By Jason Powell
WWE 205 Live on WWE Network
Aired live from Seattle, Washington at KeyArena
A video focussed on the five-way elimination match main event for a shot at the WWE Cruiserweight Championship… The 205 Live opening aired and then pyro was shot off on the stage… The broadcast team was Mauro Ranallo, Corey Graves, and Austin Aries. Yes, Ranallo still claims it’s the most exciting hour of television.
Aries announced that Tony Nese was injured on Raw and was not medically cleared to wrestle. Graves announced that a five-way match was advertised and there will still be one. He said the fifth spot will be taken by the winner of Mustafa Ali vs. Ariya Daivari…
1. Mustafa Ali vs. Ariya Daivari for a spot in the five-way match. Ranallo played up the history between Jack Gallagher since Gallagher is in the five-way match. They had the usual Daivari handshake with him taking his opponent’s hand and shoving it aside.
Ali got off to a quick start, but Daivari cut him off at ringside where he performed a neckbreaker. Ali barely beat the referee’s ten count. Daivari performed a nice spinebuster, but Ali avoided his frogsplash. Daivari also cuaght him with a lariat for a two count. Ali came back with a DDT at 5:35, then went up top and performed his inverted 450 splash for the win…
Mustafa Ali defeated Ariya Daivari in 5:50 to earn a spot in the five-way elimination match.
Aries set up a video package that promoted the debut of Gran Metalik for next week…
Powell’s POV: A nice match with Daivari showing off more offense than usual as Ali worked from underneath before getting the win. The odd part about the main event is that the only heel of the five is Dar. Meanwhile, it’s nice to see that Metalik is going to be debuting. They held off on Tozawa and Metalik for quite some time, but now we finally have the full roster that was advertised on night one. Once Metalik arrives, the next debut to look forward to will be the in-ring debut of Austin Aries on 205 Live.
2. Lince Dorado vs. Brian Kendrick. Before the match, Kendrick cut a promo in which he named himself the gatekeeper of 205 Live. He said he was there to snuff out the dream of newcomers. He said Akira Tozawa is the exception. Kendrick said he sees potential in him and hoped he was watching in the back. He said that if Tozawa played his cards right, he might take him under his wing and allow him to become his protege. The wrestlers shook hands.
Dorado was on the offensive early and performed a nice Asai moonsault. Kendrick took control once they were back inside the ring for a short stretch, but Dorado quickly recovered. Dorado went for a top rope cross body block. Kendrick rolled it over for a two count. Aries said he was a little disappointed that Kendrick didn’t grab his trunks. Dorado performed a handspring stunner for another two count.
Dorado went up top and motioned to the crowd, but Kendrick cut him off. Aries said he should stop telling the people what he was going to do and just do it. Dorado fought off Kendrick and went for a shooting star press, but Kendrick put his knees up and covered him for a two count. Dorado rolled him over into a crucifix for a two count. Kendrick immediately applied Captain’s Hook and got the quick tapout win…
Brian Kendrick defeated Lince Dorado in 4:35.
Powell’s POV: A good match. Kendrick does a great job of selling for the majority of these types of matches only to win in the end. I continue to hope that they’ll do more with Dorado than simply have him put over other wrestlers, but the arrival of fellow masked babyface wrestler Gran Metalik won’t help Dorado.
Aries interviewed Kendrick in the ring and mentioned Kendrick taking a liking to Tozawa. Kendrick called for Tozawa to come out and join him. Tajiri’s music played instead. Tajiri showed up in the ring behind Kendrick, who was facing the entrance. Once Kendrick spotted Tajiri on the big screen, he turned around only for Tajiri to spray mist in his face. Kendrick sold it by screaming out in agony…
Powell’s POV: It’s nice to see Tajiri back from the knee injury he suffered. I am a bit concerned that they will actually put Tozawa with Kendrick, but hopefully I’m misreading that one.
Backstage, Dasha Fuentes interviewed Neville, who said the main event was about the opportunity to stand across the ring from the king. He said it’s just a chance to stand before him. Neville said he crushed TJ Perkins before and would do it again. Neville called Jack Gallagher an embarrassment to England. Neville said Mustafa Ali reminds him of himself ten years ago and he still has a long way to go. Neville said Cedric Alexander might be a threat if he would get his head off his “chick.” Neville said Noam Dar barely stole Alexander’s girlfriend so what threat was he to the king…
Ring entrances took place for the main event. Noam Dar came out minus Alicia Fox. Ali came out holding his neck to play up his match with Daivari…
3. Noam Dar vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Jack Gallagher vs. Mustafa Ali vs. TJ Perkins in a five-way elimination match for a shot at the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. The winner gets the title shot at Fastlane. The lights flickered just after the bell rang and was acknowledged by the broadcast team. The babyfaces dumped the only heel Dar to ringside. Graves pointed out that there were two referees working the match.
Gallagher took his umbrella “William III” out of the corner while his opponents were down at ringside. He opened it and went to the top rope and then leapt off onto them. Funny. A short time later, Dar blasted Gallagher with a kick to the leg. Dar played to the crowd and then Alexander dropped him with the Lumber Check and pinned him at 5:10 for the first elimination. Yep, the only heel was eliminated.
Dar came back and crotched Alexander on the top rope. The second referee ordered him to the back. TJ Perkins performed the Detonation Kick on Alexander and pinned him to eliminate him from the match at 7:55. Ali went for his finisher on Gallagher, who moved. Ali came up selling his arm. Perkins put Ali in the cross arm breaker for the submission at 9:40.
The match came down to Gallagher and Perkins. Gallagher was still selling his knee from earlier. Perkins targeted the knee with kicks. Perkins rolled Gallagher into the knee bar, but Gallagher rolled to the ropes to break it. Perkins went back to kick the bad leg of Gallagher.
TJP connected with the Detonation Kick. Gallagher came back with a headbutt and fell on top of Perkins, which led to a good near fall. The wrestlers got to their feet while being head to head. Gallagher connected with another headbutt. Gallagher performed a running dropkick in the corner and got the 1-2-3…
Jack Gallagher defeated TJ Perkins, Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander, and Noam Dar in a five-way elimination match in 14:00 to become the No. 1 contender to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
After the match, Gallagher celebrated his win while limping. Neville’s music played and he walked out with the championship. Neville glared at Neville from the stage and held up the title while Graves hyped Neville vs. Gallagher for the championship at Fastlane…
Powell’s POV: The most entertaining match on 205 Live to date. Definitely go out of your way to see this if you didn’t watch the show. I assumed Gallagher once it came down to the final two because he had the sympathetic knee injury that Perkins was exploiting, but it was still dramatic, especially when Perkins put him in the kneebar. The live crowd was into the match. It helped that the wrestlers had something at stake, and their hard work in a No. 1 contenders match made the championship feel more valuable.
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