By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live on WWE Network
Aired live on June 18, 2019 from Ontario, California at Citizens Business Banks Arena
The show started with a recap of the double pin finish from last week, with GM and newly crowned 24/7 champion Drake Maverick declaring that at Stomping Grounds, Tony Nese will defend against both Drew Gulak and Akira Tozawa in a Triple Threat. The package also previewed matches tonight, first between Lucha House Party and the Singh Bros, as well as Oney Lorcan and Ariya Daivari…
1. Samir Singh and Sunil Singh vs. Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik (w/Kalisto). Dorado and Samir Singh started in the ring, with Dorado taking it to Samir with quick shoulder blocks and a moonsault to begin with. He took control and tagged in Metalik who continued the assault on Samir. Sunil tried to interfere, but the Lucha House Party got the better of them and tossed the brothers out of the ring.
Sunil tagged in but had no luck, with Gran Metalik landing a wheelbarrow elbow on him with the assist from Dorado. Just when Dorado tagged in and tried to head to the top rope, Samir distracted him, giving himself the time to tag in while his brother swept Dorado off the turnbuckle. The Singhs isolated Dorado and used some quick tags to wear down Dorado. The luchador almost managed to make the corner at a point, however the Singhs pulled Metalik off the apron and kept the pressure on LHP.
Dorado got hit with a big Bollywood superkick, seemingly taking hm out, but the Singhs couldn’t capitalize on the pinfall. Samir then whipped Dorado to the ropes, but this was the opening that Dorado needed to handspring and rock Samir with an elbow and build some space.
Dorado made the tag and Metalik rushed Sunil. The king of the ropes went from rope to rope to dropkick Sunil about the ring. Dorado joined in the offense and the two worked together to hit the Singhs with a tandem ropewalk splash followed by consecutive splashes in the ring, Eventually, Dorado got distracted in the chaos when Sunil ripped up their pinata on the outside, allowing Samir to get the roll up for the pinfall victory…
The Singh Brothers defeated Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik by pinfall.
Anish’s Thoughts: Sure. This match happened. I don’t understand what the point of it was, it doesn’t make the Singhs look particularly crafty or sneaky. If anything it makes the Lucha House Party look like children for getting distracted by the destruction of their pinata. LHP took some gnarly bumps so props to them, they and the Singhs did the best they could, however this is just useless booking.
Noam Dar clocked in with a backstage promo from ‘Magaluf’ although the joke was that he was really backstage and not pretending to be in Magaluf. The schtick was up quickly however as The Brian Kendrick came into the shot looking for his jacket. That and the skeletal chart in the background signaling that it was a WWE trainer’s room of course
2. The Brian Kendrick vs. Russ Taylor. The Brian Kendrick faced off against a local talent, Russ Taylor in California, which is funny because technically speaking, Kendrick from Venice is also a ‘local talent.’ The two taunted each other by trading faux handshakes and Kendrick yelling “Do you know who I am?” to Taylor. Russ may have managed to get a good forearm in, but this just fired up Kendrick who secured the victory by ramming Taylor’s head into the turnbuckle back and forth before hitting sliced bread to get the pinfall victory.
The Brian Kendrick defeated Russ Taylor.
Anish’s Thoughts: I appreciate an enhancement match as much as anyone, but I didn’t really think that it did the babyface Brian Kendrick any favors to go out there and bully some local talent before winning with his finisher clean. Sliced Bread No. 2 is a pretty well protected move anyway, and Kendrick has felt relatively strong in recent months so good for him for beating a local talent I guess?
A backstage segment aired involving Jack Gallagher and Mike Kanellis and Maria Kanellis. For the 1000th time, Mike declared that he would no longer be looked over on 205 Live. Mike made fun of Gallagher for being in a slump so to retaliate, Gallagher challenged him to a match…
2. Ariya Daivari vs. Oney Lorcan. Before the match we saw a recap of Ariya Daivari foiling Lorcan’s chances in last week’s four-way with the chairshot. As soon as Lorcan made it to the ring and the bell rand, Lorcan rushed Daivari with a running forearm and smacked him out of the ring. Daivari tried to escape the ringside area, but Lorcan chased him down and tossed him back into the ring.
Daivari caught Lorcan with a couple of strikes, but this just fired him up even more. Lorcan kept coming at Daivari and damaged him with strikes. Eventually, Lorcan went up to the middle rope, which was a bad move as Daivari managed to follow him up there and hit an arm-flatliner to turn the tides. Daivari then locked in a hammerlock to try and weaken Lorcan’s arms further.
Daivari maintained some control, ramming Lorcan into the corner and smacking him with some strikes. He then grabbed another wrist lock and forced Lorcan to struggle out. Lorcan at a point fought back and broke the hold, but Daivari just reversed any fight from Lorcan and caught him in the cobra clutch. Lorcan looked for a second like he might have been fading, but he rose up and caught a second wind to shuck Daivari off.
Daivari hit an arm breaker on Lorcan to try and retake control, but Lorcan didn’t let Daivari take the match just yet. Daivari went to the top rope to try and stomp on Lorcan, but Lorcan rolled out of the way and managed to hit Daivari with a running clothesline and then some chops with his damaged arms.
Daivari fired back with strikes of his own, but once again this just galvanized Lorcan who fought back with some uppercuts and a half-and-half suplex. Lorcan chased Daivari to the outside with a suicide dive, but the match went nowhere as Daivari then hit him with a chair and forced the disqualification.
Oney Lorcan defeated Ariya Daivari by DQ.
After the match, we saw three promos from Nese, Gulak, and Tozawa hyping up their Triple Threat at Stomping Grounds….
Anish’s Thoughts: The match was definitely intense while it lasted and the reaction that Lorcan was getting from the crowd was very encouraging to see. They definitely have something cool on their hands with Daivari versus Lorcan and Lorcan as a babyface in general. I wouldn’t have had a problem with the no-finish tonight normally, however because the first two matches didn’t really give me anything conclusive, it does feel like this whole show was a real tease.
All three men cut good promos after the match. Tozawa spoke in an eloquent manner, which seems to be a divergence from his general shouty demeanor. Gulak cut a very calm and intimidating promo in darkness, real props to him there because it was the highlight of the show for me just based on how impactful it was. From that promo alone I think he might win the title at Stomping Grounds. Gulak showed something there which I haven’t seen from him in WWE before, and winning the Triple Threat could lead to an interesting long term story with Nese as the face chasing him after the PPV. Overall a rather disappointing show, with some flashes of great things interspersed, hopefully after the godawfully named Stomping Grounds It will get better.
Check below for the latest Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and Pat McNeill of the Wayback Playback podcast, who discusses how the more things change the more they stay the same with the return of the XFL and AEW coming to TNT, plus thoughts on WWE’s struggles, how wrestling from 20 years ago holds up through today’s eyes, and more.
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