Mitchell’s WWE 205 Live Report! (7/25/17)
Will the King of the Cruiserweights fall to the SHEIK of the Cruiserweights?

All images courtesy of the WWE Network streaming service
OFFICIAL RESULTS
- Neville VS Ariya Daivari; Daivari wins (by count out).
- Rich Swann & Cedric Alexander VS TJP & Tony Nese; TJP & Nese win.
PLAY BY PLAY
Backstage interview with Neville.
The Cruiserweight Champion surprised Akira Tozawa, but got surprised by Ariya Daivari. Neville himself not only suffered a super back senton but the hammerlock lariat. Ariya made a “critical error”, thinking that after only one week, Neville’s “kingdom was vulnerable to a hostile takeover.” Now Neville will use Ariya to remind everyone that 205 Live “forever will be, my world.” Tonight, Ariya learns there are consequences to his actions, and that there is a huge difference between picking on a “wounded animal”, and going toe-to-toe with the “irrefutable” King of the Cruiserweights.
Akira Tozawa comes out to the ring.
The Stamina Monster is in a suit this time, he’s not out here for action. He sits ringside to watch and join commentary. By the way, his shoulder “is fine.”
Neville VS Ariya Daivari!
The King of the Cruiserweights said his piece, now the Privileged Persian Lion says his. First in Farsi, then in English, Ariya is not really sure what some of the spectators are doing out here. Is Tozawa here to garner sympathy? Or to beg for a championship rematch? To Ariya, the only one deserving of a title match is Ariya! As for Neville himself, the “King” of this Division, Ariya dedicates this match to Abdollah Movahed, gold medalist from the 1968 Iranian wrestling team.

Ariya shall become the next great Iranian hero, and future generations will dedicate their victories to him. As for this match, Neville glares at Ariya, but Ariya slips out of the ring as Neville rushes him. Ariya playing games it seems, he has Neville back up before reentering. They circle, Ariya slips out again. Neville is getting annoyed, he rushes out but Ariya slips back into the ring. Neville grimaces as he reenters, Ariya slips out, Neville pursues, Ariya slips back in, Neville fakes Ariya out and now they’re both on the outside. Ariya wants Neville to stay calm, he slips back in and stomps Neville on reentry. Neville gets thrown into the barriers, Ariya picks him up and throws him to the other barriers. Ariya trash talks, breaks the ring count, Neville is dazed as Ariya drags him back up and throws him into a post. Ariya puts Neville against the apron and shouts “This is MY kingdom now!” Ariya puts Neville in the ring, goes up top, Frog Splash!

TWO, Ariya is a bit surprised but is not deterred. Ariya drags Neville up by his hair, trash talks, Hammerlock but Neville ducks the lariat to then give a SUPERKICK! Ariya is dazed now, Neville glares and bares his fangs as he gives a low running dropkick. Neville stalks Ariya, keeping his eyes on him as he climbs up to the top rope. Neville takes aim, missile dropkick blasts Ariya down. Ariya rolls out and slumps to the floor, Neville goes to fetch him. Neville drags a limp Ariya around and up to where Tozawa sits. Neville sends a message as he bumps Ariya’s face off the announce desk. The ring count continues as Neville trash talks Tozawa, Tozawa springs up out of his chair. Ariya shoves Neville into Tozawa!

Both Neville and Tozawa tumble down while Ariya gets in the ring, the referee counts ten! Ariya wins by count out!

Ariya slips away, Neville shakes his head. Tozawa himself is sore from the collision, but Neville blames Tozawa for this. Tozawa won’t be belittled, he gets on the apron, but referees are immediately upon him to keep this from being a fight. The fans want to see this fight, but it won’t happen tonight. Neville, Tozawa or Ariya, who will fight for the Cruiserweight Championship?

205 Live takes a look at Drew Gulak’s and Mustafa Ali’s Best 2 out of 3 Falls match.
To break the tie between the Philly Fury and the Pakistani Prince, these two pitted ground game against high-flying in a fantastic first-to-two contest. Ali got the first fall with a fast pin, Gulak tied it up with a dragon sleeper submission fall, and it all came down to the third. Gulak had Ali on the ropes, when he wavered for a moment on his “No Fly Zone” philosophy. Ali made him pay with a Super Steiner and inverted 450, winning the tie-breaker, where do both men go from here?
THE Brian Kendrick comes to the ring.

The Man with the Plan says he’s been trying to help and teach the WWE Universe, but “what thanks do I get?” Attacks, snarky tweets and posts, yet Kendrick keeps trying to “drill it into your thick skulls” the difference between fighters — like Kendrick — and clowns — like Jack Gallagher. Are they ignoring him? Or are they just ignorant? Kendrick will give visual evidence to get it across. Behold your “hero”, Jack Gallagher.

The audience cheers. Is that a fighter? This is a man “who fights for all you people”, and all the people love Gallagher. Have they ever bothered to look at him? He’s so pastey! Is that still a fighter to them? And while he has a great mustache, what about the hair on his head? Is that a fighter? Now, the skin and hair is one thing, but how about those ridiculous clothes? Is THAT still a fighter? Okay, skin, hair, clothes, all that aside, there’s still his nose.

That’s your “fighter”, the man you’re rooting for. That’s more a clown to Kendrick. Enough mockery, Jack Gallagher appears in person. Mr. Kendrick, Gallagher chose to “turn the other cheek” last time. He thought he’d let Kendrick rant and vent, but apparently “taking the high road” is not an option. Time to “knock your bloody head off.” Gallagher rushes the ring, but Kendrick slips away.

Kendrick waves bye-bye, he doesn’t fight clowns. Kendrick is a lot of talk, when will he be forced to put money where his mouth is against the Gentleman?
Backstage interview with Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander.
The Outlandish One chose the Carolina Kid for his partner because of that great “I Quit” match he had against Noam Dar. Why wouldn’t Swann want him as a partner? Though, why did Alexander say yes? For competition. This opportunity was what he wanted, it’s a “no brainer.” But then TJP and Tony Nese come by, TJP knew that when he got the Premier Athlete for a teammate, Swann would go for the “consolation prize.” Or more like a participation trophy. Alright, save it for the ring, this is friendly competition. Who’s being unfriendly? Don’t play dumb, TJ, that’s Nese’s job. Oooh, real original. If they’ve got problems, they can go right now. No need, the match is next.

Rich Swann & Cedric Alexander VS TJP & Tony Nese!
The FilAm Flash set forth this “friendly” challenge, each man found a willing tag team partner, and now they go against each other to see who has the best skills, both in-ring and in working with others. We start with Swann and Nese, they tie up, waistlock and Nese shoves Swann away, but wants to flex instead of wrestle. Swann and Nese tie up again, Nese powers out of a headlock, Swann and Nese collide with shoulders, Nese just rebounds from the ropes and runs Swann over with a shoulder. Nese embraces the jeers and boos, gets running, things speed up, Swann front flips over Nese to dropkick him down, quick kick out so Swann grabs an arm. Tag to Alexander, hand-off of the arm wrench, Nese knees back and reverses the hold, Alexander uses agility to turn it around and cover, Nese kicks out and scrambles to a corner for safety. Alexander yanks him out of the corner and slams him down. A European uppercut sends Nese to Alexander’s corner, tag to Swann, double whip and double hip toss, then double kip-up to double dropkick! TWO, Swann keeps hold of Nese to kick him right in the back. Swann puts Nese in his corner, tag to Alexander, a sharp chop is met by a forearm. Nese tags TJP, TJP gets an armdrag takedown. Alexander keeps TJP from throwing him off, TJP adjusts to hit the twisting headscissors, dab on ‘em! “Please stop dabbing!” the fans beg. Alexander turns the headscissor hold into a pin, TJP kicks out, Alexander shoves out of the hold, whip but reversed, Alexander rolls off the back, ducks, backflip headscissors and a dropkick! TJP ends up out of the ring, Nese rushes in but is thrown out, too. Swann and Alexander coordinate, they both FLY!

Alexander topples TJP over, Swann takes down Nese! Alexander gets TJP up, into the ring, TWO. Armbar from Alexander, TJP flails as he works to get out. TJP backs Alexander to a corner, cheap shot elbow on the break. TJP whips corner to corner but is reversed, goes up and over, runs and Spider-Mans on the ropes. TJP slips down to send Alexander out, Nese slows Alexander down so TJP can blindside him. One more dab just to troll the fans, and maybe Corey Graves. Tag to Nese, ax handle to Alexander alogn with some stomps. Nese gets Alexander in the ring, drops a leg, quick kick out. Alexander gets to a corner, Nese drives in a knee and then puts Alexander in a tree of woe! Nese throws knees in, then does sit-up stomps for “full contact cardio”. Nese mocks Alexander, stomping him in front of Swann. Nese drags Alexander up, flexes, small package counter, TWO. Nese runs Alexander over with an elbow, Alexander kicks out so Nese drives elbows and knees into him. The fans cheer for Alexander, TJP tags in, hand-off of the arm wrench so that TJP can put a chinlock, and then dab while scraping a shoe on Cedric’s face. Back to chinlock, “Please stop dabbing!” Alexander works his way out of the chinlock as the fans rally for him, TJP whips, is reversed, and uses that to hit a springboard double forearm!

TWO, TJP keeps on Alexander with an armlock. TJP stares down Swann while the fans cheer Alexander. TJP works on Alexander’s other arm, Nese taunts the fans while Swann gets them rallying again. Alexander gets up, TJP suplexes but Alexander slips out and gives that sharp back elbow. Both men down, the fans rally again, Alexander and TJP crawl… Tags to Nese and Swann! Swann rallies on Nese, stiff back kick to the running front flip ax kick! Swann keeps going, running splash, TWO! Swann won’t be deterred, he grabs Swann but Swann resists, uppercut from the left hand. Swann gives a chop, gets running, runs into a forearm. So Swann returns the favor! Nese goes Matrix to dodge a kick, then gives his Premier combo of mule kick, knee, roundhouse and sweep- no, Swann jumps over the sweeping kick to give Nese a kick right to the face! Fans applaud as Swann and Nese stir. Nese tags TJP, Swann tags Alexander, now Alexander gets to rally. Another stiff back elbow, then the handspring, but TJP dodges to run into a Spanish Fly outta nowhere!

Nese breaks the pin! Swann grabs Nese, gives chops, runs but Nese sweeps the legs, then wheelbarrow facebuster to the announce desk!

Alexander blasts Nese with a forearm, TJP grabs Alexander for the Dodon Buster!

TWO by some miracle (or ref botch), TJP grabs Alexander for the fireman’s carry but Alexander slips out. Alexander gets running, handspring enziguri! TWO, Alexander can’t believe it. Alexander takes off the arm bands, slips to the apron, but Nese lurks behind and trips up his springboard! Cover from TJP, #Dabs&Abs snags the win! TJP says this “friendly competition” is in his favor, how much longer will it stay friendly?

My Thoughts:
Another good episode for the Cruiserweight Division’s exclusive hour of programming, and with only two match-based segments. Opening with the Neville-Daivari-Tozawa triangle was great, it plays up story from all sides without all of them being active, and of course there is a spot that does get them all involved with the “I’ll shove this rival into that rival” move from Daivari. Great stuff, and with this year’s Road to Summerslam having this theme of multiple contenders for every title, I would love if it was a triple threat for the Cruiserweight Championship rather than trying to choose between Tozawa and Daivari and then deciding where Neville lands on the Face-Heel spectrum from there. Especially if that triple threat is (allowed to be) on par with tonight’s SmackDown main event triple threat, that will definitely get some well-needed attention to the Cruiserweights. Tonight’s 205 Live main event was pretty good, too, having a fast opening and closing as appropriate of the Cruiserweights. The middle was the usual “rest holds, snore” that gets fans trolling but overall the fans got into it, and the Heels going over is great because it’ll set the Faces up to get payback and get fans to pop.
The low point of tonight was the middle, the non-match segment that didn’t even turn into a brawl. Kendrick mocks Gallagher again, literally making him into a clown with the power of Photoshop on a titantron. And then when Gallagher shows up to prove he’s a fighter, Kendrick wimps out to be more a Chicken Heel, which seems in contrast to the times Kendrick took the fight to Gallagher. There hasn’t quite been the right feel to this feud compared to Kendrick-Tozawa, but perhaps it can be salvaged with a match on that level, such as another Street Fight or some other No Disqualification stipulation for these two to show how aggressive they can be.
My Score: 7.8/10
