WWE 205 Live Review - January 17, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Drew Gulak def. Cedric Alexander

I liked the pre-match angle with Gulak and Noam Dar teaming up to take out Alexander, but the crowd was quiet for the attack as well as the match itself. They told a solid story with Gulak working over Alexander's injured knee and ultimately scoring the victory while protecting Alexander in defeat, but Gulak doesn't at all feel like a major player in the division despite his win here. Furthermore, I lose more and more interest in the Alicia Fox factor each week. Her whole crazy character is as awful now as it was three years ago.

Tony Nese def. Mustafa Ali

Nese wins so inconsistently that it is incredibly difficult to care about the guy. His backstage promo helped establish his current character and he's a terrific talent in the ring, but I can't bring myself to invest in his matches. This was a nice effort from him and Ali, but I would rather see Ali be given more focus on the program. He had a great match a few weeks back and showed he could be a breakout babyface if given direction.

Jack Gallagher def. Ariya Daivari in an "I Forfeit" Match

I've never bee the biggest fan of "I Quit/Forfeit" matches, but this was a better bout than I expected from Gallagher and Daivari, especially considering the crowd had already sat through a SmackDown Live taping and two boring matches earlier in the episode. They took their fight outside the ring, made good use of the extreme environment, and kept the silliness to a minimum, which was a pleasant surprise. This feud exceeded my expectations and here's hoping this momentum boost for Gallagher leads to him entering the WWE Cruiserweight Championship picture eventually.

Overall Show

The first two matches failed to hold my interest and the Dar vs. Alexander feud is quickly falling out of favor with me, but this show was saved by the entertaining main event. It may not be for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thus, seek out that matchup when you have the time. I firmly believe 205 Live would benefit from being taped before SmackDown or even at Full Sail University, but it appears WWE wants to stick this through.