WWE 205 Live results: Gran Metalik vs. TJP
The Takeaways —
• Next week’s main event: Buddy Murphy & Tony Nese vs. Mustafa Ali & Cedric Alexander
• The program between Lucha House Party and TJP, Maria & Mike Kanellis will continue into next week after Mike Kanellis’ post-match chair shot angle.
Show Recap —
The episode kicked off with a video package of the Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali Cruiserweight title match from Survivor Series.
Back at the Staples Center, WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy stood on top of the entrance ramp and cut a promo on the crowd and said he doesn’t need any of their approval because this is “his” 205 Live.
Tony Nese followed Murphy out onto the ramp. Nese had the next match against Noam Dar.
Tony Nese defeated Noam Dar
They played a pre-taped “selfie” promo from Dar. He claimed he is going to “make some noise” in the cruiserweight division and the announce team repeated that, so it sounds like it could become a marketing term for Dar for now.
Nese bullied Dar for a bit. Nigel McGuinness made a Volk Han reference. After Dar did his own version of the Tetsuya Naito Tranquilo taunt, he did a spinning backslide.
Nese did a gutbuster on the floor. He got booed pretty loudly, and it followed with a smattering of cheers down in front for Dar.
Murphy yelled at the announce team and claimed that he and Nese “are the division.”
Nese missed a crossbody block and almost slid out of the ring. Dar made a comeback that consisted of forearms and a Northern Lights suplex.
Dar made a few attempts at using the guillotine choke, which leads me to question why his gimmick is the “Scottish Supernova” at all. Isn’t that, like, the opposite of that?
Murphy distracted Dar towards the end of the match. Nese took advantage and German suplexed Dar into the corner turnbuckle, then used the Running Nese for the win.
Murphy jumped into the ring to celebrate with Nese. He stomped on Dar and booted him from the apron to the floor.
Technically, there was nothing wrong with this match. It was fine. What I did notice from the announce team was that Murphy was the story tonight, and that the two in the ring were the backdrop.
Next up was another selfie promo from Mustafa Ali. He said he didn’t want to forget the pain Murphy gave him at Survivor Series and that he should really thank Murphy for the pain.
The next segment was with Drake Maverick and a referee. Maverick made it clear that he did not want any “shenanigans” during the main event of TJP vs. Gran Metallik, regardless of anything Maria Kanellis said the week prior.
Cedric Alexander swung by and he and Maverick shook hands. Maverick said he had always wanted to see a match between the team of Alexander & Ali against Murphy & Nese. They made it the main event for next week’s 205 Live.
Akira Tozawa & Brian Kendrick defeated an enhancement team
Drew Gulak and Jack Gallagher were interviewed backstage before the match. Gulak said if Kendrick and Tozawa had the gall to challenge them again, they’d tap out.
Tozawa did a Shining Wizard while howling, then he and Kendrick did a few double-team moves. Tozawa got the pin after a Sliced Bread Number Two from Kendrick followed by a diving senton.
The story between these guys is that Tozawa is happy-go-lucky and Kendrick is a stick in the mud, sort of like a diet Team Hell No.
Dasha Fuentes saw Murphy and Nese walking together backstage. She claimed she’d heard that next week’s tag match between Murphy & Nese vs. Ali & Alexander was “already being called the biggest tag team match in 205 Live history.” Murphy cut a promo and then walked away with Nese.
Gran Metalik defeated TJP
They showed a video from an episode three weeks ago where TJP attacked Metalik after the latter’s match.
TJP came out with Maria & Mike Kanellis. The guys wore Lucha House Party’s masks and taunted the group on the ramp, which moments later led to a pull-apart in the aisle. Maverick came out and cleared everyone out so that the match could start. No one was allowed at ringside for this match.
Metalik did a tope con giro and a springboard splash into the ring right after the bell.
TJP did an interesting variation on the sharpshooter, then did a plancha to Metalik onto the floor.
The crowd died in the middle of this. They were somewhat hot during the pull-apart beforehand, but didn’t react much when TJP was on the offensive, which lasted much of the match itself.
Metalik did an absolutely insane diving frankensteiner from the ring to the floor, Dragon Lee style, just more seamless looking. Compared to the rest of the submission wrestlers on the scene today, TJP’s submission offense looks haphazard and phony.
TJP stole a piñata from Lucha House Party and went to hit Metalik with it. TJP went for a standing frankensteiner, but Metalik rolled through into a sunset flip pin for the victory.
Gran Metalik was, like always, impressive. The match was fine, but with piñatas and extra masks as the stakes there wasn’t much urgency.
Maria Kanellis came out with a mic and was screaming “How could you?! I have a family!” at Maverick. It was a distraction so that Mike Kanellis could attack Lucha House Party from behind with a chair.
Maria’s screaming was notably intense. The show ended with the Lucha House Party in the ring, beaten, while the Kanellis’ and TJP celebrated their sneak attack.