WWE 205 Live Review - April 17, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mustafa Ali def. Ariya Daivari

On an unrelated note, the gear Ali wore at WrestleMania and then again for this match looked awesome. Anyway, this was a solid, well-wrestled match between Ali and Daivari. It allowed Ali to bounce back from his loss at WrestleMania and once again establish himself as a viable contender to the Cruiserweight Championship. That said, Daivari bores me to tears, so his involvement in this took away from my enjoyment of it ever so slightly.

The Brian Kendrick and Gentleman JAck Gallagher def. Local Athletes

Kendrick was out injured a lot longer than I thought he would be, but I'm glad he's back inside the ring at long last. I assume they're being groomed for the eventual tag team titles coming to 205 Live, and along with the Lucha House Party, they should be the front-runners to become the inaugural champs. This was a fairly effective squash to show that they're a threat, but they should have won a minute or two quicker than they did.

Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado def. Akira Tozawa and Hideo Itami in a Tornado Tag Team Match

The Tornado stipulation is perfect for the Cruiserweights and I thought they really ran with it here by having a great match. In addition to them making the most of the time they had, the action was entertaining and it felt like they went all out as opposed to being held back a bit. This feud has been building for a while, so I liked that this was the (apparent) culmination of it with the Lucha House Party scoring the victory.

Overall Show

While this wasn't on the same level as recent editions of 205 Live, it was a solid show on the whole. The tag team feud that has been a focal point on the program for weeks finally came to a head in the main event while Kendrick and Gallagher returned to teaming and Ali continued his roll. It was also announced that due to Buddy Murphy not being able to make weight (in storyline), a Gauntlet match will be held next week to determine who will face Cedric Alexander for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at the Greatest Royal Rumble event later this month.