Fresh off a historic and landscape shaking WWE Friday Night Smackdown, 205 Live looks to follow up on the momentum of the evening as the cruiserweights are next up.
The show starts with Aiden English and Tom Phillips introducing us to this week’s episode as they recover from the shock of events from the NXT superstars from Smackdown with introducing us to another NXT ‘breakout’, Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott.
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Isaiah Scott vs. Ariya Davari
This budding rivalry has to be the hottest thing on the brand right now. Scott’s fluid offense and Davari’s brawling style makes for great wrestling interactions between both the superstars. Isaiah’s ‘quicker than a hiccup’ style continues to impress every week as he hits a very sick rebound German Suplex into rolling leaping Flatliner that just shows his impressive array of moves.
However, we have to compliment Davari on his development since the majority of the roster has been drafted. A missed Persian Splash leads to a second opportunity by Scott to hit is jumping side kick to the head for the win. I’m calling it now, that move has to be called “House Call” named after Isaiah’s ‘Swevre’s House’ chant. I’ll start the campaign.
As Tom Phillips reminds us, this was the 4th straight win by an NXT superstar of the night, which is giving the black-and-gold brand a lot of momentum heading into the Survivor Series pay-per-view. Speaking of Wednesday, we get treated to a match from a recent NXT competitor (and Xavier Woods favorite superstar) Jack Gallagher.
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Ray Jazikoff vs. ‘Gentlemen’ Jack Gallagher
Local competitors! Gotta love when the local guys get a shot. You never know when hidden gems like these will be shown later or these guys become hired down the line. Unfortunately for Jazikoff, he will be remembered as the guy who took nothing but brutal offense from Jack.
The increase in aggression here was an interesting note as Gallagher has been looking in flux since Tozawa has left. More impactful headbutts, stiffer European uppercuts and two very brutal looking Gentlemen’s Dropkicks (one outside and one in the ring) gives the cruiserweight division original the win.
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Before our main event, we are informed by the commentary team that 205 Live will air from Manchester, England next week. As NXT UK superstars will be on the purple brand. I fully expect the Survivor Series like promotion to continue. Including some appearances from some of the United Kingdom brand’s big stars. Devlin vs. Rush? Andrews vs. Davari? I can’t wait to see who shows up.
Our main event this week, the refreshed and re-energized NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Lio Rush, and another NXT standout, Raul Mendoza.
Raul Mendoza vs. Lio Rush
Mendoza is slowly becoming one of the more impressive superstars on two brands. He’s in rarified air that even in a loss, his stock continues to rise which is the reason he’s in this spot. But Lio tonight was in rare form.
His middle rope Tope’s are crisper, his chops are more severe. Mendoza still impresses, an amazing handstand enziguri to knock the champ off the top rope was a prime example of what this man is capable of.
A Come Up stunner, penalty kick to the legs into an impactful Final Hour frog splash gets Lio another strong win since becoming champion. These two got a solid 15 minutes for the main event, pay per view caliber match which I hope we continue to get on Friday nights.
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We end the show with a surprising sign of respect from Lio Rush to Raul Mendoza. Something the announcers pointed out as an interesting change from his personality when he was previously on the purple brand. This ‘fighting champion’ personality we are getting from Rush is a welcome change. Especially with one of the 4 big WWE PPV’s coming up.
Hopefully, by next week, we will get a definitive contender in line for an NXT Cruiserweight CHampionship.
