WWE: Global Cruiserweight Series coming to Network on July 13

[The Lunatic Fridge]

Sabre Jr seems to be a great WRESTLER but as far as selling goes, at least in that particular match, he was just awful IMO.

I normally don't nitpick things like this from matches but some of his selling was just the worst thing i've seen in a long long time from young guys. The way people hyped him up i thought he would have been a diamond in the coal but he looks like he has a long way to go in the selling department.

At one point during the match he was just literally staring at the opponent waiting for the spot. Not laying on the mat, not pretending like he's dazed or confused, just straight up staring.

This probably sounds like i'm going hard on the guy but not really, It's just that one part that i didn't like. the wrestling and the "story" for the match was perfectly fine.


Perkins on the other hand....wow.
That was a hell of a match. Great moves, great counters, sold like a million bucks. The Powerbomb into DDT reversal was so sick. Super impressive.

The finals were great, too.
just holy **** at Perkins' chest/neck at the end of that match. Top notch make up job there mid match cause you know, wrestlings fake and all

 

[Virtanen18]

Hate that this is over. I'm not much of a ZSJ fan so I was glad he lost. Think Ibushi/TJP was the match of the night. So damn good.

Metalik hurdling over the top rope and giving TJP a hurricanrana was sick

A little random, but it kinda bugs me how often guys kick out at 2.5-2.99/3. Noticed it here and just generally in wrestling. Those last second kickouts should be more special than they are, like for when TJP kicked out of Ibushi's powerbob.

Also, Metalik was selling the wrong leg after he got out of the second kneebar and hit his weak Metalik Driver.

 

[Virtanen18]

Oh wtf TJP was Manik?

TNA taking over y'all. An elaborate strategy of some sort.

 

[Shoalzie]

That was a fun show...wondered how they'd book the semis with ZSJ and Ibushi not likely to join WWE. It sort of took some of the excitement from the results.

Love what I saw from Gran Metalik and TJP. TJP is such a babyface right now with his back story...a good first champ to re-launch the division. I will enjoying watching those guys on Raw but listening to Cole not know what's going on will turn me off a bit.

 

[Shoalzie]

Hate that this is over. I'm not much of a ZSJ fan so I was glad he lost.

This was my first time watching him in this tournament. He's an acquired taste. He's good at what he does but I don't like his style versus Perkins or Metalik or Ibushi. Holds are part of the game but you want to see the blend of aerial and striking to go with the grappling and submission holds.

 

[GKJ]

Wrestling is cool

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Wrestling is cool

When done right, like with in NXT and in CWC, **** yeah!

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gran Metalik - ****
TJ Perkins vs. Kota Ibushi - ****1/2
DIY vs. Alexander & Dar - ***1/4
Gran Metalik vs. TJ Perkins - ****1/4

 

[Natey]

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gran Metalik - ****
TJ Perkins vs. Kota Ibushi - ****1/2
DIY vs. Alexander & Dar - ***1/4
Gran Metalik vs. TJ Perkins - ****1/4

We're not too far off.

Sabre Jr. vs. Metalik - ****
TJP vs. Ibushi - *****
DIY vs. Alexander & Dar - ***1/4
Metalik vs. TJP - ****

I don't see how you could put on a better match in 15 minutes than TJP and Ibushi did. So good.

 

[Natey]

Oh wtf TJP was Manik?

TNA taking over y'all. An elaborate strategy of some sort.

Yeah, TJP was Manik. He was also Suicide for quite awhile, and years before that in TNA as Puma. I think he was in TNA as early as 2004 or 2005. Around the same time he was in Ring of Honor as Puma.

He was also in WWE once in 2009 as a jobber - but he didn't wrestle.



He wrestled the next night on ECW and lost by DQ versus Sheamus, but he wrestled under a different name.

 

[Acallabeth]

I've always wondered whether you guys have some elaborate scale on star rankings (like: 0 to 1 star for build and anticipation, 0 to 1 for pace, 0 to 1/2 stars for good selling, 0 to 1 penalty for botches, etc.) or just go with your feeling.

 

[Virtanen18]

This was my first time watching him in this tournament. He's an acquired taste. He's good at what he does but I don't like his style versus Perkins or Metalik or Ibushi. Holds are part of the game but you want to see the blend of aerial and striking to go with the grappling and submission holds.

Solid wrestler offensively, but one of the worst sellers I've seen.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of ZSJ at all. He'll completely disregard any selling just so he can get his **** in at times and it's infuriating and takes away from a match.

 

[Imagining Defeat]

I HATED after TJP beat Metalik he RAN up the turnbuckle to celebrate...no selling

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I HATED after TJP beat Metalik he RAN up the turnbuckle to celebrate...no selling

The look of TJP's chest is enough selling on its own for me. haha

 

[AfroThunder396]

Even though ZSJ and Ibushi still didn't sign, I still think one of them needed to be in the finals to validate the champion. I know they made the bracket months ago, and ZSJ and Ibushi both ended up losing, but I think you needed at least one of the two most credible favorites in the tournament to get to the Finals for TJP to beat.

No disrespect for Metalik but it was obvious when ZSJ and Ibushi lost that it was purely due to contract status. Either Metaik beating Ibushi or TJP beating Sabre would have been the way to go IMO.

Either way, hard to complain, the tournament was superbly done and I enjoyed the whole thing start to finish.

 

[Natey]

I HATED after TJP beat Metalik he RAN up the turnbuckle to celebrate...no selling

You just won a long tournament ... and became the first CW Champ. Don't you think adrenaline would take over? UFC guys who just fought 25 minutes sometimes run up the side of the cage.. what's different?

 

[Emperoreddy]

I hope they have him open Raw on Monday. Make the championship a big deal and have foley introduce the whole Division and maybe open with a giant rumble to set a number one contender.

A rumble is the exact opposite way to make it feel like a big deal.

Set up a series of matches or just have someone go heel.

TJP's gross as **** chest was all I needed to see as far as selling.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

You just won a long tournament ... and became the first CW Champ. Don't you think adrenaline would take over? UFC guys who just fought 25 minutes sometimes run up the side of the cage.. what's different?

If they fought for 25 minutes it's a judges decision; none of them are running up the cage.

 

[GKJ]

I've always wondered whether you guys have some elaborate scale on star rankings (like: 0 to 1 star for build and anticipation, 0 to 1 for pace, 0 to 1/2 stars for good selling, 0 to 1 penalty for botches, etc.) or just go with your feeling.

Personally, a lot of it's feeling. A lot of it's story. Sure you can take points off for a missed spot/botch, depending on how egregious it is. Crowd investment/reaction. Bonus points if you're live. If something's got that next-day or really next-week buzz, then that match had something extra (especially from a storytelling standpoint) and that's what I'll credit 5-star matches to. Obviously everyone has there methods, I can't give something 5 stars unless I sit on it for a couple days.

 

[Shoalzie]

With a specialized division like the cruiserweights...they probably get one or two matches on each Raw. They can probably give you some tremendous 5-10 minute matches if they want to keep them short but stretch them out on a PPV. I will definitely tune into Raw to watch these guys.

 

[GKJ]

A rumble is the exact opposite way to make it feel like a big deal.

Set up a series of matches or just have someone go heel.

TJP's gross as **** chest was all I needed to see as far as selling.

It should be similar to how they determined the Balor/Rollins match for SummerSlam. If there really is 10 guys, I'd put the other 9 that aren't TJP into three triple threat matches, with a triple threat after that to determine a #1 contender.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

With a specialized division like the cruiserweights...they probably get one or two matches on each Raw. They can probably give you some tremendous 5-10 minute matches if they want to keep them short but stretch them out on a PPV. I will definitely tune into Raw to watch these guys.

I'm gonna watch them because I watch the shows but I already know that this is going to be a flop. It's on the wrong show with the wrong commentary team and the wrong environment. Cruiserweights should have been a Smackdown exclusive and I think eventually it will at some point get there because that's the only place this is really going to work well.

 

[Shoalzie]

I'm gonna watch them because I watch the shows but I already know that this is going to be a flop. It's on the wrong show with the wrong commentary team and the wrong environment. Cruiserweights should have been a Smackdown exclusive and I think eventually it will at some point get there because that's the only place this is really going to work well.

Cole will butcher the cruiserweight matches...that's going to be annoying. The wealth of knowledge Mauro and Bryan had about these guys and the history of cruiserweights...it does seem strange to have them on Raw.

Would've made more sense put them on Smackdown because we'd rather watch them wrestle then cut 10-minute promos on each other. I'd gladly let Raw have all the tag teams or all the women if that meant Smackdown got the cruiserweights.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Cole will butcher the cruiserweight matches...that's going to be annoying. The wealth of knowledge Mauro and Bryan had about these guys and the history of cruiserweights...it does seem strange to have them on Raw.

Would've made more sense put them on Smackdown because we'd rather watch them wrestle then cut 10-minute promos on each other. I'd gladly let Raw have all the tag teams or all the women if that meant Smackdown got the cruiserweights.

I don't think they'll even get 10 minute promo segments beyond their introduction. And honestly, that's not really going to be an issue. They didn't need those promos to get over for this tournament. When it is done on something like the Network as a tournament with almost entirely fresh people, it is fresh. When it goes to Raw and even if it went to Smackdown, it's already going to have the tag of trying to replicate something that was organic. At least with Smackdown and at least with Mauro commentating and Daniel Bryan hyping it in the GM role, it would still have some semblance of it being organic. It won't have that vibe on Raw. Raw should've been more entertainment and Smackdown should be more wrestling. It should be a distinct contrast in style and presentation but they're not really doing that.