WWE Cruiserweight Champion: "Vacant"
205 Live
January 30th, 2018
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentary: Vic Joseph & Nigel McGuinness FUCK YEAH 2 MAN BOOTH!
Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan comes out to open the show, he says in the summer of 2016 he was proud to be apart of something near and dear to his heart the Cruiserweight Classic, so it is his pleasure to introduce the NEW GM of 205 Live Drake Maverick. Bryan leaves, as the fans Booooo the new name and chant Spud. Drake says he's worked his entire life to get to the WWE. And he's proud to stand here, as the GM, he says he's here to help and the first thing he's here to do it help find a new champion. And that starts in a 16 man tournament with the finals being at WrestleMania.
First Round Match: Cedric Alexandre vs. Gran Matalik
Good feeling out to start, lots of fast-paced counters and flips, before they briefly speed it up hitting dives. Cedric has a nice dive to the floor before trying to slow things down for a bit, Matalik has a nice comeback and begins using the ropes to kick start moves. He hits the ropewalk followed by a dropkick for two, Cedric slides to the floor so Matalik follows up with a step up dive to the floor. Back in and Metalik hits a splash off the ropes for 2. Cedric then counters the Metalik driver and then hits the Spanish fly for 2. They go back and forth trading moves, awesome spot with Cedric catching a leap attack in mid-air and he goes for the lumbar check, but in mid-move, Matalik counters it into a spike DDT for two. Metalik attempts a moonsault off the top, but Cedric gets the feet up and quickly follows up with the lumbar check for the win. **1/2
Backstage: Drew Gulak presents Drake with flowers. He says he’s happy to have him here to deliver law & order and is still hoping for a better 205 Live. Drew leaves and Drake pawns off the flowers to one of the stagehands
HOLY SHIT! 205 is doing one of those confessional room promo setups like they do on reality TV, Mustafa Ali says he loved every bit of his match against Cedric last week even though he lost. That part sucked, but he’s excited about the tournament, and now he will steal the show and punch a ticket to WrestleMania
First Round Match: TJP vs. Tyler Bate
I hate TJP, I fucking cannot stand him but I'll tell you what he's good, he and Bate have a really good mat wrestling exchange to start but it gets ruined when TJP hits the dap pose, smurf still dabbing in 2018 BRUH! They continue to go back and forth on the mat, with TJP being the more skilled mat wrestler and the faster of the two so he does a good job frustrating Bate. They end up exchanging modified surfboard submission attempts, with Bate breaking to hit a dropkick, he follows up with a dive to the floor. But when he rolls him back in, TJ clips the knee. Vic then brings up how TJP won all his CWC matches using the knee lock
I already love commentary team, sadly, TJ doesn't follow up on the knee right away, instead he goes after the head and chest then by the time he goes after the knee its time for the Bate comeback UGH! I hate this fuck yo. Bate hits a running SSP for two, as they go back and forth now exchanging strikes and NOW whenever TJP is in trouble he goes back to the knee. Bate fights off a kneebar, but TJP counters back and into the kneebar, but, Bate makes the ropes. Bate comes back with the rebound LARIAT for two. And does a 20-second airplane spin, he goes for the Tyler Driver but TJ drops down and attempts the kneebar but Bate rolls through into a roll-up for two. Big right hand connects from Bate, but he makes the mistake of heading up top and misses Spiral Tap which allows TJ to again lock in the kneebar, but once again Bate makes the ropes. Bate hits a rolling kick, but TJP counters the Tyler driver into a roll-up and grabs a hold of the tights for the win. **1/2
NEXT WEEK - RODDY/HIDEO