WWE 205 Live Review - July 4, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville Interrupted Titus O'Neil

Apparently, O'Neil is babyface now without officially turning, but I'm completely in favor of it because it made no sense for a face such as Akira Tozawa to be associated with a heel such as O'Neil. He's a talented talker and this is the role that suits him best. He hyped up the Cruiserweight title match for Great Balls of Fire and Neville's mic work was excellent as usual. It also led nicely into Neville's subsequent match with Lince Dorado.

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville def. Lince Dorado (Non-title)

Essentially, this was the same exact match we saw from these two on Raw eight days ago, expect that it was slightly more competitive. I don't think Dorado has scored a single win in one-on-one competition since the dawn of the division on Raw, so he was obviously no match for Neville here. There was some fun wrestling mixed in, though, so at least it was enjoyable to an extent with O'Neil not serving as a major distraction on commentary.

Gentleman Jack Gallagher def. Tony Nese

Gallagher and Nese had unfinished business from two weeks ago, so it was logical to give Gallagher his win back over Nese before he could focus on The Brian Kendrick. I was expecting a fairly basic bout, but what we got was very well-wrestled and the audience was actually engaged in the action for a change. They were able to showcase their skills more than usual, hence why I liked it more than I thought I would. Meanwhile, Kendrick is a tremendous performer, but I hate to see him being relegated to dumb skits such as the one he was a part of after this match.

Rich Swann def. TJP

Swann has been attempting to bring TJP back over from the dark side and it looks like he'll ultimately be successful if the post-match handshake was any indication, though I prefer him as a heel. The match itself was very good and it's clear they have chemistry together. Despite the crowd being quiet early on, they broke out into a "This is awesome!" chant in the final few minutes, which was weird. Nevertheless, this was a quality contest with the two maximizing their minutes and telling an interesting story.

Overall Show

The Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak feud wasn't furthered in any form or fashion this week (though there's a decent chance that could be over with after Ali beat him last week), but that aside, this was a solid show with three nice matches. Nothing is ever really must-see on 205 Live these days, but it was an easy watch if nothing else that built toward the Cruiserweight title match at Great Balls of Fire.