WWE CWC results: Akira Tozawa vs. Kenneth Johnson; Tajiri returns

Daniel Bryan and Mauro Ranallo welcome us to the show. Ranallo puts over Bryan being the new GM of SmackDown. Bryan says it’s great, but the CWC is awesome. They throw it to Corey Graves who runs down the matches for tonight and the highlights from last week.

Tajiri (Japan) defeated Damian Slater (Australia)

Damian Slater is profiled before the match. He knows he’s an underdog but says he’ll come out the victor. He wants people to come in not knowing who he is. He’s not in it just to be involved, he wants to win this thing.

Tajiri looked good here. He did his typical spots, including the tarantula, and worked a pretty good technical style. At 46, Tajiri still looks good. Damian Slater did a cool dive to the outside and he didn’t look bad in this match either. Tajiri won with the buzzsaw kick.

Tajiri advances to the second round, facing Gran Metalik.

TJ Perkins (Philippines) defeated Da Mack (Germany)

TJ Perkins mentions how he started wrestling at 13 years old. He describes his in-ring style as versatile. There’s a lot of good wrestlers, but he likes to make it look easy. Da Mack calls himself the Urban German. He wants to be the Michael Jackson of pro wrestling and is heavily influenced by his style.

Da Mack came out to some fun music, kind of reminiscent of a Michael Jackson song. Perkins came across well as an established veteran, not only looking good in the ring but also showed great confidence.

Perkins sank in a Muta lock but Mack escaped and hit a corkscrew senton. Perkins got the win with a kneebar in another solid match.

Lince Dorado (Puerto Rico) defeated Mustafa Ali (Pakistan)

Mustafa Ali is introduced. He’s been wrestling for 13 years and considers himself the most well-rounded wrestler in the tournament. He says he can fly and wrestle better than anyone. He doesn’t see anyone on this list he can’t beat, it’s do or die for him.

Lince Dorado is next. He’s been wrestling for 10 years under this mask. Some of the setbacks he has suffered include him being injured, but being on the biggest stage shows his family where he belongs.

Ali worked over Dorado as a heel and looked pretty good. Dorado made a good comeback and laid out Ali with a big Asai moonsault, then followed it up with another moonsault off the top turnbuckle. There was a great near fall where Dorado hit a springboard reverse hurricanrana.

Ali came back with a Spanish fly for another near fall. Ali went for an inverted 450 splash but missed. Dorado capitalized with a shooting star press for the win. Really good match.

Akira Tozawa (Japan) defeated Kenneth Johnson (USA)

Tozawa says he’s very energetic in the ring and that it has long been his dream to be in WWE. “Tozawa? WWE? WOW!” he says. Johnson says he’s fought his whole life. He knows the heart and determination it takes to keep going. He wants to inspire and encourage others.

This was pretty solid. It was mostly a Tozawa match as he took control. Johnson looked fine but nothing out of this world. He didn’t look lost, but Tozawa looked better and threw some great suplexes. Tozawa looked on his game here. He won with a deadlift German suplex.

Next week: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyson Dux, Drew Gulak vs. Harv Sihra, Anthony Bennett vs. Tony Nese, and Raul Mendoza vs. Brian Kendrick will continue the tournament.

Final Thoughts: I thought Ali vs. Dorado stood out as match of the show, just solid work from both guys and both came across as people to watch. Overall, the show was pretty fun and easy to watch. Presentation wise this is one of the best shows WWE is producing.