Previously on 205 Live, the Lucha House Party continued their feud with Hideo Itami and Akira Tozawa, TJP beat a jobber, and Mustafa Ali defeated Drew Gulak to secure his spot at WrestleMania.
Remember that With Spandex is on Twitter, so follow it. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. I’m on Twitter, too, if that’s your thing.
Hit those share buttons! Spread the word about the column on Facebook, Twitter and whatever else you use. Be sure to leave us a comment in our comment section below as well. Your help and participation means a lot.
And now, the Best and Worst of WWE 205 Live for March 27th, 2018.
Best: Abs Fab
First, apologies for this report coming later than usual. I was on the road with less than stellar internet access. I kept getting texts about the main event, though, so I know we’re in for a good one.
Shout out to Drake Maverick for being the best GM in WWE. I like that he just seems solely interested in making his show the best possible show it can be. This is an important episode of 205 Live, as it’s the first of the Drake Maverick era without a Cruiserweight Championship tournament match to anchor it. Vic and Nigel are the best commentary team on WWE television, and Drake is fantastic when he joins them about getting over the talent and the story without stepping over either of them.
I like Mark Andrews, but he has to be the least believable offense I’ve ever seen. I could buy Rey Mysterio versus Batista more than I do Mark Andrews slapping around Tony Nese. I know Andrews is a much better foil for the Philadelphia Stretcher next week, but I hope that Tony gets a chance to shine after WrestleMania. He is the perfect blend of look, skill, and character – and if he and Drew aren’t going to go after the rumored tag belts, I’d love to see him have a real feud with someone.
Worst: The Less Ced The Better
I am the most excited for the Cruiserweight championship at WrestleMania. More than Styles versus Nakamura. More than the return of Daniel Bryan. But boy, this promo didn’t do much to help with that. It really is alarming how not good at promos Cedric is. He has the look and in ring skill to be a top guy, but someone get this guy a mouth piece. Ali has been fantastic in his Twitter self-tape promos, but he struggled a little bit here with this scripted affair. It’s telling that the best actor by far in this exchange was Drake Maverick.
Having a face vs face match for the title is actually exciting for me, because I really think it can go either way. I’m just worried that they are going to take Mustafa Ali, one of the most pure babyfaces in wrestling, and turn him heel.
Best: Everything In This Match
The Drake Maverick Era is amazing. There’s going to be a lot here. Strap in.
Other than the fact that this was retconned into not being for the number one contender spot, this was one of my favorite matches in 205 Live history.
TJP is perfect as the smarmy, obnoxious heel. One of my favorite things about the new 205 Live is that there are different defined character types. A problem with the main roster is that, with rare exception, everyone is basically the same. All main roster faces basically become that awful should-be-a-heel obnoxious a-hole (see most of the last decade of John Cena) and all heels basically become chicken shit losers who can’t win a single match without interference or cheating. It feels like Drew Gulak (intense and dangerous catch monster) and TJP (obnoxious punk who REALLY needs to get punched in the face) couldn’t be further apart from each other.
I also have to give props to TJP for his innovative submission offense. It’s like he heard Drew Gulak tell Dasha that he was the best submission wrestler in the WWE and took that as a challenge. I mean …
What even is that? It looks like the ref is using some Shang Tsung magic to Cronenberg body horror these guys into one being. I was hoping he’d find a way to get Buddy Murphy in there too, so we’d have a submission version of that time Nova took out three guys with three moves at once.
What was great about this match was that it wasn’t just a spot fest, which, don’t get me wrong, I love a good spot fest. They were telling several stories within the match. There was the continued animosity between Akira Tozawa and Kalisto. They was TJP showing the skills that made him the inaugural Cruiserweight champion. And there was Buddy Murphy being the power house of the division. (Also, I suspend disbelief for a lot of things in professional wrestling, but there is NO WAY that Buddy Murphy is still under 205 pounds right now.)
The match was so good though. If you haven’t watched it, stop reading this and do that now. In the meantime, here’s a collection of GIFs.
https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/978828596281298947
https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/978829509528117248
https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/978830491632758784
I thought for sure that Kalisto was going to pick up the win with that SDS, but Tozawa IMMEDIATELY flew into frame with a killer knee.
Murphy eventually picks up the win with an awesome Murphy’s Law on TJP, and he’s certainly made quite a statement about his place in the 205 Live pecking order.
Next week: It’s the go home show before WrestleMania. We know Drew Gulak will look to put down the high flyer Mark Andrews, and I’m sure we’ll see the intensity pick up between Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali before they attempt to steal the show for the Cruiserweight championship.
Thanks for reading!
