Welcome to the first ever NXT edition of Pops & Botches!
I’m known around these parts as AddMayne. I frequent the Discord and along with a lot of people here am a refugee of Uproxx.
I hope I can make you guys laugh while talking about one of the best wrestling shows on TV today. I’ve been a wrestling fan for a long time, and love this strange, strange world of anime fights between people in spandex. So, let’s get it.
POP: Nice Package
So you guys remember those old school WWF video packages, especially the one everyone talks about from X-7 that went over the rivalry between Stone Cold and The Rock? Yeah this one might be on the same level. It showed Keith Lee celebrating his double title win, the loving rivalry/friendship between Lee & Dominik Dijakovic, what happened last week in the main event when Karrion Kross faced Dijakovic, even the moment when Lee wanted nothing more than to save his friend, but Double D’s pride wouldn’t let him let Keith save him, and ultimately Kross ending Dijakovic’s entire existence right in front of Lee, all in like a minute, all scored to the song The End from WWE Armageddon 2007! I can’t say enough about how dope this was. Now, I like to think i’m ok at reading lips and i’m 90% sure the words Lee said to Kross were “You made a mistake.” The End certainly is Here, and it may be coming for Kross. Find this clip if you can, it’s seriously great.
POP: Dakota(‘s Ballsy) Kai
Io Shirai & Teagan Nox vs Dakota Kai & Candice LeRae opened the night up and all 4 did their thing with Dakota in particular sticking out to me here, taunting Io the entire match. Even during Io’s entrance she jumps her (major heel move depriving me of hearing her theme song). Pretty amazing we’ve gone from Kai literally cowering in fear from Shayna Bazsler to just straight up shit talking Evil Io to her face (also where is Raquel). The match ends when Dakota surprise tags in LeRae who gets a Shining Wizard and Moonsault (to the face!) for her trouble.
Later there’s an interview with Dakota where she explains she isn’t a “team player” anymore (seriously where is Raquel, is she in quarantine or something) and DA GAWD Rhea Ripley shows up (sporting a badass new dye job that also kinda has that Simpsons thing going on where it’s the same color as her skin) and says UH UH to Kai getting a title shot before her. Usually I would say Rhea is about to eat Dakota’s lunch, but Dakota vs. Io is obviously where this is heading so i’m interested to see how this match goes.
You Better Work, Bay Bay
So in case you didn’t know, recently the former NXT Champ Adam Cole showed up on the Pat McAfee show and cussed him out when Pat mocked him for having friends and being short. Personally, I don’t see how Cole’s the bad guy here when Pat is clearly antagonizing him but ok. For some reason a significant number of fans were questioning whether or not this was a work? Despite Cole standing up and pointing at Pat very aggressively while cussing at him. That’s when I knew it had to be a work, no one actually does that in real life. Cole “apologized” on twitter and his work Dad Hunter had to explain his actions so let’s see if this leads to an Ojo por Ojo match between Pat and Cole. Here’s hoping!
POP: Strong Hearts
In a follow up to the triple threat last week, and thanks to the magic of social media, we got us a match between “RICK Strong” and Johnny “Dorkgano”.
I like that just because they currently have the same moral alignment, doesn’t mean any member of the UE and Gargano would all of a sudden like each other and would definitely still hate each other enough to wanna fight about it. In my opinion, Strong’s low key the best wrestler in the Undisputed Era and Johnny Wrestling is Johnny Wrestling so of course this match is absolute fire.
They start out out with some mat grappling (we stan mat grappling in this house) and a lot of ground based offense which eventually escalates into more aggressive offense until the shift in the match where Strong does that move that I guess he’s known for on the low or something, and Gargano’s favoring his lower back for the rest of the match.
I didn’t love how despite this happening, Johnny still doesn’t change his offense, like doing a diving Flatliner from the top rope for instance, and even the finish with him hitting Strong with the One Final Beat DDT has him again, favoring his lower back, so much so I assumed Strong was gonna kick out, but no, that was the match. I still enjoyed it however and highly recommend it.
Even though this was ostensibly a Heel vs. Heel match, sometimes you just wanna see 2 really dope wrestlers go at it no matter what their alignments are and go at it they did.
Later after an ok match between Imperium and Ever-Rise we get a post match beatdown of Imperium, courtesy of the UE (BRUH IF WE GET THE FULL 4 ON 4 IMPERIUM VS UNDISPUTED ERA PART DEUX, MANNNN). Between this, the Pat McAfee incident and the earlier match against Johnny Heeling, are we getting a subtle face turn? UE vs. Imperium for the tag titles next week. Can’t wait. Shout out to Ever-Rise for this goofy, kind of endearing promo:
Test ourselves against the best. Come up short. Get back up. #EverRise #WWENXT @USA_Network @WWENXT pic.twitter.com/EdkGFHecAK
— Chase Parker (@ChaseParkerWWE) July 30, 2020
Oh also…
POP: KYLE’S HOME
Missed you ya goof.
POP: Tank vs. Mercedes
This was a decent match with a somewhat predictable outcome. It did what it was supposed to do, which was establish Mercedes Martinez as the new big threat in the NXT Women’s Division (be on notice, Io), solidifies her allegiance to the Robert Stone Brand with Aliyah and tells the audience that while Shotzi has all the energy and potential and FIGHTING SPIRIT in the world, she’s gonna have to get some strategizing smarts to really start stacking up wins. By the way, how dumb does Chelsea Green have to feel for firing Robert Stone after 1 tag team match with Charlotte? She hasn’t been seen since, meanwhile the best manager in NXT has his talent on the show every week. At least her SO seems to be doing fine.
Give Sami his hat back, Ridge
I haven’t seen too much NXT UK so i’m unfamiliar with Ridge Holland, but intrigued. He isn’t the first guy to be “too violent for another sport” so he came to pro wrestling right? His triple threat match with Priest and Lorcan should be great though.
POP: Extra! Extra! Lee’s Not About IT!
Keith F’n Lee. I mean what can I even say here. Following up on the opening package my mans comes out like a bat out of hell pissed off about his BFF, telling Kross to just stop all the extra, dramatic, goth theater kid “bullshit” and just fight him already…and then Grimey, the Slack Jawed Yokel comes out to antagonize the very angry large man over the North American title.
Grimes is probably the funniest character on this show. Shockingly, my favorite NXT Superstar makes quick work of my 15th favorite NXT Superstar and Kross shows up on the SailTron, calling him less of a man for letting his wrestling soulmate fall and become prey right in front of his eyes. Kross proceeds to drop the challenge, Mr. Keith Lee accepts and promises to whoop that ass, and we got ourselves a grudge match ladies & gentlemen.
At least until our beloved GM, William Regal reminds us that people earn title matches around here! They don’t just receive them! (Pay no attention to the tag team division.)
Grimey challenges Lee to a match next week and i’m certain that will end well for him.
Thicc Boi Origins: Bronson Reed
We get a cool video package giving us some background on Bronson Reed and how hard he’s had to work to get here in NXT. Stuff like this really helps develop the wrestlers on this show. (Especially since for me personally, Reed hasn’t really hit yet for me. I realize i’m probably in the minority.)
POP: Atlas Swerved
Spoiler – The cruisers killed it tonight. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Jake Atlas was high impact and high energy the entire match. Just 2 crazy talented high flyers pulling off incredible moves the entire match. Standout moment to me was when Swerve superkicked Atlas into the ropes which got him into a prone position for an outside of the ring House Call kick. Stars all around, a stealth Match of the Night.
POP: Darkly Winning Dexter
After an earlier interview with Timothy Thatcher promising to break some limbs and noted Milford man Dexter Lumis showing up in the background, we have our main event triple threat between those 2 and Finn Balor. These guys are probably the 3 most different people in NXT.
All of these men kept the match going at a brisk pace. I was legit on the edge of my seat the entire time. They were really good at keeping a back and forth flow during the match and you really got the feeling that it could be anyone’s match.
The finishing sequence involved a Coup de Gras on Dexter while he had Thatcher in The Silence (interrupting a Ranallo style “LIKE A [blank]” joke to hilarious effect), which then lead to Thatcher putting Finn in an ankle lock, which THEN lead to Loomis crawling behind Thatcher and once again putting him in The Silence which caused Thatcher to pass out in the hold, giving Loomis the win.
So right now we have Dexter Loomis and Bronson Reed confirmed for the NXT North American Championship Ladder Match.
Also at one point in the match, Lumis does this:
Which causes Thatcher and Balor to make these faces:
Amazing.
This was my first P&B of NXT ever, hope you had as much fun reading it as I did recapping it. Please leave any comments or criticisms below in the comments section!
Next Week:
- Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes
- Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai – #1 Contender’s Match
- Damien Priest vs. Oney Lorcan vs. Ridge Holland – North American Championship Qualifying Match
- Imperium vs Undisputed Era – NXT Tag Team Championship
