By John Moore
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired August 1, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio at Quicken Loans Arena
The opening video showed highlights from the Akira Tozawa and Ariya Daivari sub-feud on their quest for the WWE Cruiserweight Title shot. The video ended with Daivari laying out both Neville and Tozawa…
After the opening song, Vic Joseph and Corey Graves checked in on commentary for 205 Live. Graves and Joseph talked about how exciting John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura was. Graves called Nakamura a rock star and said he would be facing Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam. Graves then moved on to hyping up Gran Metalik vs. Tony Nese for later in this episode. Joseph hyped Tozawa vs. Daivari for a SummerSlam title shot…
John’s Thoughts: Vic Joseph was actually the full time play-by-play commentator on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion. I looked up some of his calls in hopes that it would change my mind on him but they weren’t so great on that show either. He’s a bit of a Vanilla Josh Mathews, who comes off as a Vanilla Michael Cole sometimes. Joseph’s weakness in WWE and House of Hardcore is that he leaves it to the color commentator to do the move calls. There’s more weaknesses, but I don’t think it’s worth criticizing at this point.
The Brian Kendrick made his way to the ring with his Blackbeard pirate flag. Kendrick continued from last week’s promo where he called Jack Gallagher a clown. Kendrick said the time for talk was over this night and he was going to send the clown back to where he belongs, the circus. Jack Gallagher’s theme interrupted Kendrick as he made his entrance for an upcoming match with Kendrick. Graves hyped up Gallagher’s legit MMA background…
1. Jack Gallagher vs. The Brian Kendrick. Gallagher opened up with an elbow and Muay Thai clinch. In the clinch, Gallagher laid in some knee strikes and headbutts until the referee threatened to DQ him. Gallagher broke things up a second and then followed up his attack with European Uppercuts and tosses to the corner. Kendrick tried to run into Gallaher, but ran into Gallagher’s head. Gallagher stomped on the back of Kendrick while he was prone on the apron corner. The ref called for the bell because Gallagher wouldn’t break after the allotted time allowed to attack someone on the ropes.
The Brian Kendrick defeated Jack Gallagher via DQ in 1:23.
Gallagher wouldn’t relent and instead followed up by tossing Kendrick into several barricades outside. Gallagher grinded Kendrick’s face on the LED apron. As Gallagher went for his umbrella, Kendrick scurried away to the crowd. Gallagher stood tall as Kendrick crawled. Gallagher’s entrance theme played. Vic Joseph talked about something waking up within Gallagher…
John’s Thoughts: That’s something we don’t see too often in 205 Live in a good way. I was afraid we were in store for another bad Kendrick promo like last week’s. Kendrick’s delivery is solid but the content is just hokey. Graves did give away what was in store by talking up Gallagher’s legit MMA background, but it worked. Gallagher’s beatdown might come off as heelish for the “gentleman” but Kendrick has egged him for weeks and even being prejudice against English people. I’m looking to see where this goes, so as long as we don’t get any Kendrick photoshop promos.
Backstage, Rich Swann and Mustafa Ali were playing the 2K WWE Game. Ali was AJ Styles while Swann was Kevin Owens. Ali was winning and compared his dominance to him dominating Drew Gulak. TJ Perkins walked in. Perkins also mocked Swann for losing at the game. Ali left the room to allow Swann and Perkins to chat. Swann called Perkins obsessed. Perkins acted cocky like he usually does. Swann said Perkins is obsessed since he beat Perkins a few weeks ago. Perkins tried to stress that Swann barely beat him. Swann said he can see it eat Perkins up inside. Swann proposed a match. Perkins agreed and then proposed that they just play PS4 this week. Ariya Daivari was shown hyping himself up backstage…
John’s Thoughts: I liked this feud at first, but now I don’t see who really gains from it. Swann’s spinning his wheels in this spot. Perkins is in this soft-heel mode in a character that he’s not good at playing. He’s bad at playing the cocky douche! I know he can be good. He’s great in the ring and can play a nice-guy babyface really well when he’s energetic. He might be trying to be Kobe Bryant but to me he’s just coming off as a low budget Swaggy P (Nick Young).
Corey Graves gave credit for the SummerSlam theme. Tony Nese made his entrance for the next match. Graves cut to the clip from last week where Nese secured his team’s win by pushing Cedric Alexander off the top rope. Nese cut a promo where he riffed on the Cleveland fans. Nese talked about his body. Nese said his opponent Gran Metalik doesn’t look like a winner. Gran Metalik made his return to 205 Live. Gran Metalik has a new mask with an open mouth area. They showed a promo that Gran Metalik cut in Spanish. He talked about how Nese has his limits. Metalik said it doesn’t matter how you look but rather your ability and technique. Metalik said what matters most is your corazon (heart) and that’s what Gran Metalik has…
2. Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik. Tony started off the match like he usually does, by flexing his biceps in front of the fans. Metalik showed some nice agility with his counters. Metalik landed some armdrags on Nese. Metalik used a dropkick to send Nese outside. Nese recovered and gave Metalik a forearm as he was over the apron. Nese slipped out of the ring when he thought Metalik was staggered and Metalik followed the slip with a nice Asai Moonsault on Nese to the ringside area. Metalik went for a springboard move but Nese caught him into a gutbuster.
Nese hit Metalik with some shortarm knee strikes and a flapjack. Nese maintained control with a body scissors submission. Metalik punched his way out of the corner. Metalik hit Nese with a high crossbody leading to a nearfall. Graves pointed out that Metalik was showing some core pain. Metalik hit Nese with a tightrope dropkick. Metalik hit Nese with a tightrope elbow drop to get another two count. Nese countered with a jab and slipped through with a pumphandle. Metalik escaped. Nese tripped Metalik off the second rope and hit a corner knee to Metalik’s face to pick up the win.
Tony Nese defeated Gran Metalik via pinfall in 6:27.
Graves and Joseph talked over some of the highlights of Gran Metalik. Graves then pointed out again that Nese gained the advantage due to the damage done to Metalik’s core. Akira Tozawa was shown doing shoulder stretches in preparation for his match against Daivari…
John’s Thoughts: That was fine for your typical WWE style match with Gran Metalik looking good with the Lucha moves; but why is WWE’s main roster treating Gran Metalik as a jobber. His last couple of losses came to Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari. Why are they treating Gran Metalik like he’s Mistico/Sin Cara 1.0? As for Tony Nese, he gains nothing. I would make a trade with TNA between Eli Drake and Tony Nese since Nese is just using the same body guy gimmick as Chris Masters.
Dasha Fuentes interviewed Neville backstage. Dasha asked Neville for his prediction for the Tozawa vs. Daivari match. Neville said Tozawa and Titus Worldwide have been a thorn in his side for too long. Neville said he thought he would quell Tozawa’s ambition at “Great Balls of Fire” (Neville pronounces Fire as, Fi-ya!). Neville said Tozawa has returned worse than ever, like an infection. Neville said he barely knew Daivari existed before last week. Neville said Daivari disrespected his king. Neville said he hope nobody wins because it’s irrelevant. Neville said defeat and humiliation awaits both men at SummerSlam. Neville said they should bend on their knee before the King of the Cruiserweights…
Daivari went to the ring for a promo. Daivari continued to honor past Iranian Olympians. This week’s honoree was Rasoul Khadem who won gold in 1996. Daivari said he fights for the pride of an entire nation, his nation. Daivari said he was going to be the next WWE Cruiserweight champion. Akira Tozawa made his entrance still sporting a taped up shoulder…
3. Ariya Daivari vs. Akira Tozawa in a singles match to become number one contender to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. A good amount of the fans started up a “ha” chant. Tozawa landed a kick to the shin of Daivari. Daivari locked things up and pressured Tozawa in the corner. Tozawa turned the tables and chopped Daivari. Daivari locked things up in the center of the ring. Tozawa dominated and pushed Daivari in the corner. Daivari missed to chops and ate chops himself. Tozawa hit a punt to the chest and running senton. Daivari retreated at ringside. Tozawa rallied up for a Tope but Daivari took down Tozawa with a crossbody.
Daivari put the boots to the injured shoulder of Tozawa. Tozawa hit Daivari with a delayed punch. Tozawa continued the attack with a huracanrana. Daivari took the action to the outside and threw Tozawa’s shoulder into the LED ringpost. Daivari tossed Tozawa up the ramp to try to steal the win just like he did to Neville. Tozawa ran and successfully beat the ten count in the ring. Daivari maintained an upper hand back in the ring. Neville was shown watching the match (in that weird 90-degree angle that WWE has their wrestlers watch TV on air from). Daivari continued to attack the injured left shoulder of Tozawa.
Tozawa got a bit of offense in but Daivari took Tozawa to the ground with a cobra clutch. Daivari gave double knees to the injured shoulder/arm. After Tozawa went for a few chops, Daivari slammed Tozawa to the ground by dragging his shoulder. Daivari missed the Magic Carpet[-less] ride when Tozawa rolled away. Tozawa missed a spinning roundhouse but landed a German Suplex and Claymore Kick. Tozawa got a nearfall off the kick. Tozawa went for his high senton but Daivari tripped Tozawa off and hit Tozawa with the Magic Carpet[-less] Ride to get a nearfall.
Tozawa escaped the hammerlock lariat by back Dropping Daivari. Tozawa hit Daivari with a Yakuza Kick to send him outside. Tozawa then hit a Suicide Dive on Daivari. Tozawa put Daivari n position and hit Daivari with his finisher, the high flying Senton, to pick up the win.
Akira Tozawa defeated Ariya Daivari via pinfall in 11:18 to challenge for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at SummerSlam.
Corey Graves talked about how Akira Tozawa joined Shinsuke Nakamura in representing Japan in a championship match at SummerSlam. Neville stood stone-faced in front of the flat screen TV. Graves said Neville would eat Tozawa alive if he doesn’t rehab his shoulder. They showed slow motion replays of Tozawa’s high flying senton. Tozawa joined a John Cena and Cavs child fan in his “ha” chant to close out the show…
John’s Thoughts: Good work by both men, but it was really hard to take any of Daivari’s nearfalls seriously mostly because of how Tozawa vs. Neville would work better on the marquee. WWE can capitalize with Daivari’s little gaiden into the main event picture of 205 Live. All they have to do to elevate Daivari is make sure he wins his next feud against a credible opponent. I’d be confident with a Rich Swann feud right now so as long as Daivari can leave on top, since Swann won’t be hurt at all by the loss. This was a pretty harmless episode of 205 Live with some solid story progression. The only flaw is Gran Metalik continuing to lose in his rare appearances on the show. I’ll have more thoughts on this episode in my all access audio show for Wednesday!
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