WWE 205 Live results: Neville & Austin Aries continue their feud

The Big Takeaway —

Neville showed us what 205 Live would be like without him. Brian Kendrick once again gained the upper hand against Akira Tozawa. Alicia Fox likes to eat perfume.

Show Recap —

We opened with footage from last night’s Raw, where Austin Aries and The New Day ran down Neville. Dasha Fuentes interviewed Neville, who said Austin Aries made a crucial error last night — he disrespected the Cruiserweight Championship.

Neville said that everyone wants to see his reign as King of the Cruiserweights end on Sunday, so tonight he’s going to give people what they want — a 205 Live without Neville.

Rich Swann defeated Ariya Daivari 

Swann was in control early until Daivari lifted him up and slammed him on the outside onto a table. Swann rallied back and hit a Michinoku driver for a near fall. Daivari shoved Swann into the ref and came back with a neckbreaker, then hit a frog splash for another close near fall.

Swann took out Daivari from the top rope with a hurricanrana, then pinned him after a phoenix splash. This was a solid match, but nothing to write home about.

Tom Phillips noted after the match that Daivari was the replacement for Noam Dar, who is out due to injury.

Alicia Fox was backstage being interviewed about Dar’s recovery when Swann said it was a shame he couldn’t face Dar. A package then came in, and it was perfume. Fox sprayed it on herself, then when no one was looking, except the camera in front of her, ate it.

Mustafa Ali was backstage warming up when Drew Gulak walked up to him and said that his in-ring ability will put him on the map, but is it the right way? Ali said that yeah, it’s worth it because of the 205 Live fans being behind him whenever he’s doing high flying impact moves. Gulak started to go on a long speech about a grassroots approach back to traditional wrestling, but Ali frustrated Gulak by leaving before he could finish. 

Mustafa Ali defeated Brandon Scott

This was mostly a showcase for Ali, who looked good while the match lasted. Gulak observed the match through the monitor backstage. Scott had a brief comeback but missed a punch off the top rope. Ali pinned him with the inverted 450 splash. Gulak didn’t like that.

They ran a video package on the Cruiserweight title match for WrestleMania.

Brian Kendrick defeated Akira Tozawa

Tozawa unleashed early with a fierce tope suicida, wiping out Kendrick on the outside. He then followed with a giant senton on the inside for a near fall. Tozawa went for the snap German suplex but Kendrick escaped to the outside. Tozawa unleashed another tope suicida. Kendrick finally got the upper hand after a drop toe hold onto the steel rampway.

Tozawa made it to the ring, but Kendrick gained dominance, grinding down Tozawa with a crossface. Tozawa came back with a standing hurricanrana. Kendrick hit the Sliced Bread #2, then followed with the Captain’s Hook, but Tozawa grabbed the bottom rope.

Tozawa caught Kendrick on the top rope as he was undoing the turnbuckle but got shoved off. Tozawa countered him with a kick and went to charge into the corner, but Kendrick dodged as Tozawa ate the turnbuckle. Kendrick rolled him up for the pinfall.

Lesson number nine, Kendrick said, is that everything can be used as a weapon. 

Neville arrived to the ring to do some talking. Five days away from WrestleMania, he’s at a crossroads. He’s not somebody who takes it easy. He’s someone who’s belittled time after time. Last year, he broke his ankle and missed his first opportunity at WrestleMania. He picked himself back up again and landed on 205 Live and carried this division on his back. 

But instead of cheering him, he said the fans would rather cheer for a commentary clown. He showed footage of a world without Neville on 205 Live. The screen was blank. Neville said that’s right, without him 205 Live is nothing and WrestleMania is not about you, it’s about Neville and having Neville’s moment.

Austin Aries came out. He said this right here is the difference between you and me. Neville wanted to point his finger at the WWE Universe simply to feed his own ego. He’d never say Neville isn’t amazing; but Aries is just that much better. He has jokes for days, but if he didn’t use jokes, he’d just be as angry as Neville.

He continued, saying for years we’ve had to prove everyone wrong. We had to take because no one handed anything to us. We have a big ego and chips on our shoulders. The thing we have in common more than anything else is that we are the main attraction.

Neville jumped him in mid-sentence and threw him face-first on the floor. Neville went to leave, but paused. He came back to finish things. Aries instead smacked Neville with a microphone and sent him reeling as the show ended.

Final Thoughts —

The last segment was really good, with Neville continuing to showcase how remarkably improved he is at cutting promos, something he was never good at on NXT. Aries is at least making people interested in this match, which is really hard for 205 Live, but they managed to do it. 

The rest of the show was usual fare. No idea why Tozawa lost here, but maybe that just means the feud will continue. Or it won’t. Not much matters in the WWE midcard.