The debut of NXT on USA is on the record books and it left a lot of things to analyze once the show finished.
The show was overall good, most fans and critics do agree it was a solid debut for the yellow brand, but it was not a perfect show.
The second hour
The first hour of NXT was really good, The women’s fatal 4 way was a good opener for the show. It had a squash match won by Cameron Grimes and a great NXT North American championship match between Roderick Strong and Velveteen Dream
The second hour was not so great with 2 squash matches, 1 good match between Oney Lorcan with a returning Lio Rush and a Brawl between Riddle, Dain and a good part of the NXT roster.
The second hour was missing the spark the first hour had and it didn’t return until the final parts of Rush Vs Lorcan and the rest of the brawl between Dain and Riddle.
The show ended abruptly and it had 9 minutes left and could’ve used those 9 minutes left to something and the end felt a bit flat but it doesn’t take anything from how good this brawl.
The lack of promos and new feuds
In 2 hours NXT only set up two feuds between Walter and Kushida and the start of Candice LaRae and Shayne Baszler feud. The rest were feuds we knew from previous weeks.
The show only had one video package and it was for Dakota Kai, besides that no had time to cut a promo to introduce themselves and take advantage of this new platform.
The Announce team
The announce team for NXT’s USA debut did a good job as usual. The NXT commentary team is a solid one. The enthusiasm showed by Mauro Ranallo was contagious but it sometimes felt a bit over the top in certain occasions.
The commentary during the Strong Vs Dream match was fantastic and it made the match feel like the main even it was. The announcing was so good that it sold me on the idea of Strong and Dream being major stars and could at any moment challenge for the NXT Championship or any of WWE’s major championships.
Commercial Breaks
The commerical breaks were one of NXT biggest negatives on their debut. In certain occasions the commercial breaks didn’t feel natural to do, for example after Io Shirai’s spectacular moonsault or during the Strong-Dream match.
The commercial breaks really affected in my opinion the Strong Vs Dream match, with this bout having 2 long commercial breaks after important moments, this was not good and disconnected a lot of viewers.
Overall
At the end this was a great show for NXT on their USA debut. The crowd was hot for everything they were showed except during a few occasions during the show.
The show had a feeling of other similar NXT episodes seen in the past which is a bold move to do considering it was their USA debut. If you are a new viewer to NXT then it will take time to get used to the NXT style.
Wrestlers like Riddle,Velveteen Dream, Walter and Strong looked like major stars for new viewers.
If NXT keeps up the great work they did tonight, AEW will have a hard time once they debut on TV pretty soon.
