By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live on WWE Network
Streamed live on November 15, 2019 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Wells Fargo Center
The show started with recap of the NXT match between Lio Rush and Angel Garza, including Rush’s and Garza’s interactions with Rush’s family who were ringside. The highlights were pretty cool and made sure to focus on Rush’s resilience in getting his eventual victory. They also showed that Garza had his foot on the ropes, which the referee didn’t see, and Garza’s argument with Lio Rush’s family afterward…
Aiden English was joined on commentary by the debuting Jon Quasto…
1. Angel Garza vs. Jack Gallagher. As the match started, Garza stuck out his hand for Gallagher to shake, but Gallagher politely declined. Gallagher then tripped up Garza and stomped Garza’s shins into the ground. Garza retaliated with a single leg Boston Crab, which Gallagher rolled out of and countered into an ankle lock. The two went back and forth with submission maneuvers until Garza whipped Gallagher to the corner.
Gallagher moved out of the corner and the two had a running exchange before Garza countered a head scissors into a front facing slam, this did well to counter the “CM Punk” chants from the crowd. Garza followed up with a rope rebound slam and a running dropkick to keep Gallagher grounded.
Garza propped Gallagher into the turnbuckle and hit a dropkick to Gallagher’s gut, before taking his tights off to reveal trunks underneath. Garza then whipped Gallagher to the ropes and hit a pop up front kick to the Englishman. Garza continued to wear down Gallagher with a modified Bow-and-Arrow lock. Eventually Gallagher got to his feet and brawled with Garza, hitting him with a scoop slam and a double underhook Suplex as well.
Gallagher and Garza battled to the apron, where Garza whipped Gallagher off. Garza went for tope and when Gallagher ducked and exposed his back, Garza hit him with a slap to the back in a unique spot. Gallagher then rolled back into the ring and hit a headbutt, allowing him to get some time. He then tried for a running dropkick to take back momentum, but Garza calmly dodged and rolled Gallagher up for a three count.
Angel Garza defeated Jack Gallagher by pinfall.
After the match we saw Gallagher get annoyed at Aiden English who was criticizing Gallagher’s lack of focus during the match…
Anish’s Thoughts: A little bit of a lackluster opening match here. I think it was impressive that Garza and Gallagher managed to ween the crowd into the match, but they were fighting against the tide here. The crowd was not the most enthused, so I will give Garza and Gallagher props for bringing them in without doing anything super exciting, but the downside to this is that the match was void of anything really exciting.
Sunil Singh and his brother Samir Singh came out and cut a promo celebrating that he would be the longest reigning 24/7 Champion as of tomorrow. He then proceeded to sing a song from ‘their next Bollywood movie.’ The rough translation of the short song was “I am the champion of all of you, I am the greatest champion ever.” They also declared that the match would be a handicap match for the Championship…
2. Samir and Sunil Singh vs. Tim Gange for the 24/7 Championship. Gange withstood an initial onslaught from the Singh bros before managing to toss Sunil into the corner. With Philly getting behind the local Gange, he managed to hit both brothers with some dropkicks. He couldn’t maintain control however as the numbers game caught up to him and the Singhs hit a Superkick Russian Leg Sweep combo, followed by the Backbreaker-Elbow Drop Combo to get the pinfall victory.
Samir Singh and Sunil Singh beat Tim Gange to retain the 24/7 Championship.
Anish’s Thoughts: I felt like I was watching an open mic-er bomb a terrible stand up set. The pre-match promo and the match itself were all sorts of sloppy and I don’t think the crowd were anything other than bored and annoyed. If you have the 24/7 Championship on 205 then do something fun with it, instead of having two of your superstars look like idiots struggling in a handicap. There was no use to this segment, they really could do more with the Singhs and the 24/7 Championship in general.
Footage aired of Lio Rush being interviewed after his match with Garza on NXT. Rush cut a nice promo saying why his feud with Garza has gotten personal due to Garza’s actions towards his wife…
3. Lio Rush and Raul Mendoza vs. Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari. The match started off with Nese and Daivari rushing Mendoza and tossing him to the outside after knocking Rush off the apron. Rush came back in and hit Nese with an Enziguiri before he and Mendoza teamed up to dropkick Daivari out of the ring and hit their opponents with dives to the outside.
Mendoza rolled Daivari back into the ring where he and Rush tagged in and out, wearing down Daivari with offense targeting his left arm. They continued to assault on Daivari with a tandem splash maneuver before Rush locked in a sleeper hold. Daivari managed to knock Rush off of him for long enough to tag in Nese, who threw Rush to the outside, where Daivari clotheslined him to the floor while Nese distracted the referee.
Nese took control of Rush and he and Daivari isolated the Champion in their corner and broke him down with chops and stomps, taking some time to hit Rush with elbows and tag team maneuvers as well. Nese and Rush did battle as Rush tried to make the tag, but no matter how close he got, Nese was able to drag him back and whip him to the outside.
On the outside, Rush reversed a second clothesline attempt from Daivari and ran back into the ring to make the tag to Mendoza. Nese was met by a rushing Mendoza who landed a Neckbreaker and a springboard moonsault onto Nese. He went for the cover, but only got a two count before Daivari broke it up. With Rush still hurt, Daivari and Nese were able to use the numbers game to wail on Mendoza and ram him onto the barricade on the outside.
Daivari and Nese hit Mendoza with a delayed Vertical Suplex, garnering them a two count. They also hit a double back Suplex as well for another two count. Rush tried to stomp his feet and get the crowd into the match, which barely worked. Meanwhile, Nese and Mendoza fought in the ring with Mendoza taking an elbow to the face, and only barely kicking out of Nese’s subsequent cover.
Daivari whipped Mendoza from corner to corner, isolating him from Rush. Eventually, Mendoza countered a sleeper attempt to tag in Rush who rushed the ring and hit Daivari and Nese on the apron with elbows and kicks. Rush went for the cover after hitting Daivari with a spin-kick to the face, but Daivari kicked out. Rush went to the top rope to try for a dive, but Daivari jumped up and hit him with a Belly to Belly Suplex.
This allowed Daivari to tag in Nese and kicked Rush in the face before Nese hit a Michinoku Driver, getting a two count. Mendoza broke up the pinfall attempt, forcing a brawl with all four men in which Daivari accidentally hit Nese with a superkick. This allowed Rush and Mendoza to isolate Nese and hit him with the Springboard Stunner of Rush, followed by a spinning uranage from Mendoza, which got them a two count.
Mendoza tried to tag in Rush, but Daivari distracted him, allowing Nese to take control and head to the top rope. Nese tried for the 450 Splash, but Mendoza rolled out of the way, setting up Nese to get hit with the Final Hour Splash by Lio Rush to get the pinfall victory.
Lio Rush and Raul Mendoza defeated Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari.
Anish’s Thoughts: This was a fun match, but I have to say the crowd wasn’t the most into it and this brought it down. Props to all four men for telling a clinical story with the faces working up some chemistry to overcome the dirty tactics of the heels. This match helped Rush more than anyone, as he continues to be a great champion for 205 Live. Even if the crowd didn’t seem to appreciate this match that much in the beginning, they did manage to get them into it at the end.
Overall, this was a middling 205 Live show, with the matches being generally good, but the atmosphere and the storytelling taking a lot of effort to make little impact on the live crowd. The past few shows have been pretty great, so a lull isn’t too disappointing, especially since it wasn’t a completely awful show. Hopefully they pick things up as we edge closer to Survivor Series.
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