WWE 205 Live Review - March 14, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville Addressed the Fans

I absolutely loved how Neville brought up the fact that it was exactly one year ago in that very same building that Neville got hurt and how no one cared. He indeed has a point because he was quickly forgotten soon after he was gone. Hell, he returned to the ring in that same building last July and the crowd sat on their hands for him that night. He has gotten so much better on the mic since turning heel, so I'm excited to see more verbal exchanges between him and Austin Aries heading into WrestleMania.

Mustafa Ali def. Drew Gulak

Gulak is one of the more generic Cruiserweights in the entire division, but the guy is a good wrestler, and he had an enjoyable opener here with Ali, who impresses me way more with what he can do in the ring. The match was far from memorable, but at least Ali was able to showcase his skills and Gulak's post-match comments about "changing" 205 Live were interesting. I have zero clue where it will lead, but it gives him something to do, I suppose.

Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari def. Rich Swann and Jack Gallagher

We saw this exact same tag team match last week, and as well-wrestled as it was, I just can't bring myself to care about whatever they're doing with these four at the moment. The Alicia Fox storyline grew tiresome for me months ago, so I'm not sure how much heat Dar is actually eliciting from the audience because of his pairing with her. The babyfaces won the first time, and now the heels win the rematch. Henceforth, 50/50 booking at its finest (or worst).

Austin Aries def. The Brian Kendrick, TJ Perkins, Akira Tozawa and Tony Nese in a WWE Cruiserweight Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match

The matchup started out slow early on, but they definitely picked up the pace down the stretch and everyone involved had their time to shine. Nese delivered that devastating-looking knee to Aries at ringside, Kendrick and Tozawa furthered their feud, and Perkins had a solid showing, too. Aries winning was pretty predictable, but that's not a bad thing in this case because that's the biggest bout the division can do at the moment and I'm happy they're holding it at WrestleMania where it belongs. The final few minutes of this match are definitely worth watching for.

Overall Show

Once again, this was a one match show, so solely seek out the main event when you can and witness its awesomeness for yourself. It wasn't quite as great as the last Fatal 5-Way match that took place on 205 Live in February, but it was still extremely entertaining at points. The other two matches were passable, but Neville's promo kicked off the show on a high note while the main event closed it out nicely as well.