NXT and NXT UK Recap Week of 7/17/19 - Bring Some Backup

So, against my better judgment (and because The Manager had it on), I did watch some of Extreme Rules. I know that Finn lost his IC title to Nakamura in the pre-show that was announced hours before the show began and that Finn has asked for some time off to "recharge" which I think is absolutely code for "Is AEW interested in me? Maybe I can make the Bullet Club relevant again in New Japan?" The only match I actually went out of my way to see was Aleister Black vs Cesaro and it was a fucking great match and that's why the main roster is so depressing right now. If they can book one match this well, why can't they seem to do it with so many of the other matches that are booked poorly? And Brock Lesnar is champ again, so this makes me even less invested in the product.

Ugh. I'm so glad I didn't waste a lot of my time with this PPV. Anyway, what's happening with the good stuff in WWE, which is the NXT brands? Let's start with the events in Full Sail!

So the show kicked off with a show of kicks between up-and-comer Arturo Ruas (who was featured recently in the Evolve 10th Anniversary show that went up against Fight for the Fallen last week) and Matt Riddle and I had the same issues with this match as I had with that Evolve match that Ruas was in: if I want to watch a MMA fight, I'll start watching MMA. When I watch wrestling, I want to watch wrestling. It may not seem like a big difference, and I appreciate that they want to change styles up to show someone's power, but this isn't a style I care for. It's not that Ruas or Riddle were bad in any way, but this felt too much like MMA so I just wasn't into it. I need some kind of fantastical element in my wrestling, and this was too realistic. Anyway, Riddle picked up the win by pounding Ruas's face into mush calling for a ref stoppage, but then it pivoted back into the fantasy realm as a masked man appeared after the finish and started lighting Riddle up, and it turned out that it was Killian Dane! And he did about 7 running sentons on Riddle's back and front and all over the ring and floor and entrance ramp and just wrecked the Original Bro. The Beast of Belfast is back and he's ready for war. Him taking on Riddle is a great place for re-entering the NXT scene, especially after what happened at the end of the show as far as the main event scene but we'll get to that. That's going to be a strong grudge match for Riddle to have at the next TakeOver, although it's clear that they can't keep him in that position for much longer since he's had three of those already. He's going to get his title shot, and I'm betting it's going to build all the way to the Survivor Series weekend. But Dain is going to run roughshod for a while, and I'm down for it. Although the match I want to see him have is against fucking Jaxson Ryker because I want two big mean men facing off, and I want Dain to beat the hell out of Ryker because he bugs me.

Then came a really weird pre-taped segment where we saw "fan video" of Mia Yim beating the living shit out of Marina Shafir who was just literally getting out of her car. If there had been a segment in the last week or so where the Horsewomen took down Yim in a parking lot or in the PC, this would make a lot more sense, but right now, it kind of makes Yim look like less of a badass and more of a heel who's just attacking people. It's still kind of a common storytelling problem that WWE has in general when they don't know what to do with a badass female competitor that they just have her beat up a heel when they're just doing non-heel activities.

Then we got more Breakouts! This time it was Bronson Reed vs Dexter Lumis and while not as athletically pleasing to watch, I was mesmerized by Lumis. He comes from TNA where he wrestled as someone called Killshot, and it's clear from his entrance music and his overall look that he's going for a 80's/90's movie or comic book villain feel and it just fucking worked for me. I knew that the last two matches were going to be babyface wins though since the first two weeks had the heels win. People keep saying that there really isn't such a thing as heels and faces anymore (look at Adam Cole or Tommaso Ciampa), but it's still deeply ingrained into pro wrestling DNA, and it absolutely should be. And Reed, with his big frame, used that power to his advantage while Lumis was all about trying to cause pain. Reed picked up the win with a massive 350-lb splash from the top rope, and it gave good ol' Mauro a chance to rattle off another gem of commentary: "Reed is asking for some maple syrup for the pancake he just made of Dexter Lumis!" God bless you, Mauro. You're truly the greatest. As far as the match is concerned, it was another really fun Breakout match, but I want to see more of Lumis than I do Reed.

Then we had a bit with Tyler Breeze exiting a photo shoot and running into The Forgotten Sons. There's clearly a hint of Tyler getting himself someone who he can run with, and I'm totally okay with that and where it's very likely going.

Then we got what was the actual main event and that was KUSHIDA vs a returning Apollo Crews, and god damn was this match so fucking fun. First of all, it's clear that Crews has been kind of a non-starter on the main roster. I'm not saying that Crews is super charismatic or good at promos or has really any kind of personality other than he's apparently a really nice guy, but you cannot undersell his physical abilities in the ring and that's why he's here in this match. KUSHIDA is very much a superstar already based on his run in NJPW, but bringing in talent from outside NXT's walls like Apollo and Drew Gulak have really sold the future super-stardom he'll have in NXT (whether that will translate to the main roster, time will only tell). These two never really got into deep hostilities but they weren't afraid to hold back either. Crews did a fucking standing Shooting Star press. Running Shooting Star presses, while always impressive, still seem like they're relatively simple, but a standing Shooting Star press? That looked impossible and Crews made it look like the most effortless thing ever. Despite him tapping out to the Hoverboard Lock, KUSHIDA helped Crews look the best I've ever ever seen him look in WWE. This is an Apollo Crews I would happily watch any day of the week, rather than the guy who either gets pinned within 60 seconds or the guy who always wins by the dreaded surprise roll-up. Great match. It is interesting when you see guys who have been struggling at best or languishing at worst on the main roster who come back to NXT and suddenly they're 100 times better. It's almost like something happens to them when they go to the main roster; almost like someone ruins what made them so special to begin with.

Then we've got Keith Lee talking backstage about his fits and starts in his NXT "tenure", and started teasing a feud with Damian Priest. Personally, Priest hasn't been doing much for me, and Lee does it all for me, so this could either be the official coming-out party for Priest, or a bit of a soft reboot for Lee. Personally, I'm really hoping it's the latter.

Then came the "main event" where Adam Cole (BAY BAY) came out to offer someone a shot at the NXT title to prove that he was not only better than everyone else, but that he was a "fighting champion". He introduced his opponent via video package and it was Twan Tucker, one of the guys who attends the wrestling school in Cleveland where Johnny Gargano went and Tucker was one of the guys to really gush over Johnny showing how anything was possible. Tucker came out and Cole invited him into the ring, saying that it was just going to be the two of them, and there weren't going to be any members of Undisputed Era that were going to get involved. Tucker simply says, "That's too bad, because I didn't come alone."

And out came Johnny Wrestling, who promptly charged Cole and beat the living hell out of him all over the ring, on the outside, in the crowd, up on the stage until refs had to attempt to separate them.

Naturally, I loved this. Nothing makes me quite as happy as a super fired-up Johnny Gargano, and he was pissed after all the shitty things Cole did on his Celebration Tour, like visiting his dad's pizzeria to put up his own picture and then going to that school and telling all the students they wouldn't amount to anything. So the Johnny beatdown ended the show, but that wasn't the end, because in a WWE.com exclusive, Mr. Regal was being asked about what happened by WWE's crack team of "reporters" and he said that TakeOver Toronto was going to feature Gargano/Cole III, and it was going to be another two out of three falls match, but this time, it was going to be that for each of the first two falls, Cole and Gargano would get to choose one stipulation each and if it goes to a third fall (spoiler alert: it will), Regal himself will be choosing the final stipulation.

I'm of two minds about this: while part of me would be over the moon if Johnny got his title back, the other part would be pissed that they took it off him in the first place in order to set this trilogy of matches up. It would almost have made more sense to have Cole go over at TakeOver New York initially, and have him lose his first title defense if they decide to put an end to the rivalry after a rubber match. But I'm excited to see what kinds of stories could come out of this, and I know this is going to be another fantastic match, no matter the outcome. It looks like the card for TakeOver is shaping up to be Street Profits vs Undisputed Era for the tag titles, Baszler vs Yim for the Women's title, Dream vs Roddy for the NA title, Riddle vs Dane as the grudge match, Shirai vs LaRae and Tyler Breeze and a "mystery partner" vs Forgotten Sons on the pre-show and Gargano/Cole III headlining.

So how did the girls and boys do this week over there in the UK this week?

Well, it kicked off with Imperium showing their dominance once again as Aichner and Barthel took on Tyson T-Bone and Saxon Huxley and picked up a relatively simple win as A and B really punished their opponents for most of the match and then it their double-team Flying European Uppercut/Powerbomb combo for the three count. Honestly, I like that they're making Imperium look like world beaters at this point. It's going to work towards setting up an even harder fall when someone eventually beats WALTER for the title. I don't know who that contender is yet, but it's looking like it would be Tyler Bate; that would make the most logical sense at this time, but you never know. Someone could get themselves really over in the interim, but I can guarantee you that WALTER will not keep the title nearly as long as Pete Dunne did. But again, this was another match that was good for the story it was telling, although I honestly had forgotten that T-Bone and Huxley were even on the roster. I guess it's been a while since they've had use for a jobber tag team.

Then we had Jinny vs Xia Brookside, and of course, Jazzy Gabert accompanied Jinny despite Jinny's insistence that she didn't need her to beat Xia. And of course, Jazzy would prove to be the difference maker here as Xia had Jinny on the ropes and Jazzy grabbed Xia as she was trying to make an offensive move off the ropes and it gave Jinny the opportunity to get the roll-up victory. Again, I can appreciate the story they're telling with this rivalry, but I'm just not totally into it because the only way this story can really work out is with Jazzy and Jinny finally getting their comeuppance thanks to Xia and I don't see them taking that direction because Jazzy is just too powerful. I appreciate the effort, but I don't know the next steps here.

There were two significant promos here, and one of them really worked for me from almost a comedy perspective and one of them... didn't really work for me at all. The one that did work in a weird way was the backstage promo with all the members of Imperium and the interviewer asked them about Trent Seven and his challenge to WALTER for a non-title grudge match. Instead of WALTER answering the challenge, Alexander Wolfe did almost all the talking and said that WALTER would indeed take on Trent, and the whole time, WALTER seemed to be looking at him with confusion and irritation. I don't know if WALTER has Resting Pissed Face or what, but it was just cracking me up. Eventually, the Ring General did speak for himself and said that he would definitely face Trent, but it was just a weird vibe for that promo. We also had Toni Storm being her absolute babyface self as she came out to the ring and told everyone that she thought that Kay Lee Ray was a good friend and didn't understand why she was doing everything she was doing. Ray eventually came out and said that she was going to make Toni's life a living hell until their match, but sometimes babyfaces can be too earnest for their own good. You shouldn't piss them off, because they will fight back, but any time I see a white-meat babyface cut one of these "Why are you being mean when I thought you were my friend" promos, it just falls totally flat for me. And what makes this worse is that this is one of those things that seems reserved mostly for women. Every once in a while, you'll get a male babyface wondering why someone turned on them, but eventually, it leads to them getting fired up and saying that they're going to turn their two-faced opponent to goo. With the women though, the babyfaces tend to just get the sad trombone after the heel comes out and does their thing.

But then it all got fun again as we got our main event of Kassius Ohno vs Mark Andrews. Now, the "Please don't eat him" chants toward Ohno aside, this was a classic little guy vs big guy battle. I will profess my love of Mark Andrews to the heavens. He's one of those guys that I can watch all day. I love his entrance music (and so do Vic and Aiden), I love his energy, I love his style, and I fucking love the Stundog Millionaire. And Kassius Ohno has really been showing a different side since coming to the UK. He's been a lot more fun to watch and has been picking up some good solid wins. Selling him as a North American who claims he's better at European wrestling styles than actual Europeans. That's a fun brand of heel for him to play, and he's playing it really well. Some terrific counters, some strong offensive strikes from both players and I was a little disappointed that it ended with a reversal roll-up win for Andrews, but that's generally the rule of thumb for the little guy/big guy dynamic so I'm not going to complain too much about it. This was just a really entertaining match that kept Ohno looking strong and got Andrews over strong as well.

I know I keep teasing that I'll go into detail about the G1, but I'm only getting incremental blocks of matches aside from the first day of the A Block where AXS TV broadcast that entire show, but since then, it's just been selected matches and I don't have the cash to pay for another streaming service right now. But what I can say about G1 Climax so far is that it's been really fucking fun to watch. Again, there are very few companies that can do such strong in-ring storytelling as New Japan and that fucking slugfest of a match from the first day of B Block between Tomohiro Ishii and Jeff Cobb was just awesome stuff, and Yano going over Naito was just crazy fun, and I'm always here for Jay White suffering a loss. And tonight I'll be able to watch the match between Ospreay (yay!) and Okada, so I'm just counting the seconds before I get home.

So that's it for this week in NXT programming! I'll be around next week with more recaps of the Black and Gold brand's escapades so come on back! I don't do a whole lot of wrestling stuff on Twitter anymore, but you can still follow me @donnelly92274 and I'm still toying with the idea of doing a YouTube show, but who knows if that will ever come to fruition.

Until next time, kids...

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