So this is the NXT I've been dreading since I first accidentally read the spoilers about the tapings. It was one of those things that in a way I'm glad was spoiled because it gave me time to emotionally prepare for it. So let's just get right into it and break it down.
First up was a match between Aleister Black and Roderick Strong, and if there was one thing that occurred to me during this match, it's that it's been somewhat easy to forget how fucking good Roddy is as a singles competitor, and this match is certainly a strong case for Strong to let Bobby Fish take his spot back as Kyle O'Reilly's tag partner in Undisputed Era and try for a singles run, and damn, this match was so good. It was just a great showcase for both competitors. The spot where Strong dumped Black's head onto the turnbuckle was a moment where I thought something would indeed have broken in Black's body somewhere. But the Devil's Envoy would fight back, and turned a fireman's carry reversal into Black Mass for the win. As per usual, the other members of Undisputed came out to attack Aleister post-match, and with O'Reilly first out, he was the first one to eat another Black Mass, but they got in some licks and out came Ricochet for the save with a great springboard cross-body. This has been the week for Ricochet to stop the beatdowns on the babyfaces (I know that technically this didn't happen in the same week chronologically, but it's the same broadcast week of Raw, so it's all the same). Where exactly this will lead is unknown, but I'm sure that prior to TakeOver New York, there will be a tag match between these guys and UE.
Then we got a backstage segment where Shayna Baszler and her Horsewomen were strong-arming the rest of the women's locker room, particularly Mia Yim. That was brief but enough to give you an idea of them looking to get more of Yim out there, particularly since Yim has been the one standing up to Shayna and trying to protect the newer recruits. Then there was a video package where Bianca Belair wanted to air her grievances regarding Io Shirai picking up the win over Shayna in their 6-woman tag match alongside Kairi Sane, and it's pretty clear that Belair has no real interest in being a babyface just yet, if at all, but what's unclear is why she keeps referring to herself as undefeated as she was defeated by Baszler at TakeOver Phoenix. Then we got another video package reminding us of all the matches that NXT superstars had on Raw and Smackdown this week. I read on one of the dirt sheets that Ricochet was slated to compete at EVOLVE wrestling, where Street Profits are currently tag champs, but he's been replaced by Velveteen Dream, and I just have a funny feeling that they're looking to have Ricochet have some more main roster matches, but it's really more of a guess than a prediction since it would be weird to have more of Ricochet and less from the actual NXT call-ups, but those haven't been working out terribly well so far, so maybe some changes are in order.
Then we got the "special announcement" that was supposed to be some huge deal, and since the tweet about it came on the heels of the four NXT stars coming to main roster shows, it seemed like they were going to make some kind of grand statement, but that was not to be since all they announced was that they were going to have the annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic starting soon that would culminate with the winners facing War Raiders at TakeOver NY, and that there are eight slots, with four already selected with Undisputed Era, The Forgotten Sons, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel and Street Profits. It'll be interesting to see what other teams will fill out this bracket, and I'm assuming one of them will be Lorcan and Burch, but really don't know what the other three would be.
Then we got Mia Yim vs Xia Li, and this was a pretty short match because this was a face vs face match that began with a handshake (I always like that), and some solid action between Yim and Li; speaking of Li, if there's one thing I can say about her, it's that she always makes me want to go and watch "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". She has such a cool look and a pretty awesome move set built around speed and agility. It ended with an odd but cool finisher called Protect Yo Neck for the win. But as soon as this victory happened, Baszler and the Horsewomen rushed the ring and put boots to everyone. But then three of the developmental talents, namely Lacey Lane, Jessie Elaban and MJ Jenkins rushed the ring to save Mia, but Shayna, Duke and Shafir were apparently too much for them and Yim got held up by Shafir and Duke so Baszler could hit her with a running knee to the chin. This is the kind of booking I dig because it makes Shayna and her buddies still look strong but also somewhat desperate to maintain control, and also to have Duke and Shafir still look tough despite not having any in-ring wins yet. And it also sets up some storylines for the Women's division that don't involve Io, Kairi or Bianca, and that's something I've been saying that NXT really needs to do.
Then we had another backstage segment showing the first couple of NXT, namely Candace LaRae and Johnny Gargano as Candace was hyping Johnny up for his match, when suddenly, Tommaso Ciampa appeared to offer his help with his upcoming title defense against Velveteen Dream, but neither Johnny or Candace were having any of it, to which Tommaso said that he'd be watching. Then we got part of an interview from WWE's YouTube account where Matt Riddle was talking about coming to NXT and then talking about how glad he was to get rid of Kassius Ohno because Ohno was essentially harshing his mellow. I love how committed Riddle is to this character of the Jeff Spicoli of NXT. He's going to have a good 2019, I think.
Then came the main event with Velveteen "cashing in" his Worlds Collide win against Gargano for the North American title. Look, I'm not going to delve too much into the specifics of this match, because this was another early potential MOTY candidate from Gargano. These two did really leave it all in the ring, and it was fascinating to see the larger Dream have to fight from underneath for a good portion of the match, particularly after he laid that first ear-ringing slap across Johnny's cheek. But Johnny is so fast and agile and innovative with his technical prowess that it was easy to see how the bigger man could be bested by him, particularly when Johnny looked to hyper-extend Dream's elbow. Another thing that fascinated me about this match was the crowd reaction. Dream is already super over, but even though Johnny has become a much darker character lately (but is maybe making his way back to being babyface), he seemed to be the crowd favorite. As you'd expect from a match of this caliber and with the high-stakes "big fight feel", it was filled with some breathtaking spots, really great reversals and some heart-stopping false finishes. It really had you on the edge of your seat as the action got hotter. But as Gargano seemed to have it all wrapped up, Dream reversed him attempt at the Garga-No Escape and hit him with not one but two Dream Valley Drivers and then hit Johnny with The Purple Rainmaker. "And New NXT North American Champion".
Now, in theory, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with Dream being rewarded with a title in NXT after he's shown that he's one of the best and most charismatic performers to come into NXT in the last few years. However, I am extremely bummed out that it had to come at the expense of Gargano who not only lost his title but lost it in his first defense of that title. More than anyone on the current roster, Gargano deserves a long run with a title. I know he's made his Full Sail fan base rabid with his babyface underdog persona, but as he showed over the course of 2018, Johnny has so much more to offer. Every single TakeOver match he's had since early on in 2018 has been nothing short of brilliant. From his in-ring ability to his character development has been 100% astonishing, so yeah, I'm fucking bummed. I'm not pissed, though, because A: Velveteen has a title and B: this frees up Gargano for what I'm really praying will be a full babyface run straight at Ciampa that would hopefully culminate at TakeOver NY. But for right now, The Manager (also a major massive Gargano mark) and I are going to be sad for a bit but will also raise our glasses to the champion of my rebel heart.
So that's it for this week from WWE. I'm still looking to catch up on WOW and maybe do a generalized recap of that show, because while it's not quite there yet, it's a solid start to this program and one that I'm hoping will reach lots of people. I know that I haven't talked a lot about New Japan lately, and I did see the IWGP Championship match between Tanahashi and Jay White which was really good, but since the departure of people like Kenny, Matt, Nick, Cody, and the absence of Ibushi and Will Ospreay (since he's busy working in Great Britain right now), there's not a lot of reasons for me to stick with that program. We'll see how it shakes out in the coming months. Anyway, don't forget to check back next week for the usual recaps and reactions to Raw, Smackdown Live and NXT!
Until next time, kids...
First up was a match between Aleister Black and Roderick Strong, and if there was one thing that occurred to me during this match, it's that it's been somewhat easy to forget how fucking good Roddy is as a singles competitor, and this match is certainly a strong case for Strong to let Bobby Fish take his spot back as Kyle O'Reilly's tag partner in Undisputed Era and try for a singles run, and damn, this match was so good. It was just a great showcase for both competitors. The spot where Strong dumped Black's head onto the turnbuckle was a moment where I thought something would indeed have broken in Black's body somewhere. But the Devil's Envoy would fight back, and turned a fireman's carry reversal into Black Mass for the win. As per usual, the other members of Undisputed came out to attack Aleister post-match, and with O'Reilly first out, he was the first one to eat another Black Mass, but they got in some licks and out came Ricochet for the save with a great springboard cross-body. This has been the week for Ricochet to stop the beatdowns on the babyfaces (I know that technically this didn't happen in the same week chronologically, but it's the same broadcast week of Raw, so it's all the same). Where exactly this will lead is unknown, but I'm sure that prior to TakeOver New York, there will be a tag match between these guys and UE.
Then we got a backstage segment where Shayna Baszler and her Horsewomen were strong-arming the rest of the women's locker room, particularly Mia Yim. That was brief but enough to give you an idea of them looking to get more of Yim out there, particularly since Yim has been the one standing up to Shayna and trying to protect the newer recruits. Then there was a video package where Bianca Belair wanted to air her grievances regarding Io Shirai picking up the win over Shayna in their 6-woman tag match alongside Kairi Sane, and it's pretty clear that Belair has no real interest in being a babyface just yet, if at all, but what's unclear is why she keeps referring to herself as undefeated as she was defeated by Baszler at TakeOver Phoenix. Then we got another video package reminding us of all the matches that NXT superstars had on Raw and Smackdown this week. I read on one of the dirt sheets that Ricochet was slated to compete at EVOLVE wrestling, where Street Profits are currently tag champs, but he's been replaced by Velveteen Dream, and I just have a funny feeling that they're looking to have Ricochet have some more main roster matches, but it's really more of a guess than a prediction since it would be weird to have more of Ricochet and less from the actual NXT call-ups, but those haven't been working out terribly well so far, so maybe some changes are in order.
Then we got the "special announcement" that was supposed to be some huge deal, and since the tweet about it came on the heels of the four NXT stars coming to main roster shows, it seemed like they were going to make some kind of grand statement, but that was not to be since all they announced was that they were going to have the annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic starting soon that would culminate with the winners facing War Raiders at TakeOver NY, and that there are eight slots, with four already selected with Undisputed Era, The Forgotten Sons, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel and Street Profits. It'll be interesting to see what other teams will fill out this bracket, and I'm assuming one of them will be Lorcan and Burch, but really don't know what the other three would be.
Then we got Mia Yim vs Xia Li, and this was a pretty short match because this was a face vs face match that began with a handshake (I always like that), and some solid action between Yim and Li; speaking of Li, if there's one thing I can say about her, it's that she always makes me want to go and watch "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". She has such a cool look and a pretty awesome move set built around speed and agility. It ended with an odd but cool finisher called Protect Yo Neck for the win. But as soon as this victory happened, Baszler and the Horsewomen rushed the ring and put boots to everyone. But then three of the developmental talents, namely Lacey Lane, Jessie Elaban and MJ Jenkins rushed the ring to save Mia, but Shayna, Duke and Shafir were apparently too much for them and Yim got held up by Shafir and Duke so Baszler could hit her with a running knee to the chin. This is the kind of booking I dig because it makes Shayna and her buddies still look strong but also somewhat desperate to maintain control, and also to have Duke and Shafir still look tough despite not having any in-ring wins yet. And it also sets up some storylines for the Women's division that don't involve Io, Kairi or Bianca, and that's something I've been saying that NXT really needs to do.
Then we had another backstage segment showing the first couple of NXT, namely Candace LaRae and Johnny Gargano as Candace was hyping Johnny up for his match, when suddenly, Tommaso Ciampa appeared to offer his help with his upcoming title defense against Velveteen Dream, but neither Johnny or Candace were having any of it, to which Tommaso said that he'd be watching. Then we got part of an interview from WWE's YouTube account where Matt Riddle was talking about coming to NXT and then talking about how glad he was to get rid of Kassius Ohno because Ohno was essentially harshing his mellow. I love how committed Riddle is to this character of the Jeff Spicoli of NXT. He's going to have a good 2019, I think.
Then came the main event with Velveteen "cashing in" his Worlds Collide win against Gargano for the North American title. Look, I'm not going to delve too much into the specifics of this match, because this was another early potential MOTY candidate from Gargano. These two did really leave it all in the ring, and it was fascinating to see the larger Dream have to fight from underneath for a good portion of the match, particularly after he laid that first ear-ringing slap across Johnny's cheek. But Johnny is so fast and agile and innovative with his technical prowess that it was easy to see how the bigger man could be bested by him, particularly when Johnny looked to hyper-extend Dream's elbow. Another thing that fascinated me about this match was the crowd reaction. Dream is already super over, but even though Johnny has become a much darker character lately (but is maybe making his way back to being babyface), he seemed to be the crowd favorite. As you'd expect from a match of this caliber and with the high-stakes "big fight feel", it was filled with some breathtaking spots, really great reversals and some heart-stopping false finishes. It really had you on the edge of your seat as the action got hotter. But as Gargano seemed to have it all wrapped up, Dream reversed him attempt at the Garga-No Escape and hit him with not one but two Dream Valley Drivers and then hit Johnny with The Purple Rainmaker. "And New NXT North American Champion".
Now, in theory, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with Dream being rewarded with a title in NXT after he's shown that he's one of the best and most charismatic performers to come into NXT in the last few years. However, I am extremely bummed out that it had to come at the expense of Gargano who not only lost his title but lost it in his first defense of that title. More than anyone on the current roster, Gargano deserves a long run with a title. I know he's made his Full Sail fan base rabid with his babyface underdog persona, but as he showed over the course of 2018, Johnny has so much more to offer. Every single TakeOver match he's had since early on in 2018 has been nothing short of brilliant. From his in-ring ability to his character development has been 100% astonishing, so yeah, I'm fucking bummed. I'm not pissed, though, because A: Velveteen has a title and B: this frees up Gargano for what I'm really praying will be a full babyface run straight at Ciampa that would hopefully culminate at TakeOver NY. But for right now, The Manager (also a major massive Gargano mark) and I are going to be sad for a bit but will also raise our glasses to the champion of my rebel heart.
So that's it for this week from WWE. I'm still looking to catch up on WOW and maybe do a generalized recap of that show, because while it's not quite there yet, it's a solid start to this program and one that I'm hoping will reach lots of people. I know that I haven't talked a lot about New Japan lately, and I did see the IWGP Championship match between Tanahashi and Jay White which was really good, but since the departure of people like Kenny, Matt, Nick, Cody, and the absence of Ibushi and Will Ospreay (since he's busy working in Great Britain right now), there's not a lot of reasons for me to stick with that program. We'll see how it shakes out in the coming months. Anyway, don't forget to check back next week for the usual recaps and reactions to Raw, Smackdown Live and NXT!
Until next time, kids...
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