WWE 205 Live Review 02/21/17 by Mark McAllen

The thirteenth episode of 205 Live is here! This week’s episode comes from the Citizens Business Banks Arena in Ontario, California.

The opening video package highlighted the Cruiserweight Championship contract signing from this week’s Raw. It was to make official the match between Neville and Jack Gallagher at Fastlane on March 5. It was a good promo from both men. Gallagher likely won’t win the Cruiserweight Title at Fastlane though since the cruiserweight division has so many strong faces and it seems like Neville will be the heel champion at least until WrestleMania, probably longer though.

We get a nice opening pyro display as the commentary team of Mauro Ranallo, Corey Graves and “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” Austin Aries welcome us to the show. They let us know that tonight’s main event will be Jack Gallagher vs. Tony Nese.

Brian Kendrick makes his way to the ring and will be facing Akira Tozawa. This match tried taking place on this week’s Raw, but the match never really got started after Tozawa was hesitant to shake Kendrick’s hand, leading to Kendrick getting angry and attacking Tozawa before making his exit.

Brian Kendrick vs. Akira Tozawa

Kendrick extends his hand, but Tozawa declines. Tozawa clubbers Kendrick with forearms to the face followed by a standing senton splash. Tozawa scoop slams Kendrick and attacks him on the floor with punches to the face. Tozawa lays a series of chops into Kendrick’s chest. Tozawa slaps Kendrick around a bit in the corner before Kendrick counters and bashes the side of Tozawa’s head into the ring post.

Kendrick tries to lock in his Captain’s Hook submission, but Tozawa gets his arm up preventing Kendrick from fully locking it in. Kendrick hits Tozawa with a snap suplex and goes for a cover, but Tozawa kicks out at two. Kendrick rakes at the face of Tozawa then tries to put Tozawa in the Captain’s Hook again, but Tozawa prevents Kendrick from locking it in once more.

Tozawa fights out of the submission and connects with a hurricanrana, sending Kendrick to ringside. Tozawa follows this up with a suicide dive out of the ring and onto Kendrick. Tozawa tries bringing Kendrick back into the ring, but can’t do so as Kendrick tries crawling under the ring. Kendrick trips up Tozawa and traps his boot underneath the ring, so Tozawa was stuck. Kendrick got in the ring and since Tozawa was stuck, he couldn’t make it back in the ring by the count of ten. The match went about six minutes.

Winner by count out: Brian Kendrick

Evaluation: This was an okay match. It felt rushed at times and it definitely was not a match that showcased what these two could do if they got 15 minutes and gave it 110%. It’s still kind of early in their rivalry, so this wasn’t their blow off match. Hopefully they have an opportunity to tear the house down in the 205 Live main event within the next few weeks. The ending with Kendrick tying up Tozawa’s foot in the ropes that hold the canvas down helps lend to the fact the Kendrick’s character is “The Main with A Plan.”

Tom Phillips interviews Kendrick backstage. He asks Kendrick if his win tonight was enough to put his personal issue with Tozawa to rest. Kendrick said that he’s looking at a living legend and that Tozawa was foolish to turn down being Kendrick’s protégé. Kendrick referenced the ending to his match, saying that he knows plenty of ways to win a match and that he’s not done teaching Tozawa lessons.

Noam Dar is interviewed backstage by Dasha Fuentes. Dar’s asked if he feels uncomfortable after Rich Swann dedicated their match last week to Dar’s girlfriend, Alicia Fox, then told Fox how she couldn’t handle this. Dar said he’s not uncomfortable, but Swann should be. He calls Swann a low life for talking to another man’s lady like that. Dar said Fox is feeling under the weather, which is why she isn’t there tonight. He said he’s dedicating his match tonight to Alicia Foooooooooxxxx.

Noam Dar vs. Mustafa Ali

Every time Ali tries to attack Dar, Dar will retreat to ringside. This happens three times until Ali decides to take the action outside the ring to Ali, and summersault’s over the top and out onto Dar. Ali rolls Dar back in the ring and hits him with a diving cross body off the top turnbuckle.

Dar counters an apron attack from Ali, tripping up Ali and forcing Ali to fall to ringside. Dar rolls Ali back in the ring and focuses his attack on Ali’s left arm. Dar keeps Ali grounded for a while until Ali fights out of it and takes out Dar with a basement dropkick. Ali chants from the crowd as Ali begins to pick up momentum. Ali hits his signature rolling neckbreaker, but Dar can’t get a three count. Ali jumps off the second turnbuckle and hits Dar with a tornado DDT.

Ali goes to the top turnbuckle, looking for the inverted 450 Splash, but Dar kicks Ali off the turnbuckle and hits Ali with a big running knee for the three count after about seven and a half minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Noam Dar

Evaluation: Solid match as expected from these two. Both men got in some impressive spots, but it never really felt like the match got going or reached a point with exciting nearfalls. Dar and Ali are both kind of on the same level in regards to their position in the division. Both men are a while away from a title shot and are hanging around in the mid-card of the cruiserweight division.

It looks like Corey Graves is about to speak, but Aries cuts him off saying that he’d love to introduce this next video. The video that played was one hyping up Austin Aries. After the video aired there were Austin Aries chants from the crowd. Aries is reportedly cleared to wrestle and it seems like WWE may be saving him for WrestleMania.

A video is shown of Neville from this week’s Raw following the Cruiserweight Championship contract signing. Neville said now Gallagher has Neville’s undivided attention and that at Fastlane he looks forward to making “that little cockroach suffer.”

Dasha Fuentes interviews Gallagher backstage and asks him what his strategy is tonight against Tony Nese. Gallagher said that Nese is very reminiscent of Neville in a lot of ways and says that tonight will be a preview of his Cruiserweight Title match at Fastlane.

Jack Gallagher vs. Tony Nese

Neville slams Gallagher to the mat right away and taunts him after doing so. Gallagher locks in a unique looking arm submission that I’ve never seen before. Nese fights out of it and throws Gallagher into the corner. Gallagher does his usual handstand in the corner which leads to Gallagher getting a headlock in on Nese.

Nese escapes and hit Gallagher with a big kick to the head followed by an elbow smash. Nese throws Gallagher over the top rope. Nese follows Gallagher outside the ring and superkicks Gallagher. Nese rolls Gallagher back in the ring and locks him in a body scissors submission. Gallagher escapes but Nese doesn’t let up on the attack as he throws Gallagher hard into the turnbuckle and keeps Gallagher on the floor with kicks.

Leaping leg drop from Nese, which gets a two count. Nese taunts Gallagher, yelling that he can’t beat him. This frustrates Gallagher who fights back with dropkicks and a running cross body. Gallagher headbutts Nese into the abdomen and rolls up Nese for a pinfall. Nese kicks out at two and right after kicking out Gallagher hits Nese with a huge headbutt. Both men are laid out and slowly pull themselves to their feet.

Gallagher looks for his signature running kick to the face, but Nese rolls out of the way. Nese places Gallagher on the top turnbuckle, but Gallagher hits Nese with elbows and a headbutt. Putting Nese in a tree of woe position. However, Nese lifts himself up and german suplexes Gallagher off the top turnbuckle. Nese tries to get his balance on the top turnbuckle, but Gallagher runs back up the ropes and hits Nese with a belly to back suplex off the top turnbuckle. Gallagher hits Nese with his finishing running knee attack for the win after eleven minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Jack Gallagher

Evaluation: Fun match between these two and definitely the match of the night. There were some great back and forth sequences in this bout, especially towards the end that really picked up the pace of the match and got the crowd excited. Both Gallagher and Nese walked away looking strong. Good effort from both men.

205 Live goes off the air with Jack Gallagher celebrating his victory in the middle of the ring.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this week’s episode of 205 Live was nothing to write home about. The first two matches, although okay, left a lot to be desired and never really seemed like they got going.

The main event as always was the best match of the night. If you watch anything from tonight’s episode it should be Gallagher vs. Nese.

I’m surprised WWE has ignored the moment between Kendrick and Tajiri two weeks ago, when Tajiri returned and sprayed Kendrick in the face with green mist. It hasn’t even been talked about. Hopefully they continue that story in the near future.

I like how the teasing of Austin Aries’ cruiserweight division debut is beginning. I can’t wait for him to get back in the ring as he’s always been a favorite of mine.

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That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for reading and if you like this review feel free to share it with your friends.

Picture used above is courtesy of WWE.com.