RIPPA Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 The last of the taped episodes Tonight has Zack Sabre Jr vs. Noam Dar (Winner faces Gran Metalik in one semi) Rich Swann vs. TJ Perkins (Winner faces Kota Ibushi in other semi) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 ZSJ/Dar was a disjointed match. A few nice moves and sequences, but not a good match as a whole. I thought the ear thing was going to come into play, especially when Bryan mentioned it, but I guess Dar just had a bunch of wax or something. Dar sucks. Just awful. The best sell job was Sabre selling the arm injury as the ref tried to rise his hand. I kind of enjoyed Swann/TJP as a can-you-top-this sort of match, but once they went to the body part injuries, I found it good enough without getting beyond that. I find Swann really likable, but I'm not a fan of TJP at all. I've never enjoyed him. I'd rather watch him do Cirque du Soleil than wrestle. It's a shame he's in the final four. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Swann/TJP was the match of the round. This tourny has really soured me on ZSJ, dude marginally sells and just wants to get his shit in. Gallagher does the WoS tribute act much more orgaincally. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 The tourney needs an "I'm Sorry, I Love You" award for best post-match reconciliation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MapRef41N93W Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I really liked ZSJ/Dar. I was critical of Sabre's first match in the tournament but the last two have made me a fan. "Marginal selling and just looking to get his shit in" would be a fair way of describing some recent Shinsuke Nakamura performances, but not ZSJ here. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADCAP Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 You can hate Sabre Jr. if you want, but that finishing sequence and in particular, that submission, was pretty damn sweet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Would've been if Dar wasn't working the leg the whole match, which was forgotten for the arm work in the last 2 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I can see why he went to the arm, Sabre Jr. tumbled outside right on the arm and the ref came over asking him if he could continue. It made sense to switch it up but I still didn't love the match, I just don't particularly care for either guy at this point, especially Dar who I'd rank in the bottom 5 out of the 32 guys in the tournament. He's above maybe Ho Ho Lun and a couple others. I've enjoyed TJP more here in this tournament than I have in years. He still does some annoying things but it works well with his character and he's been focused on submission based offense more these last two rounds with both his opponents selling their knees so it's been pretty good. I think it's a good final four. I want to see the return of Lince Dorado and some others on next week's show. 2 Hours sounds like fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 7 minutes ago, Raziel403 said: Would've been if Dar wasn't working the leg the whole match, which was forgotten for the arm work in the last 2 minutes. They pointed out he was making a mistake. It was part of the match. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MapRef41N93W Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 5 minutes ago, Raziel403 said: Would've been if Dar wasn't working the leg the whole match, which was forgotten for the arm work in the last 2 minutes. Right: Dar, the relatively inexperienced 23-year-old, got frustrated that he wasn't winning by attacking the leg (couldn't get his finishing hold properly applied despite his best efforts), so he made the rookie of mistake of switching strategies, and it cost him the match. They even conveyed a specific reason for Dar to lose his focus on the leg and attack the arm, when Sabre seemed to have hurt his elbow on the fall out of the ring. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I thought Dar/ZSJ was generally good aside from ZSJ's uneven selling. Dar looked better here than he did in his previous matches. Swann/Perkins was pretty good, probably the better of tonight's matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I enjoyed Swann/TJP quite a bit. It had the risk of being too "cute" going in, but I thought they added a surprising amount of weight to the match as it progressed. Would have much rather seen Swann go up on this one, since I feel like his story is more compelling against the Ibushi freight train. I do like that they have gone above and beyond in getting TJP's knee bar as a legit finish, as it may give him a chance next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 TJP has kind of a Cinderella story going on I felt the win over Gargano was definitely an upset and this win over Swann was an upset too. Ibushi has the neck injury coming off the Kendrick match, I wonder if TJP tries to exploit that as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go2Sleep Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I haven't been crazy about Dar at all, but he seemed more comfortable in there with ZSJ. I thought they did a good job with the dueling arm/leg work. The leg-kick countout attempt was a good nearfall. I like that Zack has won each match with a different hold, and this week it looked particularly nasty. I know Zack's first match was pretty blah, but getting a good match out of Noam Dar definitely moves him toward the top of my rankings for best worker in the tournament. He'll move up even farther if he can get past the Gran Metalik "That was pretty good I guess" plateau. I've also liked TJP more in this tournament than I ever have before. It's gonna be a shame when Ibushi no-sells his submission that he's done a great job building up next week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red is Dead Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Will this full sail crowd please fuck off? **** That double stomp looked sick, but not as DISGUSTING as that double arm bar. What is it about British wrestlers andhaving the ability to have their shoulder blades touch when people are pulling their arms back? It'll be a shame if Sabre doesnt sign...I could see him having decent matches in an IC title/US title role... Cant choose a winner between Swann/TJP. Perkins is ridiculously smooth, so I'd be happier with a live match with Ibushi and him. Swann's a made man already - cant wait for him to rise up in NXT. Who are they going to get next year though for the CWC, and will it tour? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 17 minutes ago, Red is Dead said: Will this full sail crowd please fuck off? I love that Owens did a bigger version of his Fuck the Full Sail crowd on RAW this week. I thought Sabre vs. Dar was a good match. Sabre has some odd facial expressions where it's like one second he's in pain and the next he's like "okay now what". But I thought the match was good none the less. I was pulling for Dar to win. That rings of saturn Sabre used to win was vicious. I tweeted Mauro that "the human body isn't supposed to bend like that". I'm surprised he didn't drop that line. Either Dar is double jointed or he really did pop a shoulder on that for the sake of the match. I wasn't expecting Perkins vs. Swan to be as good as it was but damn it was good. Where the hell was this TJ Perkins in TNA? You know what nevermind, it's not like they would have used this version of him anyway. Rich Swan made me a fan tonight. Masterful performance by him. It's amazing what these guys can do when it's not just flippy moves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turk128 Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Best Noam Dar has looked in ring. ZSJ/Dar match was really rough but built up to a good match. Dar really did look a lot more comfortable in the ring with ZSJ; maybe he's the type who wrestles to the level of whoever is in the ring. Swann/TJP was two smooth mofos being freakin smooth then slowly loosing their cool when things escalated. Really good storytelling by the two. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 They said on commentary that Dar and ZSJ have trained and worked with each other before. Not a big mystery why he suddenly my seemed more competent in there. He's still trash, though. Even his tope is a Dean Ambrose garbage tope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ping Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Really liked Swann/TJP, particularly where Swann injures the leg, but TJP doesn't notice it right away until he actually sees Swann stumble later on. Also liked the story they told where Swann is busting out power moves because he can't pull off his normal high flying. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Sugar Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 If this whole tournament was leading to an "England vs. Japan" finale, I would've much preferred said finale was Gallagher vs. Tozawa. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Schneider Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Fuck that it should be Gallager v. Tajiri 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Fuck both of that, it should be Gallagher vs Tajiri vs Kendrick I don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Sugar Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Fuck that, it should've been a one-night, 64 man scramble that last 47 minutes around commercials! Wait, scratch that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCM Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I thought Dar was easily better than Sabre in this match. Sabre is awful at anything that doesn't involve him being on offense. The way he dropped his selling, and his terrible facial expressions took me out of the match. There were several times where it looked like selling was the last thing he wanted to do. Nothing Dar did stood out to me as bad except for the few times he awkwardly played to the crowd early on. I thought Perkins/Swan was really good. That's the most I've liked either guy so far. I'm going to have a hard time buying Perkins doing much to Ibushi even with his knee bar being put over as a strong finish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turk128 Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 2 hours ago, JCM said: Nothing Dar did stood out to me as bad except for the few times he awkwardly played to the crowd early on. Dar would be 100% better if they banned all his posing after every other move for no reason. It's like that one asshat friend playing wrestling games. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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