The last month on 205 Live
205 Live 50 Review // Enzo Amore Welcomes the UK Championship Division to the 'Zo Show
205 Live 51 Review // Kalisto vs. Drew Gulak
Survivor Series 2017 Review // Kalisto vs. Enzo Amore // Cruiserweight Championship
205 Live 52 Review // Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak // Street Fight
As 205 Live celebrated a year on the WWE Network, Lexington, Kentucky was our host for this week's episode. The show featured The 'Zo Train's Drew Gulak and Tony Nese going up against Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali, ahead of the four facing off in the Semi-Final of the Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contendership Tournament on Raw next week. But was it any good? Let's take a look!
Drew Gulak & Tony Nese def. Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali // Pinfall
Drew Gulak has steadily risen to being the most over element of 205 Live, due to his undeniably great character work and weird charisma, that was on clear display here. Whilst the tag team match was nice build up for Raw's tournament semi-final, it was the pre-match promo that was the real highlight. Fuck, I love Gulak. With ab king Tony Nese by his side, Gulak explained that the team were called "Team PowerPoint" due to Nese's power and Gulak's points. The former CZW World Heavyweight Champion was on fine form here, to the point that he received a "PowerPoint" chant from the Lexington crowd and then quickly told them to shut up, because chanting is against his rules. Magnificent. The match was a solid affair, with a decent story of Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali struggling to work cohesively with the four way in the back of their minds. The stretch saw a good near fall for AliXander with it seeming like they'd finally got their act together with a diving crossbody doomsday device, before Nese got a flash pin on Ali, after Alexander was knocked off the apron, in a neat swerve finish.
Kalisto def. Gentleman Jack Gallagher // Disqualification
This was a decent technician vs. luchadore outing, with a couple of good spots, as well as the beginning of a new feud as The Brian Kendrick attacked Kalisto for the disqualification. Prior to that Kalisto and Gentleman Jack Gallagher had worked really well together, with a lovely sequence to open proceedings as they exchanged holds and got over the contrasting styles. The standout moment of the match was the work the pair did in the ropes, which was creative and distinct, with the contest being worth checking out for that moment alone. The finish saw The King of Flight running through Gallagher after escaping a gorgeous straightjacket surfboard, hitting a Listo Kick, Basement rana and Salida del Sol for what was looking like a decisive victory until Kendrick got involved. Gallagher and Kendrick have perfected the bully beatdown recently and this was another well put together situation as Kendrick used his jacket to restrain Kalisto so Gallagher could headbutt the fuck out of the former United States Champion. Kendrick's non-title feuds on 205 Live have been some of the best work on the programme, so here's hoping this one with Kalisto continues the Man with a Plan's excellent form.
Rich Swann def. Noam Dar // Pinfall
A solid outing for Rich Swann to set him up for the final of the Cruiserweight #1 Contender's tournament in two week's time. The contest was a relatively simple affair with some stalling from Dar, Enzo Amore interference allowing the Scot to take control, before Swann fought back to get a clean win with a Phoenix Splash. There was a nice little bit of narrative involving Dar having suffering an injured knee on Raw, resulting in Swann targeting the leg at points, with the injury playing into the finish as Dar struggled to lock in a submission and a kick to the leg gave Swann some space to eventually pick up the win. Dar sold well throughout and it made him much more sympathetic when Amore was berating him for being a loser after the match. Swann and Dar could have a much better contest under different circumstances, but this bout did what it had to do.
Hideo Itami is Coming Soon!
Finally...
A good outing for 205 Live, with a crowd that was more into the action than recent week's. Despite a lack a genuine consequences, there was some nice build for the tournament semi-final on RAW, an interesting new feud beginning between Kalisto and The Brian Kendrick, whilst Rich Swann was also given some extra momentum ahead of his #1 contender's match in two weeks. The matches were all easy watches, with a handful of creative and exciting moments, but none are worth going out of your way to see or particularly memorable.
Review by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)
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