After a few weeks of everyone staking their claim to be the top challenger, this episode is set to focus on the women of NXT. The main event number one contender’s match will feature four of the divisions top stars as Kairi Sane, Nikki Cross, Candice LaRae and Bianca Belair square off. Who will book their place at TakeOver Brooklyn?
Dakota Kai v. Lacey Evans
Two other up and coming stars of the women’s division kick things off, quite literally, with Evans mocking Kai’s penchant for kicks early on. She is soon on the receiving end of the real thing, and just manages to avoid an early finish as she ducks Kai’s running corner kick. That gives Evans the advantage and puts Kai in her now familiar babyface underdog role.
After an extended period of stretched in various submission holds targeting her back and shoulders, Kai’s comeback is finally on after she rolls out of the way of a moonsault attempt. Two running corner kicks gain her a near fall. That is as close as she gets though as Evans soon hits her Woman’s Right knockout punch for the victory.
Winner: Lacey Evans
A decent match to start the broadcast between two stars who are rising the ranks in NXT. My only nit-pick was that Evans was somewhat inconsistent initially targeting Kai’s leg, then lower back, then shoulders. I guess it doesn’t matter when you have one of those ‘out of nowhere’ finishes, does it?
Backstage Call Outs
In a backstage interview, Ricochet addresses his recent conflict with Undisputed Era and highlights Adam Cole’s seeming reluctance to put his North American title on the line. He vows to make that belt his own and that is a match I am excited to see.
Undisputed Era later answer to say all his talk of being ‘this close’ just smacks of being a loser.
We then see a battle of the egos as the top one percenter EC3 gets into a verbal exchange with The Finest Kona Reeves. After criticising each other’s dress and accessories, it seems we have a future rivalry brewing.
Kassius Ohno v. Rick Ramirez
After the commentary team highlight Ohno’s recent losing streak to the top stars on NXT, we get a match that runs shorter than the entrances. One discus elbow later and it’s all over.
Winner: Kassius Ohno
Nice to see Kassius is still around.
NXT Women’s Championship No. 1 Contender’s Match: Kairi Sane v. Nikki Cross v. Candice LaRae
It was announced during the broadcast that Bianca Belair is not medically cleared to compete, so we have a triple threat match with three competitors who are technically faces. A heel presence comes in the shape of Shayna Baszler, who comes out to join the commentary team (which surprises Percy Watson despite there being an additional chair and mic set up right next to him).
The crowd cheer for all three ladies as the match begins with a series of roll-ups. We then focus on Nikki Cross and Candice LaRae with the former Sanity member showcasing her unorthodox offence. A spear from Sane briefly takes the Scot out of the match as LaRae takes the majority of the beating.
Candice eventually fires back into the match and hits a rolling dive onto Sane on the outside. Cross soon takes her out with a reverse DDT on the ramp. A dive from Sane takes Cross down and we get our first ‘This is awesome!’ chant. We also get a tower of doom spot as LaRae takes both Sane and Cross down from the top rope.
A three-way slugfest ensues with LaRae coming out on top. She takes out Sane and Cross with a double DDT and nearly wins the match off a lionsault to Sane. Cross breaks up the pin and delivers a swinging neckbreaker to Candice from the apron to the outside. She then dominates Kairi Sane with a series of suplexes. She sets up her finisher in the corner but LaRae somehow recovers to grab her leg.
Candice LaRae then hits the lionsault to Cross and goes for the cover. Sane, however, is still sitting on the top rope and delivers her flying elbow to both ladies and pins LaRae for the win.
Winner: Kairi Sane
A great match and a logical choice as winner. This sets up a rematch of the Mae Young Classic final from last year just as this year’s tournament line up is being announced.
Final Thoughts
Great to see the women’s division take centre stage this week with strong matches to bookend the show. A shame, however, that the rest of this episode was filler with a 10-second match that served little purpose other than getting Kassius Ohno back to winning ways, backstage segments aplenty and lengthy vignettes for Black/Ciampa, War Raiders, and Velveteen Dream filling the middle of the show. How about we see one of those guys in action instead?
And time for a goodbye from me. I am soon to start a new job in a new country meaning an extended period offline while I pack and prepare. It has been fun writing for Kayfabe Today/Pro Wrestling Journal over the last year, and I hope to be back sometime after the summer, once I figure out how I will watch WWE programming considering the time difference!
