SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT TV REPORT
AUGUST 7, 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
-Opening credits.
-William Regal was in the ring to officiate the contract signing for the TakeOver tag team championship match between The Street Profits (introduced first) and the Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish.
The Profits entered to a strong reaction and showed Regal some respect. Angelo Dawkins interrupted Regal’s introduction of UE and said they could do better. Montez introduced “O’Reilly Auto Parts and Laurence Fishburne, Junior – the Undisputed Era!” O’Reilly and Fish came out and a brief “Auto parts” chant got going.
Bobby Fish grabbed the mic. “Man, was that funny!” Both members mocked the comedy stylings of the Street Profits and Fish said the Street Profits aren’t on their level. He says for the first time, the Profits’ autographs are in demand, so they had better sign the contracts and make the match while they’re still famous. O’Reilly said he had a great joke – “The Street Profits are the NXT tag team champions!” The Profits got serious and Montez took the mic. He called out how UE has shocked the system and won multiple tag titles, and they’ve beaten basically every tag team. Dawkins said they’re probably the best NXT tag team ever. Montez got fired up and asked how UE thought that now, as far as they’ve come, how losing would be an option. The only option is to win, win, win, win win! The audience went crazy as the Profits walked back up the ramp after singing.
-Hype for the North American Championship triple threat match.
-Tonight, Matt Riddle faces Killian Dain in the main event.
-Slipknot’s Corey Taylor addressed the NXT Universe, speaking normally while wearing his mask, which made for a silly dichotomy. “We are not your kind…because we are NXT.” Ooookay.
-Hype for Shayna Baszler-Mia Yim. Mia said she came from nothing and was here because of fan support and she’ll be damned if she lets them down. Shayna retorted in her own recap video. Tap, nap, snap. Strong video, of course.
-At TakeOver, Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole go in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
(1) Joaquin Wilde vs. Shane Thorne
Mauro ran down Wilde’s appearance in the Breakout Tournament against Angel Garza. Shane Thorne wore a leather vest with a fur collar. Much was said of Thorne’s tag team pedigree, though his partner wasn’t mentioned.
After a Thorne taunt, Wilde rolled him up for a quick two. “I got a lot more where that came from,” Wilde said in a pretty fakey manner. Wilde wrenched the arm and Thorne countered but Wilde went back to it. The two traded arm holds until Thorne bailed to the corner. Reset. Wilde armdragged Thorne and Thorne ran into a back elbow. Wilde hit another armdrag for two. Wilde jumped for a guillotine but Thorne lifted Wilde for a brainbuster. Thorne recovered to his feet first and hit an uppercut. Punches and an uppercut for two. Thorne twisted the arm and held Wilde to the mat. Wilde escaped, went outside and then leapt in with a clothesline. Jawbreaker and a back elbow from Wilde. Chop. Irish whip reversal and powerbomb by Wilde for two. Wilde stalked Thorne and went for a guillotine but Thorne fought it off and struck first. Uppercuts are traded. Wilde dropped down and hit double boots on a standing Thorne. Action spilled outside and Wilde hit a tope con hilo. Referee Jessika Carr reached nine before Thorne crept in and then snuck back out. Wilde attempted to grab Thorne, but Thorne yanked him outside and threw him into two sets of ring steps, then the ramp, then the hardest part of the apron. Back in and Thorne hit a running knee on a dazed Wilde for the victory.
WINNER: Shane Thorne at 7:25.
Kelly’s Analysis: This was quite a bit better than I was worried it would be. Thorne really looked strong with his offense and Wilde, of course, can really move. His taunts didn’t work for me, but he’s got time to work on that. Fun match that didn’t overstay its welcome, and I’m left wondering where exactly both talents go from here.
-Rundown of the Io Shirai-Candace LeRae feud. I liked this one even better than the Baszler-Mia video; music was used to great effect and it’s worth seeing.
-Nigel says some nice words about the late Harley Race, teeing up a video about Race. A classy video that got a decent amount of time.
(2) Matt Riddle vs. Killian Dain
Riddle entered first and Dain blindsided him on the outside. Dain tossed Riddle into the steps and hit a cannonball. Riddle was taken out and the announcers confirmed there would be no match. I probably should have seen this coming.
NO CONTEST.
-Recap of the Breakout Tournament. Brief introductions of all eight competitors were shown, followed by the finishes of the matches to this point. Heavy focus on Jordan Myles and Cameron Grimes, and finally, it was announced that the finals would be next week on the post-TakeOver edition of NXT.
-Last week, Tyler Breeze beat Jaxson Ryker, then took a 3-on-1 beatdown until the returning Fandango took out the trio with Breeze to reunite Breezango.
Cathy Kelley interviewed Breezango backstage last week in a “WWE.COM Exclusive” that is currently airing elsewhere. Fandango says he was deep undercover and said they were so busy policing the fashion sense of others, they forgot to police themselves. He says they’re going to be Breezango…reimagined.
-Next Week, Breezango faces Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake.
-Gargano-Cole hype. Gargano said for one night, Cole was the better man. Cole said he told ya so. He said Gargano made the mistake of thinking he was special when he was nothing but a second-rate Adam Cole. Gargano said he scratched and clawed to get to the top, and now what? William Regal’s rundown of the 2 out of 3 falls stipulation was reviewed. Regal said that he, and only he, knows what the third fall would be. More was shown of Gargano running down his accomplishments as Matt Bloom said nobody works harder. He said he walks the hall of the Performance Center and it inspires him to be better. Tegan Nox and Xia Li show their appreciation and Gargano was shown training new signees. A clip of Johnny Gargano’s 1997 home video pretending he was a wrestler was shown. Seth Rollins and Johnny Gargano sat together, and the two gave each other advice on their impending matches this weekend. Adam Cole walked through the halls of an arena proclaiming his greatness. Gargano sat with Finn Balor; Balor said he knew when Gargano was in the midcard that he was connecting on a deep level. Balor said his 292-day reign as champion was made to be broken. Fans weighed in on who would win the match. Kevin Owens, Tyler Breeze, Serena Deeb, Terry Taylor and Robbie Brookside all did the same. The segment started to wrap up as both competitors got fired up and made their pitches to win the main event in Toronto.
Kelly’s Analysis: Great segment. All the rundowns were interesting, but this one treated the match as the huge deal that it is. A non-fan watched this show with me and asked “Where can I watch this on Saturday?”
FINAL THOUGHTS: Just one match was featured, and there wasn’t a lot of new content, but I was left feeling the episode gave me something nonetheless because of the great production. We’re left only with the question of when the Matt Riddle-Killian Dain match will happen; will it be a TakeOver surprise, or simply be added to the post-TakeOver show? I’ll see you for the TakeOver recap on Saturday. Follow me all over social media @spookymilk and follow me on Instagram as I gear up to release a board game, Fundead: The Gravest Show on Earth.
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