Gentleman Jackie G opens with an interview in his rainbow tights with Dasha. He's up next against The Bryan Kendrick.
Vic Joseph welcomes us to "America's Finest City" for 205 Live. Wait, what city is this in? San Diego? What? No disrespect or anything, but I dunno how about that one. Vic Joseph does manage to say THE Bryan Kendrick consistently so that's something at least.
Joseph is dressed in a super conservative Suit/White Shirt/Solid Tie combo which lets us, the viewer, focus exclusively on Graves's HIDEOUS seizure-inducing wide-labeled greyscale plaid jacket.
Gallagher hits the ring. Then his music hits again? Oh shit! The Bryan Kendrick is out dressed like a very poor man's version of Gallagher, which is as hilarious as it sounds. Kendrick proceeds to run down Gallagher's gimmick & call him a pint-sized pale imitation of William Regal. His promo actually makes me realize that Gallagher manages to hit a sweet & difficult spot with his character where it's right up to the "90s WWE caricature" line, but not quite over it.
Wait, Kendrick's wrestling in this getup? Complete with wig & fake mustache? Count me in! It ends up being a pretty standard little match until Kendrick decides to go to town with the umbrella & gets disqualified. Looks like this is going to be a feud. I'm into it.
Next we get Ali/Gulak & I'm somehow actually looking forward to it. They do a backstage segment with Dasha which is just brutal. Ali implies Gulak can't high fly & that's why he hates it, which I hope is leading to something.
Graves says Mustafa's got the hometown advantage in San Diego due to its Lucha Libre, high flying heritage. Much better way to shout out the hometown than Joseph's constant "Anchorman" references.
Gulak's chant this week is "Safe and Sound! Feet on the Ground!" Have I mentioned how brutal Gulak's entrance music is? It's like 80s hair metal & 70s prog rock had a dyslexic baby.
Match is indeed something to look forward to. Ali has seriously improved lately. He sells Gulak's stuff great, even so far as making a standard bodyslam get a replay. End comes when Gulak finds himself on the second rope &, on shaky knees, goes up to the top for the Superfly complete with Jimmy Snuka hand gestures! He misses & Ali rolls him up in La Magistral for three. I'm now 100% behind this feud, and am loving the different stories they're telling in the ring each week. It's begging for some kind of gimmick match, which could be great.
Noooooooooooooooooooo - it's a backstage Noam Dar segment. He apologizes to Daivari for throwing his bag in the river. Daivari informs him the $15,000 bag is "peasant money" & lets Noam off the hook. Noam is very relieved, as it turns out he's totally broke. Jesus, Noam's p-whipped AND broke?! What a sad character to have to play. Daivari then breaks Noam's phone & informs him he still owes him. Daivari rules. Why can't the E be expanding to Iran instead of India?
Cedric Alexander's theme music is second only to Gulak's in awfulness, and his current hair is second only to Ali's in awfulness too. Match is whatever, Dar comes out to distract Alexander which lets Daivari win with the hammerlock lariat which nobody can seem to sell right. Noam then hops in the ring to beat down the defeated Alexander. Oh no, Noam has the mic. He proceeds to cut the worst promo I've ever heard through a chorus of "whats." Unfortunately, this segment seems to indicate that the Dar/Fox/Alexander angle will continue.
Promo for the Asuka/Cross Last Woman Standing match, in which I replay Asuka's cocky "belt lift/head tilt on the ropes" taunt approximately 100 times. Asuka rules.
Main event is a Neville promo. Standard stuff until Tozawa comes out. Tozawa's lost the flowered 90s tie & is wearing a standard red and blue striped number more in line with current fashion. Neville asks what Tozawa wants & gets a "Hah!" for his troubles. "Do you understand English you idiot?" Uhhh... not sure what you're speaking is technically quite "English" there Neville. Is Geordie a language? Lots more "Hahs!" & they start brawling. Neville takes a powder while Tozawa "Hahs!" & we're out.
Decent show, but not as good as last week. Ali/Gulak was great, & Kendrick was awesome, but the rest was pretty "eh." 205 Live's style of extended simple feuds is really hit or miss. It lets them tell great and layered in-ring stories like Ali/Gulak and Tozawa/Kendrick, but you also have to put up with stuff like Dar/Alexander for months on end.
THE Brian Kendrick wrestling in costume was great. Yet I thought it was odd to start with that. Impersonating someone is usually something you see in Round 3 or 4 of a feud; not the first meeting.
Aside from the never-ending Dar/Alexander/Fox nonsense (which has been a staple since EPISODE ONE, g'dammit), these shows have been getting better, of late.
John Cena vs. Great Khali Pick: Cena Mr. McMahon vs. Lashley Pick: Lashley Edge vs. Batista Pick: Edge Melina vs. Candice Michelle Pick: Melina The Hardys vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team Pick: Hmmm.
Thread rated: 5.95
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