Aleister Black def. Buddy Murphy

MINNEAPOLIS — The old saying goes that you never know how tough someone is until they get punched in the mouth. Turns out, Aleister Black is pretty tough. Buddy Murphy is, too.

After knocking on The Dutch Destroyer’s door a few weeks back and picking a fight, the swaggering Australian got the fight he wanted and then some, as Black did exactly what he promised and dropped his foe with a Black Mass to the jaw … though he was certainly worse for wear for it.

Pundits had this match pegged as a show-stealer, and it did not disappoint. The biggest surprise was perhaps that Murphy could, indeed, hold his own in a fight against Black. The Best Kept Secret landed a knee square on Black’s jaw in the opening moments and smashed The Ominous Man From Amsterdam face-first into the steel steps a couple minutes later, possibly breaking Aleister’s nose and forcing him to suck wind for the remainder of the match.

Murphy’s mistake was trying to provoke his opponent, from mocking Black’s cross-legged pose before the match to laying hands on the former NXT Champion’s horned tunic. The disrespect energized Black to hit Murphy with whatever part of his body he wasn’t already hitting him with, and even though Murphy answered in kind, the former Cruiserweight Champion’s biggest mistake was to go for style points rather than stick with the brawling strategy that brought him to the dance.

Worn down by kickout after kickout, Murphy found himself charging at The Dutch Destroyer from across the ring, trading strikes and seemingly catching Black off guard with a series of knees. That was until Aleister slipped an attack, spun around and dropped Murphy like a rock with Black Mass straight to the chin. If his jaw allowed him to smile — or if he was the smiling type — he would have been grinning ear to ear. If he was the cocky type, he would have rubbed it in his face. But through the puffy nose, the flakes of red in his beard and the watery eyes, there was no mistaking the look in Aleister Black’s pupils as the match ended: Here at last is a man who got exactly what he wanted.