The Most Exciting Hour on Television…so please get Titus off 205 Live – 205 Live Recap – July 4, 2017

We’re still in Arizona as 205 Live kicks off, unfortunately, with the Titus Brand.

Ok, The Prime Time Playas may have been exciting, fun to watch, functional during that period of time when I wasn’t watching wrestling.  I didn’t see it, so I have no idea.  I am also interested to see where we go as Titus continues to cost Apollo Crews victories, because that can end with Apollo getting pissed and turning on Titus.  What can’t happen is for Akira Tozawa to feud with Titus O’Neil on 205 Live because, as you can clearly see, Titus O’Neil is not a Cruiserweight and they don’t seem to cross that line anymore (even though Neville has beaten a number of the larger superstars previously), so why is he on 205 Live at all?  I tried to quiet the voice in the back of my head when they tried to use Sasha Banks to get people to watch 205 Live, they needed the ratings.  Who tunes in specifically for Titus O’Neil?  That’s what I thought.  Nobody.  Stop feeling the need to infuse unnecessary elements into a show that works so damn well on so many levels, and get Titus O’Neil off my damn 205 Live.  I really enjoy this show, quit dropping these steaming dumps on the only hour of WWE television each week that tends to feature more wrestling than talking.

This Week’s Matchups

• Neville vs Lince Dorado:  Titus opened the show doing whatever it is that they seem to think Titus does, Corey Graves calls it being the best hype man since Don King but Akira Tozawa doesn’t need someone to hype him.  Watch him perform, he doesn’t need any more hype than that Snap German Suplex.  It’s good to see Lince Dorado is ok.  They had to stop a match he was filming for Main Event at one of the more recent shows I attended due to an apparent injury and I worried it might be serious.  Dorado, much like Aiden English against Randy Orton on Smackdown, carried the offensive end of the exchange in the first half, but The King of the Cruiserweights proved to be too much.  Once he took over, he didn’t let up until The Rings of Saturn was locked in and Neville easily got the tap out for the win.  
• Tony Nese vs Jack Gallagher:  I’m ok with this feud, even if I thought it was kind of weird that it started because Gallagher told Nese he was no Austin Aries.  I spent the early goings of 205 Live thinking that Nese was grotesquely underutilized, and while I thought Gallagher was over utilized and sometimes to the point of crossing into the stupidity that you would typically only find on Raw such as his having tea and crumpets in the ring with Ariya Daivari, he is a talented performer and the audience reacts to him with solid pops.  Nese did his trademark bicycle crunches to an opponent strung up in the corner, then locked in some kind of inverted torture rack.  Gallagher landed a headbutt, a massive spike DDT, and the corner dropkick to pick up the win when it looked like Nese was going to fake a knee injury and pick up a Brian Kendrick style win.  Gallagher via pinfall following the running corner dropkick.  
  • Speaking of Kendrick, the match is followed with a history lesson from Brian Kendrick on the video monitors.  I’m pretty damn ok with using Kendrick in this kind of feud as well.  He carried the Akira Tozawa feud on the storyline side and helped elevate Tozawa on the card.  I don’t necessarily think Gallagher needs help getting over, but this will be a solid use of both of these talents for a little while.  I hope Brian Kendrick feels appreciated by the E, because he’s doing a hell of a lot of good for them on 205 Live and in the Cruiserweight division.
• Rich Swann vs TJP:  For some reason, this match was prefaced with another Alicia Fox-Noam Dar segment in the back.  I don’t know why they’re still trying to make that work.  Anyway.  Let’s get to two more of the fantastic athletes the 205 Live roster has, as inaugural cruiserweight champion takes on his former pal and another former champion in Rich Swann.  The incredibly fast paced offense you would expect from these two is on display, and even some moments where they let on that they really just enjoy what they do for a living.  These guys were moving so fast most of the time that the camera man was having trouble keeping up with it, to the point where it made me a little queasy trying to watch at times.  I also like the direction they seem to be going with TJP, where he sort of works as a bad guy but he gets over easily with the video game character and bright colors with the kids (who have merch bought for them) so this new incarnation is sort of torn between the two TJPs, one that wants to do things the right way and be his own person and the other that knows he has to be overly aggressive and seize or sometimes even make his own opportunities to get back to the top.  It’s well conceived, and that’s not something I have been able to say much of late.  We had a slightly botched Falcon Arrow-Michinoku Driver looking thing, but TJP didn’t appear to land on his neck so it shouldn’t be a problem.  After a pretty good, lengthy match, they exchange roll up reversals a number of times before Rich Swann finally gets the win with one.  Rich Swann via Roll Up.  The two exchanged a handshake following the conclusion.  This was just a really well worked and enjoyable match.  I highly recommend giving it a watch.

And that is your 205 Live for the week of Independence Day.  Jeremy is coming to you later today with NXT as I’m clearly a little behind this week.  Spent Tuesday in the sun with Willie Nelson and Family at the Annual Picnic, so I’m both exhausted and sunburnt.

I’ll be back next Tuesday with Smackdown, actually Live.