By John Moore
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired live from Richmond, Virginia at The Coliseum
Neville was interviewed backstage by Dasha Fuentes. They cut to clips from Raw the prior night which featured Akira Tozawa, Neville, and Ariya Daivari. Neville said Daivari made a critical error by thinking that his kingdom was available for a hostile takeover just because he missed one week. Neville said he was telling everyone that 205 Live is his world and will forever be his world. Neville said last week Daivari fared well because Neville allowed Daivari to fare well. Neville said this week will be a different narrative where there will be different consequences. Neville said Daivari would learn the difference between going against an injured animal and standing toe to toe with the undeniable king of the cruiserweights…
After the 205 intro theme, Vic Joseph and Corey Graves checked in on commentary. Joseph told us that this was “The most exciting hour in television” (ugh…). Graves hyped up the TJP vs. Rich Swann feud with the men choosing Tony Nese and Cedric Alexander as their respective partners. Akira Tozawa made his entrance to open up the show wearing a suit while selling a shoulder injury. Daivari made his entrance to have his match against Neville. Graves tried to ask Tozawa about the status of his injured arm. Tozawa brushed it off by saying it was fine.
Daivari grabbed a mic and spoke in a foreign language. Daivari said he would welcome everyone to 205 Live but he’s not sure why Akira Tozawa is here. Daivari wondered if Tozawa was just here to build sympathy for his injury of beg Neville for another title shot. Daivari said the only person who deserves a title is Daivari. Daivari dedicated his potential win and match to yet another Iranian Olympian. This time he went to 1968 for the Olympian Abdullah Movahed…
John’s Thoughts: I like the focus on Daivari being different from the other heels on 205. I also like that he’s moving away from his brother’s rich Iranian prince gimmick. I’m not sure I fully get him dedicating his matches to past olympic winners. If Austin Aries were still around, I would have gotten a kick out of him trying to counter Daivari by dedicating his wins to past United States wrestlings champions Kurt Angle and Chad Gable!
1. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville vs. Ariya Daivari in a non-title match. Daivari cowered to ringside after the bell. Joseph pointed that out as a Neville move for mind games. Daivari teased a standoff but went back to retreating at ringside. Daivari taunted Neville again after Neville made chase. Neville tricked Daivari outside by teasing going in. Daivari kept Neville out of the ring with a boot and threw him into the barricade. Daivari threw him into the timekeeper barricade for good measure. Daivari then threw Neville into the LED ringpost. Daivari yelled that this was his kingdom now. Daivari hit the Magic Carpet[-less] Ride. Neville kicked out at two.
They cut to Tozawa staring a hole into the match. Daivari went for his hammerlock lariat but Neville ducked it. Neville grounded Daivari with a back-thrust kick. Neville gave Daivari a basement dropkick. Neville stalked Daivari from the top rope and hit Daivari with a top rope front dropkick. Daivari rolled to ringside to recover. Neville dragged Daivari to the commentary table where Tozawa was seated. Neville taunted Tozawa enough to get Tozawa to rise from his seat. Daivari recovered and shoved Neville into Tozawa. Outta nowhere, Daivari picked up the countout win.
Ariya Daivari defeated Neville via count-out in 4:36.
Neville tried to enter the ring but didn’t make the count. Daivari bailed to ringside as Neville yelled at the referee. Tozawa sold his shoulder injury. Neville shifted his gaze to Tozawa. Tozawa got worked up enough to meet Neville in the ring. Graves talked about how this was not a good decision. The referees formed a barrier between both men before any brawl could ensue. Graves said Daivari may have unleashed the wrath of the King of the Cruiserweights. Joseph talked about Daivari getting a win in the record books against Neville. Joseph cut to highlights from the Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak best of three falls match…
John’s Thoughts: That was unexpected and well done by the camera guys for not drawing attention to the ref counting ten. The attention was focused on Tozawa and Neville too which made the surprise count-out surprising. It’s tough to gain any traction in the cruiserweight division when you’re assigned to be one of 205’s three enhancement heels (Daivari, Nese, and Gulak) but this mean could mean something if in later weeks the commentators make a big deal out of Daivari picking up what may be Neville’s second single’s loss in about a year (he lost one time via count-out to Austin Aries).
“The” Brian Kendrick walked out to the ring in his ring gear. He had a mic. Kendrick said he tried to help the people by teaching them, yet he gets no thanks. Kendrick said he gets attacked and snarky tweets on Social Media. Kendrick said he tried to drill it in the heads of the fans what the difference is between fighters and clowns. Kendrick said the people don’t listen. He said he doesn’t know if they are ignoring him or too dumb to understand him. Kendrick said he brought pictures this week. He showed a picture of Jack Gallagher on the Titantron. Kendrick asked if that looks like a fighter and the crowd said yes. Kendrick told people to notice how pasty white his face is. The picture photoshoped clown paint on Gallagher’s face as well as a clown wig. Kendrick also did a transform on the suit to a clown suit.
Jack Gallagher came out to save us from this dreadful segment. Jack said last week he chose to turn the other cheek. Jack said he thought that after Kendrick vented they could put this quarrel behind them. Gallagher said it looks like taking the high road is not an option for Kendrick so Jack is just going to kick Kendrick’s bloody head off. Gallagher stormed the ring as Kendrick retreated to the timekeeper’s area. The original version of Carmen’s Toreador theme played (which Gallagher’s theme is based off of) …[C]
John’s Thoughts: Damn, that sucked! I was actually starting to get into that feud but then it seeped into bad Vince McMahon humor or at least cheap humor. The first week was a good promo. The second week was fine. The third week started to get old. This week with all the bad humor it jumped the shark already, this feud. 205 Live needs to be dissolved because this show isn’t worth it!
Dasha Fuentes interviewed Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander (and I know it’s Dasha because Neville said her name earlier on in the show). Dasha asked Swann why he chose Alexander. Swann said he choose Alexander because of how he destroyed Noam Dar in the I Quit match. Swann said Dasha should be asking Alexander why he accepted the invite. Alexander said he came for real competition, not competition that revolves around a deranged ex-girlfriend. TJ P[erkins] and Tony Nese came to taunt their opponents. Nese called Alexander a participation trophy. They all did lame trash talking to each other. Perkins’ entrance theme cut them off to signify that it was time for their match…
John’s Thoughts: We’re just hitting rock bottom on the promo end tonight are we? At least Cedric Alexander is free from his only ever feud in WWE at least for the night. I would have even had him mention it because that thing should have ended months ago.
2. TJP and Tony Nese vs. Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander. Swann started the match off against Nese. Nese stopped the match to show off his bicep. Nese overpowered Swann with a shoulder block. After some dodges, Swann grounded Nese with a dropkick. They then had a few chain wrestling sequences. Swann and Alexander made quick tags to do some tag team moves on Nese. Once Nese could get to his corner after about a minute TJP tagged in. Perkins did his headscissors takedown followed up by a dab. There was a light “please no dabbing” chant.
Alexander returned the favor by replicating Perkins’ headscissors takedown. Alexander sent Perkins and Nese out. Swann and Alexander did a Tope Con Hilo and top rope Senton respectively on the people outside. Joseph said that stereo move is what makes 205 Live “The most exciting hour in television”.
John’s Thoughts: Really? I’m just yawning. Not because of the wrestlers involved but because 205 Live sucks as a show. As I mentioned, Gallagher and Perkins had two of the best television matches this year, and it was on NXT. 205 Live is a hopeless show.
Alexander had an armstretch on Perkins. Perkins did his spiderman catch on the ropes. Nese distracted Alexander outside while Perkins gave Alexander a lariat. Nese put Alexander in the tree of woe to hit him with his bicycle ab workout. Alexander tried a rollup to no avail. The crowd could care less at this point. Perkins tagged in to do more restholds. Perkins hit Alexander with a springboard elbow when Alexander tried to make it to his corner. Then it was back to the restholds. Alexander gained some breathing room after a spinning back elbow. They both made the tags with Swann getting the hot one.
Swann took down Nese with a guillotine flip kick and running splash. Nese blocked a suplex and hit Swann with a uppercut. Nese fired up with a nice kick combo but Swann managed to trip up Nese with a low kick. It was Cedric with the hot tag with Perkins getting tagged on the other side. Alexander managed to wake up the crowd somewhat with a loud back elbow and a snug standing Spanish Fly. Nese broke up the nearfall. Nese tripped up Swann and hit him with a wheelbarrow slam on the table. Perkins hit Swann with a gutbuster. There was an odd pin attempt with Perkins shoulder on the ground. Alexander blocked a detonation kick and hit Perkins with a handstand into a jumping roundhouse. Alexander went for hit signature springboard chothesline but was tripped off the ropes. Perkins rolled up Cedric to pick up the win.
TJ Perkins and Tony Nese defeated Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander via pinfall in 12:20.
Perkins and Nese celebrated their win in the ring. Perkins did the three-up three-down hand sign to Swann as Swann was recovering outside. Nese flexed his bicep to close out the show…
John’s Thoughts: At least the last few minutes of that match was good because the first seven or so minutes were boring as hell. The only reason being is that they work the boring pace of WWE Superstars matches, not NXT-Style or even Smackdown Style, C-Show style. NXT tries to tell stories in the ring. The CWC told those stories with those four guys in the ring! This show. I’ll have a few more thoughts in my members’ exclusive audio review.
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