WWE 205 Live Review // 20th March 2018

With just three weeks until WrestleMania, this week's 205 Live was another big week for the Cruiserweight brand as WWE continues to revamp the brand and reinvent its identity. This week saw Drew Gulak and Mustafa Ali go head-to-head to decide who faces Cedric Alexander for the vacant Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania, Hideo Itami battle Lince Dorado and TJP face the returning Kenneth Johnson...but was it any good? Here's our review.

Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final //

Drew Gulak vs. Mustafa Ali

Before the match - Drew Gulak gave a good account of himself during a sitdown interview, explaining his return to a serious edge and promising to prove himself right with a straight-forward approach to his semi-final match - Mustafa Ali spoke about being a police officer in Chicago and seeing the Cruiserweight title as a way to fix things and change people's minds about someone called Mustafa Ali.

As competitors and characters, there may be very few pairings as perfect as Drew Gulak and Mustafa Ali and whilst they've had a number of matches together over the last year, including a very good two out of three falls match in last summer, I don't think it was ever more evident than it was here. Gulak is a direct, hard-hitting win at any costs bully, whilst Ali is a high-flyer, who fights with his heart on his sleeve and is looking to change opinions, with both men excelling in their roles and producing some of the best action in the tournament up to this point. Whilst I would've liked to have seen this one get a little more time and develop on a number of the ideas thrown up, the bout between the pair here did a grand job of mixing broad strokes with little touches and storyline elements to create a fascinatingly, rich piece of professional wrestling. The idea that Ali was having to almost match the brutality and relentlessness of Gulak in order to compete, drawing on what Ali had been saying in promos leading up to the match, was a clever one, highlighted by Ali laying into Gulak's ribs with kicks that mirrored Drew's actions earlier in the match, whilst the commentary called back to the promos and suggested that Ali would have to be careful not to get too into the viciousness. The final third of the bout focused on some big spots on the outside, as the two made creative work of WWE's ringside area, including a back body drop off the announce table and a powerslam into the timekeeper's area for a good countout near fall. However, for me the finish came off as a little sudden and struggled to compete with what had came before, as Ali managed to reverse a powerslam into a tornado DDT, before the 054 got the win for the Illinoisan. I think it could've done with a few more minutes and a maybe an extra near fall or two once the action got back in the ring to push this to the next level and get it on a par with last week's Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong match. 

After the match - Mustafa Ali cut a promo about going to WrestleMania and how he was proof that all that matters is what's in your heart. 

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

There were elements of a good match as Lince Dorado and Hideo Itami clashed this week, but the finish ended up coming off as a real disappointment, because of the huge amount of promise that the pair had shown together, as Gran Metalik simply pushed Itami into the apron to cause a disqualification and give Itami the win. I understand the need to keep the feud going, but it's still hard not to feel let down when the match is feeling like it's heading in an interesting direction and moreso because the DQ was caused by a babyface so there's not even an argument to be made that the heel is taking something away from the audience to build heat. However, the action that was on display ranged from okay to very good, with the respective styles of Itami and Dorado meshing nicely as Itami's no-nonsense offence being juxtaposed well by Dorado's corkscrew planchas and mad rana situations. The moment where the match felt like it began to build towards what could have been a thrilling conclusion was Dorado matching Itami with slaps to the face and beginning to fire up, with the Puerto Rican impressing as he held his own with one of the division's hardest hitters. There's potential for this feud to grow into something, especially with the upcoming introduction of a Cruiserweight Tag Team title, but I'd like to see a little more thought go into how it's going to develop week on week within the current 205 Live structure. 

After the match - Gran Metalik and Hideo Itami had to be held back by their respective friends as tensions continue to rise between Lucha House Party and...erm...Puroresu Dwelling Shindig? - Drake Maverick rewarded Akira Tozawa and Kalisto for helping calm things down by placing them in a Fatal Four-way with TJP and Buddy Murphy next week

TJP vs. Kenneth Johnson 

Before the match - TJP claimed he should be first in line for a shot against whoever won the Cruiserweight Championship tournament 

TJP ran through the returning Kenneth Johnson (back for the first time since losing to Akira Tozawa in the first round of the Cruiserweight Classic), winning with a TJP Clutch, after the conclusion of a poor match where it looked like Johnson had never been in a ring before.

After the match - TJP held onto the TJP Clutch for some time after the bell.

Also on the show 

- Cedric Alexander spoke about last week being the greatest moment of his career, but claiming it wouldn't mean anything unless he won the Cruiserweight Championship. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 

5 out of 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 #43 Review - Enzo Amore Kicks Neville in the Crown Jewels

On 19th September 2017, WWE aired the 43rd episode of 205 Live, live on the WWE Network from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. The show featured a face to face confrontation between Cruiserweight Champion Neville and his opponent at No Mercy, Enzo Amore as well appearances from The Brian Kendrick, TJP, Akira Tozawa, Rich Swann & Drew Gulak. But was it any good? Let's take a look!

The show began with a recap, reminding us that...Neville is Cruiserweight Champion, Enzo Amore came to 205 Live a month ago, became #1 Contender two weeks in a Fatal Fiveway then got destroyed by Braun Strowman on RAW last night, allowing Neville to take advantage and hit a Red Arrow on his downed future challenger.

Cedric Alexander def. The Brian Kendrick (5:23)

A neat opener here with two of the brands top performers working a short contest with a couple of lovely sequences and a fun finishing sequence. I've got a lot of time for the work that Kendrick has been doing in the ring lately, as his crafty veteran character continues to develop and collect new mannerisms by the week. Stuff like using the ring apron to take control on the outside and being a sneaky cheat whilst hooking on a chin lock can make all the difference during a match that doesn't particularly mean anything, keeping things interesting during what can sometimes end up being a lull in the match. It was a shame that the crowd wasn't really up for the action, as has been the case since 205's inception, because Kendrick and Alexander worked hard, with lots of moments for the younger man to shine. The closing stretch coming off a series of forearm exchanges featured some rather lovely back and forth, with the two showing a slickness that has came from working together three times already this year. Alexander being able to block a Sliced Bread #2 attempt, before countering an O'Connor roll into a pinning combination of his own, provided plenty of opportunity for future encounters where hopefully the two will get a little bit more time to play with.

After the match, Jack Gallagher jumped Cedric Alexander from behind, with Kendrick joining in the beatdown that concludes with a big headbutt. Gallagher & Kendrick were later interviewed backstage by Dasha Fuentes, with Gallagher saying that "in life you can be nice or you can be a winner" and he didn't want to be a joke to the Cruiserweight division anymore.

Drew Gulak got a top the announce table addressing some of the issues he had in Fashion Jail after his altercation with the Fashion Police last week, before moving on to talk about his dislike of Akira Tozawa and his chanting, as he compared himself to Galileo. It was then time to continue his powerpoint presentation, with Rule #6 being no cell phones, which, of course, lead to the crowd getting there's out and lighting up the torches...good stuff, I wonder when we'll finish this presentation, as Tozawa interrupted to signal the match was ready to go. 

Akira Tozawa def. Noam Dar (4:00)

A rematch from RAW in February with the same result, this was a cute little bout, that kept things simple, but again failed to capture the crowd. The audience even seem reluctant to join in with Tozawa's "Ah!" chant, which is usually pretty over, but the performers worked well together in the ring, with Dar working the leg a little before a Tozawa comeback concluded with the victory winning diving senton.

Backstage, TJP spoke to Rich Swann about their match last week, asking for another bout due their "chemistry" with Swann appearing to refuse, wanting to leave the series in the past after winning the rubber match. 

TJP Finally Attacked Rich Swann (and also Lince Dorado)

With Swann's scheduled opponent Lince Dorado appearing injured backstage, Swann went to head to the back and walked right into a superkick from TJP and then was on the receiving end of a military press onto the barricade, as their story continues to develop. This story has been boiling for a while, with the "friendly competition" vibe, I'm hoping this more heated part of the tale is a little punchier and we get a good, gimmick match before the two move in different directions.

Enzo Amore Kicked Neville in the Crown Jewels

Bloody hell, I love Neville. Whether or not WWE is getting it right with his feud with Enzo Amore at the moment is neither here or there, because the Geordie jumper is doing some utterly marvellous work on the microphone, having transformed himself into one of the best talkers in WWE right now. This was another brilliantly quotable effort from the Cruiserweight Champion as he ripped into Amore for being "a stain on the fabric that is modern society" and later, after Enzo had spouted some stuff about hanging out with the Weeknd, Nevile reminded him that "Come Sunday, none of that matters, because you lads...you can't fight". His pronunciation of each word is pitch perfect, making the viewer pay attention, to the point where it's becoming difficult not to side with him. The problem here is that Enzo isn't a likeable guy anymore, he coasted for too long and hasn't by his personal life becoming public knowledge. This resulted in the crowd booing Amore after almost every line, leaning to an intentionally comedic moment when Enzo said "I'm showered in this love", choosing not to adapt his speech to the fact the crowd clearly wasn't behind him. Amore kicking Neville in the balls at the end of the segment (after Neville had claimed he couldn't win the title that way on Sunday) felt like a heel turn and got a little heat, but I'm not sure if we'll know where WWE is taking this until No Mercy. If it's it not, it's a shame, because as Neville put it, he's better than Enzo in any conceivable way and it's difficult not to side with the Kings of the Cruiserweights right now.

As usual with 205 Live, the in-ring action was okay to good, whilst the storyline and character development continued to be strong, with Jack Gallagher, Drew Gulak and Neville all performing to high standards when called upon. There could have been more action in the ring with only about ten minutes of wrestling on the show, which doesn't give talent like Cedric Alexander and Akira Tozawa much chance of getting over with a tired crowd that to be won over by the product. Not having the time on RAW and rarely getting to go full pelt and show what they can do differently to everyone else is still harming audience reactions and that in turn harms whatever is being put out on 205. There's things that can be done, but that's perhaps for another article.

Review by James Marston 

TV Review: WWE Cruiserweight Classic #7 - Johnny Gargano v TJ Perkins 2

As the Second Round came to a close, Episode Seven of the Cruiserweight Classic included AIW's Johnny Gargano taking EWF's TJ Perkins. Could tournament head into the Quarter Final's with another Cruiserweight Classic classic? 

Johnny Gargano and TJ Perkin's main event clash was the first contest from the entire Cruiserweight Classic, so far, that I haven't predicted correctly. I felt certain that Gargano would advance to the Quarter Final, where another Battle of the NXT stars could have occurred opposite Rich Swann, but it was Perkins who came out victorious winning by submission with the Figure Death Lock. Despite being taped almost a month before NXT's Takeover: Brooklyn II, the commentary team of Daniel Bryan & Mauro Ranallo did a marvelous job of carrying on the story from that match, that saw Gargano tap out to a Inverted Figure Four leglock from Scott Dawson and tying into the match that Perkins and Gargano had already had. It helped, of course, that the leg was a big part of the match! The story began earlier in the match, but really came to the forefront when Gargano overshot on a somersault dive off the apron and ended up whacking his leg off the bell table. After that Johnny Wrestling's would give out a number of times, before the former TNA X-Division Champion escaped a Dragon Suplex and transitioned into the finishing submission. Gargano was marvelous whilst in the hold, reaching and reaching for the ropes, selling the pain on his face and eventually tapping out.

As compelling and dramatic as the end of the match became, a lot of the action was a back and forth indy-style bout that was exciting and pacy. Hard strikes, slick submissions, a handful of dives and more than a handful of near falls and close calls, this was a cross-section of the popular American Indy style, put on by two of it's biggest proponents. The alternating strikes sequence was done with a real purpose and was an improved version of an over-used wrestling trope, and ended with a great double big boot spot with both men refusing to go down. The two were superbly fluid from start to finish and managed to move easily from one part of the match to the next without it ever feeling forced or contrived. I have to say that when I went to check how often the pair had faced each other over years, I was very surprised to see they'd only had one previous one on one contest [PWG DDT4 2015] because the contest looked like they were much more familiar with each other. Perkins goes on to face Rich Swann in the Quarter Final.

After I'd been underwhelmed by wXw's Zack Sabre Jr's first round appearance, his Second Round bout with CZW's Drew Gulak was a much more satisfying contest. The pair bought the World of Sport style to the 'E and put on a belting eight minute contest. With Bryan & Ranallo bleeding the story of Gulak wanting to prove he was a better technical wrestler than ZSJ, the two had gripping fight, that had an intensity that has been missing from some of the previous CWC matches. Each strike had that little bit extra behind and Gulak, in particular, was a vicious little shit. He'd use the ropes to launch into a stomp and at one point bodyslam ZSJ into the ringropes, whilst also trying to get an early victory with a Northern Lights suplex. The exchanges between the pair were as beautiful as they were painful looking, but were made even better by the juxtaposition of the brutal strikes, especially the pair slapping the absolute shit out of each other heading into the finish. Every move had that little extra touch, whether it was ZSJ moving quicker than I've seen anyone get into an Octopus Stretch or Gulak's modified Boston crab, that made me wanting more when ZSJ was able to slip out of the Dragon Sleeper and bridge to get the pin. With five or ten minutes more this would have been a masterpiece. ZSJ goes on to face ICW's Noam Dar in the Quarter Finals.

Rounding out the 2nd Round, NXT's Rich Swann and BELIEVE's Lince Dorado were the highflying representatives putting on a very good opener. The commentary team put over how familiar the pair were and that was clear to see in how they wrestled with each other. Their six years of history with each other, one on one, in scramble matches, as a tag team or on opposite teams, for the likes of the NWA, DGUSA, AAW and FIP, was evident in every step they took here. After a comedic opening where the two engaged in an impromptu dance off, the action got serious quickly with a massive strike battle that was highlighted by a huge chop from Dorado. The theme would be bought back latter when the two went punch for punch in a lengthy exchange that the crowd adored. The closing section was an aerial assault with the duo going for a series of impressive moves and whilst Swann missed a standing 450 splash and there was no water in the pool for Dorado's shooting star press, Dorado was able to hit a tasty reverse rana and Swann pulled out a Phoenix Splash. It was the latter that got the win as Swann advanced to face TJ Perkins in the Quarter Finals.  

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 7.69/10

Another cracking episode of the Cruiserweight Classic, which is once again the best show that WWE has aired this week. In fact it was miles ahead of RAW, Smackdown Live and NXT. It also get's a higher rating than both NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II and SummerSlam. Obviously that's helped by being an all in-ring based show and having only simple stories to follow, but that would mean nothing if the performers didn't go out and put on tremendous action. All three matches this week were impressive, with a number of different styles showcased throughout the hour. It would be difficult to pick a match of the evening, but if I was pushed I'd probably go for the main event between Johnny Gargano and TJ Perkins, for the sole reason that there was more of it! 

As the Quarter Finals begin next week with Kota Ibushi, Akira Tozawa and Gran Metalik [Mascara Dorada] through to the final eight, the action can only get better.

All content - James Marston
Banner Credit - Kai Stellar

TV Review: WWE Cruiserweight Classic #2 - Akira Tozawa v Kenneth Johnson

After the first episode of the Cruiserweight Classic had produced some entertaining wrestling, but been a fairly average TV show on the whole, how would the 2nd episode shape up? With Akira Tozawa, Tajiri and TJ Perkins in action, what would the CWC have in store for us next? 

The main event of the evening saw Dragon Gate star Akira Tozawa reach the 2nd round of the competition with a victory over the unknown Kenneth Johnson. Seriously, Johnson doesn't even have a cagematch.net profile, what's that all about? It confuses me even more that Johnson looked comfortable in the ring with a competitor on the level of Tozawa, never looking out of place and never looking like he was having to be carried. The bout was full of hard strikes from both men, with Tozawa getting a good opportunity to show off what he has to offer to WWE with hard chops and elbow strikes. The commentary team pushing Johnson's heart during the match helped make a couple of his near falls feel more believable, as he was being pushed as potential giant killer in the tournament. Tozawa would go to hit German Suplexes throughout the match, including a brilliant sequence that would end with Johnson flipping out and the duo doing a double clothesline spot, so it was extremely satisfying to see Tozawa claim the victory with a pair of Germans, the first a snap version before closing the match with a stunning deadlift. Tozawa will face either Jack Gallagher or Fabian Aichner in the 2nd Round.

In the semi-main, WWN's TJ Perkins knocked wXw performer Da Mack out of the competition at the earliest opportunity. It was a battle of the show boaters, with both men looking to make the victory look as easy as possible. It crowd the crowd nicely worked up when Mack would start cutting shapes or Perkins would dab in the middle of submission and it would always play back into the story of the match with the opponent taking or trying to take advantage. There was a tidy mixture of styles here, with Perkins bringing some lovely submission based offence, that he'd transition well from hold to hold, whilst both men also pulled out some big highflying moves here also. The closing moments of the bout were very satisfying as Mack would injure his knee attempting a top rope enziguiri, with Perkins latter hitting his Detonation Kick, before leg scissoring himself into position to lock on the Figure Four Deathlock, which of course is all on the knee, to earn himself the win. Perkins will now face Johnny Gargano or Tommaso Ciampa in the 2nd Round. 

In the most flippy floppy bout of the Classic so far, ACW's Lince Dorado would earn himself a place in the next round with a win over FW's Mustafa Ali. Both men impressed me here as they took the short amount of time they were given and really went for it, pulling out some big spots and keeping the action coming thick and fast throughout the match. As soon as Dorado had crashed to the outside after a knee off the apron, the match picked up and it became an exciting spot-fest, that had the crowd bouncing. A double jump super spanish fly from Ali got a wonderful reaction both for the move and then the kick out. To be honest, I was actually much more impressed with Ali than Dorado, mainly because of the horrible reverse rana that he hit, but also because the finish involved Ali missing an imploding 450 splash before Dorado hit a Shooting Star Press. As cool as the Shooting Star Press will always be it's not 450 splash, and certainly not an imploding one. Perhaps that was a slight problem in the putting together of the match. Dorado does seem to have some potential though and I look forward to seeing him in the 2nd round against either Rich Swann or Jason Lee. 

In the opening bout, Wrestle-1's Tajiri went over WR's Damian Slater in a bout that was right up my alley. It took on a different tempo to what had been seen elsewhere in the show, keeping things technical throughout, making use of Tajiri's veteran skills to keep the pacing of the outing just right. Both men would sell stiff kicks from each other superbly throughout with Slater holding his arm, whilst Tajiri would have problems with his knee throughout the bout, which would lead to both attempting various submissions. I'd have been more than happy to see this go another ten minutes or so, as I think the two would have taken that extra time and ran with it to create an extra depth to the storytelling. Slater has to be one of the first round exitees that I've been most impressed with, whilst Tajiri's still got something in the tank and will provide a brilliant victory for someone later in the tournament. The fact that he was selling his knee at the conclusion of the bout made me a happy chappy indeed. Tajiri will face Gran Metalik in the 2nd round. 

It was announced that next week, Zack Sabre Jr, Tony Nese, Brian Kendrick and others would all be competing in 1st Round action.

Results 

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: Tajiri def. Damian Slater in 5 minutes, 28 seconds 

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: TJ Perkins def. Da Mack in 6 minutes, 31 seconds 

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: Lince Dorada def. Mustafa Ali in 5 minutes, 56 seconds.

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: Akira Tozawa def. Kenneth Johnson in 9 minutes, 45 seconds

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.5/10 

This was a step-forward after last week's solid start with the Cruiserweight Classic beginning to find it's feet with four different but all entertaining matches across the hour. These first round matches are going to be made as much by the losers as they are by the showcased winners and this card seemed to have a much more solid base of exitees than we saw in the last episode. Of course, the stronger the opponent, then the stronger match you are going to get. There's a lot still to come from the competition, but WWE has certainly come flying out of the traps with this one.