Coming off a pretty fantastic 11 days of NXT content as we had Worlds Collide, TakeOver Phoenix, some entrants into both the Women's and Men's Rumble matches, and then of course Halftime Heat, NXT definitely seems like it will be the brand to beat as per usual. And with this week's installment, we're starting to get a good idea of how the title scene is shaping up, or at least, the competitors who want their shots at the titles.
We started with Johnny Gargano coming out to present to Full Sail his newly-won North American title much to the pleasure of the NXT Universe, but was soon interrupted by NXT champ and best frenemy, Tommaso Ciampa, who was very pleased with Johnny's win, and reminisced about how they traveled together before NXT and how he feels that Johnny looked at him as an example and took a page out of his book to win the title he has. Johnny quickly rebuked Tommaso by saying that he didn't need anything from Ciampa. This exchange was put to a halt by Velveteen Dream who, after winning the Worlds Collide event, gets to go after a championship title of his choosing. But after calling him "Gollum with Goldie", he stared Ciampa down and declared that he didn't want his title, but rather he wanted Johnny's title. Now, I'm never going to post spoilers about taped NXT events unless it's something that is already spoiled to death, and would still never do it without a spoiler warning, so I'm not going to, but those who read the dirt sheets probably already know what I'm referring to. But let's pretend that none of us know what's coming and just accept what's right in front of our faces at this time, and that's that in two weeks, Dream and Gargano are going to face off for the North American title. From the buildup that Dream has been receiving lately, winning Worlds Collide and getting the pinfall win at Halftime Heat, 2019 is certainly shaping up to be the year of The Dream, and it's well-deserved. He's been taking the whole damn world by storm and has been putting on some great matches and developing one of the best characters in the business. I'd prefer a long title reign for Johnny, but if Dream ends up with this title, it could free up Johnny to turn back to the light and chase down Ciampa for the NXT title once again, and likely at the Mania weekend TakeOver, and I don't have any sort of problem with all that.
We also got a backstage segment where Adam Cole and the Undisputed Era tried to hijack an interview with Ricochet as Cole tried to make the case that he should be the #1 Contender for the North American title, but Ric quickly cut him off and said that they should have a match next week to determine who's better. Now, these guys showed amazing chemistry in their match at TakeOver Brooklyn when Ricochet won the title from Cole, so I'm expecting a really terrific match from these two. Whether or not it'll mean anything other than bragging rights is incidental, because this is going to be a lot of fun.
We then got our first match, where Jaxson Ryker took on Mansoor, and this was a massacre. I was excited to see what Mansoor could do, but his job here tonight was to job out to the heel powerhouse. This is the sort of jobbing that I don't particularly care for, and I might have been more pleased with this outcome if Ryker or any members of The Forgotten Sons did anything for me at all, because they just don't. They're another in the long line of interchangeable white guy biker dude muscular heel factions that are going to get a title shot at War Raiders, but they won't go over. There's just nothing to them at all. They have no personality and there's nothing interesting or original about them. There's an almost confounding sameness to them that I'm surprised they're in NXT at all.
Then things did get a lot more interesting as Drew Gulak took a walk over from 205 Live to compete in NXT. He initially competed against a newcomer called Eric Bugenhagen, who looks and sounds like the love child of Rick Rude and Steven Tyler. Bugenhagen had such tremendous personality in this contest that it didn't matter that he didn't seem terribly gifted in a technical sense, because his personality was so huge that it almost didn't matter. For a hot second, he had Gulak in an abdominal stretch and played air guitar windmills a la Pete Townsend, but Gulak made him pay and eventually got him in the Gu-Lock for the submission win. Gulak then got on the mic and called out stated that he had never been more humiliated by having to face this level of competition at NXT, and asked if anyone in the back wanted to take him on. Enter Matt Riddle. The Spicoli of Sports Entertainment said that he would gladly take him on, and they had one hell of a great technical wrestling match. Drew and Matt traded a lot of good submissions and submission counters, and eventually got to trading strikes, and they both did a fantastic job of making the other look good, but Riddle finally got Drew into the Bro-Mission and Gulak had to tap out. They shook hands at the end of the match, and I'm secretly hoping that Gulak comes back to NXT and stays there full-time, because with his technical mastery and the depth of his character work, NXT seems like a much more natural home for him rather than 205 Live. And Riddle went on to prove that he's not a blue flame special, but he's in it to win it, and he's absolutely a future champ here in NXT. But if you were to ask me, the real star of this match was Bugenhagen. He has this ridiculous name that you can easily chant, wacky personality, and his energy and joie de vivre will help get him over eventually. Mark my words: Eric Bugenhagen is going to be a name we're going to be chanting over the course of the next several months.
Then came a 6-woman tag between Io Shirai, Kairi Sane and Bianca Belair vs Shayna Baszler, Jessaymn Duke and Marina Shafir. I have to say that this is where the Full Sail crowd can get kind of obnoxious. Duke and Shafir are obviously not taking to this sport nearly as quickly as their fellow MMA Horsewomen Ronda Rousey and Baszler, but again, we still have to remember that NXT is still the developmental brand. Shit, there are women and men on the main roster that are still green as hell, so when the "You Can't Wrestle" chants start to break out on Raw and Smackdown, it means something is wrong, but when that happens at Full Sail, those people should be a little fucking embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. People forget that, not all that long ago, NXT's Women's division amounted to not a lot more than former cheerleaders and models and backup dancers who someone saw somewhere and decided they'd look good in a wrestling ring. Now we have this really stacked roster at Full Sail where nearly everyone had been wrestling for some time before they got to NXT, so when people that are newer come in and don't look as good as a Gargano or Black or Sane or Shirai or so many other competitors, people start to boo. I know that for now, essentially Duke and Shafir are kind of a novelty act because they're the backup for The Queen of Spades and her championship reign, and that's okay. They're also still very green, and that's okay too. As long as they're not hurting their fellow competitors or themselves and can still do a decent job of putting other people over and selling, then it's fine for right now. If they haven't improved in 4-6 months, then yes, it's obvious there's a problem, but for now, give them some fucking time.
As far as the actual match, and the story that it contained, this was clearly all about Shirai and Belair. It was really cool to see Belair tag in Kairi and hold her up in a military press and then let Sane come down on her competitor with an elbow. But Shirai is Sane's best friend, so there was some one-upping going on between Io and Bianca. And Belair hit the K.O.D. on Shayna but Duke and Shafir came in for the save and then Shirai tagged herself in and hit her reverse moonsault on the still-downed Baszler for the win. And when Kairi and Io celebrated, they tried to welcome Belair into their celebration, but Bianca seemed very nonplussed that Shirai put Shayna away instead of her doing it, and then Shirai started to do the belt motion around her waist, and Belair was even more visibly upset at that gesture. This is going to lead to what will hopefully be a really terrific rivalry between Shirai and Belair as far as who will be the one to get the opportunity at Shayna's title, and they've started this story in a very subtle and clever way, by letting it build. In a lot of cases, this would have been the time that Belair would have been so angry with Shirai that she would have hauled off and decked her, but it's much wiser to hold them back for a bit and let the tension build naturally. So while it wasn't the best match any of these people will ever do, it still told a solid story and helped to build a rivalry, which is what most good no-stakes matches should do.
Okay, I know that I said that I wouldn't do anything about Worlds Collide but I was there, and I do want to share some of that media with you guys and gals. So look out for that Friday. I'm not going to do a big write-up on it or anything, but I do want to share that media with all 17 or so of you who read this blog, so keep your eye out!
Until next time, kids...
We started with Johnny Gargano coming out to present to Full Sail his newly-won North American title much to the pleasure of the NXT Universe, but was soon interrupted by NXT champ and best frenemy, Tommaso Ciampa, who was very pleased with Johnny's win, and reminisced about how they traveled together before NXT and how he feels that Johnny looked at him as an example and took a page out of his book to win the title he has. Johnny quickly rebuked Tommaso by saying that he didn't need anything from Ciampa. This exchange was put to a halt by Velveteen Dream who, after winning the Worlds Collide event, gets to go after a championship title of his choosing. But after calling him "Gollum with Goldie", he stared Ciampa down and declared that he didn't want his title, but rather he wanted Johnny's title. Now, I'm never going to post spoilers about taped NXT events unless it's something that is already spoiled to death, and would still never do it without a spoiler warning, so I'm not going to, but those who read the dirt sheets probably already know what I'm referring to. But let's pretend that none of us know what's coming and just accept what's right in front of our faces at this time, and that's that in two weeks, Dream and Gargano are going to face off for the North American title. From the buildup that Dream has been receiving lately, winning Worlds Collide and getting the pinfall win at Halftime Heat, 2019 is certainly shaping up to be the year of The Dream, and it's well-deserved. He's been taking the whole damn world by storm and has been putting on some great matches and developing one of the best characters in the business. I'd prefer a long title reign for Johnny, but if Dream ends up with this title, it could free up Johnny to turn back to the light and chase down Ciampa for the NXT title once again, and likely at the Mania weekend TakeOver, and I don't have any sort of problem with all that.
We also got a backstage segment where Adam Cole and the Undisputed Era tried to hijack an interview with Ricochet as Cole tried to make the case that he should be the #1 Contender for the North American title, but Ric quickly cut him off and said that they should have a match next week to determine who's better. Now, these guys showed amazing chemistry in their match at TakeOver Brooklyn when Ricochet won the title from Cole, so I'm expecting a really terrific match from these two. Whether or not it'll mean anything other than bragging rights is incidental, because this is going to be a lot of fun.
We then got our first match, where Jaxson Ryker took on Mansoor, and this was a massacre. I was excited to see what Mansoor could do, but his job here tonight was to job out to the heel powerhouse. This is the sort of jobbing that I don't particularly care for, and I might have been more pleased with this outcome if Ryker or any members of The Forgotten Sons did anything for me at all, because they just don't. They're another in the long line of interchangeable white guy biker dude muscular heel factions that are going to get a title shot at War Raiders, but they won't go over. There's just nothing to them at all. They have no personality and there's nothing interesting or original about them. There's an almost confounding sameness to them that I'm surprised they're in NXT at all.
Then things did get a lot more interesting as Drew Gulak took a walk over from 205 Live to compete in NXT. He initially competed against a newcomer called Eric Bugenhagen, who looks and sounds like the love child of Rick Rude and Steven Tyler. Bugenhagen had such tremendous personality in this contest that it didn't matter that he didn't seem terribly gifted in a technical sense, because his personality was so huge that it almost didn't matter. For a hot second, he had Gulak in an abdominal stretch and played air guitar windmills a la Pete Townsend, but Gulak made him pay and eventually got him in the Gu-Lock for the submission win. Gulak then got on the mic and called out stated that he had never been more humiliated by having to face this level of competition at NXT, and asked if anyone in the back wanted to take him on. Enter Matt Riddle. The Spicoli of Sports Entertainment said that he would gladly take him on, and they had one hell of a great technical wrestling match. Drew and Matt traded a lot of good submissions and submission counters, and eventually got to trading strikes, and they both did a fantastic job of making the other look good, but Riddle finally got Drew into the Bro-Mission and Gulak had to tap out. They shook hands at the end of the match, and I'm secretly hoping that Gulak comes back to NXT and stays there full-time, because with his technical mastery and the depth of his character work, NXT seems like a much more natural home for him rather than 205 Live. And Riddle went on to prove that he's not a blue flame special, but he's in it to win it, and he's absolutely a future champ here in NXT. But if you were to ask me, the real star of this match was Bugenhagen. He has this ridiculous name that you can easily chant, wacky personality, and his energy and joie de vivre will help get him over eventually. Mark my words: Eric Bugenhagen is going to be a name we're going to be chanting over the course of the next several months.
Then came a 6-woman tag between Io Shirai, Kairi Sane and Bianca Belair vs Shayna Baszler, Jessaymn Duke and Marina Shafir. I have to say that this is where the Full Sail crowd can get kind of obnoxious. Duke and Shafir are obviously not taking to this sport nearly as quickly as their fellow MMA Horsewomen Ronda Rousey and Baszler, but again, we still have to remember that NXT is still the developmental brand. Shit, there are women and men on the main roster that are still green as hell, so when the "You Can't Wrestle" chants start to break out on Raw and Smackdown, it means something is wrong, but when that happens at Full Sail, those people should be a little fucking embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. People forget that, not all that long ago, NXT's Women's division amounted to not a lot more than former cheerleaders and models and backup dancers who someone saw somewhere and decided they'd look good in a wrestling ring. Now we have this really stacked roster at Full Sail where nearly everyone had been wrestling for some time before they got to NXT, so when people that are newer come in and don't look as good as a Gargano or Black or Sane or Shirai or so many other competitors, people start to boo. I know that for now, essentially Duke and Shafir are kind of a novelty act because they're the backup for The Queen of Spades and her championship reign, and that's okay. They're also still very green, and that's okay too. As long as they're not hurting their fellow competitors or themselves and can still do a decent job of putting other people over and selling, then it's fine for right now. If they haven't improved in 4-6 months, then yes, it's obvious there's a problem, but for now, give them some fucking time.
As far as the actual match, and the story that it contained, this was clearly all about Shirai and Belair. It was really cool to see Belair tag in Kairi and hold her up in a military press and then let Sane come down on her competitor with an elbow. But Shirai is Sane's best friend, so there was some one-upping going on between Io and Bianca. And Belair hit the K.O.D. on Shayna but Duke and Shafir came in for the save and then Shirai tagged herself in and hit her reverse moonsault on the still-downed Baszler for the win. And when Kairi and Io celebrated, they tried to welcome Belair into their celebration, but Bianca seemed very nonplussed that Shirai put Shayna away instead of her doing it, and then Shirai started to do the belt motion around her waist, and Belair was even more visibly upset at that gesture. This is going to lead to what will hopefully be a really terrific rivalry between Shirai and Belair as far as who will be the one to get the opportunity at Shayna's title, and they've started this story in a very subtle and clever way, by letting it build. In a lot of cases, this would have been the time that Belair would have been so angry with Shirai that she would have hauled off and decked her, but it's much wiser to hold them back for a bit and let the tension build naturally. So while it wasn't the best match any of these people will ever do, it still told a solid story and helped to build a rivalry, which is what most good no-stakes matches should do.
Okay, I know that I said that I wouldn't do anything about Worlds Collide but I was there, and I do want to share some of that media with you guys and gals. So look out for that Friday. I'm not going to do a big write-up on it or anything, but I do want to share that media with all 17 or so of you who read this blog, so keep your eye out!
Until next time, kids...
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