So you didn't read that headline wrong; yes, this is the first week I'll also be covering NXT UK in the Black and Gold brand recap! As far as NXT UK, I've been watching it pretty much weekly since they stopped running it two hours a night, but fitting that in to a column that's been dedicated solely to the activity that we're seeing weekly from Full Sail, I felt that UK might be a bit much for this column, so that's basically why I haven't been doing it. But since I covered Worlds Collide over the past few weeks, I figured, why not? Let's give this a shot and see how it works out!
So let's dig into NXT first and see what, if anything, didn't go so well.
Once again, the only thing that I do not give a single shit about is The Forgotten Sons. At this time, I can almost appreciate how hard NXT is trying to push these guys as the badass heels, given that everyone seems to hate them, and not necessarily in the way that heels should be hated. I can totally understand why they're doing this since to have Undisputed Era involved in all the tag rivalries would start to get pretty boring after a while, but I would much prefer that a team like Street Profits or even Lorcan and Burch turn heel so they have this spot instead of three guys no one really gives a shit about and the only reason they're there is to be the next contenders that look like they have a chance against Viking Raiders, which is the name they've apparently made official in NXT as well. Ugh.
As far as the rest of the show, once again, there was nothing in the bad/good swirl area and the rest of it was just damn good.
I really enjoyed the hell out of the match between Bianca Belair and Mia Yim. It was a good showing for both, but it also showed that Belair has a different use for that long braid other than as a whip. She used it as extra leverage by slipping in through the ropes to stack up Yim, which made Belair look smart, but also still made Yim look strong. A good dirty pin is so useful when done right, and this one definitely one of those times.
I'm also liking the attack at the PC on Shayna by Io while she's working out with Duke and Shafir. Io knows that she's going to get the raw end of that deal, but she doesn't care because Shayna clearly deserves it. She just wants to get in as many good shots on Baszler as she can before she's eventually in a 3-on-1 beatdown, and that's how you make someone look even more badass.
As far as Matt Riddle vs Adam Cole was concerned, I don't think that it was going to be in dispute that this match was going to be awesome. Again, Cole shows how well he can work with anyone, and Riddle looked incredibly strong, especially when he kicked out of the Last Shot. This match also furthered the story of the growing tension within Undisputed Era between Cole and Roddy. And Roderick being the odd man out makes sense since he's certainly good enough to have a really strong singles run. The question becomes at this point, is Roddy just going to walk away from UE, or is he going to turn babyface so he can go at them head on? Strong, as I've been saying for a long time now, is a ridiculously talented performer and I'd really like to see what their plans are for him.
But if we're talking about show-stealers, we have to talk about Raul Mendoza vs the returning Riddick Moss. This was easily my favorite experience of the night, because you had Moss coming back as a singles competitor with a brand new gimmick that just totally fucking worked for me. He comes in with all this workout gear branded with what he calls the "Riddick Regimen", and he's heeling it the fuck up with the crowd by taking hydration breaks and doing pushups and curls during his return match against a guy known for being a developmental jobber in Mendoza. And this is Moss returning from surgery, so he's going to go over, right? Moss is interacting with the crowd and just really is a character that is poking fun at all the workout-obsessed dudebros out there, and to see Mendoza end up getting the win was a massive shocker. But Mendoza is the new Oney Lorcan. He's a guy who's really talented but is essentially someone who jobs out to heels and just needs a few shock wins to get over with the viewers and the crowd. And Moss's whole gimmick is something I really want to see continue. It's such a goofy and funny shitheel gimmick and I can really see it being a lot of fun to play with. I'd love to see a match between Moss and Eric Bugenhagen, because it would just be a match of the goofy gimmicks, and that seems like a lot of fun in a place like NXT. And the match was also really good too, so I'm here for more Riddick Regimen.
So let's head on over across the pond for NXT UK!
Let me preface this by stating that, for the most part, I'm really enjoying NXT UK, but I'm not all the way in yet with a lot of the storytelling they're doing. It's still strong storytelling, but when I first started watching NXT, I was naturally recognizing that it was way better than anything the main roster was doing, but it took me a while to fully buy in to the stories they were telling. So while I really enjoy a good amount of their stars and a lot of their matches are terrific, I also realize it's not going to blow me away from a storytelling standpoint yet because they're really just working on building up the brand. And I'm also previously on record on really not being a fan of Vic Joseph on commentary. He's getting better, but he's still just a little too main-roster Tom Phillips/Michael Cole for me. Having Nigel McGuinness there to balance it out helps a lot, so... just an FYI heading in.
That being said, there wasn't much of anything that didn't work for me, and I guess that's one of the benefits of not being fully attached to the characters yet.
I like how the show opened with two stories that would feed into the narrative of the show and that was with not only with Sid Scala announcing that there was going to be a tournament between 8 competitors over the next two weeks to determine who would be in a Fatal 4-Way to compete for the #1 Contender spot for Walter's UK title, but that there was supposed to be a match for the UK Tag titles between champs Grizzled Young Veterans and Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams, but Jordan was revealed to have been attacked backstage by unknown assailants. Think about it: an actual tournament just to get a spot in a Fatal 4-Way and all of that is just to qualify for a Number 1 Contender spot. That's more of an indie thing than a WWE thing, and I'm always glad to see one, because it's a good place to create or heat up rivalries.
As the perennial favorite in NXT UK, it's always fun to see Moustache Mountain. They were a huge part of our initial exposure to NXT UK and how that brand might look when we watched the initial UK tournament, and then of course the TakeOver match between Pete Dunne and inaugural UK champ Tyler Bate really put them on the map. And pairing Bate with veteran Trent Seven was also a good move. They're arguably the most over of the UK tag teams, and seeing them square off against The Hunt (which is still a better tag team name than Viking Raiders) was a really fun match. I'm still not really down with MM's finisher, but everything else they do is really cool, so I can certainly take it.
Since this show was in Glasgow, the qualifying match between Flash Morgan Webster and Joe Coffey for a spot in the Fatal 4-Way wasn't really in question as Coffey is a Scot and popped big with his home country crowd despite being a big heel. This was also a hell of a match for both competitors, and Coffey would come out on top.
The match between rising contender Nina Samuels and Kacey Owens was pretty good, but the thing that upsets me about both of these competitors is that they couldn't have found more interesting names for them? They both have such generic names. But it was a good call to have the heel beat the native Scot in Glasgow. And I like that her finisher is called The Ninagoroshi. Aside from that, I'm glad that they've got a lot of young developmental talent in the UK division and that will hopefully translate to strong work as they progress in their careers.
And as much as everyone hates Zack Gibson (so much so that the UK crowds apparently have to take their shoes off to let him know they hate him; did I mention that none of the UK crowd chants make any sense at all to me?), he's such a fucking great heel. Drake doesn't even need to say a word if he doesn't want to, because Gibson is good enough on the mic at getting heat that Drake doesn't have to. But when he announced that since Amir Jordan was injured, there wouldn't be a title match for the GYV's, Kenny Williams came out and found a tag partner he could work with, and that was the returning Scottish Supernova himself, Noam Dar. And if Williams and Dar had actually won, how much would that have sucked for Jordan? But that didn't happen, and Grizzled Young Veterans retained. But damn, this was a good match. Jordan and Williams are becoming one of my favorite UK teams because they have such a fun dynamic, and they're both really terrific in the ring. I honestly felt that Dar was a bit of a step down from Jordan but it worked for the pop and the reaction from the crowd. I'm also glad that Dar is doing well because he's just had too many injury problems recently and I'd hate to see him on the shelf for even longer.
This match was really indicative of why I really enjoy NXT UK. Pretty much every episode that I've seen felt like a house show, and house shows are the most fun you can have. The crowds are hyper-energetic and the match quality is generally pretty fantastic. The only thing that just isn't quite there yet is the investment in the characters and the stories, but I have faith that Hunter and whoever else that's helping out with NXT UK is working towards some more long-form storytelling that will end up making this show a must-see.
Well, that's it for this week on the NXT scene! Hope you enjoyed reading! Come back later this week as I look at the go-homes for Raw and Smackdown Live, and next week for more NXT and NXT UK!
Until next time, kids...
So let's dig into NXT first and see what, if anything, didn't go so well.
Once again, the only thing that I do not give a single shit about is The Forgotten Sons. At this time, I can almost appreciate how hard NXT is trying to push these guys as the badass heels, given that everyone seems to hate them, and not necessarily in the way that heels should be hated. I can totally understand why they're doing this since to have Undisputed Era involved in all the tag rivalries would start to get pretty boring after a while, but I would much prefer that a team like Street Profits or even Lorcan and Burch turn heel so they have this spot instead of three guys no one really gives a shit about and the only reason they're there is to be the next contenders that look like they have a chance against Viking Raiders, which is the name they've apparently made official in NXT as well. Ugh.
As far as the rest of the show, once again, there was nothing in the bad/good swirl area and the rest of it was just damn good.
I really enjoyed the hell out of the match between Bianca Belair and Mia Yim. It was a good showing for both, but it also showed that Belair has a different use for that long braid other than as a whip. She used it as extra leverage by slipping in through the ropes to stack up Yim, which made Belair look smart, but also still made Yim look strong. A good dirty pin is so useful when done right, and this one definitely one of those times.
I'm also liking the attack at the PC on Shayna by Io while she's working out with Duke and Shafir. Io knows that she's going to get the raw end of that deal, but she doesn't care because Shayna clearly deserves it. She just wants to get in as many good shots on Baszler as she can before she's eventually in a 3-on-1 beatdown, and that's how you make someone look even more badass.
As far as Matt Riddle vs Adam Cole was concerned, I don't think that it was going to be in dispute that this match was going to be awesome. Again, Cole shows how well he can work with anyone, and Riddle looked incredibly strong, especially when he kicked out of the Last Shot. This match also furthered the story of the growing tension within Undisputed Era between Cole and Roddy. And Roderick being the odd man out makes sense since he's certainly good enough to have a really strong singles run. The question becomes at this point, is Roddy just going to walk away from UE, or is he going to turn babyface so he can go at them head on? Strong, as I've been saying for a long time now, is a ridiculously talented performer and I'd really like to see what their plans are for him.
But if we're talking about show-stealers, we have to talk about Raul Mendoza vs the returning Riddick Moss. This was easily my favorite experience of the night, because you had Moss coming back as a singles competitor with a brand new gimmick that just totally fucking worked for me. He comes in with all this workout gear branded with what he calls the "Riddick Regimen", and he's heeling it the fuck up with the crowd by taking hydration breaks and doing pushups and curls during his return match against a guy known for being a developmental jobber in Mendoza. And this is Moss returning from surgery, so he's going to go over, right? Moss is interacting with the crowd and just really is a character that is poking fun at all the workout-obsessed dudebros out there, and to see Mendoza end up getting the win was a massive shocker. But Mendoza is the new Oney Lorcan. He's a guy who's really talented but is essentially someone who jobs out to heels and just needs a few shock wins to get over with the viewers and the crowd. And Moss's whole gimmick is something I really want to see continue. It's such a goofy and funny shitheel gimmick and I can really see it being a lot of fun to play with. I'd love to see a match between Moss and Eric Bugenhagen, because it would just be a match of the goofy gimmicks, and that seems like a lot of fun in a place like NXT. And the match was also really good too, so I'm here for more Riddick Regimen.
So let's head on over across the pond for NXT UK!
Let me preface this by stating that, for the most part, I'm really enjoying NXT UK, but I'm not all the way in yet with a lot of the storytelling they're doing. It's still strong storytelling, but when I first started watching NXT, I was naturally recognizing that it was way better than anything the main roster was doing, but it took me a while to fully buy in to the stories they were telling. So while I really enjoy a good amount of their stars and a lot of their matches are terrific, I also realize it's not going to blow me away from a storytelling standpoint yet because they're really just working on building up the brand. And I'm also previously on record on really not being a fan of Vic Joseph on commentary. He's getting better, but he's still just a little too main-roster Tom Phillips/Michael Cole for me. Having Nigel McGuinness there to balance it out helps a lot, so... just an FYI heading in.
That being said, there wasn't much of anything that didn't work for me, and I guess that's one of the benefits of not being fully attached to the characters yet.
I like how the show opened with two stories that would feed into the narrative of the show and that was with not only with Sid Scala announcing that there was going to be a tournament between 8 competitors over the next two weeks to determine who would be in a Fatal 4-Way to compete for the #1 Contender spot for Walter's UK title, but that there was supposed to be a match for the UK Tag titles between champs Grizzled Young Veterans and Amir Jordan and Kenny Williams, but Jordan was revealed to have been attacked backstage by unknown assailants. Think about it: an actual tournament just to get a spot in a Fatal 4-Way and all of that is just to qualify for a Number 1 Contender spot. That's more of an indie thing than a WWE thing, and I'm always glad to see one, because it's a good place to create or heat up rivalries.
As the perennial favorite in NXT UK, it's always fun to see Moustache Mountain. They were a huge part of our initial exposure to NXT UK and how that brand might look when we watched the initial UK tournament, and then of course the TakeOver match between Pete Dunne and inaugural UK champ Tyler Bate really put them on the map. And pairing Bate with veteran Trent Seven was also a good move. They're arguably the most over of the UK tag teams, and seeing them square off against The Hunt (which is still a better tag team name than Viking Raiders) was a really fun match. I'm still not really down with MM's finisher, but everything else they do is really cool, so I can certainly take it.
Since this show was in Glasgow, the qualifying match between Flash Morgan Webster and Joe Coffey for a spot in the Fatal 4-Way wasn't really in question as Coffey is a Scot and popped big with his home country crowd despite being a big heel. This was also a hell of a match for both competitors, and Coffey would come out on top.
The match between rising contender Nina Samuels and Kacey Owens was pretty good, but the thing that upsets me about both of these competitors is that they couldn't have found more interesting names for them? They both have such generic names. But it was a good call to have the heel beat the native Scot in Glasgow. And I like that her finisher is called The Ninagoroshi. Aside from that, I'm glad that they've got a lot of young developmental talent in the UK division and that will hopefully translate to strong work as they progress in their careers.
And as much as everyone hates Zack Gibson (so much so that the UK crowds apparently have to take their shoes off to let him know they hate him; did I mention that none of the UK crowd chants make any sense at all to me?), he's such a fucking great heel. Drake doesn't even need to say a word if he doesn't want to, because Gibson is good enough on the mic at getting heat that Drake doesn't have to. But when he announced that since Amir Jordan was injured, there wouldn't be a title match for the GYV's, Kenny Williams came out and found a tag partner he could work with, and that was the returning Scottish Supernova himself, Noam Dar. And if Williams and Dar had actually won, how much would that have sucked for Jordan? But that didn't happen, and Grizzled Young Veterans retained. But damn, this was a good match. Jordan and Williams are becoming one of my favorite UK teams because they have such a fun dynamic, and they're both really terrific in the ring. I honestly felt that Dar was a bit of a step down from Jordan but it worked for the pop and the reaction from the crowd. I'm also glad that Dar is doing well because he's just had too many injury problems recently and I'd hate to see him on the shelf for even longer.
This match was really indicative of why I really enjoy NXT UK. Pretty much every episode that I've seen felt like a house show, and house shows are the most fun you can have. The crowds are hyper-energetic and the match quality is generally pretty fantastic. The only thing that just isn't quite there yet is the investment in the characters and the stories, but I have faith that Hunter and whoever else that's helping out with NXT UK is working towards some more long-form storytelling that will end up making this show a must-see.
Well, that's it for this week on the NXT scene! Hope you enjoyed reading! Come back later this week as I look at the go-homes for Raw and Smackdown Live, and next week for more NXT and NXT UK!
Until next time, kids...
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