NXT HITS & MISSES 8/29: Gargano’s emotional promo reacting to Takeover loss, Ricochet & Dunne vs. Undisputed Era, Aleister Black’s whodunit segments

HITS

Johnny Gargano Promo:  An emotional Johnny Gargano made his way to the ring to address the crowd for the first time since his loss to his arch-nemesis Tomasso Ciampa at Takeover: Brooklyn 4.  He said that he lost himself there, how he has made a lot of mistakes and he doesn’t know what to do now.  He went on to discuss how he wasn’t proud of himself and how he let everyone down all the while becoming what he hated most, Ciampa.  Before he could really breakdown, William Regal made his way to the ring.  This is truly telling as we don’t know where Johnny Wrestling goes from here.  Did he have something with the attack on Aleister Black as he was evasive with Regal’s questions?  It’s intriguing to see what Velveteen Dream has to do with this as well as he came out the ring to tell Gargano that he’s a loser and this story is getting old.  This new feud will be extended to next week as Regal booked a match for them next week.  This could possibly go either way as this new feud came out of nowhere, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Ricochet & Pete Dunne vs. Undisputed Era:  Originally Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly were scheduled to take on Ricochet & Pete Dunne but Ricochet’s most recent adversary and Takeover: Brooklyn 4 opponent Adam Cole volunteered to take O’Reilly’s place so that he could seek some retribution for the loss of the North American championship.  Great match as there were flashes of many different styles being played out all at once.  The methodic slow-paced style of Cole, the technical attributes of Strong, the speed and athleticism of Ricochet, and the British Strong Style of Dunne.  With all the styles on display, the audience got a chance to see all this take place to their delight.  Both sides showed great continuity in action until towards the end when Ricochet and Dunne had a miscommunication when Ricochet jumped from the ring and onto Dunne by mistake.  With these two not being the best of friends in the first place, this will surely lead to tension between these two down the road.  Undisputed Era ended up picking up the win by taking advantage of the miscommunication between Ricochet and Dunne as Cole ended the match with the Last Shot for the win. After the match, UE attacked Ricochet but the War Raiders came out to make the save.  As the cocky UE went up the ramp sarcastically mocking the War Raider, they just stared on ensuring that this rivalry has only begun.

MISSES

The Aleister Black “Who Done It?” Segments:  These segments have really jumped the shark as Regal questioned various wrestlers of their whereabouts when Black was attacked.  After questioning the Forgotten Sons who mainly complained about getting noticed, it shows that this has just went on long enough.  The material seems forced and far reaching just to stretch this storyline.  The questioning of Nicki Cross was just horrible as it seemed like a waste of time, not on Regal’s part, but for the viewer.  Bianca Belair did not help as she was very annoying singing the same song of how she deserves a title shot after coming back last week and competing in one match.  The storyline would hold more substance if they just talk about it very sparingly, leaving the rest up to interpretation and their imagination.  Right now, it’s just seems like a lack of sufficient writing.

FINAL THOUGHTS…

Decent episode this week.  We got to see Keith Lee again in another somewhat competitive match but had a chance to see his unimaginable athleticism in action.  Aliyah displayed a new attitude that compliments her well as she valiantly took on Dakota Kai to no avail.  Lars Sullivan also made his return after he took out EC3 for speaking his name in regards to the Aleister Black situation last week.  The NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa cut another awesome promo, but that’s only expected.  Another good week, very solid as it is still early in the season being the second episode after the latest Takeover, so one could expect only good things to come.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: NXT HITS & MISSES 8/15: Kairi Sane vs. Aliya, Tyler Bate vs. Roderick Strong, Ciampa-Gargano video package, Aleister Black suspects video, plus Takeover Predictions