July 21, 2016
WWE/Twitter
Japan’s Akira Tozawa, left, and the United States’ Kenneth Johnson fought in an amazing main event on Wednesday night.
The second installment of the WWE Network’s Cruiserweight Classic was aired on Wednesday night, and it had a little old school flavor to it in terms of one of the winners. Who would move on to Round 2 of the tournament? Let’s find out.
If you subscribe to the WWE Network, you can watch these matches on demand. Here are the results of the second batch of matches in Round 1:
I said it before on the podcast that I thought Tajiri would win at least one match, possibly two, and I was proven right. Tajiri still has some lethal kicks, but Slater’s [no relation to Heath or A.C.] corkscrew pescado was probably one of the best moments of the match. It wasn’t enough, though, as Tajiri knocked Slater senseless with his Buzzsaw Kick for the win.
Tajiri will take on Gran Metalik in the second round.
Mauro Ranallo’s shoutout to Alex Wright was the best part of this match for me, and that’s because I’m easily influenced by mentions of wrestlers I grew up watching. Da Mack, dubbed as the Urban German with his dancing technique, is the new school Das Wunderkind.
Perkins is a veteran and showed as much after missing a 450 splash, as he hit Mack with a facebuster and what looked like a modified version of CM Punk’s Go To Sleep, then locked on the kneebar to win via submission.
Perkins will meet the winner of Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano in the second round.
The Cruiserweight Classic may have seen its first instant classic, as both Dorado and Ali brought their best A game in their first round match against each other. The two aerial superstars wasted no time in getting acclimated to the WWE ring, with Ali hitting Dorado with high-flying moves and Dorado returned the favor. Reverse hurricanranas, double-jumps, 450 splashes and shooting star presses were all on display during this match. Dorado would have the last laugh, hitting the Shooting Star Press on Ali and sending himself into the second round.
The crowd certainly appreciated their efforts.
Dorado will face the winner of Rich Swann and Jason Lee in the second round.
Johnson’s story is a fantastic one, but it didn’t get him a win on Wednesday night. Despite giving Tozawa a hard-fought match, Tozawa was able to hit Johnson with a pair of German Suplexes, deadlifting the second attempt and holding a bridge to get the pin. Great win by Tozawa. He’ll face the winner of Jack Gallagher and Fabian Aichner in the second round.
Gotta love Johnson, though.
I’m pulling for him!
Follow Nick on Twitter: @nickpiccone
Follow The Straight Shooters -- Twitter: @ShootersRadio | Facebook: The Straight Shooters
