4/4 Powell’s WWE 205 Live TV Review: Austin Aries vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Jack Gallagher vs. TJ Perkins to determine the No. 1 contender, Neville’s championship celebration

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By Jason Powell

WWE 205 Live on WWE Network
Aired live from Orlando, Florida at Amway Center

The show opened with a recap of Neville vs. Austin Aries at WrestleMania… Tom Phillips and Corey Graves checked in from ringside and hyped the four-way main event, and Neville’s appearance on the show…

1. Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick. The ring announcer noted that the match was one fall and then paused long enough to indicate he was hoping the fans would say it after he did. No luck. Kendrick came out and said Tozawa doesn’t get it, and he had lesson number ten for him, which led to a few ten chants. He said the lesson is about psychological supremacy. In the end, Tozawa faked a knee injury after leaping off the top rope, then he rolled up Kendrick for the win. After the match, Tozawa took the mic and said he taught Kendrick lesson number one…

Akira Tozawa defeated Brian Kendrick in 5:20.

Powell’s POV: The fans chanted for Tozawa and also screamed when he did, but this was not the rowdy Raw After WrestleMania crowd. They were 205 Live quiet at times (yes, that’s a phrase), but they seemed to be more attentive than most crowds. The match itself was entertaining and the finish makes sense in that Tozawa is starting to fight fire with fire.

2. Oney Lorcan vs. Rich Swann. The broadcast team played up Lorcan as an NXT surprise. He got off to the quick start. He played to the fans and then a brief Oney Lorcan chant started and faded quickly. Lorcan dominated the first four minutes of the match and then went for his half and half suplex, but Swann landed on his feet. Swann set up for a move, but Lorcan performed a running Alabama Slam into the corner for a two count. Swann multiple kicks and then performed a Phoenix Splash for the win…

Rich Swann beat Oney Lorcan in 6:45.

After the match, Swann told the live crowd he had to get something off his chest. He said Alicia Fox has been getting presents delivered to her. Swann said Noam Dar has been taking credit for the gifts, but they actually came from him…

Powell’s POV: Good work from the wrestlers, but this feels very much like a standard 205 Live crowd. I was really hoping that the WrestleMania crowd stuck around because it would have been fun to see how they reacted to the cruiserweight show. However, it was very apparent on Smackdown that this was basically a business as usual night.

Backstage, Drew Gulak spoke with Mustafa Ali and tried to convince him to work more conservatively. Ali told him that he wasn’t buying what he was selling. Gulak said change is coming to 205 Live. He said Ali’s reckless style is unfit for 205 Live and he wanted to offer him a chance to be on the right side of history…

Graves said Gulak isn’t going to change 205 Live. “I kind of like 205 Live,” Graves said. What a ringing endorsement. Phillips thanked the fans for the weekend, then said they wanted to introduce some familiar faces…

UK Title tournament participants Trent Seven, Mark Andrews, Wolfgang, and Pete Dunne stood on the stage and were introduced. Tyler Bate had entrance music and then walked onto the stage with the title belt. Phillips hyped that they will be touring with 205 Live in England. He also said there will be a weekly UK show coming to WWE Network…

Neville made his entrance and then announced that there is no one on the Neville level. He said it feels good to be proven right. He said the fans wouldn’t know because they backed Austin Aries. “How did that turn out for you?” he asked. He showed off the title belt and said it said it all.

Neville said there were rumors that he raked Aries’ bad eye out of desperation. He said he did it because Aries deserved it. He said it was a celebration and then led a “hip hip hooray” chant. Neville said he wanted to thank the fans… for never believing in him. He said they lit a fire in him and he became royalty.

Neville thanked Aries and the 205 Live roster while mocking them. He said the circus would continue tonight and he would take a ringside seat to watch the four-way. He said he liked to call it four lambs to the slaughter…

After some ads, ring entrances for the main event took place…

3. Austin Aries vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Jack Gallagher vs. TJ Perkins in a four-way to determine the No. 1 contender to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Neville sat on a chair next to the broadcast table. Aries approached him before the match for a brief encounter. Perkins had a nice run of offense and then played to the crowd on the apron. Gallagher nonchalantly kicked him off the apron.

At 3:45, Perkins applied a kneebar on Gallagher. Aries broke it up by applying the Last Chancery, which was broken up by an Ali dropkick. Aries sold eye pain from the dropkick. At 6:10, Aries and Gallagher stood on the back of Perkins in the corner and then performed a double superplex on Ali. They went for a double cover, but both opponents kicked out at two.

At 7:15, Aries performed a suicide dive onto Ali and Perkins. Gallagher grabbed his umbrella. The fans chanted “Mary Poppins” as he stood on the apron. He performed his Marry Poppins leap off the top rope onto all three opponents.

Back inside the ring, Ali performed a tornado DDT on Perkins, but Aries broke up the pin. A short time later, Gallagher headbutted Aries and fell on top of him. Perkins reached in and pulled Aries to the floor to break up the pin.

In the closing moments, Perkins hit a Detination Kick on Gallagher, who came right back with a headbutt. Aries entered the ring and hit the discus five-arm on Perkins and scored the pin. Afterward, Aries stood in the ring and jawed with Neville, who was still on the floor…

Austin Aries defeated Mustafa Ali, Jack Gallagher, and TJ Perkins in a four-way in 11:20 to become the No. 1 contender to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

Powell’s POV: A good match, but this brought back some bad memories of the random four- five- and six-way matches that TNA delivered far too often with the X Division wrestlers. The four men in the match felt a little random and there was not real explanation for why they were in the match. Oddly enough, the five-way elimination matches they’ve done were more up my alley due to the elimination aspect. Again, though, the wrestlers worked hard and this was a good main event, albeit with a rather ordinary crowd. I will have more to say in my member exclusive 205 Live audio review on Wednesday.

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