The Brian Kendrick and Gentleman Jack Gallagher def. Kalisto and Lince DoradoThe Lucha House Party tend to have very enjoyable matches regardless of who their opponents are and this was no exception as they worked well with the duo of Kendrick and Gallagher. They kept the pace consistent throughout and all four men had solid showings. Drew Gulak ultimately interfered to aid Kendrick and Gallagher to victory, so I assume this means they'll have an alliance going forward and will eventually meet Lucha House Party in six-man tag team action. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander def. Buddy MurphyI'm not sure why, but there were still people questioning Murphy's in-ring abilities coming into this contest. Hopefully the outstanding outing he had here will shut those naysayers up, because he shined as much as Alexander did in this thrilling matchup. They went all out in the second half and had the crowd behind them every step of the way, which of course is rare for 205 Live matches these days. The nearfalls were incredibly well done and that final stretch was simply fantastic. Hats off to both men for one of, if not the best Cruiserweight Championship match in the history of the revived division.
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Big Cass Attacked Samoa Joe and Daniel BryanJoe is a national treasure whenever he has a microphone in his hand and his latest promo here was excellent in being short, sweet and to the point. Bryan cut one of his more fired-up promos in recent memory as well, but I'll admit that Cass announcing he was medically cleared and joining the main event between Bryan and Joe was slightly disappointing. I suppose that was the plan the whole time, but I was really looking forward to Bryan vs. Joe one-on-one. Hopefully someday. Shinsuke Nakamura def. Tye DillingerDillinger is definitely among the most underutilized athletes on the roster, but it was cool to see him have such a solid showing against Nakamura, even if the outcome of this contest was never in doubt. This was a fun little match where the crowd was behind Dillinger and, obviously, the 10 count/Last Man Standing tie-in with Dillinger was well done. We'll see if Nakamura and AJ Styles can make the most of the stipulation at Money in the Bank.
Tony Nese def. Akira TozawaIt's a shame to see how far Tozawa has fallen from where he was a year ago, but at least he remains a treat to watch in the ring. As I've noted time and time again, Nese largely does nothing for me by this point, but he too can always be counted on for a quality contest, and thus this was a nice little match while it lasted. The crowd was into Tozawa's offense, but all it took was one moment for Nese to capitalize and score the victory. Mojo Rawley def. No Way JoseI loved the consistency with Rawley from last week when he attacked Apollo Crews following his loss and then here he laid out Jose before the bell. You rarely see that sort of attention to detail on Main Event these days, so I appreciated that. Wrestling isn't either one of these guys' strong suit, but they worked well enough together and produced a good match. Rawley just isn't a big time player in my eyes, but this new intense gimmick of his is better than whatever the hell he was doing before.
Finn Balor def. Braun Strowman by DisqualificationI'm typically not a fan of matches being repeated from the week prior (see: Bobby Roode vs. Elias), but this actually made sense after the opening segment that saw Stowman take a shot at Balor's height and Balor retaliate. For the second straight week, they contested a very entertaining outing with a predictable albeit logical non-finish. Neither of these men should be losing clean (especially Balor after losing last week), and it put heat on Kevin Owens for interfering, so I liked this a lot. Jinder Mahal def. Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins by DisqualificationElias did his usual shtick before the bout and was interrupted by Rollins, which played a factor in the finish to this match. Fun fact: Rollins and Mahal first fought back in 2012 where the winner would become the inaugural NXT Champion (spoiler: Rollins won). They proved they worked well together then and that was once again the case here. This was a damn good match with a solid story told and the crowd rallying behind Rollins throughout. Doing two disqualification finishes in a row was a little lame, but Elias hitting Rollins with his guitar afterward (causing Rollins to fly off the commentators' table in the process) made up for it. I expect them to clash for the Intercontinental Championship at Money in the Bank.
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