Hello, one and all! Grab a chair and settle down while I talk you through this past weeks 205 Live including this week’s main event is a mouthwatering re-match between my boy Jack Gallagher, who looks to avenge his count-out loss to 205 Live newcomer, Chad Gable. That warmed you up? Good! Let’s crack on with today’s review…..
Akira Tozawa vs Samir Singh
Sunil Singh is at ringside supporting (interfering on his brother’s behalf) while The Brian Kendrick is on hand for Akira.
The match begins with Samir launching fists of fury at Tozawa, but Akira shrugs it off and returns the favor with chops and jabs of his own. With Singh slumped, Tozawa lays the boots in, to the delight of the baying crowd.
Singh fights back and after sending Akira to the corner with a strong Irish whip, covers him for the first two count of the match. Some brief brawling between the two results with Tozawa sending Singh to the outside over the top rope. A great apron cannonball onto Samir gets the crowd involved once more but annoys Samir Singh.
As Akira rolls Singh into the ring, Sunil jumps onto the apron distracting Tozawa. Seeing this as a great opportunity, Samir goes to attack Akira, but is rolled up into an inside cradle for a quick pin!
Winner – Akira Tozawa
After the match, the incensed Singh’s take to the ring and attack Tozawa from behind. But they’re quickly run out the ring and to the back by Kendrick and a recovering Tozawa. Could this be leading to a tag team match further on down the line?
And it seems that my pleads for the Singh’s to NOT be involved in singles matches still seem to be falling on deaf ears. C’mon 205 Live matchmakers. Surely you can see what we’re all seeing? They’re not drawing any heat whatsoever as singles. I like the fact that they’re teasing a future tag match, so please PLEASE….keep the brothers in tag matches! Rant over 🙂
A second Humberto Carillo hype video is shown. As always, a great job by the WWE production team. They’re really making you want to see Carillo ASAP.
Mike Kanellis vs Jackson James
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Mr. James is the sacrificial lamb in this very brief encounter…..
Maria Kanellis is shown backstage watching on a monitor as Mike takes complete control from the off. Rushing Jackson from the get-go, knife-edge chops and a nice looking spinebuster puts the rookie on the canvas. A strong whip in the corner followed by two running clotheslines and it looks like James is in cloud cuckoo land. A neckbreaker ends this squashiest of squash matches.
Winner – Mike Kanellis
After the match, Kanellis beats down on the rookie before throwing him out of the ring. He calls for a mic and begins to berate 205 Live GM Drake Maverick.
Mike says that his contract expired two months ago and he could have signed with anyone. But he wanted to stay on 205 Live to become the Cruiserweight Champion and to kick Drake’s ass. Drake replies by saying that Kanellis needs to take accountability for his actions and that he’s not any more deserving than anyone else on the roster. He then makes light of Mike’s quick loss on RAW last week.
Kanellis fires back by mocking Drake’s “performance” with his own wife last night. Drake reminds everyone that he’s not a contracted 205 Live talent, he’s the GM.
“Oh, oh, you’re the General Manager. I forgot, silly me. You’re the General Manager, the same General Manager who for the past two months has neglected his duties because he’s been chasing the 24/7 Title,” Kanellis remarked quite bluntly.
Mike carried on….. “Take some advice from me – go home, talk to your wife, beg her for forgiveness to prove to her that you’re a man. But you’re not a man, are you, Drake? Because a real man wouldn’t back down from a fight. A real man wouldn’t let them talk down to them like I’m talking to you right now. Oh, are you getting mad, Drake? You look like you’re getting a little mad, Drake. Are you mad? No, you’re not mad because a real man would get mad, Drake. Hell, a real man wouldn’t let me say to them that their wife is a filthy, disgusting…”
At which point Drake lost it and went at Kanellis, fists and kicks galore. A beautiful dropkick sent Mike from the ring as Drake looked on with anger in his eyes as the segment ended.
Chad Gable vs Jack Gallagher
It seems that it’s only myself and the commentators looking forward to this match as the crowd seems very apathetic as both competitors shake hands to begin the match. A lock-up leads to a sequence of counter versus counter and finished with Gable grounding the action to the mat. Jack escapes and begins to work on the left arm of Chad, but after some amazing athleticism from Gable, he escapes.
Some rope running ensues but the action is halted when Jack hits a great shoulder tackle on Gable. A quick pin gives us the first two count of the match. A couple of flying arm drags from Chad and another two. The action is quick at the beginning here folks! A most beautiful overhead belly to belly suplex is next from Gable, and it’s at this point the crowd begin to invest in the match. A quite sickening dragon screw leg whip on Gallagher has the commentators saying how vicious it looked. Combined with the spinning toe hold that happened next, and Gable is in full control.
Gallagher fights back, bad leg in tow. He takes Chad down with some strikes but then picks him back up for a fantastic delayed vertical suplex. Float over cover ends up with a two count. Chad gets back to his feet and attempts a Chaos Theory, but Gallagher slaps on a kimura (double wrist lock/armbar). Jack’s submission game is on a par with Daniel Bryan surely? The action spills to the outside and Gallagher slams Gable to the barricade. He dives back into the ring to hit a tope con giro, but Jack overshoots Gable! Chad picks him up and hits a great German suplex on the outside. The crowd is now going insane for the match.
Gable rolls Jack into the ring and executes a tiger driver! Not content with that thing of beauty, he flawlessly transitions into an ankle lock. Gallagher fights out of the submission with his ground and pound game. But he’s met with a rolling Capo kick for his troubles. Now that was a thing of beauty! But Jack rebounds off the ropes and delivers a sick sounding headbutt for a two count! The crowd is now on their feet, they’re loving this match!
Gable heads to the top rope and goes for a moonsault, but Jack hets his feet up and Gable eats the feet! Chad stumbles to the corner and is given a running corner dropkick for a very close two count. Gallagher takes Chad to the top turnbuckle and hits a belly to back suplex…..but wait! Gable turns his body as they’re in the air and turns it into a crossbody! Amazing! Gable finally hits the Chaos Theory and grabs the win. WHAT…A…MATCH!
Winner – Chad Gable
You all know I try to see the positives in wrestling, but HOT DAMN if that really wasn’t one of the best WWE matches I’ve seen this year. My writing doesn’t do it justice. Seriously, you need to see this match. It’s insanely great! And to get the crowd to go from being blase about the match at the beginning, to a standing ovation at the end? That takes some work, and both guys put in a ton of work into this match.
What a way to close the show. That main event will be talked about for weeks and months on end. Not forgetting the Maverick/Kanellis angle halfway through the show. I keep saying, 205 Live is consistently great and deserves much more recognition.
As always, you can hit me up on my social media for all kinds of wrestling-related chat. Links are below. So until later peeps…..TA TA!
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You can read past editions of the Landscape right here!
