‘WWE 205 Live’ Review (Feb 5th 2019)
Welcome to this week’s 205 Live review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a great night of wrestling to get to, so let’s do so before I get married to super-glue.
Match #1: The Brian Kendrick beat Mike Kanellis (with Maria Kanellis)
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
Although Mike Kanellis lost to Kalisto last week on WWE 205 Live, his performance impressed WWE 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick enough to give The Opportunist another chance to prove himself. Once again, Kanellis squared off against a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion, The Brian Kendrick. With Maria Kanellis joining commentary, the match got underway with the two Superstars engaged in a showdown of technical prowess. Kanellis grew irate with Kendrick and was forced to recalibrate with encouragement from his wife. As the battle raged to the outside, Kendrick and Kanellis exchanged blows, and The Man with a Plan took control until Maria put herself between her husband and the announce table. Thanks to the assist from his wife, Kanellis fended off Kendrick. Showing off his aggression, Kanellis left Kendrick on defense and dished out a fair amount of punishment. Kendrick applied The Captain’s Hook, but Kanellis battled through the pain to reach the ropes and break the hold. Kanellis grew increasingly frustrated with his inability to secure victory, and The Opportunist unloaded brutal elbow strikes and answered his opponent’s call to strike with savage kicks. Seemingly in control of the battle, Kanellis prepared to end the match, but Kendrick countered and executed Sliced Bread No. 2 for the shocking win.
My Take: 2.5 out of 5 – This was good, but it felt a bit stale, for whatever reason. Mike is still a good wrestler, as is Brian, but both of them have always been a step behind other wrestlers, due to the flexibility of their bodies. If you’ve never noticed, look at Brian when he wrestles and watch how he transitions from move to move and you might just see him not be all that fluid. Mike has that problem as well and he has always had to rely on his power to make up for the fact that he is not the next Dean Malenko. In another league, these two would have a much better match, but the WWE style requires absolutely perfected skills to master the video games approach that Vince has been obsessed with for over thirty years. I’d love to see these two in Japan, as I think that working the strong style of that country would actually get their match to the finish line as it were much quicker than just doing a traditional wrestling bout.
Match #2: (Main Event) Akira Tozawa beat Cedric Alexander, Humberto Carrillo and Lio Rush – Fatal 4 Way Match For The WWE Cruiserweight Title Shot
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander, Lio Rush and Humberto Carrillo faced off in a high-stakes Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match to determine who will challenge WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy at WWE Elimination Chamber. All four competitors were fully prepared to seize the opportunity and stop the unstoppable. As the opening bell sounded, Carrillo, Tozawa and Alexander were ready for action until Lio Rush started to run his mouth, and he was cornered by all three opponents. Rush managed to avoid them through pure speed until Tozawa drove him into the announce table. After Rush was dealt with, Carrillo, Tozawa and Alexander engaged in a fast-paced series of strikes and counters that saw Tozawa prepare a dive to the outside until The Man of the Hour took him down and leveled all three opponents in a blink of an eye. Rush proved his mettle by maintaining control of the contest, first at Carrillo’s expense before focusing on Tozawa.
Despite Rush’s impressive flurry of offense, Tozawa rolled away from the Final Hour and kicked Rush into Alexander, who executed the Lumbar Check and eliminated Rush. With The Man of the Hour gone, Carrillo, Tozawa and Alexander engaged in an incredible showcase of their speed, high-flying ability and resilience. During a lightning-quick exchange between all three, Alexander appeared to injure his knee. When Carrillo knocked Alexander off the top rope, it gave Tozawa time to recalibrate, counter a high-risk move off the top from the Mexican Superstar and land his patented Senton to eliminate Carrillo. With Alexander and Tozawa – both former Cruiserweight Champions – the last two standing, they immediately exchanged words before striking and attempting to claim a quick victory.
After both Superstars recovered from booting each other in the face, they once again traded blows and counters, leaving the WWE Universe on the edge of their seats. As Tozawa prepared the Senton, Alexander rolled to the apron, and Alexander slammed The Stamina Monster back-first into the apron before executing an eye-popping Michinoku Driver that shockingly did not result in a three-count. A frustrated Alexander unloaded on Tozawa and attempted the Lumbar Check, but Tozawa countered with a massive spike to the mat before executing the Senton for a hard-fought victory and title opportunity. As Tozawa celebrated his victory, Buddy Murphy appeared on the TitanTron and addressed his next challenger, telling him that he will crush The Stamina Monster on his way to WrestleMania, where he intends to cement his legacy as the greatest Cruiserweight ever.
My Take: 3.5 out of 5 – This was pretty good and it worked as the match it was booked to be. I enjoyed seeing Akira get the victory, as he has gone on too long without getting much attention from Vince. It’s good to see Lio get more wrestling time. Cedric has done very well in the WWE and he made a great decision to go to the WWE. Humberto is in the same position that the other three have been in within the past few years and if he’s going to get Vince to stay interested in him, he’ll need to add some more personality to his excellent wrestling skils, which were on display in this match. Over-all, it’s important to mention that this was rushed in some places, but it was a good one nonetheless.
News of the Night:
- Noam Dar will fight Tony Nese in a No Disqualification Match, next week.
Final Verdict: 3.5/5
This was a good show that kept it all pretty simple and made it very easy to understand the stakes for the main event and, subsequently, the cruiserweight title.
