When it comes to my blogs about NXT, you might see a bit more of a proverbial spring in my step when I write about it, because it's just a way, way better show and it makes it just that much more fun to discuss, and it has the single best commentator in the world in Mauro Ranallo (if you haven't seen the documentary Bipolar Rock N Roller, check it out). So let's get into it!
So this week begins with a video package hyping up the steel cage match between my two of my faves in all the biz, Aleister Black and Johnny Gargano. And that leads into a match that I felt might have benefited from a little more hype, and that's the tag match between the partners of Io Shirai and Dakota Kai vs the NXT debut of Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, the last two pieces of the MMA Four Horsewomen puzzle that includes Ronda Rousey and current NXT women's champ Shayna Bayzler. However, perhaps the reason this match wasn't more hyped is that Shirai and Kai ended up going over the debuting team of Duke and Shafir, which I can see as maybe a bit of booking themselves into a corner. You have Shirai as a relative newcomer to NXT who we don't really want to see looking weak at this stage, but you also have Duke and Shafir who are supposed to be super-vicious and cruel, so I just was pretty confused by the match. Maybe it was just more that they just wanted to get Duke and Shafir out there for the audience to see them in the ring and what they might bring. Admittedly, I didn't see a whole lot to write home about for their debut, but, like all the MMA Horsewomen, they can definitely take bumps well, so there's that.
Then we had the pretty well-hyped debut of Dominik Dijakovic, formerly Donovan Dijak of ROH. He took on [INSERT JOBBER NAME HERE] in his debut match and standing at 6'7", he's a fucking monster. He biels the guy around the ring a bit, hits him with some hard strikes and for his finisher, it looks like something of an inverted GTS, and it's fucking savage. If this guy has a solid character, he could be a real contender someday in NXT.
Can I just mention how much I love Matt Riddle as a character? I like him a lot as a wrestler, but I love the consistency of his character's portrayal. He never seems to get too riled up and is just chill AF. And he's provided me with one of the legitimately great belly laughs in all of pro wrestling this year when he did a backstage segment and pronounced debut as "de-butt". He's just great and I love him. From here on out, I vow to refer to him as The Ass-Kicking Spicoli. Well, maybe not. You'll just have to wait to find out.
Then we have Heavy Machinery looking to gain some momentum going into their upcoming title match against The Undisputed Era by taking on [INSERT JOBBER NAMES HERE]. Tucky and Dozer had a lot of fun squashing the shit out of these guys as UE looked on from the top of the entrance ramp. I'm going to miss them in NXT, but I'm hoping that they'll get some decent booking on whatever main roster show they end up in and I hope that they can catch on and at least make the kids happy, because the Steaks and Weights guys are great fun to watch. And there was one shot of Kyle O'Reilly looking legit nervous when they hit that double Compactor at the end of the match, so bonus fun from KOR right there.
Now, cue foreboding music because the cage is coming down...
To preface this a little, there was a LOT of spoilery stuff about this match going around the dirt sheets and eventually, it was unavoidable to not see it. It's a bit of a bummer for me, because I never want anything from NXT or any pre-taped stuff spoiled, but when it was this significant, it couldn't be helped.
The match opens with Johnny and Aleister attacking one another outside the ring and finally making their way in. We knew going in that, despite the setting, this was not going to be a match that had the same intensity and speed that their Takeover match had; this was going to be a lot of brute force. Black continues to prove he has the best knee-strikes in the game, and this match had a great build with a lot of great little moments of character work from both Gargano and Black...
... and then came Tommaso Ciampa to schmozz it all up, and it felt like the earth stood still while Johnny, who was on his way out of the ring, climbed back in, and looked at Ciampa call for their old DIY finisher. And perhaps the best single character moment of any wrestler this year occurred when Johnny's arms seemed to take on a life of their own and clasped his hands over his head, and they hit Meeting in the Middle on Black! D - I - WHY?!?!? With his work done, Tommaso slithered out of the ring and Johnny fell on Aleister to get the pin and the win.
But while still in the ring, Johnny sat back against the ropes and he looked like a man broken. This is now a man who has become what he beheld. And THIS is why NXT is so fucking brilliant. They let their performers actually perform rather than just cut a bunch of nonsensical and over-written promos about what they're doing and why they're doing it. NXT puts so much emphasis on show, not tell, and that is why we're all clamoring for Hunter to take over all the brands. This was not the barn-burner of a match we might have wanted, but goddamn, it was still breathtaking to behold everyone's work here.
A quick bit about NXT UK. I really enjoy it and I have been diligently trying to catch up, but with 2 hours dropping each week and with them being really heavily pre-taped, it'll be a while before I really get into all the things going on there, but it is really fun to finally get to be in on a promotion pretty much from its inception. I like a lot of the talent over there like Toni Storm, Moustache Mountain, Ligero, Rhea Ripley, Jordan Devlin, Flash Morgan Webster and especially my two favorite NXT UK boys, Pete Dunne (naturally) and Mark Andrews. But like I said, it's a lot to catch up on, so with Christmas week coming up, maybe I'll start doing that.
I'll be back around some time next week to discuss what occurs on Raw, Smackdown and NXT. I don't know what day that specifically will be, but it will happen!
Until next time, kids... have a very happy holiday season!
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