1. Tyler Bate vs. Brian Kendrick
These guys got 15 minutes in front of a relatively lively AXXESS crowd and they take it from eye poke shtick and Kendrick trying to start U-S-A chants to a big dramatic finish. It was a necessary reminder that Kendrick is one of the greats, as after years of soulless 205 Live participation he was having a blast in a smaller, looser environment. Beyond the aforementioned stuff, he heard the loud BIG STRONG BOY chants early, so when he bailed after exchanged he asked a kid in the front row, “Why didn’t you tell me he was a big strong boy!?” There were a lot of casual reminders that these two fellas can wrestle peppered in there too, capped off by the hot finish. Kendrick plays an arrogant coward here, but he’s clearly living it up so much that you just want to root for him anyways. ****
2. Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster vs. Ariya Daivari & Mike Kanellis
The AXXESS crowd went Full Irony with actual real life Mike Kanellis chants early, which Kanellis took advantage of by tagging into a pop, hyping up the crowd, and tagging out. It might be the best thing he’s done on WWE TV since he knocked Sami Zayn out with that flower pot or whatever. Webster taking heat from Daivari and Kanellis wasn’t exactly fun, but this was an alright little tag with an alright little finish. **1/2
3. Triple Threat Match: Gran Metalik vs. Ligero vs. Albert Hardie Jr.
Hey! It’s ACH! Maybe one day he will have a marketable pro wrestling name. One day. Anyways, Triple Threat matches are almost always dumb but this was less dumb than usual because these three are freaks and they kept it moving with all kinds of good stuff that stood out in a world filled with all kinds of similar good stuff. Metalik vs. Hardie was SO good and something I must see more of immediately. Ligero also looked way more comfortable and smoother than he has on NXT UK, just firing off all kinds of springboard madness. He hit a springboard DDT so sweet that it ended the match. This ruled. ***3/4
4. Akira Tozawa vs. Jordan Devlin
These guys are on pretty different paths – Tozawa came in crazy hot and has cooled off in the WWE system, while Devlin is getting a quiet introduction and shows apparent improvements every time he appears. Showing up once every few months versus Tozawa’s once every few weeks probably helps too. This was a total “good” match. They did their match, with their impressive signature spots peppered around the WWE structure, and it’s a pretty safe bet but something I’ve admittedly seen way too much of. ***
