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Follow @TheDocLOP QUESTION OF THE DAY: What was the best match of the CWC's opening round? What has been your biggest takeaway through four weeks? Through four weeks, the Cruiserweight Classic has been a resounding success and a breath of fresh air on the WWE Network. The Summer of 2016 has been eventful to say the least with the brand extension returning, Roman's suspension, Brock's UFC return (and its aftermath), etc. and I must say that the CWC for me personally is, along with the recent improvement of Raw and SD since the draft, the best thing going; the CWC has been among the most engaging mid-point of the year happenings in a long time. Now, Round 1 is in the books after a night that offered arguably the preeminent match of the tournament to date, setting the stage well for the start of the Sweet Sixteen next week. Onto the CMV1-style review... Match 1: Rich Swann defeated Jason Lee in 3:46 (Doc's Rating - **) (Doc's Notes – While it was one of the shorter matches of the tournament, it never lacked for entertainment value. Lee was highly impressive in his outing, striking quickly and furiously with an approach that reminded me of a younger Tajiri. I definitely hope to see more of Jason Lee and, frankly, I sure wish that he instead of his fellow Hong Kong-mate, Ho Ho Lun, had advanced to the Round of 16. Lun had perhaps the worst showing of the entire field yet moves on, while Lee did quite well for himself in a losing effort. Swann showcased himself to be one of the most enjoyable acts of all the participants and I would be surprised if he did not carve a nice niche in Raw's CW division. While his athleticism was surely something to behold, his charisma was what stood out most in a sub-4-minute match. Too short to be anything better than composite average, but a 2-star match in less than five minutes is nothing to scoff at or misconstrue) Match 2: Noam Dar defeated Girv Sihra in 5:26 (Doc's Notes – This was one of the worst efforts of the tournament, with an early botch of a fairly simple-looking sequence immediately marring the product and jarring me out of the action. Gaffes are to be expected when taking high risks and we've seen a few of them in Round 1; sometimes they matter very little to the overall match as seen in the bout that followed this one but, in an otherwise lackluster effort, botches certainly stand out more, especially within the context of an event like the CWC in which so many intricate sequences have been pulled off beautifully. Dar and Lun have a lot to prove in the Sweet 16 given that their matches were perhaps the two worst of the Round of 32) Match 3: Jack Gallagher defeated Fabian Aichner in 6:46 (Doc's Rating - ** ¾) (Doc's Notes – There may have been better matches than this one in the first round, but I can honestly say that none entertained me any more than it did. I shared Daniel Bryan's sentiments that Gallagher was one of the guys I most looked forward to seeing for the first time in the CWC and I do not think that he disappointed. I'll echo a lot of what I said about Zack Sabre Jr. last week in regards to Gallagher's style and how much I've enjoyed it since my first exposure via William Regal in the early 1990s, but it was Gallagher's opponent that made me appreciate his match more than ZSJ's in Week 3. Aichner, who we learned was trained by former WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Alex Wright, was one of the final reminders of perhaps Round 1's greatest lesson should we see another CWC in the future: this tournament allows a lot of guys who got knocked out in the first month to preview for us and WWE their respective talents. Fabian Aichner is still a fresh face in the wrestling world with just five years of experience, but his combination of power and agility – which absolutely made this scrap with Gallagher special – should be viewed as an ideal addition to a potentially well-rounded CW division on Raw. I loved this match!) Match 4: Johnny Gargano defeated Tommaso Ciampa in 10:41 (Doc's Rating - *** ½) (Doc's Notes – Those of you that have followed my work since 2004 have possibly noticed that I have not just one preferred wrestling style that I most enjoy viewing; I appreciate every style and think that all wrestling matches share common themes no matter what method in which they are performed. That said, if there is an underlying process to the in-ring performance that tends to be a more frequently instant hit with me in terms of star ratings, it’s the hybrid of several styles; such is the reason why Cruiserweight wrestling earns high marks from me more often than not - it’s typically an aesthetically engaging mixture of methods. If you add in a solid story, then there is potential for something truly exemplary. Gargano vs. Ciampa was exemplary; it was the best match in the tournament thus far because of not just its blending of the high flying and striking approaches but also because of the simple tale of two great friends and tag team partners locked in a battle with their eyes on the same individual prize. The backstage segment between them was simple but exactly what it needed to be; the commentary hyping up Gargano as a former 800-day reigning singles champion on the indies verbally confirmed that Johnny Wrestling should be the favorite; Ciampa's eventual domination totally flipped the pre-match momentum around and made Gargano the underdog; the storytelling via facial expressions and body language from both participants was excellent; and the action was incredibly well-executed. A lot was accomplished in those eleven minutes; that was as good an eleven minute match as you’ll see)
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