WWE 205 Live Review - February 28, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Noam Dar def. Lince Dorado

Dar's relationship with Alicia Fox is a fine little storyline for the Cruiserweight division, but it hasn't done anything to help him elicit heat so far. He's a pretty good wrestler as well, but he isn't nearly as flashy as most of the other Cruiserweights and that has worked against him. As a four minute squash, this was a fairly forgettable match. Rich Swann showing up to further their feud would have made this worthwhile, but he was nowhere to be seen here.

Akira Tozawa Called Out The Brian Kendrick

Tozawa's English is already better than Shinsuke Nakamura's, so that will help him in the long run. Plus, he's feuding with a terrific talker in Kendrick, and I've thoroughly enjoyed how this program has played out this far. Their exchange was well done and did a solid job of teasing fans with the idea that they were going to fight only to leave them waiting until the tag team match on the Fastlane Kickoff show.

Tony Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari def. TJ Perkins, Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander

I criticized the Cruiserweight division early on for its constant tag team matches because I felt it wasn't the best way to get any of the individual personalities over. Well, that was the exact issue this match suffered from. They picked up the pace in the final few minutes and the finishing sequence was fun, but the 50/50 booking each of these guys are experiencing at the moment isn't doing them any favors. If the heel team was going to win, but not allow the heel to score the victory in his home state? I was entertained by the match, but I'm not sure what purpose it was supposed to serve.

Jack Gallagher Confronted WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville

It's amazing how much stronger of a talker Neville has become since turning heel. This wasn't his best promo in recent memory, but it was successful in setting the stage for the Cruiserweight Championship match at Fastlane. Gallagher also played his role well and the brawl that ensued was a nice preview of what to expect from the two in their championship clash. I've enjoyed the build to the bout up to this point, but I fear the crowd won't give them the reaction they deserve on Sunday.

Overall Show

The opening match was a waste of time, but everything else held my interest to an extent. Even the pointless six-man tag team match was well-wrestled and I'm sure it will be leading to a multi-man title match of some sort at WrestleMania. Neville has been phenomenal in the role of the champion over the last month and the division should continue to heat up with the impending in-ring return of Austin Aries, which I'm anxious anticipating.