Hey, yo. It’s ya boy! CB.. again. Yeah, with another review for your eyes to absorb! This time for one of the best Pro Wrestling shows on the planet, NXT!
We’ve kicked off the go home show before these boys and girls from NXT take over Brooklyn, New York for the 4th time! It may be Summerslam for the main roster of the WWE, but for the NXT lads and lasses, it’s their Wrestlemania!
The Mighty vs The Street Prophets.
I am a huge fan of both of these teams and I’m loving the Heel run of TM61.
Just a little shout out for the Black Panther “Wakanda!!” Splash from the Street Prophets. That was amazing. Bravo, boys. Bravo.
I particularly liked the hot tag sequence in this match. Montez Ford is an absolute beast! He did this crazy leapfrog somersault over Shane Thorne to clothesline Nick Miller off the apron at one point! Just utter insanity! I love it!
The match ended with Shane Thorne getting the O’Connor Roll Pin on Ford whilst grabbing the tights, but Ford reversed it into his own O’Connor Roll and grabbed the tights for a count of 3! Nice way to set up a feud. Great opening match for NXT.
Just before the break bit
Next it’s a break segment where we see current NXT Women’s Champion, The Queen of Spades, Shayna Baszler (who recently liked, replied to and retweeted me on Twitter.. I know, right!?) seemingly giving some advice to Aliyah who is due to face Kairi Sane next!.
But before the match..
Undisputed Era have a little backstage promo for themselves facing Moustache Mountain and they just run them down. Same thing they usually do. Made sense for them to do it. Match of the Night for TakeOver though. Calling it now. Adam Cole (BAY BAY!) Then says he will beat Ricochet at Takeover to retain the NXT North American Championship. That I’m not so sure about, mate.
Kairi Sane vs Aliyah
Now this match. This match. Wow.
Just before the two women in the ring tie up, my favourite NXT Superstar, Shayna Baszler, makes her way out to her theme music. She stood and stared at Kairi Sane, then made her way to the commentary desk where she nailed everything she was asked. But the action in the ring, my word was it exemplary! Kairi virtually demolished Aliyah and delivered not one, not two, but THREE Insane Elbow Drops to poor Aliyah. Just as Baszler said “Kairi Sane has no Killer instinct. But I do. That’s the difference.” Kairi Sane covers Aliyah and just before the three, Sane lifts Aliyah’s shoulder up to break the count. I’m sorry to say it Shayna, but I think you may be wrong on that one. Kairi then proceeds to do a submission hold that, quite frankly, blew my mind in terms of execution and unique maneuverability! The move is called ‘The Anchor’ which is obviously to run alongside her Yo-ho Yo-ho pirate’s life gimmick. But this move, if you’ve never seen it, I suggest you YouTube it. It’s crazy. It’s a Cross Legged Boston Crab/Liontamer hybrid but Sane pulled Aliyah’s legs so far back she performed a variant of that weird spider/crab thing Bray Wyatt does and then pointed at Baszler from upside down! Tremendous story telling there! Aliyah had no choice but to tap out and once she did, Sane and Baszler stared each other down from the ring to the stage. I cannot wait for this match! Could easily steal MOTN!
Video package
Just a really cool Ricochet promo to begin with. Ricochet is totally destined for greatness if you ask me. I just hope they know what to do with him on the main roster and don’t just end up shipping him off to 205 Live like Murphy, Neville, Itami and Kalisto. Not that it’s a bad thing to be on 205 Live, I love 205. But sadly it’s just not a spotlight big enough for Ricochet in my opinion. Hell, it’s too small a spotlight for everyone on their roster to be honest. Some of the best talent in the world mixing it up on 205, but hardly anyone notices. The promo then shifts over to focus on Adam Cole (BAY! BAY!) (Yes. I will do that every time.) and once again this guy is just destined for superstardom, isn’t he? I mean, come on. He’s this generation’s Shawn Michaels! Much to Dolph Ziggler’s dismay I’m sure. This match again, could easily be crowned Match of the Night on Saturday! (Pretty sure every match on the card could be up for that title).
Promo
Velveteen Dream comes out next and cuts a promo in the style that only The Dream can. He says that EC3 will experience nothing but ‘Dream Over’ in Brooklyn. Before he can utter another word though EC3 makes his presence known. His first words are “so this is what it sounds like when doves cry?” which not only had me chuckling and the crowd chuckling but even Velveteen himself couldn’t contain himself. His next line was “Sick fanny pack by the way!” whilst pointing at The Dream’s fanny pack, which to be fair he can rock pretty damn well. Pretty sure The Dream could make socks & sandals look cool! But anyway, they trade verbal shots and then decide it’s time to throw down and even this 20 second battle was enough to make any wrestling fan salivate at the thought of the war these two will embark on in 3 days time, dude! EC3 reversed Dream’s weird cartwheels hit his TKO finish and Velveteen was laid out. EC3 left as his music played.
Promo/Video/Breaking News thing?
What happened next was really intriguing and hasn’t been done for a long time in WWE! We are getting a whodunit, folks! So this video was from WWE.com where Kathy Kelly documented who was around the parking lot at the time of Aleister Black’s attack when William Regal was going to his aid. There were a whole lotta folks about at this time! The cameras caught a whole cluster of people and these people are all suspects apparently. The suspects are as follows: Johnny Gargano who walked in from the parking lot as Regal went out to it, The Undisputed Era driving away in their car, Lars Sullivan (who was creepily fading away in the shadows as he walked away with his back far from the scene. Let’s face it, Black did break his jaw in half. I’d be pretty miffed too.) But we also saw Kassius Ohno (could be a Heel turn and a long overdue push for Kassius when Black is back?) Candace LaRae, Kairi Sane, Kona Reeves who was on the phone, Heavy Machinery who were recording and/or taking photos on their phones (maybe they’ve got the footage of who did it?), EC3 was around, Ricochet was leaving after being attacked earlier in the show by The Undisputed Era, Velveteen Dream who looked “visibly distressed”, Shayna Baszler who was just chillin’ and Tomasso Ciampa walked through clutching his NXT championship. A few others dotted about too, like Wesley Blake & his new team mates and some others who have only made one or two appearances on the show in the last 18 months, but this is an exciting seed planted for the future for sure. Reminds me of the HBK parking lot attack where HHH was revealed as his attacker and subsequently they began one of (if not the) most memorable rivalries of the Ruthless Aggression Era! Could be Gargano? He may have lost his mind in his obsession with Ciampa?… Nah. It could be Ciampa but that’d be too obvious, it could have been bloody Gangrel for all we know! Man, I hope it’s Gangrel. But my money is on big Sully, Lars Sullivan.
Promo/video package
Another really cool promo hyping a match for Saturday, this time Gargano vs Ciampa III Last Man Standing Match for the NXT Championship! Basically chronicling the history of their friendship and feud with some Aleister Black mixed in there. I seriously can’t wait for Takeover! I feel like a kid at Christmas!
Tyler Bate w/ Trent Seven vs Roddy Strong w/ Kyle O’Riley
Seriously. No amount of words I could write down could ever fully encapsulate just how thrilling this match was. Tyler Bate and Roddy Strong laid it all out as if it was TakeOver! This match had everything! High spots, mat based wrestling, interference, false finishes, insane counters and shots that you could from Full Sail all the way to my house! I thought it was fireworks I heard, but nope, it was just Tyler Bate punching Roddy Strong’s jaw off his face! If you don’t watch NXT but instead just read these reviews, firstly, are you completely mad? Secondly, do yourself a favour, go and watch this match. This is what NXT stands for. This is the quality NXT consistently pulls out of the bag. Go watch it and prepare to join the ever-increasing fandom of NXT.
Conclusion
9.5/10 🌟
Easily the best show WWE puts out. I don’t know what it is about NXT, but it’s a true phenomena. The energy it exudes, the characters if creates, the atmosphere that manifests wherever NXT is. It’s truly magical and I am so ready for TakeOver Brooklyn 4!
Match of the Night: Roddy Strong vs Tyler Bate. Just. Go. Watch. It.
Performance of the Night: Kairi Sane. The way she told her story and displayed her character in this match was really something. I feel like I’ve learned something about her. Like I know who she is and what she’s about now and as much as I hate to admit it, I feel like she has a real shot at dethroning our Queen of Spades now.
Well that’s that. All the weekly shows are fine now. We are officially on the countdown to the culmination of so many storylines be it on NXT or WWE’s Main Roster. This is going to be one hell of a weekend! Enjoy, everyone.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. It means an awful lot to me. Please like, share and comment away. The more the merrier! Follow us on twitter @KayfabeToday, and follow my personal page @DriftAway93 if you fancy it.
Have a lovely rest of the week. Peace and love to all as usual!
– CB
