WWE 205 Live results (Mar. 20, 2018): Drew Gulak vs. Mustafa Ali

Here's a place to check results and comment along with the latest airing of WWE 205 Live as it airs on WWE Network.

We’re all the way to the semi-finals of General Manager DRAKE MAVERICK’s Cruiserweight championship tournament, and Mar. 20’s show from Dallas will give us the final man who will battle for for belt at WrestleMania 34 on April 8!

Tonight’s match pits old rivals Drew Gulak and Mustafa Ali against one another. But a lot’s changed since Gulak tried to ground the high-flying Chicagoan last year...

Challenged by DM THE GM to drop his comedy stylings, Gulak has brutalized former partner Tony Nese and the UK’s Mark Andrews to get here. Ali survived hard-hitting affairs with Gentleman Jack Gallagher and NXT’s Buddy Murphy. The winner of tonight’s match will face Cedric Alexander on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Plus, there’s cruiserweight tag scene’s been heating up with Hideo Itami and Akira Tozawa defeating Lucha House Party last Tuesday, with things getting pretty testy between Itami and Lince Dorado in the aftermath. MAVERICK announced this afternoon those two will go one-on-one tonight.

We'll post match results and plot developments here. And this gives you Cagesiders a dedicated place to rave and/or bitch about whatever goes down on the WWE’s cruiserweight showcase - while it’s being broadcast!

Enjoy the show!

- Voiceover guy recaps last week’s great semi-final between Cedric Alexander and Roderick Strong over highlights of the win that’s sending Cedric to WrestleMania 34, and a preview of tonight’s Drew Gulak vs. Mustafa Ali semi which summarizes the history between the two men.

- Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness welcome us to Dallas, and say many of the same things covered in the pre-intro video

- Hideo Itami def. Lince Dorado via disqualification when Gran Metalik shoves Itami into the apron

Lucha House Party accompanies Dorado to the ring as we get caught up on Itami targeting Gran Metalik’s knee in his tag win with Akira Tozawa over Lince and Metalik, and Dorado’s issue with it. Tozawa walks Hideo to the ring.

Itami controls things in the early going, but Dorado escapes a head lock to dump Hideo to the floor. He feints a dive to taunt and frustrate Itami, and remains in control back in the ring. A hurricanrana sends Hideo to the outside again, and this time Lince flattens him with corkscrew over the top rope. He celebrates on the announce desk, and takes Itami down with a shoulder and a head scissors. Hideo rolls him up for two out of a rest hold, and after a knee to the mid-section, puts Dorado on the floor with a Yakuza Kick.

After following him down and slamming him into the apron, Itami taunts Dorado with strikes, but answers with a kick off an Irish whip and another off a springboard. Big lariat from Hideo after dodging another slingshot manuever, but Lince answers with a superkick. Itami is sent outside again where the bickering with Gran Metalik triggers the DQ. Tozawa and Kalisto have to keep their teammates apart again as the feud continues.

- Drew Gulak promo/video where he tells us he really does believe in a better 205 Live, but that DRAKE MAVERICK lit a fire under him when he called him a “goof”. A tournament is the purest form of competition, and his chance to set an example that his way is the right way. He doesn’t intend to lose tonight or next month.

- Confessional promo from Alexander. He calls last week the best of his career. It still hasn’t set in that he’ll be competing at ‘Mania in front of 70,000 people. The journey isn’t over, because if he doesn’t win on April 8...

- TJP def. Kenneth Johnson via submission with a knee bar

Nigel and Vic remind us Johnson was in the Cruiserweight Classic. Perkins gets a selfie promo saying he doesn’t care who wins at ‘Mania, he’s first in line for a title shot because he won the CWC and was the first champ.

All TJP until he catches a kick counter and wags his finger at Johnson, then eats another kick with the other foot. Perkins takes a little offense, but counters with a kick of his own, hits the Detonation Kick and then holds onto his submission finisher well after the referee calls for the break.

- Ali promo/video. He introduces himself from Chicago and says the difference between him and the rest of the division is heart. He talks about being a police officer outside Chicago, and wanted to be a cop to take action and change the world. Win or lose, he sees this a his change to change minds, and take fans who see his name and start to boo, and convince them to cheer. Whether or not he does that at ‘Mania? We’ll see.

- Dasha Fuentes interviews DRAKE MAVERICK. He’s livid that the Itami/Dorado match ended in chaos due to some hot-headed cruiserweights. Thank goodness for Tozawa and Kalisto. He wants to reward them, so next week they’ll take part in a Fatal 4Way with TJP and Buddy Murphy. MAVERICK leads into this by saying the new champ will need challengers after WrestleMania, so I think it’s a #1 contenders match?

- Mustafa Ali def. Drew Gulak via pinfall to advance to face Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Title at WrestleMania 34

Ali holds his own in a ground-based opening stretch while Alexander looks on from the back. Drew outpowers him to get an advantage, slamming Mustafa off a drop kick. He controls the next few moments, but Ali connects with a couple leaping kicks to answer back. Gulak gets separation off the ropes with a stiff back elbow, and follows that with a forearm to the back of the head. An attempt to set-up a moonsault or something similar by Mustafa gets caught and Gulak drops him straight back off his shoulders into a cover.

The official has to pull Drew off Ali as he stomps him down in the corner, but Mustafa fights back with open palm strikes. A facebuster opens the door for Ali to stomp out Gulak himself, and the ref has to pull him off. Mustafa questions whether or not he’s gone too far, and that delay allows Drew to send him face first into the turnbuckle when he comes back for him.

Ali slips out of a Dragon Sleeper, but Gulak lands a pair of stiff short-arm lariats. He goes to cover and gets drawn into a Koji Clutch! Drew almost taps, but gets his feet under the ropes and slides out to regroup. Ali climbs up top and someraults onto Gulak on the floor! He follows to land some strikes, then goes back up top for the 0-5-4, but Drew pulls him off and sends Mustafa face first into the apron!

At the count of nine, Ali makes it through the ropes, but Gulak kicks him right back to the floor with a boot. Drew throws him into the barricade and then brings him back in, but Ali slides out the other side to get a breather. When Gulak follows, Ali sends him into the desk, then leaps on him in the timekeepers area to land more blows. Mustafa heads back in, but goes right back out to clear the announce table to put Drew through it. Gulak fights him off, however, and back body drops him onto the floor.

Drew slides back in, but comes out to break the count, and then slides back out to send Ali FACE FIRST INTO THE POST! He tosses him into the timekeeper’s area then heads into the ring to await the count. Dramatic moments as Ali slowly gets to his feet, and BREAKS THE COUNT AT 9.9999!!!

Gulak gets the Dragon Sleeper, but has to break when Ali reaches the ropes. As he reaches for another hold, Ali connects with a big DDT. Mustafa manages to climb one more time, hit his finisher, and MUSTAFA ALI IS GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA!

- Fuentes interviews Ali in the ring and asks how it feels to be going to Mania. He says he’s not going, WE ARE GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA. His whole life, he’s had one mission - to prove it doesn’t matter what your name is, where you’re from or what color your skin is. It only matters what’s in your heart.