[2018-04-24-WWE-205 Live] Drew Gulak vs Kalisto vs Mustafa Ali vs TJP vs Tony Nese

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Holy shiiiiit this was amazing. Drew Gulak is absolutely fantastic.

Breaking down the segments,

Mustafa Ali vs. TJP
I thought TJP was absolutely awesome in this. Just super compelling with his work over Ali w/ those great looking submissions. Everything he did was super focused & all around just a lovely on-the-offense, surgeon like, laser focused performance by the man. That leg targeting in the last third or so of the match set up the next one very well, too.

Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak
Gulak coming out with a big smile on his face, asking Ali “YOU OK?”, “ARE YOU HURTING?” = amazing stuff. The leg targeting by TJP set this one up perfectly; Gulak knows Ali got a weak spot now & my goodness, is he gonna attack it or what. Fantastic, brutal work by Gulak & Ali’s selling was pretty damn good as well. Gulak’s facial expressions & trash talk were awesome too - “YOU LIKE HIGHFLYING, HUH?” followed by him putting Ali on the top rope, followed by a slap & then going back to twisting the leg on the ropes. Great, great stuff.

Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese
Nese beats the SHIT out of Gulak for all of it, but in the end he gets caught in the Dragon Sleeper, because he was taking too much time thinking about his revenge. Gulak sure took a goddamn beating & it was incredibly awesome.

Drew Gulak vs. Kalisto
The weakest of the 4 matches/segments within the whole thing, but still really good. Gulak was amazing with the offense he got - those strikes he delivered to Kalisto while he was on the back mount were superb.

Incredibly compelling 40 minutes of wrestling. Flew by as if it was 15 minutes. All segments delivered big time. Gulak's the man! ****1/2

[Boss Rock]

Really liked this a lot and is further proof that 205Live is thriving with the renewed emphasis on in-ring work. The legwork done on Ali by TJP set up the story of the Gulak match perfectly, with Gulak as the sadistic heel and Ali once again as the resilient underdog. If you needed further proof Ali is one of the best babyfaces in the world, look no further than this match. Nese has never done anything for me but really liked how he was out for payback and let his desire for revenge get the better of him. Thought that Kalisto-Gulak had good logic with Gulak looking to stall and frustrate Kalisto, but the ending was rather anti-climactic. Also, it felt like the crowd never got back into it after Ali was eliminated. As much as I like Cedric, Ali is clearly who they should be building the show around as he connects with the fans like no one else.

 

Still, a really entertaining series of matches.

[G. Badger]

This was a really good episode of wrestling. It wasn't a classic match or series of matches though.

 

Very good TV matches without an abundance of high flying. Still there was a good deal of predictability and that is what kept it from being a great gauntlet match.

 

Gulak vs Kalisto was best (I would have liked TJ vs Drew). I really find the "Lucha Lucha!" chant really juvenile though but, I guess that's the point. Fun stuff anyways. 205 Live has yet to disappoint...50 minutes of entertainment without big speeches, shenanigans and the like.