Detailed 205 Live Main Event Breakdown: “I Forfeit” Match

Tonight’s 205 Live was promoted to feature the first ever “I Forfeit” match, which is apparently just an “I Quit” match with a little bit more class. Jack Gallagher and Ariya Daivari have been feuding recently and many would suppose that this match would be the blow off to their rivalry. Both men walked to the ring in their regular fashion as they prepared themselves for this irregular contest.

Gentleman Jack started things off with a stiff forearm followed by another forearm. Ariya Daivari applied a headlock and sent Jack into the ropes, but Jack came back with the shoulder tackle. Gallagher ultimately took control again and attempted to apply a surfboard submission, but Daivari didn’t relinquish his arms so Gallagher simply stomped on his knees. That always looks painful.

Daivari said that he didn’t forfeit. Gallagher retrieved his umbrella but Ariya took it from him and broke it over his knee; he then threw the umbrella down the entrance ramp. The two bounced off the ropes for a bit until Gentleman Jack pounced on Daivari and started to punish his foe’s forehead with fists. Daivari and Gallagher ended up on the apron where Gallagher took a punishing sidewalk slam onto the hardest part of the ring.

Daivari wrapped Gallagher in the ropes for a submission move and Gallagher refused to forfeit twice. Daivari tossed Gallagher out of the ring and performed a neckbreaker on the outside floor. Daivari took the microphone and said that Gallagher “needs to quit just like all of the losers in the building,” and Gallagher denied another forfeit. The Memphis crowd began to furiously boo Daivari after he made that comment about them.

Ariya threw Gallagher into the barrier, picked him up, and sent him into the barrier on the opposite side of the ring. The punishment on Gallagher continued with a bodyslam on the outside and Jack Gallagher refused to forfeit once again.

The two made it back in the ring and Ariya Daivari continued his beat down. He began pulling at Gallagher’s face as he fishhooked his nostrils and pulled his jaw open. Daivari placed his knee on Gallagher’s face and began applying pressure on the bridge of Gallagher’s nose. Gallagher tried to fight back with some right hands but Daivari sent him back down to the canvas.

Daivari dragged Gallagher to the steel ring post and wrapped him around it in a submission hold but Jack refused to forfeit. Daivari kept up the offense in the ring for a moment and eventually sent Gallagher plummeting to the outside once again. Daivari retrieved his turban from the timekeeper’s area and after he sent Gallagher into the announce table for good measure, he threw him back in the ring.

Daivari tied his turban around Gallagher’s wrist as he kept ahold of the other end and executed a couple of punishing short clotheslines. Daivari tied both of Gallagher’s arms behind his back leaving his head completely exposed. Daivari asked Gallagher to forfeit one more time and Gallagher simply replied: “you’re a scoundrel.”

Gallagher began to headbutt Diavari and sent him outside of the ring. Gallagher used his flexibility to pull his tied arms underneath him and was able to escape the confines of the makeshift shackles. Jack retrieved another umbrella from under the ring and made his way toward Daivari who had walked up the entrance ramp at that point. Daivari sent Gallagher into the entrance set and performed a stiff short arm clothesline on Gallagher. Gallagher refused to forfeit once again.

Daivari looked like he was setting up for a piledriver-esque move on Gallagher but was catapulted into the entrance set in a move reversal. Gallagher then began using his umbrella to smash Daivari over the back several times as Daivari stumbled toward the ring.

When Gallagher got to the ring he was greeted by a double ax handle from Daivari but Gallagher turned it around sent Ariya outside of the ring once more. Gallagher walked over to Corey Graves, took off his headset, and said into the microphone “as an extraordinary gentleman, you should move.” Gallagher then sent Daivari plummeting over the announce table. Daivari refused to forfeit once again.

Daivari turned things around for himself for a moment but Gallagher ended up reversing an offensive maneuver into a backdrop giving him the opportunity to dropkick Daivari into the barrier.

Gallagher retrieved a third umbrella stashed next to the timekeeper’s booth. It looks like he is always prepared for rain. Gallagher got on the microphone and offered Daivari the courtesy of forfeiting now or he would thrash him to the end of his life to which Daivari took the microphone and said “OK.” In the middle of saying “I forfeit,” Daivari drove the microphone into Gallagher’s throat and applied a cobra clutch on Jack, but Gentleman Jack Gallagher refused to forfeit.

Gallagher was able to reach his umbrella and beat Daivari with it causing Ariya to remove the submission hold. Daivari came at Jack with a clothesline and Gallagher punished him with the umbrella once more. Gallagher then used the umbrella as leverage in a finishing choke submission and Daivari finally said: “I forfeit.”

This was a great main event for 205 Live and hopefully a sign of great things to come for the weekly WWE Network original program.