205 Live – September 5, 2017: If You Don’t Like It….At Least There’s Not Many Of You
205 Live
Date: September 5, 2017
Location: Denny Sanford Premiere Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Vic Joseph
It’s a big night here as we have a new commentator to replace Corey Graves, but more importantly we have a fatal five way for the #1 contendership to the Cruiserweight Title. The survivor of tonight’s main event will be facing Neville for the title at No Mercy 2017 in what could be a very interesting match depending who gets the show. Let’s get to it.
All five of the participants in the five way (Cedric Alexander, Tony Nese, Enzo Amore, Brian Kendrick and Gran Metalik) say they’ll win.
Opening sequence.
TJP vs. Ariya Daivari
Rich Swann, with popcorn in hand, comes out for commentary. By that I mean he puts a chair on the table and has a seat. Daivari takes advantage of the distraction and stomps away in the corner, only to have TJP swing through the ropes to avoid falling to the floor. Back in and a kick to the leg ties TJP in the Tree of Woe, allowing Daivari to grab a reverse DDT for two.
We hit the double arm crank for a bit before TJP hits the spinning spring forearm into the nipup. They finally head outside with Daivari glaring at Swann for no apparent reason (must be a popcorn hater). Daivari misses the frog splash and gets caught with the Detonation Kick for the pin at 4:10.
Rating: D+. Just a step above a squash here as TJP vs. Swann continues. They’re likely setting up a big blowoff match though I’m not sure how interesting that really is. There’s no real hatred between the two of them and it’s just likely to be a good match rather than an interesting one.
Post match Swann tells TJP he wants a match next week and throws in a dab.
We look back at last week’s No DQ match with Kendrick beating Jack Gallagher to a bloody pulp.
Here’s Drew Gulak for a chat before his match. After the CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS chant, Gulak talks about not being pleased with being left out of the main event. To explain his issues, he’s got a PowerPoint presentation! He has a plan for a better 205 Live, starting with #1: no jumping off the top rope. Point #2: no jumping off the middle rope. #3: never mind as it’s time for a match.
Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa
I guess Tozawa is more of a notepad guy. Gulak headlocks him down to start before a dropkick sends Drew bailing to the corner. Tozawa follows him out but gets sent hard into the barricade as Gulak is being far more aggressive here than usual. A bow and arrow hold stays on Tozawa’s back before a bottom rope stomp to the back (not the top or the middle mind you) keeps him down. Tozawa fights up and sends him outside for the suicide dive. A rollup gives Drew a breather, only to have Tozawa kick him in the head. The top rope backsplash gives Tozawa the pin at 6:39.
Rating: B-. Gulak was WAY better than usual here, partially due to some extra aggression. Or maybe because he had an upgraded opponent with Tozawa, who is certainly better than most of the cruiserweights with the resume to back it up. I liked this one quite a bit and again, if Gulak gets enough of a push, he could be something around here.
Enzo Amore says he has the gift of gab and will work “shmarter” to win the title shot tonight. Neville comes in to say he still doesn’t think much of Enzo. Amore promises to win the title at No Mercy. Why are we bothering with the five way again?
Cedric Alexander vs. Tony Nese vs. Enzo Amore vs. Gran Metalik vs. Brian Kendrick
Elimination rules for the title shot at No Mercy. Everyone looks at Enzo so he hits the floor, which should already tell you how this match is going to end. Cedric launches Metalik into a double dropkick to send both villains outside, leaving Alexander and Metalik to jump over each other. Metalik walks the ropes to dropkick Cedric but Nese pulls Gran outside for a staredown with Cedric.
That’s fine with Alexander who scores with a dropkick as everyone else continues to vanish for long stretches at a time. You can still hear Enzo running his mouth though, just in case you were worried about his absence. Nese catches Cedric in a backbreaker but Enzo runs in to roll Tony up for two. Kendrick suplexes Enzo to the floor and FINALLY gets back in the ring to help Nese double team Enzo. You know, the real threat in this match.
A double superkick knocks Enzo outside so it’s Metalik and Alexander diving back in. Cedric catches Metalik in a C4 to put everyone down. Alexander heads up top and of course that means it’s a Tower of Doom with everyone not named Enzo involved, including Metalik adding a sunset bomb to really add some impact. Enzo’s dive onto Kendrick and Nese is pulled out of the air and he’s tossed over the announcers’ table for a crash. Kendrick decks Nese from behind, setting a new record for fastest broken alliance.
Metalik dives onto Kendrick and we get the ultra rare (as in probably for the first time ever) 205 chant. Back in and Cedric hits a quick Lumbar Check to get rid of Nese and get us down to four. Metalik tries a handspring but dives right into another Lumbar Check to make it three (note that Alexander missed most of it but got a very deep cover to make up for it in a nice touch). Kendrick comes in with Sliced Bread and the Captain’s Hook but Cedric FINALLY makes the rope for the break. The third Lumbar Check is good for the third elimination….and here’s Enzo to roll Cedric up with a handful of trunks for the pin at 14:48.
Rating: B. This was exactly what you would expect. It’s still entertaining but Enzo is the most recent obvious winner in the history of obvious winners and there’s….well there probably is something wrong with that but I think you get the idea at this point. Alexander was really shining here and while I still think he would have been a great choice to face Neville for the title, it’s clearly Amore’s time and there’s no reason to not give him the shot.
Overall Rating: B-. I’m not sure what else you were expecting here as we move full steam ahead into the Enzo Amore era. The old system didn’t work so this is probably the right course. You won’t like this if you were a fan of the focus being on the in-ring product but it’s not like many people were watching it in the first place. These changes were required and there’s just no way around it.
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