SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Fish & Strong are Undisputedly Not Kidnapped, Cole Addresses His “In Your House” Victory – HIT : We saw Fish and Strong get kidnapped during Cole vs Dream at IYH by Dexter Lumis, and if you haven’t already you should really check out their twitter feeds. Even their wives played into the angle saying they were missing. Earlier Wednesday, they tweeted that they were safe and sound.
Cole first addressed his win but more or less glossed over Velveteen Dream and what is next for the belt. He then moved on to talking about Lumis. Roddy kept saying he saw Lumis in the crowd frantically, but when Cole and Fish turned, he would be gone. Turns out he’s just really good at hiding quickly, because Lumis was indeed shown to be in the crowd staring at U.E.
A great way to introduce the show, acknowledge the angles that concluded and began at IYH and set up a hook to stick around for the main event, Lumis vs. Cole in a non-title match.
After a commercial break, Roddy was shown hyperventilating backstage from seeing Lumis when Keith Lee and Mia Yim confronted U.E. and Lee hinted at potentially adding more gold to his repertoire – the NXT Championship. The two then made their way to the ring…
Keith Lee & Mia Yim vs. Johnny Gargano & Candice LaRae – HIT : The match I expected to see at Takeover instead of the North American Championship match, we kicked off the night proper with mixed tag action. This has been a pretty heated feud for a few weeks now and even though LaRae and Yim have clashed in a Six Woman Tag and Gargano and Lee clashed this past Sunday at Takeover, the two teams haven’t clashed in a match proper. There was even a bit more intergender fighting than I had expected to see, including Gargano and Yim exchanging punches. Not complaining, I think it worked out well. Intergender matches can be tough to book where only the males face the males and the females face the females. When a guy tags out, both guys have to exit the match and vice versa. So a lot of intergender matches just feel like two matches that start and stop periodically to let the other match have ring time.
I loved the finish here with LaRae accidentally taking a massive bump from Lee. Lee, doing the honorable thing, picks LaRae up to get her help. Her husband just rolled Lee up for the cheap win, barely caring that his wife was crushed to smithereens. It showed just how stark the difference is between Johnny Gargano of old and the new Mr. Wrestling.
Priest Attacks Grimes – HIT : Backstage, Grimes was being interviewed about his upcoming match, when Priest showed up and despite pleas from Grimes not to hit him, Priest laid him out good. After the banter that Grimes had been spewing the last few weeks, I’m glad to see this feud continue.
Indus Sher w/ Malcolm Bivens vs. Mikey Belrey & Mike Reed – HIT : This was a squash match if I’ve ever seen one. Amazingly high energy out of Indus Sher, great offense and wonderful ring presence, Not much to say here other than, I cannot wait to see what the future holds for these two big men.
Drake Muertz On The Hunt For Regal – HIT : Backstage, Muertz was Facetiming with Regal, trying to find out if Grimes can compete tonight saying that Grimes thinks he has a broken jaw, Regal asked to speak with Grimes who took off looking for him. Quick segment, but I like the fact that they are keeping this thread throughout the entirety of the show. With the secondary thread of U.E. and Lumis in the background. Continuity! After a commercial break, Grimes was shown flirting with a few ladies backstage perfectly fine and not injured whatsoever. Regal forced him into the match with Balor later in the night. Great character development for the weasel-y Grimes.
Breezango Video Package – HIT : I absolutely loved the back and forth banter between Dango and Breezy here. Hilarious, yet they seem like they are hungrier than they have been. Even if they couldn’t pronounce the names of their opponents. Showed their individual histories and singles careers all the way to their win last week to name them #1 contenders for the Tag Titles.
Rhea Ripley Snubs The Robert Stone Brand – HIT: Ripley was getting interviewed about her loss at Takeover when Robert Stone, just as disheveled as he was on Sunday, rushed the interview and pitched a himself as Ripleys new management…. Ripley did exactly what she should have. She threw him in a dumpster.
Cameron Grimes vs. Finn Balor – HIT : Balor put on a great performance against Priest this past Sunday, so my hopes were high going into this match. I was hoping Balor would stray away from his typical “Balor” match once again and give Grimes a hell of a TV match. Balor strayed from the typical arsenal to a point, but this match certainly lived up to my expectations. Balor certainly gave Grimes a great match here tonight. Grimes continues to impress me each time we see him in action. He’s just so fluid, brutal and charismatic. The sky is the limit for Grimes as far as I’m concerned. Id been thinking that Balor was heading for the NXT Title scene again, maybe see the Demon unleashed in a second match against Cole. However, he squashed my predictions by looking into the camera and calling Lee out. And I’m okay with that direction too, for sure.
Kacy Catanzaro vs. Dakota Kai – HIT : Its always a treat when we get to see Kacy Catanzaro on NXT TV, a rarity as of late. She still has a bit to learn in the Squared Circle, but there’s something about this former American Ninja Warrior that has me invested in her career. She always pulls out these crazy athletic moves, which are incredibly impressive. I knew this was going to be a quick squash match considering how high up the card Kai is and how low Kacy has been. After the match, Gonzales and Kai continued the assault on Kacy until Kayden Karter came to her defense, taking both Kai and Gonzales out briefly before getting powerbombed by Gonzales, leaving her laying on the mat next to her partner, Kacy.
The Cornonation & Death of El Hijo del Fantasma – HIT : Fantasma hit the ring to address the audience after winning the belt, when Drake Maverick made his way to the ring, clapping for Fantasma. Maverick thanked Fantasma for the match last week and said that he felt like he stole Fantasma’s thunder last week. Maverick asked for a title shot now that he is a full time member of the roster, saying he knows he can beat him. Fantasma agreed to the match when the two masked luchadores ran down to the ring. Our predictions came to fruition as Fantasma joined them in a Drake Maverick beatdown. The two Masked Luchadores unmasked, and revealed themselves to be the kidnapped Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza. Fantasma then unmasked and declared himself to be Santo Escobar.
On PWT Talks NXT, we had predicted nearly all of this, including a potential unmasking of Fantasma. With Angel Garza and Humberto Carillo making their ways to the main roster, there has been a lack of Hispanic star power in NXT. I loved Fantasma’s work as King Cuerno in Lucha Underground, and I cannot wait to see what he, Mendoza and Wilde bring to the roster and what chaos they’ll bring.
Dexter Lumis vs Adam Cole – : Lumis had been lurking around the corner from UE all night long, keeping Roddy as paranoid as we’ve ever seen him. So paranoid, you could tell he didn’t even want to walk Cole to the ring. I loved this character work from Roddy, he wouldn’t even turn his back to Lumis to “BOOM” as part of the UE entrance. I also love Lumis more and more each week. The stoic monster is so overdone, but he is doing a great job thus far. Even when selling, he doesn’t seem to break that stoic look no matter what. The only time he broke and smiled, was when Cole was pummeling him in the face repeatedly. He also looks like he can hang with Cole, one of the best wrestlers in NXT. I think the gimmick could hinder him, similar to how Kane’s gimmick hindered him. But, if he learns to evolve his character over time, like Kane did, I could see him having a long career here in NXT/WWE. It took all three of these UE members to take Lumis out, and even then he wasn’t out for long. Adam Cole began taunting him while he was laying on the mat, and he sat up and locked Cole in a submission. Dream came out and attacked Fish and Cole while Lumis haunted Roderick Strong out of the arena. Cole was about to celebrate his win again, when the lights went out an Scarlett appeared on stage. “Fall And Pray!” erupted through the crowd and Scarlett simply placed an hourglass in the ring. A symbol that Karrion Kross has his eyes set on the NXT title.
I am all for Kross being the next challenger, even if he is brand new to the roster. He has the name value, he’s being pushed heavily, and he had that strong win over Ciampa. I think I would have liked to see him secure one more big win under his belt first before getting the NXT Championship shot. But, my guess is that they want to give him a short NXT title reign to give him that credential as champion before moving him to Raw or Smackdown.
RECOMMENDED: 6/10 NXT ON USA REPORT: Wells’s report on Adam Cole vs. Dexter Lumis, Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes, TakeOver fallout
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.