Leighty’s WWE 205 Live Review 4.16.21

-It’s a new era for the Purple Brand as KUSHIDA is the new Cruiserweight Champion. I assume Escobar will get the rematch, but we will see who continues to get pushed as a future challenger for the title. Let’s get to it!

-Taped: WWE Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, FL
-Announce Team: Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuiness

Jake Atlas vs. Ashante “Thee” Adonis

-Adonis snaps off a kick that Atlas blocks with his shoulder. Atlas seemingly wants a lock-up, but Adonis with another kick. Atlas has had enough of that and grabs an arm. Adonis tries to roll to escape, but Atlas maintains the hold and gets a take down with an armdrag. Another armdrag and back into the armbar. A third armdrag is countered by holding onto the ropes and Adonis gets in a knee strike to the ribs. A belly back is escaped, but Adonis lands another knee strike. To the corner for some shoulders and European uppercuts. Atlas fires back with some chops before Adonis gets in another kick. He throws some chops of his own as I am enjoying this new striking style from Adonis. He misses a charge in the corner and Atlas heads up top. Adonis crotches him to stop that and hits a dropkick that sends Atlas to the floor. On the floor Adonis tosses Atlas into the retaining wall and then into the stairs. Back inside that gets a two count. Adonis goes to work on the arm now and goes to a Fujiwara armbar. Atlas is able to get to a standing position and gets in a few shots to break. He land and able and gets several kicks. They trade blows in the middle of the ring and Atlas wins the exchange with a clothesline. He follows with a spin wheel kick and German Suplex for two. Back to the top for Atlas and again, Adonis is there to cut him off. They battle on top and Atlas ends up getting slammed to the mat. Now Adonis heads up and hits a beautiful high cross body for two. That was nice! Adonis gets a roll-up through the ropes for two. Atlas gets a sunset flip for two and then lands a knee strike to the face. He hits a release suplex and the Cartwheel DDT finishes at 8:42.

Winner: Jake Atlas via pin at 8:42
-This was fun as I enjoyed the striking offense from Adonis and the story of Atlas constantly looking for the Cartwheel DDT and Adonis having it scouted. Fun stuff and another good showing from both men. ***

-Back to NXT on Tuesday as Santos Escobar offers an open challenge for his Cruiserweight Title. KUSHIDA answers and I had a sneaking feeling he could get the win because what better way to start the Tuesday era than with a title change. Good for KUSHIDA!

-Later that night Jordan Devlin confronts KUSHIDA.

-As a note the live feed from Peacock went out on me due to an error and once I got back in it was just loading for a bit and then a black screen. Now it is telling me I am offline which is insane because I am watching on my phone with unlimited data. Then once I get it back to working it won’t let me join the live feed and by the time I do, the Main Event has already started. Thankfully, it seems I can scroll back to the start of the match now which is amazing.

August Grey vs. Tony Nese (w/ Ariya Daivari)

-Daivari joins the commentary team and they ask Daivari why he raised the hand of Grey after their match a few weeks ago. Daivari says he sees a little potential in Grey because he used the ropes to beat him, but is also disappointed he didn’t want to take the count-out win over Mansoor last week. Meanwhile back to the match as Grey has been controlling with a side headlock and then into a headlock take down. Nese misses a charge in the corner as Grey floats over and gets another headlock take down. Nese avoids a charge and showboats with a back flip off the top and adds some jumping jacks. Grey mocks him by doing jumping jacks of his own. Nese is rather annoyed by that and hits a nice belly to back suplex. A pump handle slam is escaped and Grey heads up top, but eats a right hand. Nese bounces him on the ropes onto his shoulders and connects with a gutbuster for two. Nese poses and hits another belly to back to cut off a short Grey rally. Nese gets caught trying to remove the buckle cover and gets dropped with a catapult. Nese back with the pump handle sit out slam for two. Nese throws kicks in the corner, but Grey fights back with right hands. He catches a charging Nese with an elbow and then a rana. Grey gets a sunset flip, but Nese rolls through and hits a spinning heel kick for two. Nese to the body scissors and then he throws some knees. Grey fires back with chops and right hands in the corner. He hits a clothesline, jaw breaker and then neckbreaker, but doesn’t go for the cover. He heads up top and walks the ropes to hit the spinning high cross body. He gets a two count off a release belly to back that has Nese land on his face. Nese fires off some kicks and gets an enzuigiri. Nese eats a superkick that sends him to the floor and Grey follows with a suicide dive that sends Nese over the announce table. Picking up on last week, Grey once again stops the 10 count as he once again doesn’t want a win like that. It nearly costs him as Nese gets a roll-up, but Grey counters into his own roll-up for the pin at 11:07.

Winner: August Grey via pin at 11:07
-This was good though it did seem to drag a bit. The callback to Grey not wanting to win by count-out was nice, but we are back to roll-up finishes with the division again. Good stuff overall as expected with these two. ***

-Thanks for reading!

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Two good matches makes for a good show that is worth checking out. At some point they will need to pull the trigger and get someone from this show on NXT or involved in the CW Title picture.