Montez Ford is hands down the star of the Street Profits. The guy's insanely athletic and beyond loaded with charisma, he just lights up the ring with energy whenever he's in there. The Street Profits are a solid team that could be better but, when you get right down to it, Angelo Dawkins, in my opinion, is holding Ford down. Ford's got way too much ability to be wasted in a mid-card tag team that's probably never going to be a dominant, main event level tag team.
One thing I wish NXT would do more often, and it's one of the few complaints I've got, albeit a minor one, is that they don't acknowledge some of the stuff some talent accomplishes as part of NXT's working arrangement with companies like Evolve, ICW, Progress and wXw. For instance, the Street Profits had a roughly 6 month reign as Evolve Tag Team Champions end about 5 weeks ago. However, this might be an order Vince has handed down; even though he almost entirely leaves NXT alone, he does, on rare occasions, make decisions that Triple H has to live with. Vince likes to pretend that WWE is literally all that's out there as far as the existence of pro wrestling, however ludicrous the idea is, and maybe he doesn't even like mentioning other companies WWE works closely with. He's been going back and forth for years on some of these companies airing their stuff as part of the WWE Network and, so far as I know, it's still in limbo.
At any rate, in regards to Ford, I'd be perfectly happy seeing him go the route of a singles wrestler, or do some sort of power couple angle with Bianca Belair. They've got the ability and charisma needed to make it work, and we know NXT has the creative chops, patience and focus to hold up its end of things. I'm not hating on Dawkins, he's pretty solid overall but he's been in NXT for like 5 or 6 years now. He's pretty athletic, but he's not some athletic freak like Ford, Ricochet, Carillo and a few others nor is he a particularly intimidating hoss like War Raiders, or whatever their name is gonna wind up being as, allegedly, WWE has changed it yet again, Dijakovic, Keith Lee or Lars Sullivan. He's too big to be a high flyer and not big enough to be a real powerhouse.
"What Do I Know Of Cultured Ways, The Gilt, The Craft And The Lie?
I, Who Was Born In A Naked Land And Bred In The Open Sky.
The Subtle Tongue, The Sophist Guile, They Fail When The Broadswords Sing.
Rush In And Die Dogs - I Was A Man Before I Was King."
Conan Of Cimmeria
Montez Ford is awesome. I love the Street Profits (Met them at Axxess they seem to be just as much fun off camera as they are on).
While Dawkins may be holding down Montez Ford, remember that there's money to be made in a breakup angle. Have them fail to get to the belts, and around Summerslam Weekend have Ford turn on Dawkins. That leads to a singles feud (which Ford wins because he's awesome), and he works his way up the card whlie Dawkins falls to the undercard.
NXT
Date: May 1, 2019
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness
Things are staying interesting around here and tonight we have the latest import in the form of Kushida, who makes his in-ring debut. As usual he gets to face Kassius Ohno, which should work out well for everyone involved. Throw in the Undisputed Era having some issues and we could be in for a good night. Let’s get to it.
Click on the link below for the full review.
Nice To See You Japanese Favorite/The Velveteen Dreamiest
Good shows from both NXT and NXT UK.
NXT UK continues to improve and looks, at least to me, like it's becoming more and more like the original each week in that it's able to put on a good, compelling and interesting show even when the show doesn't feature the top talent. I thought both the Banks vs. Mansoor and Niven vs. Gonzalez matches were good to solid 3 and 2.5 star outings; Banks is one of these guys that's grown on me with his tenacity and Piper Niven is fun, I like her demeanor and she's pretty athletic for a bigger gal. Walter vs. Jordan Devlin was a very physical, hard hitting 3.75 star outing that shows just how good these David vs. Goliath matches can be when creative isn't just focused on making Goliath of the match look good while David is ragdolled all over Creation. I still say that there are several already on the WWE and NXT rosters who can do any and everything Walter can do, can do it better and look more intimidating doing it. With that being said, I have to say that I continue to enjoy his matches as he does have a fun, rough and rugged style to go along with his look that puts me in mind of old school brawlers like Stan Hansen and Devlin continues to shine as a top talent on the UK brand.
NXT featured its usual goodness with good wrestling, storytelling, continuity, setting things up for future episodes, etc.. The Forgotten Sons, while still not hugely dynamic, are growing on me as they seem to be evolving somewhat and they delivered a good 3 star outing with Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch, a team I think'd be better off in NXT UK. They did a nice little job in possibly teasing something with Bianca Belair and Mia Yim, who could be a good test for Bianca, and setting up tensions between the eventual 1 on 1 clash between Shayna Baszler and Io Shirai. Dominick Dijakovic vs. Mansoor was a bit of a surprise as I expected an outright squash but we got a good 2.75 star, 5 minute match that saw Mansoor looking pretty good and getting in a lot of physical shots. Dijakovic is one of those guys I mentioned earlier who, in my opinion, can do anything that Walter can and then some, and the follow up with Velveteen Dream was the usual fun stuff from Dream. The main event featured Kassius Ohno, in his role as the gatekeeper of NXT, and the debuting Kushida. If you were expecting some warp speed clash for Kushida's debut, you were probably disappointed but I have to say it was a refreshing 3.5 star outing for me as it was nice to see Kushida in a really physical, hard hitting bout giving as good as he got from a wrestler a good 7 or 8 inches taller and about 85 pounds heavier. Again, it was something of a David vs. Goliath match where David looks as good as Goliath and doesn't come off as "lucky" by just squeaking past the obstacle by the skin of his teeth.
So yeah, overall, I thought both shows yesterday were hovering round a solid B with both shows accomplishing things, delivering fun wrestling content, and moving along at a brisk pace.
"What Do I Know Of Cultured Ways, The Gilt, The Craft And The Lie?
I, Who Was Born In A Naked Land And Bred In The Open Sky.
The Subtle Tongue, The Sophist Guile, They Fail When The Broadswords Sing.
Rush In And Die Dogs - I Was A Man Before I Was King."
Conan Of Cimmeria
NXT
Date: May 8, 2019
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness, Mauro Ranallo
We’re suddenly racing towards Takeover, which is less than a month away thanks to the schedule changes. In this case we’ll be seeing Matt Riddle vs. Adam Cole as part of the ongoing Johnny Gargano/Riddle vs. Undisputed Era issues. The Takeover card needs to start filling in but NXT knows how to do this in a hurry. Let’s get to it.
Click on the link below for the full review.
There's Certainly A Dispute
NXT
Date: May 15, 2019
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, Nigel McGuinness
It’s time for a fresh taping cycle and that means a few fresh things around here. First of all we have to deal with the Tag Team Titles, as the Viking Raiders are now on the main roster, meaning they aren’t likely to be able to defend the titles around here. Oh and Takeover is in two and a half weeks so we need some matches. Let’s get to it.
Click on the link below for the full review.
Get It, Got It, Good
If this is the end of the Raiders on NXT (as suggested by them laying down the titles and taking a bow), then I feel tonight was a rare misstep by the yellow brand. I'm not suggesting that the Raiders had to lose the titles but even a victory leading to them relinquishing the titles as originally planned at the top of the show would have been better than a DQ finish.
If I can climb into my armchair for some booking, I'd have liked to see more of the episode dedicated to this match. Have the Forgotten Sons cause the DQ finish, but then have the Raiders demand the match restart with the Sons added. Then have Oney and Burch come to battle the Forgotten Sons, leading to ANOTHER DQ finish. Raiders say fuck it, they'll face all three of them. Then the Raiders can win or lose, but either way they continue to look like beasts.
NXT
Date: May 22, 2019
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness
We’re somehow less than two weeks away from the next Takeover (thanks Saudis) so things need to hurry and get ready now. Last week saw the NXT Title and Women’s Title matches being set up, along with what seems to be the Tag Team Title match being set up. That leaves a few things needing to be done, which should be taken care of tonight. Let’s get to it.
Click on the link below for the full review.
Well Of Course They Can
So the final card for TakeOver XXV looks like this:
NXT Championship - Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole
NXT North American Championship - Velveteen Dream vs. Tyler Breeze
NXT Women's Championship - Shayna Baszler vs. Io Shirai
NXT Tag Team Championship Latter Match - The Street Profits vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. the Forgotten Sons vs. the Undisputed Era
Singles Match - Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong
All in all, it should be another great show that'll outdo the overly bloated main roster shows with its, often, questionable booking.
Gargano and Cole delivered a classic in New York, so there's no need to think it won't happen here.
Dream vs. Breeze might be the weakest match on the card, but it should still be a good one off title defense. Dreams program with Dominic Dijakovic is on hole since he suffered a knee injury, so Dream against "an NXT OG" could be fun.
If the women's match is given time, it could be really good. I think it's time for Baszler to drop the title, and I would've said move to the main roster in the past but I'd rather she stay in NXT and actually be used.
Given that I figured all these teams would ve involved in this match, I was really hoping and glad they decided to make this a ladder match. It's wide open really, though I think the Street Profits should pick up the titles here.
Riddle vs. Strong should be one of those singles bouts where the two of them just beat the crap out of each other. Both guys can deliver in the ring, so I'm expecting a hard hitting, physical bout that Riddle probably wins.
"What Do I Know Of Cultured Ways, The Gilt, The Craft And The Lie?
I, Who Was Born In A Naked Land And Bred In The Open Sky.
The Subtle Tongue, The Sophist Guile, They Fail When The Broadswords Sing.
Rush In And Die Dogs - I Was A Man Before I Was King."
Conan Of Cimmeria
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