4 Ups & 1 Down From Last Night's WWE 205 Live (Jan 3)

2. Expert Video Packages

Akita Tozawa
WWE.com

The problem with 205 Live - and certainly, the Cruiserweight presence on Monday Night RAW - is that WWE have (understandably) had to debut a raft of talent at once, to a wider audience who thought the Cruiserweight Classic meant Chavo Guerrero, Jr.

Quickly, WWE melted some of the CWC participants and re-cast them into archetypal moulds. Cedric Alexander was given a meddlesome, career-damaging valet. Noam Dar is now a sex pest (one who is more entertaining than he has any right to be). Ariya Daivari punctuates his English language promos with Persian to remind everyone that he’s a baddie.

Slowly, however, the likes of Tony Nese and Akira Tozawa are being introduced as themselves, largely, with the assistance of WWE’s peerless video packages. The decision to install Cesaro as Tozawa’s cheerleader was an astute one. WWE know that “workrate geeks” look up to the Swiss Superman as a God. Short of putting a camera in Dave Meltzer’s face, it was the perfect tactic of promoting the man as a phenom between the ropes.

The story between Jack Gallagher and Ariya Daivari has been compromised by the weakness of one of its players. But, largely thanks due to last week’s duel and this week’s brilliant highlight reel of it - with its hilariously subtle “24 Hours Hence” caption and Last Night Of The Proms soundtrack - it has become more interesting than the sum of its parts.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!