205 Live – May 14, 2019: International Awesome
IMG Credit: WWE
205 Live
Date: May 14, 2019
Location: 02 Arena, London, England
Commentators: Aiden English, Byron Saxton, Nigel McGuinness
It’s the go home show for Money in the Bank, meaning it’s time for the final push towards Tony Nese defending against Ariya Daivari. Tonight is a special show though as we have NXT vs. the UK with some guest stars from NXT UK filling in some of the spots. That could be interesting, but you never know around here. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
General Manager Drake Maverick introduces the show and runs down the two matches.
Opening sequence.
Jack Gallagher vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. James Drake vs. Mark Andrews
Drake bails straight to the floor so it’s a triple headlock from the other three, even though there are only two headlocks included. A standoff sets up a series of dropkicks for some near falls with Drake’s attempt to steal one not going well. Drake gets caught back inside with Andrews chopping away and doing the slide on his knees to send Drake right back to the floor. That leaves Carrillo to hit his really high springboard spinning crossbody on Gallagher.
Drake pulls Andrews to the floor for a reverse powerbomb onto the apron as the pace picks up. Back in and Drake kicks Carrillo in the face to put him down in the corner. With the other two on the floor, a snap suplex gets two on Carrillo and Drake even has the time for a chinlock. Gallagher gets back on the apron for an exchange of forearms with Drake but a hard one puts him on the floor again. Carrillo sends Drake outside as well for the big flip dive to leave the ring empty.
Andrews grabs a running hurricanrana off the apron to Carrillo, followed by a spinning DDT to plant Drake on the floor. With everyone else down, Gallagher busts out William the umbrella for the Mary Poppins dive off the top. Just to show off some more, Gallagher grabs a very delayed vertical suplex on Andrews to the delight of his home country crowd. Drake catches Gallagher on top but takes too long going up, allowing Andrews to snap off a top rope hurricanrana.
Gallagher gets in a headbutt, followed by Carrillo hitting Twisted Bliss for two with Gallagher and Andrews making a save. Stundog Millionaire hits Carrillo and the moonsault kick to the head takes both Carrillo and Gallagher down. Gallagher is back up with a headbutt to Andrews, but knocks himself silly, allowing Carrillo to grab a rollup pin at 9:48.
Rating: B. It was cool to see Gallagher this fired up and inspired again. I know his character would suggest that he is fairly one note but there is some charisma inside there and it can come out at times. Carrillo getting a big win is nice, though Drake or Andrews winning wouldn’t have made a bit of sense.
Post match Carrillo and Gallagher shake hands.
Ariya Daivari, in a tanning bed, thinks Tony Nese is intimidated by him. Now Nese is flying eight hours for a match he doesn’t need to be in. Daivari will be fresh and massaged for Money in the Bank and have no problem beating a tired champion.
Nese is wrestling tonight because it’s right rather than smart. Yeah he could be in a tanning bed or training, but he’s a champion and got there by working hard.
Video on Ligero. It’s rather strange hearing him talk.
Lucha House Party accepts the Singh Brothers’ challenge to a rematch for next week.
Tony Nese vs. Ligero
Non-title. They battle over arm control to start with Ligero flipping around quite a bit, earning a drive into the corner from Nese. Ligero ties himself up in a ball on the mat and rolls Nese up as he comes near, setting up a long pinfall reversal sequence. That’s good for a handshake, plus one for the referee for keeping up with them. You don’t see that one every day.
Nese gets two off a rollup, followed by Ligero snapping off a hurricanrana for the same. Back up and Nese moonsaults over him before ducking a clothesline with a nipup. A kick to the ribs sends Ligero to the floor but he catches Nese with a pump kick. The running dive is cut off by an elbow to the face to give Nese two more though and it’s off to the waistlock.
Ligero uses a rollup to block the running knee in the corner so Nese goes back to the bodyscissors. This time Ligero fights up with a tilt-a-whirl into a crossbody but it bangs up the ribs again. With the wrestling not working so well, Nese goes with the shots to the face, including a spinwheel kick for two. The springboard moonsault misses so Ligero nails a springboard splash, which only hurts his ribs again.
Nese bails to the floor and you just don’t do that against a luchador, meaning it’s a big flip dive to take him down again. Back in and a super hurricanrana drops Ligero again, followed by the 450….for two. Nese’s stunned face gets superkicked but C4L is countered into a powerbomb into the corner. The running knee finishes Ligero at 14:20.
Rating: B. The lack of drama didn’t help things here as you can only do so much to convince people that the champ is going to lose five days before the title match. Ligero looked good here though and could easily hang on a show like this full time. Nese is rapidly settling in but he needs a far more interesting challenger than Daivari to make the title reign feel more important.
Post match Nese raises Ligero’s hand but Daivari runs in to beat both of them down. They’re trying so hard to make this work but there’s a limit to what can be done given the circumstances.
Overall Rating: B+. This was a one off show with two rather good matches and that made for one of the best shows they’ve had in a long time. The title angle still isn’t working but it certainly isn’t for a lack of trying, which I can always respect. It’s one of the best shows they’ve had, even if it means nothing in the long term.
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