SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE 205 LIVE
DECEMBER 6, 2016
HOUSTON, TEX.
REPORT BY DOMINIC DeANGELO, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
The show starts off with a video recap of Rich Swann winning the WWE Cruiserweight Championship last week.
They cut to the commentary team of Corey Graves, Mauro Ranallo, and the returning Austin Aries. Aries jokes about Ranallo’s contract running out and Graves announces that Brian Kendrick’s rematch for the Cruiserweight title is tonight.
(1) “The Scottish Supernova” Noam Dar vs. Cedric Alexander
Before Cedric enters they cut to a backstage segment where Alicia Fox wishes him good luck with a kiss on the cheek. Graves says he and Alicia are an item now.
Match starts with your typical collar elbow tie up. Aries says Naom Dar talks like he has a mouthful of marbles. Dar gets an early advantage with a side headlock and continues wrenching on the arm for a good amount of time starting the pace off slow. Cedric finally rolls free and catches him with his patented headscissors and turns it into a dropkick onto the outside. He then connects with Dar with a dropkick to the outside. Dar the gets back in the ring and hit Alexander with a Divorce Court that sparks a Bobby Eaton reference from Ranallo. The fighting continues until Dar hits Alexander with a stiff uppercut for a two count. Dar then continues to set the pace of the match, working the arm of Cedric. Alexander tries to break up the momentum with the sunset flip but Dar continues the arm assault. A small Cedric chant gets
started which leads to Alexander hitting Dar with some consistent forearms, Alexander selling the pain in he left arm. He hits Dar with springboard cross-body for a very close two count. Dar then soon turns it into a Fujiwa armbar that Cedric refuses to submit to. Dar even delivers solid elbows to the arm and continues the armbar, but to no avail. The hold gets broken, Alexander gets launched into the ring post and Dar then connects with a running shin kick for the win.
WINNER: Noam Dar via pinfall at 10:14
POST MATCH: Dar cuts a heel promo, saying he signed a big money contract with WWE and he wanted to dedicate his win to Cedric Alexander’s girlfriend “Alicia Fooooooox”.
MATCH ANALYSIS: Great opener that clearly sets the two in their respective roles of heel and face. Dar didn’t do anything impressive on the mic, but his in-ring body language (such as his pre-match handshake) displays all the cockiness needed to get his persona across. Cedric continues to be over with the crowd despite losing – his ring presence is so evident. They need to give him a solid win before the booking machine causes him to lose steam. Pairing him with Alicia shows promise for better things to come, I suppose.
Video package on Mustafa Ali. He says the crowd already makes assumptions about his ethnicity and booes him when he walks out. He wants to change all that. This package however sounds extremely cocky and more heelish than babyface. Saying you’re looking at “The King”…”King Ali”.
Cut to a backstage segment with new champion Rich Swann. T.J. Perkins enters and has a friendly exchange, saying Swann’s been pretty lucky as of late. He wishes him luck tonight.
(2) Ariya Davairi v. Jack Gallagher
Gallagher enters the ring with a bandaged left knee, selling potential trouble. Gallagher goes back into last week’s ground game, starting off with a surfboard leg stomp and then repeating his turnbuckle handstand from last week which garners laughs from the crowd. Daivari gains the advantage and starts working the injured knee of Gallagher. Aries says Gallagher resembles Mr. Pretzel as Daivari wraps Gallagher’s knee around the ring post, removing the bandage. Gallagher fights back in the ring until Daivari gains another advantage. He continues a ground leg lock until Gallagher escapes into a pinning combo, then a crucifix pin and then leveling Daivari with a massive headbutt for a believable two count. Daivari then recovers to rake the eyes of Gallagher and hits him with a crisp spinning elbow. He soon hits Gallagher with a top rope frog splash for the three count.
WINNER: Ariya Daivari via pinfall at 6:16
MATCH ANALYSIS: Nothing too wild to write home about in this one. Gallagher sure is impressive with his arsenal of move-sets and sure does stand out. Nice to see ring psychology used in two consecutive matches.
Highlight package of Lince Dorado. Nothing noteworthy here.
T.J. Perkins enters to join commentary for the main event.
Tom Phillips catches up with Brian Kendrick as he walks backstage. It’s really clunky to hear Tom Phillips say “The Outlandish” Rich Swann. Kendrick says last week his head was in different places. He uses the excuse of all the media promotions and other side junctures. He says it was really sweet and really human of Swann to dedicate last week’s title win to his late mother. Tonight when Kendrick wins, he’s going to dedicate the match to himself.
(3) The Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Match starts off with a mocking handshake between the two. Austin Aries and T.J. Perkins have a fun, heated exchange. Kendrick works Swann to the ground with some arm wrenches until Swann kips up with a reversal. He and Kendrick then go into a fast-paced exchange that showcases the duo’s athleticism. The two go to the outside and Kendrick uses the barricade to hit a Sliced Bread in a pretty cool spot. He then gets Swann back into the center of the ring to lock in a headlock. Swann breaks free until Kendrick knees him in the face, hits him with a Dragon Suplex and locks in the Captain’s Hook. Swann crawls for a rope break. Aries asks if Perkins is scouting the match or trying to find a Pikachu. Perkins fires back asking Aries if he’s so great why wasn’t he in the Crusierweight Classic? In almost perfect timing, the crowd starts an “Austin Aries” chant which Aries asks Perkins if he “hears that?” Meanwhile, Swann barely connects with a spinning kick to send Kendrick to the floor yet again.
Swann does a tumbleweed flip onto the shoulder of Kendrick. He rolls Kendrick into the ring and delivers a jacknife tiger bomb for a two count. He attempts a standing 450 splash, but Kendrick rolls him up into a smal package two count. Swann gets up and hits Kendrick with an intense modified Wiccan Driver but Kendrick kicks out. The two deliver a sequence of kicks into a double man down stalemate. Swann starts to deliver some hard shots until Kendrick delivers a T-Bone Suplex for a two count. Kendrick attempts a Captain’s Hook which Swann maneuvers out of momentarily until Kendrick locks it in the center of the ring. Swann rolls it into a pinning maneuver until Kendrick locks it back in and then Swann goes to the ropes. Kendrick chokes Swann on the apron until Swann flips him over to the outside,. Kendrick then gets back onto the apron to do a modified Sliced Bread, but Swann shoves him into the ring post. Swannn then gets flatlined into the ring post and then later Swann shoves Kendrick into Perkins at ringside. The two have a stare-down until Kendrick rolls back into the ring and then gets hit with a spinning heel kick good enough for the pin.
WINNER & still WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Rich Swann via pinfall at 12:34
POST MATCH: Kendrick and Perkins brawl after the match. Swann runs back to interfere, but Perkins incidentally hits Swann with a super kick. Kendrick is the last man standing to sign off the show.
MATCH ANALYSIS: This match-up was better than last week’s in my opinion. The crowd was more motivated and with the exception of Swann’s off the mark kick to the outside, the two were solid with their movesets. What added to the match was not only the exchange between Perkins’ and Aries, but Perkins actually delivered rock-solid commentary, complete with insight and analysis. He really shined as a babyface playing off of Aries accusations of being “Mr. Nice Guy”. Overall, a polished follow-up to last week’s inaugural episode.
CHECK OUT ANOTHER REVIEW OF THIS SAME SHOW: 12/6 WWE “205 Live” Review: Kendricks gets rematch against Swann, Aries on color again, Darr vs. Cedric, Daivari vs. Gallagher
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.