Mark Andrews vs. Drew Gulak (Cruiserweight Tournament Match)
Andrews tries to get back into those one, but his strikes just don’t match what Gulak brings to the table. Andrews tries to rally, flips up to Gulak’s shoulder and lands a hurricanrana. Gulak out to the floor, Andrews gets close and Gulak yanks him to the floor. Andrews with a moonsault off the announce table. Andrews flips into the ring and lands a bulldog, double knees in the corner, double stomp, standing corkscrew moonsault, pin, two!
Gulak gets Andrews into the corner and hits a few big chops, tries to stomp Andrews down, but Andrews with a flurry of attacks that drops Gulak. The high-flyer heads to the second rope and goes for a big hurricanrana that sends Gulak to the floor! Andrews head to the corner and lands a second rope moonsault down to the floor, throws Gulak back in the ring. Crucifix bomb by Andrews, pin, two. Some frustration forming on Andrews’ face as he heads up to the top rope yet again. Gulak stops him by grabbing his beard, Andrews fights him off, jumps off the top rope and gets a lariat to the face. Gulak with two short-arm clotheslines. Stundog milllionaire (flipping stunner) hits, Andrews to the top rope, moonsault, Gulak got his knees up to block that. Gulak then locks in the dragon sleeper and it’s a quick tap by Andrews.
Winner: Drew Gulak via Submission (Advances to the Semis)
– Post-match, Gulak holds in the submission for quite awhile until the referee can finally get him to break the hold.
Hideo Itami and Akira Tozawa vs. Nemeth Alexander and Scott James
Tozawa kicks things off with Alexander with, well, a big kick to the face. “Ah!” chants already break out. Alexander with a number of big forearms in the corner. Tozawa with a spinning kick and quick suplex. Itami gets tagged in, running knee in the corner, suplex. Alexander able to tag out, James in, but gets lit up by Itami’s strikes. Itami with a number of strikes that drops his opponent. Double team move, running dropkick by Itami. Tozawa lands a senton splash, pin, 1-2-3.
Winners: Akira Tozawa and Hideo Itami via Pinfall
Next week, it will be Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong to see who goes to the finals.
– At the WWE Performance Center, Strong says he will outwork anyone and he’s been preparing for WrestleMania for a long time.
– Random Room, Alexander sits down and says “One more match” that stand between him and WrestleMania. He notes how each time he gets a title opportunity, something goes wrong, but not this time, he’s going to WrestleMania to become the next Cruiserweight Champion.
– Weigh-in for Buddy Murphy, comes in at 197 lbs. Maverick ended up flubbing his line and restarted, kind of funny WWE didn’t edit that out.
Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali (Cruiserweight Tournament Match)
Bit of a stalemate until Murphy drops Ali with a hard shoulder bump. Some dueling “Buddy Murphy/Mustafa” chants as Drew Gulak looks on to see who he will face in the next round. Nice hurricanrana by Ali, sending Murphy out to the floor. Ali went to fly, but Murphy was instantly in the ring stopping Ali in his tracks. Ali with a dropkick as he taunts Murphy.
Murphy with a huge clothesline that flips Ali upside down, yikes. Big kick to Ali’s back.
