WWE 205 Live Review - April 11, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mustafa Ali def. The Brian Kendrick

Although Kendrick is an established name in the Cruiserweight division, Ali has been a victim of 50/50 booking, so I can't say I'm entirely surprised the crowd isn't behind him as a babyface yet. However, he has a ton of potential to be a breakout star in the division if he can maintain momentum, and this win was a step in the right direction. The match itself was well-wrestled and I liked the clever finish with Akira Tozawa outsmarting Kendrick yet again by pretending to play timekeeper.

Rich Swann def. Johnny Ocean

As a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Swann should not have been dominated in this match as much as he was, especially by a local athlete. Ocean was on offense for a majority of the match, and Swann only won after battling back at the very end. Meanwhile, the post-match stuff with him, Noam Dar and Alicia Fox could be seen coming from a mile away, but it was fine. I just don't care too much about this feud and wish they would move on from it as quickly as possible.

TJ Perkins def. Gentleman Jack Gallgher

I've been saying almost since the dawn of the division that Perkins would be better suited as a heel, and it's cool he's coming into his own in his new role. The video game entrance screams babyface, so maybe he'll ditch that eventually the same way Neville did. I only caught the first half of this match live (I had to catch a train and I wasn't waiting until midnight) and watched the rest on my phone, but the crowd was largely dead throughout, though that's nothing new for 205 Live. The match itself was actually very good and the idea of an alliance between Perkins and Neville intrigues me.

Overall Show

Being there live, I would say a quarter of the crowd left after SmackDown ended, and those who were left were drunk and obnoxious for this taping. People just don't care about the Cruiserweights for the most part, in addition to fatigue setting in after two hours. It's a shame because the wrestling and the storylines are solid, but WWE isn't doing these guys any favors by filming their show after SmackDown. I also must mention how ridiculous it is that the production crew puts so much effort into changing the ring ropes and the canvas for something that means so little. All that being said, this was an enjoyable edition of 205 Live with a quality main event matchup.