Leighty’s WWE 205 Live Review: 01.21.22

-Sorry for the delay, but for whatever reason this show just wouldn’t play for me last night. It took 20 minutes before it would stop buffering and then 10 minutes into the show it kicked me off again. By that point the show was no longer playing, which means I had to wait for the Hulu version this morning. Speaking of this show, my ranking of every 205 Live match from 2021 can be found here.

-Announce Team: Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett
-Taped: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, FL

Lash Legend vs. Fallon Henley

-Legend misses a charge, but shoves Fallon away. Fallon grabs an arm and works that a bit as the size difference is pretty apparent for Legend in this one. Fallon continues the work on the arm, but gets caught with a knee and then a forearm to the face. Legend stomps the hand and drops Fallon face first on the mat. Fallon fights back and hits a back elbow that Legend no sells. Fallon lands a boot and tries to go up, but Legend brings her down with an Iron Claw. She lands an overhead release suplex and gets two off a cocky cover. She grounds Fallon with a chinlock and talks some trash. Fallon fights back to her feet and tries a cross-body, but gets caught and Legends hits the Scott Hall fall-a-way slam. She drops an elbow for another two count. She misses a stomp and runs into a back elbow as Fallon starts to rally. This time the cross-body connects and Fallon unloads with some strikes including a running knee. She charges (this is where my feed crapped out last night) and again Legend catches her and turns it into a stretch submission for the tap at 4:14.

Winner: Lash Legend via tap-out at 4:14
-This was perfectly acceptable as they kept it short and Legend got to show off a bit. Henley had her brief hope spot, but Legend was too strong and tapped her out for the win. **

-Hulu commercials!

Draco Anthony vs. Javier Bernal

-This Bernal’s WWE debut so let’s see what he’s got. Lockup to start and Bernal gets a side headlock and he works that a bit as this start is becoming a staple on this show. Again, they keep it basic. Draco breaks and shows off his athleticism with a nice leap frog, but Bernal goes back to the side headlock. Finally, Draco breaks with a belly to back suplex and then puts the boots to Bernal. He throws some heavy forearms to the chest and then hooks an on overhead wristlock while controlling the chin as well. We are four minutes into this and outside a belly to back it has been all rest holds. I understand mat work to build a match, but these aren’t getting 15-20 minutes. Bernal gets to his feet and throws some uppercuts and gets a two count off a cross-body. Anthony comes back with a version of The Ruff Ryder for his first win at 4:53.

Winner: Draco Anthony via pin at 4:53
-A bunch of nothing here as it was all rest holds and then the quick finish. What they did was fine as it was kept basic, but let these guys loose a little. Give me a fun 5 minute sprint with action. I am not even sure how to rate this because what they did was fine, there just wasn’t much to it. * for the leap frog and Ruff Ryder.

-The Hulu version includes The KO Show with Rollins from RAW which turns into a match between Owens and Damian Priest, which is also included in full. Again, this is all added to pad the run time of the show to 45 plus minutes.

-Hulu commercials!

-WrestleMania Dallas: Tickets on Sale!

Bodhi Hayward (w/ Andre Chase) vs. James Drake

-There is actually a story in here as The GYV and Chase U will be meeting on Tuesday in Round 1 of The Dusty Classic, so there is a purpose for this match. Andre Chase cuts a promo telling us this is a Teachable Moment. He is interrupted by the GYV who offer their rebuttal. Lockup to start and Drake gets a side headlock (see what I mean) that he takes to the mat. They fight off that a bit and hey what do you know, we get a leap frog. A little change thankfully as Hayward gets a sunset flip for two and then lands some football breakdown splashes. Cute! Barrett sees some Clay Matthews in Hayward which gives me a chance to work in a go Niners ahead of tonight’s game. A suplex is countered as Drake lands on his feet and grabs a chinlock. Hayward powers up and counters by running Drake into the corner. Belly to back suplex connects and he follows with a running tackle at the knee. Drake bails to the floor and Hayward comes off the apron with a double axe. He decks Gibson on the floor for good measure and catches a diving Drake with a forearm through the ropes. Gibson grabs the leg to keep Hayward from getting back into the ring and that distraction leads to Drake hitting a shotgun dropkick in the corner for the win at 4:37.

Winner: James Drake via pin at 4:37
-This better than the last match as they at least didn’t eat up the entire thing with a headlock. Again, not much here though Hayward got to show a little more before losing. Drake winning is probably the right call as he is the bigger name at this point. This was okay but never got a chance to be anything more. *1/2

-Thanks for reading!