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Thread: The NXT Thread: It Must Breakk You

  1. #221
    This week's episode of NXT started off with the NXT Cruiserweight Championship match with Drew Gulak defending against Lio Rush. I'm hoping they get a new belt to reflect the name change. Anyhow, this was a fun 3.5 style bout with a nice mix and clash of styles here with Gulak doing his ground & pound bit while Lio Rush is fast and agile as all hell. The match had some nice physical action, Rush sold Gulak's offense well and looked resilient taking most of his best shots. You could sense that the title was gonna change hands when the match was announced last week and that's what happened here as Lio Rush becomes NXT Cruiserweight Champion. I've said for a long time the Cruiserweight Division should've just been part of NXT to begin with as it'll simply be appreciated more under the NXT umbrella.

    They showed a few cool video packages on Finn Balor and Tegan Nox afterward. I haven't had much of a chance to see much of Nox's work, I'd heard good things about her before she was injured during the second Mae Young Classic and I'm interested in seeing what she can do. Balor coming back to NXT may seem like a step down but with WWE's creative quality being such a crapshoot, maybe it's for the best as you at least know he'll be used in quality ways in NXT.

    Rhea Ripley vs. Aaliyah was a less than 90 second squash, which is all it needed to be. Ripley looks great and comes off like a star, and props to Aaliyah for selling the hell out of that Cloverleaf that Ripley put her in. Ripley got on the mic and essentially called out Baszler, which works just fine for me as I think whey'll wind up clashing at TakeOver: WarGames.

    Breezango vs. the Forgotton Sons was originally supposed to be Breezango vs. Ever Rise but the Sons took them out. The match was only about 4 minutes long and I figured it was a 2.5 star effort. Neither team feels like an upper tier level team, so this was fine for me with the Sons getting the win.

    They show a brief video package of Keith Lee, and one of Dominik Dijacovic later on in the show, with each man hyping their rubber match on NXT next week with each promising victory. They've had really fun matches and, after this, I think they need to cool it and not run it into the ground.

    Boa vs. Cameron Grimes barely gets stated before Grimes delivers standing double stomp. This makes the 2nd or 3rd time they've done that, which the move does look pretty cool, though I'm not sure I'm sold on Grimes.

    Roderick Strong vs. Isaiah "Serve" Scott was a really fun 3.75 star outing. Some nice, hard hitting physical action here as Scott looled strong against the North American Champion, so much that Strong needed a little distraction from the UE to break Scott's momentum at the end. The match went about the 10.5 minute mark. I'm wondering if they may have some plans for Scott in the future as he's really over with the fans and is fun to watch.

    Velveteen Dream interrupts the Undisputed Era's celebration in the ring with his usual double entendre. He makes a challenge for the NXT North American Championship, which is later confirmed for two weeks time, and shows a picture of Strong nude lying on a sofa with the championship covering his junk, only for Dream to digitally remove the title and showing what's meant to be a blurred micro penis which, as expected, infuriates Strong.

    Tommaso Ciampa then comes out dragging a crutch behind him and packing a steel chair, so the UE clears the ring with Ciampa addressing Cole by simply saying "Goldie? Daddy's home" and the crowd cheers. Afterwards, Angel Garza is backstage hitting on the female interviewer who is waiting for Ciampa, only for Garza to poke fun at Ciampa's looks in Spanish before being laid out. Garza is a talented, charismatic kid who my 13 year old niece thinks is luscious, which of course means he's a rotten son of a bitch and I want Ciampa to rip out his liver and eat it.

    Dakota Kai vs. Bianca Belair was a fun 3.25 star outing for the ladies. It was more competitive than I was expecting and I was a little surprised to see Bianca pick up the win here. Dakota is over and comes off as generally more serious since her return, so maybe they're just waiting for another time for her. After all, she did just recently get back. The match was a little choppy in a couple of spots but the ladies worked hard and the fans were into it. Bianca hits her KOD finisher for the win around the 10.5 minute mark. Bianca gets on the mic and addresses Rhea Ripley's comments earlier, stating that if she wants a shot at Shayna Baszler, she has to go through her. Ripley vs. Belair could be a really fun, physical #1 contenders match. I'd rather they went down that road rather than a triple threat against Baszler.

    They show some video featuring comments from Damien Priest & Pete Dunne, setting up a match between them for next week. I'm not totally sold on the Damien Priest gimmick, but he does look comfortable in it and it's got more depth to it than just him being this one dimensional destroyer such as he was in his Punishment Martinez days.

    Kushida vs. Walter as a great, phsycal, hard hitting 4.25 star bout that pretty much cemented my like for Walter. When I first saw the guy in NXT UK, I wasn't all that impressed but I have to admit that I've become a genuine fan after seeing all these great matches he's had against Pete Dunne, Trent Sevel, Tyler Bate and now Kushida. The match took a few minutes to get going but once it got going, things were just super. Kushida looked tough taking Walter's big offense while Walter also looked resilient managing to get out of Kushida's submission attempts, usually by brute force. Basically, for about 17 minutes they hit each other with just about all they've got before Walter hits the big powerbomb, which still doesn't finish off Kushida. Walter then picks him up and delivers a big ripcord lariat that puts him down, which is a tactic we've seen Walter do before and it adds a nice bit of spice to his matches: when he can't finish a guy off after hitting everything, he just hits a big, nasty clothesline.

    So next week's show will feature the rubber match of Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijacovic, Tommaso Ciampa vs. Angel Garza and I think Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest.

    As with AEW, this week's NXT wasn't quite as good as last week's though it was still a good show. I still give NXT the nod this week, though it's a closer race this week with NXT getting a B-. Again, another Wednesday night of quality wrestling all in all.
    "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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  3. #222
    You Never Know When You Might Stuff An Owl klunderbunker's Avatar
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    NXT
    Date: October 16, 2019
    Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
    Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, Nigel McGuinness

    It’s a big night as we have the return of Tommaso Ciampa to in ring action. That’s quite the get for NXT, as they are in for a fight against Dynamite. There are only so many people you can throw out there and Ciampa is already a legend around here. Speaking of legends, the advertisements for the show have featured Finn Balor so we could be in for another major appearance. Let’s get to it.

    Click on the link below for the full review.

    For the First Time So Far

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  5. #223
    As far as which was better between AEW and NXT this week, I felt it was too close to call. I thought both put on really good, quality shows. I felt both put on quality wrestling and continued build towards the future: AEW towards Full Gear and I get the feeling we're seeing more stuff set up in NXT for WarGames.

    NXT had a few more matches on their card than AEW but they were mostly squash matches used to position the stars, set things up for the near future or rebound from recent losses: Tommaso Ciampa looked great in his return and while it may not have been a full blown squash, it didn't need to be as Angel Garza has too much talent and potential to be totally buried. Io Shirai looked great and a future bout with Rhea Ripley? Yes please. Matt Riddle looked impressive against Bronson Reed, including some impressive power displays, it's nice to see Tegan Nox back and hopefully her knee continues to hold up and Killian Dain decimated Boa just at he should have.

    As for the rest of NXT: Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Imperium was a really fun, physical 3.5 star outing that was mostly about 9 minutes of two teams just beating the crap out of each other. Both teams looked good and either could be potential title contenders. Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic was another strong, 3.75 star outing for the two big men. The match was a little different from their previous ones, which was fine as it's never a bad thing to show you can be different from what people expect, which has been part of the point of the series of matches between them. I also thought Dijakovic did a really good job of selling his left arm throughout. The interference from Roderick Strong to set up a triple threat match for his NA Championship felt a little hackneyed as we've seen it so often in various companies but it worked. Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest was a strong main event, a 3.75 to 4 star outing for me as it was 14.5 minutes of the big, athletic powerhouse vs. the smaller, savage scrapper. This was Priest's best outing in NXT to date, which is no surprise as it's hard to have a bad match against Dunne, but Priest held his own and looked like a star. The ending involving the "Ballseye", to quote Mauro, was a nice touch and the execution with the ref legitimately not being able to see it due to literally having just squeezed herself out from between the two in the corner not a second before was nicely done. It protected Dunne and kept Priest undefeated.

    Over on AEW, I basically had only a couple of complaints about much of anything and it's pretty minor: The Cody video package was nicely done as a while, though I found myself not really caring for the most part as I've no real interest in Cody as AEW World Champion. I mean, Cody is essentially in a Triple H type of position and none of us were excited when Trips won the WWE Championship again a few years back. It was cool seeing DDP in the video, guy looks essentially the same now as he did 20+ years ago and is probably as healthy as healthy as anybody half his age in AEW or WWE, but the little comment about this possibly being Cody's first World Championship didn't sit well with me. I don't know if DDP just forgot about it, or was unaware of it, but Cody did hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for 50 days last year and spent roughly 6 months of 2017 as ROH World Champion. I can understand if it was a mistake from DDP but if he was told not to bring those runs up, then it's the sort of revisionist bullcrap people always give Vince grief over.

    As for the wrestling action: SCU vs. the Best Friends was a good 3.25 star bout, though I'm not overly fond of either team. I kinda like the BFs hugging gimmick as it reminds me fondly of Team Hell No. All in all, just a good 10 minute bout with the more established team of Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian moving on in the AEW tag title tourney semi-finals. Santana & Ortiz looked dominant in their squash match debut, as they should have. The AEW Women's World Championship match between Riho & Britt Baker was, for me about 2.75 stars. It was pretty decent, but I'm just not feeling Riho. I just feel there are much more interesting women who could've been the company's first champ and I can't get over the notion that a big reason why she's the champ is because of Kenny Omega, who is said to be very hands on with AEW's women's division, as she's a protégé of his. The Lucha Bros. vs. the Jurassic Express was only about 2.5 stars for me as I just look at the JE as a joke more than anything else, especially Marko Stunt as the guy looks like he's about 12 years old while Jungle Boy, AKA Luke Perry, kinda sorta looks like he might be 16. The Lucha Bros. looked strong, as expected, but I just didn't buy into Stunt and...well...Boy as viable challengers for them, certainly not guys that had to struggle for 11.5 minutes to beat. Jon Moxley & Pac vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page was a great bout, a very strong 3.75 star to 4 star outing as it was a fun, fast pace, physical bout that continues the inevitable meeting of Moxley and Omega, which I have a feeling Uncle Dave is just waiting to spray his shorts over. The barbed wire stuff was a little goofy, but I like that it was set up for Moxley to turn on Pac and leave him and dry to take the loss. The AEW World Championship Philadelphia Street fight between Chric Jericho & Darby Allin I felt was about 3.25 stars, a good match but it never got into high gear as I never bought into Darby as a serious challenger. As of right now in his career, Darby just doesn't feel like he has the grapes to be at this level and this is a good example of why AEW needs a mid-card title at some point. They made good overall use of the stipulation, though I think they're already overdoing stuff with Jericho needing to be saved by Hager. To me, it didn't make Allin look strong so much as it made Jericho look weak.

    All in all though, both shows delivered and continue to be an overall joy to watch. I gave NXT a B while AEW also got a B, MAYBE, just MAYBE a B-, but, to me, it was a little too close to call.
    "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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  7. #224
    You Never Know When You Might Stuff An Owl klunderbunker's Avatar
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    NXT
    Date: October 23, 2019
    Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
    Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, Nigel McGuinness

    Things should be interesting this week as the show is in a bad ratings fight against Dynamite, though this time around isn’t going to matter that much as the World Series is going to massacre both shows. The big match tonight is Roderick Strong defending the North American Title against Keith Lee and Dominick Dijakovic. Let’s get to it.

    Click on the link below for the full review.

    Dang. Ok.

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  9. #225
    Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai was another strong, physical outing from these two. While not quite as good as their match at the last TakeOver, this was still a high quality bout that had both women looking like stars. I like how the match played out in that it seemed to be pretty much even throughout with the ending coming about more as a result of, seemingly as a result of I should say, luck or accident than anything else. Candice goes for the springboard moonsault only for Io to roll out of the way, causing Candice to land square on the steel chair that Io herself had brought into the ring but the ref had taken away from her and hadn't had a chance to toss out of the ring. The post match saw Rhea Ripley interfere to keep Io from going to town on Candice and, eventually, I expect we'll see Rhea vs. Io to see who gets the next shot at Shayna Baszler at some point. ***3/4

    Finn Balor's promo was exactly what it needed to be. Balor showed real personality, a nice cocky heel confidence, basically said I'm the baddest and best thing going, all but challenged Johnny Gargano and left it at that. I like that he didn't waste time and that he didn't answer all the questions, such as whether or not he's allying himself with the UE, and that's a cool way to end a promo. A long segment is needed sometimes but we see it far, far, far too much on Raw and SmackDown. Most of the time, the message can be delivered and whatever is being sold can be sold within 3 to 5 minutes if it's worth fans investing in and this is. I don't have to have a guy standing out there for 15 minutes telling me how good he is, how much of a badass he is, how he's on top or popping off one liners left and right most of the time; as I alluded to, it's fine every once in a while but I prefer promo segments more on the short and sweet side these days.

    Bronson Reed vs. Shane Thorne was a pretty physical, really well paced sprint that lasted about 5 minutes. No time was wasted as both of these guys are pegged as two young guys looking to prove something to themselves and everyone else, so the relentless pace, trading shots and displays of power and athletic ability played well into that. For instance, it was fun seeing Thorne hit the Saito Suplex on Reed as it's always impressive watching a guy perform a power move on someone that's a a legit 100 pounds heavier. The match ends with Thorne going for a hurricanrana attempt off the top rope, after intercepting Reed who'd gone up there first. He leeps up for the move, Reed swats him aside and delivers a big splash from the top for the clean win. Short, sweet, entertaining. ***

    WWE Women's Tag Team Championship: The Kabuki Warriors vs. Tegan Nox & Dakota Kai was a lot of fun for me. This match got about 17 or so minutes and it was nice to see Asuka and Kairi back in matches where they have the time to show off their abilities. Nox and Kai came off well as a couple of plucky babyfaces who're easy to cheer for. A nice little mix of modern and old school for this match as both teams utilized a faster, more intense pace at times while Askua & Kairi used a good deal of the match to work on Dakota Kai's knee. As usual, the babyfaces eventually rally, things start to break down and there's mass confusion. The end comes with Kairi Sane distracting the ref with Asuka spraying the green mist immediately into Dakota Kai's eyes. As Kai falls face first onto the mat, rubbing her eyes and face, Asuka keeps Tegan Nox distracted while Kairi climbs the ripes and hits the InSane Elbow for the win. Covering Kai's face so the ref couldn't see, and the commentators drawing attention to that, was a nice little touch that helps push things along for Asuka and Kairi as heels. As I've said lots of times, a lot of little things here and there can add up to a whole lot. ***1/2

    The post match stuff with Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir attacking Nox and Kai, resulting in pretty much the entire locker room emptying was fun. We don't often see a lot of big female brawls so this felt fresh and the live crowd ate it up. William Regal came out to stand on the balcony screaming for everyone to separate and said that all this would be handled at WarGames, which popped the crowd, so it looks like we'll be getting a men's and women's WarGames match. It was announced later in the night that Rhea Ripley and Shayna Baszler were going to be the captains of the respective teams, though they stayed mum on how many would be on each team and who they'd be. I see them going for a four on four bout with it ultimately being Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair & Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir & Io Shirai.

    Tyler Bate vs. Cameron Grimes was a nice mix of speed, strength and physicality from both guys. I'm coming around on Grimes as he's gotten a chance to showcase more of what he brings to the table in the last few matches he's worked. Tyler Bate is someone who has a bright future, he's so young but he's so well rounded and can work so many different styles with equal ability. The only thing hurting him in WWE is the fact that he's about 5'9" and weighs about 175 lbs., though when I say WWE, I mean mostly Vince McMahon. Even though he's only in his early 20s, he comes off extremely mature and works like someone that's in their mid 30s who's been wrestling for the better part of 20 years. The match goes to just a bit before the 10 minute mark as Killian Dane is at ringside and provides a momentary distraction on Bate, which puts him off his game long enough to where he runs into Grimes' double stomp finisher for the win. Afterward, Dane beats up on Bate for a bit and told him to deliver a message to Pete Dunne, which I'm guessing will take place a WarGames. ***1/4

    Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Matt Riddle & Keith Lee was a lot of fun. You basically had the classic, cohesive tag team against a couple of singles stars who don't have the cohesive chemistry of the established tag team but make up for it with different types of freakish athleticism. Lee just does things that a 325 pound man shouldn't be able to do while Riddle displays the sort of strength you expect more from a 300 pound powerhouse. Lots of good paced, physical action though I'd have been happier seeing Lee teaming up with Dijakovic for this match with their past matches making them grudgingly respect one another. Still, Riddle's a lot of fun to watch as well and all four men worked hard. I could've done without the cliched ending of Strong and Cole trying to run interference. The end comes with Riddle working over Fish in the ring as O'Reilly sneaks up from behind him, hitting him with Total Elimination to pick up the win a little before the 15 minute mark while Lee is distracted on the outside beating up more on Strong and Cole. ***1/2

    The post match beating saw Ciampa show up and the faces eventually cleaning house. Ciampa addresses Goldie, the NXT Championship, and tells it that it'll have to wait a bit longer because Daddy's going to war, which pops the crowd.

    All in all, another strong show from NXT featuring quality wrestling action, some good video packages on Mia Yim and Angel Garza, a brief but compelling in-ring promo segment from Finn Balor, setting things up over the next weeks to come with some matches that includes a rematch between Pete Dunne and Damien Priest, the announcement of the first women's WarGames match, a look at most of the competitors in said match and the same with the men's match. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking NXT TakeOver: WarGames looks something like this:

    Men's WarGames Match: Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Velveteen Dream/Dominic Dijakovic vs. the Undisputed Era
    Women's WarGames Match: Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair, Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir
    Singles Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Balor
    Singles Match: Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dane


    There'll be at least one other match on the card, but I'm just not sure what it'll be just yet. They may also add some sort of stipulations to the matches as it'll be strange with this being the first NXT TakeOver with no championships being defended, unless Regal makes the men's WarGames matches some sort of winner takes all sort of deal.

    Overall, I give last night's episode of NXT a solid B. I caught the replay of AEW when it aired about 12:20 AM EST and I thought NXT blew it away as this was the worst for AEW Dynamite so far. I just wasn't feeling a lot of the talent in most of the matches they had and I'm struggling to make myself care about Cody vs. Jericho, especially considering that AEW looks to be going the route of doing its own little bit of revisionist history by pretending that Cody isn't already a former NWA and ROH World Champion. Cody was NWA WHC for about 1.5 months and spent a good 6 months as ROH World Champion, plus the guy's a top executive of the company so that also just makes me lose interest.
    "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

  10. #226
    You Never Know When You Might Stuff An Owl klunderbunker's Avatar
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    NXT
    Date: October 30, 2019
    Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
    Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Beth Phoenix, Mauro Ranallo

    Things changed in a big way last week as Finn Balor turned on Johnny Gargano, likely setting up a heck of a showdown in Chicago. Other than that, it’s time to start setting up Takeover, which means it’s time to start setting up WarGames. They have a lot of ways to get there and I’m curious to see which they pick. Let’s get to it.

    Click on the link below for the full review.

    Antebellum

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  12. #227
    A few more of the participants in the women's WarGames match have been announced. On Rhea Ripley's team, we have Tegan Nox and Candice LeRae while Bianca Belair and Io Shirai have been announced for Team Baszler.

    While I haven't seen a whole helluva lot of her, I have to say that I'm not overly impressed so far with Tegan Nox. Nice looking gal, killer smile and pretty decent in the ring but, as the Street Profits might say, I've yet to see the smoke from her. You know, what makes her special or stands out from the rest of the crowd.
    "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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  14. #228
    You Never Know When You Might Stuff An Owl klunderbunker's Avatar
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    NXT
    Date: November 6, 2019
    Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
    Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, Nigel McGuinness

    Things have changed in a hurry with this show as it is suddenly a show being treated like it belongs on the main roster. NXT has invaded Monday Night Raw and Smackdown and the question now is will those shows wind up here. It’s a nice feeling to not know what’s coming, though we also have to set up this month’s Takeover. Let’s get to it.

    Click on the link below for the full review.

    Cracking Good Fun

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  16. #229
    You Never Know When You Might Stuff An Owl klunderbunker's Avatar
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    NXT
    Date: November 13, 2019
    Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
    Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix

    We’re still on the way to Survivor Series and hopefully things can get back to where they were last week. At the same time though, things are starting to move towards Takeover, so we’re going to be seeing a ladder match for the advantage in the women’s WarGames. The lineups still need to be locked in though so let’s get to it.

    Click on the link below for the full review.

    The Riddle Of The Little Putz

  17. #230
    I thought this was another great showing for the black and gold band. A combo of great action, storyline movement, a little bit of mystery and continued hype for Survivor Series.

    NXT Cruiserweight Championship: Lio Rush vs. Angel Garza (8.5) - A great opening match with the sort of fast paced action that I think most people want when they hear of a "cruiserweight match." They didn't go for the feeling out process or cautiously check their opponent, they went right at it especially after Garza did his pants thing out in the crowd right beside Rush's wife and kids. The match became game of "nice job, but I can do better" and it goes along with the match and provides the furtherance of a story. Both these guys' personas revolve around having big egos and little things like Garza "disrespecting" Rush's family laid the foundation. The fans were really digging this one and hung on every near fall, especially with each of them hitting their finisher once. The end comes with Rush hitting a modified splash from the top, the ref is out of position and doesn't see Garza's foot on the ropes. Rush retains, Garza was protected, has a legit gripe so we'll probably see a sequel. I'm down with that.

    At various points over the course of the show, female wrestlers are shown outside Full Sail and in the back to have been rendered unconscious. At first, it's Tegan Nox and Rhea Ripley while, later on, it's Candice LeRae, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, which also has a brief cameo appearance by Scarlett Bordeaux as she's checking on LeRae. Simple, effective whodunnit.

    Xia Li vs. Aliyah (NA) - This match only went about 2 minutes, barely 2 minutes, and not enough went down to really rate anything. Aliyah is basically the stuck up pretty girl while Li is essentially the personality limited martial arts gal. Li gets the win after nailing Aliyah with a nasty kick that basically busts her nose like a ripe tomato.

    The Finn Balor promo segment was a lot of fun as they did squeeze in a lot of stuff without making any of it seem rushed. That's what happens when you get a nice, steady build of something over the course of 5 or so weeks instead of trying to jam 5 or so weeks worth of stuff into 2 weeks. Before Balor says too much, Matt Riddle hits the ring and attacks him from behind since Balor had been out there essentially calling the current crop of NXT guys pussies. After Balor is knocked over the security railing, he takes off with Riddle calling him a "putz", which may be a first in wrestling. Anybody know if Riddle has any Jewish ancestry since Putz is Yiddish for penis, pecker or any other slang term for a man's junk. The UE comes out after Riddle only for Ciampa and Keith Lee to join in. Some nice mic work from Lee as he challenges Adam Cole with Roderick Strong taking up for Cole in a nice little bit of toadying. Cole "deserves" a "night off" but Strong takes up the challenge.

    Roderick Strong vs. Keith Lee (8.0) - Really fun match between two guys who have really different styles, but they mesh them well and each is willing and able to make the other look like a star. For instance, it's impressive to see Rodering Strong, who is probably right around 200 lbs. at the most deliver an Angle/Olympic Slam to Keith Lee, who I'd say is a legit 320 lbs. Strong also manages a great looking Superplex on Lee for a good near fall. Strong also sells the crap out of Lee's offense, such as Lee genuinely tossing him around with no effort whatsoever or Strong flipping inside out whenever he's hit by a particularly strong shot. It's not exactly traditional to see a guy go in there and slug it out with a guy that's a good hundred pounds heavier, but I like seeing that at times because just because a guy is smaller, especially in real life, doesn't mean that guy isn't tough and can't give as good as he gets, or sometimes even better. Besides, the old chestnut of going after the big super heavyweight's knee is overly done anyway in my eyes. The UE comes out to ringside only to be blindsided by Ciampa and Riddle, Riddle is then hit from behind by Finn Balor while the rest of the UE focus on Ciampa. Back in the ring, Strong hits the Angle/Olympic Slam I mentioned earlier but Lee endurs it and winds up hitting the Supernova for the win about the 17.5 minute mark. Champions losing nontitle matches by being pinned usually irks me, but this is only the 2nd time that I've seen it happen in NXT throughout this entire year, with the first being a six man tag team match in which Velveteen Dream was pinned by Strong and said defeat was used as the groundwork for Strong getting a title shot several weeks later in which he successfully captured the title. It's easy to forgive because it'll probably be another 6 months to a year before it happens again whereas this sort of thing has been known to go down several times in a month on Raw or SmackDown. This will probably be used to set up a title shot between the two sometime after WarGames, which suits me just fine. As the UE and Balor have the numbers advantage, her comes Dominick Dijakovic, who single handedly takes out all the UE members and forces them to flee. The fans let out a WarGames chant, Ciampa shakes his heand while he shares an intense staredown with Lee, but they eventually shake hands.

    It's revealed later on in the night that Matt Riddle is out of the WarGames match, tht Dijakovic is replacing him, which still leaves a mystery partner to be revealed, and that Riddle will take on Finn Balor in a singles bout at WarGames.

    Isaiah Scott vs. Bronson Reed (7.5) - Very solid match from two of the up and comers of NXT. Again, you have a case of a guy who's hovering around 200 lbs. taking on a guy that's a good hundred or so pounds heavier, yet he hangs in there and gives as good as he gets. To me, in most situations, it makes for a more entertaining match as you often have both guys come out looking quite good and that was the case here. Reed's a big, thick guy who looks like he does a good deal of powerlifting while Scott is freakishly agile. Towards the center of the match, maybe a bit afterward, Reed heads up to the top for what I figure is a splash only to be stopped. Scott climbs up to, I presume try a Superplex eventually only for Reed to turn him around and put him in the Tombstone position while standing up on the second rope. Scott wriggles out of the Super Tombstone and swings around into a Tornado DDT off the ropes for a fun near fall. Eventually, the bout ends with Scott namaging to deliver the House Call, AKA Swerve Kick, to the back of Reed's head when he's on the mat, giving him the win about the 12 minute mark. Not as good as his match with Dijakovic, but still quite good and he won this one.

    Pete Dunne vs. Killian Dane doesn't get started as Damien Priest attacks Dane from behind as he's coming down the ramp on his way to the ring. Dunne then gets out of the ring and begins brawling with Priest. Security comes in and pulls everyone apart once Dane gets back into things. Dane and Dunne are pulled outside by the security while Priest mauls a couple of security guys in the ring. He then delivers a running Razor's Edge to won of them over the top rope, which takes everyone down. As Dunne and Dane get back to their feet, Priest does the running flip dive over the top and takes them both out. He then leaves after having laid both of them out. Looks like we're getting a triple threat match for WarGames.

    Ladder Match: Mia Yim vs. Io Shirai (9.0) - I might be ranking this one a little too high, but I just really enjoyed it as the women of NXT have especially been killing it. Everyone's been doing a great job in NXT during the WarGames build, but the women have just shined like gold AND diamonds. This match was no exception as they beat the crap out of each other, as you might expect. I wasn't a big fan of Yim but she's come into her own more over the past few months and her matches with Io Shirai have easily been her best in NXT, in my opinion. We get all the various ladder spots and shots you expect, though they just seem all the more devastating to me as we don't often see women in this sort of setting. I mean, Mia Yim and Io Shirai are both about 5'6" and 5'2" respectively while weighing 130 lbs. and 115-120 lbs.? Someone that small smacking into the ladder and hearing that loud crack makes the impact look and sound all that more devastating. The ending comes soon after Dakota Kai comes out to check on Yim, as she was headbutted out onto the floor, only for Io Shirai to hit a big moonsault that takes both of them out. Shirai tries to climb back up the ladder only for Dakota to powerbomb her, giving Yim time to recover and make the climb. A big surprises comes about as Kay Lee Ray, NXT UK Women's Champion, suddenly hits the ring and shoves the ladder over with Yim close to the top. Yim sails over the top rope and crashes through a ladder that'd been set up stretching from the edge of the apron to the security railing, great looking spot. Shirai then climbs up and claims the briefcase, giving her team the advantage of being able to have a new member of their team enter the WarGames match first. After the match, Bianca Belair comes down to the ring and celebrates, so I'm guessing this means that Ray is part of Shayna Baszler's team at WarGames. Speaking of which, the show goes off the air with Shayna walking down the ramp only to be jumped from behind by Bayley. With the NXT Women's Championship laying on the ramp, Bayley delivers that modified bulldog she's been using as her finisher, driving Shayna face first onto the title before she runs off to end the show.

    Overall Score: 8.5/10 - A great show this week with NXT continuing to make me want to see WarGames more than Survivor Series, which is par for the course when it comes to NXT and WWE PPVs. It feels a little strange that this will be a PPV in which none of the NXT championships will be defended, but I think they've made up for that by amping up the physicality and seeming hatred between the various opposing forces that'll be fighting at TakeOver: WarGames. We still don't know who the fourth member of Team Ciampa will be, though they'll probably be revealed next week as either Johnny Gargano or Velveteen Dream. Might even be someone from NXT UK or, just possibly, even from Raw or SmackDown like Cesaro or something as a nice surprise. At any rate, another Wednesday, another strong outing for NXT.
    "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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