WWE NXT Recap 3/20/19

NXT episode 497 was a very interesting show this week. We didn’t get a lot of wrestling except for the main event. It was mostly talking and build up for the NXT Takeover New York event next month. I’m really looking forward to that show. Let’s get into the recap.

The show kicks off with The Game Triple H. He’s been a huge part of making the NXT brand what it is today. He receives a nice pop from the crowd. We get a Triple H chant along with an NXT chant as well. Triple H talks about how special NXT has become. It’s the place where dreams come true. It’s also a place where they can end as well he mentioned. The plan was for him to announce Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Title at NXT Takeover New York. Due to Tommaso Ciampa’s neck injury, that match will not be taking place. The title had to be relinquished by Ciampa. Johnny will still get a chance to compete but he now needs a new opponent. Triple H announced that the main event tonight would be a Fatal 5 Way match. Featuring Aleister Black, Ricochet, Adam Cole (Bay Bay), Velveteen Dream, and Matt Riddle.

The winner will go on to face Gargano in a 2 out of 3 falls match at Takeover New York. This is huge. 5 of NXT’s biggest stars have a golden opportunity here to become champion. Triple H exits the ring and shakes hands with NXT super fan Izzy. If you follow the weekly shows, you know all about her. She’s at all the tapings with her parents. She’s training to be a wrestler as well. She has that it factor. Her future is bright for sure.

We go backstage to Cathy Kelley where she talks briefly about the match Triple H just announced. As well as get some feedback from some of the other superstars. She comes across Kona Reeves who we haven’t seen in weeks on NXT TV. She asks for his thoughts on the main event. He says it will be good but it won’t be the finest.
The Forgotten Sons show up next to give their take as well. They say that once again they have been forgotten. These guys have a match next week in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes classic. The Forgotten Sons feel they have an advantage since their opponents Ricochet and Aleister Black will be focused on trying to become NXT champion later on in the night.

We get a couple of video packages in the next segment of the show. WWE always does a nice job with the production of these. The first one involved all 5 men hyping up the upcoming match and explaining why they would win and what it meant to them to compete for the NXT title. I quite enjoyed this. The second video package followed Tommaso Ciampa as he was preparing to go in for neck surgery. He was accompanied by his wife former Tough Enough competitor Jessie Ward and his young baby girl. This is the third operation Ciampa has had to undergo in recent memory. He’s had shoulder, knee, now neck surgery. That is really tough. I wish him a speedy recovery.

Cathy Kelley is backstage once again. This time with Io Shirai and Kairi Sane as they are doing a photo shoot. Kelley asks them will they be watching the main event. Shirai says yes they will. Kelley asks them as well about their fatal 4-way match at Takeover New York for the NXT Woman’s Title. They will do whatever it takes even if they have to face each other Shirai mentions. Bianca Belair shows up. She tells Shirai she doesn’t even deserve to be in the match because she would of beat her last week in their one on one match if Shayna Baszler had not got involved. She reminds both ladies that her mindset is undefeated. I feel Belair needs to drop the whole undefeated thing since she has been defeated. It doesn’t make much sense to me.

It was pretty cool to see a Disturbed song being used for the upcoming Takeover show. It’s one of the official songs used for the event. The songs called Are You Ready off the album Evolution. If you’re a wrestling fan, you will see the irony in both of those names and possibly why Triple H choose those songs for the show. I love it.

Now we get our own only match of the night. Aleister Black vs Ricochet vs Matt Riddle vs Velveteen Dream vs Adam Cole (Bay Bay). This was an awesome match. All 5 men got to showcase their offense. We got action inside and outside of the ring. Mauro Ranallo even dropped an I got 5 on it reference. I love him on commentary. We saw a crazy superplex involving all 5 men. It was a great spot.
The closing of the match had me on the edge of my seat. Matt Riddle has Velveteen in the bromission in the middle of the ring. Adam Cole pulls the referee out of the ring to break the count. Black comes back in to hit the Black Mass on Riddle. Velveteen then hits Riddle with the Dream Vally Driver. Velveteen goes to the top rope for the Purple Rain Maker. Ricochet cuts him off and hits a hurricanrana to the outside on Velveteen. Ricochet does his incredible shooting star press on Riddle. It looks like he has the win wrapped up. Out of now where comes Adam Cole with the Last Shot which is basically a running knee to the back of the head and picks up the pinfall on Ricochet.

Adam Cole is now going on to NXT Takeover New York to face Johnny Gargano for the vacant NXT Title. Two of the biggest names in NXT. This will be a good one. Plus it is 2 out of 3 falls. That adds another element to the match. I can not wait. Even tho we got more talking on this show and only one match, I feel the show served its purpose. This was a last minute call I’m sure with the injury to Ciampa. The main event made the show for me. Next week we get the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Classic. Aleister Black and Ricochet vs The Forgotten Sons. The winner will get a tag team title match against The War Raiders at Takeover New York. That will be another good match. I’ll close with this, check out the NXT Brand if you’re not already. You get great content each week. You will not be disappointed.

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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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