Wednesday, January 22, 2020

the Black and Gold Standard: Episodes 14-18 (12/18/19 - 1/15/20)

#9 in the record books, #1 in your hearts
Photo Credit: F4wonline
So, it's been a crazy month for NXT heading into a baby Takeover Worlds Collide this weekend with the domestic brand facing off against the UK contingent on a card so packed that Mia Yim v. Kay Lee Ray is on the pre-show, let alone the full-fledged Takeover in Portland (PNW) next month on the 16th.  Hopefully this compendium will help us all catch up so that we can get back on track as Championship Wrestling from Florida continues to evolve and almost impossibly improve...

DECEMBER 18th
  • Adam Cole retained the NXT World Championship over Finn Balor after the re-emergence of Johnny Gargano, a low blow, and the Last Shot.  Post match, Gargano tuned up Finn with a chair a few times.
  • Damien Priest pinned Killian Dain after the Reckoning.
  • Cameron Grimes pinned KUSHIDA following a Cave In.
  • Io Shirai beat Santana Garrett after God's Moonsault.
  • Pete Dunne pinned Travis Banks after a Bitter End in a match that earned a standing O from the Full Sailors.
  • Rhea Ripley overcame Underling interference and pinned Shayna Baszler (c) after an avalanche Riptide to become the 9th different NXT Women's World Champion and kick off the 10th different title reign of the title.
ALSO OF NOTE: Finn's new Tron and graphics have a lot of red Xs now; they're doing everything short of openly calling him Prince Devitt...nice job of Adam to immediately run away in the background as Johnny got his revenge...the Dain/Priest match fought above its weight class, and Priest despite recent weeks made a good babyface in the match...no BS, no outside interference, no shenanigans: Grimes and KUSHIDA went about 50/50 before Grimey won clean.  They probably wish that they'd given him the Breakout trophy win (though I will always say that should've been in la casa de Swerve)...they followed Rhea Ripley getting limber ahead of her title shot with a stinger for Io ahead of her squashish against Garrett.  That's a title money match, they know it, and the only question now is when they pull the trigger on it. 

Also: RHEA V. IO?!  Who's body is possibly ready?...While pre-match I knew Dunne/Banks should've gotten some hype beforehand but I was amazed at the casual four and a quarter star nature of the match that still clearly could've hit higher gears if it was headlining and/or for a title in real time, and it seemed the Full Sailors were, too.  Anytime they want to run that back, please do...the main was a three-seg instant classic, but it told the whole story in the opening couple of minutes: Shayna took too long on a Reality Check attempt, then Rhea got out of it and threatened a punch that made Shayna fall on her ass to oohs and applause. That informed everything else to come: the Underlings running Rhea shoulder first into the post, the doctors checking on Rhea and her shooing them away after a few seconds, the ref bump and visual victory, Rhea lasting longer in the Clutch than anyone and grabbing the ref by the shirt to stay alive long enough to get her final surge of energy leading to the win and the crowd and roster from both genders rushing the ring and passing around the Mosh Pit Kid before she posed on the buckle and more or less ended NXT's 2019 was a career-making moment, and it was great to see them pull the trigger quickly on a normal NXTV episode instead of dragging it out to Portland (which they easily could've done).  The moment early on in seg 3 when she finally blocked one of Shayna's kicks, stood up and starting throwing shots of her own got the Sailors standing and further proved this was the right time and the right woman to end the tyranny of the Queen of Spades. You don't reason with a bully, you put - in this instance - their uterus in the dirt.
    DECMBER 25th & JANUARY 1st
    • The Christmas show consisted of previously taped matches that have had no long term bearing on the program.
    • The New Year's Day show gave out the Regals, with the Era sweeping most of the major awards: Cole not only won Overall and Male Competitor of the Year, but got Rivalry of the Year with Gargano and their best of 3 falls match earned MOTY.  Fish & O'Reilly earned the Tag Team of the Year awards, Dakota Kai got Future Star, Keith Lee (KEITH LEE!) got Breakout Star, and Shayna won Female Competitor of the Year in her own right. WarGames was named Takeover of the Year as well.
    JANUARY 8th
    • Rhea celebrating her title win in the first real show since it happened kicked off the show and a promo parade into a Teddy Long Trios Special; she, Candice LeRae & Toni Storm beat Bianca BelAir, Kay Lee Ray and Io Shirai when Rhea pinned Bianca after a Riptide.
    • In a first round Dusty Classic match, Imperium (Aichner/Barthel) beat the Forgotten Sons (Blake/Cutler).
    • Austin Theory beat Joaquin Wilde with the ATKO (name pending, probably).
    • In another first round Dusty Classic match, the Undisputed Era (ReDragon) beat Gallus (Mark Coffey/Wolfgang).
    • Johnny & Finn agreed to fight at Takeover: Portland.
    • Mia Yim beat Kayden Carter when the latter flew off into Protect Ya Neck.
    • In a fatal four-way to determine a #1 contender to the North American championship, Keith Lee beat Dominik Dijakovic, Cameron Grimes and Damien Priest when Lee pinned Grimes after the Spirit Bomb.  Keith gets that shot on this week's show.
    ALSO OF NOTE: Toni came out with congratulations, quick reminders that she's beaten Rhea twice, and was looking for the hat trick as well as replicating Ripley's winning the title in the UK then the US ahead of them fighting at Worlds Collide.  It'll probably be the coke to the future Rhea/Io crack even if Miss Storm turns into a workrate favorable bowl of oatmeal more and moreso by the apperance (SIX STARS, obv)...Bianca's "she (Toni) doesn't even go here" popped everyone, because the limit to loving Mean Girls does not exist...by dint of facing the Sons, Imperium got the babyface shine in the match even if they didn't sell it at all...the match was driving 60 in a 30 in the best possible way and also possibly short-circuited any crowd rebellions that might've come up due to an all-heel matchup...Matt: Oscar :: Pete : Felix...also all-heel in the second DC match, though the UK tag belts did nothing to boost Gallus in front of a crowd that'll probably cheer for the Era against anyone that isn't DIY or Keith Lee...Chelsea Green and Robert Stone made their debut out of Impact exile by having her lay out Mia...more teasing of Lee/Dijakovic in the main without us having their rubber match yet...At one point Dijakovic went to suplex throw Priest, which was caught by Lee, who swung Priest around before powerbombing him onto D2 which triggered a well deserved standing O...shortly thereafter, Keith landed on the floor and Priest tried to hit his trademark step up tope con hilo, but Keith saw it coming and waved it on, causing Priest to jump back into the ring waving his hands with a "Nah, I'm good" having remembered recent history (he waited for Dijakovic and Grimes to swarm Lee before hitting it on all of them)...the question now is can they capitalize on this momentum and give Keith the NA title, or is this an amuse bouche tease on the road to him ending another title reign, BAY BAY?
      JANUARY 15th
      • Keith Lee cut a promo and was jumped in the middle of it by the Era; by the time Ciampa came out for the save Roddy had already Pillmanized one of the #1c's legs.
      • In a first round Dusty Classic match, the Broserweights (Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle, natch) beat South Wales Subculture (Mark Andrews & "Flash" Morgan Webster) after a combination Bitter End and Final Flash knee; they will face Imperium in the semis on this week's program.
      • Ciampa came out to cut a promo as part of his effort "to get his life back" from Adam Cole; he, too, was jumped by the Era, but a familiar face named Johnathan Gargano came out for the save. 
      • In the final Dusty Classic first round match, the Grizzled Young Veterans beat the Time Splitters (no, really) via their Ticket To Mayhem; this week they'll face the Era in the other DC semi.
      • In a triple threat for a spot in a fatal fourway Cruiserweight Title match at Worlds Collide, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott beat Tyler Breeze and Lio Rush by pinning Breeze after a House Call and JML Driver; two men from NXT UK will join he & Angel Garza in that match.
      • Bianca BelAir won a battle royale - last eliminating Io Shirai - in order to earn a shot at Rhea and the NXT Women's World Championship in Portland.
      ALSO OF NOTE: the Era jumped Imperium after the main of Takeover: Blackpool II, setting up something for tonight's show as well as their 8-man tag at Worlds Collide this weekend, and if I had to guess, the finals of the Dusty Classic...Mauro immediately giving South Wales Subculture an out by noting they were in that crazy four-way ladder tag team title match at Blackpool II 72 hours previous before going down to the Broserweights and it taking 3 segments to do so was a chef's kiss...if the Broserweights somehow end up in the finals and Dunne turns on Riddle, you'll laugh your ass off, admit it...we're getting the Tyler7 version of Mustache Mountain against the reunited #DIY at Worlds Collide because Ciampa & Johnny have a new shirt to sell and you're already addicted so here's some freebies for you...having the TimeSplitters lose clean to the Grizzles, especially given the fact that they would've faced the Era in the semis, was a great kick in the emotional balls. Even if that's the only time Kush & Alex got the band back together, it felt like they'd never left in a lot of ways. And if Gallus couldn't get any babyface shine against the Era, Gibson & Drake will probably be shoes off hated when that match goes down later...

      Finn/Dragunov is happening at Worlds Collide too, which probably officially vaults it into Clash of the Champions territory...Lio Rush Asai moonsaulted away from Swerve doing a tope con hilo, both landed on their feet, and I hadn't been that astounded since...well, Keith was about to swat Priest's tope con hilo out of the sky with Grizzly Magnum prejudice.  Even the blase Angel Garza had to give that props...DIY got together in the parking lot to accept the challenge of M2, then the Era came out to yell at them (again, we're eventually going to get ReDragon/#DIY for the belts in another JUST HOOK IT TO MY VEINS instant classic) and then Keith Lee showed up and they remembered they left the stove unlocked and the front door on as Lee decimated some NPCs while yelling for Roddy's head...Mighty Kacy came back for the battle royale, Mercedes Martinez made her full NXTV debut, Tegan Nox got in the ring for the first time since Dakota's betrayal and Shayna came back from the side of a milk carton to a surprisingly loud pop...in a nice nod to continuity, she got in the ring next to Xia Li who stared her down the whole time...

      Catalina also made her debut here but was one of Shayna's many victims...Shotzi Blackheart eliminated Deonna Purazzo, who pulled her from the ring and laid her out...the heels ganged up on Xia until she KUNG FU'D UP and laid out Shayna, then Io with a superkick and Bianca with a hurricane kick.  Again: once she gets the reps under her, they're going to push Xia hard and it'll be deserved, she's doing things no one else on a crowded roster is doing...Mia v. Mercedes got a pop, but not compared to Mercedes v. Shayna...Lady Kane Nox chokeslammed Io onto Shayna and fired off a Shiniest Wizard before Dakota came out for more revenge...this spot always, always, always works in a battle royale and it did here: the uneliminated Shotzi came back and dumped Shayna, who put up 6 eliminations. Before she could really celebrate, Bianca dumped Shotzi, thus setting up two future matches in about 25 seconds...once it came down to Bianca/Io EVERYBODY wanted Io to win, which is exactly why they're delaying it, if I had to guess.  Bianca & Rhea might steal the show in Portland, but Rhea/Io might end up a MOTYC without any qualifiers...really enjoyed the spot where Io shoteied Bianca on the apron, so BelAir rolled into the ring to avoid elimination, only for Io to stand on her braid for a few beats to pop the crowd before Bianca took her hair back and virtually legswept the Genius of the Sky.

      Well, that's everything; everything essential, anyway.  Now let us never speak of the shortcut again.