Candice LeRae stepped up to be defeated by Io Shirai at NXT TakeOver: idk whatever number it is leave me alone, Fandango was a detective for some reason, there was a hype video for NOT Sami Calihan, and Kyle O’Riley became the #1 Contender for the…oh shit yeah, for the NXT Championship LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
This Week: It’s the Go-Home show for NXT TakeOver: this joke is kinda run into the ground isn’t it, so let’s see if NXT was able to successfully get everyone hyped for Sunday.
POP: Shotzi, oh my god
This was the only match advertised for this week which I thought was odd, because it isn’t really connected to any solid storylines going on, but holy shit did it blow me away. It’s not like I had low expectations or anything, because both Shotzi and Dakota are great wrestlers but, like I said it’s “wrestling for wrestling’s sake” so I was just like “hey, should be cool” but then they just go and randomly kill it in the ring.
I am convinced that Shotzi’s neck is made out of Flubber. I swear every two weeks she lands on her head (like she did this week), and just walks away fine. When she landed the way she did on the ring curtain I audibly yelled, but then she’s just cool like it didn’t even happen.
Rhea and Raquel tussle a little bit during the match to build to that eventual Girl Hoss 2: Electric Hossaloo match now that Mercedes is off somewhere blowing up Gotham City Stadium or something.
Cruisers, Great!
Swerve continues to put up a solid defense of why he still deserves a shot at the Cruiserweight Championship this Sunday by stating that he continues to be the only man in NXT who has actually pinned Santos Escobar, and the only time Santos can seem to beat him, it’s via interference or loaded mask (btw, are we ever getting back to that).
Santos however, completely no sells that by ignoring his blatant cheating and says all Swerve has is excuses, even drops the classic “when it’s the big one, you can’t deliver” little speech. Both these guys are ridiculously amazing in the ring so neither of them should disappoint at TakeOver. As far as who I’m pulling for, I love Santos, but hey, I would not mind Swerve getting Big Purple.
*Shrug*
There’s another video from the point of view of someone who stole Randy Orton’s Night Vision Welder’s goggles who again seems to imply that he’s someone who’s coming back to NXT and seriously if it isn’t the homie Bo Dallas, they might as well throw the whole return away.
POP: O’Reilly, An Undisputed Story
I cannot tell you what exactly they seem to be doing with the Undisputed Era. First Cole loses to Finn and fails to capture the NXT Championship, but is uncharacteristically cool about it. Meanwhile, Fish and Strong are in heel mode and picking on Drake Maverick every week and calling Killian Dain a “fat dork”. Then KYLE THE O’REILLY of all people is admonishing Tommaso Ciampa for jumping Jake Atlas outside after their match. Is this like, a really soft face turn or something?
Now, Kyle O’Reilly (the actual best member of the UE, which I will repeat until the heat death of the universe) has an NXT Championship match against Finn this Sunday. One of my favorite things in pro grapes is when someone you would never expect to get a title match all of a sudden finds themselves in one. It’s like when that happens, it gives the match that extra oomph because you wanna see the guy no one expects to hold the big one finally get it. We saw it on a larger scale last Sunday at Clash of Champions with that potential MOTY candidate, Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso.
Granted, this match doesn’t have the FAMILY TRADITION/LIFELONG RIVALRY pathos of that match, but Finn and Kyle are two of the best wrestlers in the world so I highly doubt it will disappoint. As always WWE is really good at hype videos and like all the others, this Prime Target on Kyle O’Reilly was excellent (see what can happen when you don’t pretend other promotions don’t exist).
POP: Flying Too Close to The Moon
MY BOY, da Gawd Cameron “Grimey” Grimes comes out to take a big ol dump all over the idea of the Gauntlet Eliminator Match and decides to make a match of his own called “The Cameron Grimes Invitational Steppin’ Stones TO THE MOON Match”. This is already the highlight of the night. “Joey Pistachio” (wearing gear that says Ariel Dominguez so I like to think he’s just making up names and backstories for these guys on the spot) comes out first, and immediately gets hit with the Cave-In for the pin. You know, i’m starting to think this is just an excuse to jump on the chests of a bunch of tiny guys.
He’s about to beat Roderick’s cousin that he doesn’t like to talk about, “Joey Strong” (is Joey the only name he could think of, also I think the back of his singlet said “Blackheart”?), but poor “Joey” is tossed aside by Ridge Holland who had the time tonight and decides to come down to the ring and just assault our poor hero. All Cameron wanted to do was give some unknown, probably talented wrestlers a spotlight to go One on One with the Best One on a national platform, and mean ol’ Ridge Holland had to come out and ruin everything for no reason. See how some people are?
Production even plays Cameron’s music after that ruthless assault from Ridge. They know who’s in the right here.
A little later this poor, criminally assaulted man is backstage being accosted by some nosy reporter when he comes across local caricature artist and probable (kayfabe) serial killer, making his return, Dexter Lumis! Welcome back, can’t wait to see these two become the best of friends.
Meh: Meh
Kushida has a match against *concerned Marge Simpson groan* this Sunday so as a warm up he faces Tony Nese aka Tommy Dreamer if he never ate carbs and yeah it’s basically a squash match. I think Kushida is cool, but I probably like him a lot less than most people reading this do. Tom Phillips reminds us Tony is a former Cruiserweight Champion and I know he’s right but for some reason that still felt incorrect to me. Former Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese? If you say so.
Adam Cole Sure is Great
Adam Cole’s pissed off because Y’ALL SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO EXACTLY RUNS NXT AROUND HERE. I guess some person was talking trash about King Kyle backstage so Adam (who again i’m pretty sure is now a babyface? Maybe a tweener?), demands that *different concerned Marge Simpson groan* comes out to face him or him and his friends will jump *groan*. I guess he gave him a choice so that sort of makes him a good guy. Hey, for more information on how dope Adam Cole is, watch any other Adam Cole match!
Side note, maybe it’s the cynic in me, or maybe it’s because lately, WWE has been really into breaking up friendships, but with how passionate Adam has been about his friendship with Kyle tonight, why do I feel like if Kyle does actually win, Adam’s gonna straight up put him in the ground?
Kinda mid: A Filler Arc
Every now and then you get reminded that NXT is sort of kinda supposed to be developmental (assuming that’s even true anymore) and this was one of those matches that reminded me. Not to say it was bad, it certainly wasn’t. It just wasn’t super engaging to me personally. I do however like that they’re developing Xia Li to have a character beyond “has a fan and wears shoulder pads” because I think she has a lot of potential, as well as Kayden who definitely did her thing here.
POP: Face vs. Face
This is definitely one of the best “Face to Face” segments (hosted by my personal favorite wrestler of all time, Shawn Michaels, come at me Bret stans) I have ever seen. Sometimes two guys can be so talented that they can take a match with basically one week of build and make it feel like one of the most important matches ever (slight hyperbole, but y’all get what I mean). This is literally the first time the two guys in the main event of TakeOver have even talked to each other.
This might be the most we’ve gotten to actually see how good of a promo Kyle is in NXT. Usually in UE segments he punches up the promo with hilarious facial expressions and goofy one liners (and that one time he was tuning the NXT Tag Belt with a guitar pick). He’s got this kinda smarmy chip on his shoulder thing going on where everyone expects him to lose (including myself) and he wants to show everyone exactly why he is not the underdog.
He even calls back to Grimey’s adlib last week “You ain’t Adam Cole!” (doing a genuinely funny Grimey impression). Finn does a great job of putting over his opponent while also making sure he understands that he’s the NXT Champion for a reason. It’s like he’s being nice and threatening at the same time. Great stuff all around.
Highlights also include:
- Kyle doing an Irish accent
- Finn saying “I’ll tell ya what the big whoop is
- The most genuinely intimidating smile I have ever seen
POP: Have You Ever Met a Black Lotus Rockstar?
We get confirmation of Tegan Nox’s torn ACL (Get well soon Captain Marvel!) which the Garganos say is payback for breaking their TV (the one that Candice actually broke), seems like a bit of an overreaction, wait are they WWE faces or heels?
Following a response from Priest and Io (“He’s not bad.”), we get our main event heading into TakeOver, a Mixed Tag Team match: The Garganos vs. Damien Priest and Io Shirai (btw, I have to note, that transition from Priest’s entrance to Io’s was lit). My gripes about how WWE does Mixed Tag Matches aside, this is still NXT so this was obviously one of the better WWE style Mixed Tag Matches out there (although it’s weird that Io was allowed to get offense in on Johnny, and even do her finish, yet was not allowed to pin him? Phillips tried to cover it with the tried and true “Referee is showing a lot of leniency here!” but I still call shenanigans, you might as well just let her pin him if you’re gonna do that).
I liked that they showcased both Garganos taking shots for each other, as well as Priest and Io being able to work together as a team out of mutual enemies. It was close, but all it took was an unseen low blow and a One Final Beat DDT to end the match.
Afterwards, Johnny decides to give the opening video for TakeOver an image to hype up their respective matches play mind games with them, and grabs the two Championships so him and Candice can pose with them (with Johnny even “proposing” with the Women’s Championship) to close out the show. Now, WWE tropes dictate that this means both Garganos are SOL on Sunday, but let’s see if expectations are subverted.
Legally, by marriage, both of them are triple crown champions guys. That’s how it works. Say no to jumping people in strobe lights!
Solid Go-Home show for TakeOver 31 as every match and rivalry on the card was highlighted. We may not have gotten to much room to breathe between the last TakeOver and this one, but hey, the match card looks really good so i’m expecting a hell of a show.
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See y’all this Sunday for NXT TakeOver: They Still Won’t Let Us Use the Thunderdome.
This Sunday at NXT TakeOver 31:
Finn Bálor (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly – NXT Championship Match
Santos Escobar (c) vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott – NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match
A Kushida Match
Damien Priest (c) vs. Johnny Gargano – NXT North American Championship Match
Io Shirai (c) vs. Candice LeRae – NXT Women’s Championship Match
