By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live (Episode 250)
Taped in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Streamed September 24, 2021 on WWE Network
The broadcast team of Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness welcomed us to the show as the opening match entrances took place…
1. Xyon Quinn vs. Oney Lorcan. The two circled and locked up quickly with Quinn muscling Lorcan around a few times, making it tough for Lorcan to get settled. Lorcan used some chops to try and gain control, however Quinn whipped him across the ring and hit a spinning uppercut to stun Lorcan for a second. Lorcan responded with a running uppercut of his own and some chops in the corner before being whipped to the ropes again, only this time he countered a Fireman’s Carry attempt from Quinn and chop blocked him into a chin lock before throwing some strikes.
Quinn rallied with some strikes of his own followed by an Atomic Drop and clothesline combo. Quinn didn’t relent from here on out and simply picked Lorcan up and hit a Samoan Drop followed by a Ripcord elbow to get the pinfall victory…
Xyon Quinn defeated Oney Lorcan.
Anish’s Thoughts: I thought it was a nice surprise to see Oney Lorcan back on 205 after a while, but I did not expect him to be here for what was essentially a squash match to build Xyon Quinn. I see why they did it actually because Quinn looks great and if Lorcan is on 205 for a while, it actually gives him something to do and could make for a great little story between these two. However, knowing WWE this was a one off to build up Quinn and all in all I don’t hate it actually. The match was a quick burst of action to showcase Quinn’s toughness and it got a decent crowd reaction so, good opener.
A vignette aired hyping up Ikemen Jiro and his jacket collection and his feature in the In-Dex wedding on NXT. This was meant to highlight the upcoming match between himself and Malik Blade…
2. Malik Blade vs Ikemen Jiro. To start off, Jiro cartwheeled into a lockup and took Blade’s back but Blade countered into a headlock and a pair of shoulder tackles, although Jiro just kipped up. Blade then hit a pair of dropkicks to keep Jiro down before forcing a running exchange that saw Jiro drape Blade onto the corner and then kick him around the ring. Jiro then hit an arm drag takedown before a trio of armbreakers to isolate the arm of Blade.
Jiro showed off his jacket a few times, prompting some strikes from Blade, but he kept control and hit a few more interesting arm breakers and even attempted a Kimura at one point to continue the targeting of Blade’s arm. Blade was able to get out of the Kimura and counter with a Jawbreaker followed by some clotheslines and a spinning heel kick. Blade then hit a corner clothesline and cross body combo but only earned a two count.
Blade tried to use the apron for some offense but Jiro just draped his arm on the ropes to break his momentum and followed up with a head scissors whip and the Ikemen slash to get the pinfall victory
Ikemen Jiro defeated Malik Blade.
Anish’s Thoughts: This was a simple but effective match, I think Jiro is clearly one of the people that they (at least for now) want to build this new 205 around. This was a good way to showcase his fun loving attitude in what was also a challenging match as Blade has been presented as a challenge to take on. The two told a simple story with Blade’s arm being the focus and worked to the finish in an interesting way by throwing back to the earlier drape onto the ropes that worked for Jiro. Simple, short and clean, good win for Jiro.
3. Ember Moon vs. Cora Jade. The match started with Moon strutting and inviting Jade in, only to take her down immediately and prompt a ground exchange which saw Moon herself get held up in a wrist lock for a second, only to muscle out and get locked in a chicken wing by Jade. Moon then responded with an interesting headlock of her own, but Jade flipped out and forced Moon to hit an arm drag and disengage.
The two locked up again and ran at each other with Jade managing to hit an arm drag and Springboard head scissors whip combo followed by a running corner knee to earn a two count. Jade then locked in a standing half Kimura, only for Moon to shuck her off and counter a second knee attempt, punching Jade into the corner. Jade tried to break out with a dropkick but Ember caught her and draped her in Tree-of-Woe position, setting her up for some stomps before tossing her out of the ring at the opposite corner.
Moon then pulled Jade back into the ring and hit a Pop-Up Powerbomb and flowed into a Fireman’s Carry Driver to set her up for the Eclipse. The crowd readied for it and were greeted with a picture perfect Eclipse for the pinfall victory…
Ember Moon defeated Cora Jade.
Anish’s Thoughts: A great quick match, Jade benefitted from going up against someone the caliber of Moon. Jade didn’t look out of her depth at all with the experience factor just kicking in and giving Moon the position she needed to wear Jade down and land the Eclipse which was it. A lot of Kimura’s on this show which was funny to see, but that’s just a side note more than anything. Seeing Lorcan and Moon pop up were fun surprises as well and Moon definitely put on a good main event, while Lorcan was used effectively to get Quinn over in a surprising result so I liked the use of those two.
This is clearly no longer a cruiserweight show with Quinn definitely not being under 205, so I await some sort of rebranding of this show. Whether we get it next week or not is a question nobody knows the answer to, but for what it’s worth this was a good show and the main event was a fun one especially with Moon looking at her best.
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