WWE Cruiserweight Classic Review - August 17, 2016

Jack Gallagher takes control of Akira Tozawa.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​Akira Tozawa def. Jack Gallagher in a Second Round Match

Tozawa was already established coming into this tournament, but Gallagher was virtually unknown and really blew me away with his strong showing in the first round. As great of a traditional wrestling match as this was, I really liked how they sprinkled a little "sports entertainment" (i.e. the WWE style) into the matchup, too, and it worked wonderfully for these two competitors. For some reason, it reminded me of the dynamic William Regal and Tajiri used to have back in the day. Anyway, this was a very enjoyable matchup and they made excellent use of the time they were allotted (because you damn well know they could have gone longer if able to). Tozawa advances, but I hope to see Gallagher signed to a WWE contract sooner rather than later.


Noam Dar def. Ho Ho Lun in a Second Round Match

Lun was by far the worst wrestler of everyone in the first round, yet still managed to advance to the second round. Dar also had a pretty boring bout the first time around, so while I was expecting an atrocious match here, it ended up being passable. The crowd wasn't nearly as hot for the match as they were for the opener, but Dar stood out more in this match than he did in the first round. More importantly, Lun didn't stink up the joint and was eliminated! On a side note, props to the Full Sail University for the cool Darth Vader chants for Dar. I don't know if that's a thing on the independent scene, but I got a kick out of it.

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Tony Nese stomps out Brian Kendrick.

Brian Kendrick def. Tony Nese in a Second Round Match

I continue to love how Kendrick, despite being beloved by Full Sail, does everything he can to elicit heat and turn himself heel by trapping the arm of Nese in the turnbuckle, etc. It's the little things. Needless to say, these two had an awesome match with both of them shining throughout. With the story they have been telling with Kendrick from the start, I assumed he would advance here, but they definitely had me second guessing myself with a few of the nearfalls, especially down the stretch. The finishing sequence with Nese going for the 450 Splash only to miss and get caught with the choke was superb as well.


Overall Show

The Cruiserweight Classic is undoubtedly the best program WWE puts out every week and it isn't even close. The matches almost always deliver and it's simply a refreshing change from what we're used to seeing on Raw and SmackDown Live. This was another above-average episode with three good to great matches, and with what's on tap for next week, I anxiously await the rest of the tournament.

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