Last week on 205 Live: Mike Kanellis brought the power of love to 205 Live by interrupting a great match between Lio Rush and Lince Dorado. Tony Nese got the biggest win of his career against Cedric Alexander. It was a good episode but not much really happened.
Cold Open
Drake Maverick opens the show by telling us the landscape of 205 Live has changed. Mike and Maria Kanellis are roster members and Tony Nese beat former champion Cedric Alexander. That leads to a Fatal 5-Way match tonight with number one contender implications.
Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak
Remember when Drew used to come out with that weird turtleneck coat thing? Now it’s like a boxers robe and he has a gimmick too! Back then he just had this turtleneck coat thing.
When the match starts Akira gets the crowd pretty riled up. Vic Joseph tells us that Gulak stands by his rule of “no chanting in 205 Live”. When Vince McMahon came out at Smackdown 1000, I couldn’t help but think that Drew needs a sign that says “No Chants in Hell”.
Tozawa got control of the match very early and was able to play to the crowd while putting a whoppin on Gulak. Drew was able to catch Akira in during a crossbody attempt and that turned the tide of the match. Akira had exciting offense, Drew’s is meticulous and nasty.
While Gulak has Tozawa in a Gory Special, I couldn’t help but think that Drew has the best dad bod in the biz. He still has muscle tone but he got hella dad bod. That’s where I’m at in this match. Lots of submissions and rest holds. Drew even bit the ear of Akira Tozawa while applying a headlock. The ref didn’t see the nibble, so the live crowd missed that bit entirely.
Tozawa fought out of the headlock and went to the top rope. Tozawa took his time to climb the ropes and the crowd started an “AH, AH, AH” chant without any coaxing. That’s pretty sweet. Tozawa was setting up for the top rope senton until Jack Gallagher interfered. Shout out to no top rope fights in this match. Rare as hell.
Brian Kendrick came out to save Tozawa from a post match beat down. Kendrick fought off Gallagher and Gulak with a lot of proverbial fire. These tag matches that are sure to come in the following weeks look to be very fun.
Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy are talking to Drake Maverick in the back. Drake congratulates Buddy Murphy and Murphy said he’d be champion months ago if it wasn’t for Maverick. Nese and Murphy want to know how the show is gonna revolve around them because they are the only two guys to beat Cedric Alexander this year.
The Kanellis’.. Kanelli? Cut a promo about how they are the power couple of 205 Live. I can’t help but wonder about their child. Does she travel with them from show to show? Does she stay with family or nanny? Is there a daycare with Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan’s and Miz and Mayrse’s kids?
Hideo Itami cuts a promo on Mustafa Ali. Mustafa Ali cuts a promo on Hideo Itami. Except Ali’s was outside in the rain?
TJP vs. Lio Rush vs. Gran Metalik vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Tony Nese
TJP came out first holding the mask of Kalisto and commentary mentioned how TJP doesn’t care about lucha culture. Gran Metalik came out next and started jawing with TJP. Lio Rush came out with all sorts of swagger. Tony Nese counted his eight abs. Cedric Alexander came out last with commentary stating his last two matches have been loses.
The match starts with TJP going for the legs of Metalik, Lio bailing out of the ring and Cedric throwing Nese over the top rope. This match is gonna either be bonkers or a weird WWE multi-man match where only two dudes wrestle at a time.
Lio Rush and Cedric wrestle alone in the ring… so.. two dudes wrestle at the same time.
Rush vs. Alexander then Metalik vs. Lio Rush then Lio Rush vs. Tony Nese. Tony Nese hits a sequence of moves, then Rush hit the same sequence. Vic Joseph only put over Rush. TJP ended Rush’s celebration by putting a submission on Metalik AND Rush.
The match breaksdown after that and we have all men hitting moves on each other until Nese is the only man left standing. Nese plays to the crowd and gets covered in boos. Now we are back to the one-on-one bit. I feel like the reason the match is structured this way is so everyone in the crowd can learn the character and moveset of each wrestler. That way when shit hits the fan and it gets bonkers during the finish, the crowd is familiar enough with the wrestlers and match story that they will be more invested.
Lio Rush breaks up a pin attempt and the crowd chants his name. It’s probably because it’s in Philly and Lio broke in in Philly. It’s still weird to hear because Lio has never been a good guy.
A cool little pin/break up/pin/ break up bit happened and the crowd started clapping. “Let’s Go Lio” chants fill the arena and the match is starting to pick up. Everyone gets to land one or two big moves at a very quick pace.
So much is happening that the cameras can’t catch it all. People diving in and out of the ring, Irish whips that turn into dives. Just chaos. Things slow down just a little bit for the guys to get back into the ring. Lio Rush dominates the competition until Cedric Alexander hits a Lumbar Check on Rush. While Cedric went for the pin, Tony Nese schoolboyed Alexander for the win. Cedric went from undefeated all year to losing three straight matches. This was a fun show, not the best but still fun.
You can follow me on Twitter here.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter @BodySlamDotNet and on Instagram @BodySlamDotNet
Also check us out on Facebook and give us a like and share by clicking HERE.
