AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE WWEID TOURNAMENT

If you have not been keeping up with the WWEID program, the prospects have started their journeys by being put into TV shows such as WWE Evolve and now, a standalone tournament to determine the first WWEID champion of the men’s and women’s divisions. The Evolve programing has been great and very well paced with matches featuring ID prospects and NXT talent that are getting their name out in the world. Even established NXT stars such as GALLUS are getting another platform in which to perform. 

 

At the GCW Collective in Las Vegas, GCW presented the WWEID opening round tournament as well as FSW hosting the second part at their facility. The show revolved around Swipe Right, Jackson Drake and Jayda Steel running the entire show. They showed up and interrupted segments to make sure everyone knew they were the dominate faction of the program. 

 

To start the night, Jordan Oasis and Freedom Ramsey kicked off the action with a great match up with the tournament on the line. The tournament being a double elimination did make it high stakes for both. Jordan Oasis is a very athletic big man and his standing blackout cannonball to the ropes is devastating just watching. Freedom Ramsey got the crowd on his side every time he screamed FREEDOM throughout the match. It was definitely great to see these two kick it off and clearly the program believes in them if they were the first two that anyone saw on an official card. 

 

Next up, Izzy Moreno, the infamous crying Bayley fan from the NXT performance center, made her debut in the WWEID program versus Zara Zakher. If Izzy were to win, she would earn her spot in the tournament and seemingly into the program full time as well. The problem? Zara is one of the best athletes in the WWEID program and she is one of the favorites to win it all. Despite this hill to climb, Izzy was putting in a great effort to beat her and then Swipe Right, Zayda and Jackson Drake all came out and distracted both competitors and the ref and knocked out Izzy to help Zara get the win. As Izzy laid there looking defeated, Zayda rubbed the loss in her face and then beat down Zara and Izzy. Zayda might be an issue in this tournament. 

 

We then had It’s GAL versus Aaron Rourke in the opening round of the tournament. Both are from the northeast and have plenty of experience against each other but this is a new level of stakes from their previous match ups. Aaron Rourke is an athletic beast that has defeated some monsters in his time at Create-A-Pro wrestling and has previously won the championship there so he has the ability to win. Iconic entrance as well by the way, Castles by Halsey if you’re interested. GAL has been a mainstay on Evolve TV since the show began and is always in the VIP suite mouthing off to everyone in earshot. He was the winner in this matchup but it was definitely not a walk in the park. 

 

Next, we had Ice Williams and Aaron Roberts, both WWEID prospects, in a three way matchup against Atticus Cogar, a GCW standout with a chance to join the tournament himself if he wins this match. Ice Williams is naturally charismatic and moves very well in the ring. Sometimes, it looks effortless seeing him do moves. Aaron Roberts is clearly the monster of the WWEID roster. Dude is huge, moves like a beast, is strong as hell and makes sure everyone knows it at all times. If you do not know Atticus, he’s one of the best deathmatch wrestlers we have ever seen but he’s given up the DM for a bit to focus on other aspects of wrestling as he’s always been a great wrestler that does death matches. This match was very even throughout but Atticus had it won and was about to pin Roberts but Fuego Del Sol came in and took the win from him allowing Ice Williams to earn the victory instead. Fuego and Atticus had a rivalry going into GCW Spring Break 9 so this was a great way to further that. Swipe Right and crew came in and attacked after this just to make sure no one forgot about them. 

 

Zayda Steel stayed in the ring and out came Kylie Rae, a former AEW star who is now a WWEID prospect and one of the biggest names in the tournament. Zayda and Kylie were definitely fighting for control throughout this match especially with Swipe Right being ringside but once they were kicked out of the match, Kylie was able to get the better of Zayda and give her her first loss in the tournament. Kylie is going to be my pick to win the tournament but Zayda can never be written off. She is the future of this group. 

 

Marcus Mathers and Sam Holloway have had a rivalry since the moment William Regal handed them a contract at the same time. This rivalry has followed them until this first round matchup and you could feel the hate from the opening bell. A no DQ matchup in the first round, Marcus and Sam were hard hitting from the beginning. Marcus being a GCW standout certainly helps give him the advantage here as he’s dealt with weapons in matches for years. They were dropping each other on chairs and just overall beating the hell out of each other despite the obvious size differences. Sam’s anger got the best of him in the end and Marcus was able to pull out the win. 

 

Our last match of the night was a rematch from the first WWE Evolve TV episode, a 6 man tag match between Swipe Right and Jackson Drake and Cappuccino Jones, Jack Cartwheel and Sean Legacy. In the first matchup, the faces won. This time around, the heels took the win but no one left thinking any less of the faces. Getting to see that cool triple dive to the outside was so worth the price of admission. These 6 are huge names in the program for a reason and Gabe clearly trusts them to deliver anytime he puts them on last. The heels stood tall to end the match but the faces from the WWEID program came out to fight back at the end of the night. 

 

This tournament is going to lead to a WWEID men’s and women’s champion and they will be defending the titles all over the Indies. And I hope they raise the standards wherever they go with those titles. So much will be on the line every time that title walks into a building. I love this for so many stars waiting for their chance to shine in front of the right people and WWEID has done a great job promoting matches from the Indies featuring their prospects on their official WWEID social media pages. Getting your name on an official WWE page is big time for any young career. Cannot wait for the future.