WWE 205 Live Review 01/17/17 by Mark McAllen
The eighth episode of 205 Live is here! Tonight’s episode come from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.
The opening video package highlights the rivalry between Jack Gallagher and Ariya Daivari which has been going on since week one of 205 Live. Tonight’s main event will be Gallagher vs. Daivari in an “I Forfeit” match, which is the same thing as an “I Quit” match. You win the match when your opponent says “I forfeit.” It seems like tonight will be the end to their rivalry once and for all.
Evaluation: The video package was done very well and helped this finale to the Gallagher/Daivari rivalry feel important. It’s the right time to end this feud and I’m happy cruiserweights that are not named TJ Perkins, Rich Swann, Brian Kendrick and Neville get to main event 205 Live; which means Gallagher and Daivari will get a nice chunk of time to hopefully have a good match.
The commentary team of Mauro Ranallo, Corey Graves and “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” Austin Aries welcome us to the show. They remind us that Rich Swann will be defending his Cruiserweight Championship at Royal Rumble against Neville.
Drew Gulak makes his way to the ring for a singles match. His opponent will be Cedric Alexander. Alexander gets a good pop from the crowd once his music hits, as he usually does. Alexander’s ex-girlfriend Alicia Fox follows behind him, but Alexander tells Fox to go away. Fox yells at Alexander for “being mean” until Noam Dar makes his way to ringside. Fox tells Dar to “do something about this.”
Note: Alexander broke up with Fox on last week’s episode of 205 Live after Fox cost Alexander his match against Noam Dar.
Dar rushes the ring and he teams up with Gulak to beat up on Alexander. Alexander counters and starts to get the advantage. He tosses Dar and Gulak out of the ring and suicide dives onto the two of them. While Alexander goes after Dar some more, Gulak chop blocks Alexander from behind, taking him out. Referees break up the three men and Fox.
Alexander is shown limping to the ring as he still wants his match with Gulak to happen. The referee calls for the bell to be rung and this match is going to happen.
Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak
Gulak rushes at Alexander right as the bell rings. Alexander holds his own with a big boot and dropkick. Alexander looks to suplex Gulak out of the ring, but Gulak works on the injured leg of Alexander. Gulak goes for the pin, but Alexander kicks out. Gulak continues to attack the injured leg of Alexander. Gulak goes for many pin attempts, but Alexander continues to kick out.
Alexander counters and gets back in control with a big back elbow. Alexander hits a springboard moonsault on Gulak, but it only gets a two count. Alexander tries to hit his finishing move, the lumbar check, but he can’t get Gulak up due to the bad leg. Gulak now chop blocks Alexander’s other leg. Gulak connects with a belly to back suplex and holds a bridge for a pin attempt. Gulak gets the three count and wins after six minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Drew Gulak
Evaluation: That was an okay match since Alexander had to sell the leg injury. It felt more like an angle than a match. However, Alexander did a good job with his comeback sequences.
Dar and Fox are shown backstage near a television, having just watched Alexander vs. Gulak. Dar smiles and says “look what I’ve done for you.” Fox slaps Dar across the face and leaves.
Evaluation: I think Dar and Fox ultimately stay together and they continue to have this weird, tough love relationship where Fox is abusive, but Dar likes it. Strange… I know. Let’s move on.
A video package is shown highlighting the rivalry between Rich Swann and Neville. It was a good video package as it showed how Swann and Neville used to have a close relationship before WWE. They’ll face each other at Royal Rumble on Sunday, January 29 for the Cruiserweight Championship.
Mustafa Ali makes his way to the ring high-fiving fans, so it looks like he’s officially a babyface now. Tony Nese is interviewed backstage. He says how he’s not nervous about facing Ali tonight because he is the premiere athlete and therefore knows he’s better than Ali. He doesn’t expect anyone else to understand.
I like both of these guys. This should be a good match.
Mustafa Ali vs. Tony Nese
Ali goes for the pinfall right away to no avail, then keeps Nese on the ground with an armbar. Ali displays some agility by spring boarding off the ropes and hitting a hurricanrana. Ali heads to the top rope, but Nese trips Ali up, nails him with a gut buster and locks in a body scissors submission on the floor.
Nese goes for the springboard moonsault, but Ali rolls out of the way. Ali hits Nese with a big roundhouse kick followed by a rolling neckbreaker. Ali goes for the pin, but Nese kicks out at two. Tornado DDT from Ali which gets another two count.
Nese counters Ali and hits him with a BIG German suplex into the turnbuckle followed by a running knee to the face. Nese goes for the pin and gets the win after about seven minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Tony Nese
Evaluation: I thought that was a fun match. A lot of cool high spots were shown as well as the vicious towards the end from Nese. I like how aggressive both Nese and Ali are and their style meshed well tonight. I’d like to see more matches between these two. This was a nice win for Nese to prove that he’s another force to be reckoned with in the cruiserweight division. I also like how Nese was finally on his own this week and not accompanied to the ring by Gulak. They should both be on their own.
The commentary team talked about how Tajiri suffered an injury to his right knee and will unfortunately be out of action for “quite some time.”
Evaluation: This is disappointing news for me as I was looking forward to a rivalry between Tajiri and Brian Kendrick which was teased two weeks ago, when Tajiri sprayed green mist in Kendrick’s face. Maybe we see them work together once Tajiri is healthy again.
A video aired hyping Akira Tozawa’s 205 Live debut. Tozawa is “coming soon.” I miss Tozawa and Gran Metalik.
“I Forfeit” Match – Jack Gallagher vs. Ariya Daivari
You win when your opponent utters the words “I forfeit.” Both men quickly trade counters until Gallagher does his handstand in the corner thing that prevents his opponent from running after him. Gallagher brings an umbrella into the ring, but Daivari takes it away from Gallagher and snaps it in half.
Daivari drops Gallagher back first on the end of the apron, which is the hardest part of the ring. Daivari chokes Gallagher with the ring ropes. The referee holds the microphone to Gallagher’s mouth, but Gallagher refuses to forfeit. Daivari yells at Gallagher to quit, but he still won’t quit. Daivari throws Gallagher back and forth into the barricade.
Daivari then brings Gallagher into the ring and rakes at his eyes. Daivari wraps Gallagher’s body around the ring post and yanks on him, Gallagher refuses to quit. Aries recommends that Daivari rips off Gallagher’s mustache. Daivari ties his turban to the wrists of Gallagher, using them as handcuffs. Daivari yells at Gallagher to forfeit, but Gallagher yells “you’re a scoundrel!” this leads to loud “you’re a scoundrel” chants from the crowd.
Gallagher kicks and headbutts Daivari, forcing Daivari to ringside. Gallagher shimmy’s his way out of the turban handcuffs, looks under the ring and pulls out a new umbrella which gets a nice pop from the crowd. Daivari kicks Gallagher before Gallagher could use the umbrella. They take the action up the ramp as Daivari throws Gallagher into the mini-tron near the stage.
Gallagher counters and catapult’s Daivari into the mini-tron. Gallagher gets the umbrella back and swings away at Daivari. Gallagher tells the commentary team to move as he sends Daivari crashing over the announce table. “We want tables” chants from the crowd. Gallagher hits Daivari with a running dropkick against the barricade. Gallagher tosses Daivari back into the ring and brings with him another umbrella.
Gallagher tells Daivari that he can either forfeit or get thrashed “you dirty, rotten scoundrel.” That was a good movie. Daivari pretends to forfeit but he cheap shots Gallagher instead and locks in a cobra clutch. Gallagher gets his hand on the umbrella and beats Daivari with it. Gallagher uses the umbrella to lock in a hammer lock submission which is too much for Daivari as he forfeits after about 15 minutes.
Winner by forfeit: Jack Gallagher
Evaluation: That was a really fun match. It’s something very different then what we’ve seen thus far on 205 Live. Weapons were used, the entire environment was used, the stipulation felt fresh and the crowd was into it. You can’t ask for much more out of rivalry’s finale. Good job by both men proving they can hold their own in the main event.
205 Live goes off the air with Gallagher walking up the ramp, looking back at Daivari with a look on his face that says, “good riddance.”
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was one of the better episodes of 205 Live.
I’m happy Alexander has finally parted ways with Fox. Hopefully we get an Alexander vs. Dar match to main event 205 Live in the near future. If given the time, those two could tear the house down. It would also be a nice apology for the love triangle story that has worn out its welcome.
Still no Akira Tozawa or Gran Metalik, but at least it looks like Tozawa will be debuting soon. Why keep two of the best cruiserweights off the show for so long? I know Metalik had dates to finish in Mexico, but that was a while ago. He’s likely been ready to show up on 205 Live for a while now.
Good matches in Ali vs. Nese and Gallagher vs. Daivari. The main event really shined tonight. I thought Gallagher and Daivari did a good job and finished off their feud strong. I missed the “I quit” stipulation.
No Neville, Swann, Perkins or Kendrick on tonight’s episode, which shows how the cruiserwieght division is so talented, you don’t need those four guys on every week for the show to be good.
Picture used above is courtesy of WWE.com.