By John Moore, Prowrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired Live May 29, 2018 in Raleigh, North Carolina at The PNC Arena
The intro teaser for this week’s WWE 205 Live focused on the Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy feud which is going to lead to the main event of this episode in Cedric’s hometown for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. It was a combination of all of the video packages leading up to this match. The 205 Live intro theme aired…
Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson checked in on commentary. Vic Joseph said his contractually obligated line of calling 205 Live “The Most Exciting Hour on Television”. Joseph also noted that the WWE Cruserweight Championship hasn’t been defended on WWE 205 Live since October 2017. Nigem McGuinness hyped up Cedric Alexander defending his title in front of friends and family while saying that Buddy Murphy is the most dominant challenger that Alexander has faced to date. The Brian Kendrick’s theme played as Kendrick and Gallagher made their entrance. Drew Gulak was on the commentary table to watch Kendrick and Gallagher’s match against Lucha House Party. The Lucha House Party now have their wooden noisemakers in their video wall. The show cut to a LHP selfie promo. Gran Metalik now has a mouth hole cut in his mask. They all wore their Kid and Play themed shirts and they said that Jack Gallagher and Brian Kendrick were “loco”. Kalisto claimed they were the top team in 205 Live. Each man in the trio then said one word each from the phrase “Lucha…house…party…” several times…
John’s Thoughts: Yes, they are a bit goofy and need a bit of personality work, but I do like the energy this trio is showing, especially from Kalisto. Kalisto seems reinvigorated
1. “Lucha House Party” Kalisto and Lince Dorado (w/Gran Metalik) vs. The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher. Drew Gulak handed out his pamphlet for a better 205 Live. Joseph asked Gulak why he was passing out propoganda. Gulak said it was “literature”. Kendrick had Dorado in a hammerlock early on. Gulak and Watson bickered a bit. Dorado ran on the chest of Kendrick and hit him with a dropkick. Kalisto tagged in and hit a splash from the shoulders of Dorado on Kendrick. Kendrick and Dorado traded quick tags to keep the pressure on Kendrick. Gallagher managed to tag in dominated Dorado after a forearm to the back of Dorado’s head. Gallagher worked on Dorado for a sequence.
Kalisto tagged in and hit Gallagher with a seated senton. Kalisto hit a huracanrana and then led the crowd in his lucha thing. Gallagher escaped a tornado DDT and got a blind tag to Kendrick which allowed Kendrick to blindside Kalisto. Kendrick punched on Kalisto from the Camel Clutch position. Gallagher and Kendrick traded quick tags to cut the ring in half for Kalisto. Kalisto used his boot to shove away Kendrick so he could give Dorado the hot tag. Dorado hit Kendrick with a huracanrana leading to a nearfall. Dorado hit Kendrick with the Lethal Injection and then he took out Kendrick on the outside with a suicide dive. While the ref was distracted, Drew Gulak crotched Dorado on the top rope. Kendrick locked the Captain’s Hook on Dorado for the victory.
The Brian Kendrick and Lince Dorado defeated Lucha House Party via submission in 7:12.
Drew Gulak gave Kendrick and Gallagher handshakes as Vic Joseph recapped Drew Gulak’s interference.
John’s Thoughts: The match was fine for what it was and it’s at least more meaningful than the dark days of 205 Live where most matches were a waste of time. The problem here is Kendrick and Gallagher have no steam as a tag team and they’ve haven’t done much to improve their credibility. They also get minimal mic time when they excel in backstage promos (the duo was actually good in their limited commentary guest appearance recently). Gulak was solid on commentary, but I hope he doesn’t revert back to the goofball character especially since WWE has done a good job turning him into the dominant force on 205 Live. I also feel like Gallagher and kendrick are dragging down Gulak rather than Gulak elevating them.
Nigel McGuinness and Vic Joseph recapped Hideo Itami defeating Akira Tozawa recently. They showed Itami tweeting out the words “I DESERVE RESPECT”. Buddy Murphy and Cedric Alexander were shown backstage warming up for their upcoming match… [C]
In a funny side note, the Raw commercial was using the Pentagon Jr’s entrance music from Impact Wrestling (Cero Miedo? Nah, Impact just uses royalty free music instead of Dale Oliver these days). Vic Joseph talked about how Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy was going to be one of the most historic matches in 205 Live history. 205 Live then showed selfie promos from Mustafa Ali and Tony Nese where they made babyface and heel predictions for the upcoming title match. Dasha Fuentes interviewed Drake Maverick about his thoughts on the upcoming title match and she noted that Xavier Woods and Charlotte Flair already shared some thoughts. Maverick said he is excited for the main event and everyone is going to be at the edge of their seat. Dasha said not everyone was excited because TJP sent out a “negative tweet”. Maverick said he’s not going to play favorites and if people want to talk to him they can just knock on his door. Maverick said to get what you want, you have to prove it in the ring. Maverick used Alexander and Murphy as examples. Maverick said he’ll support whoever becomes Cruiserweight Champion. He then told everyone to enjoy the match with a big fight feel…
John’s Thoughts: It’s cool seeing the former Rockstar Spud in WWE and I’m glad he’s getting a chance to show that he is strong at many facets. Even his glaring weakness, his skinny physique, works to his advantage as an underdog. His best strength is his hype voice and he can make any match better with a promo. It looks like he is going to feud with TJ Perkins. This might just be your usual authority figure vs. wrestler feud where Maverick finds a surrogate, but it would be great to see Maverick put on the ring boots again.
Vic Joseph pointed out that Alexander’s mother and brother were in attendance. Cedric Alexander finally ditched the Black Panther ring gear and was now wearing a black Spiderman themed gear. Greg Hamilton handled the formal ring introductions…
2. Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Charles Robinson was the referee for the match. Murphy faked a handshake with Alexander to play him early on. Murphy dominated the next sequence with a powerful wristlock. Alexander escaped with a headscissors. Both men had a stalemate in the next sequence. Murphy blocked a huracanrana with a cartwheel. Alexander blocked a huracanrana with a handstand. Alexander sent Murphy outside and faked out a suicide dive to intimidate Murphy. Murphy gained control by shoving Alexander in the corner. Alexander escaped by kicking Murphy off the apron after a roundhouse and back elbow. Murphy was baseball slid into the announce table. Murphy was sent over the table with a Suicide Dive from Alexander.
Murphy tripped Alexander off the table while he was soaking in hometown cheers. Murphy followed up with an apron backbreaker and by tossing Alexander into the ring barricade. Murphy maintained the same aggression in the ring with serious boots and tossing Cedric around the ring. Nigel pointed out that Murphy was trying to handicap the champion by focusing on his lower back. Alexander managed to land a clean back kick while also selling the lower back. Murphy caught Alexander with a jumping single leg dropkick. Murphy caught Alexander with a meteora to the back of the head. Alexander pulled out a desperation superkick to get a bit of breathing room. Murphy tried to land palm strikes but Alexander created some distance and hit a back elbow.
Alexander hit Murphy with a clean Tope Con Hilo to the outside while Murphy was out there. Alexander hit Murphy with his springboard lariat for a nearfall. A decent “this is awesome” chant ensued. Alexander was kicked to the outside. Murphy hit his own Tope Con Hilo on the opposite side while also hitting himself on the announce table just a bit. Murphy was fine. Alexander caught Murphy with a quick Michinoku Driver in the center of the ring. Murphy used his dead weight to block The Lumbar Check. Murphy used his feet to set up a Muay Thai knee on Alexander. Murphy hit Alexander with a running Suplex for a nearfall.
Alexander and Murphy made it to the hard camera apron. Alexander blocked the running suplex and hit a step up enzuigiri. Alexander hit an innovative springboard Flatliner on Murphy on top of the apron. Both men were knocked out on the outside. Both men beat the ten count. Murphy and Alexander traded fatigued punches. Murphy reversed the Neuralizer into a Burning Hammer. Alexander and Murphy wailed at each other with punches. Murphy used some well placed blocks to set up Close Quarters Combat. Alexander hit a slice kick. Brawling ensued. Murphy set some distance and nailed Alexander with a quick clinch knee.
Vic Joseph said “This is why 205 Live is the most exciting hour in television”. Murphy went for Murphy’s Law but Alexander reversed into a victory roll. Murphy hit a power bomb but Alexander used a handstand to spring out. Murphy hit another knee for another nearfall. Alexander blocked a whip with a Neuralizer. Alexander hit Murphy with a second Neuralizer and then a Lumbar Check for the win.
Cedric Alexander defeated Buddy Murphy via pinfall in 20:05.
After the match, the camera focused on some guy who looks a lot like Jonny Fairplay in the crowd clapping to Cedric’s win (I did confirm that this was in fact Fairplay via his twitter pic and Pineapple haircut). The highlights focused on Nigel’s story of Murphy attacking the lower back of Alexander to prevent suplex moves like the Lumbar Check. They then showed the finishing sequence where Alexander utilized multiple Neuralizer kicks to secure the victory. Cedric went to hug two people at ringside. The lady said “I love you” so I’ll assume they were his mother and brother…
John’s Thoughts: Wow. That went 20 minutes. It was 20 minutes that felt more like 10, which is a good thing. The match told several stories throughout. Alexander is usually great at telling stories in the ring. Murphy has been the MVP of the “new” 205 Live (whereas in my opinion, I would argue that Drew Gulak has been the cumulative MVP of both the bad and good version of the show). Murphy was dead in the water after he and Blake became afterthoughts due to the ascension of Alexa Bliss. He’s an exciting wrestler now. That’s why that match didn’t drag, you had two men who can keep up the action and tell a story. Go out of your way to see this show, which was essentially one exciting title match. The only detractor is the tired crowd (it isn’t as bad as the Impact Zone though). The crowd was excited, but they also seem exhausted, which lends more credence for the idea of moving this show to before Smackdown. I’ll be by later today with my Members’ Exclusive Audio Review of 205 Live.
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