By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live
Taped last week in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Streamed July 31, 2020 on WWE Network
Vic Joseph and Drew Gulak were on commentary… The show started with a selfie promo by Ariya Daivari, who said he has been on vacation on his boat. He gave us a recap of everything that’s been going on in 205 Live while taking shots at everyone along the way. Daivari announced that he would be back on 205 Live very soon…
1. Tony Nese and Isaiah Scott vs. Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza (w/Santos Escobar). Gulak pointed out that Nese’s friends don’t always stay his friends for very long, which adds an interesting texture to their relationship. To start the match off, Mendoza and Nese locked up with Nese tripping Mendoza and looking for back control, but Mendoza reversed into a hammerlock. Nese tripped him again and got a hold of Mendoza’s chin, but Mendoza kneed Nese and whipped him into the corner where Nese flipped out and hit Mendoza with a leg sweep.
Nese went for the cover and got a one count, prompting Mendoza to tag in Wilde. Nese also tagged in Scott, allowing Wilde and Scott to grapple, with Wilde hitting a quick armdrag and taunting Scott to start the match. Scott and Wilde continued to vie for control, with Wilde using a cravat to control Scott and keep him grounded. Scott eventually muscled up and forced Wilde to release before following up with a head scissors takedown.
The two locked up again with Wilde pushing Scott to the corner and smacking him across the face. This angered Scott who laid into Wilde with punches and stomps before tossing him to the outside and hitting Wilde with an apron kick. Scott got into a war of words with Escobar on the outside, but they did not come to blows. Scott returned to the ring and caught Wilde with a headlock as he came rushing back in and handed him off to Nese.
The faces tagged in and out, with Scott at one-point tying Wilde up and going for a cover but getting a two count. They continued to tag in and out until eventually, Wilde was able to flip out of a back suplex attempt and distract the referee, allowing Mendoza to toss Scott’s head into the mat. Wilde followed up with a slam of his own and tagged in Mendoza to hit a tandem spinebuster followed by a double running kick to Scott.
Mendoza then stomped on Wilde and chopped him in the corner before hitting a suplex and getting a two count. Wilde then tagged in, but Scott built some space for himself and socked Wilde with a right hand, allowing himself the time to tag in Nese. Wilde was caught by a few strikes from Nese and a Pump-handle Driver from Nese, but Wilde kicked out at two and a half.
Nese then locked in a Boston Crab, Mendoza ran in to try stop him, but Scott caught him with a tilt-a-whirl slam into an armbar combo. Legado Del Fantasma managed to escape the tandem submissions, leading to Nese and Wilde struggling near the corner and Nese catching Wilde with an Avalanche Frankensteiner. Scott then tagged in and rushed both Wilde and Mendoza hitting Wilde with an impressive leg lace trip and German Suplex combo, before hitting him with the Standing House Call kick.
This only got Scott a two count, leaving him frustrated. Scott tried for a Full Nelson slam, but a distraction by Mendoza allowed Wilde to hit a DDT and tag in Mendoza. The two heels hit a pair of moonsaults but couldn’t finish Scott as Nese broke the pin up. Nese and Scott then hit them with stereo kicks and Fosbury Flops to the outside. Scott followed up on Mendoza with a foot stomp, but Wilde broke up the subsequent pinfall attempt.
Scott tagged in Nese once more to try for a tag team maneuver, but Escobar distracted them, allowing Wilde to push Scott off the top rope onto the steel steps. Meanwhile in the ring, Mendoza was able to distract Nese enough to tag in Wilde who hit a Lungblower followed by a running kick and Russian Leg Sweep combo to get the pinfall victory…
Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza defeated Tony Nese and Isaiah Scott.
Anish’s Thoughts: This was a great match so I almost don’t want to complain about it as I would rather see one great match on 205 rather than two or three rushed matches, however this show once again felt like half a show. It’s as if we got a great opener and that was it. I will say though, everybody in this show came out looking better so props to Legado Del Fantasma for continuing to look intimidating and classy, and to Nese and Scott for continuing to showcase their skills, but losing credibly with the background of their tumultuous past to give them an excuse.
With that being said, the average episode of Dragon Ball Z is 24 minutes long, while this episode of 205 Live was 22 minutes long so we have found yet another short form piece of media that is longer than the supposed ‘most exciting HOUR of television.’ If WWE treated 205 like a Shonen Anime week in and week out, I think it would do the show much better, so I can just pray that WWE lean all the way into that aesthetic. Will WWE finally do something cool with 205 Live? Or will the most inconsistent hour of WWE television continue to remain so? Find out on the next exciting episode of ProWrestling.Net reviews 205 Live!
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