WWE 205 Live Review - January 24, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TJ Perkins def. Tony Nese

Both of these guys are very talented wrestlers, so it's a shame they have been marred by bad booking and poor character development during their time on Raw, especially Nese. That said, this was a pretty good match by them that allowed Perkins and Nese to showcase their skills and allow the crowd to get engaged in the action for once. I liked how Perkins was able to score the win yet Nese attacked him afterward to generate heat. That should trigger a feud between the two going forward that will give them something worthwhile to do.

The Brian Kendrick def. Tripp Bradshaw

This would have been a relatively inconsequential squash match had it not been for Kendrick's pre-match promo. As excellent of an athlete as he is, Kendrick is an equally entertaining character, and it was reassuring he brought up Tajiri as well, so hopefully he isn't out injured for too long. The match didn't last more than two minutes but it didn't need to; it served its purpose in establishing Kendrick as a jerk. Meanwhile, the rib on JBL with the jobber's name being Tripp Bradshaw (a nod to when JBL tripped at the commentary table on SmackDown Live last week) was hilarious.

Neville def. Cedric Alexander

These two had never gone one-on-one in WWE prior to this point, so I was highly anticipating this encounter and it definitely did not disappoint. Despite being dragged down in the recent romance storyline with Noam Dar and Alicia Fox, Alexander is awesome in the ring and he absolutely shined here. They developed a tremendous chemistry together and I hope this isn't the last we have seen of them against each other. Additionally, although the love triangle has started to lose my interest, at least it protected Alexander in defeat.

Overall Show

While it doesn't exactly have that "must-see" aura about it, 205 Live consistently delivers quality wrestling each week and this was another enjoyable episode from start to finish. Nese vs. Perkins was a nice match that seemingly kicked off a feud between them, Kendrick's squash match was short and sweet, and the main event was fantastic. The Neville vs. Rich Swann program was also well-furthered and I'm looking forward to their Cruiserweight Championship match at the Royal Rumble.