8/22/17 WWE 205 Live Recap: Alexander/Metalik vs. Gulak/Nese; Neville vs. Tozawa for the Cruiserweight Title; Enzo Amore Debuts
205 Live with a video package of Neville regaining the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at SummerSlam, and then we see the 205 Live opening video and Corey Graves and Vic Joseph welcome us to the show. They remind us of tonight’s main event: Neville vs. Akira Tozawa for the title.
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Match #1: Cedric Alexander and Gran Metalik vs. Drew Gulak and Tony Nese
Alexander and Nese start the match with a lock up. Nese shoves Alexander away and poses in the ring. They lock up again and Alexander applies a wrist-lock. Nese turns it into one of his own, but Alexander gets free and takes Nese down to the mat. Alexander runs the ropes and takes Nese down with a dropkick. Gulak tags in and kicks Alexander in the midsection and chops him against the ropes. Gulak takes Alexander down, but Alexander comes right back and decks Gulak with a right hand and tags in Metalik. Metalik and Alexander double-team Gulak for a bit and Metalik goes for the cover, but Gulak kicks out at two.
Metalik takes Gulak down with a springboard arm drag and then delivers a dropkick from the top rope. Metalik goes for the cover, but Gulak kicks out at two. Gulak comes back with a big right hand and tags in Nese. They double-team Metalik, but Metalik comes back and sends Gulak to the outside and then springboard moonsaults onto Nese. Metalik tosses Nese back into the ring and kicks Gulak back down to the floor. Nese comes back with a back elbow shot and goes for the cover, but Metalik kicks out at two. Nese stomps away on Metalik and then hangs him in the tree of woe. Alexander gets Metalik down and gets in Nese’s face and Metalik tosses Nese down to the mat. Metalik connects with a cross-body and Alexander and Gulak tags in.
Alexander drops Gulak with some clotheslines and then kicks Nese to the floor. Alexander delivers a left hand to Gulak and then splashes him in the corner. Alexander connects with the springboard clothesline and goes for the cover, but Gulak kicks out at two. Gulak comes right back with a back elbow, but Metalik tags in. Alexander kicks Gulak in the midsection and Metalik takes him down. Metalik goes for the cover, but Nese breaks it up. Alexander drops Nese with an enzuiguri and then tags into the match. Alexander and Metalik double suicide dive onto Nese and Gulak on the outside. Alexander grabs Gulak and tosses him back into the ring.
Gulak comes back with an inside cradle, but Alexander kicks out. Alexander drops Gulak with the Lumbar Check and gets the pin fall.
Winners: Cedric Alexander and Gran Metalik.
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We go backstage and see Titus O’Neil and Akira Tozawa. O’Neil says they need to put SummerSlam behind them, but he wishes Tozawa would have waited longer for his rematch. Tozawa says he is ready and O’Neil says he is right. O’Neil tells Tozawa to use the “Powa of Tozawa” to bring the title back to Titus Worldwide.
We see a promo video for the Mae Young Classic, which begins streaming this upcoming Monday on the WWE Network.
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We’re back and the table of weapons is set up in the ring for the Gentlemen’s Duel.
Before the Duel, he said the person that pushes his buttons the most is The Brian Kendrick. He says Kendrick is not a gentlemen, and regretfully, he hasn’t been a gentlemen lately either. He says he has been besmirched and run into the ground by Kendrick, but in life there are people that just need knocking out.
Kendrick appears on the TitanTron and calls Gallagher pathetic. Kendrick says Gallagher surrounds himself with toys and is proving Kendrick right. Kendrick calls Gallagher a clown again and asks Gallagher if he expects Kendrick to come to the ring. Kendrick says he is a fighter and fighters don’t duel. Kendrick says he has found a suitable opponent and a guy dressed as a clown comes to the ring.
The clown comes to the ring and squirts Gallagher with water and then slaps him with a glove. Gallagher drops him with a headbutt and then stomps him down into the mat. Gallagher grabs a kendo stick, then a lead pipe, then William the Umbrella, then rips the cover off the table. Gallagher grabs the clown and goes to power bomb him through the table, but Kendrick runs in from behind and beats him down with William the Umbrella. Kendrick picks Gallagher up and power bombs him through the table.
Kendrick grabs a microphone and says they both got to beat up a clown tonight. Kendrick tells Gallagher to prove that he belongs on 205 Live. Kendrick challenges him to a No Disqualification Match on next week’s show.
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We take a look back to last week’s show and the continued issues between Rich Swann and TJP, in which TJP ended up costing Swann his match against Ariya Daivari.
We see TJP in the locker room playing video games and Swann walks in. Swann asks him about last week and tells him to start talking. TJP says he injured his knee two weeks ago in their match. TJP says he went out last week to see Swann beat Daivari in person, but he didn’t know his music would play and he didn’t know Swann would cost himself the match. TJP says he knows losing has made Swann mad and he is looking to take it out on someone. TJP says he is injured and Swann should focus on Daivari because he can get the win back if he stays focused. Swann says he will beat Daivari and then they can focus on their rubber match. Swann tells TJP to focus on recovering so that he can beat him again.
We see Neville walking backstage as we head to a break.
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We see that the No Disqualification Match between The Brian Kendrick and Gentleman Jack Gallagher has been made official for next week’s show.
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Match #2: WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match – Neville (c) vs. Akira Tozawa (w/Titus O’Neil)
Neville goes behind with a waist-lock but Tozawa turns it into one of his own. Neville backs Tozawa into the ropes and then applies a wrist-lock and an arm-ringer. Tozawa turns it into his own wrist-lock, but Neville gets into the ropes. Tozawa doesn’t perform a clean break and punches him in the ribs. They lock up again and Neville takes Tozawa down and applies a side-headlock. Tozawa gets to his feet and sends Neville off the ropes, but Neville counters with a shoulder tackle. Neville goes for the cover, but Tozawa kicks out at two. Neville works over Tozawa’s neck and tosses him into the corner. Neville goes for a springboard moonsault, but Tozawa dodges it. Tozawa goes for the kick, but Neville blocks it and goes for a kick of his own, but Tozawa block it and we have a stalemate.
Neville backs Tozawa into the corner and goes for a chop, but Tozawa dodges it and delivers chops of his own. Tozawa takes Neville to the corner and beats him down. Neville counters with a kick to the midsection and then delivers a big chop. Neville takes Tozawa down with a sunset flip, but Tozawa comes back with a kick to the chest. Neville rolls to the outside and Tozawa runs the ropes, but Neville moves before Tozawa can perform the suicide dive. Tozawa tries to grab Neville, but Neville drapes Tozawa’s shoulder over the top rope. Neville stomps away on Tozawa in the ring and then applies a shoulder bar submission down on the mat.
Neville drops down to the mat a few times with Tozawa’s arm still wrapped in the hammer-lock. Neville transitions to a headlock and then drops an elbow. Neville goes for the cover, but Tozawa kicks out at two. Neville picks Tozawa up, but Tozawa rolls through and gets a two count. Neville comes back with a dropkick from the ropes and Tozawa rolls to the floor. Neville goes up top and takes Tozawa down with a moonsault. Neville grabs Tozawa and slams his arm against the LED board at ringside. Neville gets back into the ring and then Tozawa rolls in at the eight count. Neville takes Tozawa and slams him into the barricade and then tosses him back into the ring. Neville goes up top, but Tozawa dropkicks the ropes and Neville falls to the mat.
Tozawa takes Neville to the outside and dives from the ropes onto him. Tozawa tosses Neville back into the ring and goes for the cover, but Neville kicks out at two. Tozawa grabs Neville and drops him with the exploder suplex. Tozawa goes for the cover, but Neville kicks out at two. Tozawa goes up top for the senton, but Neville pulls him down onto the turnbuckle. Neville delivers a superplex, but Tozawa gets Neville’s shoulders on the mat, but only for a two count. Tozawa comes back and drops Neville with a lariat and both men are down. Neville gets up and grabs Tozawa and then delivers a face-buster. Neville delivers a one-legged dropkick and goes for the cover, but Tozawa kicks out at two.
Neville picks Tozawa up, but Tozawa drops him with a hard right hand. Tozawa comes off the ropes, but Neville stops him with a right hand of his own. Tozaza comes back with a school-boy, but Neville kicks out. Tozawa sends Neville to the corner and delivers a big boot. Tozawa goes up top for the senton, but Neville moves out of the way. Neville locks in the Ring of Saturn and Tozawa taps out.
Winner and still WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Neville.
After the match, Neville grabs a microphone and says Tozawa’s title reign was pathetic and but a footnote in the history book. He says the history will read “Still your WWE Cruiserweight Champion, the King of the Cruiserweights..” but he is cut off by Enzo Amore. Amore comes out with his mic and cuts a promo. Amore says 205 Live just became the realest show in the room and drops his mic. Neville smirks and turns his back on Amore to leave the ring. Amore picks up his mic again and says there’s only one word to describe Neville: “Sawft.”