wrestling / TV Reports
Leighty’s WWE 205 Live Review 5.14.21
Loading...-RIP New Jack! You can find my recap of his Dark Side of the Ring episode here. As for 205 Live, let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Tom Phillips and Nigel McGuiness
-Taped: WWE Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, FL
Ariya Daivari vs. Asher Hale
-It’s another round of 205 Live Veteran vs a 205 Live Newbie! Hale had a match on NXT against Grimes recently and this is his 205 Live debut. Lockup to start as they jockey for position. Daivari controls in the corner and shoves Hale who responds with one of his own. Hale grabs a side headlock and Daivari tries to shove off and when that doesn’t work he tries a belly to back, but Hale lands on his feet. Daivari charges and gets brought right back down with the side headlock. Daivari backs Hale into a corner and preps for a superplex, but Hale shoves him off and then goes right back to the side headlock. Back to their feet and Daivari break and buries a knee to the ribs. He follows with a dropkick and then lands some strikes. Hale gets a leg sweep and then reigns down rabbit punches in the corner. He hits a sweet single leg dropkick for two. That sounded good! Daivari bails to the floor to stall, but Hale follows and connects with a knee strike. Back inside the ring Daivari begs off and sends Hale to the floor but he is right back as he sunset flips into the ring. Daivari mows him down with an elbow and then sandwiches him between the ropes to land some clobbering blows. Daivari goes to a sleeper but Hale hits a belly to back which has no effect as Daivari maintains the hold. He goes to the old school method by running Daivari into the corner and then a jaw breaker. Daivari tries to go back to it, but gets shoved off and Hale catches him with a snap powerslam for two. They slug it out in the middle of the ring and Hale wins that exchange. He snaps off two exploder suplexes and then a running forearm in the corner. A Northern Lights Suplex follow and he looks to end with the cross armbreaker, but Daivari rolls through for a two count. Hale gets a step up enzuigiri and then a Tornado DDT for two. Nice near fall! Hale heads up top, but Daivari is there to catch him. He brings Hale down with an Iconoclasm and the Persian Lion Splash gets two. Daivari talks trash and preps for the hammerlock lariat, but Hale ducks and gets an O’Connor Roll for the win at 8:21.
Winner: Asher Hale via pin at 8:21
-Slower start, but the ending got really good in a hurry. Daivari continues to shine in this role and seeing new faces on the brand is a good thing. **3/4
-WWE Shop Commercial!
-Belair vs. Bayley hype video!
-The Bollywood Boyz and Ever Rise are at a table talking about the new faces of 205 Live.
-Recap of KUSHIDA retaining his CW Title against Santos Escobar in a 2 of 3 Falls Match this past Tuesday on NXT. Good stuff!
’The Premier Athlete’ Tony Nese vs. Ari Sterling
-Another round of 205 Live OG vs. 205 Live Newbie! Sterling debuted last week in a win and the competition gets a little tougher this week. Nese gets an arm wringer quickly, but Sterling is able to flip his way out and get one of his own. Nese immediately backs him into a corner and then flips over off the top on a charge. He does some jumping jacks to show Sterling this is easy for him. Sterling gets a head scissors take over and then an arm drag into an arm bar. Nese uses an effective right hand to break and then lands kicks to the ribs. They fight on the apron and Sterling gets a unique trip that causes Nese to fall flat on his face. Nese bails and Sterling looks to fly, but Nese grabs his leg to stop that noise. They fight on the floor as Sterling fires off some chops. Nese uses the ring apron to gain an advantage and then resets the 10 count before going back out. He slings Sterling into the barricade and gets a one count back in the ring. Nese gets a mount to land some blows and then talks some crap. Nese works the leg, but Sterling gets to the ropes to break. Nese tries to pull him off and Sterling lands on his feet. He hits a back elbow and then a heavy lariat to the back of the neck. Nice! Running corner forearm and he tries a springboard into a sunset flip, but Nese rolls through and hits a nasty spinning kick square in the face for two. That was great! Nese goes to an old favorite the body scissors, but Sterling is able to land some elbows to break. Nese gets a whip into the corner that drops Sterling. He pops Sterling up top as he looks for a superplex, but Sterling is out and looks for a powerbomb. Nese block, but Sterling hits a flip into a rana that brings Nese off the top. Wow! That was sweet! Sterling launches his body at Nese to send him to the apron. He catches Nese with a spinning kick to send him to the floor and The Moonsauce nearly goes wrong, but he pulls it off. He looks for a springboard, but Nese catches him with a palm strike. Nese goes up, but the 450 misses. Sterling gets a roll-up for two and then they slug away in the middle of the ring. Nese gets dropped face first off a release suplex and a spinning axe kick gets two. Back to the apron as Sterling tries a suplex, but Nese floats over and gets a roll-up for two. Nese hits a running knee strike and then hits a compactor for two. Great near fall! Nese tells Sterling his doesn’t belong on his show, so Sterling hits a weak slap. Nese throws heavy blows and Sterling catches him with a knee. Sterling with a release powerbomb for two. Back up top for Sterling and again Nese is there to meet him. He fights Nese off and then blocks a palm strike in a nice counter. He leaps, but Nese is out of the way, so Sterling lands on his feet. Nese is right there though and gets a belly to back suplex into the buckles. The Running Nese finishes at 12:28.
Winner: Tony Nese via pin at 12:28
-This was wonderful and it was nice to see them given a decent amount of time. Nese winning is fine as he and Daivari don’t need to lose all these matches against the new guys. Easily one of the best matches in the 1 year I have been covering this show. Sterling has lots of potential and Nese is the MVP of this show so there was a feeling they could have a banger here. ***3/4
-Thanks for reading!
