The NXT Thread: It Must Breakk You

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: September 19, 2018
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness

It’s time for one of those huge matches that you actually get around here with North American Champion Ricochet facing United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne in a title for title match. What more could you ask for from a show? Well given that it’s NXT, I have a feeling we’ll get a few other bonuses. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

It Lives Up To The Hype

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: October 3, 2018
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson

As usual, NXT knows how to build towards the future and that’s what they’ve done here. Next week we get the triple threat match for the North American Title and the week after that it’s the War Raiders getting their shot at the Tag Team Titles. Other than that, it’s time to continue searching for Aleister Black’s attacker and Lars Sullivan vs. EC3. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

How Much Mileage Does This Thing Get?

[Skairipa]

Lacey Evans has a terrible finisher and should not be beating Candice Lerae. Other than that fine episode.

[smarkmouth]

I'm not a huge EC3 fan. He's got a great character, but that character doesn't translate in the ring. I'm not familiar enough with his heel work to make the full assessment, but that's where I stand on his NXT run. That being said, last night's match with Lars was great! Short and sweet, but as KB reviewed, a lot of mileage came out of it.

Where do you all think they're going with Nikki Cross? Does she actually know who attacked Aleister Black? More importantly, if she does know, what's her role after the big reveal?

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm not a huge EC3 fan. He's got a great character, but that character doesn't translate in the ring. I'm not familiar enough with his heel work to make the full assessment, but that's where I stand on his NXT run. That being said, last night's match with Lars was great! Short and sweet, but as KB reviewed, a lot of mileage came out of it.

From what I understand, EC3 is far better as a heel and I could see a heel turn happening down the line. When he first arrived, he came off more like this cocky, rich playboy kinda guy and that's always something that lends itself more to being a heel. On the mic, he can be a lot of fun but I've never been a mega fan of his work inside the ring; he's solid in the ring but he doesn't bring anything special and there are a ton of men on the main and NXT rosters who can easily do just as well ring wise. To be perfectly honest, he's someone that I think is mostly there just so fans who don't really know who he is find out what he brings to the table and that he'll wind up on the main roster within another 6 months or so. I just don't see him being a major force in NXT but he's someone Vince could fall in love with based simply on his build alone.

Where do you all think they're going with Nikki Cross? Does she actually know who attacked Aleister Black? More importantly, if she does know, what's her role after the big reveal?

Well, that's part of the fun of Nikki's character, how good NXT booking is and how they've been able to turn a lousy turn of luck in Black getting injured into an intriguing whodunnit. On the main roster, they'd do a storyline like this, quite probably, with multiple segments on both Raw and SmackDown that would almost always go much longer than needed. They'd probably try to cram several months worth of segments that have a much too polished, over the top corporate feel into the span of a few weeks. Using Nikki's character in this way gives the possibility that maybe she really does know, maybe it's just the nonsensical ramblings of a schizo, maybe what she "knows" is something completely unreleated to the Black attack but we're led to believe it does have something to do with it because she started with the "I know" stuff while being questioned about the attack and asked if she knows anything. Even though Nikki is "crazy", her craziness and what it has to do with the whodunnit to Black is being done in a slow, subtle way that doesn't involve beating fans over the head with it constantly, which is a subtlety that's all but gone on the main roster as long term storytelling is something that Vince isn't often invested in anymore.

As for the show itself, it's redundant to say but NXT just keeps rolling along with one good show after another.

I thought Candice LaRae vs. Lacey Evans was a fun match, maybe right at the 3 star mark. Evans has come a long way with her character and in-ring work while Candice is a cute as a button babyface that you just like to cheer for, though I would prefer her to have more of an edge, maybe a little bit of a chip on her shoulder. I'm not all that wild about the Woman's Right finisher, I get what they're going for and it seems to be working among a lot of NXT fans in that they're now popping whenever she uses it, but it's just not really my cup of bourbon.

The Forgotten Sons are coming along nicely for what they are and the fans are already responding positively to them. The six man squash worked well and I remember thinking that it was an efficient use of time because a six man squash gave the chance for all of them to show what they can do in one match rather than each of them having singles matches or whatever.

Johnny Gargano vs. Tony Nese was a great 3.75 to 4 star 10 minute outing. Nese is someone that has a great look and his hybrid in-ring style is a lot of fun to watch. I think that if he had a real character that was more than just an incredibly fit guy who knows how incredibly fit he is could really help him out. He got in a ton of offense and looked great while Johnny Gargano came off looking more like the Johnny Gargano that's "Johnny Wrestling" and it fits in with the storyline of Gargano having trouble walking the line between who he is and, possibly, who he feels he needs to be in order to truly get to where he wants to be: the NXT Championship.

EC3 vs. Lars Sullivan had a tough act to follow and I think that maybe it should've gone on before Gargano vs. Nese but both worked a really physical 7 minute match where they just beat the shit out of each other. Sullivan's back was bruised and had what looked to be a good 8 to 10 inch scratch down it from the stairs while EC3 wound up with a cut underneath his left eye and what looked to be a bloody lip. I thought it was a great 3.25 star effort that told a great story of 3 just goind head long at Sullivan, giving him everything he had right from the start, brawling with him but with Sullivan just simply being too much for 3 to handle by taking that approach. One thing I wish Sullivan wouldn't do is a diving headbutt and I'm surprised that both NXT and the main roster allows it to be used, which they really shouldn't and that's especially in Daniel Bryan's case.

As is usually the case, they used every second of airtime in a meaningful way whether it be Nikki Cross doing her thing, Bianca Belair responding, Ciampa giving another fun interview or hyping matches in upcoming episodes over the next few weeks. A strong B+ show for me.

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: October 10, 2018
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson

It’s title night around here with the North American Title being defended in a triple threat as champion Ricochet defends against both Adam Cole and Pete Dunne. That alone should carry the show as far as it needs to go but NXT should have more than enough to make a full night of awesome wrestling. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

I Know What They Did This Week

[Jack-Hammer]

More goodliness from the black and gold brand this week, which is par for the course.

Long promo segments are something of a rarity in NXT, but they're often quite fun, especially when the wrestlers are out there using their own words, employing more of their own character personality. Ciampa and Dream had an entertaining exchange and Nikki Cross' part in all this has been fun as she's really good with her character and improvising mannerisms. It looks like they're setting up Ciampa vs. Dream for WarGames, which is fine with me though I don't know where that leaves Johnny Gargano at the moment. Maybe he'll be left off the card this time as his story, right now, seems to be "getting back" to being who he was before Ciampa got into his head.

Keith Lee vs. Kona Reeves was what it needed to be. I would've been fine with a straight out squash but Reeves getting in some offense via some heelish shenanigans is okay too. Every time I see Reeves, I can't help but think how strange he looks. He's almost like a Polynesian/Samoan or whatever Frankenstein, just without the stitches, as it looks like his entire form is made up from parts of different people. Parts of him are sorta muscular while others are skinny, some are a little chubby and some just hang there in between skinny and chubby without any tone whatsoever. Lee's got some impressive athletic ability for a man his size but, truth be told, I haven't seen anything out of him in NXT, or anything else I've watched, that Big E himself can't do just as well or better.

The main event was another strong TV outing for NXT as this triple threat match would've been right at home headlining any TakeOver. I gave it 4.5 stars though I did think it was a little too spot heavy at times; there were several instances where they were just busy setting up these big stunts. Still, these three are so smooth in whatever they do and it was such a fun mesh of Styles. Ricochet's agility is inhuman, Cole's sort of a jack of all trades with a ton of charisma and Pete Dunne is a great technical striking guy who has his own different type of charisma that Vince probably wouldn't know what to do with. Ricochet retaining and getting a pinfall on Dunne made the match feel like more of a bigger deal and it still protects Dunne as it's a triple threat. In some way, shape or form, I expect all three of these men to be involved in the WarGames match.

So we got an entertaining promo segment, an enhancement match that did what it needed, build for some more good matches coming up and a super hot main event. Based on how things are looking right now, you can probably pen Kassius Ohno taking on Matt Riddle at WarGames as well. Strong B+ show.

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: October 17, 2018
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness

It’s time for another title match because NXT is smart enough to set these things up in advance. This time we have the Tag Team Titles on the line as the Undisputed Era puts the titles on the line against the War Raiders. That sounds like a recipe for destruction but NXT likely has a few tricks up its sleeve. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

They're Doing It. Again.

[klunderbunker]

NXT
Date: October 24, 2018
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson

It’s a big night this time around as Aleister Black now knows who attacked him. Therefore, it’s highly likely that we find out tonight too, which should be a heck of a moment. There are several suspects out there and a lot of them are strong possibilities. Other than that though, it’s time to get ready for the next Takeover. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

The Big Reveal

[Jack-Hammer]

Based on how things are looking right now, I think TakeOver: WarGames will wind up looking something like this:

NXT Championship - Tommaso Ciampa vs the Velveteen Dream

NXT Women's Championship - Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair/Lacey Evans/Nikki Cross (possibly all of them in a Fatal Fourway)

Singles Match - Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano

Singles Match - Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno

WarGames - War Raiders, Ricochet & Pete Dunne vs. The Undisputed Era

The only real question, at least for me, is the Women's Championship match. Bianca Belair, Nikki Cross and Lacey Evans have been the most prominently featured women in NXT the past few months so it's likely to be one of them. A fourway match is possible though, I suppose, as it's something that doesn't happen very often in NXT.

As has always been the case, it looks like a really good card on paper and the matches everyone will be counting on will be the NXT Championship match, Black vs. Gargano and WarGames.