205 Live – January 22, 2021: The Role They’re Made For

205 Live
Date: January 22, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness

It’s another special show this week with two more Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic matches. That’s a very good idea as the tournaments are going to consist of twenty two matches and after tonight, nearly than a fifth of them will have taken place here. That’s going to relieve some pressure on NXT, which is a good service that 205 Live can provide. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a long tournament recap, including the stories that lead into tonight’s matches. This is more detail than a 205 Live preview usually gets.

Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round: The Way vs. Gigi Dolin/Cora Jade

It’s Indi Hartwell/Candice LeRae for the Way and that would be Priscilla Kelly/Elayna Black, both of whom are making their debuts. This is also the first ever women’s match in 205 Live history. Jade gets in a shot to Hartwell’s arm to start and hands it off to Dolin in a hurry for some shots to the face. LeRae comes in but misses a legdrop, allowing Dolin to drive her back into the corner.

It’s back to Jade, who gets caught in an early neck crank to put her in trouble. Hartwell adds a running shot in the corner before slapping on the cravate. A side slam gets two on Jade and it’s back to LeRae for her own chinlock. Jade kicks her away without much effort and hands it back to Dolin to kick away at Hartwell. Hartwell powers her way out of a double suplex and hands it back to LeRae. That means Jade can grab a few rollups for two each but a belly to back slam lets Hartwell pin Jade at 5:57.

Rating: C. This wasn’t much of a showcase for Dolin and Jade but more a way to get their feet wet in a WWE ring. In that regard, it worked out fine, especially in a match they had next to no chance of winning. The Way very well could be favorites to win the whole tournaments and they’re already in the final four, so at least they’re off to a good start.

Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round: Ariya Daivari/Tony Nese vs. Tommaso Ciampa/Timothy Thatcher

Ciampa and Thatcher have taken the spot of the injured Ashante Adonis/Desmond Troy. They just happened to beat the heck out of each other in the Fight Pit earlier this week but the word “respect” was dropped so all was forgiven. Thatcher grabs Daivari by the face to start and headlocks him to the mat. A hammerlock takes Daivari down again and the surfboard makes it even worse. Daivari gets up and manages to push Thatcher over for the tag to Nese, though I’m more interested in the Nintendo 64 shirt in the crowd.

That’s fine with Thatcher, as Ciampa takes over on Nese’s arm and hands it off to Ciampa. Nese takes him down by the leg but is quickly caught in a front facelock as this is a very grappling heavy match so far. Daivari comes in but Nese gets in a cheap shot, allowing Daivari to wrap Ciampa’s knee around the post. Back in and the Figure Four keeps Ciampa’s knee in trouble, with Nese offering a distraction so he can pull Daivari into the corner.

Ciampa gets out and scores with an enziguri, allowing the hot tag off to Thatcher. Uppercuts abound with Nese having to break up an ankle lock. Daivari’s Persian Splash gets two and the next hot tag brings Ciampa back in to clean house. Thatcher and Ciampa knock them both to the floor and it’s Willow’s Bell for the pin on Nese at 8:15.

Rating: C-. This was another match that wasn’t exactly in doubt but it was a little more competitive than the first. Ciampa and Thatcher could well be dark horses to pull off the whole thing and that could make for something interesting. The men’s brackets are looking good so far and we could be in for some cool matches as we move forward. Ciampa and Thatcher didn’t seem to quite trust each other but that’s the case for most thrown together teams.

Here are the second round brackets:

Undisputed Era

Tommaso Ciampa/Timothy Thatcher

Kushida/Leon Ruff

Grizzled Young Veterans

MSK

Drake Maverick/Killian Dain

Lucha House Party

Legado Del Fantasma

Overall Rating: C. Again, this was a show designed to take pressure off of NXT and there is nothing wrong with that. 205 Live is hardly the most important show in the world on its own so switching things over for a few weeks isn’t going to hurt anything. The Dusty Classics are big tournaments so letting 205 Live host some matches is a good way to keep things moving. Nothing must see here, but it did what it was supposed to do.

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