WWE 205 Live Review // 13th March 2018

205 Live looked to continue it's hot streak this week with another 50 minutes of Cruiserweight action. The Cruiserweight Championship tournament reached the semi-finals as Roderick Strong took on Cedric Alexander with a title match and spot on WrestleMania on the line, Akira Tozawa & Hideo Itami tagged up again to take on Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik and Gentleman Jack Gallagher returned to take on the debuting Murphy Myers. But was it any good? Here's our review.

On-Air Personnel 

Commentary - Nigel McGuinness, Vic Joseph & Drake Maverick

Interviewer - Dasha Fuentes 

Ring Announcer - Greg Hamilton

Review Order

1. Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander 

2. Akira Tozawa & Hideo Itami vs. Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik 

3. Gentleman Jack Gallagher vs. Murphy Myers 

Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final // 

Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander

Before the match - A cute package looking at Roderick Strong and his motivations in the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament, including a sit-down interview with the man himself - Cedric Alexander got a profile package also, looking at his run in the Cruiserweight Classic, people's lack of belief in his ability to win the big one and his varied offence. (4:00)

Cedric Alexander earned himself a Cruiserweight Championship match at WrestleMania with a victory over Roderick Strong in a gorgeous tournament semi-final match. One of the most physical Cruiserweight clash in recent memory, this match was full of big powerful strikes, slick reversal sequences, near falls and big highspots, as the two left everything in the ring as their sublime selling made the match feel like the most important thing in the world. The mirroring of near falls with both men getting a foot on the ropes after the Lumbar Check and the Neuralyzer respectively was a cute touch, but the two moments that stand out in particular was a spot that saw Strong standing on the apron and using a torture rack backbreaker to send Cedric crashing back first across the top turnbuckle and a great moment where the pair began scrapping after the End of Heartache nearfall, as the crowd went nuts and the commentary team sold it for all that it was worth. The final moments capped things off well as the two reversed a number of signature attempts, including Strong being able to block Alexander from reversing the Strong Hold and get a near fall, before Alexander wrapped Strong up in a small package to advance. It made complete sense, considering the match had been based around neither being able to put the other away with their finish and it says something about the quality of the action that despite getting fifteen minutes of pure action, I ended up wanting to see these two go at it for ten, fifteen, twenty more minutes by the time the pinfall was counted.  The best match of the tournament so far, the ball is in your court now Drew Gulak and Mustafa Ali.

After the match - An emotional Cedric Alexander put over his opportunity at WrestleMania and talked about his daughter in a beautifully touching interview. 

Akira Tozawa & Hideo Itami vs. Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik (with Kalisto) 

A good Cruiser tag opened the show as Akira Tozawa & Hideo Itami picked up their second win in as many weeks, as Itami picked up the pin on Gran Metalik with a weird spinning facebreaker/stunner situation. The awkward nature of Itami's new finish was the only drawback on what was a fun back and forth tag bout, that began to establish the more vicious side of Itami that we saw towards the end of run on NXT. Arguably whilst Itami felt like the storyline focus of the bout, he was the least impressive of the four men, as Dorado and Tozawa opened with a lovely mirrored sequence, with the pair also having a strong chain as Dorada searched for a tag, whilst Metalik had a killer hot tag that was packed full of variety as he everything from tilt-a-whirl backbreakers to overhand chops, from reverse slingblades to a front missile dropkick. The highlight of the bout was a super cool looking dive from Dorado onto Tozawa, using Metalik's back as a springboard. I'd like to see more apparent teamwork from Itami & Tozawa as they seem to a permanent tag team going forward and really could do with some tag offence to make them feel like more than just two single lads that have been thrown together because of their nationality.  

After the match - Hideo Itami and Lince Dorado had to be separated by their teams, after Itami had trod on Gran Metalik.

Gentleman Jack Gallagher vs. Murphy Myers 

A swift victory for Gentleman Jack Gallagher as the Englishmen picked up his first win since October against Murphy Myers (IWAU's Joey O'Riley), with a headbutt. Gallagher dominated the entire match, with Myer's offence only coming when Gallagher began to focus on 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick who was sat doing guest commentary for the match. Gallagher is someone who has been frustratingly booked on 205 Live for some time, especially since he managed to get so over at the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, and is someone who we know has tremendous talent in a variety of styles from his previous work in FutureShock, GPW and PROGRESS, so here's hoping that this new version of the purple brand will provide the Mancunian with plenty more opportunity to showcase his skills at a high level going forward.

Also on the show

- Another superbly dramatic and beautifully shot promo from Mustafa Ali as he discussed his semi-final next week, calling Drew Gulak a bully for his actions towards Mark Andrews last week.

ATPW Scale Rating // 6.69 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE 205 Live Review // 27th February 2018

The Quarter Finals of the Cruiserweight Championship tournament began this week on 205 Live, as Cedric Alexander squared off against TJP and Roderick Strong and Kalisto met for the first time ever. But how did it all go down in Los Angeles? Lets take a look! 

Commentators - Nigel McGuinness & Vic Joseph
Ring Announcer - Greg Hamilton
Interviewer - Dasha Fuentes 

Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Quarter Final // Cedric Alexander def. TJP // Pinfall 

Before the match - Cedric Alexander got an in-vision promo, but didn't say a lot - TJ Perkins was interviewed backstage and something very similar 

Cedric Alexander earned himself a spot in the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament semi-finals, as a Lumbar Check got him the pinfall in a very good match with former Cruiserweight Classic winner TJP. Whilst the match wasn't always as crisp as it could have been and at times came across as a bit scrappy, there was a shit tonne of high quality action, especially down the stretch, as the match was paced incredibly well. Watching TJP work over Alexander for a decent portion of the bout, after blocking a dive with a rolling armbar, could have been a little dull, but The Fil-Am Flash used a nice variety of holds, that kept things visually interesting, whilst Alexander's selling also helped, alongside a handful of early hope spots. For most of the match I was passively enjoying, but also waiting for the match to shift a gear or two and that's exactly what happened with the last two or three exchanges, where a number of signatures moves were first attempted and then hit, with a number of smooth reversals and quick near misses, including Alexander spending lengthy periods in the TJP Clutch. It was interesting to see TJP get a positive reaction from his billed hometown and perhaps that could've been explored more in the narrative of the bout, but that's only a minor criticism, as Alexander was definitely the right person to win after being one of the most consistent performers since the inception of 205 Live.

Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Quarter Final // Roderick Strong def. Kalisto // Pinfall 

Another high-quality match here, as Roderick Strong booked his place opposite Cedric Alexander in the semi-finals with a victory over former Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto. The bout set its stall out early with letting the two men show off their signature styles with a back and forth sequence, between the hard-hitting technician and the high-flying luchadore. Whilst the previous bout kept most of the action inside the ring, with a much more simplistic style, this one was peppered with big highspots on the outside and one from the top rope, feeling much more like a Cruiserweight variation on WWE's main event style than we've seen from 205 Live before. A rana into the barricade from Kalisto and a rolling release suplex onto the announce table from Strong stand out in particular. The match saw the two take a lot of risks with a number of spots, including a sunset flip powerbomb escape out of a double underhook position and an ridiculous spot where Kalisto reversed a powerslam in mid-air off the top rope to hit one of his own. Neither spot look exactly as clean as it could have, but both moments showed great creativity and still looked effective enough with the powerslam reversal in particularly getting a nice pop. At times I found Kalisto lack of selling, after Strong had hammered him with a number of moves to the back and ribs frustrating and its an area of his game that really should be much better over ten years into his career, but his ability to string together high quality action sequences is unquestionable as he combined with Strong wonderfully in the finish as the pair traded strikes, before Strong blocked a Salida del Sol attempt, nailed a jumping high knee, quickly nailed a backbreaker before transitioning even quicker into the End of Heartache for the victory. 

Also This Week

- Mustafa Ali chatted about his victory over Gentleman Jack Gallagher last week and his Quarter Final match with Buddy Murphy next week, saying Murphy wasn't "bad enough to break me" 

- 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick discussed his vision for the brand, which boiled down to wanting to offer the best Cruiserweight wrestling in the world. 

- Cameras caught up with Buddy Murphy leaving a building, with Murphy saying he was going to WrestleMania and that his match with Mustafa Ali would be brutal next week. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 7.25/10 

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale 

WWE 205 Live Review // 6th February 2018

The new era of 205 Live continued this week in Kansas City, Missouri as the tournament to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion continued. The show was main-evented by a clash between Hideo Itami and the debuting Roderick Strong, but how did it all go down? Lets take a look. 

Cruiserweight Championship Tournament First Round Match // Roderick Strong def. Hideo Itami // Pinfall 

In somewhat of a surprise, Roderick Strong handed Hideo Itami his first 205 Live defeat to advance to the Quarter Finals, winning with End of Heartache, in a wonderfully physical match. Down the spine of the match was a series of delightful strike battles, as the pair threw forearms, elbows, chops and kicks at each other with the back and forth nature of the contest always seeming to lead back to the two wailing on each other with hard blows. Each time round the pair seemed were selling the effects of the match more and throwing the strikes with more desperation and purpose. Of course, this back and forth sequence would play a big part in the closing sequence as the two went back to what they knew after both coming close with big moves, but the strongest use of this motif came on the outside of the ring. As the action spilled to the apron, Strong's attempt to pull Itami off the apron into a backbreaker was escaped by the former NOAH star, before the pair threw forearms, chops and kicks at each other and Strong, unlike Bono, finally found what he was looking for as he ducked a roundhouse kick, caught Hideo's leg and lifted him into a brutal looking backbreaker onto the apron. A gorgeous sequence. 

It was clear from watching the bout that these two were pretty familiar with each other, they knew how much they could lay in their strikes and produced some slick reversal sequences, with Strong able to transition into a number of moves with ease, which makes him stand out on the current roster. Obviously, the two have history in NOAH and ROH, as well as an NXT bout last April, but they also had a run on NXT house shows in September/October that would have certainly helped to create the comfortableness with each other that was important to creating such an enjoyable match in this style. This was a PPV quality encounter, that managed to draw the audience in, getting a good reaction from the live crowd by it's conclusion. With a little more time, there's no doubt that Itami and Strong could've produced something next level and in fact, I think these two would be able to create something special in pretty much any time limit. It's a shame that we had to lose one of them in the tournament, but it was great to see the tournament already throwing up surprises in it's second week, even if that means we might not see Itami for a while.

Crusierweight Championship Tournament First Round Match // Kalisto def. Lince Dorado // Pinfall

205 Live was on fire this week, with another good match to kick off the show as Kalisto booked his placed in the Quarter Finals with a victory over Lucha House Party mate, Lince Dorado with a second Salida del Sol. With the show finally beginning to show the variety of Cruiserweight wrestling, we got a completely different match from the main event, as Dorado and Kalisto put on a mad lucha thing match, full of flips, tricks, dives and big highspots. Despite having not won in singles competition since December 2016 (Main Event - vs. Tony Nese), Dorado was made to look like a threat to the former Cruiserweight Champion, through a well done story that he was over-performing because he was desperate to get the Cruiserweight title and prove himself, bringing out a more aggressive side that drove the match past a flippy showcase to something else. The match was jam-packed with big moments, like Dorado's top rope frankensteiner, Kalisto hitting a wheelbarrow situation off the middle rope, Dorado seemingly having the match won with the Golden Rewind and Shooting Star Press only for Listo to roll under the bottom rope before the cover could be made and a sublime near fall for the favourite off Salida del Sol when Dorado got a hand on the bottom rope. It was a shame that the rewind reverse rana from Kalisto that was part of the finish ended up looking real nasty with Dorado somehow landing head first on Kalisto's back, but the slip-up didn't hurt the match all that match and it appeared like Dorado wasn't seriously hurt, so it wasn't the end of the world.

Also this week

- There was a recap of last week's show, including Daniel Bryan introducing Drake Maverick as the new 205 Live General Manager, Maverick announcing a tournament to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion and TJP and Cedric Alexander winning First Round match-ups in that tournament against Tyler Bate and Gran Metalik respectively. 

- In his office, Drake Maverick ripped into Drew Gulak and Tony Nese for becoming comedy acts and wasting their potential, booking them in a First Round tournament match next week. 

- TJP cut a promo about the fans not believing him anymore and not giving a shit, it was good. 

- A package looking at Mark Andrews, ahead of his match with Akira Tozawa next week, using the same UK Tournament package from January last year.

- Akira Tozawa threatened to fire a man, when he suggested Mark Andrews could beat him next week.

- Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali had a friendly chat about the tournament backstage, they're good pals.

ATPW Scale Rating // 7.67/10

Written by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale) 

205 Live 53 Review // Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak & Tony Nese

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) 

205 Live 51 Review // Kalisto vs. Drew Gulak

With Survivor Series just five days away, WWE presented the 51st episode of 205 Live at the Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina on 14th November 2017. The show was built around Kalisto's birthday celebrations as he featured in the main event against Drew Gulak, but was it any good? Let's take a look? 

Kalisto def. Drew Gulak // 7:59

Kalisto told us it was his birthday, which was lame, but he didn't fuck up his promo like usual as he talked about facing Drew Gulak later and Enzo Amore on Survivor Series Kick-Off. Amore and Gulak looked at a big cake for a bit and said some things. Later on, Akira Tozawa wished Kalisto a Happy Birthday and did some chants. The promos continued as Amore got some time to talk about shoving cake down Kalisto's gullet, whilst Gulak continued to be the star of any segment he takes part in. Seriously, Gulak saying "How are you doing?" might have got the biggest pop of the entire show. 

A couple of highlights in our main event, but I often found myself tuning out as I waited for the massive cake at ringside to get involved somehow. There's was a bit of cake based situations, but we were kept waiting for anyone to go through it, whilst Gulak never felt like a legitimate threat to Kalisto, even with Enzo Amore causing issues at ringside. With one singles win to his name since mid-June, it was hard to buy into anything going on, with the mostly quiet crowd not helping the situation, alongside the cake. Kalisto's face shine was nice, the crowd coming to life for a spontaneous rendition of Happy Birthday to You and Kalisto getting the win off of Salida del Sol after Gulak carried away with his set-up for a Gu-lock. There was little wrong with what they did in the ring, but could have done with either being a little bit shorter or creating a little more peril for the Number One contender.

After the match, Amore jumped Kalisto and although the #1 Contender managed to turn the tide against the Champion and Gulak, Amore pegged it up the ramp before any cake based antics could occur. Luckily though, we cut back to Amore being interviewed by Dasha Fuentes, leading to Kalisto turning up and closing the show by smashing Enzo into the cake and lobbing handful at his Survivor Series opponent.

Tornado Tag Team Match // Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann def. The Brian Kendrick & Gentleman Jack Gallagher // 10:55

The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher had an in-screen promo as they walked to the ring, talking about cruelty and choices ahead of their tag match. Rich Swann got some time on the microphone on the ramp, introducing Cedric Alexander, pointing out that Alexander was from Charlotte. 

Even with the rather desperate attempt at getting the Charlotte crowd behind hometown boy Cedric Alexander, the crowd were barely involved in this, perhaps because the Tornado gimmick removed where they would traditionally get behind him. That being said this ended up being a bloody good match, with a number of gorgeous reversal sequences, some impressive highspots and a strong story where the babyfaces came out on top. The sequence with Gallagher ducking under a handspring roundhouse kick, only to run into a Spanish Fly was beautifully done and whilst there was an awkward moment with Gallagher supposedly hitting a headbutt out of a springboard from Cedric, that was the exception, as pretty much everything else was crisp and physical. It was a shame that a section where Kendrick locked in the Captain's Hook on Alexander and Gallagher got Swann in an armbar, where Swann had to save the match by making sure Alexander's hand didn't hit the mat after he'd passed out, was a little too subtle for the crowd as I feel it would've been highly appreciated on an Indy show. There was a lot more packed into the 11 minutes, but the final stretch of the clash was sublime stuff with Kendrick and Alexander throwing together a number of reversals, before Swann was able to take Gallagher with a suicide dive tornado DDT and a nueralyzer and Lumbar Check sealed the win on Kendrick for the "Lumbar Legacy". With a crowd even half invested in the action, this would've been a must-watch clash, but it's still worth checking out if you've got the time.

Mustafa Ali def. Ariya Daivari // 7:17

Ariya Daivari cut a promo saying 205 Live might as well be cancelled if Kalisto wins the Cruiserweight Championship at Survivor Series, before Mustafa Ali interrupted to tell him he looked stupid and the crowd was super mild for it all. 

Completing a trio of babyface victories, this was another good match from the Cruiserweights, but suffered from the problem that almost every single match to air on this show has...the crowd did not give a fuck. To be fair to Charlotte, they joined in for a little while with a "You look stupid" chant aimed at Ariya Daivari, but that's hardly a breakthrough at this point. Daivari looked go into control, hitting a nice bulldog as well as a big ol' spinebuster to slow down the speedy Ali and the two did a handful of nice technical exchanges as well, before Ali showed off some of his more high-risk offence. The Persian Lion splash was a solid near fall for Daivari, but the crowd no sold it, before a frankensteiner and 054 splash left Ali without a TV singles loss by pinfall or submission since falling to Neville on RAW back in July. 

The Tornado Tag Team was featured some great action and the other two contests had their moments but went a little long, but the dead Charlotte crowd took some of the spring out of the step of this episode of 205 Live. WWE seems to be focused on trying to get a number of characters over with almost everyone getting some mic time here. It seems to be working for Drew Gulak who got the best reaction, but labouring someone like Kalisto with a toxic birthday story has to be one of the worst booking decisions of the year, especially with a show that struggles to get viewers anyway with a PPV match to build to! With Enzo once appearing with Gulak, Ariya Daivari, Noam Dar and Tony Nese as The Zo Train, why a traditional Survivor Series match featuring the likes of Kalisto, Akira Tozawa, Gran Metalik, Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander or even WWE UK guys like Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate, wasn't scheduled for the PPV instead seems like a missed opportunity to showcase as many guys as possible and get a buzz going for the show.

Review by James Marston

205 Live 50 Review // Enzo Amore welcomes the UK Championship Division to "The Zo Show"

On 7th November 2017, WWE aired the 50th episode of 205 Live on the WWE Network, taped earlier that day at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, Greater Manchester. The show featured Enzo Amore inviting six members of the UK Championship to the show and subsquently facing off with Tyler Bate, as well as appearances from Kalisto, Gentleman Jack Gallagher, Cedric Alexander, Mark Andrews and Joseph Conners...but was it any good? Lets take a look!

Enzo Amore welcomed the UK Championship Division to "The Zo Show" // 13:10 // 

Enzo Amore def. Tyler Bate via pinfall // 8:15 //

As cool as it was to see Tyler Bate (Fight Club: Pro), Mark Andrews (PROGRESS Wrestling), Joseph Conners (Southside Wrestling Entertainment), Jordan Devlin (Over the Top Wrestling), Tucker (Pro Wrestling Ulster) and James Drake (Futureshock Wrestling) on WWE television, I didn't get much out of their 205 Live debuts. That's mostly down to the make up of the segment, which had Enzo Amore auditioning them for a spot on "The Zo Train", with his regular crew not appearing on the show.  This almost felt like a segment from the original NXT, with the six men having to do their own versions of "How you doin'?", before asking each individual questions. Drake's deadpan "choo choo" line was probably the highlight until the end, whilst low moments included a confused Andrews being told to lose weight and Tucker telling Amore that Finn Balor was twice the man Enzo is. Luckily, things finished on a high, when Bate getting a good reaction for his promo and then hitting bop and bang on the Cruiserweight Champion to set up the show's main event.

Enzo Amore spoke to Dasha Fuentes, saying something about bar tabs in reference to Tyler Bate.

An initially hot crowd quickly cooled on Amore vs. Bate, losing interest almost as soon as Enzo took control. Bate appearing to suffer an injury in the stretch then killed the bout further, as his knee got caught in the top rope when taking a bump from the turnbuckle to the floor, with Amore then spending time mocking the crowd before Jordunzo sealed the victory for the Cruiserweight champion in a flat finish. It seemed like we were scheduled to see more from Bate, who never really got a satisfying comeback sequence once Amore took control. The earlier part of the match featured the hottest crowd of the evening, with Bate having them eating out of the palm of his hand as he out wrestled his opponent, causing Enzo to bail to the floor. The sequence with Bate holding onto a wrist-lock whilst bantering with Amore was a particular highlight, as was the Exploder suplex that followed. Hopefully, Bate's injury wasn't too serious, but at just 20 years old he'll have more opportunities to show the wider WWE fanbase what he has to offer well into the future.

Amore laid some more punches in on Bate post-match before Kalisto made the save.

Kalisto def. Jack Gallagher via pinfall // 5:07

On the way to the ring, Jack Gallagher cut a promo on the Manchester crowd, calling them dole scum with chavy children, before putting himself over as "bigger than Britain".

There was some lovely wrestling on display here, it's just as shame that Manchester wasn't particularly interested in it. Kalisto got a fun shine included a wicked modified somersault plancha and the rough and tumble Gallagher making the #1 Contender's wrist his focus. There wasn't really enough time to fully make it work and the pair could have done more to bring the crowd into the action, with Kalisto's ridiculous selling of a shoulder tackle not helping the cause. Kalisto did, however, sell his wrist and arm well later in the bout and having Gallagher dodge a second rope moonsault and then lock on a Fujiwara armbar was a nice piece of work, which would've garnered a good reaction in a different environment and with a little more time. The finish with Kalisto rolling through the armbar and straight into Salida del Sol was smoothly done, as well, setting him up for his title challenge a week on Sunday.

Cedric Alexander & Mark Andrews def. Joseph Conners & James Drake via pinfall // 4:34

The crowd didn't care, but Mark Andrews, James Drake and Joseph Conners all gave good showings of themselves in their 205 Live debuts, whilst regular Cedric Alexander glued the bout together, setting up Andrews to pin Conners with a Shooting Star Press with a double Neuralyzer (Handspring 540 Kick). Minus a slightly awkward headscissors from Alexander to Drake, the action was all quality in this simple tag contest, with Drake tagging Conners whilst on the apron to cause a distraction was my personal favourite moment!

Watch // 
N/A 

Avoid // 
N/A

Review by James Marston

RAW #1271 Review - Kalisto joins the Cruiserweight Division

On 2nd October 2017, WWE aired the 1271st episode of Monday Night RAW, live on the USA Network, from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The show featured Kalisto joining the Cruiserweight division and confronting Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore in a segment that featured General Manager Kurt Angle and the entire Cruiserweight roster, Sasha Banks and Bayley teaming up against Emma and Alicia Fox and Matt Hardy joining Jason Jordan to take on Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, with Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus, Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt also featuring. But was it any good? Let's take a look.  


The show began with the entire RAW roster on the stage as a moments silence was held for the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Our thoughts are with the friends, family and loved ones of anyone involved in this terrible incident. 

Braun Strowman def. Seth Rollins (7:22)

A good strong opening television match here, as Braun Strowman continues to be cemented as the next big star on the RAW brand with a big dominant victory. Similar to last week's match with Dean Ambrose, this was a classic David vs. Goliath style contest, with Rollins fighting from underneath throughout the whole bout, with scrappy offence like an initial slap to the face and doing a good job of selling the beating of the Monster among Men. There was a real simple and solid story told throughout, with Rollins attempting to hit a number of moves, such as a suicide dive and a blockbuster, only to be foiled repeatedly by the larger men. However, when Rollins finally managed to hit two suicide dives and a blockbuster it only resulted in a one count. It probably deserved a bigger reaction than it got, but I got a kick out of that feel of a babyface battling hard to hit some killer offence, only for that killer offence to barely dent their opponent. Strowman, as usual looked like a beast and Rollins looked valiant in defeat against a practically unstoppable Monster, after falling to a big clothesline and a running powerslam.

After the match, Strowman nailed another running powerslam to Rollins, leading to Dean Ambrose to come out to make the save, only to end up on the receiving end of a pair of chokeslams and another running powerslam, before Cesaro & Sheamus entered delivering a Nuetralizer to Ambrose and a Brogue Kick to Rollins. 

Backstage, Mickie James bumped into Alicia Fox and Emma, finding out that someone had left gifts of some Depends and a zimmer frame in her lockeroom, after storming to Alexa Bliss' lockeroom, James was met by Nia Jax (despite it being made clear Bliss and Jax weren't friends a few weeks ago) with the two agreeing to a match later tonight. 

In his magical rocking chair smoke room, Bray Wyatt rocked back and forth, chuntering about being told to use his hands and saying "She'd never lie to me"

Elias sang a song about Denver and got some good heat, people really love their towns and cities in America. 

Elias def. Titus O'Neil (2:58)

Not a good match, sloppy, awkward and part of a storyline that I couldn't care less about.

Mickie James def. Nia Jax via Disqualification (6:38)

This was one of the worst RAW matches I can remember in quite some time. James looked uncomfortable taking Jax's power offence, which was often sloppy despite being relatively elementary stuff. There was a few times in the match where I'm sure things happened, but I'm not quite sure what those things were, this was mostly down to some awkwardness between the performers, but also at point due to the camera showing Alexa Bliss at ringside instead of what was going on in the ring. The crowd did at least get into the two doing a bit of brawling, but I thought said brawling looked weak and pretty uninspired. The finish saw Alexa Bliss get involved, breaking up a pin after a nasty looking Tornado DDT from James, which really does nothing for anyone involved. I'll give the two the benefit of the doubt because it was their first match together and I've been pretty high on Nia Jax over the last couple of weeks, but they really should've done better in this spot, even with the lame finish.

After the match, James managed to counter Bliss' attack, sending her into the barricade and hitting a rubbish looking Mick Kick.

Renee Young attempted to interview Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, but he had nothing to say and just looked around a bit and blinked.

Everyone wanted to congratulate Mickie James on her "victory" with General Manager Kurt Angle booking her in a Women's Championship match against Alexa Bliss at Tables,
Ladders and Chairs.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson def. Matt Hardy & Jason Jordan (8:01)

A nothing match, that went a little too long, but at least the regular tag team in Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson picked up the victory. It's probably harsh to call this a nothing match, actually, because there was some nice tag team work here from Gallows & Anderson, with blind tags and double teams and Matt Hardy's hot tag was quite fun, but there was very little story or reason behind this match taking place and no real reason to care. That's exactly what the crowd did for most of the match, they didn't care. They woke up slightly for the Hardy hot tag but for the other six or seven minutes of that bout, Denver remained pretty much silent. Following Hardy & Jordan's match against The Miztourage last week, this really could have done with some kind of story development and whilst there's an interesting story to be told in Jordan trying to replace Jeff Hardy, if WWE wanted to put him in a tag team, he was already in a really good one a few months ago in American Alpha. 

Roman Reigns spoke to Charly Caruso about the situation with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose earlier on, which seemed to point towards a Shield reunion being imminent, he also said something about his Intercontinental title bout with The Miz later on.

The RAW Women's Division honoured breast cancer survivors (3:07)

As part of WWE's partnership with Susan G. Kommen, Dana Warrior presented three breast cancer survivors with pink versions of the Women's Championship, with the whole Women's roster in the ring. It was all rather lovely and ended with everyone hugging.  

Before the next match, Roman Reigns nailed the Miztourage with a pair of Superman punches, followed up with a Drive by to Curtis Axel, sending Bo Dallas into the steel steps, before going through the crowd and up onto the stage and taking a steel chair to both men numerous times. A nice piece of storytelling here with Reigns looking to make the match one on one and remove the potential ringside threat. 

Roman Reigns def. The Miz via Disqualification, The Miz retains the Intercontinental Championship (7:39)

This was another match that I struggled to get into and after really enjoying the pairs non-title match last week, that was a little disappointing. I think, most of that comes from Reigns taking Axel and Dallas out of the picture before the match and whilst I enjoyed that pre-match angle, I feel like it ended up taking away potential story elements, that had worked really well last week. It also appeared that Reigns had recovered from his rib injury, or at least he didn't sell having a rib injury, so there was another element gone. I understand the need to keep things fresh and to avoid being repetitive, but there's was nothing in this match that took the place of those things, in terms of narrative, so what we were left with was two guys who went through the motions for seven minutes before the DQ finish. Miz trying to get a countout win was a nice touch and the near fall from a Skull Crushing Finale was probably the highlight, but even that felt oddly time only six minutes in, so ended up lacking the impact it would have had, had it came five or six minutes later in the bout. The finish, where Reigns was setting up Miz for a spear, only for Sheamus & Cesaro to appear and drag Reigns out the ring, was what it was, a TV finish to set up a larger angle afterwards.

A post-match angle saw Roman Reigns take a Neutralizer from Cesaro, a Brogue Kick from Sheamus and a Skull Crushing Finale from The Miz, before the trio would return to the ring mimicking The Shield, hit a Triple Powerbomb and then pull out the traditional Shield fist-bump. I'm so behind the way this Shield reunion has been built to over the last few months and there's huge potential in having a Shield v Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus match at TLC, the event where The Shield had their in-ring debut almost five years ago! 

Bray Wyatt introduces Finn Balor to Sister Abigail (4:30)

So this feud is still going on and whilst they added a new dimension to it this week, it's hard to get excited about a storyline that's been on and off since just after WrestleMania. Finn Balor's promo wasn't bad, but his "Don't sing it Bray, bring it" line was an awful, awful line and Bray Wyatt's included the Eater of Worlds rambling on about the demon or something and then revealing Sister Abigail is alive "and she's dying to meet you", before concluding with a creepy effect and Bray laughing.

Carmella, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Emma, Dana Brooke and Sasha Banks put over Asuka, ahead of her debut at TLC on 22nd October.

Sasha Banks & Bayley def. Emma & Alicia Fox (10:17) 

I'll go out on a limb and say this was the best match on the show. A well put together tag team match, with some lovely flowing wrestling, strong character work and story development, the only thing the match was really missing in it's spot was a high tempo gear change that could have taken it to the next level. I was super impressed with Alicia Fox in this one, especially considering she hadn't wrestled on RAW since early August and hadn't been in any kind of match for a month. Beyond one slightly awkward sequence with Sasha Banks, Fox was crisp and energetic, hitting a nice dropkick to knock Banks off the apron as well as a lovely tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Sasha in a well-timed cut off. The match made use of a number of tag team wrestling clichés, but also all four bought lots of little touches that made the match. Banks and Bayley having fun as a team at the start, Banks' selling in a headlock and Fox grinding the forearm, Bayley selling her neck at ringside after taking multiple forearms from Emma, as well as The Hugger getting the crowd worked up well whilst on the apron, all came together to make a rather cute compact TV bout. The finish with Emma walking out on Fox is an intriguing one and I'm looking forward to seeing where it plays out and where this non-title women's storyline is going.

Kalisto confronted Enzo Amore (11:51)

Nearly ten minutes of Enzo Amore talking. This was both glorious and excruciating at the same time. This is because Amore/his character genuinely gets under my skin and here I ended up finding myself becoming angry at his mere existence, but I'm also fully aware that that's now the reaction that he's going for. He's not pussy footing around it, he's going out there to be as dislikeable as possible, wearing even more ridiculous outfits, he's running down a roster of talented performers and trying to get them fired, he's talking quickly and saying things that don't make sense, he repeatedly reminds the audience that he's hurt and he's just a tart. While there was some going over old ground with his promo from last week's 205 Live, Enzo's facials, vocals, body language and a whole lot more was spot on throughout and there's a delightful blurring of fiction and reality, that's tying it all together.

Once Amore had taken the piss out of each of the Cruiserweights who turned up ringside (including Ariya Daivari, which made literally no sense after last week's 205 Live, although it seemed like that episode was retconned anyway), Kurt Angle interrupted to introduce the new Cruiserweight, someone who could touch Amore and someone who could still challenge for the Cruiserweight title, Kalisto. Obviously, the show closed with Amore on his back after taking spike rana and Salida del Sol and Kalisto and the whole division going nuts. Let's be honest, it's been baffling that Kalisto hasn't been put in the Cruiserweight division til now and while he's yet to show his full potential under the WWE banner, the purple ropes is somewhere he can really shine, perhaps not in the ring with Enzo Amore though.

The show closes with Roman Reigns sitting injured backstage, being approached by Dean Ambrose and then Seth Rollins, before both men eventually walk off without doing the Shield fist bump. An electric backstage segment to close the show with all three men taking their time, letting the moment breath and the crowd going absolutely nuts for every little details.

Check Out - Strowman v Rollins, Cruiserweight Segment, The Shield reunion build

Stay Away - Jax v James, Elias v O'Neil 

Review by James Marston