Kalisto def. Mike KAnellisThe story is that Mike and Maria Kanellis are sick of being overlooked on 205 Live, and thus Drake Maverick gave Mike the opportunity to prove himself here against a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Unfortunately, he didn't have all that impressive of a showing. I'm actually a fan of Mike's and have been since his IMPACT run, but it's clear WWE just isn't for him, or at least not right now. Despite there not being anything technically wrong with it, this was painfully bland and did not to make me want to see more of Mike on the show. Thus, Kalisto picking up the victory was the right call, and Mike still can't win a match to save his life. Akira Tozawa def. Hideo ItamiThere was a time last spring that Tozawa and Itami were tag team partners, so they still have good chemistry together and are obviously coming off that fun Fatal 4-Way for the Cruiserweight title they were both involved in on the Royal Rumble Kickoff show. They were given a ton of time and made the most of it by producing an entertaining outing. The crowd wasn't incredibly electric for it, mind you, but the wrestling was solid and the final stretch was enjoyable. I was curious why Tozawa won when Itami seemed to be on the receiving end of a renewed push in recent weeks alongside Ariya Daivari, but then I remembered he ate the pinfall loss at the Rumble, too. He was attacked by Daivari after this bout, leading me to believe he was on his way out of WWE. Sure enough, it has since been reported that Itami has requested and has been granted his release from the company (I'd await official confirmation from WWE, of course). I could write an entire book on how WWE dropped the ball on Itami and how injuries hindered his momentum big time, but in short, all I'll say is that I wish him in the best in his future, regardless of where he decides to go next.
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Charlotte Flair Attacked Becky LynchIn addition to recapping her amazing week, Lynch addressed Ronda Rousey again, and the way she was talking about their upcoming match definitely made it seem like it's on tap to main event the show. Meanwhile, Flair's mic work here was terrific. She is so much more comfortable in the heel role, and although we have seen a ton of her and Lynch against each other since SummerSlam, almost all of their interactions have been excellent. Here's hoping Flair's attack on Lynch isn't a sign WWE plans on adding Flair to the Raw Women's Championship matchup at WrestleMania and instead was designed to build to Lynch vs. Flair one more time at Elimination Chamber. R-Truth def. Shinsuke Nakamura to Win the United States ChampionshipHere's a quick rundown of the United States Championship picture over the last month: Rusev beat Nakamura for the belt on Christmas. Nakamura then regained the gold from Rusev at the Royal Rumble. Then, Truth took the title from Nakamura a mere two days later. Still following? I'm not completely sure whether it was a botch or not as of this writing, but Truth's victory over Nakamura definitely did not feel like it was supposed to happen when it did (if at all). It came off as awkward, but worse yet, it was a dumb call. Look, Truth has had a nice career resurgence for himself, but him pinning Nakamura clean is a joke.
Lucha House Party def. Jinder Mahal and The Singh BrothersThis was a rematch from last week's Raw where Lucha House Party emerged victorious. It felt like filler then and this felt like filler, too. I actually don't mind The Singh Brothers and would be in favor of them returning to 205 Live (they were on the debut episode two years ago and were abruptly taken off television), but Mahal continues to do nothing for me. This was a perfectly fine six-man tag team match, but outside of the fun final stretch, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this. The B-Team def. The AscensionRemember when The B-Team received that run as Raw Tag Team Champions over the summer and were pushed as a serious threat for a time in the division? Yeah, me either. They're back where they belong (in the undercard of Raw's tag team division), but we see them so rarely on Raw and even Main Event nowadays that it's easy to forget they're still employed. Also, The Ascension are just awful, so this was every bit as abysmal as you'd expect it to be. The only good thing I can say about it is that it was over within a minute or two.
Seth Rollins def. Dean AmbroseRollins was all fired up talking about his Royal Rumble victory from Sunday night, and listening to how hot the crowd was for him here confirmed it was the right call by the company to go with him as the men's Rumble winner. Triple H telling Rollins that he had until the end of the night to make a decision regarding who wanted to face at WrestleMania was weird since past Rumble winners never had to make their decision the next night on Raw. Nevertheless, it was a good hook for the rest of the show. Before Rollins could focus on the WrestleMania main event, he had to finish up his feud with Ambrose. This was easily their best match in recent memory and it helped kick off he night on a high note. Nia Jax and Tamina def. Alexa Bliss and Mickie James to Qualify for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber MatchAmbrose stuck around following his loss to Rollins, but before he could air his grievances to the world, he was cut off by Jax's music. Jax then forced Ambrose out of the ring, and after what happened during the men's Rumble, it appears WWE is more open now to intergender wrestling than they were before. The match that followed was far from an instant classic, but it accomplished what it needed to with Jax and Tamina advancing to Eliminaton Chamber.
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