Previously on 205 Live: Kalisto beat Tony Nese and then Buddy Murphy bullied Kalisto, Gulak and Alexander signed a contract, Ricky Martinez lost his job on 205 Live and Cedric Alexander defeated The Brian Kendrick.
Cold Open
Drake Maverick hypes tonight show. Lucha House Party faces off against Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy. A main event of Hideo Itami vs. Mustafa Ali, this feud is coming to a head after months of trash talk, sneak attacks and actual matches.
After the intro song we are welcomed by the commentary team who run down basically the same thing Drake Maverick said.
Lucha House Party vs. Tony Nese and Buddy Murphy
It looks like Gran Metalik’s visa issues are worked out so that’s nice. LHP seems to start off every 205 Live. I think it’s because they are flashy and fun, lots of flips and dives and get the crowd excited for the next hour of television.
Vic Joseph says Lince Dorado has sprained ligaments in his thumb, but is still competing in the match. Which is dumb on LHP’s part. They have Gran Metalik on the outside of the ring, healthy as hell.
Lucha House Party are dominating the match even with Dorado’s injured hand. Kalisto ends up getting outsmarted by a blind tag from Nese to Murphy. This lets Tony get a chance to capitalize and take control.
Nigel talks about how Drake Maverick gives out opportunities in 205 Live. Which is commendable, but the roster is so small it’s hard to NOT give opportunities on this show. If you don’t give opportunities it’s legitimately the same guys wrestling over and over again.
Murphy and Nese tag in and out quite fluidly for being first time tag team partners. Kalisto is taking tons of damage, trying to rally the crowd behind him but it’s quite quiet.
Kalisto builds to the hot tag by getting a nearfall off of a counter, throwing Nese out of the ring while Murphy was on the ground and DIVING for Lince’s hand. Nese who was thrown out of the ring near Dorado, pulled Lince off the apron so Kalisto couldn’t make the tag.
Eventually Kalisto fights off both competitors to tag his teammate Lince Dorado. Lince is able to hit some innovative offense that ends in a near fall on Nese. I wish the crowd wasn’t so worn out. They just finished a Smackdown Live show and now need to have energy for wrestlers most of the crowd doesn’t even know.
Crowd wakes up with stereo dives by LHP to the outside. That doesn’t last long though because Tony Nese gets a quick roll up for the victory.
We see a tweet from Mustafa Ali. Drake Maverick talks to Mustafa about being in the hospital for “over doing it” Ali called it a speed bump. What’s interesting is that no news sites or dirtsheets have picked up on what sent Ali to the hospital.
Noam Dar vs. Sean Maluta
Noam gets a video package of what he has gone through to come back from a torn meniscus 10 months ago. Noam is being positioned as a babyface now and how Noam’s injury made him reevaluate his life. He knows he can’t take anything for granted. It’s nice to see the Scottish Supernova put in a new light that people can get behind. Hopefully the live crowd saw that too.
Maluta appeared in the Cruiserweight Classic and has been on NXT as well. He even gets his own entrance with helps the match. We know Dar is going to win. This is a rebranding of Dar and he isn’t about to lose. Having Maluta get an entrance though, gives some credibility to Sean and helps the idea of Noam beating “a name” instead of “some jobber”.
We were told Noam had a surgically repaired left knee and that is what Sean attacks. This match is wrestled like a basic match where the heel works over a limb and the face is able to fight back and hit signature moves and poses.
Dar wins shortly after we see TJP kind of watching the match backstage but seeming disinterested.
Replay of last week where Cedric beat The Brian Kendrick and Gallagher then attacked Cedric. Kendrick, Gallagher and Gulak walked away. Cedric cuts a backstage promo that feels very pro wrestling and not natural. Gulak cuts a promo with Jack and Brian behind Drew as he stands at a podium. Gulak’s promo is like a politicians speech, which does him well. He is still fighting for a better 205 Live.
This happened
Mustafa Ali vs. Hideo Itami
The match starts with a slow feeling out process. A few doges and counters until Ali gets some shine and kicks Hideo in the head. Ali is evading Hideo’s strikes and out wrestling Itami. After a dive to the outside Ali severely slows down because of a bad landing.
Mustafa is walking around gingerly and Hideo capitalizes. Itami is still too cocky and Ali’s fighting spirit shows through. Hideo is relentless in his attacks and Ali is still fighting back. Ali’s attacks have less and less effect on them. Itami then ROCKS Ali into the turnbuckle post and dude is hurt. Ali is hitting the ground and writhing in pain. Itami went to grab Ali but gave Mustafa some more time to recover. This is brutal.
Hideo is yelling at Ali ” COME ON RESPECT ME!!” The commentators say that Itami doesn’t care and just wants to be the best. Which is kind of funny because Itami just screamed “respect me” and commentary just blew over that and started their own narrative. Commentary does put over how the hospital stay could be effecting Ali, but no one mentions WHY Ali was in the hospital.
Mustafa hits some signature moves, but when Ali goes through the ropes for a rolling X-Factor, Itami hits a kick to Ali’s face that turned Mustafa inside out. Mustafa is able to fight back to the point where we get some back and forth action. Ali gets a near fall with the crowd now firmly behind him.
A huge strike war knocks both Superstars down but has the crowd clapping feverishly for the action to continue. The referee checks on both men but does not issue a 10 count, I still don’t know why WWE has all but done away with that aspect of a match.
Mustafa is showing his heart by digging deep and pulling out all the stops by hitting a huge powerbomb. It’s only a two count. Ali gets caught with a snap overhead belly-to-belly into the turnbuckles and is out on his feet. Itami can’t get a three count so he puts Ali’s head next to the steps and goes for a dropkick. Mustafa moves and hits a tornado DDT to the outside.
Itami is dead weight and Ali goes for the 054 but he pulls a Shawn Michaels and passes out during the match. Itami capitalizes for the victory after three hesitation dropkicks to Ali who was in the tree of woe. 205 goes off the air with Mustafa passing out again and trying to get up but he can’t even tell the referee what year it is.
What a great match. Mustafa Ali shows out every time he is in the ring and is my lowkey pick for wrestler of the year in 2018. Even though there isn’t many men on this 205 roster. Then men on the roster put on such a great show that I still feel satisfied after every show.
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-Jake
