Hi, and welcome to NXT and we’re here on the road to TakeOver: Portland. This week beyond appearances by Charlotte, Keith Lee and NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Jordan Devlin, we had no idea what to expect. Let’s find out what happened.
The Undercard
Dominik Dijakovic def. Killian Dain // Pinfall (Feast your Eyes argentine GTS) This was some solid big lads work. Dain has come along so far and Dijakovic is always compelling. That said, the previously announced appearance of Keith Lee just to stand on the ramp and shake Dijakovic’s hand was a waste of the Limitless one.
Mercedes Martinez def. Kacy Catanzaro // Pinfall (Fisherman Buster) This was a great showcase for Martinez and an excellent opportunity for Kacy to learn from one of the best. Whoever wins out of Ripley and Belair, either of them could put on a banger with Martinez down the line.
Promos & Packages
The Broserweights arrived to open the show, riding a golf cart with the trophy in the back. They talked about how great it was to win the Dusty Classic and how they will win the NXT Tag Team Championships. Then the Undisputed Era’s tag wing turned up to threaten them but Roddy told them they have bigger fish to fry. Throughout the night, they would turn up backstage looking for Ciampa, giving someone backstage a bad haircut, dumping KUSHIDA in a bin and beating up Jonah Rock. Till eventually they found Ciampa, battled him into the ring, the Broserweights came to join in and William Regal told them that if they were going to keep doing this, they could have a match later. I get that this is building to two or three matches but this somewhat dominates the evening. I don’t need The Era to be having four segments and a match in one evening. Considering there’s a street fight between Nox and Kai in two weeks and no mention of it tonight, we could have done with a little less era. However, if this was just an outlet to get over Riddle’s new catchphrase of, “How much fish could Bobby Fish fry if Bobby Fish could fry fish?” It was totally worth it.
We got a highlight reel for Martinez and Catanzaro from the Royal Rumble.
Johnny Gargano and Finn Bálor were interviewed from a remote location that definitely wasn’t the same studio. Finn talked about how he doesn’t care about the match of the night (a good thing as he hasn’t had one since SummerSlam 2017), he wanted to give Gargano the match of his life. Johnny asked Finn to bring this new attitude as he didn’t want to face the RAW Finn who kept losing to Lashley. Solid stuff, the crowd were into it but it didn’t really give us any new information.
Bianca Belair was in the ring, talking about how she doesn’t give a shit about Charlotte but warning Rhea Ripley that if she continues to look ahead to ‘Mania, she’s going to miss Belair taking her title at TakeOver. Of course, Bianca saying she doesn’t care about Charlotte brought Charlotte out to ask why she’s so obsessed with her and to really make that whole ‘genetic superior’ vibe Charlotte puts off feel uncomfortable when she starts talking about how athletic Belair is (If you don’t understand that, just ask Darius Lockhart). Then out came Ripley to make this a three-way roast battle and after Charlotte started insult Belair and NXT, Ripley got up in her face and they dropped Charlotte with a double team slam. A very good segment, Charlotte is always more natural playing a heel than anything else though girl, you don’t even go here. This continued to prove that Belair is a star and she’s ready for the strap. Ripley was also good.
Angel Garza vs Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott
NXT really does know how to open a show, the simple answer is ‘cruiserweights’. Garza and Scott are probably the two greatest proponents of that fast-paced Dragon Gate junior style not named Akira Tozawa as they put on a clinic in how to string together spots with subtle uses of limb work and actual storytelling. Yes, real storytelling, in NXT, and not in a 45-minute match! The story was kept simple as both men seemed to blame the other for their losses at Worlds Collide but also, in that the Wing Clipper and the JML Driver both involve arm trap finishes, the work focussed on the arm and the upper body to neutralise the other man.
Garza, utilising his inner-Guerrero trying to get Swerve disqualified for hitting him with his tear-away trousers was beautiful, as was Scott following it up with a beautiful House Call seated dropkick. Eventually, the win was gained by Garza off a flash Wing Clipper front backpack stunner. After the match he got on the mic, declaring how he ran through Humberto Carillo and Rey Mysterio Jr on RAW and now he’s coming back for his Cruiserweight championship. Garza vs Devlin is a match I can fuck with.
Winner: Angel Garza
Jordan Devlin vs Tyler Breeze
While this match suffered from coming after the Garza-Swerve match in the running order, this was yet more strong cruiserweight action. Devlin, given an opportunity to really display his skills to the Full Sail crowd outside of the Worlds Collide specials, was given a great showcase here by Breeze but for his dues, Devlin did as much to make Breeze look like a contender. The problem that this match had was that given its spreading over two ad-breaks, it felt slightly disjointed, lending the middle section a certain sluggishness but when it got into the final straight, it kept moving and didn’t stop.
While I’m sure that there will be some who question Devlin as the heel performing most of the impressive top rope moves, it worked as Devlin performed them with cocky domination that allowed Breeze to look like a perseverant underdog for rolling through and surviving as long as it is. While, even for a non-title match, this was perhaps a little long considering the results were never in doubt, it worked better as a showcase for Devlin to have him work this kind of match than a meaningless squash. With so many talents on both sides of the equator ready for great matches with Devlin like Joaquin Wilde, Akira Tozawa, Oney Lorcan and more, expect some good things from this title run. Devlin won with the Devlin Side Saito suplex.
Winner: Jordan Devlin
Broserweights (Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne) & Tommaso Ciampa vs Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) w/ Roderick Strong
I don’t think you need me to talk again about another spot-heavy house show-style main event, let’s discuss the return of Velveteen Dream. After fifteen or so minutes of perfectly fine spotty action, Roderick Strong invaded the ring to force a disqualification, something that should have been clear would happen when this was made a trio vs trio with manager match. But after a lengthy beatdown by the champions, the lights went down and it turns out those three circles that were flashing on-screen earlier in the night (and I’m told last week), as well as the conspicuous amount of mentions of Velveteen Dream in promos over the past few weeks, have been leading up to a big surprise return.
For all the telegraphing of this, it was an effective moment as Dream returned tearing through all the Era and most likely, leading to another Dream vs Strong match at the next TakeOver. Dream looked as good as ever, running through his greatest hits: elbow drop, twisting DDT, Dream Valley Driver, and it did get a genuine reaction out of the crowd. That said, I still can’t help but feel like this entire episode left a sour note in my mouth because KUSHIDA has in the course of like six months gone from being a special, important talent, to a guy that gets dumped in bins and loses to NXT UK people before not appearing on TV for a month. Give me my Junior Ace, Dammnit!
Winner: Broserweights & Ciampa via DQ
This was an overall very good show for the most part. It went a little heavy on the Undisputed Era antics for my liking but it was still an enjoyable easy watch with two very good examples of the pure junior style. With a little more balancing out of the card timings to stop everything feeling stuffed in to allow more time for Cole and pals, this could be a very good time for NXT.
Next Week:
Nothing announced, who knows? It’s a go-home show so probably a lot of video packages and matches that feel somewhat inconsequential.
All images courtesy of WWE.com