Tonight’s episode of 205 Live opens up with 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick recapping Buddy Murphy’s thrilling title defense against Akira Tozawa from this past weekend’s Elimination Chamber. Maverick then announces an eight-man, single-elimination tournament, where the winner will go on to face Murphy for The WWE Cruiserweight Title at WrestleMania. Matches announced for tonight are: Humberto Carrillo vs. TJP and Mike Kanellis vs. Cedric Alexander in the main event.
We then get The 205 Live Intro Video.
Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness & Aiden English then welcomes us to the most exciting hour on television. TJP makes his way down to the ring for our first bout of the evening. Humberto Carrillo is out next.
Humberto Carrillo vs. TJP: Tie-up. TJP takes Carrillo down and goes for an early pinfall. Carrillo escapes. Headlock from TJP. Fun sequence from both men showing off their speed. Carrillo displays his athleticism with a jumping springboard arm-drag. Drew Gulak & Gentleman Jack Gallagher make their way to ringside. Gulak is waving his finger, as if to say, “stop doing high-risk moves.” Back to the action, TJP takes Carrillo down with a headscissor. He goes for a second but Carrillo lands on his feet. TJP sends Carrillo to the apron but the luchador lands on the apron. Big elbow from Carrillo. He goes for his signature arm-drag again but this time TJP has it scouted. He cranks Carrillo’s arm across his body and wears him down with quick strikes. Springboard plancha onto a prone Carrillo from TJP. Carrillo breaks off a submission and dodges a charge by TJP, but runs into the ringpost when trying to spear TJP. TJP ties Carrillo up in the tree-of-woe, runs around the ring to gain momentum and nails Carrillo with a running dropkick. Pinfall attempt, but Carrillo escapes. TJP targets Carrillo’s arm, but Carrillo breaks away again. Sunset flip from the top rope by Carrillo but TJP rolls through and goes for a PK. Carrillo ducks and gets to his feet, then hits a spinning roundhouse kick. TJP goes to the floor but Carrillo nails him with a suicide dive. Back in the ring, TJP nearly steals the match with a roll-up, but Carrillo fires back with a combo followed up by a standing asai moonsault. Gulak & Gallagher are trying to coach Carrillo from the outside to assist him in victory, but they cringe every time he goes for a high-risk maneuver. TJP locks in an STF, but Carrillo gets to the ropes to break the hold thanks to the motivating cheers from Gulak on the outside. Both men on the apron. They trade strikes. Carrillo wins the exchange, climbs the turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick onto TJP. He lands his finisher to secure the victory. Winner: Humberto Carrillo
After the match, Gulak & Gallagher slide into the ring to congratulate Carrillo. They try and get the fans to cheer his name, then hoist him up on their shoulders. Carrillo seems stunned, but accepts their celebratory demeanor.
We then get a promo from Tony Nese. He says that he finally proved that he was better than Noam Dar when he defeated him last week in a No DQ Match. He then says that if you look at his performance last week, you will see why he deserves to be in the tournament.
Mike Kanellis is taping up his wrists as he is preparing for the main event. Maria is with him. Dasha comes up for an interview, asking Mike how he feels about facing a former champion in Cedric Alexander and whether or not he is worried if he will lose again. Maria answers for Mike, saying that they have been in this business for a long time and they don’t take the easy way out. Tonight, she promises that Mike will take out the “pride of 205” as they begin their journey towards WrestleMania.
We then get a house ad for tomorrow’s NXT, where Johnny Gargano defends his NXT North American Title against The Velveteen Dream.
Commentary team then reminds us that DX were the first inductees for this year’s Hall Of Fame Ceremony.
Ariya Daivari is on his way out. He has a microphone in hand and tells the fans in attendance that tonight is the beginning of his destruction of 205. His opponent, an enhancement talent named Johnny Lyons, is already in the ring.
Johnny Lyons vs. Ariya Daivari: Tie-up. Daivari forces Lyons into the corner and starts unloading strikes. Lyons surprises Daivari with a dropkick, but Daivari slows him down with a head kick. He ties him up and nails him with a hammerlock lariat. Cobra-clutch is applied and Lyons taps out. Winner: Ariya Daivari
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy cuts a promo backstage. He commends Maverick for setting up this tournament, because it will take a great fighting spirit to dethrone the most dominant cruiserweight champion of all time. He then runs down the lineage of his time in 205, defeating Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander, Akira Tozawa, Hideo Itami & Kalisto. He then wonders who he will face on The Biggest Stage Of Them All at WrestleMania.
We then get a house ad for Fighting With My Family.
Mike & Maria Kanellis are on their way out, which means that it is main event time. Cedric Alexander follows. We then get highlights of Cedric Alexander’s title win from WrestleMania 34, since they are in Louisiana.
Mike Kanellis vs. Cedric Alexander: Tie-up. Cedric takes Kanellis down with a waist lock, but Kanellis pushes Cedric into the turnbuckle. They struggle for a bit near the ropes until the referee separates them. Second tie-up. Kanellis takes early control with a headlock, then runs through Cedric when bouncing off the ropes. Cedric takes over with an arm-drag, but Kanellis fires the bout’s first strikes with a series of knife-edged chops. Cedric responds with a headscissor takedown and a flush dropkick in succession. He fires off some chops of his own, then smashes Kanellis’s head off the top turnbuckle. After a solid back-and-forth, Kanellis surprises Cedric with a big right hand as Cedric was coming off the top rope. Kanellis targets the head and neck of Cedric, while screaming “I’m the best in the world.” Vicious elbows from Kanellis to Cedric’s sternum followed by a running basement dropkick. With Cedric’s head draped across the apron, Kanellis levels him with an elbow. Cedric mounts a tiny comeback, which includes an impressive roll-up, but Kanellis goes back to the well and catches Cedric with another right hand. Cedric avoids a fourth and lays into Kanellis with a series of jabs and a combo that ends with a dropkick to Kanellis’s face. Two straight lariats plus a reverse elbow from Cedric. He is on a roll now. Handspring enziguiri from Cedric. He goes for a springboard attack but slips and hurts his leg. Kanellis immediately goes after the leg, stomping down on it. Kanellis goes for a figure-four, but Cedric hits a superkick before clutching at his leg once again. Cedric tries to go for the Lumbar check but his leg gives out. Superkick by Kanellis. Samoan driver with pin, but Cedric just kicks out. Kanellis can’t believe it.
Both men trade stiff shots in the center. Cedric climbs but Kanellis grabs him and hits the backpack stunner. Pinfall and Cedric gets a shoulder up at the last second. Kanellis goes to pick Cedric up but he gets rolled up, but kicks out. Another roll-up. Kanellis gets to his feet but walks right into a Michinoku Driver. He just gets a shoulder up. Quick back and forth action. Kanellis stuns Cedric by slamming his throat over the ropes. They take each other out with stiff boots while standing on the apron. Kanellis tries to run away but Cedric is in hot pursuit. Kanellis baits him in. Spinebuster onto the metal part of the entrance path. He gets back into the ring. Cedric gets back into the ring at the last second. Kanellis goes for a Boston Crab but Cedric is right near the ropes. He finally locks it in. Cedric is screaming in pain, but he gets to the ropes. Cedric dumps Kanellis over the top rope. Tope Con Hilo from Cedric. He tries to get back into the ring but Maria blocks his path. He gets in but eats a superkick from Kanellis followed by crossroads. Cover and Kanellis thinks he has won the match but Cedric gets a shoulder up. The referee says it’s not over. They go at it again. Lumbar Check from Alexander and that will do it. Winner: Cedric Alexander
After the match, commentary then wonders that after a rough start to 2019, is this the victory that will help get him back on track towards the title picture. Highlights of the match are then shown including the very close count that Kanellis thought he won the match on. Cedric celebrates while Mike Kanellis & Maria Kanellis look distraught from another loss.
205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick then announces that next week’s first round competitors and matchups are: Kalisto versus Tony Nese and The Brian Kendrick versus Drew Gulak. 205 Live goes off the air.