Well, this was a really interesting week for NXT programming, and it was pretty much all great except for one thing, and we'll get to that in a bit.
Let's start with the one thing that didn't work about NXT this week.
Basically, this was more of a house show than anything else since we have another week until they get back to their regularly scheduled Full Sail tapings, and they were in Bel Air, Maryland. NXT was in Bel Air, Maryland, and they did not have a match with Bianca Belair. How does that not happen?? Well, they might not have gotten one on the air, but we should have seen that one! UNACCEPTABLE!!
As far as the rest of the show, this was a great episode. We had a tag match between Candace LeRae and Io Shirai vs The Horsewomen with Shayna Baszler standing on the ramp watching. Personally, I'm kind of falling in love with the idea that Duke and Shafir never win. They can't cut it on their own and that's why they're Shayna's backup rather than a pair that stands on equal footing. And this idea is something that they can pull off because Shayna is so fucking dominant. But this match quickly got brutal as Io, having one of the Horseys down on the mat, used Shayna's own arm stomp move against her lackey, reinforcing that Io is totally 100% content to just get down and dirty and fuck people up. Io and Shayna would fight outside the ring while Candace took out the other Horsewomen with a suicide dive causing a No Contest. This is Io unfettered and unfiltered in her badassery. Look at what she did to Shayna after their match at TakeOver XXV. That was just the next stage of the transition from Io, the cute, cool, calm Asian girl that was accepted by WWE into the IDGAF terminator that she apparently was in Japan. When Shayna hurt Kairi way back when, something started to snap inside Io and this ultra-aggressive side of her started slowly coming out, and then losing to Shayna seems to have made her go almost completely to the Dark Side (it's not quite what they did with Johnny last year, but it's the right choice) and now she's grabbing kendo sticks and chairs and trying to cripple Shayna's running pals and I couldn't be happier. And then there was Candace who is not exactly getting a rocket strapped to her, but she is definitely becoming her own force, and it's way past time. For a little too long, she was used as a prop for Johnny's successes and failures but now she's coming out and kicking ass without commentary having to remind us she's married to Johnny. All these things are making me very happy.
There's all this stuff going around about renaming a bunch of either developmental talent or people coming over from other promotions, and that's where Damian Priest is coming in, because he initially came in months ago as his ROH name Punishment Martinez, but had maybe one match and now is being rebranded and renamed. It's kind of a lame renaming unless they're looking to somehow parlay this name change into something more solemn like going from Tommy End to Aleister Black, although in fairness, Aleister Black is a way cooler name than Tommy End. And apparently they renamed Eric Bugenhagen to Rik Bugez. And my only thought was: WHY?? The name Bugenhagen is so fucking awesome that it seems so goofy and unnecessary to change it! Just the chant of "Bugenhagen! *clap*clap*clapclapclap* Bugenhagen! *clap*clap*clapclapclap*" is so much simpler than "Go Rik Bugez! *clap*clap*clapclapclap*". It's really kind of a minor quibble, but it'll become a little more significant if they also change the former Bugenhagen's gimmick. Then I'll be probably a little pissed off.
Then we got KUSHIDA vs Drew Gulak in a Submissions match, which is a stipulation I've never actually seen done outside of playing the 2K WWE games, but this stipulation works so well in the favor of both these competitors. I mean, it wasn't really an outcome that was in doubt, but seeing some of the submissions that were used in this match was still pretty damn fun. KUSHIDA picked up the win with the Hoverboard Lock (I'm still amazed they're allowing him to keep his whole BTTF gimmick), and I'm willing to lay good money on KUSHIDA having one of the grudge matches at the next TakeOver. He's already really over with the crowd and with wrestling fans at large, so I can see him having a really cool match with someone like Roderick Strong or KOR. He just needs a really solid heel opponent that can give him a great match but still go over.
But that was only one part of the dual main event, because the next was Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Undisputed Era, and this was really fucking fun (with one exception). And considering how many times Nigel said it on commentary, I'm actually surprised they haven't given them the tag team name of the Brit-Am Brawlers. That's actually a pretty cool tag name. Both teams looked really strong and I'm still shocked that Roddy isn't a bigger star than he already is. He's got everything worth having in a pro wrestler, and surprisingly he works better as a heel than as a babyface only because his babyface promos were a bit stilted, but that's also the result of good storytelling. He tried to be a good guy, but he saw that all the bad guys were getting gold, hence the switching of sides when he betrayed Pete Dunne back at TakeOver New Orleans to give Undisputed their first run with tag team gold. But the only downside to this match was when fucking Jaxson Ryker started to come out to the ring apparently looking for revenge for having a shitload of ladders dropped on him at TakeOver XXV. Again, it sucked a good amount of energy and momentum from the match because that's what Forgotten Sons are best at. Until they either fix or disband Forgotten Sons, I will not stop bitching about them because these guys are not worth the time they've been given. But thanks to Ryker's appearance, Lorcan and Burch were able to pick up the win. It's not necessarily how I would have booked it myself, but this gives Brit-Am some good forward momentum to challenge Street Profits for the tag titles in the not-too-distant future.
All in all, this was a really fun house-show episode of NXT but I'm really looking forward to what they have in store for the future particularly when it comes to Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano, because this could be the next great rivalry in the Men's division. And I can't wait for the steel cage match between Shirai and Baszler because that should be awesome.
Across the water in NXT UK, things are heating up for some of the newcomers and it's really exciting to see what they're doing.
Still in Glasgow, they kicked it off with Xia Brookside and Isla Dawn vs Jinny and her hired muscle, Jazzy Gabert. The first thing that struck me was how much Dawn has improved since seeing her at the beginnings of the show. She's really seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds. But this wasn't about the babyfaces as much as it was about the raw power and brutality of Gabert, who had an awesome showing, and the ending of the match was just so great with Gabert hitting Dawn with The Dominator and Jinny demanding that Jazzy tag her in so Jinny could cover Isla for the pin and win. I'm really excited to see what they have in store for this duo, because Jazzy was really fun to watch in the first Mae Young Classic and hopefully will continue to be fun being a monster heel and her being the hireling of Jinny is a solid angle for her particular brand of chicken shitheel. Watching Jazzy and Piper Niven would be a really fun match.
Then we got Joseph Connors vs Ilya Dragunov, and the Red-Eyed Red (at least that's what I'm calling him for now) was as much a maniac as he was during his first match in NXT. I'm uncertain as to whether he's supposed to be a heel or face or tweener, but all I know for right now is that he kicks all sorts of ass. The Torpedo Moscow, which is sort of a corkscrew headbutt, is a wild as fuck finisher and it really works for his character.
But then it was time for the big one. Imperium, the formidable team of WALTER, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel was going to lay down the law that they run the show now, but they have an equally formidable team vying for dominance and that's British Strong Style, made up of Tyler Bate, Trent Seven and Pete Dunne. This was going to be a war, and we all knew it, and boy howdy it was. Everyone was firing on all cylinders throughout this match, especially Dunne and WALTER. They were ready to dish out the hurt all day. But just when you thought that the Brits had the upper hand, a masked competitor came up the steps that no one knew what to make of them. Were they here to help one team or the other? And thanks to a ref bump, this masked man came in the ring and revealed himself as none other than Alexander Wolfe!!! He power bombed Bate, WALTER threw the ref back in the ring and picked up the pinfall!
When the masked man came in, I honestly had no idea who it could possibly be. Was it some other well-known Euro wrestler that would get a huge pop? Was it someone returning that wanted to join up with Imperium or even BSS? The absolute last person I would have imagined (other than CM Punk or Jon Moxley) was Alexander Wolfe, who we had all been told had been released from WWE back around Mania. So to see him back and joining up with Imperium means that he's far from gone and is ready to take on the babyfaces in NXT UK, and I'm really happy for him. It's a bummer that he seems to be getting more of a high-profile placement in NXT UK than any of his other male counterparts from Sanity, considering that Eric Young is running around after R-Truth for the 24/7 title and Killian Dane is in limbo as they're transitioning him back to NXT, particularly since he seemed to be the most, for lack of a better term, disposable of the three of them. But here he is, big as life and twice as ugly but the faction of Imperium could be UK's answer to Undisputed Era now, and that's a big deal. Let's hope that they keep going in this direction and keep these factions in a protracted war of attrition because this is maybe the most exciting development for NXT UK I've seen yet.
Well, that's it for my recap of the NXT shows this week, and whenever I do the NXT recaps, it's amazing how noticeable the difference in my mood is when it comes to the work being done in NXT and the work being done on the main roster. And each time, I keep thinking that the main roster shows just keep trying the same old shit while NXT is stealing the show.
I don't honestly know if I want to keep doing a column about the main roster shows because I hate always being negative, and unless there's some serious course correction about to happen, I don't see those feelings changing any time soon. But I'm always excited to discuss NXT, so we'll see. And AXS TV has been getting a lot better about making New Japan available without there being a month (or greater) lag between the live show and the airing of that show. I know it's kind of like the 90-minute version of Raw that's on Hulu every week, but you get most of the good stuff. I might even have a column about Dominion coming this weekend! I've seen the first hour of the two-hour broadcast from AXS last night and it was awesome, and I have yet to see the match between Kazuchika Okada and Chris Jericho, but that's my first order of business tonight when I get home, so who knows? I might, but I might not. It's a lot of columning in one week! So check back tomorrow, and I might have one. If I don't, you'll know it's because I was just too damn busy.
Until next time, kids...
Let's start with the one thing that didn't work about NXT this week.
Basically, this was more of a house show than anything else since we have another week until they get back to their regularly scheduled Full Sail tapings, and they were in Bel Air, Maryland. NXT was in Bel Air, Maryland, and they did not have a match with Bianca Belair. How does that not happen?? Well, they might not have gotten one on the air, but we should have seen that one! UNACCEPTABLE!!
As far as the rest of the show, this was a great episode. We had a tag match between Candace LeRae and Io Shirai vs The Horsewomen with Shayna Baszler standing on the ramp watching. Personally, I'm kind of falling in love with the idea that Duke and Shafir never win. They can't cut it on their own and that's why they're Shayna's backup rather than a pair that stands on equal footing. And this idea is something that they can pull off because Shayna is so fucking dominant. But this match quickly got brutal as Io, having one of the Horseys down on the mat, used Shayna's own arm stomp move against her lackey, reinforcing that Io is totally 100% content to just get down and dirty and fuck people up. Io and Shayna would fight outside the ring while Candace took out the other Horsewomen with a suicide dive causing a No Contest. This is Io unfettered and unfiltered in her badassery. Look at what she did to Shayna after their match at TakeOver XXV. That was just the next stage of the transition from Io, the cute, cool, calm Asian girl that was accepted by WWE into the IDGAF terminator that she apparently was in Japan. When Shayna hurt Kairi way back when, something started to snap inside Io and this ultra-aggressive side of her started slowly coming out, and then losing to Shayna seems to have made her go almost completely to the Dark Side (it's not quite what they did with Johnny last year, but it's the right choice) and now she's grabbing kendo sticks and chairs and trying to cripple Shayna's running pals and I couldn't be happier. And then there was Candace who is not exactly getting a rocket strapped to her, but she is definitely becoming her own force, and it's way past time. For a little too long, she was used as a prop for Johnny's successes and failures but now she's coming out and kicking ass without commentary having to remind us she's married to Johnny. All these things are making me very happy.
There's all this stuff going around about renaming a bunch of either developmental talent or people coming over from other promotions, and that's where Damian Priest is coming in, because he initially came in months ago as his ROH name Punishment Martinez, but had maybe one match and now is being rebranded and renamed. It's kind of a lame renaming unless they're looking to somehow parlay this name change into something more solemn like going from Tommy End to Aleister Black, although in fairness, Aleister Black is a way cooler name than Tommy End. And apparently they renamed Eric Bugenhagen to Rik Bugez. And my only thought was: WHY?? The name Bugenhagen is so fucking awesome that it seems so goofy and unnecessary to change it! Just the chant of "Bugenhagen! *clap*clap*clapclapclap* Bugenhagen! *clap*clap*clapclapclap*" is so much simpler than "Go Rik Bugez! *clap*clap*clapclapclap*". It's really kind of a minor quibble, but it'll become a little more significant if they also change the former Bugenhagen's gimmick. Then I'll be probably a little pissed off.
Then we got KUSHIDA vs Drew Gulak in a Submissions match, which is a stipulation I've never actually seen done outside of playing the 2K WWE games, but this stipulation works so well in the favor of both these competitors. I mean, it wasn't really an outcome that was in doubt, but seeing some of the submissions that were used in this match was still pretty damn fun. KUSHIDA picked up the win with the Hoverboard Lock (I'm still amazed they're allowing him to keep his whole BTTF gimmick), and I'm willing to lay good money on KUSHIDA having one of the grudge matches at the next TakeOver. He's already really over with the crowd and with wrestling fans at large, so I can see him having a really cool match with someone like Roderick Strong or KOR. He just needs a really solid heel opponent that can give him a great match but still go over.
But that was only one part of the dual main event, because the next was Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Undisputed Era, and this was really fucking fun (with one exception). And considering how many times Nigel said it on commentary, I'm actually surprised they haven't given them the tag team name of the Brit-Am Brawlers. That's actually a pretty cool tag name. Both teams looked really strong and I'm still shocked that Roddy isn't a bigger star than he already is. He's got everything worth having in a pro wrestler, and surprisingly he works better as a heel than as a babyface only because his babyface promos were a bit stilted, but that's also the result of good storytelling. He tried to be a good guy, but he saw that all the bad guys were getting gold, hence the switching of sides when he betrayed Pete Dunne back at TakeOver New Orleans to give Undisputed their first run with tag team gold. But the only downside to this match was when fucking Jaxson Ryker started to come out to the ring apparently looking for revenge for having a shitload of ladders dropped on him at TakeOver XXV. Again, it sucked a good amount of energy and momentum from the match because that's what Forgotten Sons are best at. Until they either fix or disband Forgotten Sons, I will not stop bitching about them because these guys are not worth the time they've been given. But thanks to Ryker's appearance, Lorcan and Burch were able to pick up the win. It's not necessarily how I would have booked it myself, but this gives Brit-Am some good forward momentum to challenge Street Profits for the tag titles in the not-too-distant future.
All in all, this was a really fun house-show episode of NXT but I'm really looking forward to what they have in store for the future particularly when it comes to Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano, because this could be the next great rivalry in the Men's division. And I can't wait for the steel cage match between Shirai and Baszler because that should be awesome.
Across the water in NXT UK, things are heating up for some of the newcomers and it's really exciting to see what they're doing.
Still in Glasgow, they kicked it off with Xia Brookside and Isla Dawn vs Jinny and her hired muscle, Jazzy Gabert. The first thing that struck me was how much Dawn has improved since seeing her at the beginnings of the show. She's really seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds. But this wasn't about the babyfaces as much as it was about the raw power and brutality of Gabert, who had an awesome showing, and the ending of the match was just so great with Gabert hitting Dawn with The Dominator and Jinny demanding that Jazzy tag her in so Jinny could cover Isla for the pin and win. I'm really excited to see what they have in store for this duo, because Jazzy was really fun to watch in the first Mae Young Classic and hopefully will continue to be fun being a monster heel and her being the hireling of Jinny is a solid angle for her particular brand of chicken shitheel. Watching Jazzy and Piper Niven would be a really fun match.
Then we got Joseph Connors vs Ilya Dragunov, and the Red-Eyed Red (at least that's what I'm calling him for now) was as much a maniac as he was during his first match in NXT. I'm uncertain as to whether he's supposed to be a heel or face or tweener, but all I know for right now is that he kicks all sorts of ass. The Torpedo Moscow, which is sort of a corkscrew headbutt, is a wild as fuck finisher and it really works for his character.
But then it was time for the big one. Imperium, the formidable team of WALTER, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel was going to lay down the law that they run the show now, but they have an equally formidable team vying for dominance and that's British Strong Style, made up of Tyler Bate, Trent Seven and Pete Dunne. This was going to be a war, and we all knew it, and boy howdy it was. Everyone was firing on all cylinders throughout this match, especially Dunne and WALTER. They were ready to dish out the hurt all day. But just when you thought that the Brits had the upper hand, a masked competitor came up the steps that no one knew what to make of them. Were they here to help one team or the other? And thanks to a ref bump, this masked man came in the ring and revealed himself as none other than Alexander Wolfe!!! He power bombed Bate, WALTER threw the ref back in the ring and picked up the pinfall!
When the masked man came in, I honestly had no idea who it could possibly be. Was it some other well-known Euro wrestler that would get a huge pop? Was it someone returning that wanted to join up with Imperium or even BSS? The absolute last person I would have imagined (other than CM Punk or Jon Moxley) was Alexander Wolfe, who we had all been told had been released from WWE back around Mania. So to see him back and joining up with Imperium means that he's far from gone and is ready to take on the babyfaces in NXT UK, and I'm really happy for him. It's a bummer that he seems to be getting more of a high-profile placement in NXT UK than any of his other male counterparts from Sanity, considering that Eric Young is running around after R-Truth for the 24/7 title and Killian Dane is in limbo as they're transitioning him back to NXT, particularly since he seemed to be the most, for lack of a better term, disposable of the three of them. But here he is, big as life and twice as ugly but the faction of Imperium could be UK's answer to Undisputed Era now, and that's a big deal. Let's hope that they keep going in this direction and keep these factions in a protracted war of attrition because this is maybe the most exciting development for NXT UK I've seen yet.
Well, that's it for my recap of the NXT shows this week, and whenever I do the NXT recaps, it's amazing how noticeable the difference in my mood is when it comes to the work being done in NXT and the work being done on the main roster. And each time, I keep thinking that the main roster shows just keep trying the same old shit while NXT is stealing the show.
I don't honestly know if I want to keep doing a column about the main roster shows because I hate always being negative, and unless there's some serious course correction about to happen, I don't see those feelings changing any time soon. But I'm always excited to discuss NXT, so we'll see. And AXS TV has been getting a lot better about making New Japan available without there being a month (or greater) lag between the live show and the airing of that show. I know it's kind of like the 90-minute version of Raw that's on Hulu every week, but you get most of the good stuff. I might even have a column about Dominion coming this weekend! I've seen the first hour of the two-hour broadcast from AXS last night and it was awesome, and I have yet to see the match between Kazuchika Okada and Chris Jericho, but that's my first order of business tonight when I get home, so who knows? I might, but I might not. It's a lot of columning in one week! So check back tomorrow, and I might have one. If I don't, you'll know it's because I was just too damn busy.
Until next time, kids...
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