After 5 days on non-stop action, we come to our final day of WWE action until next Monday. We start where we began, quite literally, as this episode was taped ahead of last Saturday’s TakeOver. In effect, we have the pre-show as a post-show and that means plenty of takeover recaps and interviews, but also a couple of matches with Bianca Belair v. Dakota Kai and War Raiders v. The Mighty already booked. Let’s take in the action.
Bianca Belair v. Dakota Kai
An interesting match up between Belair, who seems set for a big push, and Kai, who has had a push of sorts having found her way into a title match just a couple of weeks ago. Both ladies get a decent pop as they come to the ring. The match starts at a fast pace with Kai showing impressive agility to avoid Belair’s offence and nearly score an impressive roll up pin out of the corner.
Belair starts to assert herself with impressive displays of strength. The crowd respond with a huge ‘E-S-T!’ chant. The EST of NXT starts trash talking Kai as her opponent struggles to get up. The showboating continues as Belair holds Kai in a vertical suplex, bouncing her off the ropes on each side of the ring. That costs her though as Kai is able to counter and start her babyface comeback.
A series of kicks topped off by a running corner kick and a knee strike get Kai a strong near fall. She goes to the top rope but that gives Belair time to recover. Her torture rack/facebuster combo (could we call that a version of the Burning Hammer?) bring the victory.
Winner: Bianca Belair
A strong showing from Belair, whose rise to the top continues. She certainly has the tough attitude to square up with Baszler but probably needs more time and a proper rivalry or two before she becomes a genuine championship contender. Kai’s moment in the number one contender’s spot seems to be over for now and it will be interesting to see where she goes from here.
War Raiders v. The Mighty
Sporting new entrance gear and a new attitude, the newly named The Mighty go after War Raiders before the bell to the derision of the audience. The Aussies soon regret it as Rowe and Hanson smash into them once the match is officially underway.
Underhand tactics soon get Miller and Thorne back in control as the have War Raiders reeling, certainly more than any other opponents they have had since arriving on NXT. A hot tag from Rowe to Hanson swings momentum back the way of the former War Machine. They swing Shane Thorne at high speed to the canvas for a pin broken up by Nick Miller.
He gets flattened by a flying Hanson suicide dive and Thorne is soon victim to Fallout and that’s the match.
Winners: War Raiders
The crowd were hot for everything War Raiders did and they responded with another dominant win. The Mighty had all of 90 seconds in control and then it was just a matter of when not if the victory would come. If the rest of the tag division wasn’t on notice already, they will be now.
Final Thoughts
A few backstage interviews aside, that was it for this week. The two matches on show were enjoyable enough and showcased the winners as potential participants on the main card at TakeOver events in the near future. All eyes now on next week and what fallout comes from last Saturday’s PPV.
