None of us are on the Neville Level – The Other Two Hours (205 Live/NXT) – 6/6-7/2017

The King Reigns Supreme

Let’s lay this out there right now: Mustafa Ali, in my opinion, is probably the most talented guy on this roster.  But make no mistake about it, absolutely no one on this show is anywhere close to the Neville Level.  This King of the Cruiserweights character that Neville has adopted is absolute gold, and every word out of his mouth and move he makes in and out of the ring are all tailored to that character.  When so many characters are now designed to toe the line (i.e. Roman Reigns sometimes, Seth Rollins more often, Cesaro & Sheamus always), to see character development and consistency so carefully crafted in WWE is a thing that we should all absolutely treasure.  I want to see Mustafa at least get a title shot by the end of the year (yes, I am patient), but I’m ok if Neville holds this belt until this character finds a way to get stale (you know, like TJP did), which could be an extremely long time.

205 Live – June 6, 2017

As was Smackdown, 205 Live is in Rochester, NY.  The crowd wasn’t amped, but then again I’ve been to Rochester and these people have been completely shitfaced since 9:30 in the morning, so the fact they’re still awake at 10:15 PM is hyped for them in and of itself.

• Noam Dar vs Cedric Alexander – Noam Dar is flying solo, as Alicia Fox is not at ringside with him for this one.  Cedric Alexander is a talented dude, but I really think he’d have benefitted from a decent amount of time in NXT.  His moves are all incredibly impressive, but he often appears to be off time and slightly off his marks.  Fortunately, Noam Dar works kind of like a poor man’s AJ Styles in this one and adjusts to his opponent.  Don’t think I’m shitting on Alexander, I think he’s good, and there’s a great possibility that he will get better really quickly when he can consistently stay in the ring and working following the lengthy injury absence.  Pretty sure that Lumbar Check may have destroyed his spine though, as Cedric Alexander picks up another win.  Post match, Alexander tells Dar that he’s done with the whole situation, and if Dar was smart, he’d be done with it too.
• Corey Graves and Tom Phillips are gold together.
• TJP Video Package reminding us that at some point he was a good guy and the first Cruiserweight Champion.  Honestly though, he dabbed about 2,000 times too many and that was about the most personality he ever seemed to have, which is really boring when you think about it.  Really didn’t help that the package was followed up by him being a jackass in an interview with Dasha in the backstage area either.  Remember earlier when I talked about consistency?  Yeah.
• Mustafa Ali vs Louie Valle – I am not familiar with Valle, and initially I thought it was Taz in a wet Roman Reigns wig, but Valle wasn’t really important in this one.  Mustafa Ali was in a match on Monday Night Raw, but for those of you who watch the Hulu edit, you didn’t know that.   Drew “Stay on the Ground” Gulak feels the need to come out as Ali takes to the top rope, coming down a a result of the distraction and being rolled up, but reversing it for the pinfall.  Mustafa Ali wins via roll up.  Can I write in Drew Gulak instead of Jon Ossoff?  He walks to the ring giving a megaphone rally speech, and eats a rolling senton over the top rope for his efforts.  He’s respected about as much as everyone else in Washington, so let’s make that happen.  #GulakGroundsCongress
• A Video Package for Rich Swann’s dance moves that runs into a story about how his parents died during his teens.  Kind of felt like that first Roderick Strong video on NXT.
• Swann is in the backstage area talking to Akira Tozawa when they are interrupted by Titus.  The Titus Brand is looking for international flair, and apparently Apollo Crews suggested Tozawa.

The King of the Cruiserweights vs The King of the Dab

“TJP out for payback after being a tool…………for Neville” – Tom Phillips

Even Tom Phillips thinks this guy is a douche.

This one is a lengthy affair, and if you enjoy watching wrestling, I highly recommend it, especially the closing sequence, but ultimately, may the King reign forever.

Neville wins via submission with the Rings of Saturn

NXT (Not Live) – June 7, 2017

• Heavy Machinery vs Victor Andrews & Lars Sullivan – Heavy Machinery is given some local talent to thrash here.  They’ve got some momentum, maybe they’ll actually get a shot at a title at some point soon.  Heavy Machinery via The Compactor.
• Roderick Strong wants you to know how much he appreciates you.  Thank you for supporting him.  He also wants you to know that your life may not be going great, but his is absolutely awesome.  He’s a pro wrestler in WWE, he’s got a hot fiance and a new born son.  So thanks for being ok with some things from his past that he’s always been kind of ashamed of.
• Bobby Roode comes out during the Roddy promo and just takes a steamer all over it.  Bobby Roode sees that things are on the ups for Roddy, and now Roddy wants a shot at the champ so he can load up his things and finally crawl out of the trailer park.  Bobby Roode is almost as well crafted a character as Neville.  The main roster could use someone just like Bobby Roode.
• Lots of talking on this episode.  NXT has become kind of talk heavy of late, which is probably why my allegiances to a brand right now is to 205 Live.
• Speaking of…Nikki Cross is hanging out in Sting’s living room up in the rafters, obsessing over Asuka.  Tom Phillips lets us know that next week there will be a triple threat elimination match between Asuka, Nikki and Ruby for the belt.
• Paul Ellering is reading more from the Book of Domination.
• Oh, there’s some wrestling.  Peyton Royce vs Sarah Logan – It was quick, and Royce hits the Fisherman’s Suplex and gets the submission.
• Almas is still partying.  Why would he not?  This is sort of an odd character development they’re trying here.  It’s not like he’s throwing up in the middle of matches because he’s hungover.
• Hideo Itami vs Oney Lorcan – Some back and forth until Itami fakes a knee injury, with the slight hesitation on Lorcan’s part, Itami lays waste with three G2Ss.  As he attempted a fourth, Kassius Ohno ran in to make the save and the two exchanged a shove, with Itami going down and retreating.  No Contest
• Drew McIntyre gets a video package.  He’ll actually wrestle next week.
• Ember Moon has been cleared, but she’s not getting right back into the title picture as she wants to take out Kay and Royce first.
• Killian Dane vs No Way Jose – Not a bad match, but I’d have probably had Itami-Lorcan close the show with Ohno standing tall looking out at Itami.  I mean, Sanity is basically the Wyatt Family lite, so they’ll always lose when it really matters.  Dane has a remix of the Sanity theme for entrance music, which is a nice little detail, and Dane picks up the victory here.  It’s TV, Jose will get his win at the next TakeOver, just like everyone else does.

205 Live was another winner, NXT just doesn’t feel right lately.  I don’t know what it is.  They knock it out of the park at TakeOver…..oh, that’s right, because at TakeOver it is like 98% wrestling and only 2% promo.  Too much talent on the roster that is itching for screen time to burn quite so much time with video packages and promo.