Tony Nese got injured, but apparently it was too late to just cut him out of the video package. Instead of just doing a four-way, we apparently need to fill the fifth spot with the winner of…

ARIYA DAIVARI vs. MUSTAFA ALI- 5.75/10
Daivari looks like a walking Muslim stereotype while Ali has been cutting promos about wanting to be the exact opposite of that. It kind of feels like these two should be feuding. This was a good opener. Ai is very smooth in the ring. That nearfall after the Pepsi Twist scared the sh*t out of me because I absolutely did not want to see Daivari win.

GRAN METALIK WILL DEBUT NEXT WEEK- cool.

LINCE DORADO vs. BRIAN KENDRICK- 6.5/10
Kendrick cut a good promo before the match. He is trying to recruit Tozawa to be his protégé. The match was good. Kendrick won with the Captain’s Hook.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
An Aries interview results in Kendrick asking Tozawa to come out but he gets Tajiri instead. Tajiri misted him in the face. The mist look SOOOOOO cool in slow motion.

DASHA INTERVIEWS NEVILLE- fine. I believe at one point he said that Cedric Alexander would not be able to beat him unless he shaved his head.

FIVE-WAY ELIMINATION #1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Noam Dar vs. TJ Perkins vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Jack Gallagher- 8/10
Someone needs to tell Gallagher that doing a dive with an open umbrella makes it less effective because the umbrella acts a like a parachute and slows you down so you hit your opponent(s) with less force.
Cedric eliminates Dar but Dar comes back and costs him the match. We really need, like, quarterly Cruiserweight specials a la NXT Takeover because otherwise it feels like these feuds are just going to drag on forever. Ali missed his finisher then tapped out to TJP, and then Jack the Walking Joke beat TJP.

A great episode of 205 Live, but with an extremely disappointing ending.

Big Red Machine wrote:A great episode of 205 Live, but with an extremely disappointing ending.

A friend of mine who was at the arena live said that Gallagher winning got the best reaction all night. Gallagher is over and is being pushed. That's an example of WWE listening to their fans

NWK2000 wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:A great episode of 205 Live, but with an extremely disappointing ending.

A friend of mine who was at the arena live said that Gallagher winning got the best reaction all night. Gallagher is over and is being pushed. That's an example of WWE listening to their fans

Maybe I'm just being cynical, but I think that they'd be featuring Gallagher no matter what because they think he's funny. The fact that many fans happen to agree (as opposed to, say, Golden Truth) is just a happy coincidence.

Big Red Machine wrote:

NWK2000 wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:A great episode of 205 Live, but with an extremely disappointing ending.

A friend of mine who was at the arena live said that Gallagher winning got the best reaction all night. Gallagher is over and is being pushed. That's an example of WWE listening to their fans

Maybe I'm just being cynical, but I think that they'd be featuring Gallagher no matter what because they think he's funny. The fact that many fans happen to agree (as opposed to, say, Golden Truth) is just a happy coincidence.

The difference between Golden Truth and Jack is that The Golden Truth's comedy is all presented in hamfisted backstage segments. Jack Gallagher's is more of an old timey slapstick, which imo is universal in terms of comedy. Also, sans an umbrella spot here or a pretzel hold there, he is presented as a serious, technical striker in the ring. Going in and out of comedy, is what made comedians like George Carlin and Bill Hicks famous, and, in wrestling terms, is what made the original DX run so great. They would do comedic segments, but then be all business in the ring.

NWK2000 wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:

NWK2000 wrote:
A friend of mine who was at the arena live said that Gallagher winning got the best reaction all night. Gallagher is over and is being pushed. That's an example of WWE listening to their fans

Maybe I'm just being cynical, but I think that they'd be featuring Gallagher no matter what because they think he's funny. The fact that many fans happen to agree (as opposed to, say, Golden Truth) is just a happy coincidence.

The difference between Golden Truth and Jack is that The Golden Truth's comedy is all presented in hamfisted backstage segments. Jack Gallagher's is more of an old timey slapstick, which imo is universal in terms of comedy. Also, sans an umbrella spot here or a pretzel hold there, he is presented as a serious, technical striker in the ring. Going in and out of comedy, is what made comedians like George Carlin and Bill Hicks famous, and, in wrestling terms, is what made the original DX run so great. They would do comedic segments, but then be all business in the ring.

Right, but I think that the reason they are pushing him is because they think his umbrella and "old-timey" gimmick is funny. Hence the "I forfeit" match and the "parlay" and all of that crap getting the focus. The fact that the fans happen to like him is just a bonus to them. They've found their clown for this show. His comedy isn't as bad as other WWE clowns (Santino, Golden Truth, Ellsworth, most New Day segments), but the reason they are featuring him is because they see him as their comedy guy. DX or Cena or Rock got pushed because WWE saw something in them as talents, and they could also cut entertaining promos.