RIPPA Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Gallagher/Tozawa worked the EXACT match that needed to be worked after Ibushi/Alexander. They needed to do the exact opposite which they did. Light hearted comedy at the start and then a total mat-based match focused on body part work. I am disappointed Gallagher didn't move on but I like Tozawa and honestly he is a much better opponent for Metalik, at least in terms of being able to work a style Metalik is good at. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 The now two known Quarterfinal matches are Tozawa/Metalik Kendrick/Ibushi I can easily see why they setup Kendrick/Ibushi as in if they don't have Ibushi locked up by the tapings - you have Kendrick go over to continue the big redemption story (plus the way they keep pushing Ibushi as the HEAVY favorite, I am convinced he isn't winning the whole thing anyway) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 13 minutes ago, RIPPA said: The now two known Quarterfinal matches are Tozawa/Metalik Kendrick/Ibushi I can easily see why they setup Kendrick/Ibushi as in if they don't have Ibushi locked up by the tapings - you have Kendrick go over to continue the big redemption story (plus the way they keep pushing Ibushi as the HEAVY favorite, I am convinced he isn't winning the whole thing anyway) I guess this is open to interpretation to his actions but do you do redemption stories on heels though? Also do you do it if Kendrick is not signed? I mean if you have him go to the semis or finals and then he isn't even signed what is the purpose? That is really the only reason why Gallagher losing in the 2nd round isn't that awful because the assumption is that we will see more of him Also Foley tweeted last night asking the fans if they would like to see what I assume is a tag team match featuring Gargano/Ciampa vs Ibushi/Alexander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 2 minutes ago, hammerva said: Also Foley tweeted last night asking the fans if they would like to see what I assume is a tag team match featuring Gargano/Ciampa vs Ibushi/Alexander. Well that was after Gargano tweeted that too Foley which of course got the Revival to respond. So that one is clearly more angley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyLaw Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 I think the knot spot would have been better if it hadn't been sold for so long, but overall it seemed to fit and Tozawa did a great job selling it. As someone who is pretty new to Gallagher and ZSJ, the biggest difference between the two (and why I love the former but not the latter) is that Gallagher generally makes it seem like much more of a struggle or fight to pull off his reversals and also seems to sell much better. Others have pointed out that the finishing German wasn't as impactful as the snap one right before it, but I thought Jack did a nice job kind of selling with some woozy legs that made it seem like he was just out of it enough to be pinned. This is likely to be a contentious statement, but I think Jack Gallagher could potentially be Daniel Bryan-esque for WWE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 1 hour ago, RIPPA said: Looking back that is awfully strange they never tried to get him. Damn, talk about missing out. But they should at least use him unless he gets signed right away. Last night was further proof that the common denominator between Mendoza and Neese looking like a million bucks is Brian Kendrick. I never noticed until those two matches how amazing he actually is. He has a quasi-redemption story, but it's more of "I'm getting old and desperate, so if I need to cheat then so be it." He actually might be my MVP of the tournament, the story he tells is magic. If they don't sign him as a wrestler, for chrissakes sign him as a trainer. He would be wonderful teaching PC students how to tell a story and make it count. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Gallagher is still taking outside bookings now, since he's in BOLA this year. And it's obvious he's being signed; since even in kayfabe, Foley says he wants him for Raw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James F'n X Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Tozawa might have suggested the Paradise Lock spot since he would have spent a fair amount of time around Milano Collection AT in Dragon Gate a decade ago. It went a little long. Nese seems like a poor man's Neville, and some time in the PC could help him learn the things that Neville learned (and then seemingly forgot once he got called up) in terms of match pacing and restraint. If I never saw Hoho Lun and Noam Dar again, I'd be a better person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyLaw Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Rather than a poor man's Neville, I think Nese is a rich man's Crews. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 If Gallagher/Tozawa was always going to start out as comedy, then they lucked out big time, but if someone recognized the situation of what needed to be done to follow Ibushi/Alexander and changed it on the fly, then that guy needs to be signed if he isn't already or given a raise if he is, because that was brilliant. Gallagher and Tozawa both need to be signed anyway because they still had to pull it off, and they did it to perfection. Even the knot spot some of you are shitting on was pitch-perfect, because it gave the comedy portion of the match a climactic conclusion, and then allowed for a seamless transition into raging Tozawa beating the piss out of Gallagher, at which point the crowd was fully-invested and they could get onto the serious part. It was a perfect reading of the crowd, and finessed the situation just right. Dar/Lun...I barely watched. The bits I saw didn't seem terrible but didn't make me want to see more of either of them. Kendrick is so damn great. Somewhere along the line he became as great a storyteller in the ring as Bryan was. Speaking of which, if he is actively going for heel heat, (which he isn't really getting because his heel work is the best part of his matches and everyone in the crowd knows it,) uberface Daniel Bryan openly cheering for him would be putting the kibosh on that. Given that, I assume that's not the plan, since CWC is so on point with almost everything else, it doesn't feel like something they'd miss. Kendrick IS a redemption story, but he's not redeeming himself from being a bad person by being a good person, he's redeeming the career he should have had by taking this one last shot at it, and he will happily cheat his fucking ass off to try and make that happen. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 If anything, Bryan might have inadvertently helped the redemption story. Because he knows Kendrick so well and was unashamedly rooting for him it legitimized the idea of it being his one last shot. It was almost played up like it'd mean the end of his career if Brian didn't win the match. Maybe I'm reading too much into it (likely am) but the combination of the match/backstory plus Bryan on commentary sure as shit made me care a ton more than I originally would have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offspring515 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 I understand defending the knot spot because we all like Gallagher, but if ZSJ did that same spot people would be calling him a goof and saying he made his opponent look like shit. It went on too long and hurt the match for me. Hornswoggle running into a cartoon hole on the wall is roughly in the same universe as having to buy that Tozawa couldn't move his wrist half an inch and become untangled. Love Gallagher, hated that spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 It's in the same universe where a guy who's just been Irish whipped bounces back-first off the ropes and runs into a dropkick. Christ. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 The knot spot was done early enough that it was fine and it wasn't presented like Tozawa was hurt by it. They were just getting over the story that Gallagher was intentionally trying to frustrate Tozawa and get him to make mistakes. I thought Tozawa was great this week and as RIPPA mentioned, he can work better with Metalik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offspring515 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 7 minutes ago, Cristobal said: It's in the same universe where a guy who's just been Irish whipped bounces back-first off the ropes and runs into a dropkick. Christ. Yes and we've all come to accept that as a standard wrestling trope. The lock deal was over the top for me and took me out of the match a bit. Maybe because ive never really seen it done before? Anyhow I didnt care for it at all and hope Gallagher leaves it behind once he is signed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Best tie to use the knot spot - end of a round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 I like both ZSJ and Gallagher, so...yeah, the straitjacket/knot spot didn't bother me. It's a great "frustrate the opponent" move and fit right in with what they were going for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MORELOCK Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 59 minutes ago, Cristobal said: It's in the same universe where a guy who's just been Irish whipped bounces back-first off the ropes and runs into a dropkick. Christ. This same argument every time something that's less than believable happens is really tired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 I have only seen the one Savre match so I very much do not know what I am talking about. The guy Gallagher reminds me the most of is Eddie Guerrero. Obviously they are different workers (and Eddie might be the best ever). But what Eddie did best in his "Lie, Cheat and Steal" thing was let the audience in on what he was doing. It was mischievous hi jinks as opposed to malice. It was a way to outwit an opponent and/or get under their skin. Face Sasha (unsurprisingly) has mastered that pretty quickly, too. Gallagher let us in on the act with his wave taunt. It wasn't him being a jerk. It was him trying to rile his opponent up. But, mostly, it was fun! The knot spot is completely ridiculous but it's fake fighting. It is so goofy and silly that I can't do anything but love it. It is of the same reason why I like wrestling dance-offs and the like. Sabre didn't look like he did his stuff out of fun. It was more serious. If you're doing a "serious business" thing, your stuff better look tight or else it doesn't work. But Gallagher is sort of a comedy wrestler, just like Eddie was in a lot of ways. He is more towards the Santino camp than the Dynamite Kid realm. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 7 hours ago, MORELOCK said: I know the usual suspects will shout me down for this, but that Gallagher knot spot was really stupid and took me completely out of that match. Gallagher last night was a less flagrant offender of all the things people are hating on ZSJ for in his matches. He even did the bug-eyed selling! I love both guys, myself, but yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 4 hours ago, NickMD said: Looking back that is awfully strange they never tried to get him. Damn, talk about missing out. But they should at least use him unless he gets signed right away. Last night was further proof that the common denominator between Mendoza and Neese looking like a million bucks is Brian Kendrick. I never noticed until those two matches how amazing he actually is. He has a quasi-redemption story, but it's more of "I'm getting old and desperate, so if I need to cheat then so be it." He actually might be my MVP of the tournament, the story he tells is magic. If they don't sign him as a wrestler, for chrissakes sign him as a trainer. He would be wonderful teaching PC students how to tell a story and make it count. I'm pretty sure Kendrick has been working at the PC. Word last year was he was working with Eva Marie. I don't think it went very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 I think he had a school in California and Eva went there to train. It was covered in Total Divas, which is that one show where in between seasons I'm still dumbfounded as to why I watch it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyuubi Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 1 hour ago, offspring515 said: I understand defending the knot spot because we all like Gallagher, but if ZSJ did that same spot people would be calling him a goof and saying he made his opponent look like shit. It went on too long and hurt the match for me. Hornswoggle running into a cartoon hole on the wall is roughly in the same universe as having to buy that Tozawa couldn't move his wrist half an inch and become untangled. Love Gallagher, hated that spot. ZSJ does not have the comedic engagement with the crowd as Gallagher. He is not funny or intentionally quirky like Gallagher. Sabre is being super serious, is making the opponent look like a chump since they rarely get their comeuppance(Tozawa at least kept up with Gallagher in the beginning and after that spot, Tozawa started laying in the shots), and does unnecessary and seemless transitions for the sake of doing them. If you watch that match, Gallagher does not go for overly contrived submissions(the knot is not a submission) and makes every hold count. My beef with the spot is that it took too long or if Gallagher wanted to ensure he kept the comedic value with the time that spot went on, he could have stepped on Tozawa's lower back or feet while posing and gesturing with the crowd making it more plausible that it was harder for Tozawa to escape. Again, Gallagher got a little ridiculous, but given that they had to follow Alexander/Ibushi, it's understandable. They probably should have edited this match on the same show as IvA, but it's whatever. He is still nowhere as bad as Sabre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Actually - I could argue that the knot is a submission and I kind took the beginning of that segment as Gallagher looking at the ref of "Hey Ask Him". I mean I could have sworn the crowd was actually yelling "Tap! Tap! Tap!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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