WWE 205 Live Review - July 17, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TJP def. Noam Dar

Upon Dar's return to the ring on 205 Live a few weeks back, he beat TJP in the matter of a minute, but needless to say, this was much more of a competitive contest. They went the storytelling route and it worked wonderfully with TJP targeting Dar's previously injured knee throughout. Not only did it give Dar an out for losing, it established TJP as an aggressive jerk with credibility. The eventual rubber match should be good, too.

Drew Gulak def. Danny Garcia

Now that Gulak, Gentleman Jack Gallagher and The Brian Kendrick have moved on from their feud with the Lucha House Party, Gulak can set his sights back on the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. He had another impressive outing here by making short work of his opponent and going over in decisive and dominant fashion. I really appreciated how this victory helped earn him a place in the No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way matchup that was announced for next week's show. It showed that wins and losses actually do matter, unlike on Raw and SmackDown Live more often than not.

Lio Rush def. Akira Tozawa

I had high hopes for this match knowing how great both men are, but it was just a tad tamer than I would've liked. Nevertheless, this was still an enjoyable main event with plenty of intensity from Rush and Tozawa. If it wasn't already apparent, Rush proved with his showing against Tozawa that he can hang with the best of them. Of course, having him emerge victorious was the right call. I'd be open for a rematch down the road where they'd be allowed to go all out.

Overall Show

If you're tired of things not making sense on Raw and sometimes on SmackDown, do yourself a favor and start tuning into 205 Live, because the consistency on this program is spot-on and it's so obvious who it's being booked by (cough Triple H cough). This was another solid show on the whole with a well-wrestled opener, Gulak maintaining momentum in a short squash, and a fun main event. I'm extremely excited for next week's Fatal 4-Way between Gulak, Hideo Itami, Mustafa Ali and TJP.