This Week In NXT 2nd Edition: News and Recap
Welcome to the second edition of This Week In NXT. I hope you enjoyed the one from last week. We are three days away from NXT Takeover 25. I have posted my predictions for that. I’ll post a link to it here at the end so you can check that out as well. Let’s get into some news first before I recap this week’s NXT show.
According to PWInsider, Road Dogg is now working with the NXT brand. His title has not been confirmed yet. He’s probably either a trainer or working in creative if I had to take a guess. He stepped down from his creative position on the Smackdown live show earlier this year. His frustration grew with Vince McMahon’s constant changes to the weekly script. I don’t blame him one bit. Plus he now gets to work with one of his DX buddies Triple H. Good for him. I wish Road Dogg well. One-half of one of my all-time favorite tag teams the New Age Outlaws.
Before this week’s show, they showed an excellent little documentary highlighting Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole (Bay Bay) as they prepare for their title match on Saturday. It was well done. Mauro Ranallo was the narrator for it. Gargano was shown celebrating his victory from NXT Takeover New York with his friends and family. They also showed him visiting the Cleveland Browns facility and throwing out the first pitch at a Cleveland Indians game. One of the funny moments was when Johnny was sitting at the podium like he was taking post-game questions at the Browns headquarters and Candice LeRae asked him was winning the title the happiest moment of his life. Johnny was like he couldn’t imagine any other moment. Candice was hinting at their wedding day obviously. It was very cute. I love those two together.
The stuff they showed with Cole was mostly some of his matches at some of the house shows. The focus was clearly on Johnny. They mentioned Shayna Baszler’s match briefly towards the end with Io Shirai. Shirai was talking with Candice LeRae. She mentioned that this was her biggest match in the states so far. She fought Shayna before in Japan and won. So I’m sure she knows she can do it again. I enjoyed it. Go check it out if you get a chance. Now let’s get into this week’s recap.
This is the final show before Takeover 25 this Friday. It did not disappoint. The showed kicked off with a match between Mia Yim and Bianca Belair. I like both of these ladies ring gear. Especially Belair since she creates all her own outfits. You got a Let’s Go Mia/EST chant from the crowd. Mia hit Belair with some Daniel Bryan style kicks. Belair showed off her strength with a vertical suplex she held up for a bit while doing some squats. Mia paid homage to Tajiri by doing the tarantula on the ropes. Yim would pick up the win by hitting Belair with the Protect Ya Neck (Arm-trap inverted overdrive) while grabbing her braid. This was a good match. Even better than the one they had a few weeks ago.
The camera’s caught up with Belair after the match. They wanted to get her response her after her loss. Mind you, this is the first time Belair has been pinned in NXT. She’s like don’t ask me about that. She throws water on the guy asking the question. This wasn’t shown on TV but it should have. It can be found on the NXT Instagram page. Plus I’m sure it’s on youtube too.
We get a video package where the Velveteen Dream and Tyler Breeze are hyping up their match for this Saturday for the North American Title. The Dream is using a selfie stick to talk about the match. He talks about Breeze’s time in NXT. As well as going back to discuss Breeze’s debut on the main roster. It was very well done. These two are gonna have an awesome match.
They show highlights from last week when Shayna and her horsewomen crew Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir go after Candice LeRae. Io Shirai would come out to help with a kendo stick attacking Shayna and company. Shayna and her friends are backstage doing a photo shoot. She is asked about what happened last week and is she worried about Shirai using that kendo stick again. Shayna says you know what the difference is. She won’t be able to use that during the match. Plus all her friends are gone and she still has her’s by her side. Now get out of the way she told the reporter. Shayna is so good at what she does. She plays the heel champion role so well.
Our next match is between Drew Gulak and Kushida. This was the match of the night for me. If you like chain/technical wrestling, this is the match for you. The back and forth grappling between these two was amazing. They were going back and forth matching move for move. I loved every second of it. Kushida picks up his third victory on the NXT brand. It was by pinfall. The way the match was going it should have ended in submission. That is my only complaint. Everything else was solid.
Cathy Kelley is backstage and she interviews Io Shirai. She asked is she concerned about Shayna’s friends and not being able to use a weapon in their match. She tells Kelley she is not concerned and she won’t need friends. Candice LeRae interrupts the interview. She wanted to thank Shirai for helping her last week. She tells her that she will have her back in her match with Shayna. This should make things even more interesting and the playing field a little evener.
We get another video package to hype the NXT title match between Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole. They showed some of the same footage that they showed in the documentary before this week’s show. So I had seen most of the stuff anyway. It was cool tho. WWE always does well with this kind of thing.
Our main event for the night was a tag team match between Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan vs The Forgotten Sons. I was surprised this was the last match. I thought it would be Mia Yim vs Bianca Belair. The way things turned out, I see why this was chosen. The match gets underway. It doesn’t last long until chaos took over. Jaxson Ryker tried to get involved in the match. The referee catches him and tossed him out. He walks up to the ramp and is attacked by The Street Profits. The match ends in a disqualification after all the teams are brawling with each other. The Undisputed Era comes down to join the party. The Street Profits and Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan have a face off too.
Things really pick up when Adam Cole grabs the ladder from under the ring. They ram it into Jaxson Ryker taking him out on the stage. Cole sets up the ladder and climbs to the top. He sits down with a mic and says Riddle and Gargano that is undisputed. A clear message was sent by the hottest group in wrestling today. This is how the show closed out.
Another good week of NXT is in the books. This is how you do a go home show before a big event. If you wanna hear me talk more about NXT, check out the We Talk Next podcast. My friend Keda and I discuss all things NXT each week. The show can be found on Podbean and Spotify. Until next time, enjoy Takeover 25 and I'll see you again next week for more NXT discussion.
