The Kings of NXT “retired” the Undisputed Era, Pete Dunne brained Killian Dain with a car door, Cameron Grimes refused to deal with his Kinemortophobia and Candice LeRae and Ghostface from the Scream movies murdered a tank.
This Week: Will Johnny Gargano break the Gargano curse? Will Oney & Danny retain the Tag Team Championship? How far will Raquel Gonzalez toss Xia Li?
I Don’t Know: That’s Ruff, Buddy
NXT opens with noted wheel lover Johnny Gargano’s open challenge for his NXT North American Championship. The story here is that Johnny Gargano wants to break the “Gargano Curse” which means that he can never retain a championship in his first defense. Johnny has brought out his own wheel (of course) to decide who his opponent will be (the wheel being blatantly gimmicked was a nice touch). Johnny spins it and hey, his opponent will be perennial NXT jobber, Leon Ruff!
Leon and Johnny have a pretty entertaining match, and it turns out Leon is so small that even Johnny Gargano is hossing him around. Never thought I’d see that. The match is mostly Johnny until Damien Priest shows up to stare at him…menacingly!
Eventually Damien is staring at him SO menacingly, that Leon is able to get a flash Crucifix Pin on him…*checks notes* TO BECOME THE NEW NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION?!
Huh, look at that.
Now, parts of this are very entertaining, like Leon being so small that when Damien puts the belt on him it immediately falls down, and Damien giving Leon the keys to his car so he can leave before Johnny “kicks his ass”, and Johnny just straight up admitting to Regal that the wheel “was a goof” so that means the decision should be reversed.
However part of me is also like…I’m not sure I like this. Now, granted, this could very well be a case of me taking wrestling a little too seriously, but the North American Championship has arguably been the most prestigious Championship in NXT. Not to take anything away from Leon Ruff’s wrestling ability but he’s pretty low in the NXT hierarchy. I mean this is like Brandon Cutler winning the TNT Championship from Cody in an open challenge.
However, WWE does love to say “Anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation WWE”, and this shock win is very much in that spirit. But also, where exactly do we go from here? Does Johnny just win it back making this ultimately a waste of time? Hey, maybe Leon keeps the title and surprises everyone with a great run.
Yeah, I feel very mixed on this.
POP: Piped Up
We get another title match tonight, this time for the Cruiserweight Championship, and it’s Santos Escobar vs. Jake Atlas.
I like that this angle has really helped Atlas develop more of an aggressive streak and a personality(ish), and he’s really getting better in the ring. Once again assaulting Legado Del Fantasma outside before the show started might be a bit much but I’m fine with it.
The match is really good, but never crosses over to great for me. Santos is dope as always, and I’ve already said how I think Atlas is improving, but before the commercial break, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little checked out the first time I watched it. After they come back however (and after LDP gets kicked out), they kick it into another gear. There was this one moment where Atlas damn near whiffs a dive, but the way it happened, it’s almost hard to tell if it really was a botch, or if it was one of those worked botches to show how desperate he’s getting to win. If it’s the latter, that’s some solid attention to detail.
Atlas comes very close to winning the title, but ultimately, Santos picks up the win. Anybody else thinks it’s weird how Swerve and Ashante seem to have disappeared?
POP: Retribution Is Coming
Shotzi talks about how she wants all the smoke with Candice for murdering her tank (which also means a lot to her due to having family in the Armed Forces) and it’s cool. Man, I really hope Shotzi gets a new tank. How else is she supposed to run over Robert Stone?
BOTCH: Yikes
What the fuck is happening with this angle? OK, Xia keeps losing all the time, so she starts to get letters from her family which are delivered by Boa (who knows her family I guess?). But she still keeps losing so then she gets a letter last week and challenges Raquel Gonzalez because she disrespected her.
Rocky G shows up ready to fight this week, but instead Boa comes out and informs her that Xia isn’t here tonight, for unexplained reasons. Raquel decides to then take her aggression out on Boa and beats him up all over the ring area. Then the lights go out in the CWC, but instead of maybe The Fiend or heck, even The Group That Calls Themselves Retribution, dragons show up on the CenterTron and this older Asian bald gentleman comes out, gives Boa another letter and marks his hand with a symbol.
I ask again, what the fuck is going on? Is Boa marked for death or something? Is that guy supposed to be Yakuza? What is going on? I gotta be honest, this entire angle is feeling pretty close to problematic territory for me. This is starting to be on the same level as “Akira Tozawa has an army of ninjas”.
POP: Ghostface Rockah
Toni and Candice put on a very competitive match, that maybe won’t be super memorable, is still very good because both of these women are two of the best wrestlers in the business. I enjoyed it enough to give this segment a POP after all. Candice wins with some assistance from the ropes (ropes > wheels), and afterwards Toni wants to fight about it.
Ghostface shows up again to save Candice and Shotzi then runs down to even the odds. GF and Candice get the upper hand, then GF takes off her mask to reveal that she is indeed…Indi. Not a big shocker there. Also, what was the point of continuing to wear the costume after Halloween Havoc? Why not just take it off after the Ladder Match? Honestly, why wear it at all?
Bonus: Another chapter in the Gargano family’s never ending war with MacKenzie.
POP: Sack’d Up
This is all I wanted. Timothy Thatcher in the ring, doing what Timothy Thatcher does. It honestly hurt me to give anything Thatcher related a BOTCH.
Earlier in the night, Thatcher beat up August Grey in retaliation for getting a little too froggy during one of his Thatch-As-Thatch Can classes, and winds up tossing him into the drawing of one Dexter Lumis.
He faces off against NXT’s resident probable serial killer, tortured artist and master of the Dark Arts, and it’s two intense guys who are intense in very different ways, who also have VERY different styles facing off in a match that is very entertaining for as long as it lasts. More of Timothy Thatcher tying guys into pretzels and making faces please.
It looks like Lumis is about to win, until Ol’ Grimey comes down for the Ol’ distraction and Thatcher is able to reverse a throw into a Crossface, and then into a pin.
After the match Grimey and Lumis start fighting and Grimey is able to get a sack onto Lumis’ head and get the advantage in the fight. Why Lumis doesn’t simply take the sack off of his head is beyond me.
Later on, he explains he covered Lumis with a sack because he knew he’d be able to best him if he could just get past his creepy stare. Gotta say, cannot argue with that logic.
Mid: Just Smile and Politely Nod
Ciampa cuts a promo on how the kids these days just talk about how tough they are instead of showing it.
Weird as he seems to right now be talking about how tough he is.
Also complaining is bad. For more, follow Tomasso Ciampa on FaceBook!
POP: Hype Night
NXT made a Prime Target to help with the build for Io and Rhea’s title match next week. The story going into it is how Rhea has had to rebuild herself ever since losing the title to Big Match Char at WrestleMania, and then again failing to regain it in the Triple Threat that added Io to the mix.
Io, of course, is coming into the match as confident as ever not even sweating Rhea because if you were Io Shiria, you would probably also just assume you could beat anyone.
Good stuff all around.
The Prodigal Prince Returns
Finn’s coming back next week, let’s gooooooooooooooooooooo
POP: Back to Back
Pat McAfee may be the best celebrity to transition to a role on a wrestling show. The guy really knows how to cut a heel promo, man. He even called Vic Joseph “Michael Cole, Jr.” while on commentary. Men have killed over less.
The main event is a Tag Team Championship rematch between 1-2 Punch and Breezango and this is easily, easily match of the night. Oney & Danny immediately begin taking it to Breezango and don’t let up while Pat is putting them over at the commentary desk. Even when Breezango begin to get the upper hand, Pat still tries to not sound too worried about whether or not they’ll win.
After the commercial break, the match has pretty much become all Breezango, so Pat hops up on the apron to distract the ref, but Drake (avenging his not buddy) shows up and helps Fandango hit a powerbomb on Oney.
Pat takes a killer Senton from Drake and Dango hits the Top Rope Legdrop and you think it’s gonna be it, but no, Oney kicks out at 2.5. Pete takes out Drake, then tosses Pat in the ring to distract the ref which gives 1-2 Punch enough time to get the upper hand on Fandango and get the W.
Drake tries to once again avenge Dain by taking on 4 people at once and shockingly it doesn’t end well for him. Breezango try to help him out but The Kings are too much for them, thanks to the “Damned Numbers Game”. They even line up poor Breezy so Pat can punt him into next week.
I’m really enjoying this new stable and cannot wait for the UE to come back and absolutely murk them.
That’s NXT this week, a real mixed bag of a show.
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Peace.
Next Week:
Finn Bálor Returns
Io Shirai (c) vs. Rhea Ripley – NXT Women’s Championship Match
