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WWE 205 Live returns to WWE Network tonight (Jan. 2, 2019) from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Advertised for tonight: Two qualifiers for the Cruiserweight title match at Royal Rumble, where Buddy Murphy will defend his belt in a Fatal 4-Way! Lio Rush battles ex-champ Kalisto, and Drew Gulak faces another former titleholder in his old rival Akira Tozawa. Plus, probably some hype for next week’s showdown between Cedric Alexander and Hideo Itami for the final spot.
Come right back here at 7 p.m. ET when the 205 Live live blog kicks off once the show starts on WWE Network. It will be below this line here.
NOTE: Spoilers are out there for these pre-taped broadcasts, but many Cagesiders don’t partake. If you are going to post or discuss spoilers for this show in the short-time between when this article is published and the show’s start, please use the spoiler bar in your comment.
Enjoy the show!
I wrote her off for the tenth time today and practiced all the things I would say, but she came over, I lost my nerve. I took her back and made her dessert. Now I know I’m being used, that’s okay, man, ‘cause I like the abuse, and in any case I’ve got to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for y’all, folks.
The show opens with a graphic in memory of the late great “Mean” Gene Okerlund.
General manager Drake Maverick does his usual intro and rundown of tonight’s matches.
(Intro theme.)
Kalisto vs. Lio Rush (WWE Cruiserweight Championship Qualifying Match)
Kalisto catches a kick, Rush backflips, springboard evasion, ducking and diving, leapfrog, handstand into backflips and we’ve got a stalemate! Lio takes a breather on the floor, taking his time, sliding back in, big slap, smile on the young man’s face and he leads Kalisto on a wild goose chase around the ringside area and back in only to get caught with the roll-through enzuigiri!
Kicks, off the ropes, basement dropkick, hamstring kick, Rush passes him to the apron and clips him with a handspring heel kick before hitting a suicide dive! Back inside, stomp to the ribs, right hand and boots in the corner until referee Charles Robinson warns the Man of the Hour off. Snap suplex, uppercut, still only two and he follows it with a seated rear chinlock.
Shifting, knee to the back in the chinlock, Kalisto rolls into a pin, only a nearfall! Rush decks him with a lariat, mounted punches, still just two and he shifts to tearing at the mask, scraping the bones of his forearm across his face and dropping a crossface strike in for good measure. Dumping the luchador to the floor, Lince Dorado checks on his pal and Lio takes a rest laying across the top turnbuckle.
Circling, stomp to the side of the head, Kalisto wakes up and throws palm strikes but gets cut off with a flying elbow! Applying a keylock, switching to a single-arm straitjacket, Kalisto to his feet, throwing forearms with abandon! Rush with a big forearm, charging in, back body drop sets him on the apron for a gamengiri. Knocked to the floor... KALISTO SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT SENTON!
Back in, Lio with a rolling solebutt, a buzzsaw roundhouse kick, headed up top and Kalisto cuts him off with an upkick! Climbing to meet him, jockeying for position... AVALANCHE MOONSAULT FALLAWAY SLAM NEARLY SENDS KALISTO TO THE ROYAL RUMBLE! Kalisto fired up, Salida Del Sol countered, spinning Killswitch... SO CLOSE BUT KALISTO KICKS OUT! Lio with right hands, he gets kicks in return!
Trading a pump kick for a crescent kick but Lio is able to TKO Kalisto across the top rope! Robinson counting... KALISTO GETS BACK IN AT THE ABSOLUTE LAST SECOND! Rush headed up top, to the apron to yell at Lucha House Party for playing with their noisemakers and kick Dorado’s out of his hands! Lince gets on the apron, they jaw at each other while Kalisto recovers and then Lio kicks him through the ropes!
Gran Metalik holds him back, Rush gets in his face, practically begging for the DQ, but when he comes back to Kalisto...
Kalisto wins by pinfall with Salida Del Sol, qualifying for the Cruiserweight Championship match at Royal Rumble.
Backstage, Buddy Murphy and Tony Nese are watching and enjoying beverages.
Drew Gulak and Jack Gallagher are backstage talking strategy when an interview rolls up.
Gulak says there are many words he’d describe himself with-- submission specialist, leader, and above all, realist. Last week only proved that Akira Tozawa and Brian Kendrick are low rent brawlers, and he’s by no means an underdog. Tonight is a wrestling match with rules, which puts Tozawa at an utter disadvantage, and when he steps up, he will tap out.
We cut to Tozawa and Kendrick training for the match and take a break for a house ad.
Drake Maverick talks about how a new year means new opportunities and he has no intention of resting on his laurels, and he’s been scouring the globe for new talent. That means that we can expect new faces and fierce competition, and 205 Live will remain the premier destination for the best cruiserweight wrestling in the world.
Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak (WWE Cruiserweight Championship Qualifying Match)
Gulak in with a side headlock takeover, shifting to a headscissors and then stalemating. Back to a side headlock, Tozawa reverses to a hammerlock and then a headlock of his own, which Drew tries to counter into a pin but Akira keeps his shoulders up. Gulak with another headlock, shot off, shoulder block, off the ropes, drop down, leapfrog countered into a sunset flip!
Tozawa nearly lands a kick after he kicks out and they square back up. Collar and elbow, Drew clawing at his ear and breaking at referee Mike Chioda’s behest. Clawing at the chin now, again warned off and Tozawa fires elbows and palm strikes to the midsection. Fake-out jab, into a body slam and the senton, only good for two but Akira is fired up!
Action heads to the floor, Gulak with a kick to the midsection, jockeying for position over a suplex, Drew tries to head back inside and ends up kicking Akira hard into the barricade! Following it up with a slam, taking things back in the ring and Gulak fires off a few stomps before locking a kneeling surfboard on until Tozawa gets a foot on the ropes!
Back to the rear chinlock, off the ropes, Akira with kicks, Drew catches the roundhouse... POWERBOMB OVER THE ROPES COUNTERED INTO A FRANKENSTEINER THAT SENDS DREW TO THE FLOOR! Looking for a dive, denied, snap a Frankensteiner off, 540 roundhouse kick... NO GOOD! Clubbing forearms, backing Gulak into the corner, headed up top, kicking him down to the apron and catching him with a boot to the face.
Akira up top... DIVING GUILLOTINE SENTON ACROSS THE BACK OF THE LEGAL EAGLE’S NECK! Slaps, a rolling solebutt, Tozawa fired up but Gulak gets under the knee... SHOULDER POWERBOMB INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! Gu-Lock applied, Akira steps up the turnbuckles to counter into a pin... NOPE! Huge lariat from Drew... STILL NO! Diving sunset flip, Gulak reverses into a Tenryu powerbomb... ANOTHER NEARFALL!
Slugging it out, forearm for punch, Tozawa off the ropes with a charging forearm, another one, Drew staggered and shaking but he gets a boot up! Off the ropes, into a boot from Akira, duck a lariat, tilt-a-whirl into the octopus hold... GULAK REVERSES INTO A STRETCH MUFFLER WHAT IN THE WORLD?! TOZAWA GETS THE ROPES! Elbows from Drew, Akira with a drop toehold into the turnbuckles, duck a lariat... SAITO SUPLEX!
Tozawa up top, knee failing him but he gets up there, diving senton... COUNTERED INTO THE GU-LOCK! NOWHERE TO GO! GULAK WRENCHES IT IN, AKIRA CLAWING, ROLLING, THROUGH THE ROPES AND TO THE DAMN FLOOR! Brawling on the floor when they recover, trading shots, Drew throws him in the ring and gets booted to the floor, off the ropes... TOZAWA WITH THE SUICIDE DIVE AND HE IS FIRED UP!
Back in, Tozawa up top and Drew cuts him off! Big slap, jawing at him, climbing to meet him, jockeying for position, Akira knocks him down with a headbutt and sets it up...
Akira Tozawa wins by pinfall with the diving senton, advancing to the Cruiserweight Championship match at Royal Rumble.
Brian Kendrick joins his pal to celebrate.
Commentary informs us that the final qualifier is Cedric Alexander vs. Hideo Itami, which will be on next week’s show.
Backstage, Alexander cuts a promo about how he doesn’t scare easily and Itami doesn’t intimidate him. He doesn’t care who he is or what he’s done, because their match will end the same way their last one did, with Cedric’s hand raised.
Ariya Daivari speaks for Hideo Itami, saying it’s commendable that Cedric picked himself up after his buddy Mustafa Ali for SmackDown, but this isn’t the same Itami he fought last year. Hideo has some words in Japanese for Alexander and Daivari says Cedric wants his title back, but all he’s going to get is a lesson in respect.
That’s the show, folks.