Mauro Ronallo says it all at the top of the broadcast – as the US celebrated the 4th of July, the rest of the world celebrates another exciting episode of NXT! This week we have been promised a Velveteen Dream match, The Mighty in action and Johnny Gargano v. EC3 so there is indeed plenty to be excited about.
Dakota Kai v. Santana Garrett
Straight into the action this week as Dakota Kai takes on Mae Young Classic competitor Santana Garrett, who as far as I know is making her NXT TV debut. The commentary team play up Kai’s newfound confidence since ‘overcoming’ the intimidation of Shayna Baszler (apparently, she did that by losing to both the champ and Bianca Belair) and spend a lot of time talking about heated exchanges she has had on Twitter with Lacey Evans.
Anyway, in the ring, Garrett displays quite a technical style with plenty of grinding stretches and submission holds. Kai soon kicks her way back into contention, and soon lands her running corner kick, which I guess is no longer her finisher as Garrett gets back on her feet quite quickly. That is to set up her new finisher as Kai delivers a rollover backstabber, which probably needs a name (Nigel McGuiness suggests a good one in ‘Coup de Kai’)
Winner: Dakota Kai
A decent opening match that allowed Kai to return to winning ways and Garrett to show flashes of potential.
Shayna Baszler Promo
The women’s champ comes out to relive her TakeOver victory over Nikki Cross, and declare herself the most dominant force NXT has ever seen (leading to immediate ‘Asuka!’ chants). She runs down the main names on the women’s roster, and says whoever poses the question, the answer will always be the same – Shayna Baszler will remain as NXT Women’s Champion.
Apart from establishing a pecking order in the division by name checking Kairi Sane, Bianca Belair, and Candice La Rae, there wasn’t much of significance here. It was also followed later in the broadcast by a pre-taped promo from Bianca Belair, who ran down pretty much the same opponents in a similar manner.
The Mighty v. Heavy Machinery (Handicap Match)
Earlier in the broadcast, we see Tucker in the weights room, but he has a mysterious accident as Dozovic goes to check on their steaks, which were presumably grilling in the changing area. Any mystery the commentators were trying to build about Tucker Knight’s status is immediately nullified as the ring announcer introduces this as a handicap match and Dozovic comes out alone.
The big guy dominates early on, throwing his smaller competitors around with ease. It takes some heelish bending of the rules to put The Mighty in control. Despite some double team power moves, Dozovic is able to get up from or kick out of everything. He then reverses a two-man suplex attempt with a double suplex of his own, followed by a big splash in the corner. We then get The Worm, but as he goes for a Vader Bomb Miller pulls Thorne out of the way. A big lariat clothesline later and The Mighty get the victory.
Winners: The Mighty
A decent match that was mishandled by the commentary and production teams. As well as the match announcement, there was speculation that The Mighty were responsible for Tucker Knight’s accident, with Nigel McGuiness rightly pointing out that there was no basis for such a claim. There was also the claim that The Mighty have been on a win streak since turning heel, even though they were squashed by War Raiders just a couple of weeks ago.
Matches Announced for Future Shows
In a backstage segment, Undisputed Era invoke their rematch clause for the NXT Tag Team Titles against Moustache Mountain, and Danny Burch challenges Adam Cole, with both matches set for next week.
Also coming our way on the next NXT is a women’s match as Kairi Sane, speaking in English for the first time on TV, accepts Vanessa Bourne’s challenge.
We also hear that Alesiter Black v. Tomasso Ciampa for the NXT Championship has been booked for three weeks’ time. Always good to see gold on the line on NXT TV!
Velveteen Dream v. Chris Dijak
Dream looks unimpressed as the tall and powerful Dijak makes his way to the ring. There are some mind games in the corner early on with the crowd clearly behind Velveteen Dream. Dijak soon gets to showcase his power and striking ability as well as his trash talking. That only irks the Dreamer though as he unloads with a flurry of kicks and punches.
Duelling chants for Dream and Dijak soon break out and the momentum swings back and forth as both guys score near falls. A nasty looking spot outs Dream in control as he trips Dijak off the apron head first into the ringsteps. Back on the mat, a DDT gets Dream back to winning ways.
Winner: Velveteen Dream
Dijak made the most of his opportunity to showcase his talents here, but (as was the case in the episode’s opening match) the more established star ultimately got the win.
Johnny Gargano v. EC3
As Dream writhes in celebration on the canvas, EC3 makes his entrance seemingly unhappy about Velveteen walking out on their tag match in London a couple of weeks ago. Dream quickly vacates the ring and Gargano makes his entrance to the usual huge pop.
Johnny Wrestling starts out as Johnny Brawling going after EC3 aggressively inside and outside the ring. EC3 soon utilises his power advantage to take control and goes after Gargano’s neck, still not fully recovered from that brutal TakeOver match. EC3 grinds the pace to a halt as the crowd chant for both men.
A slingshot spear and a suicide dive briefly put Gargano back on top, but he soon gets flattened by a huge clothesline for a near fall. EC3 goes for his finisher but nearly gets countered into the Gargano Escape. EC3 counters that into a sit out powerbomb.
We then get a ‘Gargano has snapped’ moment as he applies the Gargano Escape near the ropes and stretched the ref’s 5 count not once but twice. We then get a Randy Orton style draping DDT (though I’m sure the intention was to recreate the finish of the Ciampa-Gargano TakeOver match), which results in EC3’s first loss since returning to WWE.
Winner: Johnny Gargano
I was fully expecting an EC3 win there, either through Gargano making a rash error or via DQ. The win for Gargano and the manner in which he secured it suggests a new darker direction for his character, which out an interesting twist on a decent if not great match.
Final Thoughts
Not a stellar episode of NXT as most of the matches were forgone conclusions. The lack of any clear challenger to Shayna Baszler made her promo feel like a waste of airtime and there was too much reliance on backstage segments to further rivalries. The main event was underwhelming, nowhere near the level of match we have seen from Gargano previously, which only serves to increase the size of the question mark I have over EC3. Hopefully, next week will see a return to hard-hitting action with Undisputed Era in action.
