[2017-04-12-WWE-NXT] Drew McIntyre vs Oney Lorcan

[KawadaSmile]

Holy shit, what a match. Right on the beginning Drew does a very quick belly to belly suplex that makes Oney bail to the outside, but come back with a vengeance.

 

From that point on, they just blast each other with everything they can. Uppercuts, chops, slaps to the goddamn face, and it's not like Oney is perceived as this weakling because of the size difference - he lays it in just as much, if not more, than Drew himself.

 

The closing moments of the match see Drew hitting his scary inverted Alabama Slam, and then a flying boot that makes Oney bleed on the spot. Just gruesome.

 

Fast paced, violent, and overall great. Drew looked like a huge, huge star in this match to the point I could say he can hang on the main roster without any problem. Lorcan looked like a killer too, despite being much smaller.

 

**** 1/2

[rzombie1988]

Really quick smashmouth style wrestling match. Wish they would have got more time because these two have a classic in them down the line. Too short to get anything above *** for me.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Really good violent sprint w/ a real sense of urgency to it. ***3/4

[GOTNW]

I've had a long time fascination with short matches so I'm glad to see them become the hip thing these days. I'm not going to rank a match where someone does a backlfip for a thigh slap big boot as one of the absolute best in the genre, but this about as good as it gets for a four minute NXT TV match. McIntyre dominated nicely, his Belly to Belly Suplexes looked great. Lorcan's comeback attempts were really good, his European Uppercuts were on point and his slap attack was straight out of late 2000s/1early 2010s NOAH. A really neat showcase of how smartly utilizing struggle and violence can instantly raise the stakes of even the most throwaway matches and make more memorable. I can't really decide on a rating-my gut instinct says ***1/4. but this better than Lesnar/Goldberg at least from the perspective on not relying on smoke and mirrors so much and providing a more viable style. But the spectacle and the bullshit is also a part of what makes wrestling so lovely so. ***1/4-***1/2,***1/4+, whatever.

[Cap]

I actually reviewed this one and wasn't sitting down to watch it with any focus, but it sucked me in pretty quick. It was better than it had any business being I though. I especially loved Lorcan's stiff shots at the end as a way of escalating the violence. As much as i liked Galloway in Evolve, this more his style, pace, and stage. Good stuff. ***3/4

[SmartMark15]

So much better than it had any right to be. Oney Lorcan just went in and delivered a level of intensity that surpassed what this match was probably meant to be--a simple showcase for Drew McIntyre upon his return. But yeah, he took it to Drew. Stiff strikes, big bumps, and that slap exchange at the end was just brutal. Escalated and peaked at just the perfect time.

 

***1/2

[Matt D]

What's most striking so far on Drew's return is how natural everything seems. He's doing this incredibly high impact stuff, just whipping guys around, smashing them all over, and it seems like the most natural thing in the world. I always appreciate when something doesn't come off as entirely rote. I can appreciate learned behavior and ritual as much as the next guy, but if you come in at a slightly odd angle and make something seem natural and believable, like it's a unique, one time only occurrence, it stands out. If you can do that and also have it look like a million bucks, all the better. For the most part, both guys had that here. Lorcan flying back into the ring early in the match and just unloading was one such moment, the slaps late in the match (that brought a smile to my face despite myself) was another. The way that Drew maneuvered around Lorcan getting a foot up in the ropes at the very end. The execution on the sit up out of the corner, the way he caught him on the dive and just flipped him over in the most matter of fact way. I didn't love the blockbuster, but other than that, I couldn't find a ton of fault in this for what it was.