NXT starts off with Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch, and Humberto Carillo VS. The Forgotten Sons. The match starts right off with some high intensity. NXT is telling us that the teaming of Carillo with Burch and Lorcan is that they are tired of the Forgotten Sons running rampant in NXT and bullying the brand. The clear advantage is the Forgotten Sons as they are an established stable however the advantage and most impressive athleticism is with Lorcan, Burch, and Carillo. Much like last week it appears that the push is going to Lorcan and Carillo. At one point Burch is cornered by all three members of The Forgotten Sons. The Forgotten Sons win the match as they get the pin fall over Danny Burch.
We get to see a little of the performance center when we get a behind the scenes style vignette between Mia Kim and Bianca Belair. It is also announced that next week we will get a match between the two.
The second match of the night is Mansoor VS. Donovan Dijakovic. Mansoor clearly is outsizes by Dijakovic and out muscled, as Dijakovic tosses Mansoor with ease over the top rope and into the barricade. Mansoor gets some face heat from the crowd as he battles against the much larger opponent. Both wrestlers getting a chance to shine in this match, with Mansoor hitting an aerial kick launching himself off of Dijakovic’s knee. The match ends when Dijakovic hits an inverted GTS. After the match Mansoor is tossed out of the ring, as Dijakovic is in the ring Velveteen Dream comes out and sings for Dijakovic the national dream anthem. A very entertaining segment even if Dream is not the greatest singer. It appears that we will be getting Dijakovic in the near future.
Kushida makes his NXT debut against Kassius Ohno. Before the match starts we get announced that next week we will see Matt Riddle VS. Adam Cole.This leads to a vignette with the Undisputed Era and it appears that on the surface that Undisputed Era is fine until Adam Cole “jokes” in the middle of the promo stating that Roderick Strong dropped that ball last week. This leads to Strong walking out and Bobby Fisch giving chase. It seems that the camps are set as Kyle O’rielly is on the Adam Cole side and Fisch on Strong’s side.
Finally we get to the Ohno VS. Kushida match and what an amazing entrance for Kushida. Clearly playing off the Back to the Future movie series as Kushida comes out dressed as Marty Fly. It would also appear that Kushida is taking the countdown titan-tron and “millennium man” theme that has been vacant since Jericho left WWE. Ohno looks to be a giant compared to Kushida in the ring. The match is filled with a lot of rest holds and mat chain wrestling. After a segment in the beginning where Ohno did not want to shake Kushida’s hand Ohno extends his out stating that he approves. Kushida reluctant to do does this leads to a shift in tides as Ohno Irish whips Kushida and hits him with a boot. The boot hits Kushida right on the bridge of the nose that appears to have started to bleed. Kushida could possibly have a broken nose as there is plenty of blood coming from his nose. Kushida goes to hit a springboard hurricarana but Ohno clearly out of shape does a terrible job in selling. Kushida gets the win by submission with the Hover board Lock after a penalty kick to Ohno’s arm. A very strong outing by Kushida especially with the broken nose. Tons of Back to the Future references as the commentary give their praises as NXT comes to a close.
205 LIVE
Opening the show we get the champ Tony Nese announcing that he is going to be a fighting champ and that we are going to be getting Tony Nese VS. Drew Gulak tonight. Drew appears on the screen and goes on to tell the crowd that he has beaten Tony Nese every time, well every time except once but that is an outlier.
Lucha House party VS. The Singh Brothers is the first match to start off the show. Apparently The Singh Brothers are back on 205 Live, they start off by saying that they have been traveling the world facing the best of the best; Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, and A.J. Styles. The Singh Brothers go on to tell the crowd that they are the only undefeated team on 205 Live, as they won their very first match on the first 205 Live episode. Gran Malek and Lince Dorado, even after the beating that they received from the Viking Raiders are competing heavily in this match. The referee in this match actually stopped a pin when Lince’s hand was under the rope, clearly something that was talked about to the refs backstage as it is apparent that referees are adhering to a stricter attention to details since wrestlemania. The Singh Brothers really bring a good old school heel persona to 205 Live. Lince ends up getting a hot tag to Gran Malek coming in an hitting all his high spots. Gran Malek is tagged out on a blind tag by Lince Dorado who is hit with Stereo Super-kicks but only a two count for the Singh Brothers. Gran Malek is tagged back in and hits a spring board elbow drop and a blind tag by Lince Dorado as he hits directly after a shooting star press for the three count.
Backstage Drake Maverick, is interviewing Carillo which is interrupted by Jack Gallagher who informs Maverick that he is still unable to compete as he is not medically cleared but will be ready in two weeks, which 205 Live will be in England. Gallagher focuses his attention to Carillo thanking him for what he did to Gulak last week.
The Brian Kendrick is making his way to the ring as he is attacked by Mike Kanellis. Akira Tozawa comes to the aid of Kendrick. Kanellis and Tozawa are broken up by none other than GM Drake Maverick. Kanellis escapes through the crowd. It is later announced that next week we are getting a no DQ match between Kanellis and Tozawa.
The main event is about to start with Drew Gulak and Tony Nese. Gulak showing off all his stuff on the mat. Throughout the middle of the match we get a pretty even showing between both competitors. However the Premier Athlete Tony Nese gits a beautiful senton plancha over the top rope. This as many of Gulak’s matches becomes a very technical bout. Unfortunately like most 205 Live episodes the Smackdown crowd is lack luster at best. We get multiple backstage shots of Ariya Davari watching the match from his locker room grinning as he has conned Tony Nese into this match before their bout for the championship in hopes that Nese will be less than perfect during their match. After back and forth punches Nese hits a springboard moonsault but does not get all of it as he overshoots Gulak. Nese then counters a Gulock and both men are tossed out of the ring. Gulak makes his way to the ring however Nese pulls Gulak back out of the ring restarting the count after 5. This leads to Nese hitting a vertical suplex to Gulak on the outside of the ring. Nese gets Gulak back in the ring as the ref counts to 8. Nese counters another Gulock however Gulak gets Nese in a roll up. Nese bounces back and is able to hit the pump handle driver. After a near three count Nese sets up Gulak on the top rope where Gulak hits a shoulder press to knee to the gut of Nese. Nese kicks out at 2 and goes for a 450 splash but Gulak evades. With the dazed Nese Gulak locks in the Gulock only to have nese turn over for the pin causing the break on the lock by Gulak. Nese hits a german suplex against the bottom rope to Gulak which sets up a running nese for the three count. Tony Nese gets the win against Gulak after a mat masterpiece by both competitors. 205 Live ends with Tony Nese standing tall.
