Last week on 205 Live: Mike Kanellis’ 205 Live career was on the line because of his losing streak. Mike finally eeked out a win with help from Maria, furthering the story that Mike is so passionate for Maria, he doesn’t think he is worthy of her love. Winning with her help was great, but it doesn’t prove Mike’s worth in his own eyes. Tony Nese surprised the world by pinning Cedric Alexander in a banger of a match. Tony earned his shot to face former friend Buddy Murphy at Wrestlemania for the Crusierweight championship.
Cold Open
A video package of Tony Nese’s victory over Cedric Alexander in the finals of The Buddy Murphy Classic. The end of the video shows Buddy Murphy betraying his friendship with Tony Nese by attacking Tony after the match. Buddy seems to think of Tony as an actual threat. Hopefully this will give Tony SOME kind of character.
The Lucha House Party vs. Humberto Carrillo, Drew Gulak and Jack Gallagher
- Aiden English begins commentary by fawning over the looks of Humberto Carrillo. It’s a funny bit that Aiden has been doing since Carrillo debuted.
- The storyline here is, that since Humberto’s debut on 205 Live, Drew and Jack have been trying to court Carrillo to their ways of wrestling. Their personalities make it so you don’t think Drew and Jack are genuine in their support for Carrillo. They are somewhat of the bullies of the division, and they have burnt almost the entire roster. So it would make sense for them trying to make friends with the new guy.
- Kalisto gets on the mic and tries to hype up the crowd. I feel like 205 is giving Kalisto mic time so he will get better at it. Because the mic skills of the whole House Party is cringe inducing.
- Great Metalik tries to incorporate Penelope the pinata by jumping off the top rope with it. Doesn’t use it at all, just jumps with it.
- The Lucha House Party have isolated Gulak and are working him over in their corner while making quick tags. Gallagher was able to trip up Lince Dorado and that was enough to turn the tide of the match.
- Gallagher tags in in his powder blue trunks and I can’t help but notice the little wedgie Jack has had all match. It’s quite humors how his little butt looks.
- Jack tries to remove Metalik’s mask and the second act of the match is really kicking in. Jack stands with his back to the hard camera so itty bitty butt crack is mad visible.
- Humberto is watching Drew and Jack mercilessly beat up Metalik. Using heel tactics and cheating behind the referee’s back. Commentary brings up how Humbertor’s facial reactions are showing that he is apprehensive to this behavior and doesn’t seem to enjoy how Gallagher and Gulak wrestle.
- Humberto tags in and wrestles more aggressively but doesn’t do much in the way of character wrestling. Aiden points out how Humberto has a conscious.
- Hot tag happens to take us into act three and Kalisto is really taking it to Humberto.
- Stereo flips to the outside by LHP and the crowd barely reacts. Kalisto is trying hard to get the “lucha” chant over but no one is feeling it. It’s probably because this match was after the emotional roller coaster of the tag gauntlet match that got Kofi to Wrestlemania.
- A convoluted tower of doom spot happened that the ref lost all control of. He was trying to count to five, threatening disqualification, except the ref counted to four, around three times.
- After the tower of doom, Lince Dorado hit a shooting star press and soon every competitor was on the mat. Kalisto and Humberto end up being the last two in the ring. Carrillo attempts to jump off the top rope to win the match and Gulak yells at him for it.
- Gulak pulls Humberto off the top rope, leading to a disagreement. Kalisto uses the miscommunication to pick up the win.
And I’m Like… I know I talked about Gallagher’s trunks, but I didn’t talk about how great his facial expressions are. Every close up on Jack shows Gallagher going full GIF face. Every part of his face is extreme and its wonderful. LHP don’t really do it for me, but they are great set pieces when telling a story. Humberto and Gulak argue in the ring about the match ending, furthering their story.
Mike and Maria are interviewed about their win last week. Maria says she doesn’t doubt Mike’s skills. Kayla Braxton says Maria was the reason Mike won. Kanellis took the mic and really defended himself in how he was the one who won the match. Drake Maverick shows up to say Mike used his wife as a distraction. It’s gonna be a one-on-one with manager match next week with Kanellis and Maria vs. Akira and Brian Kendrick.
Buddy Murphy cuts a promo about how he hit Nese in the face to wake him up. Buddy says he is ten steps ahead of Tony. Buddy was going on and on about how he is great. Tony is seen in the background behind Buddy, then Nese attacks Murphy.
This is tremendous news! 205 Live has the thinnest roster, meaning that the roster gets the most ring time. That means I get to see Oney wrestle A LOT. I hope that doesn’t mean he and Danny Burch are no longer a tag team.
Ariya Daivari vs. Cedric Alexander
- Oney Lorcan’s music plays before the match begins. A lot of the crowd are holding up one finger in support with Oney. I guess Lorcan will be on commentary, except he pulls the chair closer to the ring to just sit and watch this match. Oney has a different sort of presence, I love it.
- I’m still getting used to Ariya’s character and wrestling gear. Ariya is like Eminem on Superman. When Eminem says “when we fucked I refused to take my jewelry off”, which to be honest, always confused me. I think having intercourse with jewelry on would be bothersome. Ariya wrestles with his gold chain on, and it’s like why? He also wrestles in pants with a normal belt and dress shoes. Like dude!! Why do you choose to be super uncomfortable when you wrestle? You aren’t a character from Def Jam fighting games, you know?
- I guess it doesn’t bother Daivari much because after Cedric is distracted by Oney Lorcan sitting in a chair, Daivari is able to take control of the match.
- As I’m thinking about Ariya’s attire again, and how it actually stands out in comparison to the other 205 gear. Vic Joseph talks about how hard it is to stand out on 205 Live.
- Daivari has an underrated superkick. The superkick started a great flurry of kicks, then a twisting reverse DDT. Ariya first applied a full nelson but turned it into a reverse DDT, which was weird.
- Cedric hits his comeback shortly after and Aiden mentions that once Cedric gets going, he is very hard to stop. Aiden is such a huge addition to this commentary. He is able to articulate the story of the match and character’s very well and makes everything happening seem logical. English has a very bright future in commentary I feel.
- Ariya and Cedric were about to battle on the top rope, so I was ready to talk about the obligatory top rope fight spot on 205 Live. Then Daivari just hits a cross arm bomb on Cedric and changed the whole game. This could be the first match since I’ve been reviewing 205 that doesn’t have a top rope fight spot.
- A strike battle ensues and Cedric rips Daivari’s shirt apart to hit some good chops. Daivari catches a back elbow and Cedric legit just falls on top of Ariya. Accidently getting a nearfall.
- Both men pick up the pace a bit and start trading nearfalls.
- They keep battling to the outside, right in front of Oney Lorcan. Cedric grabs the table to stand up and knocks Oney’s jacket off the announce table. Oney LOSES HIS SHIT and just yells at Cedric. Alexander tries to focus on the match but is distracted long enough for Ariya to get the pinfall.
And I’m Like… Good match and all, and great roster addition. Weird finish though. 205 Live is known for it’s clean finishes and both of their matches had a distraction finish. I’m torn on it, because both of the distractions fed into storylines. After the match Oney went in on Cedric and destroyed him. Oney’s facial hair reminds me of Christian Bale in the Prestige.
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