PPV Review // Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVIII //

I don't know about you, but I can't remember an Impact Wrestling PPV having this much buzz in a long time. Now, a lot of that buzz came from a number of rumoured returns and debuts, as well as the card having to be reshuffled after a number of high profile firings, but Impact has done a brilliant job of building the hype around their promotion being shaken up at the PPV with some great hype packages and a well worked social media campaign over the last few months. On paper, the card wasn't all that great, but still looked like it had the potential to be a sleeper hit if things went the right way and the surprises were nailed. Our main event featured a scrap over the vacant Impact World title with Eddie Edwards, Ace Austin and Trey being joined by the returning Eric Young and Rich Swann, whilst the odd ball tandem of Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock challenged Ethan Page & Josh Alexander of The North for the Impact World Tag Team straps and The Rascalz's Dez & Wentz had their open challenge answered by the Motor City Machine Guns as well action featuring Tommy Dreamer, Madison Rayne, Willie Mack, Moose and Kimber Lee...but was it any good? 

// Impact World Championship // 

// Five Way Elimination Match //

// Eddie Edwards def. Ace Austin, Rich Swann, Eric Young and Trey //

Eddie Edwards captured his second Impact World Championship reign, three and a half years after his first, when he pinned Ace Austin at the end of an exhilarating five way elimination match, but before we get into that, lets talk about our surprise returns. After six months on the shelf, Rich Swann made his return to Impact in what was, if we're being brutally honest, a bit of a letdown. After the build-up Impact had given this mystery spot in the match, it was hard not to be disappointing when it was a guy already on their roster and, for someone who doesn't watch their programming on a regular basis, a guy I didn't even know had been out for such a long time. Some of that is on me! BUT Impact knew what they were doing and they got me with the big swerve when Eric Young's music hit and the World Class Maniac entered for his first match in an Impact ring since March 2016. To be fair, having Swann come out before EY meant that I gave much more of a shit about Young, than I would have done if Young had come out as the surprise entrant on his own. That's because after some of the guys Impact had teased, Young is clearly not the biggest name, but after the initial disappointment of Swann (not a comment on either man's abilities in the ring), the swerve with Young felt like a much bigger deal. I like to think Impact knew exactly what they were doing, especially considering their were three more returns/debuts still to come! 

After the initial buzz for big mad EY turning up, the match did not disappoint as five high quality workers unsurprisingly put on a high quality match. In the early stages, Trey Miguel was completely stealing the match for me. Trey absolutely killed everything he did here, looking almost effortless in the ring with crisp and clean wrestling, strong babyface fire and exciting highspots. Opposite Rich Swann he produced high-paced, intricate, flippy fun shit that was joy to watch, with Ace Austin he showed off thunderous aggression that really got across the personal issue that's been brewing between the pair for sometime and then pulled off a ridiculous, difficult-to-describe-how-fucking-sweet-it-was spot that saw him duck an Eddie Edwards clothesline and simultaneously fly under the second rope to nail Swann with a sick as fuck Canadian Destroyer on the floor. Lads, I really like Trey. Even being the first eliminated from the match, following a well-worked high spot with Austin and Edwards that saw him stumble into an EY piledriver, Miguel shone brightly. Here's hoping Trey continues to get big opportunities like this, because he's gone under the radar for too long. 

The rest of the match continued to produce at a high level with a spectacular high spot, some strong storytelling beats and number of convincing near falls once we got down to our final two. Lets begin with that spot! Edwards and Austin battled on the top rope for some time with one guy either side of the turnbuckle, at the same time Young had set Swann up for a powerbomb, before having second thoughts and using Swann as a battering ram to knock Edwards and Austin off the top rope and through the time keepers table below. It was creative and looked great with good timing from all involved, with the build creating a real sense of intrigue as I wondered what exactly was about to happen. The storytelling was most focused around Rich Swann and came after he managed to get an upset pin to eliminate Young. EY was vicious in his post-elimination assault, embodying his World Class Maniac gimmick as he went absolute bat shit mental, targeting the leg that kept Swann out of action for six months with a steel chair. This set-up two interesting storylines for the future, one where Swann looks for revenge on Young (and judging by their interactions in the match the pair have promising chemistry) and another more immediate story, where Swann had to battle with a major injury against Ace Austin. Swann sold the injury for everything it was worth, creating a number of dramatic moments as he managed to grab a couple of near falls, all whilst keeping that leg injury at the forefront of his performance. Once, Swann had succumbed to Austin's The Fold (Running Blockbuster) finish it was down to old rivals Edwards and Austin to battle it out for the vacant World title. Crisp, physical and with plenty of twists and turns this was a more than solid finish to the match with both men coming close to sealing the victory (Edwards with the Boston Knee Party and Austin with The Fold) but it was a second Boston Knee Party and a Diehard Flowsion that were enough to see Edwards walk out of Skyway Studios with the Impact World Title. 

The after-the-bell action was as notable as the match, as Good Brothers made good on their midnight promise and made their presence felt at the close of the show. The returning Doc Gallows and the debuting Karl Anderson have collected tag gold in WWE and NJPW and the pair initially teased a partnership with Austin and Madman Fulton, only to join forces with Edwards to wipe out the villains and give us a feel good finish to the show. Gallows & Anderson join a growing tag team roster, that offers a number of interesting match-ups against the likes of The North, Motor City Machine Guns, The Rascalz, XXXL, Reno Scum, even Heath & Rhino, so there's a lot of potential for the Good Brothers, whilst a partnership with Edwards opens up more intriguing options. Who knows where this is going to go?! 

Then as the show looked to be heading off the air, we got what, for me, was the biggest return of the night. Three slashed lines appeared on the screen, before a hooded figure appeared on screen. The hooded figure turned round, removed the hood and revealed himself to be...Ethan Carter III. Carter smashed a glass against a wall and left and the show faded to black. Saving this rumoured surprise until the very last moment, when many had decided that we were getting no EC3 appearance was a great bit of business. There's now a mystery around what EC3 is going to do next, we have no idea who is going to be coming after or exactly how he's going to fit back into the promotion, but whilst we didn't get any answers, we did get one big reason to tune into Impact Wrestling on Tuesday night. 

// Impact World Tag Team Championship //

// Tag Team Match // 

// Ethan Page & Josh Alexander def. Sami Callihan & Ken Shamrock //

I have mixed feelings on the show's Tag team title match, because it was for the most part a 
very entertaining match, but the booking of Ken Shamrock as an indestructible machine throughout the bout did bug me. This is for two reasons, one being that this is a man in his mid-fifties who basically shrugged off anything that was thrown at him by Page & Alexander and at points looked genuinely unstoppable. The second was that the booking of Shamrock disrupted the flow of the match on numerous occasions, leading to a very stop-start narrative, that wasn't always to the benefit of the match. Of course, Shamrock would end up taking the pin off The Monster Mash, but this was only after Ken being a mad bastard lead to him deciding to attempt a dive over the top rope. Another problem this match was faced was that the latter stages completely disregarded the concept of the legal man, with one awkward spot that saw Shamrock and Alexander lock in Ankle locks on their respective opponents making this stand out even further. 


Now, let's get to the positives, because as I said this was an entertaining match and despite moaning in the previous paragraph I think I did actually enjoy it. In many ways, this match managed to be a four-man clusterfuck, with a lot going on and a lot of what was going on performed well. The North have got some lovely tandem offence, Callihan and Page worked a nice back and forth sequence with some intensity, Shamrock hit an overhead belly to belly suplex that sent Alexander out of the ring, there was a lot of cool spots to enjoy for sure. Both Shamrock and Callihan got decent near falls, that would have been even better in front of a crowd, even if there was little to no regard to who was supposed to be the legal man. I think, if I'd had a couple of pints and could have been less bothered by the booking of Shamrock, then I would've enjoyed this much more, but the action was always interesting and despite going over 15 minutes it didn't outstay it's welcome. 


Post-match, The Motor City Machine Guns continued to make their presence felt, informing The North that they'd be facing each other on Tuesday's Impact Wrestling. Impact clearly knew they had a lot of eyes on them with this PPV and the build up that they'd done and the company making an effort to build future match-ups and storylines to get people to tune in on Tuesday was a good bit of business.

// Tag Team Match // 

// Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin def. Dez & Wentz //

Lets talk about those MCMGs a bit more, because Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin are back as a team in Impact for the first in over eight years! The Detroiters answered The Rascalz open challenge at the top of the show and I popped huge for it. The obvious money was on The Good Brothers and MCMGs hadn't even crossed my mind. As a massive fan of both teams, this was one of those dream matches that I hadn't even considered a possibility, so to get it out of nowhere was pretty damn cool. There's an argument to be made that the buzz could've been even higher for this match had Motor City Machine Guns actually been announced for it and not having a live crowd robbed us of the pop they could've got from the surprise appearance, but honestly I don't care. It provided a nice moment, that hooked me straight into the PPV from the very beginning and I got to watch a super cool match that I wasn't expecting. That's all good with me. 

However, both teams still had to deliver the goods and considering their paths have never crossed before this could've ended up being a letdown, but man, did Shelley, Sabin, Dez and Wentz deliver the goods here. The action was as speedy as you'd want it to be, with the Machine Guns more than keeping up their end of the bargain against the younger team, full of beautifully smooth wrestling, physical strikes and double team manoeuvres. Often I'd forget that I was supposed to be writing notes about this, because I was simply just enjoying how fluid the wrestling. Dez in particular moves like water and his hot tag was an absolute delight. There was a little bit of narrative here and there, with MCMG's working more aggressive and taking the defacto heel role in the match, with their being elements of the classic veteran team vs. up and coming team trope, but this was definitely not explored as much as it could have been. The finish did however use this, as Dez went for a Poetry in Motion-esque move that he'd used to knock Shelley apron earlier in the match, but the veteran team had it scouted and countered, using the space to pull out a number of their greatest hits double teams. It was a nice little touch, that lead to MCMG's getting the pin on Dez with the Dirt Bomb, and with just a little bit more of this the match could have been better than it was. I'm definitely looking forward to these four going toe to toe again at some point in the future.

// Knockout's Championship // 

// Deonna Purrazzo def. Jordynne Grace (C) // 

This was an absolute belter. Just a really good professional wrestling match, which told a story and kept things simple. There were no bells and whistle here, no crazy booking decisions, just Deanna Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace wrestling each other for 15 minutes. It was a classic power vs. technique style match, playing into the size differential between the pair, as Grace looked to plough her way to retain the Knockout's title, whilst Purrazzo quickly zoned in on the champions arm to set up her numerous armbar style submissions. Grace seemed intent on hitting her Grace Driver finish, but this would often leave her open for another attack on the arm as the pair weaved their offensive moves together in a number of cute sequences, performed with finesse. In fact, there were couple of really couple of downright clever sequences, including a strong near fall for Grace after blocked an O'Connor roll attempt by locking in a Coquina Clutch, whilst moments later Purazzo had to relinquish a guillotine armbar thing after Grace was able to pin the challenger's shoulder to the mat. 

Purrazzo's work on the arm was lovely stuff, locking in a number of submissions after targeting the body part early, whilst, for the most part, Grace's selling was spot-on. In numerous breaks in the action, Grace would be trying to shake life back into the arm, keeping the injury in the mind of the viewer, whilst the commentary team did their best work (of a disappointing night). I think the match could have benefited from having seen Grace struggle with a few of her power moves or strikes, as more often than not Grace appeared to be having no trouble at all during the action. Grace was even throwing strikes with the supposedly injured, including multiple forearms at one point, which was a little frustrating to see. Chucking in a few spots where Grace was struggling to hit her big moves would have lifted this to the next level. 

All in all, this was a cracking clash between two well suited opponents. I wouldn't argue with anyone if they wanted to give it the nod for match of the night.

// Knockout's Championship Number One Contendership // 

// Gauntlet Match // 

// Kylie Rae def. Taya Valkyrie, Rosemary, Kimber Lee, Kiera Hogan, Neveah, Alisha Edwards, Madison Rayne, Rosemary [John E. Bravo], Havok, Susie, Katie Forbes, Tasha Steelz and Taya Valkyrie [John E. Bravo] // 

Oh my christ. This was easily the worst match on the show and very well could end being the worst worked match of the year. There's some talent in this match for sure, but unfortunately very little of it was on display here. I don't even know where to begin. Okay, I'm lying, I do. Who the fuck is John E. Bravo? And what the fuck is he doing in this gauntlet? Him dressing up as Taya Valkyrie and Rosemary may have been in funny in...no, it would never have been funny. Even if it was funny, the reason for his appearance given by the commentary team made absolutely no sense whatsoever. They explained that Bravo had entered a #3 because his mate Valkyrie didn't like her number so sent him instead. Okay, I can deal with that, I suppose. That is until Valkyrie herself turned up at #10. How the fuck does that work? Then Bravo was back out as fourteenth and final entrant dressed as Rosemary, who was already in the ring! In kayfabe, what happened here? Why was Bravo allowed to enter the match? Outside of kayfabe, why on earth was Bravo booked eliminate Havok? This was awful. 

The shithousery doesn't stop there however, as this match was rammed with stupid shit. Katie Forbes and Susie both got eliminated during entrances, which is dumb because it means we miss the elimination and it ends up meaning very little. Susie's palm strikes seemed to be socially distancing from her opponents, Kylie Rae seemed to miss her cue for Tasha Steelz elimination, Madison Rayne started doing a little jig at ringside to pop Josh Mathews when she thought she was off-camera, the booking of Rae and Kimber Lee in the closing stages was nonsensical, only Havok looked remotely interested in getting a shine when she entered the ring and most importantly there was absolutely no story or thread running through the match. Nothing. The highlight ended up being a fun comedy spot where Rae attempted to gorilla press Alisha Edwards, eventually getting some help from Havok who then lobbed Edwards at Rae. By the time the match finished with an awfully overworked and awkward looking sequence between Rae and Valkyrie, I was more than happy it was over.

// TNA World Heavyweight Championship // 

// Moose (C) def. Tommy Dreamer // 

This was much better than it had any right to be. I wouldn't go as far as to call it good, but as an undercard plunder brawl it worked well. It was brawly, it had a couple of weapons and a handful of decent spots and a solid near fall for Dreamer. There was also a nice intensity throughout from both men, with a sprinkling of comedy thrown in as well. Moose was saying all kinds of mad shit and I actually sort of like this character that he's developed lately. Dreamer taking all kind of verbal abuse as Moose pushed his face towards some thumbtacks only to be able to find a second wind when Moose claimed he'd never watched ECW was genuinely funny and quite sweet moment of the match. I'm honestly not sure why Tommy Dreamer is still getting a run out in 2020, even if he is trying to emulate his mentor Terry Funk, for me "The Innovator of Violence" doesn't quite have the same appeal, but fuck it, this wasn't bad.

// X Division Championship // 

// Chris Bey def. Willie Mack (C) // 

Tucked away at the bottom here, we had Chris Bey becoming the 45th X-Division Champion in a very fun match with Willie Mack. This was ten minutes of action-packed wrestling, in the style that you'd expect from the X-Division. Not a whole lot of substance, but an exciting fireworks display non-the-less. The two went back and forth for the majority of the match, with both men putting together some lovely combinations, with slick movements, include the build to Mack hitting a standing moonsault and Bey hitting the slingbeyed out of the corner. The ref bump for the finish didn't feel particularly necessary, but maybe I've missed something by not watching Impact for a while, plus considering this was the only mildly screwy finish of the night, I'll let it slide. An eye rake and brand new finish, The Art of Finesse (a funky springboard cutter type deal) gave Bey the victory in a match that reminded me I liked wrestling following directly on from the gauntlet match. 

// Promo // 

// Heath's debut //

Heath is here and he's got kids! It was a cool to see Heath Slater in Impact, he's a fun character that could become even more of a joy to watch given the extra freedom he should be afforded in Impact. However, his segment with Rohit Raju was hard to watch, because it was clear that neither man's mic was working. At one point, the commentary team were audibly heard talking to each other in the background. A real shame. Slater would quickly rebuff Raju, hitting him with a variant of the Zig Zag. We'd later see Slater reuniting with his former WWE tag partner Rhino backstage, only for Scott D'Amore to break up the chat, informing Slater that this was a closed set and seeing as he was a free agent he had to leave immediately. Impact might be rehashing the storyline from a few years ago when Slater ended up being undrafted by either RAW or SmackDown, but I really don't care, if done properly it still has entertainment potential. The segment closed with Rhino telling Slater to turn up on Tuesday anyway, setting up another point of intrigue for Tuesday night.

// ATPW Rating // 

// 5.97 out of 10 // 

Oh man, without the Knockout's Gauntlet this would have been a really high scoring PPV. Even with the horrendous amount of production errors throughout the show (certainly this was the most poorly produced PPV in TNA/Impact history), the wrestling on display was of a really high quality. The main event and Deonna Purazzo vs. Jordynne Grace both delivered in spades for different reasons and I'd find it hard to separate them for my match of the night, whilst MCMGs vs. The Rascalz wasn't far behind either. Even matches like Tommy Dreamer vs. Moose, which one paper had no right be anything resembling a watchable match, ended up being just that. That's without getting into the company seriously beefing up it's roster in a number of areas with EC3, Eric Young, The Good Brothers, The Motor City Machine Guns and Heath Slater all making appearances throughout the show. Impact put themselves out there with ambitious promotion around returns and debuts, but their regular roster made sure that Scott D'Amore and Don Callis have more than a few headaches when it comes to the booking heading into the next PPV, October's Bound for Glory...

All the best xoxo

James 

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) 

RAW 1279 Review // Roman Reigns vs. Elias // Intercontinental Championship

The past month on RAW...

RAW 1275 Review // The Miz vs. Matt Hardy // Intercontinental Championship
RAW 1276 Review // Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro & Sheamus // RAW Tag Team Championship
RAW 1277 Review // The Shield vs. The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus
Survivor Series 2017 Review // Raw vs. SmackDown 
RAW 1278 Review // The Miz vs. Roman Reigns // Intercontinental Championship

With Survivor Series firmly in the rear view mirror and with nine weeks until the Royal Rumble, it seems we're in for an interesting two months on RAW. The 27th November episode came to us from Knoxville, Tennesee and was main-evented by Roman Reigns' first Intercontinental title defence against Elias, with Reigns being moved into a new feud with Samoa Joe post-match. There was also a curious angle that saw Kane in action against Jason Jordan and then Finn Balor, before Braun Strowman turned up for some revenge, whilst Seth Rollins clashed with RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro, with both men's partners absent from ringside. But was RAW 1279 any good? Lets take a look!

Elias stepped up to Roman Reigns

then...

Intercontinental Championship // Roman Reigns def. Elias [Elias Samson] // Pinfall

With The Miz written off TV to do a film, Roman Reigns was shifted into a feud with Samoa Joe, but not before he'd spent a big portion of the episode opposite Elias. The opening segment of the show set the tone for the interaction, with Reigns cutting a run of the mill promo, before being interrupted by The Miztourage, who introduced Elias. Not a whole lot else actually happened. Considering Reigns had issued an open challenge on social media, having it answered by Elias was a let down. The Drifter has done some good character work in the mid-card, but it's hard to pick out a match of his that has come anywhere near exciting me. Had the challenge not been issued a week in advance it wouldn't have been as bad, but allowing the fans (and other roster members) to get interested in who could step out to face Reigns and to then provide Elias as the answer seemed like a misstep. The highlight of the segment was The Miztourage joining up with Elias as the trio has potential to entertain, whilst also opening up a programme when The Miz is ready to return.

Before the main event (coming at the top of the third hour) could get underway, Elias was allowed to shine as he did an extended concert alongside Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. This was the best part of the one-night story with Elias controlling the crowd with ease. The Drifter has a good sense of when to bring the crowd up and when to settle them down, threatening to stop at multiple points, only to continue with his sweet tunes, much to Knoxville's displeasure. Dallas and Axel playing the harmonica was a bizarre twist, but meant the concert could continue way past what we usually see from a solo Elias, resulting in a decent sized "We Want Roman" chant. This segment provided even more evidence that an Elias, Axel and Dallas trio could work extremely well as a mid-card act and under other circumstances do well from an Intercontinental Championship run.

Unfortunately the match couldn't follow the concert, not helped by some strange booking. With the crowd chanting "We Want Roman" by the end of the prior segment, it would've made sense to have Reigns come straight out of the gates with a big face shine, yet instead we got five of the dullest minutes of wrestling in recent memory. Wear down holds, general beat down stuff and a few slow and clunky moments littered the opening exchanges and struggled to grab the audience or hold my attention. The best moments came from the interference from Axel and Dallas as the pair bought something mildly interesting to match, popped the crowd and then Axel got speared out of his boots on the floor after a nice bit of build. There was also a handful of decent near falls for Elias with the Miztourage being used well to increase the threat to Reigns' title run, as the Drifer came close with a diving elbow drop and a wicked spinning sitout powerbomb. Eventually, Reigns picked up the win in fairly convincing fashion with a spear. Post-match, Reigns was assaulted on the ramp by Samoa Joe in an intense angle. The two have clash three times already on RAW this year, but a full blown feud could prove fruitful as the show bides time between now and the Road to WrestleMania.

Kane def. Jason Jordan // Countout 

then...

Finn Balor [Prince Devitt] def. Kane // Disqualification

Well, this was a strange close to the show. Kane vs. Jason Jordan was supposed to be our final match, but it didn't last long with Jordan getting thrown over the top rope and selling his knee, getting counted out. There wasn't much to the match at all and it seemed like just another way of furthering the story that Jordan is trying to look tough, whilst simultaneously pussying out at any sign of things not going his way. After Kane murdered Jordan, Finn Balor came roaring out to let us know that Vince McMahon really doesn't see anything in him. Balor actually got some decent offence in on Kane, but after a shotgun dropkick sent the Big Red Machine into the barricade, the former WWE Champion came back with a chair to cause the DQ. Kane smacked Balor about a bit with the chair, in a grim metaphor for Balor's current trajectory, before Braun Strowman came out to make the save. It was a needlessly complicated piece of booking, that whilst aiding Jordan's story somewhat, did very little for Balor. It's clear that the company has cooled on him as a top level guy, but feeding him to Kane (who will inevitably be fed to Strowman) seemed unnecessary with such a deep roster.

The show would conclude with Strowman dishing out a beating to Kane, as a receipt for last week. Whilst The Monster Amongst Men lobbing people around and wielding a chair will always be fun to a certain level, there was also Kane escaping through the crowd whilst gasping for air. This was after Strowman drove the chair into the steel steps with Kane's throat at the other end and then repeated the act. Obviously, this was supposed to be a reply, after Kane did the same to Strowman last week, but became an uncomfortable watch, going on way past what was necessary. Perhaps in the middle of the show it would've been, at the very least, not quite as jarring, but having the newly babyface Strowman ram a steel chair repeatedly into another man's throat, even as a revenge attack was a strange way to end the show. Having the Devil's Favourite Demon stagger away through the crowd, gasping for breath has to be one of weakest ending's to an episode of RAW in the last few years. Surely, the running powerslam on the steps was a good enough ending? 

Seth Rollins def. Cesaro [Claudio Castagnoli] // Pinfall 

The best match on the show, pretty much saved the messy upper card as Seth Rollins and Cesaro put on a great television opener. After a handful of TV matches over the last two years, this still felt like a fresh pairing and with a little extra time they seemed to really get their teeth in this, with a series of creative highspots. The fameasser on the apron from Rollins, as well as Cesaro slamming Seth into the post, during the break, stand out in particular. However, the match's driving forces was the amazing selling on display from both men and how that was woven into the story, creating added drama at points. Simple things like Rollins selling a backbreaker by not being able to hit the Falcon Arrow, and then selling an eye-poke by blindly swinging in the corner made all the difference, whilst Cesaro also did some nice grit-your-teeth style work, getting over the physicality of the contest. The Swiss Superman got a couple of good near falls against the two time WWE Champion, including the Kingslayer spending sometime in the Sharpshooter, before a smooth sequence resulted in Rollins nailing the King's Landing and falling into the cover. Post-match, Rollins told Charly Caruso that The Shield was still a unit, comically talking about Dean Ambrose being on honeymoon, before announcing he and Ambrose would be cashing in their rematch clause for the RAW Tag Team Championship next week in Los Angeles.

Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contendership Tournament Semi-Final // Rich Swann def. Akira Tozawa and Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari // Pinfall 

After Kurt Angle admitted he'd let the Cruiserweight division got off the rails, claiming he didn't even know what The 'Zo Train was despite it dominating 205 Live for months, the RAW General Manager booked a tournament to crown a number one contender, with the first semi-final happening this week. Rich Swann, Akira Tozawa, Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari put on a four-way sprint, that featured lots of enjoyable action, even if the crowd was a little flat. There could have been more storytelling with Dar and Daivari both in the 'Zo Train, but as a showcase for the four's in-ring talent this was a good starting point for anyone looking to jump into 205 Live. The Swann vs. Tozawa section was some of the best straight-up wrestling on the show. The pair have lots of history in Dragon Gate and DGUSA, but this was the first time they'd been on opposite sides in WWE and it was brilliant to watch. Dar would also put in a great showing down the stretch as he desperately clawed to get the win anyway possible, connecting well with both Swann and Tozawa, getting a decent bit of heat, before eventually taking the pin after a Phoenix Splash as Swann advance to the final on 1281.

Bray Wyatt def. Matt Hardy // Pinfall 

For an eight minute portion of the show, Bray Wyatt going over Matt Hardy featured a lot of talking points. The match itself was a short and straightforward victory for Wyatt, as he weathered a Hardy storm, kicking out of a Side Effect, before winning with Sister Abigail. However, the stuff that book-ended the match was much more noteworthy. We began with a wild promo from Wyatt, as he spoke about Thanksgiving and then proceeded to shout "You're all dead" four or five times. I'm not quite sure what it was supposed to be, but it was the first Wyatt promo in a long while that has felt different and engaging. It's difficult to ignore being told that you and everyone else is in fact dead, by laughing 285lb man. Post-match, things were all about Matt Hardy as WWE finally prepared to pull the trigger on "Broken" Matt. It had been referenced that Hardy's attack on Elias last week had seen a change in the former United States Champion, which to be honest I hadn't clocked, but now made perfect sense. Hardy sat in the corner, screaming a few times, before doing the signature "Delete" gesture that we haven't seen for a little while. A "Broken" Matt feud with Wyatt has bags of potential if WWE can keep more to the Final Deletion style than they did with the House of Horrors, whilst the return of Jeff Hardy in 2018 opens doors to other potential stories

Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville [Daria Berenato] laid out Sasha Banks

After the surprising return and debut last week, Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville couldn't match things this time round with an oddly booked segment. Originally supposed to be a six man tag with Mickie James and Bayley tagging with Sasha Banks, when neither came out, Paige later brought up footage of the pair nursing injuries backstage. This lead to an overly wordy segment, including Mandy Rose seemingly not knowing how to walk, in which Paige explained the reasons behind attacking the roster last week. Basically, it was the same kind of thing we've heard time and time again from performers after time off, moaning that they were forgotten about while injured etc. Paige is strong on the mic, but giving time to Deville and Rose seemed like a poor choice, especially having them do it after walking to the ring to surround Banks. Deville struggled with dealing with the "What?" chants, whilst Rose positioning herself on the hard-cam side of the apron resulted in some awkward camera angles. The beatdown followed the same pattern as last week's, with Banks taking Bed of Roses from Rose, a jumping roundhouse kick from Deville and a Rampaige from Paige. Oh, the trio is also called Absolution now and after a lengthy explanation, I still have no idea why.

Samoa Joe def. Titus O'Neil // Submission

Quick squash that was mostly strikes, before Joe used a separation by the referee to lock in  the Coquina Clutch for the submission victory. After the match, Apollo Crews tried to stand up to Joe, but ended up caught in the Coquina Clutch as well.

Asuka [Kana] def. Dana Brooke // Submission

An in-vision promo from Dana Brooke called Asuka a "slow-starter" before The Empress of Tomorrow made Brooke tap out to a cross-armbreaker in under five seconds in a laugh-out loud moment. After the match it was teased that Asuka had some involvement with Absolution when the group hit the ring, but didn't attack.

Finally... 

Not a great RAW this week, with a number of poor booking decisions that left performers exposed, but also featured a couple of good to very good TV bouts. Roman Reigns vs. Elias was highlighted by the involvement of The Miztourage, but the match itself was poorly put together, whilst Kane's matches with Jason Jordan and Finn Balor seemed unnecessary and Braun Strowman's attack on the Big Red Machine's throat was a shitty way to conclude. This left Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro as the only top segment to deliver, with the pair having a cracking opening bout, that the rest of the show struggled to follow. Asuka destroying Dana Brooke in seconds, the Cruiserweight four-way and the potential for "Broken" Matt in WWE gave the undercard a boost, but the new Absolution faction lost some of the edge they had last week in an ill-advised promo, in lieu of the advertised trios match. 

There's still no idea what the show is going to do to keep things interesting before the Royal Rumble, but we've got Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose to look forward to next week, as well as the live episode on Christmas Day for 1283 and the 25th anniversary special as the go-home for the Rumble on 22nd January for 1287.

205 Live 52 Review // Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak // Street Fight

A different kind of episode from 205 Live this week, with one storyline spanning the whole hour at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Whilst the biggest match on the episode was Akira Tozawa facing Drew Gulak in a Street Fight, that bout was part of an episode-arcing narrative where Enzo Amore had members of The 'Zo Train compete in matches in order to prove themselves worthy of representing the brand, this included Noam Dar & Ariya Daivari tagging up against Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander and Tony Nese battling Mustafa Ali, alongside multiple backstage segments. But was it any good?

Street Fight // Akira Tozawa def. Drew Gulak // Pinfall (11:11) 

then...

Tony Nese def. Mustafa Ali // Pinfall (7:06)

then...

Rich Swann & Cedric Alexander def. Noam Dar & Ariya Daivari // Pinfall 

The show kicked-off with The 'Zo Train celebrating Thanksgiving, with Noam Dar desperate for some scran, Enzo Amore told his pals they'd all have matches to prove themselves tonight and in a bizarre turn of events the Gobbledy Gooker returned, only for it to be revealed it was Drew Gulak (or the Gobbledy Gulaker) all along, as Gulak continued to be the star of 205 Live....The fun continued with Gulak inside the ring as he cut a promo about wanting a Street Fight because Enzo Amore was from the streets and because Gulak is "Enzo adjacent", that meant Gulak was from the streets, by proxy...

For various story-based reasons, Akira Tozawa's victory over Drew Gulak went on first, when it really should've been the main event. The match was a run of the mill plunder brawl, with a couple of good highspots along the way. Gulak blocking a suicide dive and hitting a verticle suplex on the metal part of the entrance ramp, Tozawa destroying Gulak's "No chants" sign with a backdrop driver in the corner and Tozawa hitting a somersault senton off the announce table were amongst the highlights of fun clash. There times when the action dragged a little, not helped by a dour crowd, who were waiting for the next spot and desperately clamouring for tables. A little time chopped off would've helped, as it seemed the duo didn't have enough content to fill the time. The win came with a spot that sounded better on paper, as Tozawa hit a diving senton with Gulak draped on a table and inside a bin. It looked cool, but was a little clumsy in it's exclusion. This loss leave Gulak with just one singles win in his last eleven outings. A personal highlight was the crowd chanting "No chants" which was hilarious, either being a great moment of self-aware irony or clueless stupidity. You tell me, Houston.

After Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali took the piss out of the Zo Train, Enzo Amore told Tony Nese that he had to do whatever it took to win next, in order to represent the Enzo Brand correctly...

Whilst it garnered the weakest crowd response, Tony Nese vs. Mustafa Ali was my favourite match on the card. I've kind of accepted that the crowd is tired after SmackDown and unfamiliar with the majority of the talent and therefore the only reaction most of these matches are going to receive are move pops and even then sometimes spectacular stuff doesn't even raise a smile with some of these audiences. Ali and Nese wrestled a wonderfully creative bout, with tonnes of stuff that made me sit up and take notice, especially when the action was on the outside of the ring. Ali's ridiculous diving somersault senton to the outside, followed up by a lovely spot on the barricade when Nese blocked a moonsault attempt by the announce table. The two also did a great series of athletic reversals that concluded with a Tornado DDT, as well as Ali pulling out a wicked forward roll X-Factor, that had me popping like a mad man at home and the crowd shrugging their shoulders. The most surprising thing about the match however was the result as Nese pinned Ali after ramming his opponent's head into the corner post and finishing him off with The Running Nese. Not just because Ali had been undefeated since early July, whilst Nese hadn't had a win since early August, but also because I just presumed that all of the 'Zo Train were going to end up staring at the lights.

Backstage, as Ariya Daivari and Noam Dar pumped each other up for their tag team match, it was revealed Drew Gulak had been placed in "time out" following his loss and had also put the Gobbledy Gooker costume back on...

I've found the thing that enjoy about 205 Live the most and especially within this episode, is how many of the performers appear to be free to do anything they like and this results in little moments of joy. And as someone who loves little moments, Noam Dar swinging around the tag rope at the beginning of this tag bout made me happier than someone whirling around the tag rope should make any 24 year old. Dar's character work throughout this one was fantastic, as he looked to catch up Drew Gulak as the star of the 'Zo Train, by high-fiving Amore whenever the Scot did anything well, as well as jumping into a hug with Cruiserweight champion at one point as well. Dar's shenanigans aside, this was a sound tag team match, sticking mostly to a basic structure, with Cedric Alexander as the face in peril, whilst Amore playing interference on the outside and his occasional frustration at his team gave the match a little more depth. After a couple of decent near falls, the finish included all five guys well with interference from Amore, Daivari taking an elbow from Alexander, who then took a baseball slide from Dar, before the Scottish Supernova turned round into a spin kick from Swann, before the deal was sealed with a Phoenix Splash.

Enzo Amore began a beatdown as soon as the match was over, with Tony Nese and Drew Gulak arriving to take out Akira Tozawa and Mustafa Ali when they turned up to help out. The show came to a close with Dar and Daivari hitting signature moves on Alexander and Swann, before Amore resurrected Bada Boom Shakalaka with help from the Zo' Train, with the quintet managing to garner a decent amount of heat...

A vignette aired for the debut of Hideo Itami [KENTA], with the message "Coming Soon ".

Finally...

Credit to whoever is in charge of 205 Live creative for trying something different and something that certainly wouldn't have worked on RAW and SmackDown and perhaps would've struggled on even NXT. The story meant the card was almost backwards, but each match had, at least, some purpose and offered something different from the ones that had gone before it, whilst the backstage segments were more hit than miss. Drew Gulak was once again on fine character form, whilst Noam Dar stepped up to the plate to challenge him with a great character show in the main event as well. I'm interested to see how Tony Nese being the only team member to win his match plays out, as well as how the beaten down babyfaces look to get revenge once again for the vicious beat down. There's no more PPV's for the brand until next year, so there's plenty of time to focus on getting the stories right and hopefully with even less focus from the main creative the brand will continue to produce a different kind of show to RAW and SmackDown. Now if only we could move when and where it was taped that'd be grand!

Review by James Marston

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