205 Live

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: After the shenanigans of Gulak and his friends last week, GM Maverick threatened to revoke Gulak’s title opportunity at SummerSlam and seemed pretty serious. So, this week, Alexander and Gulak conducted their interviews separately.

Alexander said that he wasn’t surprised that Gulak had Jack Gallagher jump him from behind because he (Gulak) knew Brian Kendrick wasn’t going to get the job done and that Gulak also knows that he can’t beat Alexander on his own and Alexander will remind him of that come SummerSlam. He also said that if Jack Gallagher thought he was up to the challenge, he’d get a shot at Alexander next week on 205.

Gulak accepted the challenge on Gallagher’s behalf, calling the challenge ‘reckless’. He then cut a very political sounding statement, stating that the Cruiserweight finds itself at a crossroads between a champ that is all style and no substance (Alexander) or a champion that is steadfast and who believes that the cruiserweight  division is the last bastion of pure wrestling in WWE. Gulak also said that he didn’t need anyone to do his dirty work, despite the fact that he was flanked by the two people who did his dirty work last week, and vows to make Alexander tap out.

(Okay, I really hate this part of Gulak’s gimmick. The idea of a white guy, dismissing an African-American man’s hard work and accomplishments, saying he has no substance, makes me extremely uncomfortable, especially in the current political climate.)

Lucha House Party (Kalisto and Lince Dorado with Gran Metalik) vs Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy: The long simmering feud between the Lucha House Party and the Party Crashers came to a head on Tuesday as the two teams faced each other for the first time as teams. Murphy and Nese had the size and strength advantage but LHP had the speed. This was a fantastic match for both teams with the Party Crashers stealing a win thanks to a handful of tights. However, this feud isn’t even close to being over, in my opinion.

Noam Dar vs Sean Maluta: Dar, who has recently returned after a serious knee injury that cost him a year of his career, faced Cruiserweight Classic competitor, Maluta.  Dar’s knee still seemed to be giving him a little trouble, but it didn’t stop him from putting on a great match with Maluta and picking up the win.

The match was watched by Dar’s rival, TJP, who didn’t seem all that concerned about the momentum Dar is slowly creating for himself.

Lio Rush vs Akira Tozawa: General Manager Maverick finally gave Tozawa his rematch against Lio Rush and it is scheduled for next Tuesday. Rush was not happy about this, stating that he’d made it clear that he wasn’t interested in giving Tozawa a rematch. Maverick said that he was aware of Rush’s wishes, but Rush doesn’t get to make that decision.

Maverick then tried to give Rush a lesson in how to be a professional in WWE, pointing out that Rush berated Tozawa to the crowd and on social media, which is extremely unprofessional. Rush wasn’t listening and said that it wasn’t his fault Tozawa couldn’t get over being beaten, even though Rush has continually rubbed the loss in Tozawa’s face.

Maverick finally pointed out that Tozawa was a former Cruiserweight Champion and had a proven track record and that, plus Rush’s unprofessionalism is the reason the match is taking place next week. Rush still isn’t happy, but lefte the room, seeming to accept that Tozawa was getting his rematch.

Mustafa Ali vs Hideo Itami: Early in the show, Mustafa had a meeting with GM Drake Maverick, who expressed concerns that Ali was overdoing it after a health scare a few weeks ago. Ali laughed it off, stating that he was good to go. Maverick still didn’t seem convinced and begged Ali to be careful.

Itami cut a promo in Japanese and then English, both promos said the same thing: Ali should’ve shown Itami respect.

It would be moot to say that this match was amazing. I’m a big fan of both these guys and they put on a great match. Despite his confidence, it became clear that Ali isn’t as healthy as he wants people to believe. Unfortunately, it ended up costing him the victory as Itami took advantage, though it took three running dropkicks with Ali in a Tree of Woe to do it.

After the match, Ali got up to leave and collapsed. The ref called for help and another ref and GM Maverick came running out. Time will tell on the health of the Heart of 205, but I don’t think this issue with Itami is over just yet.

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