WWE 205 Live Review - January 29, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ariya Daivari def. August Grey and Jake Atlas in a Triple Threat Match

I believe it was supposed to be Grey and Atlas one-on-one before Daivari interjected himself earlier in the day. I've made it quite clear that I couldn't care less about Daivari, but he actually added to this outing by being the sole heel. They kept the pace consistent throughout, worked well together and produced a fun Triple Threat. I would have preferred one of the babyfaces winning, but the story was that Daivari stole the win from Atlas by knocking him out at ringside before pinning Grey. It made sense, though Atlas should avenge the loss eventually.

Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart def. Marina Shafir and Zoey Stark in a Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Quarterfinal Match

Shafir and Jessamyn Duke would have obviously been a logical team for the women's Dusty Classic, but reports have indicated that Duke is content doing streaming stuff for UpUpDownDown on YouTube and helping out with content creation, so I guess her future isn't in the ring and her team with Shafir is no more. Shafir had to team with newcomer Zoey Stark instead. Stark was impressive at points, but Shafir is still very green. That's a bit concerning considering she's been with WWE for almost three years now. Thankfully, Moon and Blackheart carried them to a competent contest and the result was the right one.

Overall Show

Is it safe to say that 205 Live is essentially NXT's Main Event at this point? Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool we've been getting Dusty Classic matches with the men and women on the show for the last few weeks and it makes the episodes more eventful, but they may as well not even call it a Cruiserweight show anymore and make it a secondary show for the black-and-gold brand. Nonetheless, this was another quality edition of 205 Live. The women's match wasn't on the same level as last week's, but it was more meaningful than most matches 205 Live usually hosts. The opening Triple Threat was also well-wrestled, so this show went by in a breeze.