WWE 205 Live Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from April 24

The Greatest Royal Rumble airs this Friday on WWE Network from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. WWE has been building toward this event since WrestleMania 34 ended, but it took its time booking one of the matches.

Every champion was booked weeks in advance except for Cedric Alexander, but that was remedied this week when 205 Live featured a Gauntlet match to find his challenger. 

The changes WWE has made to the program in recent months have made it much better, but the brand still has a lot of work to do before the entire WWE Universe takes it seriously.

We never see the division featured on Raw anymore, and the Cruiserweight Championship matches tend to end up on the pre-show before the actual pay-per-view. More needs to be done if the company wants the brand to succeed.

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode of 205 Live. 

Mustafa Ali vs. TJP

Credit: WWE.com

TJP choking Mustafa Ali with his boot.

The Gauntlet match started with TJP taking on Mustafa Ali. This is one of the few combinations we haven't seen dozens of times before, and it was nice to start with something fresh.

The first cruiserweight champion played up his heel persona to perfection. Both men are quicker than a hiccup, so they put on a great show during their portion of the match. 

TJP focused more on his ground game in this bout by putting Ali in a variety of different submissions. It was nice to see him show off his technical prowess, but it led to the crowd being a little too quiet.

Ali was able to get the fans back into the match, especially when he started using some of his more exciting signature maneuvers. 

Ali got the win with the 054, but everything TJP did took a toll on his knee. The injured limb was an immediate target for Ali's next opponent, Drew Gulak. 

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights

• The whole reason for this match was Buddy Murphy failing to make weight last week. They never showed if he was able to cut the pounds by this week.
• TJP's dabbing makes so much more sense when he's a heel. It's an annoying fad that made it hard to like him as a babyface. 
• Throwing to an interview in the middle of a match is always a weird decision. It's not like you see UFC fighters talking while two other people are in the Octagon beating the snot out of each other. It takes the viewer out of the match.

Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak

Ali and Gulak have been feuding on and off since both men joined the division, so they may know each other inside the ring better than anyone else in the locker room.

Gulak immediately set his sights on Ali's bad leg, but Ali wasn't about to go down without a fight. He attempted to hit a dropkick from the middle rope, but he was brought down into a Boston crab by the submission specialist.

Ali perfectly played the determined hero who refused to give up, but Gulak's various single-leg submissions put him through the wringer. Even with the bad knee, Ali continued to go to the top rope whenever he could.

He tried to hit the 054, but Gulak shoved him off the top rope and he hit the steps hard on the way down. Gulak put him in the Gulock, and the ref was forced to call for the bell when Ali was unable to respond. 

Not only was the finish entertaining, it did more to make Gulak look like a vicious competitor than any of his other matches. 

Grade: B

Notes and Highlights

• Gulak asking Ali if he was hurt before the match with a smile on his face was hilarious.
• It will be interesting to see how Gulak works as a babyface if WWE ever decides to turn him. He is a great heel, but he might connect with the WWE Universe as a good guy, too.
• What is WWE's new obsession with showing its own commercials in the middle of matches?
• Does anyone else think a Gulak vs. Daniel Bryan match would be amazing?
• The way Gulak sold the tornado DDT was incredible.

Tony Nese vs. Drew Gulak

The smile was wiped off of Gulak's face when he realized his former friend, Tony Nese, was going to be his next opponent.

Nese skipped his usual routine of counting his abs and ran right to the ring so he could go after the submission specialist.

The Premier Athlete not only used his power, he also employed several risky moves to show off his agility and rub it in the face of the man who ran an anti-high-flying campaign for months.

If this is the start of a babyface run for Nese, it's going great. His offense is tailor-made for being a hero, especially his springboard moonsault.

Tony Abs hit his finisher, but he refused to cover Gulak. He tried to hit the running knee a second time, but the submission specialist countered with the Gulock to get the win. 

Grade: B

Notes and Highlights

• Nese has one of the loudest knife-hand chops in WWE today. 
• Gulak was thrown into and over the announce table in quick succession.
• Despite the poor way WWE has told stories on 205 Live for the past two years, having Superstars such as Nese and Gulak with a lot of history adds some depth to the show. 
• The look of disappointment on Nese's face when he lost was so convincing. 

Kalisto vs. Drew Gulak

The final competitor in the match was Kalisto, and he should have had an easy match in front of him after Gulak had already faced Ali and Nese in hard-fought contests.

Gulak employed a classic heel tactic by refusing to enter the ring so he could recover from the vicious assault he suffered at the hands of Nese.

Kalisto took a chance and attempted to hit a suicide dive, but Gulak saw it coming and threw him into the barricade while the luchador was flying through the air.

The high-flyer managed to recover and hit his patented Salida Del Sol to pick up the win. Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado joined him for the celebration.

While Kalisto vs. Alexander will be fantastic, it would have been nice to see Gulak get the win to build him up into a real contender. His performance throughout all three of his bouts was the highlight of the night. 

Grade: C+

Notes and Highlights

• Hideo Itami should have been part of this Gauntlet match. He needs more exposure to the WWE Universe. 
• Cedric Alexander could have been on commentary for the Gauntlet match. It would have made more sense than having him be interviewed in the middle of one of the bouts.
• Nese was shown refusing to answer any of Dasha Fuentes' questions backstage.