The first round of the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic concludes this week, headlined by Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano!
#TLDR: The first round of the Cruiserweight Classic wrapped up with the best match of the round between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, whilst Jack Gallagher walked away from Full Sail with some new fans too, following an impressive technical performance against Fabian Aichner.
The Full Review: We open with a recap of last-week, including some confusing “last week we concluded the first half…” commentary. This is the same sorta stuff I railed against NGW for for crying out loud! We’re teased with this week’s matches: Rich Swann vs. Jason Lee, Gurv Sihra vs. Noam Dar, Jack Gallagher vs. Fabian Aichner, plus Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa. This should be great!
Corey Graves is in the CWC control room, and throws to a video package on Rich Swann. There’s clips from his ongoing spell at the Performance Centre, and the move he got in on Baron Corbin during his rare appearances on NXT. Jason Lee gets the same treatment, and his English is nigh-on perfect. Lee’s been wrestling for eight years, and he’s going to show us what a Hong Kong wrestler looks like.
Our Dave Penzer sound-a-like ring announcer still doesn’t have a name, and sadly the “one fall” bollocks made it to Full Sail. Sigh.
Jason Lee vs. Rich Swann
Disappointingly, Swann doesn’t get “All Night Long” for his music, but he gets something that sounds like it could become a sing-a-long tune once he makes it to NXT. The Full Sail crowd chant “all night long” anyway, and Swann starts by grabbing a wristlock. Lee counters with a headlock takedown, but Swann frees himself with some headscissors.
Swann ducks under a leapfrog and takes down Lee with a dropkick for a near-fall, before Lee leapt over him in the corner and laid into him with a series of quick kicks and an enziguiri/roundhouse kick taking Swann down for a near-fall. Lee slows things down with a cravat, but Swann fires back with forearms and a spinning backfist, before sending Lee flying with a hurricanrana off the top rope. A roll into a standing frog splash got Swann a two-count, but Lee hit back with a La Magistral cradle for a near-fall of his own.
Lee runs into a roundhouse from Swann, then gets dragged into the corner as Swann does a standing 450 splash for the win. That was impressive stuff from Swann, and Lee didn’t look too bad either – but this match was far too short. Swann will face Lince Dorado in what should be a high flying second round match. **¾
Mauro Ranallo pitches to more video packages: we start with Gurv Sihra. It’s basically a cut down version of what we saw during the Bracketology special, but with stuff more targeted at Gurv. Noam Dar is next, and he recognises himself as the youngest person in the tournament at 22 (well, 23 now).
Noam Dar vs. Gurv Sihra
Mauro Ranallo says that Dar credits Brock Lesnar as the man who got him hooked in wrestling… well, there’s many worse people! Gurv Sihra gets the same music (I think) that his brother Harv got a few weeks back, and they’re pushing this as India’s last chance in the tournament.
They lock-up to begin with, and Sihra grabs a wristlock, but immediately loses it as they go back and forth with waistlocks. Dar hits a low dropkick to Sihra, but he replies with a headlock takedown which Dar quickly stands up from. Dar shoots Sihra into the ropes and log rolls across the ring before landing a dropkick.
Dar mocks the Bollywood antics of Sihra, and gets whipped chest-first into the corner before taking an awfully sloppy backbreaker for a one-count. Dar’s taken back into the corner and stomped on, but he tries to fight back before being clubbed to the mat with a forearm.
Dar reverses an Irish whip into the buckles as Sihra goes in chest-first, before the Bollywood Boy misses a kick and gets hung up in the ropes. Another dropkick to the knee follows from Dar, and he runs into the corner with an uppercut, before scoring yet another dropkick.
Sihra out of nowhere takes down Dar and looks to go for a Sharpshooter, but Dar kicks out and connects with some palm strikes and an uppercut, before scoring a near-fall. Dar’s attempt to go for the leg gets countered into a small package for a near-fall, and Sihra connects with a kick for another two-count before he goes to the second rope… and misses an elbow drop.
Dar follows with an enziguiri, then a Fisherman’s suplex for a near-fall, before switching it from the kick-out into the Champagne Super-knee-bar, which forces Sihra to tap. Not a bad match, with perhaps the nerves showing from both men, but a perfectly fine TV match. Dar’s facing Hoho Lun in the second round – and hopefully has a chance down the line against a slightly better class of opponent. **½
Jack Gallagher is next! But first, a video package of the Italian Fabian Aichner, and he’s at the top end of the weight limit. He’s agile though, I’ll give you that… he looks like the blueprint that Vince McMahon would create if he was forced to create his perfect wrestler who was around 200lbs. Gallagher’s video package is again made of stuff from the Bracketology special, but he came across really well here. No surprise!
Jack Gallagher vs. Fabian Aichner
They used his Toreador theme! Sadly not the remix that PROGRESS uses, but this is amazingly close to the “authentic” presentation from the UK. Shame the crowd didn’t clap along in time to the tune…
Gallagher works a wristlock in the early going, but Aichner rolls… but takes a while to roll free, but not after impressing Gallagher with a headstand. Aichner grabs an armbar, then an arm wringer, but Gallagher eventually works free as he utilised the British World of Sport style… and Daniel Bryan is loving this stuff! A Fireman’s carry takedown gets Aichner back into an armbar, then he switches into a toehold, which Gallagher escapes by spreading Aichner’s legs so he loses balance, and then grabs a toehold for himself.
Aichner works free, but Gallagher handstands back to a vertical base, and Gallagher’s winning over this crowd. A kick to the midsection rocks Gallagher, as does a shoulder tackle, before the Englishman’s attempt at a monkey flip is caught… but he just spins around and powers Aichner over anyway for a two-count.
A suplex attempt gets blocked by Aichner, and he chops Gallagher into the ropes, before missing a clothesline and then just about makes contact with a springboard kick that gets him a near-fall. Aichner grabs a headlock, but Gallagher fights out and lands a sunset flip for a near-fall, as they trade a bunch of near-falls to try and wear out referee Charles Robinson.
Out of nowhere, Aichner uses his power to drop Gallagher with a backbreaker for a near-fall, and he looks to follow up by going airborne, by hitting a neat double springboard moonsault for a near-fall that took Daniel Bryan by surprise. I have to say, I love how Daniel Bryan is perpetually amazed by some of this stuff!
Gallagher reverses a suplex and hits two dropkicks, then a cross body block, before he counters a tiltawhirl backbreaker attempt from Aichner into a guillotine choke. The hold’s broken though, and Aichner throws Gallagher up into a sit-out powerbomb for a near-fall – that was an impressive display of power from the Italian!
Aichner pounds at Gallagher on the mat, then goes up top for a frog splash, but he misses, and Gallagher headbutts Aichner into the corner, then leaps in with a dropkick for the win. An impressive showing here from Gallagher, with Aichner looking to be no slouch either. Easily the best British showing in the tournament so far. Gallagher takes on Akira Tozawa in the next round. ***½
Much like Daniel Bryan and Brian Kendrick a few weeks back, I make no apologies for not being impartial here… Jack Gallagher is one of my favourites to watch in the ring.
We cut to Corey Graves in the virtual studio, and he’s gushing over Gallagher, before pitching to the main event of Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. They have a special video package for these guys, highlighting their time in NXT, but also talks about their indy career. The focus? Battling tag team partners… at least it’s not the worn-out “we’re tag partners and we don’t get along” shtick!
Andrea DiMarco is backstage with both Gargano and Ciampa, and this is the first time we’ve had a WWE-style promo. At least the answers to the usual dumb question weren’t rotten. I fully expect the Performance Centre to beat all semblance of originality out of their promos after this is done.
Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Gargano comes out to his NXT theme – “Chrome Hearts” if you want it on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you go for your music – whereas Ciampa gets something completely different. We’ve got over quarter of an hour left in this show, so this is going to be a long one…
There’s a duelling “Johnny Wrestling/Psycho Killer” chant, and the bell gets us going. Gargano sweeps a leg to take Ciampa down, then rolls through a hiptoss into a pinning predicament through a frenetic opening, with Gargano taking the early advantage with a grounded armbar.
A back elbow from Ciampa sent a lot of spit flying up into the air, before a knee to the head knocked Gargano off the apron and out to the floor. On the outside, Ciampa chopped Gargano by the railings, and then pounds away with forearms and another knee strike as Gargano was on the apron. That got Ciampa a couple of near-falls, and he switches to a rear chinlock to slow things down a bit.
Gargano fought free, and chopped Gargano around a few times, before taking another vicious back elbow on the apron. Ciampa tried to suplex Gargano back in, but Johnny Wrestling swept the leg and ended up coming back in with a slingshot DDT for a near fall on Ciampa. Gargano puts Ciampa on the top rope and looked for a Tower of London-style Ace Crusher, but Ciampa caught him in a Fireman’s carry and looked for an Air Raid crash off the top rope.
Gargano fought free and stuffed Ciampa’s head for Will Ospreay’s Cheeky Nando’s kick, followed by a powerbomb and a tope suicida after Ciampa had rolled to the outside. Ciampa nails another pair of knees to Gargano, before taking an enziguiri after losing a powerbomb attempt. They ended up on the apron where Ciampa and Gargano traded chops, before Ciampa lifted up Gargano for a painful-looking Air Raid Crash on the apron, quickly rolling him back into the ring for a near-fall.
Back inside, Ciampa lowered the knee-pads, but hesitated against drilling his tag team partner with a knee trembler – but no such compassion from Gargano, who knocked Ciampa with a superkick, only for Ciampa to follow back with a powerbomb lungblower for another near-fall as the Full Sail crowd erupted – but you’d expect that, as they’re familiar with both of these guys, even if they only just go to the NXT tapings!
After pulling Gargano to his knees, Ciampa chopped him in the face, then his chest as Daniel Bryan questioned the time limit draw aspect of the match. Ranallo called that we’d just passed the ten minute mark, just as Gargano’s single shot earned him a furious avalanche of forearms, before Gargano surprised him with a backslide for a near-fall.
Ciampa’s armbar attempt ended up being blocked, and Gargano pulled off the surprise win with a crucifix roll-up for the pin. That was a surprise ending to an epic match that saw Gargano take a heck of a beating. They went just over ten minutes, but this was easily the best match of the first round. Gargano will face TJ Perkins in the second round. ****
Post-match, Ciampa walked away from a handshake, then changed his mind as the pair sat on the mat and hugged it out. Corey Graves voices a brief video package of the first round, then announced two of the second round matches for next week: Tajiri vs. Gran Metalik, Cedric Alexander vs. Kota Ibushi.
Well, this is only going to keep getting better, isn’t it?
The first round of the Cruiserweight Classic produced a lot of surprise performances, even if there were no surprise results. A lot of the guys who were tagged as just “bodies” to fill out the brackets rose to the occasion and perhaps even overachieved – whilst the entire field of 32 should hopefully have opened some eyes in WWE to what “cruiserweight” means in the modern era.
Bring on round two!