This week on 205 Live, the OGs continue to establish their dominance—for whatever that's worth—and the rest of the cruiserweights get some in-ring time against the combined might of Bolly-Rise.
You all know what I'm going to say about the 205 OGs
My feelings for them haven't changed, so instead I'm going to say something positive about Ariya Daivari in the hopes that it might inspire someone to give him a new gimmick.
I've always loved Ariya Daivari. I felt like he was a bit of a gem in the rough of the more hyped cruiserweight signings in the original batch; his style was more grounded in the WWE formula compared to the others, who had indie pedigrees. He's really come into his own in the years he's spent working in 205 Live, even when he's saddled with a gimmick with a couple of small evolutions.
He's found a way to sharpen his ring work to become one of the most reliable yet underrated ring generals on the roster, to a point where I'm willing to christen him the cruiserweight Randy Orton. Like Orton, he works a slow, deliberate style as a heel, and can keep up with faster guys in spots. He's also very committed to the character. All he needs is an edgier gimmick (like heel Neville) and I figure he could be looked at as a legit title contender. I'd say he has more upside than Tony Nese right now—and I liked Tony Nese when he came into the WWE and got his face push, but I feel he's stale now.
That's my two cents. They could probably push Daivari now if it weren't for Santos Escobar.
What does Bolly-Rise really mean?
The teamup would be nice if they actually had some sort of vision-mission. Are they there to take over the division? Do they think their chances at NXT tag team glory would be better if they turned into a super-stable? Nobody knows, and now it doesn't matter because the youngins beat them. I guess they're really just meant to have another misunderstanding and return to feuding with each other. Ho-hum.
Should've put Swerve vs. Ruff on this show, I keep saying, but I guess it also makes sense for Swerve's turn to have as big an audience as possible.
205 Live 2/19/21 Final Grade: B
*****
Romeo Moran (@roiswar) is the Editor-in-Chief of Smark Henry and one of the three hosts of the Wrestling-Wrestling Podcast. He gets by in this hard knock life through working in advertising. Smark Henry was his and Stan Sy's original vision of a watering hole for local wrestling fans. He roots for the undersized guys who hit hard, and he likes taking your wrestling questions over on his Curiouscat account.
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