SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE 205 LIVE
JUNE 6, 2017
ROCHESTER, N.Y.
AIRED LIVE ON WWE NETWORK
REPORT BY JOEY GALIZIA (@RamJam89), PWTORCH SPECIALIST
Announcers: Tom Philips, Corey Graves
JG here. IT’S TUESDAY…YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.
Show opens with clips of Neville’s victory at Extreme Rules, retaining his Cruiserweight championship against Austin Aries in a submission match. The next night on Raw T.J.P. reminded Neville of the deal they made: take care of the Austin Aries and T.J. would get a title shot. Neville says that if T.J.P. beats Mustafa Ali he’d get a shot. When T.J. did as the King asked, he received a beat down of the worst kind. Promo package ends and everyone’s least favorite theme song starts.
“Hail the Crown.” ☹
Graves and Philips welcome us to the show and hype the main event, which is a Cruiserweight Championship bout between Neville and T.J.P.
The Scottish Super Nova Noam Dar is out first. Alicia Fox is fortunately not with him. Graves is uncomfortable seeing Noam without Alicia because according to him, “they go together so well.”
Noam grabs a microphone and calls out Cedric Alexander for calling him a snake and for calling Alicia a black widow. He calls Cedric jealous, and that he needs to move on.
This brings out Cedric for their match. Graves hilariously expresses that it is rude to interrupt someone when they are talking. (Even though this match was scheduled.)
(1) Cedric Alexander vs. Noam Dar
Dar and Alexander circle each other for a moment before the initial tie-up. Dar grabs the arm but Cedric uses his athleticism to reverse the pressure. Headlock by Dar. Cedric responds with a headscissor takedown followed up by a dropkick sending Noam to the outside.
On the floor Cedric opens up with some vicious chops. Moonsault from the apron by Cedric.
Back in the ring Cedric goes to the second rope for a high-risk move (Gulak must be furious) but Dar surprises him by kicking out his leg sending Cedric hard into the mat.
Now in control, Dar targets the bandaged hand, and works some joint manipulation. Cedric rallies to his feet and drops Dar with a STIFF elbow. Springboard enziguri by Cedric. (Fans are surprisingly into Alexander.) Signature springboard clothesline by Cedric and he gets a two count.
Dar soccer kicks Cedric’s leg again. Cedric responds with another headscissor attempt but Dar is prepared this time and penalty kicks him in the sternum.
In the corner Cedric charges but Dar surprises him with a boot. He goes for the shining wizard but Cedric catches him with the lumbar check! 1-2-3.
WINNER: Cedric Alexander at 7:25.
After the bell Cedric screams at Noam that he’s done with this drama. He’s done with Noam, Alicia, and has moved on. He then exclaims that if Noam is smart, he’ll move on too.
Graves says that at least Dar gets to go home to Foxy after this loss. Philips sends us to a video package of tonight’s title challenger, T.J.P. Package meshes together clips from the Cruiserweight Classic and early interviews that T.J. had where he’s a white meat babyface.
Cut to Dasha is backstage with T.J. She asks him what tonight means to him. He says that last time he did this for the WWE Universe, but not anymore. Now, he’s fighting just for himself. He says that Neville brought him in to solve the Austin Aries problem, but now, Neville has a T.J.P. problem.
Commercial for tomorrows NXT. Hideo vs. Oney. (YOU AINT HYPED.)
Back from break and Mustafa Ali makes his entrance for 205’s second matchup of the evening. His opponent, Louie Valle, is already in the ring. A highlight of Ali’s loss against Gulak are shown. Mustafa doesn’t look happy about that.
(2) Mustafa Ali vs. Louie Valle
Tie-up. Hammerlock by Valle. Graves let’s us know that he’s not related to Frankie Valle. (Thanks Corey, I thought he looked liked a Four Seasons guy.) Mustafa reverses the pressure takes Valle down with a dropkick after showboating some backflips.
Valle surprises Ali by stunning him over the ropes. The two trade some chops and forearms. Valle charges Ali in the corner but gets caught with a crescent kick, the rolling neckbreaker, which sets up Valle for the inverted-450. This brings out Gulak with his “NO FLY ZONE” sign. Valle rolls up Ali but Ali counters and pins him with a lateral press.
WINNER: Mustafa Ali at 4:09.
Gulak says that he’s proud of Ali!! He won the match without having to do one move that put his health at risk. He says that if Mustafa joins him, together they can make a better 205 Live. Ali responds with a TOPE CON HILO OUT OF NOWHERE. (It had some height too!) He slams Gulak’s sign to the ground and declares this a fly zone.
Promo for Talking Smack.
Video package for Rich Swann. It highlights the difficult journey he had losing his parents, and that competing in the ring saved his life. We then see the 205 premier show, where Swann defeated Brian Kendrick to become the 3rd Cruiserweight champion.
Backstage Swann and Tozawa are speaking in Japanese. Titus O’Neil shows up! He asks Tozawa (mispronouncing his name) if he would like to join the TITUSBRAND. He says that everytime he does the AHHH chant, all Titus hears is a CHA chant. As in…CHA CHING. ($$$) He tells Akira to talk to his good friend Apollo Crews, and let him know what he decides.
Commercial break for MITB. Also the Beast Brock Lesnar returns to Raw next Monday to confront Samoa Joe. (Pants are off.)
T.J.P. enters. MAIN EVENT TIME BAY BAY.
Backstage Dasha is with the champ. Neville says that now that T.J. has served his purpose, the King will dispose of him because he like everyone else, is not on the Neville Level.
Pyro goes off and Neville’s music hits. He walks to the ring as confident as ever. (Still gives me goosebumps.) Graves and Philips point out Neville’s dominant history since his return. However, T.J. looks cool, calm, and focused.
They have a ring-announcer present the two challengers. (Nice, this somewhat feels important.) They butt-heads before the bell. I’m suddenly pretty amped for this.
(3) T.J.P. vs. Neville (C) for the Cruiserweight Championship
Tie-up and Neville forces T.J. into the corner. Philips gives us Neville’s stats since his return: He’s not lost a one-on-one match since October. (Besides the DQ to A.A. at Payback)
After some early testing out, Neville strongman throws T.J. across the ring. T.J. responds with a takedown and an arm-bar. T.J. tries to shoulder bump Neville, but Neville muscles him to the mat again. Submission attempt by T.J. but Neville escapes and goes to the apron to cool off.
Hurricannranna by Neville. Neville charges T.J. in the corner but gets caught in the Tarantula! Neville escapes to the outside but T.J. follows hot on his trail. Neville takes advantage and throws T.J. into the barricade. Twice. T.J. tries to mount some offense with a spin-kick but instead Neville drops him face first onto the announce table. T.J. just beats the 10-count.
Back in the ring Neville wears down T.J. with strikes and headlocks. Big powerslam almost sends T.J. through the ring. In full control Neville goes to the top rope and lands a missile. dropkick. He goes up again but T.J. avoids the attack. He backdrops Neville to the floor and then slingshots himself over the ropes right on top of the champ.
Back in the ring T.J. hits a wrecking-ball dropkick and then a gutbuster! Cover but only two. T.J. goes for the detonation kick but Neville grabs the ropes and takes T.J. down again.
Neville starts unloading with stiff spin-kicks. Single-leg dropkick to T.J.’s head. Neville pins but again only two. Neville starts talking some trash but T.J. targets the leg! Dragon-screw to the leg.
To the corner and Neville superkicks T.J. He goes for a Pheonix Splash from the second rope! T.J. moves and locks on the knee-bar right in the center! Neville escapes and goes for the rings of Saturn but T.J. rolls him up! Two-count. Neville transitions right into the rings and yanks hard. T.J. taps. (Great sequence.)
WINNER: Neville by submission in 12:00.
Graves commends T.J.’s valiant effort, but nothing and no one seems prepared to stop Neville’s massive title reign. Neville celebrates, and T.J. looks heartbroken as the show goes off the air.
JG FINAL ANALYSIS: DARE I SAY IT, but for the second week in a row 205 Live is worthy of watching. Perhaps WWE has followed the D.C. movie universe formula: they made three terrible films to lower expectations and then surprised us all with Wonder Woman. While the purple brand isn’t entirely at the W.W. level, it has been able to progress the division’s purpose forward and move on from the poor angles from the past. Cedric is getting cheered and looked solid in his outing against Noam Dar, and now that Aries and T.J.P. are out of the title picture, perhaps he can focus on challenging the king. The big winner of the night for me though was T.J.P. He finally seems to have found some justification of his character, and his mic-skills took a giant leap forward the last two nights. The main event told a great story with both guys coming out looking stronger. Out of all the champions in WWE, only Brock Lesnar and Neville have been built as worthy title-holders. I look forward to watching the division rally to take him down. Give this episode a watch, and cross your fingers that they start to catch a hot streak.
NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S REPORT: 5/30 WWE 205 LIVE REPORT: Sasha Banks joins Rich Swann for his match vs. Noam Dar, Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak, Cedric
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