We recap the WWE’s weekly Facebook Live and WWE Network shows, including 205 Live’s cruiserweight tournament, this week’s Mixed Match Challenge match, and NXT’s Tag Team Championship match.
Mixed Match Challenge
Goldust and Mandy Rose vs. Jimmy Uso and Naomi
Winners: Jimmy Uso and Naomi
At the start of the match, fans cheer as Jimmy and Naomi kiss. It prompts Goldust to lean in to kiss Mandy, but Jimmy Uso attempts a roll-up pin instead. Bryan doesn’t count, and everyone chants “no”.
The women are tagged in, and as Mandy Rose dominates the match, Beth Phoenix accuses Corey Graves on commentary as reducing Rose to eye candy as his jaw is on the floor. Go Beth! Rose doesn’t allow Naomi to tag in her husband, and she slaps him in the face. Naomi gets angry and tags him in. Jimmy comes in hot with swift kicks and a Samoan Drop. Mandy breaks up a pin, and Jimmy and Naomi catch Rose Gold with matching dropkicks. Mandy slaps Naomi in the face and regrets it immediately, ducking out of the ring. Naomi jumps over Goldust and onto Rose, and then gives Goldie a rear view. Jimmy hits the frog splash and gets the win.
After the match, Rusev and Lana confront “Jim Uso” and Naomi, saying that they are the best married couple and will beat Bayley and Elias to go on to celebrate everyone’s favorite day. It has become clear that these mixed tag matches aren’t going to be 100% serious for a while, if at all. This is totally fine because even though they’re replacing possibilities of inter-gender wrestling and serious competition with comedy, the comedy is tasteful and hilarious. I genuinely laughed out loud several times while watching this match, and I still felt like I was watching actual wrestling.
205 Live
Kalisto vs. Lince Dorado
Winner: Kalisto
Kalisto and Dorado seemingly hit all of the crazy high spots in the first 3 minutes of the match. They send each other out of the ring and flip onto each other so often that it felt like I was watching the same two minutes of the match over and over again. While the spots were entertaining, it seemed like they were just trying to get as many flips and ranas in in about 15 minutes.
The two lucha superstars are definitely talented, but missed out completely on the storytelling aspect of wrestling. Both men aren’t known for their charisma and microphone skills, but they are missing their opportunities to be more than just flippy guys. These two are supposed to be friends, and save for the moment when they both said “I need this”, they didn’t capitalize on the potential drama this match could cause. It’s like Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens if you take out the story—a good match, but really doesn’t have any meaning.
Drew Gulak and Tony Nese enter Drake Maverick’s office, and Maverick asks what’s happened to them. He says that they both used to be among the best cruiserweight wrestlers in the world, but lately have become comedy acts. He pits them against each other in the first round of the cruiserweight tournament next week. It’ll be really exciting to see these buddies go against each other so early on in the tournament—we can rely on a story from them.
Roderick Strong vs. Hideo Itami
Winner: Roderick Strong
The beginning of the match offers a good back and forth of grappling and holds. They exchange blows on the apron, and Itami knocks Roddy off. They kick one another on the outside and Strong throws Itami onto the apron.
Hideo holds Strong in an armbar, and Strong slowly finds his way to the bottom rope. It is clear that both of these men have worn one another down. Strong delivers a gut buster and a Cloud Nine, but somehow, Itami kicks out. They earn a brief “this is awesome” chants from the maybe 100 out of thousands in attendance who actually care (sad). Hideo hits a Falcon Arrow off the top rope, and Strong kicks out of that. A couple strikes later, Strong reverses into the End of Heartache backbreaker for the win.
This was a fantastic showing for both men, and it’ll be interesting to see where Strong goes from here. It’s obvious that 205 can either make you (i.e., Drew Gulak and Cedric Alexander) or break you (pretty much anyone else), and it would be a shame to see someone as talented as Roddy Strong go to waste on a show where fans don’t care.
NXT
Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight) vs. Riddick Moss and Tino Sabatelli
Winners: Heavy Machinery
Sabatelli and Moss control the start of the match, displaying good teamwork. When Sabatelli is tagged in, he’s hounded by chants as fans say he sucks. Angry, he tags in Moss with a hard smack shortly after he was tagged in himself. Moss tags in Tino the same way, and there seems to be a bit of animosity between the two.
Dozovic capitalizes on Sabatelli being somewhat off guard and is able to go for a pin, but Moss breaks it up. Dozovic sends Moss out of the ring, and Sabatelli tries to roll up Otis while he puts his feet on the ropes.
The ref notices and stops him, and Sabatelli gets angry again. Dozovic tags in Tucker Knight, and they double team Tino to get the victory. After the match, Moss walks out on his partner, disappointed. This will likely lead to more problems in the future, and it’ll be cool to see how that plays out.
Johnny Gargano gets a second chance
Gargano thanks the fans for their support and calls out Tommaso Ciampa. Instead of his former tag partner, NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega come out to the ring. Vega calls Gargano a loser, saying that Ciampa had nothing to do with his loss at TakeOver. With a smile on his face, Johnny recalls the moment that his wife, Candice LeRae, beat Vega up at TakeOver. Zelina Vega shoves Gargano, prompting Candice to come out to the ring and shove Vega.
Almas and Vega retreat to the stage, and Vega angrily asks Gargano what it’ll take to get rid of him. He asks for one more opportunity, and if he loses, he leaves NXT for good. Even Candice is confused as to why he would do that. This is fantastic for the main event scene of NXT. If either team loses, they both could perish from NXT for their main roster debut. Any time Gargano, LeRae, Almas, or Vega come out to the ring, fans are immediately captivated, and in my opinion, all four of them are ready for the main roster.
Bianca Belair vs. Jessex Hill
The match begins with a handshake and Belair doesn’t let go. She disposes of her opponent with extreme strength, and the match is over in less than two minutes. Bianca Belair is definitely someone to watch in the NXT Women’s division in the coming year, and she could be in line for the NXT Women’s championship.
Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) vs. sAnity (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dane)
Winners: sAnity
The match seemingly kicks off the show, but as the Undisputed Era makes their debut, sAnity attacks them. Referees break it up to “let them fight” chants, and Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly retreat to the stage. GM William Regal comes out, and he’s had enough—he makes the main event a 6-man tag team tornado match.
As soon as this match begins, it develops into chaos. While O’Reilly and Fish battle Wolfe and Dane outside the ring, Adam Cole attacks Eric Young in the center of the ring. Wolfe utilizes a steel chair on Kyle O’Reilly, and Young props a table against the barricade. While Killian Dane battles Bobby Fish in the ring, everyone else takes the battle backstage and through the hallways. Wolfe rams O’Reilly into a storage container, and Young hits Cole’s head into a brick wall.
Back in the ring, Bobby Fish finds a kendo stick. He takes too long to use it on Killian Dane, and Dane capitalizes. He chases Fish onto the stage, and they exchange blows before Dane tosses Fish into Cole, O’Reilly, Wolfe, and Young. Dane takes Cole to the ring, beating on him and mocking him. Members of both teams take turns attacking one another in the center of the ring. Adam Cole dodges Killian Dane’s senton, sending him through the table outside the ring.
Fish and O’Reilly double team Alexander Wolfe, and Cole joins in as they attack Eric Young. All 3 men get frustrated when Young kicks out, and Killian Dane re-enters the ring, calling for all three men to attack him. The numbers game prevails momentarily, but somehow Dane capitalizes, slamming Fish and pinning him, earning the victory for his team.
In a fantastic main event, Killian Dane is the MVP of sAnity once again. This man will not die—he was sent through a table and attacked three-on-one minutes later, and he still pulled off a win. All six of these men were great though, entertaining for over 20 minutes in what should’ve been a match for a future TakeOver. It stole the show for sure, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it wasn’t long before we saw either of these teams on the main roster. With these two 3-man teams thriving in the NXT universe, could we see 6-man Tag Team Championships in NXT or WWE in the near future? There are successful stables in both brands, and adding new championships can always be a means of character building.
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