NXT returned last night (August 19) from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. You can find the results on the live blog here.
The Natural
Pat McAfee is very good at this wrestling thing.
He is a natural hook who always has the gift of gab. But even with all that, his promo against Adam Cole was very strong this week.
It was the perfect mix of not burying / stabbing his opponent while putting more over himself. He apologized for the cheap shot-point he delivered to the former champion, and sold it as some key performance in a way that made fans know he was full.
Meanwhile, the normally very talkative Adam Cole just lay in the corner and let him run his mouth. When McAfee was ready, Cole ran up to him, triggering security to run in and try to stop him. And like most security in the world of wrestling, they got their ass kicked, this time single handedly by Adam Cole.
Seeing that suddenly put a worried look on Pat’s face. Not to worry. He was still trying to play it cool. But it was clear that Adam was sending a message that words could not.
We have no idea how Pat will fall into the ring, but up to that point he has nailed his role in this feud. I have confidence that they will book the match to keep up the momentum.
Second chance
Velveteen Dream defeated Finn Bálor in the main event to earn a place in the second chance ladder match.
To be completely honest, I can not get into Dream matches right now. The shadow of accusations is hard to come by. Yes, we do not know if he is guilty or innocent, but everyone will approach matches like this differently. Triple H’s “let’s talk about something else” puts a bad taste in my mouth. So now, these are games I can not enjoy as much as I could before. Will that last forever? Not necessarily. But at the moment it is difficult for me to objectively watch a Dream match.
What I just seemed to see after the game is Velveteen is better in this role than a cruel hook. It’s a new wrinkle that he does well with. At one point he was laying a few stumps while standing on the vortex and then turned to the crowd and shouted, “Why don’t you count on it?” That was very helpful.
This match ended with a lot of runins from everyone who is in the TakeOver ladder competition. It was a standard trope “get everyone in”, but NXT doesn’t do it often, so this was fun.
In the end, it was Bronson Reed who stood to hold and hold the gold. This build has done a good job and established itself as a bigger deal than it was before. He probably won’t win on Saturday. I still think that honor goes to Damian Priest. But they have raised multiple guys in this build. That’s the ideal.
She’s back
Dakota Kai’s partner in crime, Raquel González, has returned. And that’s a very good thing for the women’s title match against Io Shirai this Saturday. Because Kai fluttered without the gimmick that brought her to the dance – little hook with a formidable bodyguard.
The return went down amid a brawl between challenger and champion that took place after Kai sent out Jessi Kamea. The Kiwi cut a pretty generic, but not bad whole promo regarding their plans to kick Io in the face several times this weekend. Shirai did not feel her just listening to that dumb BS, so stormed to the ring, and a brawl ensued.
That was when Raquel appeared, the momentum square shifted into Kai’s corner. The two women let down the joshi champion, and confirmed dominance prior to TakeOver.
González missed in the build-up to the match hurt, for whatever reason she was out. Therefore, they had to re-establish the duo soon and did a good job. This would have been more effective if Raquel had run all the time to reinforce the challenger again, but this was enough to add some fire to the women’s title program.
Ouch
Johnny Gargano was meant to be the hook when he crossed Ridge Holland to qualify for the TakeOver ladder race. But it just didn’t play out that way.
The big difference alone is enough to put Johnny on underdog status. Ridge is a tree trunk of a man. That even seems like Gargano’s cheat (like Candice LeRae’s help) as a ridiculous evening off the playing field.
But then there was the right bad hump he took in the middle of the match, when Holland did not turn the whole way on a power slam, and Johnny Wrestling planted directly on his head. The announcement team put that over big time, surprising him that he had finished the match himself. That winning that match was nothing short of a great achievement.
It’s not a problem. He can pick up his full ways this Saturday, hoping to avoid the bigger bumps during the ladder game. Meanwhile, while Ridge looks physically impressive, this was a reminder that he has a lot of work to do.
Everything else:
– El Legado del Fantasma defeated the trio team of Breezango and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. The cruiserweight champion settled Tyler Breeze after the referee considered Tyler and not Isaiah the legal man when it looked like Swerve had pinned the champ. This has been a simple build up (in a good way) towards Scott vs. Santos Escobar. Scott is the only man to have an Escobar pin. This was during the cruiserweight title tournament when Escobar was still El Hijo del Fantasma. Therefore, Swerve would have to get a possible title contest.
– Shotzi Blackheart and Rhea Ripley received a measure of revenge on the Robert Stone Brand this week, defeating Mercedes Martinez & Aliyah. While Shotzi Aliyah settled down, the real point of remark was the big time power bomb Ripley delivered to Martinez on the floor, which added something hot to that eventual killer feud.
This was a solid episode, with some strong contributions from the women’s title build and the McAfee / Cole segment. Everyone will be able to enjoy Velveteen Dream on different levels and I am currently falling “I can not really get into its segments”. Other than that, this was a pleasant performance.
Quality: B +
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