Csonka’s Top 13 WWE 205 Live Matches

Welcome back to column time with Larry! Today I’d like to talk about the WWE 205 Live. WWE 205 Live was born of the Cruiserweight Classic, and really had its struggles early on. The Cruiserweight Classic was a success, but once they got their own show and Vince McMahon stripped away everything that made it work. It became “Raw for little fellas,” with horrible forced angles, poor characterizations, Alicia Fox, and almost nothing that reminded you of the Cruiserweight Classic. Some say there were no stories in the Cruiserweight Classic, but I disagree. There were interesting stories all throughout the tournament, but they weren’t Vince McMahon styled characters. There were good matches early on, but not a lot of high-quality ones. Things then got worse as they transitioned into the “Enzo Era,” he was exactly what Vince wanted, but the show didn’t improve, if anything it got worse. Following Enzo’s firing for rape allegations, the entire direction of 205 Live changed when Uncle pull took the helm. The show immediately changed its vibe and presentation. The first order of business was mixing up the talent a bit, crowning a new champion, and focusing on making the title the most important thing on the show. The layout of the show improved, the match quality improved, the undercard developed stories improved and slowly, 205 Live went from bastard stepchild to arguably (some still say NXT) the best product WWE products on a weekly basis as it just celebrated 100 episodes. I have scoured the archives, re-watched some matches, and today I’d like to present my top 13 WWE 205 Live matches (that happened on the weekly show ONLY) so far. The show produced a ton of ***½ and ***¾ matches, but these were my best of the best. Thanks for reading, and remember, it’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

* 13. From 8.22.17: Neville vs. Akira Tozawa [****]
* 12. From 3.21.17: Neville vs. Mustafa Ali [****]
* 11. From 2.07.17: #1 Contender’s Elimination Match – TJ Perkins vs. Noam Dar vs. Jack Gallagher vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali [****]
* 10. From 5.23.17: Street Fight – Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick [****]
* 9. From 2.23.18: Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese[****]
* 8. From 3.13.18: Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander [****]
* 7. From 4.24.18: Tony Nese vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak vs. Kalisto vs. TJP [****]

I always respected you. @WWE205Live #205Live100 pic.twitter.com/fJSN2wSlEY

— Mustafa Ali / Adeel Alam (@MustafaAliWWE) October 25, 2018

6. From WWE 205 Live 10.24.18: Mustafa Ali vs. Hideo Itami [****¼]: This was a great match, worked with tremendous aggression and really playing off of the hate in the feud extremely well. The pacing was good, it constantly built to the end, and they used the stipulation very well. In the end, Ali doesn’t only win but does so in a definitive way to end the feud and get him into the match that could give him a cruiserweight title shot. This was a 100% certified banger right here.

5. From WWE 205 Live 9.19.18: Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak [****¼]: This was a 100% certified banger. They got the shenanigans out of the way early, forcing Gulak to fight on his own and allowing Alexander to take early control. Gulak’s heat segment was great, logical, and to the point. He makes everything look easy and effortless. Alexander showed great babyface fire in his come back, and the closing stretch was absolutely tremendous with Alexander once again retaining and moving on to face Murphy in Australia. The clash of styles, hard-hitting and ground-based vs. the athletic and flashy champion paired extremely well here.

4. From WWE 205 Live 5.29.18: Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy [****¼]: This was a great main event, that was one of if not the best 205 Live matches since the re-launch. They killed it, with a great layout, action that constantly escalated throughout the match and had an invested crowd. Alexander has been great as champion, and Murphy has really been killing it since his call up, and has really become a must-see performer for the brand. His in-ring is great, his heel mannerisms are great, and he comes off as a killer which works perfectly juxtaposed against Alexander’s never say die babyface champion character. Make sure you make time for this.

3. From WWE 205 Live 10.17.18: Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik vs. Cedric Alexander vs. TJP vs. Lio Rush [****¼]: This was a great sprint style/spotfest style match that the brand doesn’t do all that often and really clicked here. It was an absolutely tremendous match, with a ton of great work and spots, but also had some story to it. You had the follow up to TJP vs. lucha house party with he and Metalik here, as well as follow up from the previous week’s Nese vs. Alexander match. These were all constant threads throughout the match, and really pulled it together amongst the inanity of great moves. This was a great match with great stories and great action, and now, Nese seems primed for a title shot, against his training partner, friend, and new champion Buddy Murphy.

2. From WWE 205 Live 7.03.18: Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali [****½]: This was an absolutely excellent main event that I fear will be greatly overlooked by many. These two guys were 1-1 in their feud, and had showed some great chemistry in the past, and they took that chemistry and experience from those other matches and delivered a must see third act. It was violent, played to the stipulation extremely well, and captured their characters perfectly due to the work they did. Murphy is a bloodthirsty heel that was willing to send Ali to the hospital in order to win and get back to the title, while Ali is the best babyface, hands down, on the 205 Live brand. He’s flashy to please the fans, gutsy when he has to be, and so resilient that the fans can’t help but to get behind him. This was an absolutely must see match, if you skip it, you’re doing yourself a great disservice.

1. From WWE 205 Live 8.21.18: Buddy Murphy & Tony Nese vs. Lucha House Party [****½]: I absolutely love professional wrestling, and part of that is due to the wide variety of action and match it can bring. While I have my personal preferences at times I feel when done right that any style can be great and connects with fans. With that being said, THIS RULED THE FUCKING SCHOOL! This was an absolutely balls to the wall, wonderfully chaotic spotfest in the spirit of the old WCW cruiserweight matches that I have absolutely been begging for 205 Live to let loose with. You can’t do them all the time, but when done right like this, it’s absolutely awesome. This match had it all, fast paced action, power moves, LUCHA THINGS, and a hot crowd. The guys in the match were losing their shit, the crowd was into it and losing thier shit, and I was losing my shit. This was just an absolutely awesome match with all four guys getting to shine, a reminder of how great Metalik can be, and also what 205 Live can be when they fully let loose. GO WATCH THIS NOW!

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”