WWE 205 Live Recap (5/9): The Brian Kendrick Vs. Akira Tozawa, Gallagher & Aries, Ali Vs. Nese

By Leon Milici

'205 Live' On The WWE Network
Taped Tuesday May 9th, 2017 at The O2 Arena in London, England

A video package airs chronicling TJP's change of character after receiving career advice, and a title promise from The Cruiserweight Champion Neville. Highlights are then shown of TJP's attack on Gallagher's knee on Raw and Austin Aries coming out to save Gallagher...... Tom Phillips and Corey Grave intro and hype the show from ringside.

The opening segment of the show is a "Gentleman's Toast" arranged by Jack Gallagher for Austin Aries. The ring itself is decorated with a red carpet and the union flag. The Gentleman himself, Jack Gallagher gets a nice reception from the London crowd. He receives a "Jackie Boy" chant. Gallagher has arranged this toast and has invited Aries to thank him for his help last night on Raw. He calls his perpetrator from last night TJP, "Theodore Jeeves Perkins".

Aries arrives to the ring and tries to endear himself to the crowd by speaking in an English accent. Gallagher gets Aries a pint of beer. Austin says that he prefers wine and gets booed. Austin says that wine is good for the heart. Gallagher says that he will make note of that for the next time. Gallagher then leads the crowd in a "Jolly Good Fellow" song for Aries..... WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville's music hits and interrupts the sing along. Neville calls the crowd and country of england cretins and says that they all should be ashamed of themselves. Aries comes to England's defense. Neville mocks Austin's toast and instead toasts him with his title. Neville tells Aries that he is toasting to the end of Aries career on '205 Live" tonight. Just then TJP appears and runs into the ring and attacks Aries. Neville gets into the action and double teams Gallagher with TJP. Aries recovers and makes the save. He throws Neville over the broadcast desk at ringside and starts pounding away at him. Meanwhile, Gallagher gets his hands on TJP inside the ring. He spits beer in his face and headbutts him multiple times. Aries comes in to the ring to hit his discus forearm. Neville and TJP retreat and Aries and Gallagher toast to each other and drink a pint of beer.

Noam Dar and Alica Fawwwwwx are backstage. They bump into Rich Swann. Fox tries to claim that she never really left Dar. Swann says that Dar and Fox truly deserve each other. Dar tells Swann that he hasn't forgotten what he did to his relationship and he promises that Swann will be the one to get what he truly deserves.

Mustafa Ali vs. Tony Nese

At the start of this match, a nonsensical CM Punk chant is started by a small group of fans in the London crowd...... An early sign that some fans don't care for the two men in this match. Despite the fact that both Nese and Ali put on quite a display of athleticism early on. Ali hits a beautiful running over the top rope tope to gain the early advantage. Drew Gulak is shown backstage watching this match on a monitor.... Nese and Ali battle to the opposite side of the ringside area. Mustafa tries to leap off the barricade but Nese counters and over powers him. He lifts up Ali and drops him down on the broadcast desk.

Action back in the ring and Nese stays in control with a vicious lariat that turns Ali inside out. The crowd actually starts to get into the match. Nese hits a great looking delayed vertical suplex and he slingshots Ali off the top rope. Tony then gets Mustafa up in a torture rack. Moments later when Ali escapes, Nese stays in control and connects with a pretty springboard moonsault. Graves on commentary really goes overboard praising Tony's physique. He says that no one would complain if Nese didn't wear a shirt all year.... Both Nese and Ali battle to the top rope. Ali gets caught and hung up in mid-air but eventually hits a hurricanrana on Nese. Mustafa then connects with a rolling neckbreaker. Nese tries to retreat to the outside but Ali follows him and hits a running rana off of the ring apron. Both men are exhausted and sell it in the ring now. The pace finally slows down and both start trading strikes. After a Matrix like evasion of a Ali clothesline, Nese hits a flurry of strikes on Mustafa. Moments later, Nese attempts a pump handle slam but Ali counters out of it with a tornado DDT. Mustafa then wins the match by hitting his inverted 450 splash.

Mustafa Ali defeats Tony Nese by pinfall

Ariya Daivari is shown backstage. He is giving one of the WWE's lead writer's Ryan Ward, a hard time for not polishing his expensive boots, the way he wants them. Ward is not mentioned on screen, by name or position, but he tends to show up on camera backstage from time to time..... After brow beating Ward, Daivari then makes his way down the hall and Akira Tozawa bumps into him. Daivari tells Akira to watch himself because he has a 15 hundred dollar shirt made of Persian silk. Tozawa responds to Ariya by doing his signature chant.

A promo airs hyping the return of Cedric Alexander.

The Brian Kendrick vs. Akira Tozawa

Both men go tit for tat early on trading hard strikes. The pace picks up when Tozawa does his battle cry and hits a flurry of aerial moves on Kendrick. Akira is really using variations of his battle cry screams here. Channeling mid 90's Lex Luger with several grunts and screams..... With the action on the outside, Kendrick rallies by hitting sliced bread on Tozawa by utilizing the ring steps. Kendrick crawls into the ring and tries to get the countout victory. The referee Dillinger's all the way to 10 for the ninth time and Akira just beats the count. Kendrick is in control of the action now. He punishes and toys with Akira for the next couple of minutes.

Brian Kendrick applies a seated side cobra clutch on Akira. When Tozawa attempts to break free, Kendrick tries to pummel Tozawa some more. Akira fires up with his chanting and hits a pretty stand up hurricanrana. Tozawa then hits a suicide dive on Kendrick. Moments later, Tozawa hits a shining wizard on Kendrick and gets a very close near fall on him. Tozawa then attempts his snap german suplex but Kendrick counters with a spinning heel kick. Kendrick tries to hit two of his signature moves but Akira battles out and hits his snap german for another near fall. With the crowd fully behind him and chanting along with Akira. He heads to the top rope as the crowd amusingly chants "This is Ah Ah"..."This is Ah Ah"..... Tozawa leaps off the ropes but gets caught in the captain's hook submission. Akira breaks free and Kendrick goes for sliced bread but Akira rolls him up for the sudden victory.

Akira Tozawa defeats The Brian Kendrick by pinfall

After the match, A frustrated Brian Kendrick snaps and attacks Tozawa. He rams him into the steel steps and then sandwiches Akira in between the steps and stomps on him. Kendrick then gets on the mic and tells Akira that he is through giving lessons. Kendrick says that his final lesson is that no one messes with The Brian Kendrick. Akira Tozawa is left laying motionless as the show comes to an end.

Show Closing Thoughts: On paper, "205 Taped" didn't sound very enticing but the action on this show was excellent. It usually is from week to week and this London crowd came along for the ride after starting off with the usual '205 Dead' type crowd reaction. Like most of WWE programming, The in-ring talent is not the issue. The direction of the company at times is. Credit to guys like Tozawa and Gallagher for getting over based on charisma and personality. Both guys have a ton of it. All things considered, This was a pretty decent episode overall.

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