Go To Sleep – 205 Live – 12/19/2017

We’re still in Newark for the 205 Live debut of Hideo Itami, but that’s later on in the evening.  We’re in for another hour of fantastic Cruiserweight Division action.

• Jack Gallagher and The Brian Kendrick vs Gran Metalik and Kalisto:  After the events of last week, with Metalik having to come to the rescue as the villains were double teaming Kalisto, we get the follow up tag match.  Kendrick is just a fantastic asset to the roster, both for his ring talent and his promo skills, and this work he’s doing with a heel-turned Gallagher has been great.  I wish it were a little higher on the card, but they are only given so much time and these two are getting a lot of screen time.  I still don’t know how Gallagher wrestles in dress shoes.  Kalisto lands a Solida Del Sol on Gallagher but Kendrick breaks the pin.  When Kendrick refuses to leave the ring and continues his assault on Kalisto, the referee has no choice and Kalisto and Gran Metalik win via DQ.  The villains continue their assault, Kendrick and Gallagher pinning Metalik’s leg between the steps and the ring post and drop kicking the steps into the injured knee.  Referees run down to break it up before they can do any more damage.  The crowd booed, but some part of me loved it.  Kendrick is awesome.
• Enzo berates Drew Gulak for his loss on Raw, as he now has to defend against Cedric Alexander.  Gulak gets another shot at Cedric tonight, and passionately vows to utterly annihilate him this evening.  Daivari, who is there for the exchange, is told that he needs to show the same kind of passion if he’s going to be on the Zo Train, and stares daggers at Zo as the broadcast goes to commercial.
• Hideo Itami defeats a local talent handily in his 205 Live Debut.  While he debuted on Raw teaming with Finn Balor (to help him get over?), they wanted to break him in on 205 Live with a decisive victory.  RESPECT HIM!
• Cedric Alexander interrupts an Enzo Amore-Dasha backstage interview.  He’s still not good on the mic.  This was seemingly just to waste some time.

Drew Gulak is Fired Up

When 205 Live lost Neville, the once and future king, I was heartbroken and a little bit worried.  Of everyone on the roster, Drew Gulak has stepped up and filled one hell of a void.

Gulak isn’t his usual chipper self, and he’s abandoning his powerpoint but he is about to make the most salient point of all, that you don’t mess with the Zo Train.

I was behind the Newark audience all through Smackdown, but they were awful during this one.  I don’t know what the deal was, then again, I don’t pretend to make sense of The Garden State, or Florida for that matter.  At one point they were chanting for Bobby Roode?  Like, maybe you’re getting a dark match, but Bobby Roode isn’t just going to roll out on 205 Live.

It was another good back and forth between these two.  Gulak with his technical prowess and Cedric with his high-flying antics.  Gulak brought a lot more intensity than usual to this match, as he did for his backstage and prematch promos, but for the most part this one played out a lot like the quality match from Raw.

Cedric Alexander hit a Lumbar Check Outta Nowhere and picked up the pinfall.