WWE 205 Live Review - December 27, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews
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Tony Nese def. Cedric Alexander

I know I've said this several times before, but Nese and Drew Gulak are two talented wrestlers without any character development whatsoever. The Chicago crowd was pretty loud for this show, more so than most audiences in the last few weeks, but not even they reacted to Nese when he came out. He and Alexander had a well-wrestled match, but Nese's win almost means nothing because the bigger story was the tension teased between Alexander and Alicia Fox. I still see Fox ditching Alexander for Noam Dar sometime soon.


​Mustafa Ali def. John Yurnet

Yurnet is better known by his name on the independent scene, Mr. 450, which I'm certain I've heard elsewhere before. Maybe on NXT or in TNA or something. At any rate, he blew out his knee halfway through the match, so it was barely a bout, but I commend him for getting through it to the best of his ability. Ali was the hometown hero in this match and the crowd responded to him accordingly. He should be much better off as a babyface than he was as a heel previously.

Jack Gallagher def. Ariya Daivari in a Gentlemen's Duel by Forfeit

Just the idea of a "Gentlemen's Duel" was so silly that I thought it worked. A feud involving Daivari wouldn't normally interest me, but there's such a stark contrast between him and Gallagher that the feud has been entertaining thus far. I actually enjoyed this for whatever it was supposed to be, not to mention it effectively furthered their feud.


Neville def. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann (Non-title)

Neville and Swann contested an excellent match here and showed tremendous in-ring chemistry. Apparently they have history working against each other from other promotions, so perhaps that shouldn't come as any surprise. Swann looked strong in defeat and I loved how the match ended with a superplex of all things (which made sense with Neville working over Swann's back throughout) as opposed to the Red Arrow. I look forward to their title rematch in the near future.


​Overall Show

Every edition of 205 Live over the past month has ranged from good to great, and this was another above-average episode in my opinion largely due to the hot Chicago crowd. The main event was wonderful, the Gentlemen's Duel was dumb fun, the opening match was decent and Ali had a nice homecoming, so there isn't anything bad for me to say about the show for the most part.