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| WIN ALL THE THINGS all photos courtesy of WWE.com |
It wasn't the best episode of NXTV ever, but man if it didn't have something for pretty much everybody intrigued by the pro graps. Starting off with an absolutely blessed title match and closing with a match with NXT World Title implications certainly helped, but even the things in the middle of the show incorporated danger, a little blood, further establishment of somewhat underdeveloped characters and introducing new players into Full Sail's ecosphere.
This week's show has both the big singles titles on the line - hell, they're even starting with the fight for Goldie commercial free and announcing it as the show opener sins ads ahead of time - but the penultimate live episode of NXT's decade had more than a little bit going for it, starting with the aforementioned...
GOLD: Angel Garza
Not since Pete Dunne last November has someone in the employ of NXT had this stellar an evening from both in and out of the ring perspectives. You may remember the Bruiserweight headlining the 2nd WarGames alongside Ricochet and celebrating their victory atop the double cage, then flying back home across the pond to be present for the birth of his first born.
Garza won the Cruiserweight title in a great match in front of an increasingly molten crowd, then proposed successfully to his now fiancee before the show was even half an hour old. I'm not even bigging this up because the odds of him seducing my fiancee away from me went down slightly, but I'm also not not doing that.
Most notably about the second tilt between him and the now former champion Lio Rush was that it was wrestled like it should be: Garza was playful, slapping hands with the fans of both genders and even laughing at Rush after the latter jumped him during the introductions. Maybe Rush was upset about the pants whipping off in front of his girl in their last match, maybe he didn't realize Garza had his own HBO Go subscription at home and didn't need to jack another man's login, maybe he was upset that the overwhelming fan support in both fans and chants was in the luchador's corner or some combination thereof. Both men wrestled this match sporadically angry - several hockey fight styled strike exchanges happened at different points - but mostly relying on a combination of their athleticism and spite; again on both ends, they lifted signatures from their opponent. It was loose and sloppy but it never felt out of control, and for gits and shiggles Chekov's Tearaway Pants figured into the finish as Garza ate the Final Hour only to try to get away from Rush during the pinfall by first rolling to his side (a la Ciampa/Black from all the way back in January) then sluicing out of the ring headfirst. Rush tried to capitalize with a Hour to the floor that ate knees, then kicked out of the Wing Clipper only to fall victim to Garza reapplying the reverse full nelson with maximum leverage until the DCite tapped Big Purp away.
Most notably, whether by accident or design they seem to be turning both men in the process of this feud, as Rush was noticeably dismissive of the crowd's approbation of Garza without fully reverting heel and Garza went on the mic during the commercial break after the match to put over lucha libre, the fans, his family, and his S.O. Even more intriguingly than that, that title switch means these guys have split two matches. Seems like a third is in order to fully establish who rules the cruiserweight roost as 2020 kicks off, right?
GOLD: #1 contender Finn Balor
With the champ watching on from the Solomon Crowe's Nest, TAFKA Prince used his skillset and more importantly his spots to pin Keith Lee and beat Tomasso Ciampa in a triple threat to close out the show. No weapons, no Era interference (in a fine red herring, announce speculated on these things before the match started given the no countout or disqualification environment), just Finn leaping off the top with the Coup while Keith was driving Tommy Sports Entertainment down with the Spirit Bomb. For three...well, really two and a quarter segs, Keith got the dazzling displays of power while Ciampa and Finn both played the moderately ruthless former champs that they were. Most interestingly given their recent teamup in winning WarGames, there was no real collusion between Lee and Ciampa to speak of, the sort of thing that may've opened the door for Balor winning it late.
So congrats, Fergy Ferg. As Cole accurately if self-aggrandizingly called himself while he hijacked the usual Last Week Recap Theatre during the show open, "the greatest NXT champion that ever lived on the run of a freakin' lifetime" wasn't enough of a problem, Johnny Gargano has been mysterious by his absence and you know that receipt's coming probably before Kringle ambles down the chimney.
GOLD: Equal time
With the move to USA, there has been more 45 to 90 second -- I've been calling them stingers instead of vignettes, but just little videos from God's Production Team to give the unfamiliar more knowledge of the players. The three men main eventing got them in separate parts of the show, Shayna and Rhea got ones ahead of their title clash tomorrow, and Travis Banks got one before he beat Ryker [LOMFNL at the Heavy Shitter losing to a debuting dude half his size, if it'd been a squash it would've been the best comedy this year this side of Booksmart]. Long enough to be informative without overstaying their welcome is the exact sweet spot they should be hitting with these, and to GPT's credit they've done it ever since the USA move.
BLACK-ish: Dakota Kai
Based on going Cobra Kai at WarGames, she faced off against the women she beat up and turfed from Team Ripley in Mia Yim. The HBIC gave a terse but passionate promo in which she promised to receipt the ambulance ride she'd gotten last month, and they faced off in a vitriolic filled match like Garza and Rush did before that, and even to a much lesser extent that Cameron Grimes & Raul Mendoza did before that. They had a fine match that Kai used shenanigans to win, then caught a post-match ass whooping that culminated in Yim Saito suplexed Kai off a ledge to two tables below. At least that was the plan; in execution, Yim's suplex seemingly ended up with Dakota clipping the second table with the back of her head on the way down and both women failing to go through it entirely. You could almost hear Nigel McGuinness cringing during the replays and with good reason. Hopefully, her giving the thumbs up a few hours later and doing the house show swing over the weekend means she's not as hurt as she looked in the moment.
SO if the show's floor is serviceable, and the ceiling is a hearty WOO SHIT!, that's a quality two hour block of television. And with the ersatz Night of Champions to end NXTV's live year and decade, you can probably expect more of the same on the next Standard issued review.
This week's show has both the big singles titles on the line - hell, they're even starting with the fight for Goldie commercial free and announcing it as the show opener sins ads ahead of time - but the penultimate live episode of NXT's decade had more than a little bit going for it, starting with the aforementioned...
GOLD: Angel Garza
Not since Pete Dunne last November has someone in the employ of NXT had this stellar an evening from both in and out of the ring perspectives. You may remember the Bruiserweight headlining the 2nd WarGames alongside Ricochet and celebrating their victory atop the double cage, then flying back home across the pond to be present for the birth of his first born.
Garza won the Cruiserweight title in a great match in front of an increasingly molten crowd, then proposed successfully to his now fiancee before the show was even half an hour old. I'm not even bigging this up because the odds of him seducing my fiancee away from me went down slightly, but I'm also not not doing that.
Most notably about the second tilt between him and the now former champion Lio Rush was that it was wrestled like it should be: Garza was playful, slapping hands with the fans of both genders and even laughing at Rush after the latter jumped him during the introductions. Maybe Rush was upset about the pants whipping off in front of his girl in their last match, maybe he didn't realize Garza had his own HBO Go subscription at home and didn't need to jack another man's login, maybe he was upset that the overwhelming fan support in both fans and chants was in the luchador's corner or some combination thereof. Both men wrestled this match sporadically angry - several hockey fight styled strike exchanges happened at different points - but mostly relying on a combination of their athleticism and spite; again on both ends, they lifted signatures from their opponent. It was loose and sloppy but it never felt out of control, and for gits and shiggles Chekov's Tearaway Pants figured into the finish as Garza ate the Final Hour only to try to get away from Rush during the pinfall by first rolling to his side (a la Ciampa/Black from all the way back in January) then sluicing out of the ring headfirst. Rush tried to capitalize with a Hour to the floor that ate knees, then kicked out of the Wing Clipper only to fall victim to Garza reapplying the reverse full nelson with maximum leverage until the DCite tapped Big Purp away.
Most notably, whether by accident or design they seem to be turning both men in the process of this feud, as Rush was noticeably dismissive of the crowd's approbation of Garza without fully reverting heel and Garza went on the mic during the commercial break after the match to put over lucha libre, the fans, his family, and his S.O. Even more intriguingly than that, that title switch means these guys have split two matches. Seems like a third is in order to fully establish who rules the cruiserweight roost as 2020 kicks off, right?
 |
| Finn 2 times? |
GOLD: #1 contender Finn Balor
With the champ watching on from the Solomon Crowe's Nest, TAFKA Prince used his skillset and more importantly his spots to pin Keith Lee and beat Tomasso Ciampa in a triple threat to close out the show. No weapons, no Era interference (in a fine red herring, announce speculated on these things before the match started given the no countout or disqualification environment), just Finn leaping off the top with the Coup while Keith was driving Tommy Sports Entertainment down with the Spirit Bomb. For three...well, really two and a quarter segs, Keith got the dazzling displays of power while Ciampa and Finn both played the moderately ruthless former champs that they were. Most interestingly given their recent teamup in winning WarGames, there was no real collusion between Lee and Ciampa to speak of, the sort of thing that may've opened the door for Balor winning it late.
So congrats, Fergy Ferg. As Cole accurately if self-aggrandizingly called himself while he hijacked the usual Last Week Recap Theatre during the show open, "the greatest NXT champion that ever lived on the run of a freakin' lifetime" wasn't enough of a problem, Johnny Gargano has been mysterious by his absence and you know that receipt's coming probably before Kringle ambles down the chimney.
GOLD: Equal time
With the move to USA, there has been more 45 to 90 second -- I've been calling them stingers instead of vignettes, but just little videos from God's Production Team to give the unfamiliar more knowledge of the players. The three men main eventing got them in separate parts of the show, Shayna and Rhea got ones ahead of their title clash tomorrow, and Travis Banks got one before he beat Ryker [LOMFNL at the Heavy Shitter losing to a debuting dude half his size, if it'd been a squash it would've been the best comedy this year this side of Booksmart]. Long enough to be informative without overstaying their welcome is the exact sweet spot they should be hitting with these, and to GPT's credit they've done it ever since the USA move.
BLACK-ish: Dakota Kai
Based on going Cobra Kai at WarGames, she faced off against the women she beat up and turfed from Team Ripley in Mia Yim. The HBIC gave a terse but passionate promo in which she promised to receipt the ambulance ride she'd gotten last month, and they faced off in a vitriolic filled match like Garza and Rush did before that, and even to a much lesser extent that Cameron Grimes & Raul Mendoza did before that. They had a fine match that Kai used shenanigans to win, then caught a post-match ass whooping that culminated in Yim Saito suplexed Kai off a ledge to two tables below. At least that was the plan; in execution, Yim's suplex seemingly ended up with Dakota clipping the second table with the back of her head on the way down and both women failing to go through it entirely. You could almost hear Nigel McGuinness cringing during the replays and with good reason. Hopefully, her giving the thumbs up a few hours later and doing the house show swing over the weekend means she's not as hurt as she looked in the moment.
SO if the show's floor is serviceable, and the ceiling is a hearty WOO SHIT!, that's a quality two hour block of television. And with the ersatz Night of Champions to end NXTV's live year and decade, you can probably expect more of the same on the next Standard issued review.
