Last week on NXT: Jordan Myles defeated Angel Garza in somewhat of an underwhelming match compared to both of their first round matches. The Gargano vs. Adam Cole NXT Championship match will be three stages of hell, the first stipulation chosen by Johnny is a Street Fight, the next stipulation chosen by Adam Cole is a regular wrestling match. If there is a third fall, William Regal will decide what the stipulation is. Bianca Belair bodied Xia Li. Mia Yim attacked Jessamyn Duke at the PC and slammed Jessamyn’s arm in a locker. Pete Dunne is the next challenger for Velveteen Dream’s North American Championship. Candice LeRae attacked Io Shirai during Io’s match with Kacy Catanzaro. Damian Priest picked up an impressive victory over Keith Lee.
Tyler Breeze vs. Jaxson Ryker w/ The Forgotten Sons
- Both entrances are made and there isn’t much in way of story. Like, commentary usually goes into an exposition on why the competitors are fighting.
- The story is that Tyler and The Sons have a problem and Tyler might need some back up. What kind of sucks is the YouTube video and description ruins the surprise.
- This isn’t much of a match, Jaxson Ryker is just destroying Breeze, it’s kind of sad.
- When I first heard about Gunner Miller talking shit about Marko Stunt signing to AEW, people on Twitter kept just saying Gunner, or “Fuck Gunner” and I kept thinking they were talking about Jaxson Ryker because he used to wrestle as Gunner on TNA.
- Breeze landed a knee and a couple kicks, which gave him enough momentum to flash pin Jaxson.
- That lead to the Sons beating down Breeze, when it looked like Breeze was in loads of trouble, Fandango came out to a huge pop and an even bigger save. The only question is why did it take so long.
And I’m Like… Fandango came out very flamboyantly, which is good because I was afraid his character would change. Breezango on NXT is going to be gold. GOLD TELEVISION on the black and gold brand!
We get a recap of Io and Candice’s fight from last week. That lead to a camera stuck on Candice waiting and pacing in the parking lot.
Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes
- I watched a lot of Cameron Grimes on the indies when he was known as Trevor Lee. Even after countless hour long matches or his tag team with Andrew Everett or when he did the Cult of Lee thing on Impact, I never really vibed with him. Then I saw his mini documentary from AAW and immediately became a fan. Now I am invested in all of his work on NXT.
- The match starts off as it should, with Bronson Reed overpowering Grimes. Grimes is tenacious and keeps attacking though.
- Bronson Reed is just too much man at the moment and Cameron seems to be in over his head.
- Grimes is able to gain control in a rather surprising way. Cameron hits a huge lariat, then goes for a wear down hold, which Reed easily overpowers.
- Grimes gets hit with a gigantic senton splash followed by a Samoan drop and is able to kick out at two by getting his foot on the rope. Nigel tells us that Cameron was in a wrestling ring at two years old.
- Cameron looked to be about done, but when Bronson hit the ropes to do a move, Grimes reversed it into a double stomp. Grimes was able to get the win.
And I’m Like… Jordan Myles vs. Cameron Grimes in the Breakout finals. Both semi-final matches left a lot to be desired. It most likely is due to the crowd fatigue, since this is the fourth hour of the taping. If the crowd was hotter, I’m sure I would have enjoyed the match more, since the match was wrestled well and told a small story, but the crowd involvement, or lack there of, really killed it for me.
Matt Riddle was leaving his MMA training and was stopped by NXT personal to question Riddle on his thoughts on Killian Dain, Riddle challenged Dain to a match next week.
Shayna Baszler came to the ring alone, since her henchwomen were taken out by Mia Yim in the previous weeks. Shayna is walking with more of a purpose than ever before. She grabs the mic and talks directly to Mia Yim. “This is not the street” Shayna says, insinuating that because it’s in a ring, Shayna is going to win. She called Mia a “street rat”, which brought Mia out.
Mia comes out playing it super cool. She saunters to the ring, using some street lingo and grammar. “This street rat is gonna be bringing a fight you can’t train for, champ” was enough for Mia to say to get the crowd firmly behind her. Shayna says that Mia isn’t special, she is just “street trash”. Mia doesn’t throw punches, she just says shes not scared of Shayna.
And I’m Like… I’m really interested in this match. I don’t feel like Mia is going to beat Shayna, but with NXT, you never know.
Regal visits Candice in the parking lot to tell her Io isn’t showing up tonight. So Candice asks for a match, and Regal grants it, at Takeover.
Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong
- I still miss Pete Dunne on NXT: UK, but I am very excited to see him make his mark on NXT. I don’t feel like he will beat Velveteen either, because Dream’s North American championship run seems like it’s just getting started.
- Some catch wrestling to start the match, with Roderick surprisingly in charge of the match.
- Seeing Roderick wrestle a slow pace at the beginning makes me think we are in for a looooong match.
- Roddy does some of his fast paced wrestling, but Pete Dunne is so damn methodical, that very time Dunne gets control of the match, he slows it way down.
- A lot of arm, wrist, finger work by Pete, most of it wince inducing.
- Roderick is hitting some backbreakers whilst selling his arm. A lot better than Bronson Reed, who sold his arm for two moves and then when his offense started, Reed stopped selling. Roddy continually goes to nurse his arm during the match.
- Pete then does a couple moves to Roddy’s leg, Strong lands a dropkick and sells the whole left side of his body. The crowd is more into this than I thought they’d be.
- Pete makes a mistake and tries to chop Roderick, who answers back rather quickly. Nigel is putting over how you shouldn’t strike battle with Strong, forgetting that Dunne had a strike battle wit WALTER.
- Dunne is able to hit a few strikes, then a X-Plex and a PK penalty kick to Roddy but Pete only got a two count.
- Both men seems tired and show the signs of the war they have been in. Dunne has an answer to everything Roddy does and gets many nearfalls in the middle of the match.
- Roderick won’t stop with the backbreakers. Pete is trying to fight back, but after being dropped on the apron, Pete seems to be helpless.
- The commentary team mentions how useless Roderick’s arm is though, giving us the idea that Pete can still win this even though his back is beat to hell.
- The match turns into a typical Roderick Strong match in the third act. A sprint of many high impact moves and nearfalls, finisher reversals and the like. The first third of the match was a Dunne match, the second third was a combination of styles and the last third was a Roderick style match.
- Pete Dunne withstoo the sprint and got Roderick to tap out to a finger submission.
And I’m Like… Seeing Pete Dunne win the match with a finger submission will add a lot more gravitas to his finger offense in matches that follow this. It’s hard for me to enjoy Roderick matches but I love Dunne, so this match had me torn. Velveteen Dream showed up after it was all over, Roderick yelled about how the North American Championship was Strong’s title, then Dunne grabbed Dreams fingers, snapped them and hit The Bitter End as the show went off the air. This was a weird show to me, we are so close to Takeover, which means the storylines are bursting at the seems. Yet, none of what was shown tonight seemed that exciting. Hopefully next week makes up for it, even if it doesn’t I know Takeover will.
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