Let’s recap the Breakout tournament and The Evil Genius of the Sky. But mostly the Evil Genius of the Sky.

6b. There is no human being worthy of standing next to Io Shirai.

6a. Easily the best match of the Breakout tournament, otherwise known as the Dusty Rhodes Everyman Classic, was the very first match between Angel Garza and Joaquin Wilde. Nothing else captured my imagination the way this match-up did. Everything else was good, but this was the only match that hit the next level.  

5. Breakout star #3: Dexter Lumis. Even in a first round loss, Lumis made a huge impression. There is something seriously creepy about this guy. It would be easy to package him as just another angry, athletic big man, i.e Test, Matt Morgan or Dijak. I wonder how far they’ll let him take it. He seems born to be a Firefly.

4b. There is no human being worthy of standing next to Io Shirai.

4a. Breakout star #2: Cameron Grimes. Maybe it’s the black tights. Maybe it’s the less than perfect body. Maybe it’s the “gives no shits” attitude willing to take a shortcut. I see a lot of Stone Cold in the Backwoods Bad Ass. I’m not saying he’ll hit that level, but there’s no reason to think he won’t be a star in NXT and beyond.

3. Breakout star #1: Angel Garza. I’m still shocked he didn’t win it all and wasn’t even in the finals. This guy is a top talent in any ring in the world. He’s got one of the coolest finishers in wrestling, the Butterfly Stunner. I’m usually not a fan of guys taking their pants off, but Garza even makes that cool. Can’t wait for him to be full time.

2. It’s hard to come up with a match ending that no one saw coming. It’s even harder to come up with an ending that no one saw. I went back and read a lot of recaps of the Takeover match between the Street Profits and Undisputed Era’ Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. Exactly one person mentioned the blind tag at the end, but they didn’t question the finish. I was as shocked as everybody else to hear Fish & O’Reilly complaining about the incompetent referee. Whether it was an actual tag or accidental contact, they have a point. Attention to the little details elevates you from good to great. Road Warriors. Dudley Boys. Edge & Christian. Midnight Rockers. Hart Foundation. Undisputed Era. That’s right. I said it.

1b. There is no human being worthy of standing next to Io Shirai.

1a. File this under amazing things I’ll probably never see. If I could book any match in the world right now, it would be Io Shirai versus Kairi Sane. With all due respect to Kota Ibushi versus Matt Riddle, I have to defer to ladies this time.