NXT HITS & MISSES 12/18: Adam Cole vs. Balor, Baszler vs. Ripley, Priest vs. Dain, Shirai vs. Garrett, Dunne vs. Banks

Adam Cole (c) vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Championship: HIT – The fact that we are in an era where the women’s championship goes on after the men’s title is a wonderful thing. Mauro referred to Balor as Prince Balor, though it seemed like it might have been a slip-up. Curious to see if that is a moniker going forward or if it was an accident. I was a little bit surprised that there were as many working holds throughout the match. Considering the two competitors in the ring, I was expecting near non-stop action. Personally, I’m not complaining. I’ll take a technical masterpiece any day. I think the slower pace to the beginning of the match really lent itself to the rest of it. Rather than lose the crowd while Cole was working Balor’s left knee, the crowd was solidly into the action from what I could tell. Where they didn’t lose the crowd, there was just more investment in the match by the fans as time went on. As we approached the 10-12 minute mark is when the match pace really picked up and we saw the athleticism and speed that we’ve grown to know and love out of both men. There were so many false finishes during the match that were believable, I was on the edge of my seat for most of this. Just as we thought Balor had the win, Gargano appeared on the stage, distracting Balor. Cole took advantage quickly retained his championship. Gargano then grabbed a chair and decimated Balor with it, over and over before Balor escaped through the crowd. I love the booking here. Cole retains, barely, and all the gold remains with UE. Plus, this plants the seeds for the Balor/Gargano feud we’ve been waiting for.

Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain: HIT – Priest’s return after the rib injury he suffered at War Games a few weeks ago in a match vs Pete Dunne and Killian Dain. Priest came out to the ring with more of a sinister look in his eye than usual, ready to get revenge on Dain for the cracked ribs. An explosive start to the match until the ribs came into play when Priest couldn’t get Dain up for a suplex. Dain kept putting pressure on the ribs and chest of Priest. Dain kept the upper hand for a good portion of the match, spending a lot of time on the ribs, even going so far as to rip off the sports tape across Priest’s chest. Eventually, Priest was able to fight through the pain and suplex the much larger Dain. After that, it was a much more evenly fought contest. Even though the match had one of the worst looking powerbombs in it that I’ve ever seen, it was a very entertaining match with a satisfying finish – the sympathetic competitor gets the win.

Cameron Grimes vs. Kushida: HIT – What a fun match to watch! On paper, this match sounded like it would deliver, and deliver it did. A lot of back and forth offense throughout, perhaps with Grimes getting more in towards the end of the match.  I’m glad that they got the amount of time that they did as well, as both Grimes and Kushida are incredible talents. As I’ve said in my reports before, I love a good styles clash, and that’s what this was. The brawling and power of Grimes vs the high flying and martial arts of Kushida was a solid combination and they seemingly have great chemistry with one another. I wasn’t sure who was going to win, especially with Kushida just coming back. I was leaning towards a Kushida win for that reason alone. As long as this doesn’t define Kushida down then I’m totally fine with the outcome.

Io Shirai vs. Santana Garrett: HIT – Garrett’s first outing against Taynara didn’t go so well, and I’ve been waiting to see her back in action to see if it was a fluke or if she may have been having issues adapting to the WWE style. That match was lackluster, cookie cutter and sloppy at points. This was a much better outing for her against Shirai. Garrett actually got in quite a bit of offense against Shirai and looked relatively crisp throughout the match. Right before the finish, Garrett was tossed into the ropes and she very slowly and unconvincingly fell to the mat, crawled to the corner and set herself up for Shirai’s double knee to the corner. It took me out of what was otherwise a good, short match. It wasn’t enough of a black mark to warrant another MISS, but it did take away from the bout.

Pete Dunne vs. NXT UK’s Travis Banks: HIT – Last week, we saw Banks get an upset win over Jaxson Ryker and I was pleasantly surprised to see him again tonight. Pete Dunne is a favorite of mine and after witnessing what Banks brought to the table against Ryker, I was fired up to see what magic these two could make. Boy, I was not disappointed. If this is the type of action we will see at World’s Collide, sign me up! Banks may have lost, but that was one hell of a showing. Dunne fist bumped Banks as he was leaving the ring and that little nod of approval from Dunne was a cool gesture of respect.

Shayna Bazsler (c) vs. Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship: HIT – A few weeks ago, my wife asked me what she could get me for Christmas. I half-jokingly said “Ripley vs. Baszler”. This is a match that I have wanted to see for months and I spent most of my day looking forward to it. The brutality during this match was awesome. Shayna pulled out all of the dirty tricks in the book to try and retain her title but nothing was going to stop Ripley from claiming that belt. I can’t say enough about this match and how it was put together. Even though Ripley has been booked to be the most credible opponent to Bazsler, she was still the underdog going into the match. She looked to be even more of an underdog after the injury spot, the attack from Duke and Shaffir and the ref bump. But she rose, as Mauro said, like the proverbial phoenix to become the NXT Women’s Champion and dethrone one of the most dominant women we’ve ever seen in the WWE system. Shayna vs. Becky is a money match, so I can see Shayna moving to RAW to begin that feud shortly after the Rumble. This is Rhea’s time to shine and I cannot wait to see what 2020 brings for this incredibly talented young woman.