SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
SHOTZI BLACKHEART & EMBER MOON vs. RAQUEL GONZALEZ & DAKOTA KAI
I really like Shotzi and I really like Ember. But when you put them together as a team, I find them almost grating. In recent months they’ve just come off as annoying, heelish and over the top. Their in-ring work hasn’t suffered, sans for a lack of selling in a few recent matches, but their out of ring personas have not resonated well with me or the PWT Talks NXT crew. Because of this, it’s been increasingly difficult for me to get invested in nearly any segment they’ve been involved in. This match was no different. While there was nothing in the match that was technically bad, it was actually a halfway decent tag match, I’m growing tired of the Shotzi/Ember duo which soured me on this opener.
The aftermath of the opener was pretty satisfying for me, however, as Kai & Gonzalez destroyed Shotzi & Ember and left them laying. Where it’s only my opinion of Shotzi & Ember that soured me on the segment, I’m not going to give it a miss. The match was perfectly fine. So instead, this will wind up getting…
Verdict: 50/50
PETE DUNNE vs. BOBBY FISH
A little over a year ago, I sat down and I did the math. And I concluded that in a 24 hour period that if Bobby Fish could fry fish he would be able to fry 144 pieces of fish. A few days ago, it occurred to me that I had a fatal flaw in my math and I want to take this opportunity to apologize and correct. I assumed that he would be frying one piece of fish at a time. A standard stove top has four burners, meaning he could realistically fry four pieces of fish at the same time. Therefore in a 24 hour period Bobby Fish could fry 576 pieces of fish. Assuming of course that Bobby Fish could fry Fish.
Now, with that out of the way. I’m really rooting for Bobby Fish and his singles run. Out of all four members of Undisputed Era, Fish was clearly the fourth man. Cole, KOR & Strong were always the main focus of the group where Fish always felt like a guy there to fill out the numbers. But that didn’t mean I didn’t like him. He’s a great mechanic and can have a good match with just about anyone. I’ve been waiting for his return from injury to see how they would utilize him. I’ve been hoping to see a mastermind character come from Fish. Almost akin to Seth Rollins after he broke up the Shield.
I was hoping to see Fish win his first match back and look strong in his return. He put up a good fight against Dunne, but did ultimately lose. He was then attacked by Oney Lorcan after the match was over, almost making him look like a weak old timer who shouldn’t have come back. It seems like they were insinuating some sort of a feud between Lorcan and Fish, which I am completely on board for. I’d almost like to see Oney use some of the shine that he’s gotten since Fish has been gone to put Fish over. NXT has a serious lack of babyfaces right now in the mid to upper cards and given Fish’s ties to the Undisputed Era, if booked right he could easily slot into a babyface midcard, teetering on upper-mid card, role.
Verdict: HIT
ZAYDA RAMIER vs. MERCEDES MARTINEZ
Ramier debuted in NXT a few weeks back in a shock upset against Toni Storm. She looked to upset the NXT universe again tonight against the powerhouse, Mercedes Martinez. While Ramier was relatively easily defeated by Martinez, she did get a little bit of offense in on Martinez and was able to kick out of some powerful offense from her opponent as well. Not just everyone gets one over on somebody like Mercedes Martinez. Telling me that the NXT brass may have plans for Ramier in the future.
After Ramier’s defeat, the lights went out and Tian Sha’s music hit. Martinez had a chinese character mark on her hand before she walked off, clearly spooked. This is something I’m 1000% on board with, and look forward to see Martinez clash with either Xia Li or Mai Ying.
Verdict: HIT
MILLION DOLLAR FACE OFF – CAMERON GRIMES vs. MILLION DOLLAR MAN TED DIBIASE
Well, I watched the entire segment and I’m still not sure what exactly a million dollar face off was supposed to be. Grimes and DiBiase just shared mutual admiration for one another before LA Knight interfered and he and Grimes jawed off at one another for a bit. Knight attacked Grimes and then DiBiase laughed, saying that Grimes would never learn to end the segment.
If this is a one off appearance for DiBiase, then this segment was confusing and disjointed. If this is going to be a multi-week angle with this being the launching point, then I’m willing to see where this goes. Therefore, I’m giving it a 50/50 for now before passing final judgment.
Verdict: 50/50
FRANKY MONET vs. CORA JADE
Admittedly, this might be the first Taya Valkyrie/Franky Monet match I’ve seen bell to bell. I know I’ve seen her wrestle, but mostly clips here and there. She clearly has a presence about her in the ring and looks like a mega heel. From the shaved head to the choice of attire for her body type (no disrespect meant whatsoever, I mean this as a compliment), she comes across as exactly the type of woman you want to hate, yet can’t help but love how brash, arrogant and charismatic she is. Her ring work was good, not the best in the world but more than passable. I think that with the proper booking, she’ll be a top heel for the NXT women’s division for awhile to come.
Verdict: HIT
NXT CHAMPIONSHIP – KARRION KROSS VS. FINN BALOR
Finn Balor received his rematch for the NXT Championship, looking to become a three time champion. While I didn’t think he would achieve that accolade on this night, he certainly looked credible against the NXT Champion. Balor’s initial loss to Kross wasn’t a dominant loss or anything like that anyway, but I was worried that Kross might just steamroll Balor in this match. While he did get the bulk of the offense, I still think Balor looked good enough for the majority of the match to not have been defined down the card much, if at all. Anyone who’s paying attention knows that this match was to further solidify Kross as a dominant champion, even touting Kross’s 14-0 undefeated singles streak.
And I think that this match did just that. Kross overcame a formidable opponent and solidified himself as a dominant force over the previous champion in this rematch.
With Balor’s loss here accumulated with some of his behavior in the match, I’m wondering if we may see the return of the demon character soon. Right before he lost, Kross powerbombed Balor. Balor nearly no-sold it and sat up with a demon-esque look on his face, complete with tongue action. I can’t ever recall him doing that in a match unless he was in his demon paint. Foreshadowing, perhaps? Or maybe just a way for him to sell the end of the match?
Verdict: HIT
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