Last week on 205 Live: Akira Tozawa defeated The Brian Kendrick in front of a lifeless crowd, Hideo Itami destroyed some poor soul before being confronted by Mustafa Ali and in a week with ridiculously good wrestling everywhere on the planet; Kalisto and Buddy Murphy tore the damn house down with a barn burner of a match which was one by Buddy.
Cold Open
We don’t get our normal narration by Drake Maverick about the goings on 205. We start right off with the action. I wonder if Drake is giving up on 205 since he is now the manager of the Authors of Pain
Gran Metalik vs. Tony Nese
Before the match starts a backstage interviewer tries to interview Tony Nese who says he has a match in 30 seconds and can’t talk. Then Buddy Murphy starts talking for way more than 30 seconds. Basically this was used to hype Murphy vs. Alexander at Super Show Down. Which is the easiest match to telegraph. I look for Murphy to win in his home country and become champion.
This is a one-on-one match, meaning there will be no friends at ringside. Tony Nese comes out counting his abs. That to me is a horrible gimmick to have because you constantly need to have EIGHT abs. That’s absurd, imagine Nese when he is 60 at conventions showing you his abs.
We start off with some back and forth wrestling, some arm drags and flips and counters. It’s fast paced and entertaining so the crowd is already into it. The “Lucha” chant for Metalik is surprising because this is the first match on the show and the crowd usually doesn’t have this much energy.
Metalik goes for a hurricanrana on Nese on the outside but Tony catches The King of the Ropes and throws Metalik into the barricade. The commentators talk about how Nese has all the tools but doesn’t know how to assemble them. There is an intangible quality that Nese doesn’t seem to have.
After both men get in the ring it becomes a back and forth strike fest followed by counter after counter. The story seems to be that since it is one-on-one both men are equally talented. Then Metalik does a hurricanrana from the ring to the floor and both men land hard. The referee even went to the outside to check on the competitors.
Tony was able to rise to his feet first and throw Metalik in the ring. Nese hits a gorgeous 450 splash that got him a count of 2 and 3/4. Nese looks to have lost his temper and is doing all of his moves with more aggression than I’ve seen from him lately. That anger led to Nese losing focus and Metalik hitting a superkick for the count of two. The crowd is reacting to all the moves and when Metalik hits a top rope hurricanrana the crowd applauds. It was quite a moment, winning the crowd over enough for them to applaud the athleticism. Metalik is able to gain the victory with an elbow drop off of the middle of the top rope. That match was a lot more fun than I expected it to be.
The commentary team talks over what happened last week with Ali and Itami. We see that Itami was taking pleasure in the destruction of a local competitor.
Drake Maverick makes his first appearance of the night talking to the referee’s about keeping an eye out for Cedric Alexander. Drake says he will take care of Cedric if Alexander gets involved. Then Mustafa Ali shows up and tries to get back on 205 Live since being taken off the show for being hospitalized from exhaustion. Drake says that Ali can’t come back until Maverick says so. They talked a bit about Drake managing the AoP but Drake said “What I do on Monday nights is my business.”
Noam Dar vs. Brian Kelly
Dar’s resurgence as a babyface continues with this match. Dar seems to be quite a focal point of 205 now.
Before the bell rings Lio Rush’s music hits and the Man of the Hour saunters to the ring. Rush makes his way to the commentary table and only shakes the hand of the heel announcer Nigel McGuinness.
As the match starts Lio Rush talks about how he is amazing and hasn’t been booked. Not a word of what is happening in the ring. The camera even cuts to Lio multiple times during the match.
Vic Joseph is able to direct the attention to the match. Lio says that everyone is talking about how good Noam is and he’s just “trying to see what all the hoopla is.”
Dar hits a soccer kick to Kelly’s leg followed by a Nova Roller kick for the win. Lio smirks at Dar while looking over his sunglasses and Noam returns the eye contact. Seems like a bit of a rivalry is brewing.
Cedric comes out to the ring and calls out Drew Gulak. TJP answers the call though. TJP says he has been patient but now he wants to tap out Alexander for a title opportunity. Drake Maverick comes out to a pretty sweet theme song I’ve never heard. Then Drake makes a main event match of TJP vs. Alexander.
Cedric Alexander vs. TJP
It’s crazy that this main event match was made on the fly. Makes me wonder what the actual match was supposed to be.
What’s great about watching TJP wrestle is that he wrestles like a heel but is so dang entertaining. Yeah TJP will put a submission on to wear Alexander down, but not before he does some sort of flippy spinny thing. It makes the transitions between moves entertaining and easier to digest in the match. TJP uses the environment to his advantage by using the ring ropes while doing an abdominal stretch. He tangles Cedric in the ropes before doing the submission move.
The pace is quick and we go from the feeling out process, to the wear down bits, to the strike battle leading to near falls in the first five minutes. The match slows to a crawl when TJP does the Pentagon Jr. arm break move. Now TJP has zeroed in on Cedric’s arm to build a story in this match.
Cedric tries to capitalize on some missteps by TJP but that dang arm of Alexander’s is hurting and won’t let Cedric keep on his attack. It’s the left arm of Cedric so now Alexander is doing most of his moves with just his right hand. Alexander then hits a suplex gutbuster but TJP tried to turn his body in mid air and lands hip first on Cedric’s knee.
TJP is able to kick out and then reverse a Lumbar Check with a double wrist lock that Alexander counters with a Michinoku Driver for two. The crowd bought that near fall and let out an audible gasp at the nearfall.
A strike battle breaks out again that is less yay/boo and more like a legit fight. Both men attempt and counter their finishers until Alexander comes out on top with a Lumbar Check for the win.
Drew Gulak’s music hits and 205 Live’s most complete wrestler and character comes out. Gulak congratulates Alexander but then accepts Cedric’s earlier challenge. Alexander is ready to wrestle and Gulak slowly walks to the ring. Gallagher attacks Cedric from behind. Once Cedric is able to throw Jack out of the ring Gulak is able to slip in the ring and get Alexander in the Gulock until Alexander passes out as the show closes out.
This was a quick episode with lots of good wrestling and story. It’s amazing for how little this roster is, how much each performer can get out of each show and feud. 205 Live is a real fun show when they get everything right. Tonight was one of those nights.
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