With six weeks between Great Balls of Fire and SummerSlam, the cruiserweight division faced an interesting challenge on how to keep the title feud between Neville and Akira Tozawa feel fresh.
Enter an unlikely third party, in Ariya Daivari.
Daivari, buried at the bottom of the 205 Live roster for most of its existence, has slowly picked up some momentum after switching to a "Persian Privilege" gimmick, coming from fortunes and donning only the silkiest, shiniest shirts. After a Monday Night Raw victory two weeks ago over Tozawa, via Titus O'Neil throwing in the towel, combined with leaving the champion and number one contender laying Monday on Raw, suddenly, Daivari became a featured player in the division.
Flash forward to Tuesday night's edition of 205 Live, with Neville seeking his revenge on Daivari.
After the previous night's edition of Monday Night Raw did an admirable job of blurring the line of faces and heels, this episode continued the trend as the two unquestioned heels with contrasting personas and tension between them had a believable battle.
That was shown in a backstage interview to kick off the show, when Neville told Daivari that he made a "critical error" in attacking "The King" following confronting Tozawa.
"Perhaps he thought that because I was missing for one solitary week, that all of a sudden, my kingdom was vulnerable to a hostile takeover."
Neville, who has added an evil chuckle to his already-exemplary mic work, continued to preview his match that night with Daivari.
"Tonight, Daivari learns the consequences. He learns the difference between picking apart an injured animal, the likes of Akira Tozawa, and standing toe-to-toe with the undeniable, irrefutable, King of the Cruiserweights."
Daivari entered the ring first for the match, and continued his fixation on 1968 Olympic gold medalist Iranian freestyle wrestler, Abdollah Movahed. Odd, but showing national pride is preferential to being another foreign heel who claims disrespect from the American crowd.
When the bell rang, he channeled his inner-Kevin Owens by immediately sliding to the outside, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Neville and eventually catching him and throwing him into the barrier. But The King avoiding Daviari's finishing Hammer Lock Lariat and took control.
Eventually, the action spilled back outside, and Neville was distracted with Tozawa. Daivari took advantage, shoved Neville into Tozawa, and got back into the ring for a countout victory.
This was the perfect way to keep Daivari in the title picture without damaging Neville or Tozawa. He's beaten both men, but he's done it without making either man pin or submit.
Yet, despite these sneaky victories, Daivari has also gotten the physical upper hand on both. Whether that's earned him a SummerSlam spot alongside Neville and Tozawa is uncertain, but the fact that we're wondering about it means that WWE has done its job keeping the title picture fresh despite a month and a half between title defenses, provided there aren't any prior to SummerSlam.
Hits and Misses
While Neville-Daivari led off the show, the main event featured another chapter in the conflict between Rich Swann and TJP, in the form of a tag match that also featuring Cedric Alexander and Tony Nese. Several thoughts:
-- The crowd seemed uninterested, despite it being a fairly good contest. There was even a dreaded CM Punk chant. If this match was in front of the Full Sail University crowd (site of the NXT tapings), a hotter crowd would give a trickle-down effect.
-- I like the Swann-Alexander combination. If there was an opportunity to mix the main Raw roster with the cruiserweights, it would be in giving the two of them tag team matches. Visualize them against The Revival.
Gotta love the tandem offense on display by @GottaGetSwann and @CedricAlexander! #205Live pic.twitter.com/8IUgB8ZjLN
- WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) July 26, 2017
-- I cringed when Nese responded to the knock of his intelligence backstage, but I loved Nese's trash talk accompanying his posing during his entrance. Giving eight reasons (his abs) that your (not my) girlfriend is looking at him (not you) makes this the most-interesting version of himself so far. (possible twitter add:
-- I'm also all in on the "Abs and Dabs" tag team name. Takes a huge lead over "The Hype Bros".
-- Despite usually loving The Brian Kendrick's promos, photoshopping Jack Gallagher into a clown just seemed juvenile.
Superlatives of the night
Move: Alexander/Swann's stereo dives to the outside were just beaten out by Nese wheelbarrowing Swann into the announce table.
Line: "The man's got dynamite in his hands and hydraulics in his legs." - Corey Graves, on Alexander.
Match: Swann/Alexander vs Perkins/Nese was much better than the crowd gave it credit for.