– Sorry this is a little late. The back to school routine has thrown me somewhat this week. But.. never the less, no more need to chomp at the bit waiting, because without further ado, here’s my NXT Review!
Kassius Ohno vs Kono Reeves
Just as I was thinking “I haven’t seen Kassius Ohno in a while”, he’s out first for a match. He bludgeoned Reeves with shot after shot and then knocked him clean out with a Rolling Elbow. He got the 3, that was it. I hope this is the beginning of a push for the man. No one deserves a better position in NXT more than Kassius right now in my opinion.
After the match, Kassius got on the mic and said that he’s tired of being an afterthought, but he gets it now. There’s always going to be “someone new”, but he then laid out the challenge in a riddle type format and said he’s gonna be right there to be the first to welcome the next person to NXT and knock them to the back of the line. Great semi-squash match and promo after. Looks like everything’s coming up Millhouse for Kassius.
Street Profits vs The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake, Steve Cutler and Gunner from TNA)
This match was a reallt good one that showcased The Sons a whole lot. They look really strong, Montez Ford almost had the win until The Mighty showed up and distracted them so that The Sons could do their Reverse DDT/Top Rope Mushroom Stomp tag finisher on Ford and get the win. Decent showing, continued a rivalry and had a nice welcome to the ‘new’ guys.
More on the Aleister Black Attack (Pro Tip: – That’s fun to say with your actual voice and that reading voice inside your head.)
Heavy Machinery were being talked to by Regal and his Investigator, Dozavic got it all wrong and thought he was in thete for breaking the toilet at the Performance Centre. This was pretty funny, it made me smile and I hate toilet humour, I think the reason I liked this is simply down to Dozer. He’s so great at tapping into that 80s wrestling promo that makes it look like they’re about to burst a blood vessel and go into cardiac arrest! It’s just damn entertaining and almost nostalgic on some level, I think that’s probably why they’re so over. Tucker Knight is great too, but Otis Dozavic is special. A real call back to the WWF era.
Kairi Sane vs Trish
The match was a semi-squash match much like Kassius Ohno’s earlier. Kairi took a few hits but ultimately wiped the floor with her opponent. Kairi hit the Insane Elbow and got the win. After the match, my personal favourite on NXT, Shayna Baszler, shows up and cuts a wicked promo on Kairi where she talks about her rematch clause, then she casually gets in the ring and the two throw down, Kairi ended up getting the upper hand (literally) and sending Shayna to the back after an Interceptor Spear. This was a cool build for their rematch.
Aleister Black Attack Inquisition
Lars Sullivan is in the office now and we find out that he’s cleared to compete and that he was going to find Black to repay him for the broken jaw but he heard him cry out in pain and when he got there, Aleister was already laid out and he saw Undisputed Era and EC3 around the area. That was that.
Johnny Gargano vs Velveteen Dream
Don’t know how to take this one. Which is weird given the immense amount of talent in the ring. The spots were awesome, lots of false finishes, but it felt like it lacked something. Like biting into a sausage roll only to find that there’s no sausage in there. The crowd were half in and half out and the whole atmosphere had a very empty vibe to it for me. It turned up the heat a little in places and the story being told was fantastic. But I can’t tell if the fans predominantly turning on the newly titled ‘Johnny Failure’ is intentional or not. Triple H is smart and I’m sure this is all part of the plan for Johnny’s ascent into the golden territory, but what if it’s not? It was hard to get invested in because of the reaction from the audience. Which was sad because I’m sure the story that they are telling and that I want to be invested in is spectacular. We will see what unfolds in the coming weeks but it turned a little sour for me this week.
The action though, my word what a match! There were some fantastic shots back and forth and some crowd chants that rattled Full Sail to the rafters! Johnny started acting like Ciampa had possessed him or something I think. His mannerisms changed and his demeanour turned much more savage and aggressive, I thought he was turning heel, but just like Bayley, Johnny had a fan at the front row kitted out to the nines in Gargano gear that brought the beast back to reality, until Velveteen called him a failure and lured him into running straight into a Dream Valley Driver and a loss.
To top off the cake of confusion with an extremely bitter cherry, sprinkles of glass and drizzles of vinegar, after the match the crowd sang Johnny a few cheerful bars of “Nananana Nananana, hey hey hey, goodbye!“. It’s so disconnected but it’s all connected! How is this possible? Fantastic writing? Pure chance? Or total misfire? At this point I don’t know.
Conclusion
7.5/10 🌟
For the most part this episode was stellar! The angry backstage segment with Pete Dunne and Ricochet and the announcement of the Title vs Title match between the pair in 2 weeks is enough to get me excited, although it’ll no doubt in a DQ or double count out because neither man is dropping their title, but they’ll still bring it! I loved the Ohno match and his promo was great. This looks good for him. The inquisition segments were fine, entertaining and informative as to the ‘whodunit’ storyline. The Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler stuff was really cool, I’m heavily invested in their feud. The tag match was Cool, nice to see Blake back and Gunner make his TV debut. But that main event is what dropped the score somewhat. I just don’t connect with the story at this point. Which is weird because I’ve been following the Johnny Wrestling and The Psycho Killer for a long time. But this whole feud doesn’t add up now. I just want to see Aleister Black return and have a fair rematch against Ciampa at this point.
Match of the Night: Velveteen Dream vs Johnny Gargano, purely for the wrestling. None of the other matches really went on for long enough.
Performance of the Night: The Forgotten Sons. These boys really impressed and I’m looking forward to seeing where they end up. Their match was virtually a showcase of their moveset and they won their TV debut too.
Thats it for this week. Peace and love to you all! ✌🏻💚
