By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired live on January 15, 2019 from Birmingham, Alabama at the Legacy Arena
For the first time in a few months, 205 Live actually aired live again! Directly after Smackdown, the show started with a rundown from general manager Drake Maverick, who started with a promo for the WWE Cruiserweight Title match that will be taking place at he Royal Rumble. He also hyped up the two matches for tonight, the first being Lio Rush vs Lince Dorado, and the second being the open challenge that Buddy Murphy put out last week…
1. Lio Rush vs. Lince Dorado. Before the match, Rush cut a promo about Lince Dorado, saying that he didn’t come here to make friends or party, but to win. He hyped up his client Bobby Lashley for winning the Intercontinental Title on Raw and said that he should have been in the Cruiserweight title match at the Rumble if it wasn’t for Lince Dorado. He stated that because his chance was foiled by Lucha House Party, he would make them feel the rush.
As Lucha House Party made their way to the ring, Rush said that the only reason the rest of LHP was out here was because Dorado didn’t believe he could beat Rush. As Gran Metalik and Kalisto went to the back, Rush jumped Dorado and the match got underway. Dorado quickly recovered from Rush’s attack and hit him with a wheel kick and a suplex to get a quick one-count. Rush didn’t let Dorado stay on top of him for long however, jumping about to dodge Dorado and turn the match into a battle of strikes for a while.
Dorado won out and grounded Rush for a while, giving himself a little time to head to the top rope, however Rush pushed him off and moved the action to the outside. This benefitted Rush, who hit Dorado with an impressive moonsault to the floor and then tossed Dorado over the announcers table and then back into the ring.
Rush and Dorado then traded strikes in the ring, with Dorado coming out on the wrong end due to Rush’s quickness. Rush then transitioned to a rear naked choke on Dorado, but the Luchador fought his way to his feet and forced Rush to move him to the corner. This didn’t give him much reprieve however, as Rush hit him with a suplex and reapplied a submission. Dorado’s strength allowed him to neutralize the submission and hit Rush with a dropkick and a running bulldog. Dorado attempted to follow up with a handspring cutter, but Rush reversed this into a roll-up and a sweet looking enziguiri.
Rush then attempted to hit Dorado with his spinning Unprettier, but Dorado rolled out and forced Rush to the ground where he hit him with a top rope splash. This allowed Dorado to chop Rush to the outside and chase him with a suicide dive, before throwing him back into the ring for a pair of moonsaults.
Despite looking extremely painful, Rush kicked out in what was a nice near fall. Dorado rallied with the crowd and tried to hit his handspring cutter again, but Rush countered and forced Dorado to dodge a springboard maneuver and retry the handspring cutter which he hit. In another close fall, Rush kicked out, forcing Dorado to head to the top rope and smash a rope hung Rush with a wrecking ball dropkick. Rush looked disoriented and seemed like he was easy prey, but lured Dorado into going headfirst into the turnbuckle, allowing him to capitalize and hit the final hour frog splash for the victory.
Lio Rush defeated Lince Dorado by pinfall.
Anish’s Thoughts: An awesome opening match that made Rush especially look tough as hell. Rush showed off all that he can do in this match, giving Dorado a lot of offense as well as looking resilient as hell by keeping such a high pace up throughout the match and kicking out of a fair few devastating maneuvers. I do have to question the logic of having Dorado unleash literally all of his offense on Rush only to have him kick out clean. I’m sure in the long run that no one will remember things like this, but it does make Dorado seem like he just couldn’t have beat Rush no matter what he did tonight. Overall a really fun start to the show however.
We saw a couple of backstage segments next, the first being with Noam Dar. The Scottish superstar was asked about his match last week with Tony Nese and was about to say that he was better than Nese, before Nese interrupted and said that 99 out of 100 times, Nese could beat Dar. Dar reiterated that Nese lost, prompting Nese to challenge Dar to another match. Dar rejected the challenge…
Drake Maverick was shown talking with TJP, who wanted to answer Buddy Murphy’s open challenge from last week. Maverick said that he couldn’t do so as a new debuting superstar would be answering the challenge, prompting TJP to leave him hanging…
After a break, Kalisto delivered a promo and said that Lucha Libre is what drives him and at the Rumble he would walk out as champion. We also saw Brian Kendrick hyping up Tozawa, saying that he would teach Tozawa to cheat to win. Finally, we saw Ariya Daivari hyping up Hideo Itami, saying that a hungry Itami would walk out as champion and that he is a threat to the well being of every superstar. It was then announced that the three challengers would compete in a triple threat match next week on 205 Live…
Buddy Murphy entered the ring and said that he says what he wants and does what he wants and everybody will listen. He then opened up his non-title open challenge, prompting an answer by Humberto Carrillo of NXT, making his debut on 205 Live…
2. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy vs. Humberto Carrillo in a non-title match. Murphy circled Carrillo and even shook his hand before the match started. Murphy executed a takedown and shoved Carrillo into the corner. They locked up again and Murphy wrenched Carrillo’s arm. They went back and forth with arm locks for a while before Carrillo managed to sweep Murphy and grab a headlock. Murphy muscled out and goaded Carrillo into swinging a few quick kicks at him, but ultimately had to put effort in to dodge the kicks and go to the corner to keep Carrillo at bay.
Carrillo extended his hand to the champion, who rejected the offer but clapped in appreciation of Carrillo’s effort. Carrillo then hit Murphy with a series of arm drags before slinging him out of the ring. Carrillo tried to follow up with a moonsault, but Murphy rammed him with a boot to the floor. Murphy then tossed the newcomer into the ring to attempt a pin, but the Mexican Superstar kicked out at 2. Murphy socked a grounded Carrillo with a series of elbows before grabbing a chin lock.
Carrillo worked his way to his feet and built space, hitting Murphy with a head scissors whip to the outside. He couldn’t capitalize however as Murphy dodged his attempt at a suicide dive and then rammed him into the barricade a couple of times. Murphy rolled Carrillo into the ring and stomped on him in the corner. Murphy then moved to the middle rope and teased a superplex to the outside, but Carrillo struggled, forcing Murphy to smack him with an uppercut.
Murphy tried to chase Carrillo who was hung up on the apron, but Carrillo hit him with a backdrop which left the champ on the outside. Carrillo hit Murphy with a kick as he made his way back into the ring and followed up with a cross body. Carrillo then staggered Murphy with a back elbow and then a cross body to a wobbly champion, but only got a two count.
Carrillo dragged Murphy to the corner to try for another high-flying maneuver, but Murphy got to his feet, forcing Carrillo to settle for a missile dropkick to the back of Murphy’s head. This only got the newcomer a two count however, forcing Carrillo to attempt another big top rope maneuver. Carrillo tried for a superplex, and after some struggle, Murphy dumped him face first into the floor and followed up for a powerbomb, but this was only enough for two.
Murphy dragged Carrillo to his feet and attempted another suplex, but Carrillo blocked it, they went back and forth trying to hit a suplex, eventually Murphy looked like he landed awkwardly and feigned an injury to prompt the referee to break up the action. Murphy used this opportunity to recover and noticeably bring Carrillo’s guard down. With Carrillo distracted Murphy surprised the challenger and tried to hit a roll-up, but Carrillo kicked out and surprised Murphy himself with a couple of kicks, followed by a suicide dive to the outside. Carrillo rammed Murphy’s face onto the announce table, but as he tried to toss Murphy into the ring and follow up with a cross body, Murphy hit him with a knee and then Murphy’s Law to get the victory.
Buddy Murphy defeated Humberto Carrillo by pinfall in a non-title match.
Anish’s Thoughts: This match wasn’t anything spectacular and Carrillo didn’t set me on fire with the in-ring work. He did have a strong ring presence though, and regardless he had a fine match with the champion. Honestly, more than anything I think the crowd was what brought this match down. The fans repeatedly chanted “This is boring” during the match, which I thought was unjustified. I think this is a result of the crowd just being fatigued post Smackdown, as opposed to the pre-Smackdown crowd the show has played to the past few months.
I didn’t think this match, or the show was boring. The opening match especially was really fun and I think that Carrillo and Murphy put on a fun enough match in the main event. Carrillo seems like he will be a consistent member of the roster and this was as good a place to introduce him as any, with a match against the champion. I really don’t think this match deserved the reaction it got from the crowd. WWE may need to consider sticking with the taped 205 before Smackdown to maximize the live reaction as opposed to this post Smackdown show.
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F*ck Birmingham, those guys worked their butts off. If I’m WWE, from now on I’m only sending wrestlers down there if they need to visit Dr. James Andrews.