205 Live – March 12, 2019: Can We Look At Some Other Options?
IMG Credit: WWE
205 Live
Date: March 12, 2019
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, Aiden English
The tournament season continues around here with the final four of the Cruiserweight Title #1 Contender tournament. In this case, there aren’t exactly a ton of great options but that’s the case with a lot of the title scene at the moment. Cedric Alexander is probably the favorite to win the whole thing, as tends to be the case, but bigger surprises have happened before. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We open with Drew Gulak for a change. He loves tournament semifinals because it’s where you separate the men from the boys. In other words, it’s the round where Tony Nese collapses under the pressure. Drew owns him and tonight will be no different.
Nese knows that Gulak is different than anyone else on the roster because Gulak will dissect every mistake that Nese makes. His focus is his best asset and Gulak knows nothing about him.
Oney Lorcan says this is all business and he had no ill will towards Humberto Carrillo. Now Cedric Alexander is the man to beat and that’s what Lorcan is going to do tonight when he breaks Alexander.
Cedric Alexander knows that Lorcan is an amazing talent and sees him as the future of the division. It’s not his time though because Cedric is still here and he’s going back to Wrestlemania.
Opening sequence.
Buddy Murphy joins us from Australia to talk about who could win the tournament.
#1 Contenders Tournament Semifinals: Oney Lorcan vs. Cedric Alexander
The fans seem behind Cedric, which may be due to not knowing much about Lorcan. Cedric spins out of a wristlock as English wonders if it’s better to get to the title and fall or never get there at all. Uh, winning the title? A headlock takes Cedric down for a bit, though he rolls Lorcan up for some one counts. Back up and Lorcan chops Cedric so hard that he looks ready to scream but he comes back with his own chops.
It’s way too early for the Lumbar Check so Lorcan gets two off a strong clothesline. We hit a waistlock on Alexander, followed by an abdominal stretch to stay on the logical target. Some headbutts get Alexander out but he’s right back in the hold about two seconds later. The real comeback is on with some elbows to the face and the Neuralizer actually staggers Lorcan.
There’s the springboard Downward Spiral for good measure with Lorcan’s head bouncing off the mat for two. Lorcan is fine enough to get his own two off a running Blockbuster as the frustration is setting in. Maybe you should hit more than one move? The half and half suplex gets two and now it’s ok to be frustrated.
Cedric is back up with a Michinoku Driver for two of his own, plus the big shocked face. The real frustration sets in and Cedric stomps away, only to get caught on top for a half and half superplex for two more, all but guaranteeing that Lorcan isn’t winning. Lorcan blasts him in the face a few more times, only to take the Lumbar Check for the pin at 15:13.
Rating: B. Standard Cedric performance here: rather high quality but nothing that we haven’t seen in the last year plus of Cedric’s run in 205 Live. He doesn’t have much in the way of charisma and that’s making it harder and harder to get invested in the same stuff that we’ve seen him do over and over. He’s still better than most, but this can only go on for so long and we’re reaching that point.
We look back at Mike Kanellis’ no contest last week when he could have had an easy win.
The Kanellises rant to Drake Maverick for putting him in an easy match when he deserves competition. Drake agrees and gives him a match next week with an unnamed opponent. The losing isn’t going to last much longer though, because this place is for winners. There’s so much wrong with that logic I’m just going to move on.
Ariya Daivari isn’t pleased with being left out of the tournament and says the leash is coming off soon. Good. Maybe he’ll run away and not come back.
#1 Contenders Tournament Semifinals: Tony Nese vs. Drew Gulak
The rather confident Gulak grabs a headlock to start but gets elbowed in the face. Nese tries a rather unnecessary moonsault and has to bail to the floor to avoid the Gulock. Back in and Nese goes after a wristlock and then a headlock as they seem to have a lot of time here. They head outside with Nese kicking him in the ribs and hitting a rather quiet chop. He should have gone harder as Gulak is fine enough to drop him throat first across the top as the build towards the Gulock continues.
Said build continues with a neck crank before Gulak ties up the legs and hits him in the back of the head a few times for two. The chinlock doesn’t last long and Gulak takes him down again, albeit now more annoyed at Nese for fighting back. Nese manages a whip into the corner but since it’s just a whip, Gulak grabs a t-bone suplex to put Nese right back in trouble.
The chinlock goes on again so Nese fights up with some kicks to the face, including a dropkick for two. The split legged moonsault is good (well, the little that actually hit) for the same, drawing some rather weak applause. Gulak goes aerial with a very rare dropkick, which does a nice job of showing how desperate he is here. Back to back powerbombs gives Gulak two but Nese is right back up with a super hurricanrana.
The 450 misses and they’re both down as the fans are trying to get into this. Neither finisher connects so Gulak goes with a snappy sunset flip for two. Nese rolls through another Gulock attempt and German suplexes Gulak into the corner. The running knee misses and Gulak clotheslines the heck out of him for two. Now the Gulock goes on but Nese gets his foot on the rope and flips backwards for the quick pin at 17:08.
Rating: B+. So I’m supposed to cheer for Nese now? This was certainly a feel good moment but Nese has teased face turns before and none of them have exactly been interesting. Having Nese overcome Gulak doesn’t make him interesting and possibly seeing Nese vs. his training partner at Wrestlemania isn’t thrilling either. I mean it’s something, but it’s not something interesting and that’s a rather questionable choice.
Gulak is stunned to end the show.
Overall Rating: A. Two very good to great matches and a Maria cameo. What more could you ask for in a fifty minute show? The tournament was excellent last year and the sequel has been another treat with the wrestling being more than good. The problem is who we’re getting to see, as Nese vs. Alexander is far from the most thrilling selection. I’m sure the matches will be good, but a more interesting final would be nice.
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That tournament poorly thows that they are in need of new blood. The thing is that WWE won’t put much effort into 205 Live cause in their minds it’s nothing more than their C-level show. Guys like Mysterio or Ricochet are far too popular to be wasted on that and even if they would sign exciting new cruiserweights like Bandido, Fenix or Ospreay they would probably go on to NXT.
205 Live is a nice watch cause the action is solid throughout but it’s a show that is just existing cause WWE’s roster is way too large. And the match-ups are getting tiresome.
You described my feelings for Alexander perfectly. Before he got signed he was one of my favourite cruiserweights and i absolutely loved his stuff in the CWC especially his match with Ibushi. But now he is just going through the motions. I can’t stand his facial expressions anymore they are making me cheer for his Opponent every time!
When I saw all the competitors in the tournament, I thought the same thing.
While I knew that my little idea was beyond a long shot, I would have loved for Rey Mysterio to have been included in this tournament as a surprise, a mystery competitor who wasn’t revealed until his 1st round match. Murphy’s schtick lately has been calling himself the greatest Cruiserweight of all time and the introduction of Mysterio into things would’ve flowed smoothly as he’d take exception to this young punk disrespecting the likes of himself, the Guerreros, Jushin Thunder Liger, Ultimo Dragon and a few others who can lay claim to the title of greatest Cruiserweight of all time. Mysterio’s inclusion could have also been used as a means to draw more attention to 205 Live as while he’s been a fun addition to the US title picture, there’s no reason why he couldn’t perform double duty for a few nights. I also think Mysterio vs. Murphy would be a great mix of athleticism and strength.
Given the options of Cedric or Tony Nese, I’d rather Nese got the shot as he’s the fresher opponent for Murphy. Of course, it’s not like it’s really that big of a deal overall considering that the match will almost certainly happen on the WrestleMania kickoff show, CW title matches always happen on the ppv kick off shows and it won’t be any different here. Whatever effort goes into increasing the interest in 205 Live is undermined by Vince’s constant decisions to treat it as if it’s all but irrelevant.
So Tony vs Murphy? Doesn’t exactly scream excitement.