By Mark Worral@Hoohoowozza
Another edition of 205 Live and finally, two weeks after the match was announced we are finally here, the Cruiserweight championship match between current title holder Cedric Alexander and his challenger for the title Buddy Murphy. This title match has been extremely well built and is the centre piece for tonight’s show, that opens with a recap of the build up for the match as we relive Murphy’s sneak attack on Alexander that began the feud as Murphy finally reveals that 205 Live’s best kept secret is no longer that, a secret.
BRIAN KENDRICK & JACK GALLAGHER v KALISTO & LINCE DORADA
Drew Gulak joined commentary for this match and proceeded to hand out some literature explaining his reasons for a better 205! Gulak would be instrumental in the outcome of this bout as Gallagher and Kendrick struggled to deal with the speed and fluidity of Kalisto and Dorado who may have looked the weakest of the Lucha house party as the match began but found his feet as it rolled on. In fairness this match was nicely told if in the form of a story as Dorada and Kalisto ran rings around the mat technicians and I also noticed some strange camera angles throughout the start of the match, whether they were intentional is for me to ponder I guess. Gallagher and Kendrick did finally and somewhat cleverly find a way in as they kept Kalisto mat bound frequently tagging intentionally working the former champion keeping his feet down not allowing him to fly. Kalisto, finally finding a tag to Dorado found himself planting the ‘Golden Rewind’ on Kendrick which even Ospreay would be proud of! However Kendrick had the sense to roll out of the ring preventing a pin attempt. As stated, it would be Gulak taking the leg away from an attempted top turn buckle fly from Dorado that gave Kendrick the green light to lock Dorado into the ‘Captains Hook’ putting an end to this match.
Entertaining warm up to the main event with a good story told to be fair. Kendrick and Gallagher seemingly working the mat to keep the high flying Lucha team ground based setting up to Gulak’s interference and the coming together of Kendrick, Gallagher and Gulak as a trio’s team inevitably lining up a future match against the house party. One thing I did notice that hurt the match slightly was Gran Metalik standing ringside watching Gulak sweeping away the leg of Dorado! Surely in ‘Kayfabe’ Metalik would have come to the aid of his partner!
We are then awarded a recap of the Hideo Itami v Akira Tozawa match from the week prior and the commentary making the viewers aware of an Itami tweet stating that he deserved respect! If only the WWE booking committee felt the same way!
A segment airs next showing Buddy Murphy working out is followed by Cedric Alexander doing the same. Clips of Mustafa Ali and Tony Nese air next with Ali stating that if Buddy Murphy thinks he’s taking the title then he is wrong, it is in fact Ali who will be winning the title. Tony Nese on the other hand claims that Murphy will win the title tonight!
205 Live GM Drake Maverick is up with an interview next as the hype for the main event continues as Maverick tells us that he is excited for the match and that Cedric in his home state needs to prove that the age of Alexander needs to continue or that Buddy Murphy is no longer the best kept secret. Maverick claims that this as a big match feel and he is not far wrong, the build has been great and you really feel that this is a big title match and this championship actually means something to both wrestlers!
CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
CEDRIC ALEXANDER(c) v BUDDY MURPHY
Often a 205 Live crowd can be found quiet after witnessing a two hour live Smackdown show! However the build and the hometown crowd for Cedric Alexander had the North Carolina crowd being vocal throughout with ‘Alexander’ chants filling the air throughout the match followed, on many occasion with ‘This is awesome’ chants! Now whether you are a fan of ‘This is awesome’ chants is neither here or there. The crowd were invested and it helped make this match just a little bit better than it already was becoming. Alexander’s attempt of getting a handshake from Murphy were put to bed as the Australian flicked his soaking wet hair with distain at the champ as they both began the match with Murphy attempting to use his strength as Alexander soaked up the crowd reaction and used them as his strength to overcome anything the Melbourne native could throw at him. With the announce table coming into play it was not long before Murphy took advantage and began working the back of Alexander which he sold really well. Murphy continued to work the back and when the two got into an exchange of strikes, with fatigue obviously coming into play, Alexander took to selling his back once again. This was a back and forth match with both swapping offence and creating some believable near falls into the bargain. Murphy’s attempt to put the champ away by trying to hit ‘Murphy’s Law’ were countered by Alexander who rolled up Murphy for a two count and really that would bring this match closer to a finish as Alexander would plant two Neuralizer’s on his challenger followed up with the Lumbar check that Murphy tried so hard to prevent by working the back of the champion that finished of the match.
So the championship is defended successfully, and this was a terrific way to highlight not only the Cruiserweight Championship. Also the two men involved. Right decision I feel to keep the belt on Cedric as Buddy Murphy does not need this title has he has sold himself brilliantly over the past months and this young Australian who sat in some dark corner of NXT recently has really put himself out there and hopefully 205 Live can continue to push Murphy hard as he continues to make a name for himself.
Really enjoyable show that Raw and Smackdown could take something from, a great built up match that pays off such as the championship match on this show did can really pay dividends. 205 Live is my favourite show on the Network at the moment, and although this is only my opinion, people need to watch the show and see for themselves. A friend of mine who only watches Raw and Smackdown has been by myself recommended to watch the show; however he seems unwilling to try, even though he has the Network! This may be a problem for WWE themselves who are trying hard to sell 205 Live with great programming but the average WWE fan still cannot get past Raw and Smackdown and see the delights of 205 Live and NXT.
This Championship as potential of being a Match of the Year candidate it is that good! If you are looking for a WWE MOTY then this match is strides ahead of anything else that WWE has put out this year, so please check out the match
