NXT TakeOver: New Orleans Preview

On 7th April, NXT is set to take over the Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LO, as part of the WWE's Wrestlemania weekend, however, in a confusing reversal of situations, the pre-Mania TakeOver is more like NXT's SummerSlam than it is their WrestleMania, their WrestleMania, of course, being the annual Brooklyn show, which takes place the day before Summerslam. Anyway, we here at ATPW sure do love our previews, so here's one for this show, think of it like a pre-show but with no Peter Rosenberg so much better. Talking of pre-shows, why not tune in for the KickOff at Midnight (if you're in America, please check your local listings) with an all-star panel including NFL All-Pro Punter Pat McAfee (whatever that means) giving us all the chat and discussion required for an hour before the actual show at 1am (once again, check your listings, US). Till then, why not enjoy this preview with the sounds of our themes for this show courtesy of New Orleans own, Cane Hill...

NXT North American Championship Ladder Match:     EC3 vs Adam Cole Velveteen Dream vs Ricochet vs Lars Sullivan vs Killian Dain

I would imagine there's a strong chance this match opens the show as its a match with little build, little in the way of emotional attachment but with six men and a whole load of ladders set to be in the ring, has the potential to set the stage with some good and crazy action. This match, and indeed, title, have been mostly made to accommodate the expanding ranks of the NXT Men's Single's division making it so that everyone going after one title is getting ridiculous. What about the United Kingdom Championship I hear you ask, surely that title could have been expanded in its focus in order to accommodate such a position? Well, the answer is fuck off, we don't need your kind of logic around here. Also, with UK Champion Pete Dunne in the Tag Title match later, it's not like they could have a non-full time talent working double duty. Still, what works well here is that there is no way to predict which of these six men will be taking the title with a strong mix of indie darlings like the debuting EC3 & Ricochet through to Velveteen Dream & Lars Sullivan, two men who've cut their teeth here in NXT and really made themselves cornerstones of their division. 

What to expect from this one is an interesting thought as beyond Ricochet, we don't really have many flippy boys in this so traditional WWE ladder match booking would suggest he'll do the really cool spot that everyone talks about but not win it, Dain & Sullivan still feel like even after this week's NXT, they still have some unresolved issues so likelihood is, the feuding between those two might distract them from climbing that ladder which leaves Cole who might not even be in the match as he might be helping O'Reilly defend the tag-team titles, Dream who is just wonderful in every way & EC3, a man who by the end of the night, everyone will realise he is what Bobby Roode pretended to be, if they don't know, now they'll know. This is my long-winded way of saying I don't know, spoiler alert though, it's probably going to be at least a little bit good.

NXT Tag Team Championship & Dusty Classic Cup: Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) (c) vs Strong x Bitter & Authors of Pain

You may notice that Adam Cole is in the photo above as well. This is because over the past month/s, NXT has been running the third Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic, an eight-team tournament for the prestigious title, previously won by Finn Balor & Samoa Joe and Authors of Pain, but also a shot at the Tag-Team Championships. On the one side of the finals, we had the previous winners Authors of Pain who smashed through TM-61 and Street Profits to get here and on the other side, Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong, a make-shift team formed after Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) were forced to bow out when Tyler aggravated an angle injury while at Brighton's Riptide Wrestling, who fought past Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan and SAnitY to make it here. With poor Bobby Fish out on injury, Kyle O'Reilly and Cole decided to crash the final and cause a double disqualification, no winners, no challengers, smart eh? so O'Reilly was given three choices: wrestle alone, Cole does double-duty or Cole drops out of the Ladder Match.

Unsurprisingly, it seems he's chosen to work double duty, so one of the major factors of this match in play is card order as Cole or Cole & O'Reilly are at a significant disadvantage depending on which match goes on last of the two, though if this is the first of the two, it puts all three teams on a roughly equal-footing as Undisputed Era have beaten Authors of Pain before (twice if you count War Games), Authors of Pain have won tag gold, dusty cups and tag three-way dances before and the team we here like to call Strong x Bitter have tag-team success written through their DNA with former PROGRESS, Ring of Honor & PWG reigns between them, a UK title still in their team's grasp and the knowledge that the first Dusty Classic was won by a makeshift team like them. If it's not clear, as a Midlands boy myself, I'm calling a win for Strong x Bitter and rooting for them but mostly, I'm just looking forward to watching some good, solid tag action. Expect lots of big strikes, big moves and at one point, if we're lucky, Pete Dunne will punch Adam Cole out of the air. Won't that be a treat?

NXT Women's Championship: Ember Moon (c) vs Shayna Baszler

If you're getting a sense of deja vu, yes, we did only recently see this match at the last TakeOver and also once more in between, as well as frequent attacks on each other. The dispute between these revolves around Baszler thinking Moon isn't fit to lead as she couldn't defeat Asuka, she couldn't hit the Eclipse on Baszler who kept her grounded having to use a roll-up to get victory and when Baszler was given another match, she won but via disqualification after an angry Kairi Sane returned and attacked her, only for Baszler to make reasonably easy work of Sane. Much like last time, expect this match to come down to a David-Goliath type match-up with Moon once again seeking that Eclipse top-rope stunner while Baszler will want to lock in and preferably never let go of the Kirifuda Clutch. As to whom shall walk out of that arena with the title, it's hard to call, it feels like Ember is only ever one Eclipse away from retaining but especially with her friend Ronda Rousey making her pro-wres debut the next night, it seems like maybe Baszler is being set up to take the title and run with it for a while, especially as there's still some unsolved animosity between Baszler, Sane and Dakota Kai to sort out if Moon were to make the move Main Roster-wards...

Unsanctioned Match: Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa

This has been a long time coming, almost a year in fact. Let me take you back to Chicago as after they'd just lost their last shot at the NXT Tag Team Titles, Ciampa would turn viciously on Gargano, knowing that he was going to be out for a while on injury time, he wanted to make a statement before he did, one that for a long time, broke Gargano, forcing him to try and exorcise the monkey on his back that is Ciampa because that's what you do to monkey. Eventually Gargano started winning again, earning a shot at the NXT title but even then, wasn't quite enough and just as he was at his lowest, having lost his shot, there was Ciampa again because exorcising doesn't work on back monkeys, especially when they get involved in your Title vs Career rematch and force you to lose your job. It's at this point, the waters get muddied as Ciampa spent a few weeks struggling to get a word in edgeways as he simultaneously continued to be the best heel in NXT and also it's greatest hero for standing up to the awful sturmundrang of the NXT audience till he got tired of their caterwauling and Gargano's hounding of him and agreed to a match, unsanctioned of course because let's not forget, Gargano is fired but if he wins, he gets his job back, loses, he's gone forever.

There's almost too much history behind this match to cover but regardless, this is going to be one of the most emotional matches of the weekend, just as much, maybe more important to the wrestling scene as a whole than Kenny Omega vs Cody as every single second has the entire heart of NXT hanging in the balance, this is for something more important than the actual title, this is a match for the philosophical centre of the developmental brand, is this a place of good or evil? Also, most importantly, can this top Gargano v Almas because that shit was tight? As it's unsanctioned, expect this one to be more of a brawl than a technical classic. Ultimately, this seems like it's Gargano's match to win as he needs his job and assuming they get enough time for this, it's unlikely Ciampa looks any weaker in loss, especially coming back from a lengthy spell on the injured list but never count out the Sicilian psychopath as he might well pull it out of the bag, setting up his own chance at going after that big slice of NXT gold (and who amongst us doesn't see money in Black v Ciampa?) while Gargano, surely the bright post-mania lights of RAW or Smackdown could be a' callin'.

NXT Championship: Andrade Almas (c) vs Aleister Black

Cast your mind back to NXT TakeOver: Orlando last year, Tommy End, now going by the name Aleister Black made his official NXT debut (having competed against Neville at the United Kingdom Championship tournament) against Andrade 'Cien' Almas. It was a well-fought match but in the end, Black came out on top with reasonable ease. That was, however, a different Almas, that was Almas before he met Zelina Vega, that was Almas before his five-star classic with Johnny Gargano, that was the Almas that I usually dismissed by just calling him a 'lad'. He was floundering, now he's at the very top of the NXT pyramid of greatness and the man who calls himself 'The Idol' and '100' is a far more motivated and more dangerous man than he was this time last year, for proof of that, see how he dragged Black from car park to the ring, destroying and nearly drowning him along the way. Though in the other corner, somewhere between good and evil, sits Aleister Black, a man with only two losses to this particular name in NXT and one of those he wasn't even in or around the ring for, he's someone who's been on a tear and seemed like he's been destined for the NXT title since he stepped into Full Sail but no one should expect Almas and definitely not Vega to go down without one heck of a fight.

Pardon the innuendo but expect this one to go long and stiff as even with their differing backgrounds, both men are known as much for their technical expertise as the swift, hard-hitting nature of their strikes. They are both also known to bust out a moonsault or two every so often so that'll be fun. As much as Gargano-Ciampa is the biggest story going into the show, I'd still expect this one to go on last as it's the main title, it really should and I don't see any world in which if Gargano and Ciampa haven't tore the entire house down, that these two don't tear down the rest. As to who's walking out with that lovely golden belt, as much as I'd love to see Almas hold on to it forever, I think that Black is walking out with his first WWE prize slung over his shoulder and you know what, if the crowd chant 'you deserve it' at him, yeah, he bloody well does.

Any Other Predictions...

So with Pete Dunne in the Tag match, it's unlikely there'll be a separate UK Championship match, as a result, I'm going to assume the card is just these five matches and I'm fine with that as I can't see any of them not being at least good. This being a TakeOver, this is really the bit where I mostly speculate about what 'hottest free agent' will be in the crowd, this time around, I will keep saying that it could be Christopher (Donovan) Dijak but really it could be anyone. I mean, as part of the deal with PROGRESS and EVOLVE, Keith Lee, WALTER, Zack Gibson and others will be participating in Axxess so who knows? If it turns out to be Jason Kincaid, I don't really know anything about him so you'll have to come up with your own thoughts. Of course, the big question we all have is will Triple H appear and do a big crowd warm-up 'we are NXT' speech? I hope so, who doesn't pop for those every, damn, time?

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJoeRaczka)

WWE NXT Review // 28th March 2018

On 28th March 2018, WWE aired its 293rd episode of NXT, filmed at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 7th March. Our main event was a Dusty Classic semi-final as the newly formed team of Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne took on former NXT Tag Team Champions, SaNitY. The show also featured another Dusty Classic Semi in the form of Authors of Pain vs Street Profits as well as action from Lars Sullivan, Dakota Kai, Andrade Almas & Aleister Black. As always, I do ask you, dear audience, was it any good?

On his way to the arena, Tommaso Ciampa is hounded by fans and the press, he complains to William Regal that Gargano has been attacking him in the ring, stalking him at his physiotherapy sessions and at his house. Regal tells him it is becoming a spot of bother and books a match for TakeOver: New Orleans, but as Gargano doesn't work here anymore, it has to be an Unsanctioned Match. If Gargano wins, he gets his job back, if not, he's gone forever.

William Regal Has An Announcement

William Regal welcomes everyone to the arena and then announces that the announcement he announced last week was that NXT is introducing a new secondary men's championship, something to determine who is the best competitor in North America, the NXT North American Championship. As he's talking about this, up turns the man who's won practically everything there is to win in Impact and is now here in NXT, EC3. He talks about how good it is to be here and how he looks forward to making a shit-ton of money for the company and how he has a banger of a theme (he does). He then thanks William Regal for knowing that the best in North America was coming so making a title just for him. Regal tells him that while he has a chance at the title off the bat, he doesn't get anything without earning it, so he'll be competing in a Ladder Match at TakeOver to crown the first champion. EC3 responds it doesn't matter how many men you put in his way, he's still leaving with that champion. This was a really good opening, already cementing EC3 as someone who is going to be important in the yellow brand going forward as well as making another big match for TakeOver.

Charly Caruso is in the NXT Control Centre, giving us a recap of what we've missed so far in the Dusty Classic.

TM-61 are being interviewed back at the Performance Centre about their loss in the first round and how they need to change their attitude as this has halted their returning momentum but they're not down and out because they're the Mighty and the Mighty... get interrupted by a fight breaking out behind them between Shayna Baszler & Ember Moon because Baszler was bullying someone or just generally standing around waiting for Moon to punch her. This was more fun than I've made it sound.

Dusty Classic Semi-Final // Authors of Pain def. Street Profits // Pinfall

Quick squash m8. Ford came in first but quickly bailed when he felt a slap to the face from an Author, Dawkins actually fared a little better, out-striking his opponent and clearing house with a spinebuster to the other, sadly the loss for the team came when Ford, on the outside, got distracted offering his solo cup to Ellering who slapped it away, causing Ford to stalk him up the entrance ramp, opening up a distracted Dawkins to be hit with The Last Chapter legsweep-clotheslin combo. I don't know what they were going for but if the plan was to make Street Profits look like fucking idiots, they achieved it.

We go back to Charly in the Control Centre for an update. Thank you, Charly.

Cathy Kelly is interviewing William Regal about whether any other competitors are officially announced for the North American Title Ladder Match, he confirms Adam Cole will be in it. Velveteen Dream turns up and demands a spot, Regal agrees. This is shaping up nicely, isn't it?

Lars Sullivan def. John Silver // Pinfall

Quicker squash m8. In the battle of Long vs John SIlver, Long won, I think the closest Silver got to any offence was successfully locking-up with Sullivan at the beginning before he realised he had no reversals and Sullivan repeatedly hit murder. Lars eating tiny men is always fun and this did exactly what it had to. Sullivan won with a big diving headbutt and the Freak Accident modified side slam for the pin.

Cathy Kelly is interviewing Regal again when Sullivan walks by, just in time for Regal to offer him a spot in the NXT North American Championship Ladder Match. Lars looks forward to this but before he gets there, he wants Killian Dain . Regal tells him Dain is in the Ladder Match as well but because Regal likes booking matches, Sullivan goes tete-a-tete with Dain next week.

Dakota Kai def...Hey What's That Going On Over There?

Dakota Kai made her way to the ring but before a match could start the cameras cuts to Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega attacking Aleister Black in the car park. Almas battered Black through the arena, nearly drowning him at one point and beating him all the way to the ring, walking away, hoisting his title having got his own back on the Dutch shitkicker for what he said about him at the Contract Signing he never turned up to. This was a great, little segment to build to the TakeOver main event but I have to say, my favourite thing was watching Kai try and sneak away unnoticed in the back of the shot. 

Dusty Classic Semi-Final: Strong X Bitter def. SaNitY // Pinfall

In a move that will surprise no one, this was a really good main event. What was clever was how it played off Strong's past, having feuded along with Tye Dillinger, Kassius Ohno, No Way Jose and Ruby Riott with SaNitY, to build an intensity and animosity as well as a desperation from both teams to succeed, this helped frame the face v face action with some stakes and storytelling to stop it being just a split-support from the crowd. They worked a good, exciting finale to the episode, with all four men looking good and getting in a lot of their signature stuff with Alexander Wolfe getting in another reminder of how overlooked he is considering his incredibly fun performances. It wasn't a match without its problems though, as it lacked a certain sense of drama down the home-stretch that could have done perhaps with a little more in the way of tag work as it felt far more like four singles competitors than two teams though that does play well into the fragile truce between Strong and Dunne, this also felt more like the exhibition 'spotfest' style of tag match at times which while entertaining, did feel a little unnecessary. The finish came as Strong hit End of Heartache on Young before Dunne tagged in and they hit a double team Bitter End. Fun stuff, but still not quite essential. Much like the rest of this Dusty Classic so far, it's had good moments but it's all felt a little too rushed to seem, well, classic.

Cathy Kelly is backstage hoping to hear from William Regal who the sixth competitor is for the ladder match. Regal says she's in luck and he goes to fetch him. Trevor 'Ricochet' Mann would emerge from Regal's office to canned applause, looking like he was buttoning up his suit so what he had to do to get that spot, I don't know. The pre-recorded crowd chant his nickname to end the show.

Finally...

Considering the amount of heavy-lifting this show had to do with setting up the North American Title, the Ladder Match for it, Gargano vs Ciampa, continuing to build to the Tag Title match and also continuing the builds for Black v Almas and Baszler v Moon, it's impressive that the show managed to do all of it without collapsing under its own weight. The problem of this is that so much of it ended up being enjoyable but passable as beyond the opening segment, nothing felt like it got quite enough time to properly build. That said, with four very good sounding matches confirmed and two very good teams in the Dusty Classic final, we could be set for an all-time great TakeOver special.

Written By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

WWE NXT Review // 14th March 2018

On 14th March 2018, WWE aired its 291st episode of NXT, filmed at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 2nd February. Our main event was an NXT Championship match contract signing for the WrestleMania weekend rematch of Aleister Black & Andrade Almas. The card also featured Adam Cole challenging for Pete Dunne's UK Championship, two first-round matches in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and MYC competitors, Dakota Kai and Lacey Evans, in competition. But was it any good?

Dusty Rhodes Classic First Round // SaNitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) def. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss // Pinfall

Quick squash m8. This wasn't so much a match as it was a continued set-up for the slow dissipation of the Tino-Riddick partnership as Riddick blames Tino for being the one who has taken the pin in consecutive matches but Tino blames Riddick for a miscommunication leading to him getting punched in the head. Still, the right team won and whether it's Lorcan & Burch or Moustache Mountain (or another team as Tyler Bate is currently injured), it seems we're going to be getting a good second round match.

Tommaso Ciampa came down to the ring again, this time crutchless, to a chorus of boos and a spread of Johnny Wrestling signs so uniform they could only have been handed out by the production crew. The crowd chant at him for so long, he can't be bothered to talk to them again. To be honest, I can't blame him. Is it bad I want Ciampa to just Air Raid Crash everyone in the crowd?

Dakota Kai def. Lacey Evans // Pinfall

Quicker squash m8. Early on Evans went for the previously injured (by Shayna Baszler) arm of Kai but very quickly, Kai was able to reverse an armbar attempt into a quick roll-up. This was more a set-up for the post-match shenanigans but it's nice to see Kai getting put into the mix as she's one of the more underrated talents to come from the Mae Young Classic.

Post-match, Shayna Baszler music hits as she came down to the ring and backed Kai menacingly into the corner, till Moon came down to the ring as well. She told Baszler that if she wanted to do this one more time, they could finish it at New Orleans. Moon then attacked Baszler as the two brawled around the ring. Eventually Moon went to the top but Baszler hit her with a boot to the head and tried to work the arms till Kai came back with a kick off the apron allowing Moon to hit a one-armed Eclipse on Baszler and stand tall. It's official, New Orleans will see Moon v Baszler III.

Dusty Rhodes Classic First Round // Street Profits def. Heavy Machinery // Pinfall

Mauro Ranallo said that with this Dusty Classic, the stakes have never been higher, what about the weights? This was a fun, little match with Ford and Dosevic playing early on for comedy before the big lads played their Beef advantage for all it's worth. The finish came as Knight had Dawkins set up for the Trash Compactor but as Dosevic ran to the ropes, Ford pulled down the ropes sending Dosevic flying out, Dawkins hit a DDT and tagged Ford who hit a Frog Splash for the pin. This did as much as it could for the two teams in the short time and most importantly for a Face vs. Face encounter, both teams came out of it with the crowd still on their sides. With only one more first round match to go, the brackets now look like this:

WWE United Kingdom Championship // Pete Dunne (c) def. Adam Cole // Disqualification

It's been a while but since his Extreme Rules match with Aleister Black, Cole seems to have finally worked out how to make his style work in WWE. This was an interesting match as Dunne was clearly positioned as the de-facto face but being a dickhead at heart, he still never played it as a good person, just someone who is quite as happy to beat up three men as one. They worked a good back-and-forth match, throwing in some fine near falls including a Last Shot by Cole that was so close, I thought he might be about to take it for a second. Even though he let Cole take the heat in the match, Dunne still approached the match from his normal clinical, brutal style, attacking the fingers and continually trying to stomp out his arms. Of course, with the tag champs on the outside, this was never going to be a clean fight and Dunne tried to fight Fish and O'Reily on the outside to neutralise their threat, but as Dunne was about to hit a Bitter End, in they came and kicked the heck out of Dunne for a DQ victory. I don't think the finish hurt the match as even with the near falls, it didn't seem like a title change was likely on TV and it keeps Cole from taking another pin which keeps him looking strong. It wasn't the best defence Dunne has had but with the ridiculously high level of quality he's maintained, even that isn't a notch against this. Oh, and Adam Cole kicked Dunne in the head while Dunne was backflipping off the ringpost which was dope.

Post-Match: Dunne tries to fight off the Era but the number's game is too much for him, Roderick Strong comes down for an assist but is also beat down, before Cole can take Strong's head off, Dunne comes back with a forearm and the two clean house before a show of something approaching respect. What could this mean? Could there be a begrudging partnership forming between the two former foes? Keep watching NXT to find out.

Aleister Black and Andrade Almas Contract Signing

So who knew Aleister Black was either an improvisational genius or has spent the last week just writing jokes about Zelina Vega's diminutive stature? Black, dressed in Aleister from head to sockless toes came out first, followed by a lone Vega who proceeded to explain that she was there because this wasn't worth Almas' time before Black proceeded to move the table to the side and Black would go into his Satan's full lotus pose before explaining that now they were on the same level, he could begin. The two went back-and-forth trading insults until Vega gave Black a stinging slap on the cheek. After Black had signed and left the ring, he announced that he was glad she'd come alone because he hadn't and out came Candice LeRae who battered Vega around the ring and back in to hit a tornado bulldog to stand tall, sending us home happy. I love a good contract signing and this one had everything you could want. If Black and Almas can deliver on the build here, we might be in for another classic at TakeOver.

On The YouTubes

Tino and Riddick are still having problems but Moss doesn't want to give up on the good thing they have, whatever that is. They're going to go and review the tapes.

It's another edition of Street Talk but this one is neither on the street or involving talking to anyone other than each other. They say they're going to win the Dusty Classic. Don't forget, you've got Authors of Pain in the next round, lads.

Finally...

Another week, another very good episode. Is it too early to declare NXT to be on a new hot streak? I hope not because I think with a great match between Cole and Dunne, some great world-building around it and some hot stuff still to come in the Dusty Classic, this definitely feels like how a hot streak feels.

Written By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

WWE NXT Review // 7th March 2018

On 7th March 2018, WWE aired its 290th episode of NXT, filmed at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 2nd February. Our main event was a Number One Contender's ICW FIght Club rematch as Aleister Black took on Killian Dain for a shot at Andrade Almas' NXT Championship with New Orleans. The show also featured first round Dusty Classic action as the Authors of Pain took on the men they defeated in the final of the last Duty Classic, TM61, as well as appearances by Bianca BelAir and Tommaso Ciampa. But was it any good?

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round // Akam & Rezar vs. Nick Miller & Shane Thorne

After the mild disappointment that was their Dusty Classic final, I wasn't expecting much here but slightly surprisingly, this delivered the goods, hitting a hot opener that wasted no time and got the crowd really going by the end. Working off a reasonably classic tag formula (if you haven't worked out by now, if I'm being nice I call it classic, if I'm being mean, I call it standard), the four men worked hard, throwing in some classic hits from their repertoire while throwing in some new touches like a devastating out of the ring on to the apron powerbomb onto Nick Miller. With a lot of people expecting the redemption story of the newly returned TM61 to continue here, the finish worked well, playing off this as Thorne nailed a big slam setting up Miller for a top rope moonsault but Rezar was straight in to break up the pin, sending Thorne out of the ring and hitting The Last Chapter legsweep-lariat combo for the win. The match was very well thought out and packed a lot into its nine minutes but it did seem like maybe it needed just a few more minutes of good action to really make it stand out. 

William Regal is backstage being interviewed about if he has a particular favourite going into the Dusty Classic, obviously he says no because that would make the entire tournament pointless, he could just make his favourite number one contender. Pete Dunne turns up and says that the UK title isn't leaving the UK, Roderick Strong turns up and says he beat him but he'd love a rematch sometime, The Undisputed Era turn up and taunt Strong for losing in big matches, Dunne reminds Cole he shits the bed in big matches too. Regal breaks it up before the kids start scrapping. 

Bianca BelAir hangs out backstage before her match.

SaNItY talk about how they're going to win the Dusty Classic and Dain is going to beat Aleister Black but they do it in a crazy way like. Nikki Cross steals the segment by just maniacally laughing at everything.

Bianca BelAir vs. Drew Renee

Quick squash m8. If Renee got any offense in, I missed it. BelAir won in less than a minute with the AlleyOop Powerbomb. I'm expecting big things this year from the 'EST' in NXT.

Christy St. Cloud is talking to Lacey Evans about her match with Dakota Kai and talks about her lack of class and her arm that was broken by Baszler, till Baszler turns up and Lacey Evans bails. Baszler demands Moon respond to her challenge.

Heavy Machinery talk about beef.

Tommaso Ciampa segment

Ciampa entering to a chorus of boos and a crowd of Johnny Wrestling signs, would pull from the Zack Gibson playbook, refusing to talk until the crowd stopped, only making them louder every single time. He repeatedly walked away from the microphone, refusing to give them the satisfaction. Sadly for Ciampa, this made them even louder still. As he walked around the arena, he grabbed fan's Johnny Wrestling sign, tore it in half and beat it down with his crutch before leaving, making it quite clear he didn't need the crutch anymore. Somehow, without uttering even a single word, Ciampa just delivered the best promo of the year thus far.

Next Week: UK Championship action as Pete Dunne takes on Adam Cole and two more Dusty Classic first round matches in the form of SaNitY vs. Sabbatelli & Moss and Street Profits vs. Heavy Machinery.

Aleister Black vs. Killian Dain

This was never formally announced as a number one contender's match but with both men having made their intentions clear in previous weeks, we may as well treat it as such, though this is not the two fighter's first encounter having competed before in ICW and SWA with Dain coming out on top in both encounters. Things started off hot with Dain getting a near fall off a John Woo before things would go mostly back-and-forth with Black utilising his superior striking ability while the man the crowd once chanted 'fuzzy wuzzy' for, used his obvious size and strength advantage, keeping Black grounded with submissions work and standing splashes. While this wasn't quite the wild, violent spectacle we were promised, it was still a very good, little match, playing off the classic David vs Goliath dynamics but never making Black look beneath Dain with some of the near falls including a buckle bomb-vader bomb combo looking incredibly close. The match came to a close as Dain had Black up for the Ulster Plantation electric chair driver but Black managed to slide out and nail the Black Mass spinning roundhouse kick for the pin. I'm still unsure that Dain is really the breakout star of SaNitY and the one they should be pushing so hard as a solo star but if they are intent on doing so, I will say that this here is easily his best singles encounter in NXT and another good notch on the winpost for Black. Lovely stuff but still, never felt like it was quite the war that the last few weeks promised us.

On The YouTubes

Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering are backstage with Christy St. Cloud, Ellering puts over the rest of the tournament, stating it is stacked from top to bottom but that they will still come out on top. He also tells The Undisputed Era that they've seen the tag champ's best but they haven't seen theirs. So Ellering's also seen ReDragon vs Young Bucks, it has a 9.02 on Cagematch.

So it was a Number One Contender's match. The contract signings next week by the way. With four announced matches and a contract signing, expect at least one DQ finish.

Finally...

This was probably the most consistent episode of NXT this year, even if there wasn't a standout match like Gargano-Almas IV, everything delivered and mre importantly, it all set up for more good things. This week was really good, next week looks like it could be even better. What more could you ask for? 

Written By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

WWE NXT Review // 28th February 2018

On 28th February 2018, WWE aired its 289th episode of NXT, filmed at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 2nd February. Our main event match was a rematch from the Mae Young Classic finals as SHayna Baszler took on the woman who cost her a second title shot, Kairi Sane though the actual final segment was a speech by Zelina Vega and Andrade Almas. The card also featured action from Adam Cole & Cezar Bononi and Velveteen Dream taking on Tyler Bate. But was it any good?

Velveteen Dream def. Tyler Bate // Pinfall

Velveteen Dream is 22yrs old, Tyler Bate is only 20. Between the two of them, they are 6 years younger than Triple H and yet they are still putting on matches like this, even if this wasn't the best match in the world, still, consider it in comparison to how old they are. Sadly, this match semmed to just exist with no real emotion or verve behind it. Given ten minutes, the two performers worked a clean, well-structured match, playing Dream's lack of respect for Bate as Dream was surprised as he was out-wrestled at every turn early on. After the ad-break, the match became a bit more back-and-forth as both men threw their signature offence in, hoping to gain their upper hand. Dream eventually resorted to a cheap-ish trick as he pushed Bate off the post onto the top rope crotch-first before hitting the Purple Rainmaker for the pin. These two are young and I'm sure will have better battles in the future but this didn't quite live up to the hype for me.

Paul Ellering is backstage, he talks about how Authors of Pain won the second Dusty Classic and this is the road to them reclaiming the NXT Tag-Team Titles. Then up turn Ellering's lads and they basically say the same thing.

Adam Cole def. Cezar Bononi // Pinfall

Before the match started, Adam Cole offered Bononi a spot in the Era but it was a distraction to set up a sneak attack. This ended up being a quick squash m8 as Bononi had a brief spot of retaliation getting a Michinoku driver for a 2 but otherwise this was all Cole. This gets another win for Cole who's clearly going to be a big deal in NXT but Bononi in no way looks the 'Future Star' his NXT 2017 Award says he is. Maybe he'll do better in longer matches.

We get a Kairi Sane-Shayna Baszler video package. This tells the story incredibly well, especially for those who haven't been watching/just forgot.

Street Talk's back. Did you miss Street Talk? I know I did. They do a skit of interviewing each other as 'random people on the street' about who's going to win the Dusty Classic. They pick themselves obviously. We then get another look at the tournament bracket while a rockin' remix of Dusty's theme plays in the background.

Shayna Baszler def. Kairi Sane // Submission

I don't know what to think about this match. Baszler and Sane work well together, that much was clear from the Mae Young Classic finals but there was something lacking here, I don't know whether it was the lack of time lead to certain sections of the match feeling rushed or a lack of clarity over what they're trying to do with Sane who they seem to want to sell as one of the best in the world but also imminently beatable but much like the first match, this felt like it was lacking a certain intensity you want that gives a contest that 'big fight feel'. The work itself was well thought out as Baszler tried to keep Sane grounded but frequently was unable to keep down the Pirate Princess with the finish coming as Baszler was able to suddenly pull Sane into the Kirufuda Clutch for the tapout. It might not have been the best match but the result was right as Baszler is clearly not finished with Moon and this makes the eventual third match between Sane and Baszler all the bigger.

Post-match: Bazler having been pulled off Sane, goes over to the announce desk to tell them that Ember Moon is a coward and the next time she sees her, she's leaving with a title or a limb. Would love to see her just walk off with one of Moon's arms all casual like.

The Champs Have Something to Say

Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega came out and gloated about vanquishing Johnny Gargano from the NXT universe, it's like he's actually gone, Mauro Ranallo even used the 'future endeavours' line earlier, I miss him so much. Anyway, they went on to talk about how Andrade is the greatest NXT champion of all time and how they turned 'Johnny Wrestling' into 'Johnny Jobless'. It wasn't amazing stuff but it did get some actual response from the audience and that means something. Almas continues to improve on the mic but is still much better off leaving Vega to do the talking. They raised the title to close the show.

Next Week: Dusty Classic Quarter Finals start: and it's a rematch of the last classic's final as Authors of Pain take on TM61 in what's sure to be a-

Hold the phone, this was not the end of the show as A Challenger approaches in the form of the man who beat Almas at NXT TakeOver: Orlando, Aleister Black. Before he can say anything, up turns the Beast of Belfast, Killian Dain, they brawl with Dain standing tall as Almas flees to close out the show. The fake-out ending was a nice touch as it injected some energy and chaos to proceedings. If they can bring this energy to their eventual match, it could be something very good indeed.

On The YouTubes

Cezar Bononi is interviewed after his loss to Adam Cole. Christy St. Cloud asks him what he has to say to those who don't believe he's the 'Future Star' his award says he is after that (such as me, a few paragraphs ago), he says that they already know he is and one loss won't change that.

Finally...

There was a lot here I wanted to like more than I did, sadly this ended up being just good or indeed, Ok. There was enough built here to suggest better things are around the corner though. Finally, thank goodness for Zelina Vega, she is, as is often the case, the real MVP of this episode.

Written By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka