Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 12/6/16)

Chaos In The Title Picture 

– The opening video recapped WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann’s spectacular victory over Brian Kendrick to become Champ last week on the series premiere. The inspirational music was a big plus, yet the random crowd shots didn’t fit the moment per se. It was as if they were plucked out of context on another show. That said, Swann should make an excitable champion and bring the best out of Kendrick in chase mode as a heel.

– The backstage segment with Alicia Fox and Cedric Alexander showed her wishing him good luck with a kiss before his match. Commentator Corey Graves revealed they were an “item.” Interesting. Fox looked tame there compared to the “crazy ex-girlfriend” we saw on Raw. Wonder where that Bayley Bear is.

– The Noam Dar-Alexander match was a good effort from these two as expected, though it was more grounded than we would’ve liked for an opener. The crowd wasn’t engaged much and with good reason. Fox was also a horrible date as she wasn’t even at ringside. The match’s biggest development was the careful attention to detail to make Dar come off as a vast technical in-ring threat. The little things, like when he drove his knuckles into Alexander’s elbow while he had him in a submission hold looked especially vicious. Alexander’s selling was superb and helped things too. Alexander began to comeback with clotheslines and a stiff back elbow, but the momentum was halted with a footprint to the face when Dar kicked him on a handspring back elbow attempt. Since Alexander now had a date which was the talk of the commentary booth throughout the contest, we were pleasantly surprised with a clean Dar victory by way of the running kick. It also gave the Fox-Alexander storyline a good twist, as we wondered what Fox would think. That was also definitely the most vicious Dar had looked in the ring. Dar’s post-match promo was good stuff, as he put himself over for his young age and dedicated his win to Fox. Such a brash move and we liked it, since it solidified Dar as a heel. It was a better fit for his style anyway.

– The Mustafa Ali hype video did a good job as it established his character as a flashy, versatile athlete who could go up to par with anybody in the ring. There were some racial undertones, as he addressed being booed by fans in the Cruiserweight Classic upon his name before he even said a word and he looked to change everyone’s perceptions. His self-christened “King Ali” nickname was a nice addition. Showed easy confidence.

– The Swann/TJ Perkins backstage segment followed up their Raw match where Swann was victorious, as Perkins wished him luck in the rematch against Kendrick. He also implied that Swann was good enough to beat Kendrick, but not him. The light tension was a nice touch and we’d see that develop more as the show continued.

– The Ariya Daivari-“Extraordinary Gentleman” Jack Gallagher match followed up their feud after Raw, when Gallagher defeated him but had his knee injured after the bell by a sore loser Daivari. With this their third match in a week and Gallagher winner of the previous two, they had plenty of work to do to to differentiate things, but they succeeded. The story here was that Gallagher had his left knee taped up, which made it an easy target for the heel to work with. The first half of the match consisted of Daivari as he worked over the knee in creative fashion, to the point where he even relied on the ring ropes for extra leverage. Gallagher began a light comeback highlighted with a nice headbutt to Daivari’s collar bone, but it wasn’t enough. The finish saw Daivari whip something new out of his repertoire as he won with a “Persian Lion Splash.” That needed to happen to further things, since Gallagher already had the out for the injured knee.

– The backstage promo from Kendrick was nice main event hype, as he made excuses for why he lost last week (stressed over media appearances, being the face of a brand, not having time to train, etc.) and it fit his shortcut character. It was almost funny, probably by design. Kendrick’s the kind of guy we’re supposed to respect in the ring, but roll our eyes towards out of it. Also liked the final line where he claimed he’d win the belt back and dedicate the win to himself, an obvious shot at Swann’s heartfelt dedication to his late mother last week.

– The WWE Cruiserweight Championship match between Champion Swann and Kendrick with Perkins on commentary left things off where they were last week in terms of the in-ring action. Not as dramatic as last week was, but their chemistry tightened up and made this exciting down the stretch. They eventually won the crowd over, while we were treated on commentary to a back-and-forth argument between Commentator Austin Aries and Perkins. Swann hit a cool Phoenix Splash off the second rope to the floor. Good drama late as they engaged in a sequence of kicks. Kendrick was relentless as he repeatedly attempted the Captain’s Hook. He failed the first time, but got it the second. Swann reached the ropes, before they eventually battled on the apron. Kendrick shoved Swann face first into the post, which knocked him to the floor. Things changed for the better once we saw Swann push Kendrick into Perkins at the table. Perkins stared down Kendrick, before the heel went back into the ring and was knocked with a spinning heel kick to retain. We were initially confused about that, since we’d think Perkins would be upset at Swann since he clearly pushed Kendrick into him. We were sure they’d follow this up on Raw with more tension between Perkins and Swann to build to a three-way with Kendrick, but we got even more with the post-match angle, which excellently did that. Kendrick leaped over the table to attack Perkins out of rage, which drew Swann back to the ringside area to help his friend. It was there that Perkins accidentally superkicked the Champ out cold, while Kendrick was proud of what had transpired. The “chaotic conclusion” felt fitting and we left this show more curious what would happen with Swann-Perkins.

Quick Results

• Noam Dar def. Cedric Alexander via pinfall 
• Ariya Daivari def. “The Extraordinary Gentleman” Jack Gallagher via pinfall 
• WWE Cruiserweight Championship – Rich Swann (Champion) def. Brian Kendrick via pinfall to retain