SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT TV REPORT
JULY 24, 2019
TAPED IN ORLANDO, FL. AT FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY
STREAMED ON WWE NETWORK
REPORT BY KELLY WELLS, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness and Beth Phoenix
-Recap of the Bay-Bay Tour. Last week, Adam Cole extended a title shot to Tuwan Tucker, but Tucker didn’t come alone – Johnny Gargano showed up and hammered the hell out of Cole. A two out of three falls match was announced – but it’ll be Three Stages of Hell (not called this, but that’s what it is). Cole and Gargano will each pick a stipulation, and if it goes to a third fall, William Regal will choose the stipulation.
-Opening credits.
-Tonight, Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano announce their stipulations for the TakeOver match! What if they both choose the same stip? Awkward…
-Also tonight, Keith Lee goes one-on-one with Damian Priest.
(1) JORDAN MYLES vs. ANGEL GARZA – Breakout Tournament Semifinal Match
Nice reaction for both. Garza kisses a young woman’s hand at ringside and then shrugs. Garza gets a good chant to open, and a Myles chant follows. Garza extends a hand and Myles reaches for it, but Garza walks from it. Myles does his usual mugging comedy; he’s amping it up here.
Dueling wristlocks to start. Myles hit an armdrag and he did his weird smile for a moment. Garza up, Irish whip in, and Myles hit a dropkick. Dueling chants again. Garza bailed and baited in Myles and yanked him to the floor. Garza tossed Myles into the stairs and then the barricade. Garza back in and he did the spot where he rips his pants off to a good teenybopper pop. Myles in at the count of seven. Garza hit repeated rights. Double underhook into a backbreaker after Garza held him in place for a moment. Garza stalked Myles and kept working the back. Garza hit a Camel Clutch as Nigel picked Garza to win the tournament. Myles rolled up Garza out of nowhere for two. Garza responded with a thrustkick for two. Garza continued the offensive in the corner. Garza taunted Myles and begged him to get up. He tried to put Myles’s head into the turnbuckle but Myles responded with a series of kicks to the midsection. Myles hit a flurry of offense and hit a twisting clothesline in the corner. Myles went up but Garza rolled away. Myles flew off the ropes anyway and Garza hit a dropkick on the flying Myles for two. Myles with a superkick, and a German suplex for the win.
WINNER: Jordan Myles at 8:32.
(Kelly’s Analysis: I genuinely did not see that coming. Garza came off as the bigger star here, which is something given the pedigree of Myles. I think my expectations of Myles are high given the large number of matches of his I’ve seen. I look forward to the end of this tournament, but even more so to the next Angel Garza match.)
-After the match, Shane Thorne stormed the ring and wondered why there was an eight-man tournament. He said he’ll have a breakout of his own.
-Johnny Gargano sit-down interview. He promised to bring everything to Toronto, and asked Adam Cole just to bring his title. He chose a stipulation he knows very well – a Street Fight. He laughed as he exited the frame.
(2) XIA LI vs. BIANCA BELAIR
Bianca drove Li into the corner to start. Mudhole stomp in the corner. Belair yanked her around until she hit a Glam Slam. Handspring into a slam, and the butt-kiss spot. Belair yanked Li over the ropes and in, and Li fought back but walked into a belly-to-back. Belair continued with the aggressive beatdown and held up Li for a delayed suplex, but Li fought out and hit a flurry of kicks. Li went up, missed a kick and walked into one. KOD for Bianca finished.
WINNER: Belair at 2:58.
(Kelly’s Analysis: my father-in-law, who only became smart to the business tonight, wandered down and was blown away by the power of Belair. He hands out compliments sparingly, so there you go. Nice showcase for Belair that suggests another title shot.)
-Killian Dain spot. He said there are no rules in his world, while production interspersed his interview with shots of his attack on Matt Riddle last week.
-Backstage, Mia Yim attacked Jessamyn Duke in one of the training rings and left her yelping in pain.
-Velveteen Dream was introduced. He said the Velveteen Dream era would never die. He said Roderick Strong claimed victory over the Velveteen Dream. He said Strong is a hell of a man but no matter what, the spotlight will hit and the dream will be over, and Strong will know he’s not big enough to ride this ride. But, maybe there’s someone who’s big enough. He said if there is, he wants to experience that person. Undisputed Era music hit and Strong entered. He said he knows why Dream’s been ducking him. He said Dream is scared. He said he could see it in his eyes. He said he’s the real deal and he could take his North American title like that. He suggested a match for TakeOver Toronto. He backed off, and as the segment seemed over, Pete Dunne’s music hit to a big pop. The announcers sold the surprise as Dunne wandered to the ring. “Bruiserweight” chant. Dunne said nothing and instead did his finger-snap spot on Roderick Strong, who ran off. Dunne eyed the North American Championship, and Dream eyed him back warily and left the ring as Dunne’s music played again.
(Kelly’s Analysis: Not a word spoken, but the point got across. Three-way for TakeOver, I’m guessing, though it wasn’t announced here. NXT UK has been vague on why Dunne hasn’t appeared for a few weeks – here’s your answer.)
-WWE 24 spot.
-Roderick Strong dragged a cameraman to William Regal and wondered who the hell Pete Dunne was to try to take his opportunity. Regal said he talked with Johnny Saint (NXT UK GM) and Dunne will be part of NXT for a while. He said it was going to be Strong vs. Dream for TakeOver, but now it would be a three-way match. Strong called out favoritism and said he wanted Dunne one-on-one next week.
(3) KACY CATANZARO vs. IO SHIRAI
Good pop for Kacy. Shirai has some cool new music – a dark dubstep thing (I think I’m saying that right). Good heel reaction.
Io hit a huge dropkick to open, then double knees in the corner. Double-underhook into a backbreaker. Candace LeRae attacks for the quick disqualification. Aaaaaand that’s Io’s first win on NXT TV.
WINNER: Io Shirai by disqualification at 27 seconds.
-Candace attacked Io until she bailed and walked. LeRae’s music hit as she held a chair in the ring.
-Adam Cole interview. Once again NXT tried to screw Undisputed Era, but Roderick Strong will walk out as champion. For some reason, Street Profits agreed to take the challenge of Fish and O’Reilly, so Undisputed Era will be draped in gold. Cole said there’s no better challenge than a good old-fashioned one-on-one match, so his chosen stipulation is simply one fall to a finish.
(Kelly’s Analysis: Love it. Historically they would get cute with this and have Cole go for some crazy stipulation, but this is correct given the story of their feud. I’m assuming Johnny will win this stip and Cole will win the Street Fight with some outside help)
(4) KEITH LEE vs. DAMIAN PRIEST
Is Keith Lee a face? Seems he still is, as the camera showed young fans dancing to his music. Priest was introduced second. People get after him for the arrow, but I love the spot where he hits the arrow on the screen and his name comes up bathed in fire.
The two size each other up. “Go bask in his glory” chant as Lee conducted. Priest smiled at it. Wristlock by Priest into a headlock. Lee attempted to lift Priest until he hit a shoulderblock but Lee didn’t go down. Priest kicked Lee in the legs a few times. More jockeying for position. Lee missed some strikes and so did Priest. The exchange was rapid and an “NXT” chant resulted.
Shoulder tackle by Lee and Priest went down. He lifted Priest by the arm but Priest hit a right to escape. Lee charged the corner but Priest moved and hit some strikes in the corner, then stomped Lee into the bottom turnbuckle. Suplex attempt went nowhere for Priest and a clothesline didn’t take Lee down, but a second did for two. Mauro called out that this would be Priest’s biggest win if he pulled it off. Priest hit a knee to the midsection, failed on a suplex and got sent to the corner. He flipped over the ropes and then walked Old School on the ropes into a slam on the arm for two. Strikes from Priest. Arrow spot but Lee grabs the front arm. Priest can’t escape and Lee pounds Priest down while yanking him up by the arm each time. Forearm in the corner. Clothesline for two. Dueling elbows to the face. Priest hit a falcon arrow for two as Mauro flipped out. Shots to the stomach, but Lee comes back with bigger strikes. Shoulder tackle sends Priest flying. Keith Lee chant. Lee calls for a press slam but Priest bails. Lee tosses him back in but Priest hits the knee to keep Lee outside. Priest flips over for a tope con hilo and Lee catches Priest in a completely insane spot. Priest recovers and tosses Lee into the stairs but Lee gets up with a resolute look; it would seem the story going forward is Lee’s resolve. Back in and Priest yanks the ref between them to set up his rolling cutter for the win.
WINNER: Damian Priest at 9:42.
(Kelly’s Analysis: Pretty good power vs. power match that leaves the door open for a rematch. Priest is the story sold by the announcers afterward, though, so it would seem there are some plans for him. The tope con hilo spot was awesome and if you didn’t see it, you should)
FINAL THOUGHTS: Only 3:25 in two women’s matches after a rare week where the women didn’t have a match is unfortunate, but we got an interesting couple of steps forward. The North American triple threat is a guaranteed gem and the main event seemed to signify big things for Priest and possibly Lee. Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole chose their match stipulations, and both were logical given history. All around, it’s hard to argue with anything this show presented; next week, I assume Cameron Grimes goes through Bronson Reed and then does the same to Jordan Myles in the final, but we’ll cross that road when we come to it. Follow me on Instagram @spookymilk, as I gear up to release a board game – Fundead: The Gravest Show on Earth – in August.
My thoughts:
– Second match from Jordan Myles i’ve seen and again i’m not impressed. It just seems like WWE has plenty of guys already that do what he does but better. From what i’ve seen he wouldn’t even stick out on 205Live. Angel Garza is a good wrestler but also has tons of charisma. The wrong guy won.
– I’m kind of surprised by the stop-stall pushes of Bianca Belair. She is ridiculously strong which is a clear asset for a woman wrestler, she has a different look to her than most, has a great gimmick in using her hair as a weapon and an aggressive edge. I hope they pull the trigger this time because there are plenty of blah female wrestlers already.
– I like Pete Dunne being added. I don’t know why Roderick Strong is even getting a title shot, since he lost to Matt Riddle last Takeover. In terms of wrestling i don’t have a problem with it at all, though.
– Candice Lerae keeps getting aggressive with heels. That’s okay, but how about getting in the ring for a change? One thing i have always disliked is how tough and courageous babyfaces turn into weak and cowardly heels. This time in the case of Io Shirai.
– Keith Lee vs Damien Priest started slow and dull, but fortunately it picked up at the halfway point. I’m not sold on Priest at all. He had some good moments, but overall he looks like he should be quicker in his movements and just way more intense and aggressive in his moves. There is just no energy to him.
NXT overall seems to be getting back to where it should be, and next week’s Strong vs Dunne should be awesome.
Bang on with your penultimate point there. I have always thought that, but never heard it so well articulated.