205 Live – March 20, 2020: The Scaled Down Scaled Down Show
IMG Credit: WWE
205 Live
Date: March 20, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jon Quasto, Aiden English
We’re back here and thankfully this show has gotten into the formula that it should have had years ago: a short form show which gets in and out without wasting a bunch of time. Last week saw Kushida and Isaiah Scott surviving the elimination tag and that could set up some stuff for the future. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Joaquin Wilde vs. Danny Burch
Burch cranks on the arm to start and takes him down with a wristlock. That’s switched into a Fujiwara armbar to work on a different part of the arm because Burch is that thorough. Wilde reverses into an armbar of his own but they wind up heading outside instead. Burch knocks him into the barricade, only to have Wilde dive off of said barricade to drop Burch again.
Back in and Wilde goes back to the arm for a good bit until Burch jawbreaks his way to freedom. Some shots in the corner set up a middle rope missile dropkick for two but Wilde gets in a jawbreaker of his own. Burch headbutts him down though and the Crossface makes Wilde tap at 8:10.
Rating: C-. Just a match here with the arm work actually playing into the finish. Burch is someone who can have a nice enough match against anyone, though I’m not sure how smart it is to beat someone like Wilde, who could actually go somewhere. It’s not great, but at least it was a fresh match.
Video on last week’s elimination tag, with John Cena watching from the production area.
Isaiah Scott vs. Oney Lorcan
This could be interesting. Lorcan drives him into the corner to start and they hit the mat with Lorcan cranking on both arms. He drives Scott back down to the mat until Scott flips forward and nips up. Scott cranks on something like an abdominal stretch so Lorcan gets over to the rope. An uppercut in the corner rocks Scott again and they trade rollups for two each.
Lorcan is back up and snaps the knee around the rope, sending Scott outside in some pain. Back in and Lorcan cranks on the knee some more but Scott uses the good leg to kick him in the face. A discus lariat turns Lorcan inside out and a middle rope kick to the back of the head makes it worse. The rolling Downward Spiral gets two but Lorcan scores with a chop. Scott is sat on the middle rope but kicks him down, setting up the Swerve Stomp for the pin at 9:54.
Rating: C+. Nice match here with Lorcan being a good foil for Scott, who picks up one of his biggest wins to date. Scott is someone who could go a long way around here but it isn’t going to work if he doesn’t win a few matches on his own. That’s what they did here and coupled with being one of the survivors last week, he could start to go somewhere. Or as far as you can go on this show at least.
Overall Rating: C. All things considered, this was a rather nice show and again, the shorter run time helps it so much. Couple that with the lack of the same tired acts that have dragged this show down for so long. This was just a wrestling show with some watchable matches and after several months of mostly lame shows, this was a nice change of pace.
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