Look, I know there's a big disconnect between when I said I would post this and when I actually did. I've started a new schedule at work and my days are fucked right now, so I don't have the hours in the day that I would normally dedicate to writing about NXT, and rather than meet an arbitrary deadline I set for myself, I'd rather keep doing what I've been doing rather than half-ass it and give what literally any other wrestling column can do.
After the Superstar Shake-Up that dominated the main roster this week, the other shows this week decided to keep it relatively low-key while still having more important and/or better matches. And things were certainly shaken up, but the stakes were kind of low and we'll discuss that further as we get into it.
Let's start with NXT and there are some no-so-great moments we need to deal with.
While I've been watching Dominik Dijakovic with vested interest, he had a squash match on this episode against Aaron Frye (instead of the matchup with Keith Lee that we were promised, but Lee was still hurt as of this episode, but has apparently returned to action in a house show Thursday). That "match" was his spinning big boot and that was it for Frye. The squash is not what I had the issue with; it was his promo later. He talked about being there because his parents made it possible for him to succeed in the United States and rambled about that for a bit and then said that he wanted Velveteen Dream's North American title. That's fine in and of itself. But then I heard about a rather disturbing tweet he sent that ended up being deleted and then he deleted his entire Twitter account. The tweet, which included @ for the President of the United States, the President of Mexico, and the Prime Minister of Canada, said the following:
"This continent has everything backwards. This is a diseased environment that breeds impurity. The streets are almost as filthy as the inhabitants. I would know, I’ve lived the majority of my life here. I owe it to myself and my family to Purify this wasteland."
Now, this isn't the greatest look for a superstar. I get that this statement is heelish, but it's not exactly the best optics for a WWE competitor to be tweeting that kind of statement at Trump, Trudeau and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, because that is pretty gross. And for someone from Croatian descent, the idea of "impurity" also doesn't look great either.
Also, I was not a big fan of the main event for a number of reasons. The Women's Championship match between Shayna and Kairi, particularly with the stipulation that if Kairi lost, she wouldn't be able to challenge for the title again. We already knew by this airdate that Sane had joined the Smackdown roster, so we knew how the match was going to end, and that's not the problem though. The same thing basically happened with the Velveteen Dream vs Buddy Murphy match since we knew that Murphy was also going to Smackdown with the Superstar Shake-Up. The issue that I'm starting to see with Baszler is that she's starting to have issues with putting other people over while she goes over, and her matches are starting to feel really stale. But the biggest issue I had was with the ending. I didn't need to see Shayna do her elbow stomp on another female competitor; I know that's basically her version of Triple H's sledgehammer, but it feels like it doesn't have any impact anymore. And I really didn't need to see Kairi's last moments in NXT being overshadowed by Io Shirai running in to make the save that still didn't work anyway. I think, and I'm bummed to even admit it to myself, that I'm getting tired of Baszler. I was so high on her last year, and it took me a while to warm up to her character, but I was happy that they had created a really solid female heel that wasn't all about "Oh, look at how mean I am!" and instead was just crushing people in the ring. If she talked shit, she could still back it up. And I honestly think that the biggest detriment to her character has been the appearance of The Horsewomen. I get they're trying to create a dominant female stable, and that's awesome, but since Duke and Shafir have, if memory serves, not won any of their matches, they don't convince me as being "enforcers". This just left a bad taste in my mouth. Although, I have to give credit where credit's due: even if I didn't like the story being told in this match, at least they were telling a story.
So let's move on to the good stuff!
The North American Championship match between Buddy and champ Velveteen was really terrific. Not only did it have a good lead-in with their Mania backstage exchange, but Murphy looked great. His knee strikes might be my favorite in the biz. Nothing against Kenny's V-Trigger, which is always awesome, but when Murphy hits someone with that knee, I always think that the other guy's head is going to pop right off their shoulders. And Velveteen fighting his last few matches almost entirely from underneath is a really unusual way to book him. And the finish was terrific with that transition from Famouser to Dream Valley Driver to Purple Rainmaker. It really was a thing of beauty. I'm hoping he stays in NXT for as long as possible, because Vince is going to have no clue how to work with this character.
I really liked the promos this week as well. The Street Profits making their plan to go into Mr. Regal's office to ask for an opportunity atWar Raiders The Viking Experience to have Rowe and Hanson Erik and Ivar already coming out of his office to indicate they already made the match was a fun little swerve, but the only thing I wasn't too sure of is if it was a title opportunity. And Aliyah and Vanessa Borne saying that they weren't ready to compete at TakeOver NY because they had been out shopping all day was just a really goofy character arc for them to have, but it works. It casts them as the "bougie" Real Housewives-esque heels that they are, and when they suggested that Candace LaRae find another "lower" for a tag team match, it just made me giggle. I'm not big fans of their in-ring abilities, but at least they've found strong character moments to build off of.
And then there was Johnny Champion coming into the ring. It was a little weird to hear him getting some heat from elements of the crowd, and there was one guy who was in the front row who just kept shaking his head when Johnny came in to the ring. I'm just going to assume that guy was a huge mark for Adam Cole. And speak of the devil... it was only a matter of moments before Cole and Undisputed Era were going to interrupt Johnny's victory lap. And Cole's insistence that he's the "uncrowned" champ is such a great brag for Cole since he did score the first fall. And Johnny's jabs at Undisputed Era being a boy band wondering if they're still "in sync" had me in stitches. But of course, it was Roderick Strong with the blindside attack despite Strong apparently being the odd man out. And when they went backstage and were confronted with a smiling William Regal, fucking Kyle O'Reilly is still making me crack up with all of his little character moments, especially when he says things like, "Do tell!"
Gargano vs Cole as the new big rivalry is really the best-case scenario since Ciampa is out, and they're really going all-in on this story. It will still lack the emotional content of Johnny and Tommaso, but we'll still get a lot of great in-ring action and two extraordinary talents facing off for a while.
So let's move to Worlds Collide, which this episode was all about the cruiserweight class!
There wasn't a match I didn't think was fun to watch. I wasn't totally into the triple threat with Gran Metalik, Ligero and newcomer Albert Hardie Jr., but I do have to say that Hardie really impressed me. He's extremely athletic and he seems to have a fun heel character working. Metalik is fun to watch, and Ligero has been kicking some serious ass in NXT UK and I was a little surprised he picked up the win, because it seemed like this would be the place to give someone like Hardie the win, especially since this was the first time most people would see him.
I wasn't also super into watching Mike Kanellis and Ariya Daivari tag together, but what did put me fully into the match was the team of Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. Both of those guys make me very happy. They make a really solid tag team and their movesets are just really fun to watch, so them picking up the win was a good call.
Akira Tozawa vs Jordan Devlin was a really fun match to watch. Devlin is such a great heel and Tozawa is such a terrific babyface that it gave this match that extra dynamic working in its favor. Tozawa and Devlin have such great contrasting styles as well that it just made everything so entertaining and really kept your eyes on the action. Tozawa is a very undervalued talent and Devlin is making leaps and bounds in NXT UK and that might indicate the booking to have Devlin go over. Still, a really well-booked match.
But if there was a match that was just altogether super fun to watch, it was Tyler Bate vs The Brian Kendrick. Bate is always looking like he's giving his all, but Kendrick was clearly out there to not only have a really good match with Bate, but also have as much fun as humanly possible. The crowd at Axxess was really having a great time as well, and that really helped to elevate this match even more since Kendrick was heeling it up and trying to start a "USA USA USA" chant, but if there was a moment of great indie style goofiness, it was during they various attempts to poke each other in the eyes. Look, if you follow me on Twitter (it's @donnelly92274, by the way), you'll see that my pinned tweet is of Jushin Thunder Liger, pre-WWE Tommaso Ciampa, Aleister Black, Cedric Alexander, Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne, and a few other indie wrestlers including The Brian Kendrick test out how strong Liger's asshole is. Check it out because it's one of the reasons I come back to the strange and wonderful art form that pro wrestling is. This is as indie as a WWE match could possibly get. It's weird and silly and beyond goofy, but it still has some great physicality, and clearly Kendrick is treating this match as if it were something they would do in PWG or some other indie show. Ultimately Bate gets the win with the Tyler Driver '97, but it's still just a bunch of silly fun.
I was pretty astounded that all the UK division competitors went over, and I don't know what, if anything, that means for the Cruiserweights. All I do know is that the smaller dudes are way cooler to watch for me than most of the bigger dudes.
So that's it for last week's NXT and Worlds Collide eps! Tune in this Wednesday for my recaps of Raw and Smackdown Live, which will be on time!
Until next time, kids...
After the Superstar Shake-Up that dominated the main roster this week, the other shows this week decided to keep it relatively low-key while still having more important and/or better matches. And things were certainly shaken up, but the stakes were kind of low and we'll discuss that further as we get into it.
Let's start with NXT and there are some no-so-great moments we need to deal with.
While I've been watching Dominik Dijakovic with vested interest, he had a squash match on this episode against Aaron Frye (instead of the matchup with Keith Lee that we were promised, but Lee was still hurt as of this episode, but has apparently returned to action in a house show Thursday). That "match" was his spinning big boot and that was it for Frye. The squash is not what I had the issue with; it was his promo later. He talked about being there because his parents made it possible for him to succeed in the United States and rambled about that for a bit and then said that he wanted Velveteen Dream's North American title. That's fine in and of itself. But then I heard about a rather disturbing tweet he sent that ended up being deleted and then he deleted his entire Twitter account. The tweet, which included @ for the President of the United States, the President of Mexico, and the Prime Minister of Canada, said the following:
"This continent has everything backwards. This is a diseased environment that breeds impurity. The streets are almost as filthy as the inhabitants. I would know, I’ve lived the majority of my life here. I owe it to myself and my family to Purify this wasteland."
Now, this isn't the greatest look for a superstar. I get that this statement is heelish, but it's not exactly the best optics for a WWE competitor to be tweeting that kind of statement at Trump, Trudeau and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, because that is pretty gross. And for someone from Croatian descent, the idea of "impurity" also doesn't look great either.
Also, I was not a big fan of the main event for a number of reasons. The Women's Championship match between Shayna and Kairi, particularly with the stipulation that if Kairi lost, she wouldn't be able to challenge for the title again. We already knew by this airdate that Sane had joined the Smackdown roster, so we knew how the match was going to end, and that's not the problem though. The same thing basically happened with the Velveteen Dream vs Buddy Murphy match since we knew that Murphy was also going to Smackdown with the Superstar Shake-Up. The issue that I'm starting to see with Baszler is that she's starting to have issues with putting other people over while she goes over, and her matches are starting to feel really stale. But the biggest issue I had was with the ending. I didn't need to see Shayna do her elbow stomp on another female competitor; I know that's basically her version of Triple H's sledgehammer, but it feels like it doesn't have any impact anymore. And I really didn't need to see Kairi's last moments in NXT being overshadowed by Io Shirai running in to make the save that still didn't work anyway. I think, and I'm bummed to even admit it to myself, that I'm getting tired of Baszler. I was so high on her last year, and it took me a while to warm up to her character, but I was happy that they had created a really solid female heel that wasn't all about "Oh, look at how mean I am!" and instead was just crushing people in the ring. If she talked shit, she could still back it up. And I honestly think that the biggest detriment to her character has been the appearance of The Horsewomen. I get they're trying to create a dominant female stable, and that's awesome, but since Duke and Shafir have, if memory serves, not won any of their matches, they don't convince me as being "enforcers". This just left a bad taste in my mouth. Although, I have to give credit where credit's due: even if I didn't like the story being told in this match, at least they were telling a story.
So let's move on to the good stuff!
The North American Championship match between Buddy and champ Velveteen was really terrific. Not only did it have a good lead-in with their Mania backstage exchange, but Murphy looked great. His knee strikes might be my favorite in the biz. Nothing against Kenny's V-Trigger, which is always awesome, but when Murphy hits someone with that knee, I always think that the other guy's head is going to pop right off their shoulders. And Velveteen fighting his last few matches almost entirely from underneath is a really unusual way to book him. And the finish was terrific with that transition from Famouser to Dream Valley Driver to Purple Rainmaker. It really was a thing of beauty. I'm hoping he stays in NXT for as long as possible, because Vince is going to have no clue how to work with this character.
I really liked the promos this week as well. The Street Profits making their plan to go into Mr. Regal's office to ask for an opportunity at
And then there was Johnny Champion coming into the ring. It was a little weird to hear him getting some heat from elements of the crowd, and there was one guy who was in the front row who just kept shaking his head when Johnny came in to the ring. I'm just going to assume that guy was a huge mark for Adam Cole. And speak of the devil... it was only a matter of moments before Cole and Undisputed Era were going to interrupt Johnny's victory lap. And Cole's insistence that he's the "uncrowned" champ is such a great brag for Cole since he did score the first fall. And Johnny's jabs at Undisputed Era being a boy band wondering if they're still "in sync" had me in stitches. But of course, it was Roderick Strong with the blindside attack despite Strong apparently being the odd man out. And when they went backstage and were confronted with a smiling William Regal, fucking Kyle O'Reilly is still making me crack up with all of his little character moments, especially when he says things like, "Do tell!"
Gargano vs Cole as the new big rivalry is really the best-case scenario since Ciampa is out, and they're really going all-in on this story. It will still lack the emotional content of Johnny and Tommaso, but we'll still get a lot of great in-ring action and two extraordinary talents facing off for a while.
So let's move to Worlds Collide, which this episode was all about the cruiserweight class!
There wasn't a match I didn't think was fun to watch. I wasn't totally into the triple threat with Gran Metalik, Ligero and newcomer Albert Hardie Jr., but I do have to say that Hardie really impressed me. He's extremely athletic and he seems to have a fun heel character working. Metalik is fun to watch, and Ligero has been kicking some serious ass in NXT UK and I was a little surprised he picked up the win, because it seemed like this would be the place to give someone like Hardie the win, especially since this was the first time most people would see him.
I wasn't also super into watching Mike Kanellis and Ariya Daivari tag together, but what did put me fully into the match was the team of Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. Both of those guys make me very happy. They make a really solid tag team and their movesets are just really fun to watch, so them picking up the win was a good call.
Akira Tozawa vs Jordan Devlin was a really fun match to watch. Devlin is such a great heel and Tozawa is such a terrific babyface that it gave this match that extra dynamic working in its favor. Tozawa and Devlin have such great contrasting styles as well that it just made everything so entertaining and really kept your eyes on the action. Tozawa is a very undervalued talent and Devlin is making leaps and bounds in NXT UK and that might indicate the booking to have Devlin go over. Still, a really well-booked match.
But if there was a match that was just altogether super fun to watch, it was Tyler Bate vs The Brian Kendrick. Bate is always looking like he's giving his all, but Kendrick was clearly out there to not only have a really good match with Bate, but also have as much fun as humanly possible. The crowd at Axxess was really having a great time as well, and that really helped to elevate this match even more since Kendrick was heeling it up and trying to start a "USA USA USA" chant, but if there was a moment of great indie style goofiness, it was during they various attempts to poke each other in the eyes. Look, if you follow me on Twitter (it's @donnelly92274, by the way), you'll see that my pinned tweet is of Jushin Thunder Liger, pre-WWE Tommaso Ciampa, Aleister Black, Cedric Alexander, Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne, and a few other indie wrestlers including The Brian Kendrick test out how strong Liger's asshole is. Check it out because it's one of the reasons I come back to the strange and wonderful art form that pro wrestling is. This is as indie as a WWE match could possibly get. It's weird and silly and beyond goofy, but it still has some great physicality, and clearly Kendrick is treating this match as if it were something they would do in PWG or some other indie show. Ultimately Bate gets the win with the Tyler Driver '97, but it's still just a bunch of silly fun.
I was pretty astounded that all the UK division competitors went over, and I don't know what, if anything, that means for the Cruiserweights. All I do know is that the smaller dudes are way cooler to watch for me than most of the bigger dudes.
So that's it for last week's NXT and Worlds Collide eps! Tune in this Wednesday for my recaps of Raw and Smackdown Live, which will be on time!
Until next time, kids...
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