By JCH
It’s time for your weekly NXT review.
This weekend I went to two Pro Wrestling Eve shows and got to see Arisa Hoshiki’s jumping knee. So, I had a great wrestling weekend. I also watched Crush vs Repo Man for Nerd Watch Wednesday. Not so strong. Now I’m back with the most consistent wrestling show on Television - N-X-T.
What do we have in store? Mia Yim vs Aaliyah. Adam Cole continuing to visit Gargano’s pizza parlor. A breakout tournament match I presume. Should be fun. Oh, its Strickland vs Lee isn’t it? Swerve vs Grimes???? Let’s have a look.
First out accompanied by Vanessa Borne. It’s Aaliyah. No backpacks today. Shame.
Aaliyah vs Mia Yim
Crowd are firmly behind Mia. Aaliyah starts dancing around early, trying to wind Mia up. Mia decks Aaliyah and talks some trash. She scares Aaliyah into falling over by flinching. Brilliant. Loved that. Mia goes for an attack in the corner but Vanessa pulls Aaliyah out of the way. This allows Aaliyah to take control for a bit. Aaliyah hits a nice knee into a flip type thing.
Mia blocks her in the corner and puts on the tarantula. Enziguri gets Aaliyah back in charge. She misses with a knee drop and this time Mia hits the Cannonball. A few kicks to the face and an overhead belly throw sees Aaliyah bail to the outside. Tope takes out Vanessa and Aaliyah. Back in the ring fallaway slam, then Protect Yo Neck and It. Is. Over.
Comfortable victory for Mia Yim as she continues her roll of victories. On her way out of the ring she throws Vanessa into the stairs. Then stops off at the commentary desk to call out Shayna Baszler.
Recap of last weeks women’s title match and we go to an interview with Regal for an update on Candice LeRae, before he can tell us however, The Forgotten Sons interrupt whining about a title opportunity. Regal tells them they had their opportunity and got disqualified so they are at the back of the queue. Regal tells Cathy that the Profits suggested they defend their titles next week vs the 1s and 2s. Excellent.
Roderick Strong vs Tyler Breeze is tonight’s main event.
Time for Adam Cole’s championship celebration week 2. Adam Cole takes his own paper bag to pick up food shopping. Doing his bit for the environment. Adam Cole appears to be ordering Pizza from Johnny Gargano’s dad. He adds his own signed picture to the wall of fame, which is just pictures of Johnny and one of Candice.
He then turns up at a gym Gargano previously visited with the pizzas. Probably prefer a protein shake mate. He runs down Gargano to the trainees. Tells them not to bother trying, they won’t make it. Take a pizza, go home and give up and find a new hero.
Basically, Adam Cole being a complete prick. Great Heel work. Good job Adam. Shame some clowns will still cheer for you, but this was excellent.
Back in Full Sail and out comes Kushida.
Kushida vs Jeff Parker?
Kushida is all over this dude. Out wrestling him on the mat, he takes a small break to hit a handspring elbow. Then he’s back to the mat, tying the arm in knots, setting it up for the hoverboard lock. Parker gets to the ropes and punches Kushida, who then hits the hip toss/dropkick. Big PK to the arm and then the Hoverboard which they are calling the Sakuraba lock.
Kushida wins. Very easily.
Tyler Breeze interview - To sum up - He is going to show the Era that NXT was his before they even arrived.
Killian Dain vignette. - He is going to take anything and everything he wants. He is coming soon. Good to know.
Out next comes Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott. - Inset promo tells us that Swerve is confident and he carries that in absolutely everything he does.
Followed by the Water Bottle flipper Cameron Grimes. Inset promo - He is the best wrestler in the world. This tournament is the biggest opportunity of their lives. But he is the only one who is ready for it.
Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott vs Cameron Grimes
Slow start feeling out process before it springs into action with a headscissors, kip up, dropkick combo from Swerve.
Grimes working a more, nasty gritty style. Strikes, rubbing in elbows that sort of thing. BIG LARIAT for 2 from Grimes. Then he goes back to the arm. Grimes really working at slowing down the pace, making Scott wrestle his match. Scott hits an impressive headscissors with Grimes on the top rope. Grimes throws Scott to the outside where he flips on to his feet. Swerve flips into the ring and rolls into a Flatliner for our first real near fall. Grimes then responds. Back slide but he rolls through and hits a huge sitout powerbomb for a 2 count.
Swerve with a Fosbury Flop to the outside. Channeling his inner OJMO. Throws Grimes back in, gets caught with a super kick, Swerve with a knee strike, Then a collision of some kind. I couldn’t tell what the move was. From the replay it looked like Swerve went for a Crossbody and Grimes caught him in midair and reversed it so he landed on top. Looked slick.
Grimes comes out on top and hits a climbing double stomp and gets the win.
This was good. Started slow and built up to a crescendo. Nice work
Bianca Belair is on her way to the ring. Her opponent is already there. I think Nigel called her Zuniga?
Bianca Belair vs Zuniga?
Bianca disrespectful face palms at the start, Zuniga responds with one of her own and that pisses off Bianca. Who unloads on Zuniga. Showcase from Bianca here. Military press with squats. She catches Zuniga going for head scissors. Powerbomb, deadlifts her into another, then another deadlift, this time alleyoop into the corner. K.O.D and it is over.
Bianca responds to her losses to Mia Yim with an absolutely dominant performance with a lot of attitude. Great showing from Bianca!
Matt Riddle Training Video. Rids tells us how he like to encompass a lot of different fighting styles into his training so he can be the best. His family told him he was too pretty to fight, but he loves fighting. Nice little video just showing a bit of what makes Matt Riddle tick.
Roderick Strong vs Tyler Breeze
Started off as so many matches do, with a feeling out process on the mat. Tyler gets on top, but stops to argue with the ref which allows Strong to take advantage. They fight outside where Breeze is back in control until Roddy catches Tyler and drops him with a back drop on the steps. Then a backbreaker to the barricade.
Strong has really good offence, pretty much all targeting the back. It looks incredibly painful. I think it (and Roddy in general) is very underrated. Breeze tries to fight back but gets caught off the ropes with a beautiful dropkick. Submission from Strong as he continues to wear down the back of Tyler. Breeze relying on flash shots to get a breather as Strong just keeps coming at him with his tenacity.
Breeze eventually after a few blows hits a nice looking, big air jumping forearm on the outside. Back inside and a single arm backstabber gets a near fall for Tyler. Step up enziguri from Roddy as Tyler is on the top rope. Roddy now up to meet him. Strike exchange on the top rope. Roddy wins the battle and then hits a Superplex to the bad back of Breeze, kick out at 2.
Strong looking for Strong Hold. Breeze keeps avoiding it, but Roddy has a hold of the foot. He keeps holding on until Tyler makes the ropes. Strong pulls him off, but turns around into a double kick to the face from the floor from Tyler. Really nice.
Tyler springboards in but is caught in a fireman carry from Roddy. Breeze fights out and hits a Superkick for 2. Big striking exchange. Tyler decks Roddy with an enziguri. Fish and O’Reilly run down. Breeze is distracted and Strong hits End of Heartache. The Era continue to roll on.
A solid episode of NXT this week. As usual nothing was bad, but nothing really stood out. Roderick Strong continued his momentum as did Mia Yim and Kushida. Bianca Belair rebounded and the Breakout tournament continued with a decent outing
Stars of the Week
1. Roderick Strong - Love his offence. Workhorse. Top showing
2. Adam Cole - Proper dick in his vignette. Boo him people.
3. Bianca Belair - Was a showcase match for her and she took full advantage. Looked very impressive.
Montez Ford Award
I’ll go with Cameron Grimes for this. I’ve really enjoyed his character work when I’ve seen him in PROGRESS, but today he had a few good moves I liked as well. In a week that didn’t feature a huge amount of up and comers he gets the nod. Swerve was good, but I already hold him in high regard.
1. Johnny Gargano 16
2. Matt Riddle 12
3. Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Ricochet 10
6. Kyle O’Reilly , Bianca Belair, Adam Cole, Roderick Strong 9
10. Mia Yim, Bobby Fish 7
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