3 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE 205 Live (January 24, 2017)

1. The Good With The Bad

It was yet another stellar performance from Neville, who might just be the very best performer WWE has in its midst right now. Imploring Alexander, with coiled menace, to get out of his ring, he unleashed that fury throughout the course of a match which, as good as it was, occurred on the wrong show. A fifteen minute-plus Neville showcase, I’d be surprised if it was much different from his Cruiserweight Title challenge at Sunday’s Royal Rumble. We were constantly reminded that it wouldn’t be by the otherwise excellent commentary team.

It deviated sightly from RAW’s counterproductive formula, in that it wasn’t the actual match - but not enough to create sufficient intrigue for the weekend. It’s bizarre; HBO bosses must have been infuriated when the first four episodes of Game Of Thrones season six leaked online. And yet, this is WWE’s foremost marketing strategy.

Alexander deserves much of the credit, one glaring botch aside. The horror with which he reacted to Neville’s stunning defiance of physics towards the finish was acted wonderfully; so too was his selling of Neville’s double underhook crossface, itself a fantastic development. Neville, like a 90s AJPW headliner, now has three proven match-winning moves in his arsenal, creating scope for kick out and reversal drama months in advance.

There was nothing abysmal about the show; as the title of the article suggests, there was more bad than good contained with in it. But it’s just sort of…there, as homogenised in itself as it is with the ring style of its main roster bigger brothers.