Previously on NXT: The Street Profits distracted The Mighty to help Heavy Machinery get the win, Mustache Mountain won a match against people we probably won’t see team again, EC3 won a match over everyone’s favorite Kona Reeves, Shayna Baszler put a whopping on Candice LeRae and Kairi came down to save Candice and Tommaso Ciampa was a dick.
Cold Open
Highlights from 2 weeks ago where Tomasso Ciampa won the NXT Championship and Izzy and her family were very upset. Johnny Gargano got what was coming to him in the way of a Black Mass by Aleister Black. Gargano is going to face Black tonight because Gargano is the reason Aleister lost the NXT title in the first place.
Amber Nova vs. Nikki Cross
Amber Nova has a pretty fun theme song, don’t know who she is, but her gimmick is… pop music and she wears a backwards hat for half of her entrance. She also likes a 73′ Chevy Nova and changes her own oil?
Nikki is in a weird spot where her former faction got called up to the main roster, but she remains on NXT. She lost her title match and her opportunity for another title match. She has no feud going and is kind of chaotically floundering on NXT.
Nikki landed some strikes and follows that up with some actual wrestling in a match that is way more competitive than I thought it would be. Who would have thought that the girl with the mechanic gimmick in description only, is kind of a mechanic in the ring?
They built some sympathy for Nikki, enough to get the crowd behind Cross and her comeback. After Nikki’s moves of doom, she hit the spinning fisherman suplex known as The Purge for the win.
Limitless Keith Lee gets the vignette treatment with an epic orchestral background music while Keith tells us to bask in his glory. It is very well done and gets me hyped for his debut.
Ricochet vs.
During Ricochet’s entrance, The Undisputed Era attack Ricochet from behind. Adam Cole says “Adam Cole does not hide behind anyone!” He then brags about how he will win at Takeover and remain North American Champion. I’m most upset by the fact that we never will know who Ricochet was supposed to wrestle.
Vanessa Borne cuts a pretty good promo about how she needs to be in the Mae Young Classic. The beginning of her promo makes it seem like she is still in developmental, which is understandable. She is working on her gimmick and it’s a bit of a saditty type.
Adrian Jauode vs. Kassius Ohno
This match is happening because they needed a kayfabe filler for the Ricochet match that was supposed to happen. Commentary points out that Adrian is getting this chance because he was one of the people in the back to have brought his gear just in case a moment like this would arise.
Ohno shows through his facial expressions that he is taking this match lightly. As well he should because after a couple minutes, Ohno hit vicious strikes to Adrian. Kassius is showing more aggression than I can remember seeing and its refreshing.
The match is built around Jauode showing heart and pulling off some decent suplexes because of his determination. Adrian just keeps making rookie mistakes, getting ahead of himself and attacking when he shouldn’t. That leaves Adrian open to get an elbow to the dome from Ohno for an easy victory for Kassius.
EC3 joined Velveteen Dream at The Dream’s house. We get some space funk type music with filtered camera shots. This is wonderfully 80’s and cheesed out in a good way. Dream tells EC3 to sit down and then asks him to take a walk. EC3 says “this is bigger than life and I want to wait for it.” They basically just cut wrestling promo’s on each other with the dope funk music in the background. Dream ends up dropping his glasses and EC3 throws Dream into the pool they were standing by. Dream acts of if he can’t swim until EC3 reminds Dream that the pool is 3ft deep. Very fun segment that I wish was on Youtube.
Marcel Barthel vs. Keith Lee
Marcel comes out in a regal way as commentary puts him over pretty well. They allude to who the opponent is. When “Limitless” shows up on the screen there are legitimate screams from the crowd and instant “Lee” chants. If y’all didn’t know, you found out within seconds of this mans entrance.
“OOOHH BASK IN HIS GLORY” chant before the match starts. Bell rings and “Keith Lee” chant happens as well. Marcel hits a few blows and then Keith will hit one move to show his power. Lee then hit a leapfrog and a dropkick. Percy says this is Keith’s third time in WWE meaning, he had two tryouts and never got signed. Which is remarkable.
Let’s give Barthel credit, this is a Keith Lee showcase but Marcel making his mark. A few times in the match Marcel yells “Nien” to the face of Keith and gets some innovative spots in that I’ve only saw Marcel do.
Keith hits a massive double hand chop that had commentary reacting as well as the crowd. Keith Lee wins with a yet to be named move, a fireman’s carry into a powerslam/jackhammer. Great debut match and great showing.
Street Profits hold their own talk show with one another. It’s at a table with solo cups in front of an ATM. It’s pretty ridiculous but Montez Ford controls the segment. He is the actual star of the team.
Winner gets the last spot in the Mae Young Classic
Taynara Conti vs. Vanessa Borne
I really don’t get Vanessa Borne’s character. I feel like she is a basic girl who got in a rock and roll video and gets hit on at rock shows, which makes her feel like she is better than everyone. IF that’s a character, that’s what I’ve got from her.
Taynara has a DOOOPE theme song, it sounds like a Grime style song and she even singing it! For real I hope this is put on streaming services soon because that song is a bop.
The match starts with a lock up that leads to some pin attempts, back into a lock up with some chain wrestling. This match starts off a lot better than I thought it would. Vanessa slows the match down with a dragon sleeper type move that Borne transitions into a leg scissors while screaming “I am going to be in it, NOT YOU” referring to the MYC.
The crowd is kind of quiet but that helps the mic pick up what the girls are saying. This match is hard hitting, a little sloppy and still gives off the aura of believability. Taynara Conti wins and almost starts crying because she is so excited to get into the tournament. Really putting over the importance of the upcoming tournament.
Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano
As Aleister makes his entrance and the crowd sings “No man is ever truly good, no man is ever truly evil”, I can’t help but wonder if Aleister Black also changes his own oil in his car.
Johnny comes out looking disheveled with a darker presence. His mannerisms and facial expressions are frantic, the bags under Johnny’s eyes do him no favors in showing his sanity. This feud with Ciampa is changing who he is as a person so much that it is affecting Johnny’s soul.
The match starts at a quick pace with both men looking to be filled with anger. The strikes are building and the hits are getting harder. Both men look confident but on the brink of losing it at the same time.
Ciampa comes in the ring and causes a DQ. The crowd is not happy, neither are Johnny and Aleister. Mauro says “Black will challenge Ciampa at Takeover:Brooklyn 4” as the crowd chants “Triple Threat”. Every man is attacking each other and there is no security or William Regal yet. When the cavalry of referee’s show up they get booed by the NXT crowd and THAT is when Regal’s music hits.
Regal makes the NXT Championship match a triple threat match at Takeover. Ciampa screams “It’s not fair!”. He doesn’t have to worry though.
Because Black is now taken out of the Takeover match due to injury. Which lead to a new announcement being made off of television. Just six hours ago from the time this was posted,
The championship match at Takeover is now a Last Man Standing match between blood rivals Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa!
Thank you for reading, see you next week. While you’re here, make sure to follow Bodyslam.net on twitter for all your news. While you are there you can throw me a follow as well.
-Jake
