WWE 205 Live 5/14/2021

WWE 205 Live 5/14/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/wwe-205-live-572021.html 

Ariya Daivari vs Asher Hale

We get a "Where is Tony?" chant and the announcers bring it up and says he is in the next match. Tony is usually out with Ariya.

Asher headlocks him early and comes off the rope with a headlock takeover. They talk about Asher having a lot of influence from MMA and Jun Akiyama. Hale is kicked in the gut early and dropkicked.

Asher leg sweeps him and strike combos him, then follows with a leg lariat. They say Asher is part of a new wave of 205 Live stars. Ariya goes outside and Asher running knees him off the apron. Asher flips over the ropes and over Ariya's back but is caught with a flying forearm. He ties up Asher in the ropes and punches him.

Asher tries to backdrop out of a sleeper but Ariya holds it. Asher powerslams him for 2. They trade shots and Asher hits two exploders. Asher then hits a northern lights and tries an armbar but Ariya tries to pin him. Asher hits a tornado ddt for 2. Arya comes back with an iconoslam and frogsplashes him for 2. Asher avoids Ariya's hammerlock lariat then bridges him and pins him.

They didn't sell enough here and they did a little more than they should have for a 10 minute match. I would have liked to have seen them just stick with more strikes.

We get a rare backstage segment with Bolly-Rise. They have a camera set up and stare talking about Jiro and Asher. Martel compares Jiro to a gyro. Martel asks if the Boyz watch Ever-Rise Live and pimp the show. 

We see clips of Kushida vs Escobar from NXT, which I covered here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/wwe-nxt-5112021.html

Ari Sterling vs Tony Nese 

The crowd starts off with a "Where's Daivari?" chant. Kudos to them for caring. Ari does a nice backflip out of a wristlock. Nese then is thrown into the buckles and backflips over Ari. Ari then twisting headscissors him down, then slingshot headscissors him down again.

Aria slingshot sentons Nese over his back then he does a twisting flip onto him. They go outside and Nese puts the ring apron around Ari's head and gets a shot in. Nese then throws him into the barricades.

They go back in and Ari hits a neat enzugiri then lariats him hard over the back of the neck. Nese then comes back with a hard spin kick to the head after rolling out of a sunset flip. A little later, Nese is sitting on the top rope and Ari flip hurricanrana's him while standing in the ring. Ari hits a stiff clothesline that Nese didn't seem to see coming, then Nese was knocked off the apron. Ari then did a sitting moonsault to the outside on Nese.

Ari came back in and took a palm strike but Nese missed his 450. Nese is bent over and Ari flipping legdrops his head. Nese comes back with a running knee then a peach sunrise for 2. Nese starts pounding on him and Ari comes back with a jumping knee. Ari then powerbombs him for 2. Ari goes for something up top but can't get it then Nese german's him into the buckles and running knees him for the win.

Really surprised to see Nese get the win here since he isn't protected usually. Ari didn't need to lose here and it hurt whatever momentum he had going into this. We'll see what happens next week I guess but Ari does seem to have a special something to him. As usual, they did too much here and as the match progressed, they sold less than they should have.

Overall thoughts: You know the drill. It's 205 Live and you get two matches that aren't too special and that was the case here. Ari losing was odd but at least Hale won as expected.