Confused by the title? You’ll see why I chose it in…
Noam Dar vs. Chad Gable (Heritage Cup Match)
Round 1 – good mat work to start. Gable goes to the suplexes, Dar counters with Joint Manipulation like all good UK’ers do.
Round 2 – chops from Gable and a German leads to a two-count. Mensah interferes, leading to the Nova Leg Lariat for a pin. Dar’s up 1-0.
Round 3 – Mainly PiP. Gable hits a Superplex for a close two count, they exchange Dreaded Roll-ups for near falls.
Round 4 – Strikefest to start. Gable gets more wrestling in. Draping DDT to the floor from Dar nearly gets a count-out fall. Submission trade, more strikes, round ends.
Round 5 – Chaos Theory evens the score.
Round 6 – Dar goes on the ADV after some chicanery. More roll-up attempts. Gable emerges on top, tries for the Ankle Lock with the Grapevine. Dar holds out until the bell to tap out.
Tie goes to the champ.
Good action but I hate this format
Winner: Noam Dar
Post match sees pushing and shoving from the two sides.
Tony D and Stacks in the back in a stereotype segment, then Trick and Melo,
Lyra vs. Xia match was to start but an attack by the latter on the former during the entrances holds the match off while Lyra is medically evaluated.
Legado Del Fantasma Futura vs. Edris and Malik
Yes, I’m buying into the rumour. Deal with it.
Short match to feature Angel and Humberto. Tandem knee strike, Gory Special, Blockbuster are among the offensive moves by the heels. Pop-up Penalty Kick finishes this squash.
Winners: LDFF
Carmelo Hayes vs. Josh Briggs
Nice long match here.
Briggs starts strong but Hayes hits a Mafia Kick to calm things down.
Strikefest outside the ring is among the offence, as well as a Melo Crossbody. The two return to the ring briefly but end up back on the outside. Briggs tries to slam Melo through the announce table. No dice. More outside. Once back in the ring, Briggs turns up the heat. Standing splash gets two, more attempts result in the same.
Melo comes back with offence that includes a Rana, La Mistica, Scissor Kick and other. Briggs comes back with a Chokeslam. More work from Briggs leads to a second Chokeslam attempt which is countered into a Codebreaker.
Strong match ends with Lexis King distraction. Briggs ends things with the Moonsault.
Winner: Josh Briggs
Backstage Lyra confirms the match is still on.
Elsewhere, Von and Stone BS is shown.
Wes Lee is out to the ring next. Whines about Judgement Day, which leads to Dom coming out. Wes must face three former North American champs next week and beat them to get a shot at the gold.
More backstage stuff. Chase U! Tiff Stratton!
Thea Hail vs. Blair Davenport
Academic. Blair dominates with her strong in-ring work. She’ll be a call-up soon.
Hail hits a Suicide Dive thanks to distraction from Jacy Jayne but that’s pretty much all her offence. Kamigoye ends things for Blair.
Winner: Blair Davenport
Baron Corbin/Ilja Dragunov hype segment is next. Nothing of note.
Eddie Thorpe vs. Charlie Dempsey
Way too short. Back-and-forth British strong strikes. Dempsey with a midriff knee. Thorpe fights back but Dempsey gets the Octopus Stretch. Thorpe reverses things and gets the Dreaded Roll-up for the win.
Winner: Eddie Thorpe
More Italian stereotype, then an Ariana Grace hype package.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Xia Li (NXT Women’s Championship Match)
Xia has the advantage at first but Lyra gamely fights back. Beautiful dropkick variation from Lyra.
Xia gets the ADV and hits a sweet swinging neckbreaker. Camel Clutch can’t get the pin. Lyra comes back but Xia gets the STF.
More back and forth highlighted by Lyra getting a Helicopter Spin. Lyra hits a German.
Boo-Yays as we head toward the finish.
Xia gets a sleeper but Lyra gets a pin amid the schmozz. Lyra goes on a rampage and hits the Michinoku Driver for the win.
Winner: Lyra Valkyria
Lyra looked impressive and the two longer matches, along with seemingly fewer backstage segments, made this ep much more watchable.
Until next time, Stay Classy.