By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network
Aired live on April 9, 2019 from Brooklyn, New York at Barclays Center
The show started off with a highlight reel of Tony Nese beating Buddy Murphy to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship match at WrestleMania 35. We saw video clips of the match intertwined with promos by the two from the weeks preceding WrestleMania 35… The broadcast team was Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Aiden English…
1. Jack Gallagher vs. Humberto Carrillo (w/Drew Gulak, Jack Gallagher). The commentators framed this match as if it was a lesson that Gallagher and Gulak would be teaching Carrillo through a wrestling match. The match opened with Carrillo and Gallagher exchanging wristlocks and monkey flips to a stalemate, Gallagher tried to Irish whip Carrillo into the ropes but he flipped out of it, much to the chagrin of Gulak and Gallagher.
Gallagher took control of Carrillo when he tried to execute a rope running move, but instead got slotted onto the top rope by Gallagher. The Englishman continued to wear down Carrillo using some knees to the back and wrist and chin locks to weaken Carrillo. The luchador attempted to escape, but Gallagher dragged him down and used ground strikes to further damage Carrillo.
Gallagher stomped on Carrillo’s face and used an arm bar to target Carrillo’s limbs, this seemed to be a bad strategy as Carrillo was able to escape and force a striking exchange. Carrillo won out and managed to toss Gallagher into the ropes and then catch him off guard with a cross body and then a tope to the outside.
Carrillo tossed Gallagher back into the ring as Gulak looked on disapprovingly and caught Gallagher with a missile dropkick. Gallagher followed up with some strikes and a slam to put Gallagher prone near the ropes. Carrillo went to the top rope for another move, but Gulak pushed Carrillo off the top turnbuckle to force a DQ.
Humberto Carrillo defeated Jack Gallagher by DQ.
After the match, Gulak wailed on Carrillo to ‘teach him a lesson.’ As Gulak went to his Carrillo with a final clothesline, Gallagher stopped him and hit Gulak with a headbutt to seemingly end their partnership and express his disapproval.
Anish’s Thoughts: The match was rather quick and Gallagher and Carrillo put on a fun show and series of exchanges, although it definitely wasn’t complete and that was of course by design. Carrillo and Gallagher have some definite chemistry and if they come back to this match at a later date it could definitely be something good. The post match attack came very much out of nowhere, although the crowd got behind Gallagher for turning on Gulak, so I can’t say that it is completely unwarranted. I’m interested to see where this goes, It seems odd for WWE to break up Gallagher and Gulak unless they have a plan, so I hope something good comes out of this for all three men.
There was a backstage segment involving Cedric Alexander and Oney Lorcan, wherein Lorcan said that Alexander promised him that one day 205 Live would be his. Lorcan said he is back to make that come true. 205 Live general manager Drake Maverick set the match between Alexander and Lorcan for next week and then we went straight to the main event…
2. Tony Nese vs. Buddy Murphy for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Nese and Murphy came out raring for a match and the crowd seemed very into it, especially upon the announcement that Nese was from Long Island. Murphy and Nese started with a lockup, then muscled each other around the ring before they got into a shoving match that culminated with Murphy hitting Nese with a shoulder block and grabbing a headlock.
Nese retaliated with a shoulder block of his own and the two took some time to stare each other down. Murphy pushed Nese to the ropes and forced a striking exchange although Nese worked out of it and hit Murphy with a springboard move followed by some leg kicks to take him down. Nese tried to chase Murphy into the corner, prompting Murphy to jump over him and seemingly tweak his knee.
The referee tended to Murphy, but he former champ was playing possum and used the distraction to catch Nese off guard and throw him out of the ring and into the barricade and over the announce table. Murphy then followed up with a running knee and a cover but only got a two-count.
Murphy rained punches on Nese, but Nese retaliated and forced Murphy to toss him out of the ring and hit him with a tope and a follow up cross-body in the ring to keep him at bay. Murphy locked in a sleeper hold, but Nese picked him up and forced Murphy to use the corner to hit Nese with a tornado hotshot DDT.
Nese recovered quickly and punched Murphy off the apron and followed up with a tope of his own. With Murphy groggy, the crowd chanted 205 and Nese decided to punish Murphy some more by throwing him into the barricade and over the announce table. Nese tossed Murphy back in the ring and went to the top rope, Murphy got up there with him and eventually Nese hit Murphy with a super Frankensteiner.
Nese went for the cover but only got two. Nese then hung Murphy up on the rope and hit a springboard rope hung moonsault. Nese went for the cover and only got two again as the crowd chanted “This is Wrestling.” Nese picked Murphy right up and hit a pump-handle slam on Murphy. Another two count prompted Nese to push Murphy up to the top rope. Murphy countered however and slammed Nese from the top rope and went for a cover but only got two.
The two battled near the ropes with Nese pushing Murphy low into the corner. Nese tried to hit the running knee wash but Murphy countered and hit Nese with a knee of his own to knock him out of the ring. Murphy attempted to powerbomb Nese through the announce table, but turned his back for a second to break the count, allowing Nese to backdrop him over the table. In a really awesome near fall, Nese and Murphy just made it into the ring and started slugging away.
Nese hit a superkick to knock Murphy off balance, but Murphy came right back and hit Nese with a Canadian flapjack. Nese kicked out of that and a subsequent Murphy’s law to leave the crowd stunned. Murphy picked Nese up to try for it again, but Nese kicked him and hit a reverse huracanrana into the corner and hit Murphy with two running knee washes to put Murphy down for good…
Tony Nese defeated Buddy Murphy to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship by pinfall.
Anish’s Thoughts: Wow. This match was absolutely fantastic and was undoubtedly the best match on any brand directly after WrestleMania. Nese and Murphy told an awesome story, which seriously catapulted Nese into main event status on 205 Live. I was uncertain about the story of Nese being champion after WrestleMania, but that match and the clean win over Murphy did wonders for him and sold me on Nese as a long term champion in 205 Live.
A really great episode of 205 overall, and a great way to start the show after WrestleMania. The turn from Gallagher was unexpected, but I actually think WWE did it at the right time based on the crowd reaction. They can do something with that. Even with the two losses, Murphy still looks great and Nese is poised now to be a fan favorite with his explosive style.
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