BRM Reviews the 1/2/2019 205 Live (awesome!)

[Big Red Machine]

WINNER QUALIFIES FOR THE FATAL FOUR-WAY CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH AT ROYAL RUMBLE: Lio Rush vs. Kalisto (w/Lucha House Party)- 8/10
The ropes are still Smackdown blue tonight. It matches Kalisto’s gear. These guys had an AWESOME opener. The first few minutes of it were just them showing off their speed, agility, and ability to evade the opponent, and they were wonderful. It was like watching a regular match in fast-forward. They proceeded to have a very intense and exciting wrestling match that ended when Rush had an advantage on Kalisto but distracted himself taunting Lincé Dorado and trying to get Lincé to hit him for the DQ, which let Kalisto recover enough to hit Salida Del Sol for the pin.

KAYLA BRAXTON INTERVIEWS THE SUBMISSION COMMISSION- GREAT!
Kayla asks Drew Gulak if he considers himself an underdog in tonight’s match because he and Gallagher lost to Tozawa & Kendrick two weeks ago. Gulak pointed out that last week’s match was a Street Fight while this is a regular wrestling match, which he insists gives him an advantage.

DRAKE MAVERICK MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT- He says he’s been talking to other GMs and scouting outside talent, so we can expect to see some new faces on 205 Live. I loved this, simply because they were able to frame it in a completely kayfabe context, as opposed to how WWE usually does such things, where they either don’t bother, or they try to do so and only wind up creating a bunch of logic holes.

WINNER QUALIFIES FOR THE FATAL FOUR-WAY CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH AT ROYAL RUMBLE: Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa- 7.75/10
We were told that Drake Maverick had preemptively barred Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher from ringside. They had the type of excellent match you’d expect from these two. Tozawa’s selling in particular was excellent.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER PROMO- good build for his Royal Rumble title shot qualifier against Hideo Itami next week.

ARIYA DAIVARI & HIDEO ITAMI PROMO- Daivari talked in English and was awesome. Itami talked in Japanese and came off like someone who was certain that he was not going to lose.

An awesome show from 205 Live, and very tightly focused as well. An excellent way to start off the year. Next week’s itami vs. Alexander match should be pretty awesome.

[Serujuunin]

So you’re telling me I should be watching 205 Live huh?

[Big Red Machine]

So you’re telling me I should be watching 205 Live huh?

Best TV show going today (just edges out NXT due to NXT having a weak finish to the year)

[Serujuunin]

So you’re telling me I should be watching 205 Live huh?

Best TV show going today (just edges out NXT due to NXT having a weak finish to the year)

It’s nice to see the Cruiserweights getting some love! I will have to binge it at some point.

[Big Red Machine]

So you’re telling me I should be watching 205 Live huh?

Best TV show going today (just edges out NXT due to NXT having a weak finish to the year)

It’s nice to see the Cruiserweights getting some love! I will have to binge it at some point.

And the best part is that it's actually bingeable because it's very episodic, unlike Raw and SD which WWE tries to do as self-contained more often than not. An altercation from one week is followed up by a promo/segment the next week and then a match the third week.

[Serujuunin]

Best TV show going today (just edges out NXT due to NXT having a weak finish to the year)

It’s nice to see the Cruiserweights getting some love! I will have to binge it at some point.

And the best part is that it's actually bingeable because it's very episodic, unlike Raw and SD which WWE tries to do as self-contained more often than not. An altercation from one week is followed up by a promo/segment the next week and then a match the third week.

I just finished with it, and it was actually pretty enjoyable! I will have to make a point of following it in the future!