconds, in fact. Cheers for leaving the timer on that long!
It’s frantic stuff, as you’d expect it to be with that ten minute time limit, but we keep going back to Bubblegum and McCluskey as they decide now’s the perfect time for a commercial break. We return… to a Zack Gibson promo. Oh God, why kill the flow of a match like this? At least we get some contrasting shots of a younger, clean-shaven Gibson mixed in with his current, erm, grizzled look.
Back to the match, we’re told that the Destiny Rumble is in three weeks’ time, as Bubblegum teased working with Robbie X against McCluskey… but that swiftly ends as Bubblegum can’t help himself. El Ligero comes in, but nearly takes the fall when McCluskey stood on his back and hit a moonsault for a near-fall as the match approaches the four-minute mark.
We’re back to Bubblegum and McCluskey, but Roxxy comes in to jump onto Bubblegum’s back… he shrugs it off and tries for an Ice Cream Headache, but that too is avoided as Bubblegum and Jake head outside for the obligatory dive series, culminating in a flip dive from Ligero as we’ve passed the halfway mark.
In the ring, Ligero goes for a C4L, but Jake shrugs it off as we enter a rampant Parade of Moves, ending with a snap German suplex off the ropes from Robbie X, who mounted into a sustained period of offence as he nearly took the win. Again the timer appears to tell us we’re into the final quarter, just as Robbie eased further ahead… before looking for a Dudebuster on Ligero.
Bubblegum breaks it up with an enziguiri that turned it into a Code Red as bodies continued to flail… Backpack stunner from Bubblegum to Ligero only gets McCluskey’s attention again, but Jake misses a moonsault and gets clotheslined to the outside as Ligero and Robbie remain in the ring. Another X-Express handspring stunner is attempted, but Ligero avoids it before he’s put on the top rope for a superplex… Ligero claps his way free and knocks Robbie down for the Mexican Wave, only for time to run out as he couldn’t even begin the pin attempt. So, ten minutes is inconclusive, and this match… a draw! **¾
Well, that’s the breaks with such a short time limit… it kinda made the match rather wasteful, as there was a lot of stuff going on with nothing other than the Bubblegum/McCluskey story actually sticking.
We cut to a sit-down promo from Matt Myers, talking about his NGW title win over Nathan Cruz last season, and how he’s now out for retribution after Joseph Conners stole his moment at the end of it. This was an episode that left you feeling a little hollow at the end of it, if you take in the fact we had a drawn match here, but at least it was an action-packed draw as NGW works towards their centre-piece in the Destiny Rumble.