After an impressive triple threat title match between Drew Gulak, Humberto Carrillo, and Lince Dorado at Clash of Champions, 205 Live got back on track this week with some strong in-ring action. Lince Dorado and Ariya Daivari kicked us off in a bout to settle their ongoing issue, The Brian Kendrick went one on one with Jack Gallagher, and in the main event, Oney Lorcan was seeking revenge after Tony Nese attacked him two weeks ago.
The match quality on this week’s show was far superior to 205 Live’s MSG debut last week. The fans were much more receptive to the action going on in the ring, and the main event capped off the show nicely, as opposed to last week where nothing seemed to register due to New York screaming about everything except what was going on inside the squared circle.
Lince Dorado vs. Ariya Daivari
205 Live got off to a strong start with Daivari and Dorado. Lince Dorado got off the blocks quickly, hitting his high flying manoeuvres on Daivari. Most notably, a lot of the Golden Lynx’s early offence came on the outside of the ring as he hit a moonsault off the ring apron and a leaping hurricanrana off the guardrail. A small detail, but one that made the match feel a little different.
Daivari then took control of the match, slowing the pace down, insulting the crowd and acting like an arrogant heel in the process. Dorado eventually got back into the action and did a nice series of moonsaults where with each one he’d climb higher and higher up the turnbuckles. The crowd reacted well to the spot, and it led to some nice back and forth action where Daivari hit a powerbomb, Dorado would attempt a roll-up, and it all kept the crowd into the action.
In the end, Daivari attempted a superplex off the top turnbuckle, which Dorado blocked. Dorado then knocked his opponent to the mat and hit a shooting star press for the win. A good opening match to get the ball rolling for the rest of the superstars.
The Brian Kendrick vs. Jack Gallagher
Now this one did not last long, as it was merely a set up for the actions that came shortly after the bell sounded. The brief amount of wrestling that did take place saw a nice sequence where Gallagher kept getting the better of his more experienced opponent, but when he attempted to get back in the ring shortly after, Kendrick kicked him into Akira Tozawa. After Gallagher and Tozawa exchanged words, Kendrick came from behind and attacked Gallagher with a kendo stick.
He then beat down Gallagher, and then when a shocked Tozawa stopped him, he came back and assaulted his best friend Tozawa with the kendo stick as well. An expected heel turn that has been teased for weeks finally took place, and it was fine, except Tozawa didn’t do a good job of selling the kendo stick shot after he got hit. He seemed to recover quickly and then proceeded to act shocked as opposed to selling any sort of pain.
Tony Nese vs. Oney Lorcan
These two picked up right where they left off two weeks ago during their backstage brawl, from the get-go it was physical and hard-hitting. Oney took charge, constantly hitting Nese with strikes and chops until they went outside and Nese got the upper hand. Tony Nese then began unleashing his attack, even launching Oney into the announce table which looked incredibly weak and broke as soon as Oney was on top of it.
The most enjoyable part of this main event, besides the fact both men delivered a very entertaining match, was how intelligent Nese was in getting over his new heel persona. He was brash, and he did not do what many expected, which was to incorporate a great deal of high flying offence into the match. His fast-paced aerial offence is crowd-pleasing, so instead, Nese stuck to the physical strikes and focused on Oney’s midsection and slowed the pace down by wrapping his legs around his opponent’s stomach.
Oney’s comeback was full of fire, and his version of “hulking up” is fantastic and gets the crowd reacting favourably towards him. His hulk up was followed up by some nasty looking chops, and an even nastier bump where Nese hit the guardrail awkwardly after being thrown over by Oney Lorcan.
As the match drew to a close, Oney was preparing himself to jump out of the ring onto Nese, but before he could, Gulak grabbed his legs, distracting The Boston Bruiser. Nese would then roll-up Oney for the one, two, and three.
Nese winning with Gulak’s help cemented this new alliance between the current and former cruiserweight champ, and also added fuel to the fire in Oney Lorcan’s quest for the title. It was a solid ending to a very good main event.
Overall, 205 Live got back to business this week, with a lot of strong in-ring action, and it’ll be interesting to see Lio Rush (NXT spoilers) take on Drew Gulak for the title.
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