By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired Live August 28, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario at the Scotiabank Arena
205 Live started off with the usual Drake Maverick opening where he ran through the events of last week as well as hyping up this week’s 205 Live. The 205 Live theme aired…
John’s Thoughts: I know I can say this for about 75% of the roster, but Drake Maverick is one person I would want to see most the hell off of this show due to one of the best hidden gem promos in all of pro wrestling being hidden on the show people don’t really care about. Bring Spud to NXT so we can get him doing stuff with his old buddy Ethan Carter.
Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson checked in on commentary. Vic Joseph went back to saying his contractually obligated line of calling this show “the most exciting hour in television”…
The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher came out first. Kendrick and Gallagher cut a promo. They went for the cheap heat by mocking Toronto. They then transitioned to talking about Akira Tozawa. Kendrick promised pain and suffering for Akira Tozawa…
John’s Thoughts: Kendrick and Gallagher need a break up at this point. Gallagher has shown that he’s a better singles than tag team wrestler (or at least doesn’t have great chemistry) and Kendrick is in need of a fresh character. Believe me, I said that the 2008 Brian Kendrick should have been a world champion on Smackdown, but this guy needs a fresh reboot. I wouldn’t mid seeing how he does as a babyface since it’s been over a decade since we saw that (I’m not counting that lame “Wizard of Odd” thing we saw in TNA)
1. The Brian Kendrick (w/Jack Gallagher) vs. Akira Tozawa. Joseph pointed out how Tozawa and Kendrick were involved in the first 205 Live street fight (which involved lots of usage of purple duct tape). Tozawa started out the match by dishing out punches to Kendrick and Gallagher. Tozawa then hit a few of his signature moves on Kendrick followed by stomping a mudhole in Kendrick. Kendrick managed to gain the upper hand when Tozawa was distracted by Gallagher. Kendrick worked on Tozawa at ringside. Kendrick took the action in the ring and gave Tozawa a punt to the gut.
Kendrick caught Tozawa with a reverse Tiger Suplex. Kendrick locked in the captain’s hook but Tozawa made it to the rope for the break. Kendrick caught Tozawa with a sleeper. Tozawa countered and hit a huracanrana and a shining wizard. Akira Tozawa hit his sweet suicide dive on Kendrick. Tozawa turned an atomic drop into a Saito Suplex. Tozawa landeda dragon screw and spinning roundhouse on Kendrick. Tozawa hit his senton finisher on Kendrick for the win.
Akira Tozawa defeated The Brian Kendrick via pinfall in 6:15.
Gallagher went to check on Kendrick after the match as Tozawa celebrated with the fans while walking up the ramp…
John’s Thoughts: Kendrick’s matches are totally missable these days because now that he’s Drew Gulak’s stooge he loses all of the time and therefore most of his matches are forgone conclusions (either he loses via pin or loses via DQ). Both of these men could use a babyface turn and to replace them as heels you can turn a babyface and bring back Ariya Daivari as a strong heel (Daivari’s been posting vignettes on his social media recently hyping a return to 205 Live).
Vic Joseph hyped up Kalisto vs. Buddy Murphy by showing replays of LHP vs. Nese and Murphy the past few weeks…
Kayla Braxton interviewed Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy about the singles main event. Murphy talked about almost winning the Cruiserweight Championship at one point. Murphy then talked about Kalisto cheating last week. Murphy talked about how he and Nese are sick of playing around. Nese said the “Jauggernaut (Murphy) is back”… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Just an aside, but Nese with the trimmed hair looks like a bearded Jay White to me. It’s not bad though as I’ve been pushing for a Nese cosmetic change for a long time to wipe away the stank of old enhancement Tony Nese. It’s not much, but a nice step.
Hideo Itami made his entrance for the weekly mid-show enhancement match. Itami’s poor victim this week was Michael Blaise. Itami cut a twitter selfie promo in Japanese and English. Sarcastically, Itami said that he feels bad from the bottom of his heart about hurting Mustafa Ali. Itami started cracking up laughing. Itami said he actually feels bad about not hurting him worse.
John’s Thoughts: Itami does have the broken English issue that most foreigners have in WWE, but he’s gotten a lot better and I’ve been a huge fan of his Japanglish promos that 205 Live is allowing him to cut. He’s also doing well all across the board in recent weeks. Speaking of Itami, I’m looking forward to seeing how Itami does this weekend against Naomichi Marufuji at Pro Wrestling Noah (which I’ll have to catch later due to it happening the same day as All In). As for Itami’s enhancement victim, I think he’s one of those enhancement tag team partners of Lars Sullivan that Sullivan beat up back in the good ol’ days of his debut. A
2. Hideo Itami vs. Michael Blaise. Itami lifted his foot and ran through Blaise. Itami treated Blaise like a kicking bag in the corner. Blaise tried to punch his way out of the corner before eating a stiff Itami slap. Itami continued to kickbox the hell out of Blaise. Blaise managed to land a few clean savate kicks on Itami before Itami ran through him again with a lariat. Itami went to town with penalty kicks to the back of Blaise.
Itami hit a Falcon Arrow on Blaise and picked up the visual pinfall but Itami lifted his opponent before the three count. Itami hit his unnamed finisher on Blaise and did the same by lifting his opponent up at two. Itami shouted in laughter. Itami hit a series of hesitation dropkicks on Blaise. Itami wouldn’t stop and kept laughing. Itami then stopped in his tracks when Mustafa Ali’s music played. Ali showed up on the ramp wearing formal attire. Itami stormed the ring after Itami called him but Itami retreated into the crowd.
Hideo Itami vs. Michael Blaise ended in an apparent no contest.
Ali yelled at Itami to come back but Itami retreated. Ali kept yelling that Itami was a coward. Vic Joseph noted that King Booker, Mustafa Ali, and Trish Stratus returned in the past few days. Joseph then recapped last week’s attack on Colin Delaney and Akira Tozawa by Drew Gulak and his goons…
John’s Thoughts: Call it my taste in wrestling, but I’m liking the stiff striking and sadistic Hideo Itami. Kenta is (somewhat) back. Itami continuing to torture his enhancement opponents is a treat to watch if you like good heel work. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Mustafa Ali stuff as there was some logic gaps there. The biggest logic gap is why would Mustafa Ali’s music be cued up to play if Drake Maverick banned Ali from competing on 205 Live? I also didn’t like Itami retreating in a cowardly way because he has been presented so strongly in recent months. Itami “exhausting” (WWE’s censorship for the word “concussed”) Ali after Ali broke his temporary suspension rule seemingly.
205 Live cut to a low quality Cedric Alexander selfie promo. Cedric said Gulak has sunk to a new low by attacking people to complain about losing. Cedric talked about how Gulak ran away when Alexander came out. Cedric talked about Gulak exposing himself as a hypocrite. Cedric said he was calling Gulak out next week to finish what they started…
Lince Dorado, Kalisto, and Gran Metalik were shown getting hype by playing with a pinata… [c]
Vic Joseph used Buddy Murphy’s entrance as a chance to advertise Super Show Down due to hit happening at Murphy’s hometown of Melbourne, Austrailia…
John’s Thoughts: It wouldn’t hurt for WWE to heat up Murphy again to return home as a babyface. This will also make up for his last trip where he couldn’t make it to Saudi Arabia due to Visa complications. The funny storyline there was they said that Murphy was too heavy and over 205 lbs so he couldn’t compete on the show.
3. Buddy Murphy (w/Tony Nese) vs. Kalisto (w/Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik). Murphy manhandled Kalisto early on with gutwrench tosses. Kalisto blocked a toss with a cartwheel. Kalisto taunted Murphy with his lucha thing. Murphy regained control with the test of strength. Kalisto managed to even up the test of strength before Murphy got a few pin attempt through judo leg sweeps. Murphy matched kalisto with the Fenix-esque tightrope hops for a frankensteiner. Kalisto then landed a clean roundhouse on Murphy while he was on the apron.
Kalisto went for a suicide dive but put the brakes on when Nese blocked him. The referee tried to separate Nese from the acton but Kalisto leapfrogged the referee for a Tope Con Hilo. The rest of Lucha House Party and Tony Nese entered the ring for a standoff. The commotion allowed Murphy to dominate Kalisto again. Murphy used his core to block a frankendriver. Kalisto used a huracanrana to send Murphy outside. Kalisot went for a DDT on Murphy but Murphy showed great strength by catching Kalisto mid-air for a delayed vertical suplex.
John’s Thoughts: Nigel McGuinness is one of the better commentators in WWE these days but his forced heel act when calling Lucha House Party matches gets a tad bit insufferable. This reminds me of the bad commentary he would do in TNA and Ring of Honor.
Murphy shoved Lince Dorado out of the way to get to Kalisto and Dorado shoved back. This got Dorado and Metalik ejected from ringside. Murphy hit calculated punt kicks on the back of Kalisto. Kalisto dodged one punt and rolled to the turnbuckle. Kalisto reversed and landed a sleeper on Murphy. Murphy used the buckle to fight out but Kalisto went to the tilt a whirl to lock in another sleeper. Murphy flipped Kalisto over him and hit the shortarm knee strike on the head of Kalisto for a nearfall. Kalisto gained some breathing room by backtossing Murphy to the ramp area. Murphy tripped Kalisto which allowed Murphy to land a running lariat on Kalisto.
The preceding interference got Nese ejected from ringside. Kalisto used double boots and an enzuigiri to block Murphy. Kalisto hit Murphy with a seated senton and corkscrew forearm. Murphy fought out of Kalisto’s CQC. Murphy blocked the listo kick. Kalisto blocked the catapult. Kalisto escaped a delayed vertical and hit Murphy with the Frankendriver for a nearfall. The tired Smackdown crowd woke up a bit with a “this is awesome” chant.
John’s Thoughts: As cliche as “This Is Awesome” chants have become, those chance actually mean something on 205 Live because most crowds on this show are silent and waiting for the AJ Styles Dark Main Event.
The crowd fired up even more for Kalisto’s Lucha Thing. Murphy blocked the SDS and then hit snake eyes on Kalisto. Kalisto recovered and hit a back cross kick on Murphy for the nearfall. Murphy and Kalisto struggled to get to their feet. Murphy then chucked Kalisto from the apron to the announce table. Murphy slammed Kalisto several times into the barricade. Murphy tossed Kalisto into the time keeper area. Kalisto recovered when Murphy went to break the ten count. Kalisto went for a springboard move at ringside but he flew right into the high knee of Murphy.
Murphy beat the ten count first. Murphy saw Kalisto getting up and went to follow up but Kalisto countered Murphy with a catapult to the time keeper area. Kalisto planted Murphy with a draping Frankendriver upon entry into the ring. Murphy kicked out at two for a nearfall. The crowd got up for a standing ovation. Murphy caught Kalisto into a pin attempt and then hit a sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall on Kalisto. A “205” Chant ensued (this chant is just as astonishing as an “Impact Wrestling” chant. Good work guys). Kalisto reversed Murphy’s law into two rollups. Kalisto hit the Listo Kick on Murphy. Murphy hit one of his signature knees on Kalisto. Murphy hit Kalisto with Murphy’s Law for the win.
Buddy Murphy defeated Kalisto via pinfall in 16:46.
Tony Nese returned to the ring to celebrate with Murphy after the match. Nigel dropped the overt heel act and talked about how he respected Kalisto’s work in this match.
John’s Thoughts: Two weeks in a row and the Lucha House Party vs. Murphy and Nese main event has been able to wake up the usually inactive crowd. It helps that the last two weeks were in wrestling hotbeds, but 205 Live struggles in those hotbed cities too (I’m intrigued to see what happens when they go back to smaller towns). No wonder why they dubbed Murphy as “NXT’s best kept secret”. If WWE had Most Improved Player awards, Buddy Murphy would win the 2018 version in a landslide due to how he has put in several WWE Match of the Year candidates on this struggling show. I saw the guy had promo talent in that show in San Jose a few years ago, but who knew that this guy was such a great in-ring storyteller. The match started slow with just the right amount of impact spots until the two men kicked it into overdrive down the finish. 205 Live needs more Murphy singles matches because that’s where he really shines bright.
This was a stellar episode of 205 Live with a great main event and good development in the Hideo Itami and Mustafa Ali feud (even though I did have some reservations about how they handled the Ali return). Something that stood out to me was Brian Kendrick sticking out as the weak link on 205 Live in his current iteration. Either a face turn has to happen or he should do some sort of Drew Gulak esque renaissance. Just don’t do the “Wizard of Odd” thing. Anything but the “Wizard of Odd”. I’ll be by later today with my 205 Live members’ exclusive audio review, and join me tonight for live coverage of the NXT television show as it streams on WWE Network.
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