Last week on 205 Live: Oney Lorcan had his debut match as an official member of the 205 Live roster. Lorcan picked up the win over former cruiserweight champion Kalisto. Mike Kanellis lost to Akira Tozawa ending his one week win streak. Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy prepared for their Wrestlemania match.
At Wrestlemania, Tony Nese defeated Buddy Murphy in the first match of the kick off show. Because 205 Live doesn’t get any damn respect.
Cold Open
A recap of the Wrestlemania Kickoff match. Buddy Murphy came out with a headband and robe because it’s Mania and he needed to go all out. Tony Nese’s promos leading up the event played over footage of Nese winning the belt. Still can’t believe it. I just don’t get how Nese connects to the audience with no gimmick or real personality.
Humberto Carrillo vs. Gentleman Jack Gallagher w/ Drew Gulak
- Gulak and Gallagher are having this match so they can teach Humberto a lesson. They want him to know that going off the top rope will not win matches.
- Humberto’s got some crazy entrance gear. He has like a coat for only his legs. I’ve never seen anything like it.
- Aiden English and Drew Gulak are arguing on commentary about Humberto’s future.
- In the ring Carrillo and Jack are having a catch as catch can opening. Humberto is out wrestling Jack and doing some standing flips.
- The first time Carrillo goes for a top rope move, Gallagher is able to counter and gain an advantage.
- Not sure if it’s the baby blues or what but Gallagher has an underrated package. Definitely should be in the conversation with Finn’s.
- Gallagher has been in complete control of the match since Carrillo’s top rope attempt.
- English is asking Gulak what Carrillo has to do please Gulak. Drew already says he respects Humberto, so why is Drew so hard on Humberto for taking some of the advice. Drew is adamant that Humberto needs to not rely on high flying, Drew is here to add longevity to Carrillo’s career.
- Gallagher may be against high flying, but he sure knows how to catch high flyers. Underrated base man.
- Humberto gets distracted by Drew, as Gulak is yelling at Humberto to pay attention to the match, Carrillo then hits a top rope missile dropkick and that begins to turn the tide of the match.
- Carrillo is about to win with a top rope move until Gulak pushes him off the top rope. Humberto wins by disqualification.
- Gulak goes to attack Humberto some more and Gallagher saves Carrillo by headbutting Gulak.
And I’m Like… This match is one of the reasons I love 205 Live. The matches accent the storyline. The commentary accents the match and usually the finish ties everything together. The athleticism and cool movez are just a cherry on top. Now we have a story that’s been building for months, reach another level. The story moves along through promo’s and matches and they all make sense. Great shit!
Buddy Murphy cuts a backstage promo about how Tony Nese stopped the unstoppable and Buddy is going out tonight to prove he is the greatest cruiserweight of all time.
Tony Nese cuts a promo about how he achieved his boyhood dream. Tony says he is a fighting champion and Buddy will not win.
Oney Lorcan and Cedric Alexander exchange some words in front of Drake Maverick, setting up a match for next week.
Wrestlemania Rewind
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Tony Nese (c) vs. Buddy Murphy
- Buddy Murphy doesn’t have his robe and headband like he did at Mania. That always baffles me, why spend all this money on special gear and only wear it once. Do that Tiffany Haddish shit, she bought an expensive dress and wore it to SO many things. Get your money’s worth Buddy!
- Tony Nese as champion is something I haven’t fully figured out. The crowd doesn’t react that much to him, he is a great wrestler, but there is no difference between his heel or babyface persona outside of not counting his abs. I’m sure the man is a great independent contractor and deserves a run with the belt, I just don’t know about the character.
- How people look at the 80’s and early 90’s mullet in wrestling, they will do the same with this generations undercut.
- Tony Nese’s nameplates just say “NESE”. I didn’t even realize until now that Tony doesn’t have any symbol or catchphrase that most people have too. It really blows my mind. He doesn’t even have the “no gimmicks needed” gimmick.
- Buddy Murphy falls down after jumping over Nese, turns out he “hurt” his right knee.
- It’s all a plan though because he is playing possum or opossum if you’re nasty. Tony has lost his advantage in the match and the second act is starting.
- They battle over the commentator’s table and the commentary team is scrambling to get their headsets working. This has turned into quite a fight.
- Once they get into the ring there is a strike battle. The crowd is a little more active than normal, which is really saying something cause this is the last show of the crazy long weekend. Most of these fans have to be exhausted.
- Nese is getting angry at Murphy and fires up, dude throwing Murphy all around the ringside area. Nese throws Murphy over the announce table, exactly the same way Buddy threw Tony.
- Nese and Murphy move the fight to the top turnbuckle because 205 gon 205.
- Tony is able to win the battle and hit a beautiful triangle moonsault from the apron onto a Buddy Murphy who was dangling off of the middle rope.
- The crowd starts a “this is wrestling” chant. I’m thinking they are so loopy, they just needed to chant that to remind themselves. Also, because the match is good.
- Another battle on the top rope and this time Buddy wins the altercation.
- Buddy goes for his v-trigger knee and Nese is able to counter it. The one thing Nese knows about is knees.
- Buddy Murphy tries to retaliate by hitting a German suplex on the apron, another strike battle ensues and Murphy ends up kneeing Nese in the face on the apron.
- Buddy went to powerbomb Nese but Tony can’t even stand up. Buddy just stands there. The ref goes in the ring to start counting. Buddy knows he doesn’t win the championship if he wins by count out. So Murphy breaks the count and that gives Tony enough time to back drop Murphy onto the announce table.
- Tony almost wins by count out but Murphy gets in at nine. The crowd is fully invested in this match now.
- ANOTHER strike battle happens and Murphy gets the best of Nese, almost winning the match on a nearfall.
- The crowd is chanting “205” after Nese repeatedly kicks out of big time moves.
- Nese hits a poisoned-rana and follows that up with two Running Nese’s. Tony gets the win.
And I’m Like… A very well wrestled match. There wasn’t much in terms of story since neither man have a true “character” and the story going into the match was “these guys are friends but now they are not.” All of that aside, these dudes did a tremendous job. For them to get a crowd that has sat through almost an entire day’s worth of combined wrestling over the weekend to cheer is magic.
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