This Week In NXT: News and Recap

Welcome to the very first edition of This Week in NXT. I’ve been recapping the weekly NXT show here the past month or so. I recently added some news regarding the brand as well for the last two weeks. So I figured I’d switch things up a bit. Not only will I recap the show each week, but I’ll also add some news and info regarding the NXT brand too. So let’s get started.

This past Monday, WWE announced that they will be bringing back NXT War Games for the third year in a row. It will take place on November 23, 2019, in Chicago at the Allstate Arena. The last two War Games shows NXT did were very good. I’m sure this one will be just as good if not better. I look forward to this one. Tickets went on sale last Friday. I’d highly recommend going if you can.

Tommaso Ciampa continues his road to recovery from next surgery. He's still posting pictures and videos of his workouts on his social media pages. He recently tweeted out and I quote “I miss sports entertaining. I miss Goldie. Every. Single. Day.” Well, he’s sorely missed by the NXT universe. He was a great champion. The feud with Johnny Gargano is one of the best I’ve seen in years. I wish him well and look forward to seeing him back in NXT.

WWE announced this week that former NXT star and leader of the Riott Squad Ruby Riott underwent shoulder surgery. It was performed to fix a bilateral injury. She will need to have the same operation done on her other shoulder too. This explains her absence from tv in recent weeks. I wish her well on her road to recovery. Now let’s get into this week’s recap.

This weeks so kicks off with General Manager William Regal addressing the NXT Tag Team Title situation. The titles have been vacated since last week’s match between The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits ended in a disqualification. This was due to outside inference by The Forgotten Sons and Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. Regal announced that at next weekend’s NXT Takeover 25 all three teams plus Bobby Fish and Kyle O’ Reilly will compete in a ladder with the belts on the line. This should be a good one. We are gonna crown new tag team champions that night.

The Undisputed Era comes down to the ring to do what they do best. Shock The System! They come out with a lot of confidence and seem to be on the same page. Adam Cole (Bay Bay) gets on the mic. He says that we have heard the whispers. The Undisputed Era is going nowhere. Even tho your contracts say NXT we own you.

He goes onto say that the guys will have gold once again after NXT Takeover 25. Johnny Gargano comes out. He tells Cole to tell the truth. The only reason he worked things out with the Undisputed Era is that deep down he knows he can’t beat him on his own. Cole reminds Johnny he won the 1st fall during their Takeover New York Match. Johnny comes back by saying he didn’t shock the school system because in order to win a 2 out of 3 falls match you must win two falls not one. It was hilarious. Johnny broke it down like Cole was in preschool.

All of a sudden we see Matt Riddle in the ring. He attacks the Undisputed Era from behind. Johnny Gargano comes down to help. They brawl for a bit. Johnny and Riddle clear the ring. This was a very good segment involving these men.

Our first match of the night was Sean Maluta vs Mansoor. Mansoor we saw once before in NXT. He had a nice showing. Maluta is a part of the Anoa’i Family. He’s the nephew of Afa of the Wild Samoans. He has ties to The Rock, Roman Reigns, Nia Jax, Rikishi, and The Usos too. I knew he looked familiar. Now back to the match. I was impressed with both guys. Maluta hit a code breaker off the top rope. Mansoor came back with a nice hurricanrana. He did a sling slot neck breaker followed up later with a spinning suplex for the win. I wanna see more of these two. Both have potential on the NXT brand.

Cathy Kelley is outside of Regal’s office. You can hear him arguing back and forth with the Undisputed Era. They storm out of the office. Kelley knocks on the door and Regal comes out. She asks him for an update. Regal said their actions would not be tolerated. He announced two matches. One for Takeover 25 between Matt Riddle and Roderick Strong. The second is the main event for the evening. Johnny Gargano and Matt Riddle teaming up to take on Bobby Fish and Kyle O’ Reilly. Two huge matches.

Up next we get the segment of the night in my opinion. The Velveteen Dream comes out. He’s dressed up in his pinstripe jacket and head wrap. He starts off saying that The Dream is in high demand. People wanna feel and touch The Dream. People wanna hold The Dream. He’s too big to hold tho.

All of a sudden we hear the music of a familiar face. Former NXT star Tyler Breeze. He gets a nice pop. He’s got a fresh new hair cut that works for him. The crowd chants Breeze is gorgeous. Followed up by welcome home. What happens next during this time period is pure gold. They exchange words. Breeze talks about impersonators and knockoffs but there’s only one Prince Pretty. The Dream welcomes him and says the spotlight wants a real man, not someone who plays cops and robbers. He tells Tyler he couldn’t cut it on the main roster. He referred to Breeze being in catering too. He called Breeze a dollar store detective. I’m mean the shots were firing big time with these two.

Finally, The Dream asked Tyler to take a selfie with him. Tyler hesitated at first but agreed to it. Breeze closed it by saying when you put your number on your trunks and no one calls, no one wants you. He hits Velveteen with the phone and lays him out cold. This was great. One of the best things I’ve seen in NXT in a while. I’d love to see these two as a team. Their gimmicks would blend well together.

Cathy Kelley interviews Breeze backstage regarding the whole situation. Breeze says he’s one of the NXT OG’s. (Original Guys). He wanted to show Velveteen how much he inspired him. I’m glad to see Breeze back in NXT. He wasn’t doing anything on the main roster once his tag team partner Fandango got hurt. It was announced that at Takeover 25 The Velveteen Dream will defend his North American Title against Tyler Breeze. That’s gonna be a good match.

The next match is between Reina Gonzalez vs Candice LeRae. We’ve seen Gonzalez on the show before. She has a gimmick that is is a cross between Bradshaw before he was JBL and Stan Hanson. She needs better attire. Those ripped chap jeans are not working for her. It’s good to see Candice do something other than just being Johnny’s wife. She is so much more than that.

The match was ok. Gonzalez was the aggressor early on. LeRae held her own. She picked up the win with a springboard moonsault. What happened after the match was the highlight for me. Shayna Baszler came out with Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke. They go after LeRae. It’s 3 on one until Io Shirai comes down with a Kendo Stick. She’s swing it left and right on Shayna and her crew. The Sandman would be proud. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a two on 3 handicap match next week. Or give LeRae and Shirai a partner. Kacy Catanzaro would be a nice choice.

Two matches were announced for next week. Mia Yim vs Bianca Belair. Also Kushida vs Drew Gulak. These will both be good matches. Yim and Belair continue their ongoing feud. Kushida has another chance to show the NXT universe what he can do. Drew is gonna bring it so Kushida has to bring his A game.

We get our main event. Johnny Gargano and Matt Riddle vs Bobby Fish and Kyle O’ Reilly. This was a very good match. We know what Kyle and Bobby bring to the table. Gargano and Riddle worked well together. It started off with some technical offense. Those gut wrench suplexes Riddle hits are impressive. Riddle has a nice exchange with O’ Reilly back and forth.

Johnny gets the hot tag. He does a nice clothesline bulldog as well as a Tornado DDT. Riddle did a nice moonsault onto Fish for a near fall. One of my favorite spots was when Johnny launches O’ Reilly into a knee by Riddle. Riddle hit a knee strike on Fish and I saw a tooth fly.

Adam Cole and Roderick Strong get involved. Gargano does a dive thru the ropes and goes after Cole. Strong goes after Riddle. He hits him with a knee and then a backbreaker on the ring apron. O’ Reilly and Fish hit the high/low kick combo on Riddle for the victory. The Undisputed Era continues the fight after the match. They stand tall after Cole hits Gargano in the back of the head with The Last Stand.

This was an excellent show. I enjoyed it. We are a week away from Takeover 25. I’ll be back for predictions for that as well as the next edition of This Week in NXT. If you wanna hear me talk more about NXT, check out The We Talk Next podcast. Myself and my friend Keda recap NXT each week. It can be found on Podbean and Spotify. Until next time, take care and continue to support NXT!

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Chris Durham

I'm a huge fan of sports and wrestling. The host of The Grand Slam podcast. Co-Host for the brand new 3 and Out Football Podcast. Both shows can be found on The TV Zone Podcast Network (I-Tunes and Podbean). Creator of The Ca$h INn as well as Football & Friends. Those are my own personal blogs I run. Just a simple guy enjoying life.

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