Cruiserweight Classic Episode 4

Original Airdate: Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016
Full Sail University
Winter Garden, Florida

We are at the final episode of the first round. Which four competitors will join the sweet 16?

Rich Swann vs. Jason Lee
Swann is currently in Impact Wrestling and Lee is in Dragongate. Lee comes to the ring wielding nunchucks. Swann was one of the favorites coming out of this tournament, but was released due to his arrest in 2017. The crowd continues singing his entrance music as the match gets going. Lee hits a flurry of fast moving chops to Swann before hitting an enzaguri. Swann hits a hurricanrana off the top rope followed by a frog splash. Big roundhouse kick by Swann and he hits him with a standing 450 splash in a somewhat abrupt ending. Lee looked good there and probably deserved a few more minutes to show it off.

Match Rating: **1/2 (out of 5)

Noam Dar vs. Gurv Sihra
Dar is on 205 Live and Sihra accompanies Jinder Mahal over on Raw. Dar is the youngest competitor in the tournament. A little bit of a miscommunication between the two on a backbreaker spot. Dar is winning over some of the crowd here. Dar has been impressive but the stalling between moves is kind of killing the flow of the match. Sihra misses a second rope elbow drop and Dar hits an enzaguri and into a knee bar for the submission victory.

Match Rating: *3/4

Jack Gallagher vs. Fabian Aichner
Gallagher is on 205 Live and Aichner is with NXT UK. Gallagher was definitely one of the standouts my first time watching the show. Aichner shows off his athletic ability early on by getting out of Gallagher's wrist lock. Bryan is in love with Gallagher. Gallagher's style is very similar to Zack Sabre Jr. and the crowd is digging it. Aichner hits an interesting springboard kick to the mid-section of Gallagher. They go for the back and forth pinfall spot, who then Aichner goes for a backbreaker and a nearfall. Aichner then hits a double springboard moonsault, but it's not enough. Gallagher is back on offense and has Aichner in a guillotine. Aichner uses his strength to hit a sit down powerbomb in a nice spot. Aichner misses a frog splash and Gallagher hits a headbutt and a phenomenal dropkick for the pinfall victory.

Match Rating: **3/4

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
They do a face to face interview before the match as they hint at tension. These two are the current faces of NXT and tearing it up every time they step in the ring. Gargano is my favorite current wrestler on the WWE roster. Ciampa drills Gargano with a big elbow and then a knee to get him out of the ring. Ciampa is already playing heel. Big knee to the head and he throws him back in the ring for a 2 count. Gargano finally gets a kick in to slow down Ciampa, which he follows up with a slingshot DDT. Ciampa climbs the ropes with Gargano on his back, Gargano goes for a sunset flip powerbomb, Ciampa blocks and then Gargano destroys him with a kick to the face. Gargano then hits a suicide dive. These guys are just in a league of their own. Slingshot into the ring and Ciampa nails him in the head and we get the famous Gargano selling. It's fun to see this match now after their epic trilogy of Takeover matches last year. Both guys are fighting on the edge of the ring and Ciampa hits Gargano with the Air Raid Drop THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING. Ciampa only gets a 2 count. Ciampa hesitates after rolling down his knee pad. Ciampa hits a sitdown powerbomb into a lungblower. Awesome stuff. We then get a phenomenal ending sequence and Gargano gets the victory after a crucifix. Easily the best match of the first round right here. They finally embrace after the match.

Match Rating: ****

This episode featured the best match of the tournament so far along with some nice moments from Jack Gallagher and Rich Swann. As good as the first round was, the rest of the tournament only gets better from here. Really looking forward to the next episodes.

Overall Rating: 76%