The John Report: WWE 205 Live 07/23/19 Review
It’s time for the second week of WWE 205 Live reviews here on TJRWrestling. Let’s roll.
Live from Miami, Florida, this is 205 Live for episode #139. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. Thanks to Melo Man for the banner up top. Please visit TJRWrestling.net daily for our regular updates on the wrestling business featuring WWE news coverage along with reviews about wrestling’s past and present.
The opening video package focused on the issues between Mike Kanellis and 205 Live GM Drake Maverick, which led to Drake accepting a challenge for a match.
Drake Maverick said that as the GM of 205 Live, his actions were completely uncalled for, but as a man they were justified. Maverick said that Kanellis has a chance to kick his ass and get a Cruiserweight Title match. Maverick said that next week they are going to fight and it’s going to be an Unsanctioned Match.
Analysis: They have done a good job of building up Kanellis vs. Maverick, so making it an Unsanctioned Match is going to allow them to make it more of a fight and use weapons. That’s a smart idea.
The announce team of Vic Joseph and Aiden English welcomed us to the show. There’s no Nigel McGuinness this week. Vic noted there was a theme of NXT vs. 205 Live this week.
Lucha House Party made their entrance followed by their NXT opponents Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza. A video aired showing some of the high flying offensive moves of Mendoza.
Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza vs. Lucha House Party’s Kalisto and Gran Metalik (w/Lince Dorado)
Kalisto and Mendoza did some sweet mat wrestling with counters for some of their moves. Kalisto with chops to the chest followed by an arm drag off the top and then they each did a dropkick at the same time followed by a staredown. Carrillo tagged in against Metalik with each guy showing off some backflips. Metalik with a monkey flip, Carrillo landed on his feet and they had a standoff. Kalisto tagged in with a senton, Metalik tagged in and dropped a knee onto the left arm. Kalisto with a kick to the arm with Metalik going back in with a chinlock. Kalisto tagged in with a spin kick to the face for a two count. That sounded rough. Carrillo sent Kalisto in the turnbuckle, Mendoza tagged in with a double arm drag and Mendoza slammed Carrillo onto Kalisto for a two count. That was a creative double team move. Carrillo tagged back in with a double foot stomp to the arm of Kalisto. There was a small “Lucha” chant for Kalisto as Carrillo hit him with a body slam. Kalisto kicked his way free, Metalik back in and a dropkick got a two count. Metalik with an armbar on the right arm of Carrillo, then a chinlock and a corner clothesline. Metalik went to the ropes for a dropkick for a two count. Carrillo went a springboard attack that was supposed to be a cross body block, but he barely connected. Mendoza tagged in against Kalisto with a clothesline and dropkick from Mendoza. Kalisto missed a corner charge, Mendoza up top and a missile dropkick got two as Metalik broke up the pin. Carrillo with a jumping kick to the face of Metalik. Kalisto with a kick to Carrillo and Mendoza with a springboard kick off the middle ropes for a two count. Metalik with a jumping kick to Mendoza, then a superkick and Carrillo tagged in with a kick to the face of Metalik. Metalik came back with a kick to Carrillo while they were on the apron. They went up top with Metalik hitting a hurricanrana off the top on Carrillo for two as Mendoza broke up the pin attempt. Mendoza kicked Kalisto out of the ring followed by a jumping attack over the top to the floor. Metalik kicked Carrillo down, he went up for a moonsault, but Carrillo got his feet up to block. Carrillo went up top and hit a twisting corkscrew splash on Metalik for the pinfall win after about 12 minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza
Analysis: ***1/4 Good action in the second half of the match after a slow start. Lots of kicks in this match. When Carrillo landed the finishing move, he didn’t connect that much, so that hurt the finish a bit. I liked the Carrillo and Mendoza team that is new to a lot of the WWE audience, so giving them a win like this is nice to see. I think Carrillo and Mendoza could have a lot of success as a tag team in NXT to establish them as a duo before they become singles guys. Mendoza impressed me more than Carrillo. The crowd got into the match by the end, but they were not that into it.
Samir and Sunil Singh were backstage doing their Bollywood actor gimmick. They said they’re the best tag team on 205 Live. They challenged Brian Kendrick and Akira Tozawa to a tag team match next week. Here’s a post-show video of Tozawa and Kendrick accepting the challenge.
The announce team said that Nigel McGuinness was in England working at the NXT UK Performance Center.
There was a video package about Isaiah “Swerve” Scott talking about his confidence. He said that this opportunity to be in the main event shows what this company thinks of him. Good point.
A commercial aired for the WWE Network “Smackville” this Saturday featuring the Smackdown brand. I will review that show too.
A video aired about the Chad Gable vs. Jack Gallagher match from last week that drew rave reviews from wrestling fans everywhere including from me. It was great.
Oney Lorcan vs. Tony Isner
Lorcan is on NXT and 205 Live regularly. Isner is a no-name guy. Lorcan with hard chops to the chest, he whipped Isner into the turnbuckle and hit two running attacks followed by a running uppercut. Lorcan hit a Half n Half Suplex for the pinfall win after about two minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Oney Lorcan
Analysis: 1/4* Easy win to give Lorcan a squash match victory. Lorcan might be getting a push for the Cruiserweight Title, so they are trying to build him up with victories.
Drew Gulak, the Cruiserweight Champion, did a pre-taped promo. Drew said nobody from “MY” locker room had any interest in facing him, so he stands toe to toe with somebody from his past who is dubbed as the future of NXT. Gulak mentioned that few people realize that he trained Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Swerve thinks he knows everything about Drew, but Drew has evolved (wink). Drew said he admires Scott’s courage, but he has a lot more to learn.
Analysis: What Gulak said about training Scott is true, so it was a smart way to try to build up the match. Both of them spent time in Evolve along with other places wrestling all over the world before getting to WWE.
There were commercials for this week’s NXT and WWEShop.
Next week on 205 Live: Mike Kanellis vs. Drake Maverick in an Unsanctioned Match.
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott made his entrance showing a lot of confidence. There wasn’t much of a crowd reaction, but there was a sign for him.
Analysis: Scott was known as Shane Strickland before signing with WWE earlier this year. He was considered one of the best indy guys before he was in WWE, so clearly, they have high hopes for him by putting him in the main event on this show.
Drew Gulak made his entrance making angry faces because he’s a serious, old school kind of wrestler. He’s normally a heel on 205 Live.
Drew Gulak vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
This was not for Gulak’s Cruiserweight Championship. Gulak with a dropkick to start the match. When Scott grabbed a headlock, Gulak dumped him out of the ring. Back in the ring, Scott avoided some holds from Gulak, he did a headscissors takedown and a dropkick sent Gulak out of the ring. Gulak went back in the ring, tossed Scott over the top to the floor and Scott came back with a splash onto the back of Gulak. Scott hit Gulak with a punch to the jaw to knock Gulak down for a two count. That looked great, so they replayed it. Scott with a knee drop. Gulak saw Scott was favoring his right hand, so Gulak smacked him in the air and sent him out of the ring. Gulak sent Scott ribs first into the barricade followed by a hard chop to the chest. Gulak picked up Scott and launched him back first into the ring post with a Razor’s Edge style move. That was impressive and Gulak rolled Scott back into the ring for a two count. Gulak pulled back on the left leg on Scott, but Scott fought back. Gulak with an elbow to the face followed by a jumping clothesline off the middle ropes for a two count. Scott got some momentum going with a jawbreaker followed by a back elbow smash off the middle ropes for two. Scott with a hurricanrana off the ropes. The crowd came alive a bit with some “Swerve” chants as Scott hit a jumping kick to the head where he jumped to the side of Gulak and extended the foot to the head for two. That was a great nearfall. Both guys were down selling.
Gulak grabbed the right hand of Scott and then he slapped on the Gulock submission where he hooked the head/arm and Scott got his foot under the bottom rope to break the hold. Scott sent Gulak to the apron, superkick and a running double foot stomp knocked Gulak off the ring apron to send him to the floor. Back in the ring, Scott jumped off the top with a double foot stomp to the chest of Gulak for a two count. That looked impressive and was also a very believable nearfall. There were some fans chanting “this is awesome” but not a lot. It should have been more. Gulak with an impressive sunset flip for two. Scott hit a tilt-a-whirl slam followed by an armbar trapping the left arm of Gulak with his legs and arms. Gulak fought out of that by squeezing on the right hand of Scott, who let go of the hold. Scott with left-handed slaps, Gulak with hard palm strikes, he punched the hand again and Gulak with a high angle suplex across the ring. Gulak picked up Scott on his shoulders and hit the Cyclone Crash slam for the pinfall win after 14 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Drew Gulak
Analysis: ***3/4 That was a hard-hitting, entertaining match with the champ Gulak finding a way to get the win after Scott came close to beating him a few times. I like the way the match was built with Scott’s hand hurting after he hit Gulak in the jaw and then Gulak focused on working over the hand. Scott sold the hand injury well, including towards the finish of the match with Gulak attacking the hand to help him finish off Scott. I saw some of Scott prior to his WWE days and he always impressed me. He is going to be a star in WWE with NXT as his likely home for the next year or more. As for Gulak, he’s consistently good, so I like seeing him as the champion. They should work on his character a bit more because it’s so basic, but what he’s doing is a good fit for how 205 Live is right now.
Post match, Gulak held the Cruiserweight Title over a fallen Scott to taunt him. They showed replays of the key spots of the match including Scott’s punch to the hand that hurt his right hand.
Gulak celebrated in the ring while Scott was on the ramp. Joseph plugged Kanellis vs. Maverick next week and that was the end of the show.
Analysis: I assume Kanellis will beat Maverick and then it will be Gulak vs. Kanellis for the Cruiserweight Title at SummerSlam. There might be a title change there.
This episode of 205 Live had a runtime of 49:27 on WWE Network.
Three Stars of the Show
- Drew Gulak
- Isaiah Scott
- Raul Mendoza
Final Thoughts
It was another 205 Live show with an excellent main event match, which is normal for this show. Scott was impressive in defeat while Gulak got a quality win as the champion. The opening match was pretty good in terms of allowing Mendoza and Carrillo a chance to show what they could do against Lucha House Party.
The announcers did well even without Nigel McGuinness. Aiden English breaks down matches effectively while Vic Joseph has a lot of enthusiasm at the right times. I enjoy their work.
I’ll be back for more 205 Live next week.
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John Canton
Email mrjohncanton@gmail.com
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