By Graham "GSM" Matthews Zack Sabre Jr. def. Tyson Dux in a First Round Match I have heard plenty about Sabre through the grapevine and specifically through an article written by JJF earlier this year. That said, I had yet to see any match of his in its entirety. He may be a cruiserweight, but he doesn't wrestle the same style as everyone else, which makes him stand out from the get-go. Rather, he is one of the best mat-based wrestlers in the game today, and had a stellar showing versus an equally excellent Dux. This was properly placed in the opener and as much experience as Dux has, it was a no-brainer that Sabre would go over. Drew Gulak def. Harv Sihra in a First Round Match Gulax are one and the same in terms of their wrestling styles, and Sihra had an infectious personality, but this match just didn't do anything for me for whatever reason. The crowd wasn't all that engaged in the action and didn't seem to take as kindly to the contets as they did the previous match. Perhaps they knew that neither would advance far in the tournament considering they would have to go up against Sabre in the next round.
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By Graham "GSM" Matthews Shinsuke Nakamura def. Wesley Blake He may have switched up his entrance theme and attire, but I'm still not sold on Blake as a singles competitor. Buddy (ugh I hate that name) Murphy has more potential than he does. Not to say Blake is bad in the ring as he held his own here against Nakamura, but at the same time, he didn't impress me any. Rather, this match was more about Nakamura hitting his signature spots and lighting the audience on fire as always. William Regal's post-match announcement that Nakamura will contend for the NXT Championship against Samoa Joe at TakeOver: Brooklyn was huge and needless to say, that's a match I am very much looking forward to. Billie Kay def. Santana Garrett I dug Kay's new entrance. Garrett's? Not so much. Her new song sounded like a rip-off of Emma's old entrance theme, but I assume it's only temporary. With so many women being promoted from NXT to the main roster in recent weeks, NXT needs to start building up the new crop of women as quickly as possible, so this was a step in the right direction. I liked how the commentators talked about how Kay's debut match on SmackDown went to her head, explaining her heel turn (if she was a babyface to begin with). This was a serviceable match and I'm sure the crowd will warm up to Kay's matches once they grow more familiar with her. On a side note, Garrett should be signed by NXT if she hasn't been already. By Graham "GSM" Matthews Bullet Club Attacked Kyle O'Reilly Despite the recent departures of AJ Styles, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, The Bullet Group remain a hot group, but I was worried they would become watered down after they ruined the main event of Global Wars a few months ago. Thankfully, that has yet to be the case as they have been shown sparingly on ROH TV. This was a good use of them as they built sympathy for O'Reilly going into the main event by injuring him pretty badly, and I also appreciated how it set up an ongoing narrative for the rest of the show, which is typically rare for ROH. War Machine def. Tough Guy Inc. It looks like the tandem of Brutal Bob Evans and Tough Tim Hughes finally have a team name, unless they have this entire time and I just completely missed it. This was a glorified sqash match with War Machine dominating the duo and making short work of them. It made sense from a storyline standpoint because it allowed War Machine to let out their anger following their recent run-ins with Shane Taylor and Keith Lee, who they exacted a bit of revenge on afterward. By Graham "GSM" Matthews SmackDown Commissioner and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan Announced a No. 1 Contender's Six-Pack Challenge For the WWE World Championship I'm not typically a fan of authority figures talking to the entire roster on the stage or around the ring, but I was fine with it happening for the first episodes of Raw and SmackDown in the New Era in order to introduce fans to the rosters. I was glad they went with a Six-Pack Challenge to determine the No. 1 contender instead of just giving a title shot to someone, as had been teased on social media prior to the show. How were any of the five Superstars worthy, though? Cena and Styles I can understand, but Ziggler? Corbin? What did they ever do? At any rate, the announcement of the Battle Royal was a nice hook heading into the commercial break. Apollo Crews Won a Battle Royal to Qualify For the No. 1 Contender's Six-Pack Challenge You watch one Battle Royal, you've seen them all, and this Battle Royal in particular wasn't all that exciting given you knew the winner likely wouldn't be coming out on top in the main event, anyway. Nevertheless, it was pretty throwaway until it came down to the final four. I could have done without Kane being in the last two, but it did mean more for Crews to eliminate the seasoned veteran to win as opposed to Kalisto or Zack Ryder. The blue brand should do wonders for Crews. On a side note, I was happy American Alpha were left out of this so their first match could be saved for later on. |
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