Hello, wrestling fam! Your favorite babyface authority figure here to do her first review of NXT. I really enjoy watching NXT so I am very thankful to have been given the opportunity to write the weekly review for Pro Wrestling Journal. As always, there were a lot of things packed into our yellow hour so let’s take a look.
Street Profits vs The Metro Brothers
So…Deuce and Domino came back with some different music apparently. I also didn’t know which Metro was Chris and which was JC. It didn’t particularly matter as this was a squash match for Street Profits. Montez Ford won with a frog splash in a little under two minutes. But afterwards, the Forgotten Sons came out and attacked Street Profits. Looks like we’re setting up for a feud here; I wonder who’s going to come out on top as both teams could do with some momentum.
Winners: Street Profits
Grade: B+
Backstage: Matt Riddle said that hasn’t been cleared to compete so he can’t accompany Keith Lee in his match against Kassius Ohno, but hopes that Lee leaves some Ohno for him. Aleister Black cut a good, but hard to focus on, promo. I liked the use of the hazy room but the background music was just a little bit too loud. A-
Out in the ring, Bianca Belair came out to do a promo. She talked about sending Nikki Cross packing and seeing the Title in her future and mocked Sayna Baszler’s friends. She was interrupted by Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir. Baszler and Belair have a good back and forth and Belair gets a cheap shot in while the UFC ladies are talking to each other. Belair ducks out of the ring and taunts the trio as she leaves up the ramp. I am really liking the build up to the title match; both women have improved greatly over the last year. A
Dominik Dijakovic vs Adrian Jaoude
When Adrian Jaoude made his entrance, he was doing capoeira moves so it confused me when they talked about him doing Brazilian Jiu jitsu. And then the commentators were having a difficult time trying to say “Dijakovic”. The actual match was okay. Dijakovic got his jimmies rustled a little bit with Jaoude’s takedowns and ground submissions. Dijakovic ultimately won the match with his “Feast Your Eyes” burning hammer GTS maneuver
Winner: Dominik Dijakovic
Grade: B-
The War Raiders had a wonderful cinematic promo outside in the woods. They had chairs with the Undisputed Era logo on them stacked on piles of hay and were carrying torches. They said empires crumble and kingdoms fall before setting the chairs on fire in the way of a Viking funeral. I was a big of War Raiders (Machine) prior to NXT so needless to say, I enjoyed this promo quite a lot. A
Johnny Gargano vs Humberto Carrillo
Gargano dominated the early goings of this match but Carrillo managed to use some of his lucha libre skills to escape. Carrillo got in a bit of offense including a enzuigiri, handspring back elbow, and standing moonsault but Gragano came out on top, winning with a slingshot DDT. After the match, Gargano called out Ricochet.
Winner: Johnny Gargano
Grade: B+
Tommasso Ciampa gave a promo from some type of alley. Apparently it was the night for promos from dark places? Ciampa said he only fights on the biggest stage so Aleister Black is going to have to wait until Takeover for their match. A
Keith Lee vs Kassius Ohno
First off, Keith Lee’s music is great and makes me want to wear a sophisticated dress and drink tea. Music aside, I liked the match as well. Lee has so much athleticism and agility for a big man and he’s so fun to watch. We got a ref bump toward the end of the match when Ohno shoved Lee into the referee. While the ref was out of it, Ohno hit Lee with a low blow before winning with a rolling elbow. I feel bad that Ohno has struggled a little bit in NXT, flitting from feud to feud with no real payback but I’m wondering what’ll happen when Riddle is indeed cleared for in-ring competition. I also wouldn’t mind another Lee/Ohno match.
Winner: Kassius Ohno
Grade: B+
NXT is usually very good and this episode was no exception. I think it did a good job setting up and building toward Takeover. There’s only three matches on the Takeover card and we still have a go-home show so I’m interested to see if maybe Gargano/Ricochet for the North American title ends up making it onto the show.
Overall Grade: A-
-Wynter
