This week on 205 Live, both 205 Live OGs were in singles action... and they both lost. What's the point of their gimmick, then?
Why should I care about the 205 Live OGs?
As I already mentioned, both OGs lost. What was even stranger is that Daivari had his match against Adonis in the bag, managing to nail both his finishers but also losing via a last-minute rollup. Meanwhile, Nese lost decisively.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point of bragging that you're an OG that you're a veteran and you have the experience and skills to back it up? You're an old wizard in the game, that should make you powerful. Between all this losing (Daivari lost to August Grey last week) why should anyone take them seriously? And if you're going to have them lose all the time, why should we care about these OGs? Might as well just have them go back to their original gimmicks of being rich and the body guy.
It seems like I'm pouring in so much emotional investment in the booking of who are essentially journeyman jobbers at this point, but it's only because they deserve so much better. (Yes, even Nese.) For one thing, the show needs competent villains because Legado del Fantasma are primarily on main NXT. Second, the writing and presentation keep hammering home the idea of 205 Live OGs like it's supposed to mean something, so make it mean something—by winning. Third, this entire gimmick is singlehandedly preventing any character development for Daivari and Nese, and you can't say character development doesn't happen on 205 Live when you have Mansoor turning into an asshole.
Of course, I don't mean have them win all the time and beat all the younger talent. It's great that the young guys are getting over! What I mean is maybe don't make them look like bumbling idiots, like when Daivari has to lose all of a sudden because Adonis got ridiculously lucky. Maybe write more meaningful arcs instead of a loose sequence of matches. Well, maybe they can't do that given the format, but just in case it's an option, here it is.
In any case, I'm happy for Atlas and Adonis. Adonis gets crisper every time I watch him, even if he still wrestles like a CAW. It wasn't all bad.
205 Live 3/19/21 Final Grade: A-
*****
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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