The 29th of January edition of 205 Live was kicked off with a promo package as always. This week’s package highlighted Buddy Murphy’s win at Royal Rumble as well as setting out Kalisto vs Mike Kanellis and the main event, Akira Tozawa vs Hideo Itami.
Kalisto vs Mike Kanellis
In what I believe is a first time ever encounter, Kalisto and Kanellis put on a high-octane match which showcased Kanellis’ mean streak. The two brawled all around the ring as Kanellis and Kalisto utilised the ring barricade, whipping and throwing each other around. A back-and-forth match for the most part, the tides shifted when Kalisto went for a suicide dive only to be thrown into barricade and landing nastily on the back of his neck. Kalisto managed to mount some offense, hitting a tilt-a-whirl DDT and some head kicks before getting hit with a uranage side slam from the top rope for a near fall. Two vertical suplexes and a backpack stunner later and Kalisto only manages to get out of the pinfall when the referee spots Kalisto’s foot on the bottom rope. Kanellis then tries to lift Kalisto up for a variation on a powerbomb before Kalisto slips through and rolls up Kanellis for the 1, 2, 3. An excellent matchup between the two. Kalisto leaves as the winner but Kanellis looks strong as he manages to avoid the salida del sol.
After the match, we cut to a clip showing Tony Nese attacking Noam Dar. The Cruiserweight Champion, Buddy Murphy then cuts a promo in which he again calls himself the greatest cruiserweight of all time.
Akira Tozawa vs Hideo Itami
Former allies turned bitter enemies, Tozawa and Itami put on a slower paced match with some brilliant striking and excellent technical wrestling. Throughout the match, we saw Brian Kendrick and Akira Tozawa raising tensions between each other at ringside. The story of this match was Itami wearing down an exhausted and hurt Tozawa who was still recovering from the fatal four way at Royal Rumble. Towards the end of the match, Daivari took out Kendrick before inadvertently being taken out by a hesitation dropkick from his ally Itami. Tozawa then took advantage by hitting a snap German suplex and finishing Itami off with a top rope senton bomb. After the match, Daivari turned on Itami, hitting him with a short-arm lariat and staring down the crowd as the show came to the end.
For the second week in a row, a very, very good episode of 205 Live. Both matches featured were excellent and for a change, there wasn’t too much tomfoolery backstage. 8.5/10.
