By John Moore
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired September 13, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Thomas & Mack Center
Right after the Mae Young Classic, it was time for the 205 Live! Dasha Fuentes interviewed Rich Swann and TJP backstage. They recapped their “friendship” and feud over the past month or so. Dasha would cut to highlights from the individual matches while each man gloated about their wins in those particular matches. Perkins ended the interview with a pouty face…
John’s Thoughts: This isn’t a feud that suffers (only) from the lack of creative on 205 Live. These two “friends” just lack character chemistry. TJP needs to turn into a lovable babyface, because Swaggy P[erkins] is just a cheap version of former Laker Swaggy P Nick Young. Swann’s good, but what is he even going for here? This is just a feud of who can patronize the other person better, which is absolutely lame.
The 205 opening video aired. Vic Joseph welcomed the viewers to “The most exciting hour in television” (oh gawd!). Joseph even listed things that were more exciting than 205 Live which was Vince McMahon on Smackdown and the Mae Young! Joseph and Nigel McGuinness checked in on commentary. Nigel hyped up Cedric Alexander vs. The Brian Kendrick for later on in the show…
1. Rich Swann vs. TJP. Perkins and Swann started off with the usual lockup takedown with Swann dominating. Perkins went for a back suplex but Swann wouldn’t relent on the hold. Perkins landed a hip toss. Both men traded armdrags and chain wrestling. Swann went back into the Kesa Gatame position. Perkins got up and got the hold released. During a running sequence, Perkins tripped swann and barely locked in a legbar. Swann rolled up Perkins with a crucifix pin attempt. Swann gave Perkins a dropkick. Perkins retreated outside. Swann hit Perkins with a cannonball from the apron.
Swann gave Perkins some slow kicks to the back. Swann then cornered Perkins and gave him a chop. Perkins managed to lift Swann into Fireman Carry. Swann held on to the ropes to avoid Perkins’ finisher. Perkins tripped up Swann on the second rope. Perkins put the boots to Swann in the corner. Perkins took down Swann with an elbow. Perkins took his time which Nigel attributed to confidence.
Swann blocked a stinger splash in the corner. Perkins came right back at Swann with a high flapjack and basement dropkick. Perkins went back to the chinlock. Swann tried to come back but Perkins gave Swann a knee to his gutt. Perkins hit a release back suplex on Swann. Nigel mentioned that Perkins was trained in the same dojo as Shinsuke Nakamura and they therefore have similar styles. Perkins went back to the shoulder stretch. Swann escaped the release of the back suplex.
Swann hit a thrust kick combo and guillotine flip legdrop on the head of Perkins. Perkins blocked a Tiger Driver with a huracanrana. Perkins nailed Swann with a springboard forearm. Perkins and Swann mirrored each other’s strikes for a period of time. They took each other out with stereo kicks to the head. Perkins and Swann rolled through each other’s moves. Perkins got the legdrop. Perkins hit Swann with a double underhook gutbuster.
Swann kicked his way out of the corner. After trading strikes, Swann hit a back hook kick on Perkins. Swann hit Perkins with a clunky Michinoku Driver for the nearfall. Swann successfully hit the Phoenix Splash to pick up the victory.
Rich Swann defeated TJ Perkins via pinfall in 12:03.
Nigel talked over highlights from the match. The replays focused on how complex a Phoenix Splash was. Swann went to pick up Perkins but Perkins got up himself and started to act a pit petulant. Perkins refused to shake Swann’s hand at first but then pulled Swann back. Perkins gave Swann a halfhearted handshake. Vic Joseph went to go over the highlights from last week where Cedric Alexander gave everyone but Enzo a Lumbar Check…
Alexander was training with resistance bands as Mustafa Ali overacted and was talking about how Cedric had that match won last week. Cedric asked Ali if he should rip Enzo’s head off a la Big Cass. Alexander said that might feel good but it doesn’t prove anything. Cedric said Enzo caught him slipping last week. Cedric said all he has to do is focus and be where he wants to be. The Brian Kendrick walked in and asked Cedric where he wants to be?
John’s Thoughts: Cedric would probably want to be off this show and on a show like NXT. I’m not a mind reader, but if I were Cedric I would not want to be on this wasteland show.
Kendrick asked Cedric if he wants to get kicked to the curb. Kendrick talked about Enzo’s reputation as an idiot and how that idiot outsmarted Cedric. Cedric said not lying or cheating doesn’t mean that he’s not trying to get to the stop. Kendrick said Alexander reminds him of Jack Gallagher. Kendrick said the problem with this generation is that they are all spineless. Kendrick said Cedric has a lot of talent but not what it takes. Kendrick said he thinks tonight was going to be an easy night for him. Drew Gulak was shown walking backstage…[C]
John’s Thoughts: I hope the Swann/Perkins feud is over, but with Perkins not accepting the handshake afterwards I think it might be stretching! This feud is simply no bueno. The match they had was the worst one between the two. Just a bunch of headlocks and rest holds with the high spots coming out at set piece points as opposed to naturally. They had the tough task of following the hot Mae Young classic finals. This match is also obviously leading to Perkins turning heel, again.
Drew Gulak’s Sonic The Hedgehog sounding theme played as Gulak was already in the ring. Nigel and Vic talked about Gulak’s incomplete PowerPoint from last week. Joseph even cut to the Microsoft Office official twitter account to show that they tweeted Drew Gulak last week about the rest of the powerpoint.
John’s Thoughts: You know 205 Live sucks when they are pushing Microsoft Office over their wrestlers!
Gulak introduced himself to mild boos. He said he tried to put the “0” in 205 live as in, “oh what an entertaining PowerPoint presentation”. Gulak said his “oh!” was interrupted by the “Ha” of Akira Tozawa. Gulak said annoying chant like Ha can throw a ground based wrestler like him off. Gulak blamed Tozawa for ducking out in Japan and avoiding a confrontation with him this week. Gulak said his ideas are being held down. Gulak said he is going to review the rest of his PowerPoint which aired on the Titan Tron. Gulak introduced the third slide which said “no Chants” like Vince McMahon’s theme “No [chants] in hell!”. Gulak said the audience has to be in complete silence out of respect.
The next slide was “No Elaborate Ring Gear”. This was Slid 4 of 277. The current slid had Tekken 7’s King wearing his New Japan Kazuchika Okada alternate costume. Gulak talked about how reliable trunks and boots gets the job done. The next slide was no interrupting. A siren aired. It wasn’t Scott Steiner, it was Tyler Breeze and Fandango, the Fashion Police. Breezango got a favorable reaction. Fandango called Drew “Drew Garlic”. Breeze said he thinks it’s “Drew Goo-lick”. The crowd really woke up for the popo. Fandango pointed at Gulak’s trunks and called him “Captain Underpants” to play off of Enzo’s comment from a few weeks ago.
The Dango said if Drew’s not a captain, they are going to treat Gulak like the perp he is. Dango invaded Gulak’s personal space and even rubbed his lips on Gulak’s nose, several times.
John’s Thoughts: This is getting Johnny Curtis weird…
Breeze said they are regularly on Smackdown but they got too many complaints about a violator running around in tiny underpants. Drew said he doesn’t know who they are looking for. Breeze started naming off different kinds of underwear. Dango liked all of them. Dango especially liked G-Strings and Thongs. Breeze said Gulak was wearing something that was too much. Dango called Gulak a disgusting freak. Dango then soon “booked” Gulak. They did this somewhat prolonged arrest sequence…
John’s Thoughts: What an odd segment? What’s funny is Breeze, Dango, and Gulak all delivered their lines well! The material was just really really odd. The segment started off by putting over Microsoft Powerpoint. Then two Smackdown wrestlers show up. Then Dango low key makes out with Gulak’s nose! That happened! Then they talk about underwear like some children’s joke.
They showed clips from Raw where Miz talked about 205 Live being the bottom of the barrel in WWE where Enzo has to inhabit. They also showed clips of the subsequent match and of Neville laughing at Enzo mechanically… [C]
2. The Brian Kendrick vs. Cedric Alexander. Kendrick started off the match with a quick thrust kick to Cedric’s head. Cedric flipped out of the corner and hit a headscissors takedown to a dropkick. Kendrick tried to toss Cedric outside but Kendrick ate a kick and Cedric’s signature springboard clothesline. Kendrick blocked a German Suplex and got slapped in the back. Cedric blocked Sliced Bread and gave Kendrick a back elbow. Kendrick retreated outside.
Cedric flew after Kendrick and hit Kendrick with a Tope Con Hilo. Cedric and Kendrick brawled on the apron with the ring post between them. Kendrick slammed Cedric’s throat on the exposed ring spike. Cedric sold coughing in the ring. Jack Gallagher ran out to the ring with an umbrella. Kendrick quickly ran to the ringside for a bell to reference their match from a few weeks ago. It was time for a swerve. Jack Gallagher ended up beating up Cedric Alexander with his umbrella…
The Brian Kendrick vs. Cedric Alexander ended in a no contest in about 3:25.
No bell actually rang since Kendrick brought the bell into the ring. Gallagher stomped on the bell to keep Kendrick at bay. Kendrick had a look of shock at his rival beating up Cedric. Gallagher put the boots to Cedric. The referees came out but didn’t succeed in stopping Jack. Jack gave Cedric his signature headbutt. Alexander was dumped outside. Gallagher met Kendrick in the middle of the ring and politely shook Kendrick’s hand. Kendrick accepted and smiled. Kendrick’s theme played to close 205 Live…
John’s Thoughts: The match was good while it lasted. It’s always a plus not to have prolonged headlock sequences in cruiserweight matches (unlike a majority of 205 matches). I’m actually very intrigued by this turn of events. It was a cliché pro wrestling swerve, yes, but this does feed into Kendrick’s strength that I’ve been advocating for. I thought Kendrick was at his best when he was a cocky heel with a heavy. Gallagher’s no Big Zeke, but he does remind me a bit of Dudley from Street Fighter and he does have the legit MMA cred. This can totally go south two ways and I’ll paint that out now. One, this could just be a ruse by Jack Gallagher to “get inside the head of the man with a plan”. That would be as lame as Randy Orton joining the Wyatt Family or TJP joining Neville temporarily. The other way this can stink is if Gallagher becomes a mute robot which he teased at the end of this episode. If Kendrick is allowed to talk and dominate and Gallagher is allowed to talk and dominate then this thing can work, especially with Cedric Alexander playing the role of 205 Live’s gullible Sting.
This episode was negligible. Don’t watch it! It was weird! The last three minutes were intriguing, but that doesn’t save the rest of the hour. You can watch much better wrestling with your network time. Like the Mae Young Classic finals or even the rest of the tournament.
Cedric Alexander really needs to answer AJ Styles open challenge and put his talents to real use.
Jeez, the analysis on this is awful. The TJP/Swann match was good, the Breezango segment was hilarious, and the Gallagher turn was both entertaining and well-done as wrestling swerves go. The show was excellent and 205 Live consistently has WWE’s best matches (much better than the vast majority of the MYC). I’m not sure what program you’re watching.