Last Week on 205 Live: Akira Tozawa saved The Brian Kendrick after Kendrick’s match with Jack Gallagher. TJP stole another Lucha House Party mask. Mustafa Ali and Tony Nese tore the damn house down.
Cold Open
Drake Maverick congratulates Mustafa Ali as the new number one contender. The title match will happen at Survivor Series. Then Drake runs down the card. Lucha House Party vs. TJP and Mike Kanellis and NXT UK’s Mark Andrews faces off against Cruiserweight champion Buddy Murphy.
And I’m Like… I really appreciate what 205 Live does. They quickly catch you up on the focal points from the previous weeks and let us know what will happen this week. It’s so weird that this is the only show that does this. The General Manager narration is just the cherry on top.
- They are in Manchester which explains Mark Andrews’ visit to the show.
Kalisto & Lince Dorado vs. TJP & Mike Kanellis
- TJP comes out with Gran Metalik’s mask on while commentary tells us that TJP is now known as The Mask Collector.
- LHP had a weird backstage promo with Penelope the Pinata.
- Lucha House Party attempt some fun flippy moves to impress the crowd but the crowd is more into trying to start some chants. The wrestlers aren’t connecting with the crowd and the crowd can’t even connect with themselves. About five different chants happened in the span of two minutes and none really caught on.
- Kanellis and TJP do some quick tags while keeping rest holds on Lince. The crowd claps a bit to support Dorado and Maria Kanellis does her best to get them louder. She covers her ears and the crowd gets louder.
- Kalisto gets the hot tag to an almost dead crowd. This match is pretty good too, but the non involvement from the crowd really hurts it.
- Kalisto barely got any offense in. Not even one minute after the hot tag, Kalisto was in a reverse bearhug with some crowd members trying to get a chant going. Deja f’n vu.
- TJP and Kanellis are bumping all over the ring for Lince Dorado but they are putting on this great performance in front of crickets.
- TJP gets out of a pin attempt by ripping off Lince Dorado’s mask.
- Lince wore two masks and even though TJP took a while to turn around and find out and Lince did the floss dance, it was still a smart finish.
- Maria Kanellis calmed TJP and Mike down saying “I got this”.
And I’m Like… 205 is no longer live and needs to be before Smackdown. The crowd would be more reactive and that is what this show needs. Lince and Kalisto are dancing and flossing and man they are really lame. I get that they are for 11 year olds, but still. Maria seems to be ready for some conniving.
Lio Rush comes to the Performance Center to talk ish to Cedric Alexander about Cedric’s returning to learn more and better his wrestling ability. Steve Corino is there too which helps so much. Lio is amazing at making me want to see him lose. I don’t enjoy him but I guess that is what makes a great heel.
Lio Rush vs. Josh Morrell
- Lio shocks me with his size. He walks out by himself and yet you can still tell that he is a full grown preemie.
- Josh Morrell gives off the vibe of “stoner fukboi”. Which was how I always felt towards Brad Maddox. Bro be shredding the gnar while taking dabs to the face.
- Morrell had three or four moves right when the bell rang. Then Lio Rush showed his aggressive side to make us think he is a threat to Cedric.
- Lio hits his Final Hour frog splash as some members of the crowd try to start some sort of chant that didn’t catch on.
And I’m Like… 205 is in showcase mode with Lio Rush. Cedric was undefeated for almost a full year, then lost twice against great competitors. It’s hard to think Lio has a chance at beating Alexander but this was a nice match to make the idea work. Lio Rush then cut a promo after the match because Lio with a mic is a heat seeking missile.
For the uninitiated we get a Mark Andrews video package. He “always has fun in the ring”. He is also from Wales. Fun fact, when I was a dumb teen I got a tattoo of a band from Wales. Not so fun fact, that tattoo was of the band Lostprophets, which if you google them, you’ll find out why that tattoo was a horrible decision.
Mustafa Ali cuts a promo while sitting outside of a building while his phone most likely sits on its pop socket. This promo was no “walking in the rain” promo.
Buddy Murphy vs. Mark Andrews
- Buddy Murphy is not only the champion of this division, but since being on 205 Live he has been incapable of having a bad match.
- During his entrance Buddy cuts a promo on Mustafa Ali. Doesn’t really make me think Andrews is gonna win this one.
- It’s weird that Andrews and Murphy have the same haircut. Buddy’s hair is just longer.
- The undercut is the mullet of the 10’s. I’m not saying that the undercut is as ugly, it’s just the mullet has a purpose in wrestling. The long hair to sell the moves and the short top so your vision is clear. The undercut is similar where the hair helps sell the move. It isn’t as practical in the way of keeping the hair out of your eyes though. Just more fashionable.
- The crowd is a bit more into this match than any other match on the show. The same group of dudes are trying to get some chant going again. All night.
- Andrews is using his quickness to gain advantage over Buddy Murphy but Murphy is too strong, smart and patient.
- Murphy isn’t picking a body part to dismantle on Andrews. Buddy is dissecting Andrews bit by bit. Working on the jaw, the back and chest and then moving to the extremities.
- Andrews is able to hit a poisonrana which was absolutely beautiful. The crowd couldn’t give a shit though. Really hurting this episode.
- Andrews is lighting Murphy the fuck up and there is no noise from the crowd to match that fire.
- Mark Andrews is flying all over the outside of the ring and putting his body on the line. Killing himself for this crowd. The nearfalls are happening but only the commentary team is buying it.
- A gross little botch happened when Andrews went for a sunset flip/code red attempt. Nigel did a great job of covering it by saying the sweat of Buddy Murphy’s back caused Andrews to slip.
- Like this match is really good. They got the crowd to applaud after a nearfall. It wasn’t sustained but it happened. After that nearfall the crowd started clapping in support of Andrews. Mark hits the stun-dog millionaire but that was his last bit of offense.
- After a countered shooting star press, Murphy hit a knee to the face of Andrews followed by Murphy’s Law for the win,.
And I’m Like… Great episode of wrestling. 205 Live just doesn’t have the characters or the fan base to get casual fans invested. This show would be so much better if the crowd was hotter (having the show before Smackdown) or if the show was filmed at Full Sail or something. It’s pretty sweet that the Cruiserweight title is being defended on Pay Per View again. It seems like only the tent pole events get the purple belt defenses. Which kind of makes the Cruiserweight championship seem more important.
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