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WWE 205 LIVE REPORT
MARCH 7, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. AT THE BANKERS LIFE FIELDHOUSE
Report by Joey Galizia (@RamJam89), PWTorch Contributor
Announcers: Mauro Ranallo, Corey Graves
Joey G here. I’ve missed you all.
Show opens with a recap of Neville’s past triumphs over the Cruiserweight Division. Highlights of his MOTN at Fastlane with Jack Gallagher and his TERRIFIC TV match with Rich Swann on last night’s Raw. The clip ends with the Austin Aries interview, which if you didn’t know, ended with AA laying Neville out with an elbow. THE MAN IS BACK.
“Hail the Crown.” (URG.)
Announce team welcomes us to the show. Aries is not with them and now my life is officially over.
Oh wait… HIS THEME HITS ON HE’S ON HIS WAY TO THE RING. (LIFE RESTORED.) Mauro reminds us of AA’s accomplishments outside of the WWE. Graves believes his actions on Raw were a big statement for the Cruiserweight Division, and what it could mean for it’s future. (Indianapolis is loving him.)
Aries says that he’s going to interview himself. When he asks questions he has the glasses on, and when he answers them he takes them off. (GENIUS.) Aries says, “If you want to make a statement you find the toughest guy in the room and you punch him in the face.” He says that Neville is the King of the Cruiserweights, but that was until he got there. (SHOT’S FIRED.) He says that his interviewing days are over, and his in-ring days on 205 are now.
King Neville comes out. He says that he thought Aries just had a momentary lapse in judgment last night on Raw. He then says Aries has acted like a fool during his time at the announce table WHICH IS A DAMN LIE BECAUSE ALL I DO IS PRAISE ARIE’S WORK AT THE ANNOUNCE TABLE. Neville says that AA has not earned the right to share the ring with him. He then says he won’t have to even lift a finger to get rid of Aries, because apparently AA has upset all of the cruiserweight’s backstage, and they are all looking to garner revenge. Arie’s says, “If anyone has a problem with me, step up.”
Graves and Mauro tell us that after the greatest main event in Smackdown Live history (UH-HUH SURE.) apparently there was a scuffle between A.J. Styles and GM Shane McMahon. (YOU DON’T SAY.) Talking Smack will probably be lit AF tonight.
Cut to backstage of Jack Gallagher and Rich Swann discussing strategy for their tag match later in the evening. Noam Dar comes in. He tells them that they should keep their eyes on him tonight, because if they mimic him they can have a lady as hot as ALIIICCCCIIIIIAAAAA FOOXXXXXXX.
Commercial for WrestleMania. It’s the one with the roller-coaster. I don’t need parenthesis to tell you that this commercial sucks. Commercial for Ride-Along.
Back to the show and the Scottish Super-Nova Noam Dar is walking to the ring with said hottie Alicia Fox. (She does look great!) Highlight of last week’s flower delivery during Dar’s match with Lince Dorado. His partner Ariya Daivari comes out next.
Graves reminds us that Wrestlemania is brought to you by Snickers. Mauro says that it is the Ultimate Thrill ride. (I WILL NOT BUY INTO THAT SENTIMENT.)
Jack Gallagher comes out first for team babyface. Graves screams at Mauro to fix his tie because gentleman Jack is on his way to the ring. (I’ll miss Aries, but at least we still have Graves.)
Rich Swann comes out. He has “Bayley” levels of making me smile.
Double-Handshake! (NICELY DONE, GENTLEMEN.)
(1) ARIYA DAIVARI & NOAM DAR vs. JACK GALLAGHER & RICH SWANN
Swann and Daivari start out. Tie-up. Swann hits a flying headscissor takeover. Dropkick. Dar tries to come in but Swann lays him out with a forearm. As Swann charges he eats a boot by Daivari. Enziguri by Swann! He goes for a frankensteiner but Dar holds Daivari’s leg and Swann hits the mat hard.
Team Heel work over a hurt Swann. Quick-tags in and out as they keep Swann in their corner. (Gallagher has yet to enter the match. Literally, as I finished writing that, the crowd started cheering “We want Jack.” Credit Mat Lavore!!)
Swann tries to swing momentum to tag Gallagher in but Daivari hits a vicious spinebuster and gets a 2 count. Headlock. Repeated stomps to the head. Daivari wretches Swann’s neck over his knee. Graves puts Swann over by saying he must be exhausted after that fantastic match from last night’s Raw in Chicago. Swann works out of a Daivari hold and lands a crescent kick. He tags in Jack!
Gallagher comes in and takes down his old nemesis Daivari with repeated dropkicks. Gallagher goes for a pin but Noam Dar comes in and breaks it up. Everyone’s in the ring now! Gallagher hit’s a headbutt and his patented running dropkick on Daivari. Rich Swann lands a Pheonix Splash on Noam for the win!
WINNER: Jack Gallagher & Rich Swann at 6:06
Alicia Fox is in the ring to check on her boo Noam Dar. Another delivery-man comes out, this time with a box of chocolates probably for Alicia. Swann looks like he didn’t send it. Noam quickly grabs it and shoo’s the delivery man away. He once again takes credit for the gift. (WHAT IS HAPPENING.)
Corey announces that Austin Aries will have his 205 Live debut match tonight against Tony Nese! (PANTS OFF.)
Backstage Tom Philips is with Brian Kendrick. Brian feels like Tozawa continues to disrespect him, but he’s read to teach him more lessons.
Commercial break for tomorrow’s NXT. Shinsuke will be returning from his knee injury from Takeover: San Antonio. (And hopefully he’s going right after Roode.)
Mauro welcomes us back to the most exciting hour on television. (Yes more exciting than “Chrisley Knows Best.”) Akira Tozawa is out. His opponent is the man who has been plaguing him… The Brian Kendrick. Brian takes a microphone and says that he did promise Akira a match with Brian Kendrick, but not him. Another man named Brian Kendrick comes out.
(2) AKIRA TOZAWA vs. NOT THE REAL BRIAN KENDRICK BUT “A” BRIAN KENDRICK
Akira immediately takes down fake Kendrick with some vicious kicks. Senton. Akira shouts his battle cry directly at the real Kendrick who is on the outside which leaves him open to attack from fake Kendrick. Vicious forearm from fake Kendrick. Tozawa responds with a frankensteiner, a spin-kick, and his snap German suplex for the quick victory.
WINNER: Akira Tozawa at 1:21
Commercial break for the Jetsons Big Show movie. (This could be the cough medicine talking, but I really want to watch this.) Promo for Talking Smack hyping the confrontation between Shane and A.J.
Backstage Neville is asked how he feels about AA’s 205 debut. He says that Tony Nese is no one to take lightly, but it doesn’t matter in the end because even if Aries wins, he still has nothing on him. He says that everybody wants what he has, but at WrestleMania only one man can stand across from the King, and next week 205 live will determine who that could be. (Intriguing.)
The greatest man who ever lived is on his way to the ring. (GOD THAT FEELS GOOD TO SAY. ) Tony Nese comes out next.
Handshake.
(3) AUSTIN ARIES vs. TONY NESE
Graves believes that AA will use the scouting he’s been doing as an interviewer to take advantage of the division. Tie-up. Nese slams down AA and then flexes. On their second grapple AA snags on a headlock with some flair. Punches by Nese, but AA counters with two gorgeous arm-drags. Nese locks on a headscissor but AA headstands and fluidly transitions into a dropkick.
AA starts taunting and then Nese starts shoving him screaming “You don’t belong here!” (Guess King Neville was right.) Nese back body drops AA over the ropes which hurts his knee. AA rakes Nese’s eyes. Rolling senton over the ropes. Cover but only a two.
On the outside AA goes for a suicide dive but Nese catches him with a fireman’s carry. AA counters but gets forced to the apron again. He rings Nese’s neck over the ropes. AA goes to the top rope but Nese knocks his legs, punts AA’s gut, and then lands the gutbuster for a two count. Body-wrap with the legs. AA reverses the submission into a cover but only gets a two. Nese flings him to the outside again. Corey wonders if maybe Arie’s wasn’t prepared to come back after all. (Doesn’t take a lot for Corey to turn on you.) Nese does his cartwheel off the apron and then hits a brutal superkick.
Back in the ring Nese screams again for AA to go back where he belongs. His taunting gives AA the BULGY EYES. Someone starts a DELETE chant and it gets shut down immediately. Pendulum elbow by AA. He goes for the cover but Nese school-boy powerbombs him.
Nese gets rolled to the outside and AA hits his patented Suicide Dive under the bottom rope. Back in the ring he removes his elbow pad and hits the roaring elbow and gets the win.
WINNER: Austin Aries at 10:01
Mauro says it wasn’t easy, but Arie’s is now in the win column for the 205 roster. Graves says that 205 is now at the A-double level, but not yet the NEVILLE level. AA poses and that’s the show.
JG FINAL ANALYSIS: A very strange show tonight mixed in with some very exciting additions. The Alicia Fox angle is not really doing it for me nor does the audience seem to care. Brian Kendrick continues to outsmart Akira Tozawa. Eventually it’ll be time for these two to tango but I just hope that me and the rest of the WWE universe don’t completely lose interest by then. Biggest positive for the show was of course Austin Aries, and while his interviewing himself was silly, the man is charming enough to pull it off. A fun match with Tony Nese but it makes me wonder why they wouldn’t promote Arie’s debut on Raw or SD and instead have it just be a surprise. After weeks of people chanting his name you’d think that could possibly get more eyes on the purple-brand no? Also Neville was aces as he always is, and his handling of Arie’s was a nice alteration on his character since he knows AA is not like anyone else. Graves and Mauro will do just fine as a two-man team, especially considering their third wheel is now on the road to becoming champion.
NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS REPORT: 2/21 WWE 205 LIVE: Gallagher vs. Tony Nese, Tozawa vs. Kendrick, Ali vs. Darr, the perils of 50/50 mid-card booking on display
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