July 27th, 2016 | Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida
The pre-match video packages for Dux and Sabre are great. Dux spoke about injuring his ACL while under contract with the WWE in 2004. Sabre is just all kinds of awesome.
Zack Sabre Jr. def. Tyson Dux in 8:27
Sabre represents England, while Dux is from Canada. Also, the two countries I want to move to after Trump becomes President. Some fans try to chant Sabre's name to the tune of "Seven Nation Army" like they do in RPW, but other fans just chant it normally. Sabre is just a joy to watch. He was doing simple things but it's all so smooth and expertly done. Daniel Bryan pretty much orgasmed several times at the things Sabre did. The sight of Sabre wrenching Dux's wrist was vicious. Dux got two on a nice fisherman buster. Sabre swiftly got into an octopus hold, putting an emphasis on the wrist but Dux made the ropes. Sabre swept him up and hit the PK for two. Dux came back with a big lariat. Sabre countered a fireman's carry like move into one submission that transitioned into two others before Dux finally gave up. That might have been my favorite CWC match so far. Dux did his part but it was the Sabre show and that was awesome enough. ***1/2
Drew Gulak def. Harv Sihra in 5:16
Sihra is competing for India, while Gulak is from the US. I've never seen Sihra, but Gulak is the leader of the awesome Catch Point stable in Evolve. Sihra is one half of the Bollywood Boys and seems have a good time with his dancing. The fans chanted "Catch Point" and Mauro name dropped ECCW. 2016 is a weird year. Gulak took him to the mat early and applied a body scissors, but Sihra countered that by crossing his legs over Gulak's. I've never seen that before. Gulak slammed Sihra into the ropes, causing him to take a breather. Gulak caught him in a dragon sleeper with a body scissors. Sihra nearly countered the scissors again, but Gulak adjusted and made him tap. Solid little match. I really liked that the cool counter from earlier played into the finish. Gulak takes on Sabre in the second round. **1/2
Tony Nese def. Anthony Bennett in 6:31
Nese is someone I see a lot in Evolve. Both guys are from the States. Bennett has a high top fade that Iman Shumpert would be jealous of. Both guys competed at a quick pace. Nese cartwheeled off of the apron and drilled Bennett with a sweet superkick. Bennett is tiny. He looks like a child. He did hit some decent looking forearms and leaping clotheslines, but those didn't look too great. His popup dropkick was nice though. He got close to a win with a tornado DDT at one point. Nese nailed a powerslam and went up top. The referee stopped things to check on Bennett, which was interesting. He let things go and Nese won with a 450 splash. Nese celebrated with an Ahmed Johnson/Big E like wedgie. The match itself was about what I expected. Bennett looked fun, while Nese was himself. Nothing special. **1/2
The Brian Kendrick def. Raul Mendoza in 7:34
Kendrick got to keep his amazing MAN WITH A PLAN theme. It got a big pop. Kendrick reps the US, while Mendoza is from Mexico and idolized Eddie Guerrero. Mendoza showed off speed early but barely landed on a handspring back flip and it looked weird. Mendoza did a nice submission but once Kendrick got an opening, he connected on a big boot. Mendoza wears braces, adding to the viciousness of Kendrick grinding his mouth on the ropes and kicking it, making him bleed. They stopped things again to check on Mendoza's mouth. Once he said he was okay, Kendrick charged and attacked. Mendoza fired up with a sweet corkscrew dive outside and spin kick inside. He got Kendrick in the tree of woe and hit the coast to coast. Kendrick nearly lost after a suplex backbreaker hybrid but got his foot on the bottom rope. Kendrick faked an injury to open the door and win with the bully choke. Really good stuff here. I loved the braces spot and Kendrick being vicious in general. Mendoza impressed too, fighting through the blood and showing off some really nice athleticism. Kendrick takes on Nese in round two. ***1/2
Next week, Rich Swann takes on Jason Lee, Noam Dar goes one on one with Gurv Sihra, Jack Gallagher again Fabian Alchner and Johnny Gargano clashes with partner Tommaso Ciampa!
Overall: 8.5/10. My favorite episode of the tournament so far. If we're going based on match quality alone, it wasn't amazing but it accomplished everything it had to. Sabre and Kendrick won two of the best matches so far, with Sabre establishing himself as a wizard and Kendrick being a great lunatic. The middle two matches weren't anything special, but Gulak and Nese got shine, while even the losers did week impressed, especially Dux and Mendoza.
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