Live From the 205 (10/16/20): Holding Patterns

It's the second 205 Live episode at the Capitol Wrestling Center, and while it started hot last week, the series is kind of cooling off again.

Tony Nese crashes the Daivari Dinero Division

For the second straight week in a row, Tony Nese crashes Ariya Daivari's business. The Daivari Dinero Division was getting better, with the second edition featuring actual Performance Center recruits that had a bigger chance than the local competitors he brought on the first time. Like I've said before, I'm just really tired of Tony Nese, and it doesn't help that the new 30-minute 205 Live no longer has backstage segments to flesh out the ongoing storylines. 

That's one con of the shorter edition, but it's nothing they can't solve with the proper time management. They're not even doing exclusive YouTube interviews. I get that it's in the bottom of the barrel among all the WWE wrestling programming, but is there really no way to do more for it?

Yet another Brian Kendrick turn, maybe

This week's main event is another Isaiah "Swerve" Scott showcase—it's slowly starting to be his show—in another methodical match that tries to follow the outing he did with Ariya Daivari a few weeks ago, but admittedly isn't as exciting. I miss seeing the other cruiserweights on the show; if Swerve's feuding with Legado del Fantasma, I don't see why we couldn't have gotten another bout with Raul Mendoza or Joaquin Wilde. Or even a Santos Escobar showcase.

The bigger takeaway is that Brian Kendrick teases a heel turn by refusing to shake Swerve's hand at first before finally giving in; let me tell you, I've seen this story with Kendrick so many times. Maybe it'll lead to something, maybe it won't, but the guy has turned so much in his four-year tenure on 205 Live that it's no longer anything new. He has done it all, so I'm no longer sure what else there is for him to do other than keep mentoring younger cruiserweights.

Anyway. Book more cruiserweights on this show. That's all for this week.

205 Live 10/16/20 Final Grade: B-

Photo from WWE

*****

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.

October 18, 2020