Cruiserweight Classic Episode 9 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, September 7th, 2016
Full Sail University
Winter Garden, Florida

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Noam Dar
Not surprisingly, we get some mat based wrestling to start. Dar taunts Sabre Jr. and hits a nice dropkick to the legs to finally get some offense in which Sabre Jr. reverses. Dar goes back to the leg and yet again Sabre Jr. is able to bounce back. This match is nearly impossible to recap as they continue to back and forth. ZSJ hits the penalty kick, but his one leg doesn't hold up as a result of Dar's offense, which is nicely pointed out by Bryan. Dar continues to work on the knee and then follows up with a...you guessed it, a suicide dive. Nice dropkick to the back by Dar. Dar gets ZSJ into a knee bar, followed by multiple reversals. ZSJ gets the arm bar and after some reversals Dar is able to get to the ropes. If I were to nitpick on Zack, I would say he needs to work on his facial expressions. It never really changes. They are not battling on the outside and almost both get counted out. ZSJ now has a bad leg and bad arm. They both hit some big boots and then ZSJ gets into the double arm bar for the victory.

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

Rich Swann vs. T.J. Perkins
Swann has definitely the strongest following in the tournament in terms of the live crowd. Both of these guys are pretty incredible athletes. They do a really nice rope run sequence followed by some arm drags by Swann. Swann's knee is hurt and Perkins is taking advantage. Both men are upstairs and Swann is able to push Perkins off the the post to the outside. Perkins hits a jumping hurricanrana. Swann is back in control and he shows off what he can  do. Swann is trying to get feeling in his leg again and Perkins gets him in the knee bar, but Swann is able to get to the ropes. Swann hits a powerbomb with a bridge, but that only gets a 2 count. Two big kicks by Perkins, but then Swann nails him but loses his balance. Perkins hits a modified Pele kick and then into the knee bar and gets the victory. Perkins immediately embraces Swann after the match. There were some bummed out fans after that finish. I can't emphasize how smooth Perkins is. Everything he does, he makes it look so easy.

Match Rating: ***1/2

Both matches were very good, but neither hit greatness. Let's see if they can find greatness again in the final four on the finale episode, as we get Kota vs. T.J. and Gran Metalik vs. ZSJ. I'm really looking forward to re-visiting that.

Overall Rating: 70%