As discussed in the last column (you know, the one where I talked about basically giving up on the main roster for a while?), I'll still be here for my weekly recaps of all things NXT because the NXT brand is, y'know, real real good.
As usual, let's kick it off with the events at Full Sail!
There is always a question that has to be asked when a babyface turns heel: do we change up their babyface entrance music so that it has an edgier sound to it? Most times they don't because they don't really need to; their entrance music still sounds badass, or in the case of a heel turn like Sami Zayn or Dolph Ziggler, it's basically just the same but they come out like a bigger jackass. But when you have a grand heel turn like Io Shirai, you need to rub some stank on that entrance. Gone is the bright, colorful jumbotron entrance graphics and heroic entrance music; and it's now just white lettering against a black screen and her entrance is almost entirely in darkness and her music is decidedly dirtier. And she came out in all black and said that she didn't need friends and she didn't need us, dropped the mic and left.
Io Shirai has gone beyond heel; she's gone full Sith. And it is fucking glorious. I am beyond down for a dark heel Io run. When she attacked Shayna Baszler with the kendo sticks and the moonsault with the chair at TakeOver XXV, I was hyped as hell. When she lost the steel cage match a few weeks ago, she also lost her mind and attacked Candace LeRae and you do not get cheers when you attack Candace LeRae: you get nuclear levels of heat. This is where long-term storytelling pays off. You can trace Io's turn to the Dark Side back to when Kairi Sane had her farewell match against Shayna when Shayna stomped Kairi's arm and just really fucked her up badly during and after their match. After that, Io had a massive hate-on for Shayna and expressed that by blindsiding her and the Horsewomen in the PC with a kendo stick and then using other implements of pain and waging a sort of psychological warfare against Shayna, but she still prevailed by skill at TakeOver XXV and then luck in the steel cage match where Io just snapped. It's not so much that Io wants the strap; she wants to beat Shayna so badly. I don't think that her turning heel is an end to their feud; just a very dark bump in the road. It's the "I have become what I have beheld" heel turn gimmick and it almost always works, particularly when you understand the psychology behind it. They pulled it off perfectly with Johnny Gargano last year, and it looks like they're doing something similar here, but without the delusional hero angle that Johnny was playing.
And that's just the first three or four minutes.
There was a fun Velveteen Dream promo where he was at a "press conference" answering questions from "Queen Cathy" about whether or not Roderick Strong has a case for being the next contender for the North American title. This was just a fun little segment where Dream is all about the Dream. It's interesting that he's basically a babyface because he's relatively heelish, but that's just part of the "experience". Dream is such a great character that wouldn't really work in just about any other promotion, but because it's NXT, he's pretty much perfect.
Then we were treated (?) to another squash for Damian Priest. His opponent went by the name El Blanco Loco, which literally translated from Spanish means "The Crazy White", and considering they're in Florida, they probably just got someone off the street. Personally, I don't get any real pleasure from watching a squash where it's just a barely-capable jobber that's about a foot shorter than the guy they're trying to get over. Raul Mendoza, while he shouldn't really be a jobber, is a perfect guy for Priest to face off against because he can actually get in some really fun offense and still look good in his loss. Even Riddick Moss would be preferable. Anyway, aesthetics of jobbers aside, I'm not terribly impressed with Priest. His whole "archer" gimmick might be kind of interesting if any of his moves resembled something to do with archery.
We also got another terrific match for the NXT Breakout tourney, this time between Jordan Myles (formerly known as ACH in ROH) and Boa. Boa looked like a badass and Myles looked like a really fun and more interesting version of Apollo Crews. Boa had a lot of ground-based attacks, where Myles was a super-athletic high-flyer. It was just fun, and this tournament has been really fun to watch so far. Whether or not the competitors will actually break out remains to be seen, but I guess we'll find out!
When it was time for the main event between Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Street Profits for the Tag belts, we knew we'd be in for something potentially upsetting since Profits have been backstage on Raw the last few episodes. But instead we got a really super fun match between the two where Ford and Dawkins retained their titles, and this time there was no run-in by the fucking Forgotten Sons. Don't get me wrong: I don't really think there's anything wrong with the Brit-Am Brawlers winning the titles, but not from the super-over Street Profits despite there being a lot of really good back and forth between the two teams. Of course, after SP's victory, O'Reilly and Fish appeared on the stage and hilariously fake-clapped for their victory, so I guess we know who's going to be next for this title. Part of me is really into Undisputed Era having all the gold in NXT and becoming an uber-powerful faction that is constantly dodging competition so they can claim a stranglehold on all the titles, but I don't know how realistic that is for NXT. Sadly, we didn't get more of the Adam Cole Celebration Tour last week where the last episode showed Cole show up at Johnny Gargano's dad's pizzeria and tack a photo of himself with the belt up next to a bunch of framed pictures of Johnny and then finished it up by bringing the pizzas he bought to the same Cleveland wrestling school Johnny had visited and told them all to give up because they're never going to be as good as he is and it was hilariously heel as fuck and I loved every moment of it. But apparently we're getting more next episode, so I'm here for it.
Then still at the Download Festival, we got some more NXT UK action!
This was kind of an iffy week of NXT UK but everyone's allowed to have an off week every now and then. It's not that it was bad; it was just kind of there. We had a match between Ilya Dragunov and Ashton Smith and I just want to know who the red-eyed Red really is. He doesn't seem to have much of a character at all rather than he likes to beat the shit out of people. And that's fine, but I like character work because that will get me invested in who they are and make me want to be there for their matches. Dragunov picked up the win, but it didn't really feel like any forward momentum for him but rather just kind of an exhibition match to show us more of what he's capable of. Again, not terrible, but it just felt kinda flat. I know that when any wrestling promotion is debuting a new popular wrestler and have them go on a good winning streak for a while, but this is usually in service of the character as well and since that's not really something that's there, I'm getting a little less hyped for Dragunov than the first few matches I saw him in.
Then we got Candy Floss in a friendly exhibition with Toni Storm. I like friendly matches, especially trying to predict which one is going to put that shot across the bow with the first truly offensive move. This one was fun, but more than anything, it was a set-up to show that not only can Candy Floss, despite taking the L, hang with the champ, but also to have Kay Lee Ray destroy Candy on the entrance ramp to show that she's champing at the bit to get it on with Storm for the Women's title.
The real highlight of the night was when Trent Seven got out there and gave a truly fired up promo about how Imperium beat the living fuck out of Tyler Bate during their title match against Grizzled Young Veterans the previous ep. Trent telling WALTER that he just wants a non-title match against him goes to how Trent actually does respect the ring and that WALTER and the rest of his lackeys in Imperium are a bunch of assholes. It was just good promo action, and I love seeing babyfaces get all pissed off.
We also had some fun with Nina Samuels going around Download and commiserating with the common folk. It was just a good heel segment.
Then we had our main even with The Hunt and Bomber Dave Mastiff taking on Gallus in a 6-man tag. I was a little out of this one as well, mostly because I didn't really understand the booking. I don't know why they decided to let Gallus pick up the win because frankly, we're getting too many heel factions in NXT UK right now and building up The Hunt would have served them better in the long-term. Again, a fine match, but I just didn't really feel it like I've felt previous episodes.
Now I wanted to use some of this column to talk about AEW's Fight for the Fallen PPV or Evolve's 10th Anniversary special, but I'm not because I didn't get to watch all of Fight for the Fallen (I missed the entire Kenny/Cima match because I fell asleep, and that's not a knock on the show; I was just tired as fuck). I didn't get to watch all of Evolve because again, tired as fuck. I also have G1 Climax B Block first round action to watch as well. Unfortunately, I don't think that Bleacher Report Live has an option where you can go back and watch previously aired stuff, so I guess all I can do is read about it. I might do something about Evolve later this week since I'll have more time to spend with other WWE programming, and might even talk about the B Block as well! I guess you'll have to check back and find out!
Otherwise, we'll be back with our regularly scheduled programming with NXT and NXT UK sometime this week!
Until next time, kids...
As usual, let's kick it off with the events at Full Sail!
There is always a question that has to be asked when a babyface turns heel: do we change up their babyface entrance music so that it has an edgier sound to it? Most times they don't because they don't really need to; their entrance music still sounds badass, or in the case of a heel turn like Sami Zayn or Dolph Ziggler, it's basically just the same but they come out like a bigger jackass. But when you have a grand heel turn like Io Shirai, you need to rub some stank on that entrance. Gone is the bright, colorful jumbotron entrance graphics and heroic entrance music; and it's now just white lettering against a black screen and her entrance is almost entirely in darkness and her music is decidedly dirtier. And she came out in all black and said that she didn't need friends and she didn't need us, dropped the mic and left.
Io Shirai has gone beyond heel; she's gone full Sith. And it is fucking glorious. I am beyond down for a dark heel Io run. When she attacked Shayna Baszler with the kendo sticks and the moonsault with the chair at TakeOver XXV, I was hyped as hell. When she lost the steel cage match a few weeks ago, she also lost her mind and attacked Candace LeRae and you do not get cheers when you attack Candace LeRae: you get nuclear levels of heat. This is where long-term storytelling pays off. You can trace Io's turn to the Dark Side back to when Kairi Sane had her farewell match against Shayna when Shayna stomped Kairi's arm and just really fucked her up badly during and after their match. After that, Io had a massive hate-on for Shayna and expressed that by blindsiding her and the Horsewomen in the PC with a kendo stick and then using other implements of pain and waging a sort of psychological warfare against Shayna, but she still prevailed by skill at TakeOver XXV and then luck in the steel cage match where Io just snapped. It's not so much that Io wants the strap; she wants to beat Shayna so badly. I don't think that her turning heel is an end to their feud; just a very dark bump in the road. It's the "I have become what I have beheld" heel turn gimmick and it almost always works, particularly when you understand the psychology behind it. They pulled it off perfectly with Johnny Gargano last year, and it looks like they're doing something similar here, but without the delusional hero angle that Johnny was playing.
And that's just the first three or four minutes.
There was a fun Velveteen Dream promo where he was at a "press conference" answering questions from "Queen Cathy" about whether or not Roderick Strong has a case for being the next contender for the North American title. This was just a fun little segment where Dream is all about the Dream. It's interesting that he's basically a babyface because he's relatively heelish, but that's just part of the "experience". Dream is such a great character that wouldn't really work in just about any other promotion, but because it's NXT, he's pretty much perfect.
Then we were treated (?) to another squash for Damian Priest. His opponent went by the name El Blanco Loco, which literally translated from Spanish means "The Crazy White", and considering they're in Florida, they probably just got someone off the street. Personally, I don't get any real pleasure from watching a squash where it's just a barely-capable jobber that's about a foot shorter than the guy they're trying to get over. Raul Mendoza, while he shouldn't really be a jobber, is a perfect guy for Priest to face off against because he can actually get in some really fun offense and still look good in his loss. Even Riddick Moss would be preferable. Anyway, aesthetics of jobbers aside, I'm not terribly impressed with Priest. His whole "archer" gimmick might be kind of interesting if any of his moves resembled something to do with archery.
We also got another terrific match for the NXT Breakout tourney, this time between Jordan Myles (formerly known as ACH in ROH) and Boa. Boa looked like a badass and Myles looked like a really fun and more interesting version of Apollo Crews. Boa had a lot of ground-based attacks, where Myles was a super-athletic high-flyer. It was just fun, and this tournament has been really fun to watch so far. Whether or not the competitors will actually break out remains to be seen, but I guess we'll find out!
When it was time for the main event between Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Street Profits for the Tag belts, we knew we'd be in for something potentially upsetting since Profits have been backstage on Raw the last few episodes. But instead we got a really super fun match between the two where Ford and Dawkins retained their titles, and this time there was no run-in by the fucking Forgotten Sons. Don't get me wrong: I don't really think there's anything wrong with the Brit-Am Brawlers winning the titles, but not from the super-over Street Profits despite there being a lot of really good back and forth between the two teams. Of course, after SP's victory, O'Reilly and Fish appeared on the stage and hilariously fake-clapped for their victory, so I guess we know who's going to be next for this title. Part of me is really into Undisputed Era having all the gold in NXT and becoming an uber-powerful faction that is constantly dodging competition so they can claim a stranglehold on all the titles, but I don't know how realistic that is for NXT. Sadly, we didn't get more of the Adam Cole Celebration Tour last week where the last episode showed Cole show up at Johnny Gargano's dad's pizzeria and tack a photo of himself with the belt up next to a bunch of framed pictures of Johnny and then finished it up by bringing the pizzas he bought to the same Cleveland wrestling school Johnny had visited and told them all to give up because they're never going to be as good as he is and it was hilariously heel as fuck and I loved every moment of it. But apparently we're getting more next episode, so I'm here for it.
Then still at the Download Festival, we got some more NXT UK action!
This was kind of an iffy week of NXT UK but everyone's allowed to have an off week every now and then. It's not that it was bad; it was just kind of there. We had a match between Ilya Dragunov and Ashton Smith and I just want to know who the red-eyed Red really is. He doesn't seem to have much of a character at all rather than he likes to beat the shit out of people. And that's fine, but I like character work because that will get me invested in who they are and make me want to be there for their matches. Dragunov picked up the win, but it didn't really feel like any forward momentum for him but rather just kind of an exhibition match to show us more of what he's capable of. Again, not terrible, but it just felt kinda flat. I know that when any wrestling promotion is debuting a new popular wrestler and have them go on a good winning streak for a while, but this is usually in service of the character as well and since that's not really something that's there, I'm getting a little less hyped for Dragunov than the first few matches I saw him in.
Then we got Candy Floss in a friendly exhibition with Toni Storm. I like friendly matches, especially trying to predict which one is going to put that shot across the bow with the first truly offensive move. This one was fun, but more than anything, it was a set-up to show that not only can Candy Floss, despite taking the L, hang with the champ, but also to have Kay Lee Ray destroy Candy on the entrance ramp to show that she's champing at the bit to get it on with Storm for the Women's title.
The real highlight of the night was when Trent Seven got out there and gave a truly fired up promo about how Imperium beat the living fuck out of Tyler Bate during their title match against Grizzled Young Veterans the previous ep. Trent telling WALTER that he just wants a non-title match against him goes to how Trent actually does respect the ring and that WALTER and the rest of his lackeys in Imperium are a bunch of assholes. It was just good promo action, and I love seeing babyfaces get all pissed off.
We also had some fun with Nina Samuels going around Download and commiserating with the common folk. It was just a good heel segment.
Then we had our main even with The Hunt and Bomber Dave Mastiff taking on Gallus in a 6-man tag. I was a little out of this one as well, mostly because I didn't really understand the booking. I don't know why they decided to let Gallus pick up the win because frankly, we're getting too many heel factions in NXT UK right now and building up The Hunt would have served them better in the long-term. Again, a fine match, but I just didn't really feel it like I've felt previous episodes.
Now I wanted to use some of this column to talk about AEW's Fight for the Fallen PPV or Evolve's 10th Anniversary special, but I'm not because I didn't get to watch all of Fight for the Fallen (I missed the entire Kenny/Cima match because I fell asleep, and that's not a knock on the show; I was just tired as fuck). I didn't get to watch all of Evolve because again, tired as fuck. I also have G1 Climax B Block first round action to watch as well. Unfortunately, I don't think that Bleacher Report Live has an option where you can go back and watch previously aired stuff, so I guess all I can do is read about it. I might do something about Evolve later this week since I'll have more time to spend with other WWE programming, and might even talk about the B Block as well! I guess you'll have to check back and find out!
Otherwise, we'll be back with our regularly scheduled programming with NXT and NXT UK sometime this week!
Until next time, kids...
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