CWC EPISODE ONE - 1st Round (7/13/16)

[Cyanide]

16 hours ago, EVA said:

Ibushi looked to be actively trying to snap his own neck out there.

He's already back to mid-season form.

Bryan continually highlighting his neck injury and the damage to his neck throughout the match kinda made me cringe a bit, given the obvious "brother, I've been down this road; knock that shit off while you can" connotations one can read from it.  Ibushi fighting and usually dying against heavyweights in NJPW is maybe one of my favorite things in wrestling, but there's something to be said for realizing you won't seemingly be made of elastic forever - returning from a cervical disc herniation is probably a good time to start.

[Wyld Samurai]

The one thing I expect him to get while in NXT is learning how to tone it done and keep better care of yourself.

[Rev Ray]

For some reason ho ho reminds me of Talladega nights where Ricky Bobby is being interviewed and doesn't know what to do with his hands.

[Kyuubi]

If they don't fucking sign Cedric Alexander...

I don't like how they made his style "high flyer." Dude is a hosh posh of several styles, but he did lose 25 pounds and seems to be pouncing around the ring like Ricochet so I guess it is warranted.

Ho Lun was underwhelming and I was more impressed with Ariya Daivari. 

Kota Ibushi has beautiful roundhouse kicks. Some of the best in wrestling. The Samoan Dude is obviously a star in the making and I am glad that he made a name for himself out there.

Ibushi vs Alexander will be predictable, but hopefully it will be a star making match for Alexander because he already has the cool theme song.

[The Z]

12 hours ago, Wyld Samurai said:

The one thing I expect him to get while in NXT is learning how to tone it done and keep better care of yourself.

I honestly thing that might be a reason why Ibushi won't sign with WWE, regardless of how much money they offer him.

The guy loves to do that crazy shit and if he's not allowed to do it, he might see that as a limitation of what he can do.

Remember that this is the guy, who refused to leave DDT for New Japan. This is also the guy, who after an injury rather quit both New Japan and DDT than make a decision.

[turk128]

Saez is a hammy mofo and I love him for it. Mettalik was fanatastic.

Petiot was pretty solid and so was Devari (who carried HoHo).

I can't wait to see Cedri vs Swann in NXT.

Maluta botched flippydo turned out to be kinda cool... if he can replicated it. Totally agree with everyone that he had a great outing.

[Firebreaker Chip]

It was tight when Bryan and Mauro simultaneously shouted "SHOOTING STAR PRESS!"  like overexcited kids in a toy commercial

Does Alejandro Sáez have any moves called like the "Sáez difference" or whatever

[Ace]

6 hours ago, Kyuubi said:

If they don't fucking sign Cedric Alexander...

I don't like how they made his style "high flyer." Dude is a hosh posh of several styles, but he did lose 25 pounds and seems to be pouncing around the ring like Ricochet so I guess it is warranted.

Ho Lun was underwhelming and I was more impressed with Ariya Daivari. 

Kota Ibushi has beautiful roundhouse kicks. Some of the best in wrestling. The Samoan Dude is obviously a star in the making and I am glad that he made a name for himself out there.

Ibushi vs Alexander will be predictable, but hopefully it will be a star making match for Alexander because he already has the cool theme song.

 

The fact he has a theme song with lyrics leads me to believe he's already signed.

 

[RIPPA]

Have we discussed yet that Cedric Alexander's pastor is a dick?

[RIPPA]

I kinda like this - showing highlights but technically not the finish

Of course the next video is an interview with Metalik but whatever

 

[kiguchi]

20 hours ago, zev said:

So that's what a televised Cedric Alexander match looks like under good lighting. Excellent.

Good looking dude, too. I never noticed that before. May be ACH isn't as hideous as I think he looks.

[Technico Support]

Fans get +1 for chanting "Ho...Ho Lun" in New Day cadence.

-1 for not chanting "Alejandroooo....ale-ale-jandro.....ale-ale-jandroooooooooo" at Saez.

[Kyuubi]

Bryan likes to cover for wrestlers obvious mistakes and I appreciate that. When the other commentator(forgot his name, sorry) called out that Ho Lun was smiling when he was supposed to be selling agony on his face, Bryan immediately covered for him giving an explanation as to why he would be smiling figuring that the kid(who did not show any emotion during the match which is a huge no-no in the WWE) was probably nervous.

2 hours ago, Ace said:

 

The fact he has a theme song with lyrics leads me to believe he's already signed.

 

I would think so too, but WWE is known to recycle theme songs and from what I've seen, the NXT scene  is pretty populated so they have no reason to sign someone on the caliber as Cedric when we know they are getting Kota and Sabre Jr out of the deal including NXT already has Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Austin Aries, La Sombra, Rich Swan, Johnny Gargano, and Tomasso. While the last two are nowhere nearly as good as they should be, Cedric probably would be too much for an hour long show including the tag team division and women's division.

Speaking of which, I am looking forward to shitting on Zach Sabre Jr. Probably the most overrated convoluted wrestler since Gail Kim and at least Gail Kim was nice to look at. Fuck that guy.

[Wyld Samurai]

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

I kinda like this - showing highlights but technically not the finish

Of course the next video is an interview with Metalik but whatever

 

When Mauro and Bryan marked out for "SHOOTING STAR PRESS"! it had such a "SCOTT STERLING!!!!" vibe to it. 

Also - Saez is even better for me the second time through. 

[supremebve]

8 minutes ago, Kyuubi said:

Speaking of which, I am looking forward to shitting on Zach Sabre Jr. Probably the most overrated convoluted wrestler since Gail Kim and at least Gail Kim was nice to look at. Fuck that guy.

Have you been reading my March Madness comments from a couple years ago?  I have hated almost every Zach Sabre Jr. match I've ever watched, but for some strange reason I kind of want him to grow on me.  Have you ever had a friend of a friend who you didn't really like when you first met them?  They aren't necessarily an asshole, but there is something about them that just rubs you the wrong way.  The problem is, you have to see this person every so often and not liking them just makes your life worse.  Zach Sabre Jr. is that friend of a friend.  I want him to like him, matter of fact I want him to be my friend, but so far I'm having a hard time.  I'm excited about this tournament, and I know Sabre is going to go far.  I want those matches to be good, therefore I want him to be good.  

[Kyuubi]

12 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Have you been reading my March Madness comments from a couple years ago?  I have hated almost every Zach Sabre Jr. match I've ever watched, but for some strange reason I kind of want him to grow on me.  Have you ever had a friend of a friend who you didn't really like when you first met them?  They aren't necessarily an asshole, but there is something about them that just rubs you the wrong way.  The problem is, you have to see this person every so often and not liking them just makes your life worse.  Zach Sabre Jr. is that friend of a friend.  I want him to like him, matter of fact I want him to be my friend, but so far I'm having a hard time.  I'm excited about this tournament, and I know Sabre is going to go far.  I want those matches to be good, therefore I want him to be good.  

My issue with ZSJ is that his offense is probably the most annoying style. Don't get me wrong. I love spot-fests in general and spot fest wrestlers if what they do is insane and impressive and clean. I love power spot-fests(Cage vs Matanza or Cesaro in general), high flyer spot fests(Ricochet vs Will Ospreay), and stiff spot fests(New Japan Pro Wrestling in general). But I fucking hate submission spot fests and ZSJ represents everything wrong with the style. The thing about ZSJ is that he does submissions for the sake of submissions  instead of actually hurting the opponent and while a lot of times they never make sense and just seem extra as hell, what bothers me that he seamlessly transitions between submissions for little to no reason. Like I would get if a wrestler was struggling as he was trying lock  something else or he went for something with more torque than the hold he on, but ZSJ just changes holds to sometimes less precarious holds and does so as a whim. I also hate that he does this while looking at the crowd awaiting their oohs and awwws and he does this every fucking time. Even in matches that are supposed to be taken seriously. He also lets go of submissions for no other reason because it is not contrived enough instead of because the opponent breaks the hold through reversal or rope break or even the opponent is doing something that makes the hold not viable. It is Davey Richards-esque in bullshit. You might call it him engaging the crowd, but to me, it is lazy and detracts from the match because submissions are tailored to either finishing the match or wearing down the opponent. Because ZSJ often works face, his submissions mean nothing in the greater scale of the match. His opponent won't sell it after he is done with whatever the fuck he did and they are just glorified rest holds.

I want to like him,too, and just like you I try to get into him, but he does some shit that takes me out. Given the nature of this tournament and who is in it, I can't say I will look forward to most of ZSJ's matches.

[supremebve]

24 minutes ago, Kyuubi said:

My issue with ZSJ is that his offense is probably the most annoying style. Don't get me wrong. I love spot-fests in general and spot fest wrestlers if what they do is insane and impressive and clean. I love power spot-fests(Cage vs Matanza or Cesaro in general), high flyer spot fests(Ricochet vs Will Ospreay), and stiff spot fests(New Japan Pro Wrestling in general). But I fucking hate submission spot fests and ZSJ represents everything wrong with the style. The thing about ZSJ is that he does submissions for the sake of submissions  instead of actually hurting the opponent and while a lot of times they never make sense and just seem extra as hell, what bothers me that he seamlessly transitions between submissions for little to no reason. Like I would get if a wrestler was struggling as he was trying lock  something else or he went for something with more torque than the hold he on, but ZSJ just changes holds to sometimes less precarious holds and does so as a whim. I also hate that he does this while looking at the crowd awaiting their oohs and awwws and he does this every fucking time. Even in matches that are supposed to be taken seriously. He also lets go of submissions for no other reason because it is not contrived enough instead of because the opponent breaks the hold through reversal or rope break or even the opponent is doing something that makes the hold not viable. It is Davey Richards-esque in bullshit. You might call it him engaging the crowd, but to me, it is lazy and detracts from the match because submissions are tailored to either finishing the match or wearing down the opponent. Because ZSJ often works face, his submissions mean nothing in the greater scale of the match. His opponent won't sell it after he is done with whatever the fuck he did and they are just glorified rest holds.

I want to like him,too, and just like you I try to get into him, but he does some shit that takes me out. Given the nature of this tournament and who is in it, I can't say I will look forward to most of ZSJ's matches.

I hate how he does so many submissions that couldn't possibly be applied unless the recipient allows him to apply it.  As someone who has done some submission grappling, it looks so fucking ridiculous.  It looks like slow rolling(kind of practice grappling where you and your training partner let each other put submissions on each other to drill technique) that he's trying to pass off as actual grappling.  Unless everyone he wrestles is a complete and total amateur, it shouldn't be that easy to string submissions together.  Unless they are in a squash match, a wrestler's job #1 job is to get his opponent over.  His style does the exact opposite, it makes his opponents look inept.  

[Technico Support]

1 hour ago, Kyuubi said:

what bothers me that he seamlessly transitions between submissions for little to no reason. Like I would get if a wrestler was struggling as he was trying lock  something else or he went for something with more torque than the hold he on, but ZSJ just changes holds to sometimes less precarious holds and does so as a whim.

Yeah, this.  All of this.  I love PWG but I was dreading Sabre vs Strong.  I sat through it because I'm a dumbass completist.  You know it's bad when the inclusion of Roderick Strong is what makes  a match better.  For an excellent example of Sabre's ridiculous style, Sabre vs Scurll from last year's BOLA was just masturbatory King of Sport cosplay garbage.  Between the floating between holds for no god damn good reason, as you mention, to getting out of holds with zero effort, it was just utter shit.  I have literally developed an unfair aversion to "British Style" because of that match.  Maybe Zach will tone it down for the CWC.  I know it's sacrilege but this is one case where working more WWE style might actually help.

He's also crazy skinny, yet has a weirdly big head.  I'm not a Vince McMahon level size queen at all but the dude is like the British Cheeseburger.  His kneepad-less gear does him no favors, making him look like a Q-Tip.

[SirSmUgly]

I love ZSJ, but I love World of Sport tribute acts, so I'm really biased. He just does WoS-style spots except at triple the speed and without remembering to sell.

So yeah, all the criticisms that I hear about ZSJ, especially his selling and pacing of a match, are valid IMO. I just like watching the guy work. 

[Cyanide]

I've been trying to catch up on some of the bigger indy names from the last few years for a little while now, and the ZSJ criticism here rings true with what I've been thinking about a lot of what I've seen from the "neo-catch" type guys.  I'll fully cop to finding the purer mat-based hold exchanges less entertaining and visually interesting than brawling/striking and high-flying fare, but it also kind of rings hollow as a narrative for me, given how legitimately effective shoot-style/MMA-influenced holds are billed as in the ring.  In that regard, the easy, endless transitioning of holds and grappling as a technical showcase can come off as far more silly to me than Ospreay/Ricochet-esque acrobatic one-upsmanship in a match.

[Curt McGirt]

Saez' facial expressions and selling in that clip are so goofy yet compelling. Love the snarl he has on his face towards the start. Also, it looks like either Dorada is biting Aerostar moves or Aerostar is biting Dorada moves.

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

I am very happy that they are keeping a heel/face dynamic in some of the booking & match-ups, even if it involves little more than not shaking hands in place of outright "shortcuts" and cheating. Ugh, I can't stand that puresportsrespekt stuff. Gimme some pre rasslin'. I am intrigued to see if it amps up to angles or screwjobs or just maintains.

- RAF

[Johnny Sorrow]

5 hours ago, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

I am very happy that they are keeping a heel/face dynamic in some of the booking & match-ups, even if it involves little more than not shaking hands in place of outright "shortcuts" and cheating. Ugh, I can't stand that puresportsrespekt stuff. Gimme some pre rasslin'. I am intrigued to see if it amps up to angles or screwjobs or just maintains.

- RAF

Totally. When I saw that they were doing some clear heel/ face dynamics I was pleasantly surprised. I thought this was gonna be all handshakes and respect bullshit. I dig that they have guys working heel. If you're gonna do a pro wrestling tournament then you have to have bad guys.

[MonteCarl]

Most have already covered most of this, but I wanted to add my 2 cents.

Saez was ridiculously over the top with his selling and expressions, but in a charming way. Reminded me a bit of Killer Kowalski, actually. I'd say he should tone it down, but that was really the only thing making him memorable in this match, outside of the shooting star press spot, which was impressive.

Surprised that HoHo Lun won his match, as he was obviously very green and not that good. I figured since Divari has somewhat of a "name" that he'd be getting the win. That's one great thing about this tourney, though. I know very few competitors in it, so few of the matches are obvious wins for anybody. Makes watching them more exciting.

Alexander and the french dude was a match. Nothing really stood out to me in it. Nothing great, nothing terrible. Just sort of there.

That last match was the definite match of the night and a great way to end the show. Maluta had a star making showing here and, IMO, was more impressive than Ibushi. I'd love to see more from him to see if he's still this good with other opponents (which I'd guess he is), or if it was just him being in there with the clear favorite that pushed him to work harder. I agree with most that it's too "obvious" that Ibushi takes this whole thing and that he will either lose in the semi-finals or in the final match to put over the eventual winner even more.

Overall, I loved this whole thing. I loved the presentation as an actual sporting contest where the wins and losses matter. I loved that the guys actually seemed to be fighting to win. I loved the commentary putting over injuries and jet lag and other stuff that might legitimately cause issues if this were an actual contest instead of pre-determined. I loved the brackets and the match graphics. This is going to be my new favorite wresting show for 10 weeks while NXT is going through it's purge and refinding of itself after losing so many stars to the main roster. Even the bad like HoHo Lun was fun and interesting to watch because it was just so different. Just great, great stuff all around.

[JCM]

Ibushi made Maluta look like a million bucks. Nothing Maluta did stood out to me or showed any star quality. He didn't seem to have much in ring charisma, he doesn't have a great look, and Ibushi was killing himself to make Maluta's sub par offense look good. He was ok, and down the road I could see him improving and becoming a good wrestler, but to say he was more impressive than Ibushi in that match blows my mind.