source: WWE
We cover a GLORIOUS MMC match, more of the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament, and whether Johnny Wrestling can stay in NXT.
Mixed Match Challenge
source: WWE
Charlotte and Bobby Roode vs. Nia Jax and Apollo
Winners: Charlotte and Bobby Roode
Following Charlotte and Bobby’s dual Ric Flair walk, Apollo delivers a couple hip tosses to Roode. Charlotte demands the tag, and Nia gets the advantage briefly when she’s distracted by Dana Brooke. Nia orders Brooke to stay away and out of her business, and Charlotte capitalizes with a drive into the corner and a dropkick out of the ring.
Dana distracts Charlotte this time, but Nia still isn’t pleased. They argue some more, allowing Charlotte to gain the advantage back in the ring. She takes out both of Nia’s legs, then locking in the Figure Four but is unable to bridge into the Figure Eight.
After the men are tagged in, Bobby Roode attempts a Glorious DDT, but Apollo counters and gives him a superkick. Bobby hits Apollo with a spinebuster, but Nia breaks up the pin. On the top rope, Charlotte is met with Jax, but the queen is able to shove her to the mat. She moonsaults onto Nia, and Roode delivers a Glorious DDT to Apollo, earning the Smackdown team the victory.
Renee interviews the two after, and Bobby still messes up the “woo”. They leave, and Nia takes the microphone. She rips into Titus Worldwide, calling them zeros and saying they were only distractions while her and Apollo were training. She shoves Titus and slams Dana to the ground.
While fantastic individually, I was surprised that Flair and Roode didn’t display more teamwork during the match. As two of the best athletes on the roster, I was hoping for more than Charlotte ordering Bobby to tag her in. They have great on-screen chemistry as a team on the microphone, so hopefully in their next match, we will see some more effective teaming up during the match.
205 Live
source: WWE
Ariya Daivari vs. Buddy Murphy
Winner: Buddy Murphy
Ariya Daivari gets the advantage in the match early on, whipping Buddy Murphy into the corner and trapping him in a headlock. Murphy bounces back with some kicks and clotheslines. Murphy shows off a quick-paced style, flooring Daivari several times in a short period. He dives over the top rope onto Daivari, and then bounces up quickly.
Ariya takes over with a splash from the top rope followed by a superkick and a hammerlock lariat, but it only gets him a two-count. Muphy hits with several hard strikes and a twisted pumphandle slam, and Murphy wins the match.
Buddy Murphy blew me away in his 205 Live debut. His fast-paced style allowed him to get the advantage several times, and it came off like he could endure quite a bit. It seemed shocking that Murphy came from obscurity after not being utilized recently in NXT, and I had almost written this off as a quick first-round match. After dropping 20 pounds for this tournament, it looks like Murphy could be a star in the cruiserweight division.
source: WWE
Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik vs. Local competitors
Winners: Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik
The luchadors control the entire match, showing off with flips and kicks and other “lucha things”. Dorado gives his opponent a kick to the back of the head on the apron, then flooring him with a moonsault. The pin is broken up, but when the two enhancement talent try to double team, they get stunners. Dorado and Metalik deliver simultaneous dives over the top rope, and Dorado gets the pin for his team.
While they can do pretty cool things in the ring, I still have yet to be impacted by the trio. They seem flashy and I haven’t seen them beat anyone besides jobbers.
source: WWE
Mustafa Ali vs. Jack Gallagher
Winner: Mustafa Ali
Gallagher keeps Ali in a wrist lock, and Ali can’t seem to escape at first. Ali catches Jack in a leg lock, but Jack fights his way free. They go back and forth with rollup pins for a moment, and then Mustafa hits Gallagher with a superkick. Gallagher rolls out of the ring and when Ali slides out in attempt to kick him, he’s trapped under the apron as Jack unloads on him with punches and kicks.
Back in the ring, Gallagher hits Ali with a snap suplex and a couple elbows. Ali finds a way to quicken the match up, bouncing off the ropes to deliver kicks and a hurricanrana. Ali jumps over the ropes to the outside in attempt to land on Gallagher, but he misses and accidentally lands on the apron.
Gallagher really works on Ali’s left arm, putting it in several submission holds. It appears that Ali is bleeding from somewhere in his mouth following a kick. When Ali goes to the top rope, Gallagher kicks him off and he flies into the barricade. The two men go to the top rope and launch off, but Ali lands on his feet.
Ali completely turned in the last thirty seconds of this match: he super kicks Jack and goes for his finisher, the 054, a backflip off the top rope.
Jack Gallagher looked pretty dominant throughout this match, from nearly unbreakable holds to strikes. Ali seems to have fallen short in this match, especially when he missed the dive outside the ring. He took a lot of punishment in the match, but not in a good way—this doesn’t seem like the Mustafa Ali from the last several matches on 205 Live.
NXT
source: WWE
Velveteen Dream vs. No Way Jose
Winner: Velveteen Dream
Early on, Dream is knocked over three times by Jose and is sent out of the ring, allowing Jose to get the advantage and show off some of his dancing skills. He nails Dream into the corner, and Dream shortly bounces back with a dropkick and a rolling Death Valley Driver.
Velveteen Dream delivers the Purple Rainmaker to No Way Jose and gets the three count. Jose is gone almost as quick as he came, and while he showed off some impressive offense, it wasn’t enough to beat the rising star. Dream brags after the match about his NXT awards, saying his name rolls off of everyone’s tongue. He’s amazing.
source: WWE
Vanessa Borne vs. Nikki Cross
Winner: Nikki Cross
At the start of the match, Borne gets a little bit of offense in with a 360 slam and a suplex. It was short-lived, however, as Cross laughs in her face before unloading on her with psycho hits and kicks.
Cross sends Borne into the corner, then goes to the top rope to deliver a diving crossbody. She hits the Purge, a swinging fisherman’s neckbreaker, for the win. As per usual, Nikki Cross looks crazy and scary.
source: WWE
Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
Title vs. Career Match
Winner: Andrade “Cien” Almas
Almas starts with a small advantage, but an enziguri and a lariat puts Gargano in a good position. When Gargano is about to leap out of the ring and onto Almas, Zelina Vega gets in the way, so Candice LeRae gets in the ring and gives Vega a suicide dive and some punches. Candice and Zelina take their action backstage, beating one another up along the way.
Now that it’s one on one, Almas gets a chance to capitalize. He nails Johnny Wreslting with a reverse DDT on the apron and works on Johnny’s shoulder a bit. After the commercial, Gargano gets an advantage back, kicking Almas’s chest and giving him a headscissors off the rope. He goes out onto the apron, spearing Andrade through the ropes and gets a two count.
Gargano punches Almas several times on the apron, and both men are visibly exhausted. Johnny gets caught in an arm bar, and Almas locks it in further by trapping his head, but Gargano escapes. Gargano is whipped into the corner, and Almas sends his knees into Gargano’s back.
Johnny Wrestling shoves Cien off the top rope to the outside, then bouncing off the ropes and through them to deliver a vicious tornado DDT. Back in the ring, he hits a slingshot DDT, but only gets a two-count.
The two stars exchange right hands, chops, and kicks, and when Almas aims for the elbow to Gargano, he accidentally takes out the referee. While the official is down, Johnny locks in the Gargano escape, and Tomasso Ciampa slams a crutch into Johnny’s back. Almas hits a hammerlock DDT, just in time for the referee to call the three count, and Almas retains.
The crowd chants “thank you Johnny”, and rightfully so. Gargano has put on amazing match after amazing match, and it has become hard to imagine an NXT Takeover without him. After this especially, he definitely deserves to make the transition to the main roster.
It seems like these two can just deliver classic after classic. One can only hope that Gargano goes to the main roster following Wrestlemania and Tommaso Ciampa follows after him. The rivalry between Gargano and Ciampa is far from over as Ciampa waves goodbye to his former best friend with an evil smile on his face. Hopefully, WWE takes this opportunity to bring both men up to continue this blood feud.
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