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CWC EPISODE EIGHT - Quarters (8/31/16)


RIPPA

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I thought Tozawa/Metalik was fantastic. I feel pretty confident in saying Brian Kendrick is my favorite worker in WWE after that match. He never breaks character, he never does anything that doesn't make sense, and builds incredible drama throughout the match. I thought the selling was really good up until Kota basically no sold the bully choke too hit the power bomb, but it wasn't enough to take away from a great match.

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Metalik/Tozawa was good. Kendrick/Ibushi was great outside of the Burning Hammer.

That interview with Kendrick after the match is just so damn touching. I really hope Kendrick is picked up again. Maybe he can beat the Miz for Bryan.

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Kendrick was godlike throughout this entire tournament.  His comeback is one of my favorite stories in wrestling this year.

Now, could someone crowbar Paul London's head out of his own ass long enough for him to get on Triple H's good side for a while, please and thank you?

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All this talk about the Burning Hammer kickout, you know, just because you do a move doesn't mean it's death every time.  Maybe in the kayfabe world Kendrick didn't quite have the power or know how to really pull it off.  I mean, that's why the DDT means nothing now.  Jake just knew how to do it properly.

Brian Kendrick is me playing No Mercy against someone I have no chance against.  Fucking loved the cheap countout attempt.  I loved his entire role in this tournament.  He's what a heel would ACTUALLY do in the ring against someone who would most likely kick their ass.   

Pretty sure the Brian Kendrick who was a nobody contestant on The Price is Right five years ago would never believe his best WWE work was yet to come.

 

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I know it would've gone against his character, but shouldn't Kendrick have stopped the ref's count when realized Ibushi wouldn't make it back in? Shoddy as the reasoning is, it's somewhat impressive they came up with that solution on the fly. I wonder what would've happened if it was just after a routine dive.

I can safely say I never thought I'd see a burning hammer on WWE tv.

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Tozawa and Metalik may have been the most fun match of the whole tournament. I'm sure you could pick it apart but I loved it. Tozawa needs to be one of the guys they bring to RAW just to be a heel and give the division some much needed personality.

Not much more can be said about Kendrick. I don't know if he wants to work a full-time schedule or not but I'd like to see him on Smackdown.

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Watching Ibushi wrestle cruiserweights has become a bit like watching <insert sports dynasty that irritated you the most>. Which is perhaps not the point--I think I'm supposed to cheer him, usually?--but the CWC has done a really good job highlighting this superiority. Perhaps a more useful simile is this: he's like a boxer that somehow cuts 30 lbs to dominate a given weight class; you can hit him as often--hell, you can hit him more often--than he hits you, but he's just heavier-handed. Any one of his power moves or kicks can turn a match, and almost no cw anywhere has the strength or arsenal to put him away. The end result being, you have to work way, way smarter--and even then, that's probably not enough.

Kendrick knew this, planned accordingly, and executed. He tried for "cheap" wins, worked the neck, hit all his big moves, and perhaps the most iconic super-finisher in wrestling. He did basically everything right, but it just wasn't good enough. Which is, at once, frustrating and really, really satisfying to watch. It works as both a contained narrative, and a contrast to/continuation of earlier work. In Ibushi's last match, Alexander wanted to prove he could hang, that he could trade strikes and spots. And although, as a larger cw himself, there was reason to think this could win him the match, it was really about showcasing himself. (And it worked!) Kendrick, though, didn't need to make a name for himself. He just wanted--needed--to win. Ibushi's just Ibushi. He doesn't need to adapt, because he's the ace here. 

It's really amazing how much narrative we're getting in what appeared initially to be a series of borderline exhibition matches, for a just-invented prize. This tournament is great, but I'd be pretty shocked if this match wasn't the peak of it, for me. 

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Tozawa is such a fantastic worker and second only to Kendrick in character.

Too bad the cruiserweights are on RAW because I'd love to see D-Bry bringing in Kendrick and giving him carte blanche over the cruiserweight division.

Again, dat after credit scene!

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When Kendrick hit the Burning Hammer I had my hand on my head and was in complete shock for a good minute or so.  I NEVER thought I'd see that move on any aspect of WWE TV, yet there it was.  I can why him kicking out of it wouldn't be kosher with some.  But Beech27 nailed it that it fit Kendrick's desperation to defeat Ibushi by any means necessary.  Great action, great story, and hot damn the post-match was emotional.

I'm sad to see Tozawa lost, but hoping he's around for Raw.  I think I heard something about him doing stuff in Dragon Gate, so not sure if this is for him or if he's doing that then signing.  But I sure would love to see him back.  His work in the matches along with his scream therapy sessions made him a hit with us.

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Here is my thing - the Burning Hammer not being able to put Ibushi away means... 

A) Nothing can - which is bullshit

B) A lesser move will - which is bullshit

C) Something bigger will be attempted - which is kinda terrifying 

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4 hours ago, Beech27 said:

Watching Ibushi wrestle cruiserweights has become a bit like watching <insert sports dynasty that irritated you the most>. Which is perhaps not the point--I think I'm supposed to cheer him, usually?--but the CWC has done a really good job highlighting this superiority. Perhaps a more useful simile is this: he's like a boxer that somehow cuts 30 lbs to dominate a given weight class; you can hit him as often--hell, you can hit him more often--than he hits you, but he's just heavier-handed. Any one of his power moves or kicks can turn a match, and almost no cw anywhere has the strength or arsenal to put him away. The end result being, you have to work way, way smarter--and even then, that's probably not enough.

Kendrick knew this, planned accordingly, and executed. He tried for "cheap" wins, worked the neck, hit all his big moves, and perhaps the most iconic super-finisher in wrestling. He did basically everything right, but it just wasn't good enough. Which is, at once, frustrating and really, really satisfying to watch. It works as both a contained narrative, and a contrast to/continuation of earlier work. In Ibushi's last match, Alexander wanted to prove he could hang, that he could trade strikes and spots. And although, as a larger cw himself, there was reason to think this could win him the match, it was really about showcasing himself. (And it worked!) Kendrick, though, didn't need to make a name for himself. He just wanted--needed--to win. Ibushi's just Ibushi. He doesn't need to adapt, because he's the ace here. 

It's really amazing how much narrative we're getting in what appeared initially to be a series of borderline exhibition matches, for a just-invented prize. This tournament is great, but I'd be pretty shocked if this match wasn't the peak of it, for me. 

I think you're onto something, as evidenced by the fact that the two big crowd reaction post-credits scenes have been for Ibushi's last two opponents.  The guy's been presented, in a very quick amount of time, as unstoppable to the point where hanging with him is getting his opponents even more over.

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Here is my thing - the Burning Hammer not being able to put Ibushi away means... 

A) Nothing can - which is bullshit

B) A lesser move will - which is bullshit

C) Something bigger will be attempted - which is kinda terrifying 

My own personal kayfabe is that Kendrick just wasn't strong/big enough for it to be instant death.

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I look at the Burning Hammer kickout as meaning that Kendrick at 157# can't use it effectively against Ibushi at 189# (as JonnyLaw says above). I also considered the possibility that Ibushi's repaired neck is now bionic, giving him immunity to many head-dropping finishers, but I think that would need more & deeper setup to pay off. 

Stepping back a level and getting more meta, though: maybe Kendrick's Burning Hammer, and the kickout, were meant for Daniel Bryan, as though they were a taste of the blowoff match that a top-of-his-game Kendrick would have had against a healthy champion Bryan.

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15 minutes ago, kiguchi said:

Just because a move is death in one place doesn't make it so in another. The Stunner pins everyone in the WWE, but it's just a move anywhere else. 

They do know their audience for the CWC, though, so I think they were counting on the move being reacted to like death.

That being said, that's part of the reason I don't hate the kickout. Ibushi's spent he last few years standing against Japan's top heavyweights; in the match a WWE audience is most likely to have seen, he kicked out of the boma-ye at one. It's been pretty well established that the way to beat him is to wear him down with lots of strikes, and cumulative finishers. But, cruiserweights aren't going to win that war of attrition.

I do think you can have him lose in satisfying fashion, though. Book the match around one of his more irritating tendencies--his need to get all his shit in, all the time. Have him dominate the match with strikes and suplexes; but the opponent constantly dodges or counters his dives/top rope stuff. This needless risk taking keeps costing him, over and over, until he gets hit with a big avalanche counter, and then a top rope finish. I think the announcers are good enough to get that story across. 

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Yeah it's much more likely for Ibushi to get caught in a fancy pin combo than it is to job to a high impact move. They've pretty much established you can't beat him with bombs, and a submission isn't going to be that likely either.

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