WrestleMania 35 saw Tony Nese defeat Buddy Murphy to become the brand new Cruiserweight champion, in what was 205 Live’s only representation on WWE’s ‘Show of Shows’. On this week’s post-Mania episode, you could argue it was a similar scenario to WrestleMania, as it was once again all about Buddy Murphy vs. Tony Nese. Humberto Carrillo also took on Jack Gallagher, but over half of this forty-seven-minute show belonged to the champion and challenger.

Murphy and Nese did an excellent job this past Sunday. Despite being on the kickoff show, they maximized their minutes and had one of the strongest matches of the entire card. However, fans watching knew that with more time, these two could do even more, and so for that reason, I was more than happy for this week to become the Buddy Murphy and Tony Nese show.

Humberto Carrillo vs. Jack Gallagher

Humberto Carrillo’s match with Jack Gallagher followed up from two weeks ago when Humberto and Drew Gulak had an argument that led to them losing a six-man tag. Unfortunately, besides a quick reminder from Nigel McGuinness who stated that this was designed as a “lesson” for Humberto, nothing was done to set up this bout last week.

The match itself felt like somewhat of an afterthought to the narrative that was behind the wrestling, especially with Drew Gulak joining the commentary team. Gallagher and Humberto did produce some solid in-ring action and even did a good job of showcasing the battle between mat based wrestling and high flying offence. The standout moment came when Gallagher was on the floor, and Humberto flipped off the ropes and hooked Gallagher’s arm for a modified arm drag. A very impressive looking manoeuvre from the young 205 Live Superstar.

Drew Gulak shined in his role on commentary; he had a nice back and forth with Aiden English, and even stated he would take credit if Humberto Carrillo joins a brand like RAW and Smackdown Live. Drew and the young Mexican had a nice faceoff after Drew complained about Humberto diving out of the ring, and his complaints were nicely waved off by his former protégé.

The match ended when Drew interfered by pushing Humberto off the top turnbuckle. He then proceeded to beat down and slap the twenty-three-year-old, screaming: “You need to listen!” But before he could inflict any more damage, Drew’s partner Jack Gallagher grabbed his hand and hit him with his signature head butt. An interesting turn of events.

We then had back to back promos from Buddy Murphy and Tony Nese. First, Buddy was shown talking to the camera, acknowledging his defeat, but assuring Nese that he will regain his title. Tony Nese, with his title in hand, explained how long he had to fight to capture the title, and that his reign was not going to end. He ended with a nice line when he said: “One more time, I’m gonna stop The Unstoppable.”

Oney Lorcan and Cedric Alexander continued their rivalry in a backstage segment with Drake Maverick. Maverick officially announced their match for next week’s show. The segment successfully set up this match, but also added another layer to the feud when Oney explained that Cedric told him he would rule the division one day, but Oney’s problem is that Cedric is still apart of 205. It was simple, but now fans are aware of Oney’s objective in this feud.

Tony Nese vs. Buddy Murphy

As both men made their way down to the ring, the commentary team did an excellent job explaining the story for this match. They brought up the question was WrestleMania a “fluke?” They also did a great job breaking down what both men needed to do in order to win, and the observation that Murphy had to control his arrogance was a good one and helped audiences understand each superstar’s position heading into the rematch.

Nese and Murphy knew that they had plenty of time for this bout, so the pace started off a lot slower this time around. Their contrasting emotions were also on full display early on; Murphy was full of anger, while the champion’s newfound confidence and swagger came out when he began trash talking his former friend.

Murphy faked a knee injury to take control of the match, highlighting his desperation to reclaim his title. The intensity picked up when Murphy threw his opponent over the announcer’s table and also began introducing some high-risk manoeuvres as well. Nese soon made a comeback, giving his opponent a taste of his own medicine by also throwing him over the announcer’s table.

The action built up nicely, and the live crowd was more than appreciative. A “This is wrestling” chant broke out prior to the climax. Murphy was then a recipient of a nasty looking back body drop on the announcer’s table, before both superstars finally went toe to toe in the middle of the ring, exchanging kicks and punches.

It ended when Nese once again kicked out of Murphy’s Law, which led to him setting up his running knee strike, and after connecting once; he ran back and hit his running knee a second time for the one, two, and three!

This week was all about one match, but when that match was as good as Tony Nese vs. Buddy Murphy, you cannot complain. They had a different, yet equally entertaining outing on this episode. It will be interesting to see where Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy go from here.

All images are courtesy of wwe.com