By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live on WWE Network
Streamed live on May 7, 2019 from Louisville, Kentucky at KFC Yum Center
The show started off with a promo from Mike and Maria Kanellis hyping the main event of tonight which would be a No DQ match between Mike and Akira Tozawa… Tozawa and The Brian Kendrick (who is barred from ringside) responded. Kendrick said that the stipulation would benefit and he knows that because he once faced Tozawa in a street fight… The broadcast team was Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Aiden English (thankfully the commentary booth only featured three men, as opposed to the ungodly four man combo from last week)..
Ariya Daivari made his way to the ring, while they played a backstage interaction between him and Tony Nese, saying that he could take the champion out at any time. Tony Nese hopped on commentary, yay four people in the booth…
1. Ariya Daivari vs. Noam Dar. The match started with Daivari initially knocking Dar to the ground, but Dar got up and tripped up Daivari quickly. He then hit Daivari with his spinning Killswitch into a backslide, but Daivari kicked out at two, although he did seem dazed from the spinning, nice touch.
Dar then knocked Daivari out of the ring, and the two battled by the announce table, with Daivari smacking Dar’s head on the table while staring Nese in the eyes. Daivari then tossed Dar into the ring and struck at him, before propping him up on the top rope. Daivari attempted a Goriconoclasm, but Dar managed to knock Daivari off and hit him with some kicks.
Daivari kept the control however and managed to trip Dar and knock him out of the ring again. Daivari went to throw Dar back in, and took some time to taunt Nese on the outside. This allowed Dar to catch Daivari with a roll up, he kicked out, however Dar didn’t relent and followed up with some strikes, a corner clothesline and a few more pin attempts.
Daivari kicked out and tried for his Devil Lock clothesline, but Dar countered into an ankle lock twice. Daivari kicked Dar off and hit him with a superkick before hitting a “Persian”splash from the top rope and finally hitting the Devil Lock clothesline to get the pinfall victory.
Ariya Daivari defeated Noam Dar by pinfall.
Anish’s Thoughts: A quick and fun match to get it started. With Dar going back and forth between 205 Live and NXT UK, I don’t think it hurts him to much to lose, and more than anything it makes Daivari look pretty strong heading into his title match at Money In The Bank. I also liked the mind games being played by Nese and Daivari in the backstage segment and the promo. It was one of the times that having the champ at ringside didn’t lead to an interference and was actually useful.
2. Samir Singh and Sunil Singh vs. David Kauffman and Kevin Lee. The match was very short with Sunil and Samir tagging in and out and hitting quick clotheslines and powerslams before connecting with an elbow drop backbreaker combo to get the pinfall victory over these local talents.
The Singh Brothers defeated David Kauffman and Kevin Lee.
Anish’s Thoughts: My first impression is that I hate Nigel McGuinness trying to copy the Singh’s taunting and chanting of “Balle Balle.” Instead of being the celebration that it’s supposed to be, he sounds like he’s saying the Hindi word “language” which just sounds strange to me, but whatever. This was a rather useless squash match because the Singhs didn’t really look like they overcame adversity and their rather struggle free win didn’t really make them look like monsters either. They challenged the Lucha House Party to a rematch next week though, therefore I hope there is a larger plan for them over the next few weeks.
We went backstage to see Jack Gallagher talking up a four-way match that was announced for next week when 205 Live emanates from England. Gallagher will take on Humberto Carrillo, James Drake and Mark Andrews. Humberto Carrillo interrupted Gallagher and said he would see him next week… Mike and Maria were walking backstage before being stopped by Drake Maverick, who told them that Maria was also barred from ringside…
3. Akira Tozawa vs. Mike Kanellis in a No DQ match. The match started with Tozawa rushing Kanellis and tossing him out of the ring and taking him to the ramp. They then battled back towards the ring, where Tozawa locked in an octopus stretch on the ramp. Kanellis countered quickly however and hit him with a sidewalk slam onto the steel ramp.
Kanellis ramped it up quickly, dragging out a table to inflict damage on Tozawa. He set it up on the outside and hit Tozawa with a scoop slam before dragging out another table and setting it up next to the other one. He then rolled Tozawa into the ring and kicked at him, although Tozawa was able to turn the tide for a bit with a hurricanrana to the outside. Tozawa tried to follow up with a suicide dive, but got caught with a superkick.
Kanellis rolled him into the ring and hit two more scoop slams before setting up a couple of chairs to slam Tozawa through. They both reversed a couple of times until Tozawa hit Kanellis with a suplex through the chairs. Tozawa then threw Kanellis to the outside and over the announce table. He followed up by putting a trash can on Kanellis’s head and hit him with a suicide dive, with the trash can for extra impact.
With Kanellis dazed, Tozawa rolled him into the ring for a missile dropckick. Tozawa covered him but only got a two count. He then set up the trash can to try and suplex Kanellis through, but Kanellis struggled and managed to reverse and slam Tozawa onto the trash can with a Fireman’s carry slam. Kanellis covered Tozawa but only got a two count.
They got to their feet and traded blows, with Tozawa screaming to get himself hyped. Eventually Tozawa caught Kanellis with a German suplex and a bridge, but Kanellis kicked out. Tozawa then dragged Kanellis to the corner to look for the diving senton. Kanellis got up and smacked Tozawa though and they both got up on the apron where Tozawa hit Kanellis with a German suplex on the hardest part of the ring.
Tozawa then placed Kanellis on the tables on the outside. Tozawa went to the turnbuckle, but Kanellis rolled out and avoided the senton bomb. Kanellis managed to catch Tozawa with a strike and he went to the top rope himself. Tozawa followed him up there however and after some struggle, Tozawa managed to hit Kanellis with a super hurricanrana through both tables. Tozawa got up, rolled Kanellis into the ring, placed some chairs on Kanellis’s chest and hit him with a full metal super senton to get the pinfall victory…
Akira Tozawa defeated Mike Kanellis in a No DQ match.
Anish’s Thoughts: This match was really fun and really awesome. It was fast paced and there were a fair few innovative and dynamic moments to keep the audience interested. The hook of the tables being at ringside was an effective way to keep the crowd guessing as well. Props to the Kentucky crowd for not being completely fried during the 205 Live main event, they really helped keep the show fun and they gave both men their due for going at it.
I have to think that the wrong man won however, as Mike Kanellis really just looks like a glorified enhancement talent after losing so many feuds. I really hope they can give him something substantial to do, maybe a move to NXT would be best for him, because seeing him lose continually on 205 doesn’t help him. Overall, this was a pretty good show, the Singh Brothers squash match could have been deleted, but it was solid otherwise.
Check below for the latest Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest Court Bauer discussing MLW’s future, pay-per-view possibilities, whether MLW talent could appear on the AAA event at MSG, Salina de la Renta serving as the executive producer for the latest MLW Fusion television show, and more.
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