NXT returned from the Capital Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida last night (October 14). You can find the results on the live blog.
Wheel spin
The highlight of this week’s show was Damien Priest who defended his title against Dexter Lumis.
It felt too early to run as a legal quarrel. So it came as no surprise when Cameron Grimes paid the silent superstar the cost of the match with a cave-in at the back of the ref. This is a clear quarrel based on the last few weeks.
It will be interesting to see who gets better with this. Traditional thinking would say that it is Lumis, who is the babyface of this program and the big man. He will have a harder time recovering from his losses than Grimes, who can make some excuses for BS and is good to go. The goal is to elevate both men and hopefully they are able to do it.
This week’s title match was enjoyable enough to warrant a venue for the main event. The explosion of Lumis’s dexterity is yet to be seen and plays very well in his enigmatic character. Meanwhile, Priest is doing as he needs to as a midcard champion. I’ve had a lot of fun with him since he turned babyface after losing to Finn Buller. It’s not at a stage where I’d be too excited to see him in a major title match, but this time, it might just be a choice. I dig Priest, but I’m not a mega fan.
Next, Damien will have to face Johnny Gargano again Halloween Havoc Only after beating him Takeover 31. Johnny got it right with the attack on the champ with the chair after the match. (The fact is that they had to put the match together in a short order.)
When William Regle added spice he kicked it over Shotzy, who made the match (and Candice’s title match we’ll get in a moment) spin the wheel, make a deal match.
This will at least add fun betting to the match again. There’s some ridiculous stuff on those wheels, like a casket match, a Coal Miners glove on a pole match, and a buried live match. The result will be the same, but always appreciated when they go retro with the classics. And they should have a little fun with these terms.
Rematch number two
Candice LeRae got another shot at the Io Shirai title Halloween Havoc In two weeks.
She got there by beating Shotzi Blackhart, which was a good match between two women who played consistently well. The deciding factor was Indy Hartwell, who started sucking Candice (and Johnny Gargano) with a new TV last week. Indy wrapped Laira’s brass knuckles, a weapon, poison pixie, used to win matches.
So we get another rematch Takeover 31 After less than a month. The child feels lazy to play the same match again. They obviously want to wait for big challenges like Rhea Ripley, Tony Storm and Amber Moon. And they should.
At least Candice and Ion have great chemistry and the match will be good. The new wrinkle will be a heartwell, which could be a crucial factor for Larry. But in reality, it’s not beating Io Shirai and the lack of drama for the prospect of a title match for the show is a bit disappointing.
Wheel spices will help.
Showing unity
Undisputed is still showing unity … for now.
Kyle O’Reilly joined Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong in the match against their # 1 contenders Oni Lorcan and Danny Birch at Ringside. O’Reilly spoke for the group (as a leader?), Showing no ease for Ridge Holland. In fact, he claimed that if Ridge had not been in a hospital bed due to last week’s horrific injury, he would have been there because the undisputed had put him there.
KORA admits that someone was behind the Dum Cole attack, which means “Who drowned?” Who will continue. I’m glad it will. It is clearly a great shame that Ridge has suffered such an injury. But it looks like they can continue this key angle with undeniable.
Fish & Strong beat Birch and Lorcan in a fun match against Brizango next week. And it should be a time for fun. But the big corner here is the undeniable future, which, despite all their stubbornness, could lead to a break.
Baby steps
The team of Drake Maverick and Killian Dine is more consistent than they were last week.
Killian isn’t in the music (which is weird because he rules) and certainly not in the name of Drake’s Fury and Fury (which I understand). But he is tolerating this whole thing more. Because he has to beat people.
Drake booked him a match against former tag champion Imperium. At this point, Dain was ready to extend, even with an outstretched arm. It’s huge for this relationship! But that was not enough to win.
I am glad that Marcel Barthel and Fabian Eichner went. This new fantastic couple tag team is wildly fun, but they’re not in a place where they should beat the Empire’s caliber team. They showed a little fight, but it wasn’t enough.
The biggest step after the match. Ever-Rise thought Drake was living alone and tried to get a little revenge from last week. But Big Day sent both men to the floor with double clothes. He then told Drake that he was the only person who would hit Maverick.
Lost
Aust Stein Theory continues to lose.
This week, it was in the hands of Johnny Gargano. It was no squash. It was a two-segment match that could have gone on like that young man at the time. But in the end, it was another L for theory. Wade Barrett pointed to his missing streak and qualified him with the fact that he was against the list of really good talents.
But at the same time, loss is loss. And it’s not like Johnny Garga wins all the time. It was a kind of battle of two boys who lose more than they win. In the end, Johnny was too experienced for Rookie Theory.
This is a long clear story of loss. And NXT has performed well with it in the past. Andread (“CN” Almas) lost all his time before working with Zelina Vega, a move that took him to the top right. Eventually, Theory will find something that works for her when they want to move it to put others on top.
All the rest:
– Jack Atlas uneasily beats “The” Adonis. When Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde came out, he took advantage of waiting for revenge from Adonis. Takeover 31. After using it to his advantage, JK chose to help Adonis. Santos Escobar joined his boys and Isaiah “Swarev” Scott did the same for Adonis and Atlas, leaving this stability. I wonder if this cruiser will lead Atlas to a challenging weight title as Scott has lost his last two chances.
– Rhea Ripley and Ravel Gonzalez uttered the words when Nightmare heard Ravel talking on the trash in an interview. It took a lot of officers to keep them apart. The NXT has done a very good job of producing this as a big time match in the short term, especially since there is no featured singles act before this is given to Gonzalez.
– Tony Storm picks his first win back (v bs) against Aliyah. It’s great to have this rockstar back on Wednesday.
This was a solid episode. Some of these matches seem longer than usual. It’s good for a match like Shotz vs Candice. Not necessarily for Theory vs. Gargano. The show has seemed a bit unfocused in recent episodes, but the show has seemed a bit unfocused in recent episodes.
Grade: B-
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