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 // 7th February 2018

On 7th February 2018, WWE aired its 286th episode of NXT, filmed at Stage Center, Atlanta, GA on 1st February. Our main event saw the two big teams of NXT, SaNitY and The Undisputed Era go head to head in Tornado Tag action. The show also featured action from Bianca BelAir, Heavy Machinery, Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss aswell as Johnny Gargano speaking publicly for the first time since NXT took over Philidelphia. But was it any good?

The first match of this show was set to be SaNitY finally getting their rematch for the NXT Tag-Team Titles but as The Undisputed Era made their way to the ring with Adam Cole, SaNitY would attack from behind and brawl around the ring until the entire security and ring crew had to hold back SaNitY while the Era retreated. William Regal would come out and say 'enough is enough' and book all six men in a tornado trios match in the main event.

Tucker Knight & Otis Dozovic def. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss // Pinfall

This was a pretty standard, little tag match and an effective rematch after Moss stole a win over them previously. Otis and Tino started with Dozovic running roughshod over the former American Football players, a tag in to Knight allowed him to work the peril section and give Dozovic the hot tag with a close near fall broken up by Moss who was then sent back out and allowed Heavy Machinery to hit their Trash Compactor assisted powerslam for the pin. The story of Moss having to cover for Tino's shit, aided by a crowd constantly chanting 'Tino sucks' while also building some fun near falls off things like Tino going for a rope-hung pin in echoes of the previous match were effective and added a different flavour to the match but it still suffered from a lack of invention to the heel heat segments. Still, with the rumours of a third Dusty Classic on the horizon, don't be surprised if we end up with a first or second round blow-off match to this mini-feud.

Post-match Riddick Moss goes to help his partner up as the crowd chants 'Tino Sucks', he then decides not to and leaves him to help himself to the back. Are they done? What will happen to the jointly owned Maserati now?

Johnny Gargano Has Something To Say

There's a lot to unpack here as Johnny came out and talked about how he had failed but the response of the crowds and their respect bring him back to life every time and remind him that he's Johnny, Freaking, WRESTLING. He also called out Tomasso Ciampa stating he'll never forget what he's done and he's tried to bite his tongue and move on but he's done ignoring him and wants Ciampa one-on-one, instead of the bald crutchfighter, out come Almas and Vega, Vega taunts Johnny saying all he's done is prove how much of a loser he is and that respect means nothing because he's not Johnny Wrestling, he's Johnny Loser, Johnny then says that beyond getting the audience's respect, his favourite bit of Philly was when Candice LeRae beat up Vega, as if by magic, up turn LeRae to push Vega out of the ring as Johnny does the same to Almas before an enraged Vega asks Johnny what it will take to get rid of him? Johnny responds by saying that all he wants is one more title match and if he loses, he'll leave NXT for good. This was great, everyone played their parts perfectly with LeRae's involvement in this storyline doing more to sell her to the NXT crowd than any number of squash matches could, Gargano continuing to be the best babyface of the '10s (yes, better than Daniel Bryan, don't @ me) and the Vega-Almas partnership showing a smug, callous ruthlessness that is perfectly in character but doesn't sell either of them short. Also, we're getting another Gargano-Almas match, presumably in three weeks time if my knowledge of how tapings work is correct, and that can't be a bad thing.

Shayna Baszler is interviewed backstage, she talks about how since she's turned up in NXT, no one's been able to stand up to her, listing her victims so far and stating that anyone who steps in the ring has three choices: Tap, Nap or Snap. When reminded Ember Moon beat her, Baszler establishes how barely she did so and says that she doesn't think there'll be another match against Moon for he because Moon is too scared before presumably doing her own Arrested Development style chicken dance.

Next Week: Roderick Strong gets his UK title shot as he takes on Pete Dunne.

Tyler Bate is interviewed backstage, he says that he's disappointed to have lost but well done to Strong and he'll be watching next week very closely, he feels great having had the officially voted NXT Match of the Year but is looking forward to this year trying to have more MOTY candidates and expresses a desire to face Aleister Black, Andrade Almas, Johnny Gargano and Velveteen Dream. Insert 'Two Intrigued Eyeballs Looking Down to the Left' Emoji here.

Bianca BelAir def. Jessie Hill // Pinfall

I have no additional knowledge to provide about Jessie Hill, she doesn't have a Cagematch profile so Jessie, if you're reading this, please @ us, we'll fill in the gap here. Anyway, Quick. Squash. M8. The quickest and squashiest as Hill would offer a handshake which BelAir would accept, only to pull her into a backbreaker rack, slam her over and hit the AlleyOop Powerbomb for the pin. This was never going to be a competitive match so I appreciated BelAir looking as ruthless as she did, destroying her quickly and with ease.

We get a video package for Kairi Sane including footage from her appearance at the Royal Rumble. 

Ember Moon tweets to say next week Baszler can have another title shot.

Tornado Match // Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain def. Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish // Pinfall

In what is a nice piece of full-circle storytelling for my ATPW career, on the two-year anniversary of my first contribution to this website, this was as close as we get to a PG TV Monster's Ball. This was a big, dumb match, the kind that I can't write much about beyond just saying, basically every spot in this match was really cool but for a pair of groups with a storied history at this point, there wasn't much storytelling in this, it was just lots of spots, but as previously mentioned, they were all really cool. The advantage of making this a tornado match was with this kind of free-flow madness, there was no time to be stuck in resthold boredom, it was just big thing after big thing, the closest thing to storytelling being that act one-Eric Young gets out a table, act two-Killian Dain puts himself through the table, act three- Killian Dain comes back and murders everything before hitting the Ulster Plantation electric chair driver on Bobby Fish for the pin. I don't know what else you want me to say: Kyle O'Reilly came out earlier playing along to his theme music like his title belt was a guitar, Eric Young kicked out of a Chasing the Dragon/Last Shot combo, Alex Wolfe continues to throw every move like a madman and it's great, just go and watch this match, form your own opinions, I have nothing more to add here.

On The YouTubes

Tino Sabbatelli doesn't care about the crowd chanting that he sucks, he just needs to find his tag partner, or should that be, former tag partner?

Finally...

Some good-to-very good in-ring action accompanied by a strong focus on character and storybuilding mean that this was an effective and at times, thrilling installment of NXT. It lacked one standout moment to really bring it to the next level but with next week set for two big title matches, it should be a real corker.

Article By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

WWE NXT Review // 24th January 2018 // Johnny Gargano vs. Velveteen Dream

On 25th January 2018, NXT aired its 284th episode of NXT, taped at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 4th January. Our main event had NXT Championship implications as Johnny Gargano put his spot in the main event of TakeOver: Philidelphia against Andrade Almas on the line against Velveteen Dream, the man who should have had his spot in the Number One Contender's Tournament if not for 'injury'. The show also featured Authors of Pain taking on the team of Damien Smith & Chase Brown, Bianca BelAir taking on Indie stalwart Latoya Allsopp (or Luscious Latasha as she's better known) & a returning No Way Jose taking on Cezar Bononi. With only days till TakeOver, there was a lot riding on this episode's success as a go-home show, but was it any good?

We get a cold open as Velveteen Dream discovers The Performance Centre has hooked up it's lighting to clicker switches and its music and smoke machines to Alexa. He talks about how everyone has a dream and everyone here dreams of being champion and everyone's path is different, especially his and Johnny's, but Johnny's path while it may one day lead to the championship, it's not happening today, one dream will be over. I like these stylised approaches to opening promos, it makes NXT feel different to any other in-ring product the WWE has, also, the Dream manages to find a good blend here of weirdness to actual content. Fun stuff.

No Way Jose def. Cezar Bononi // Pinfall

Quick squash m8. This was pretty much what you'd expect from this kind of match as Jose dominated early on till Bononi cut him off with a Judo throw and a dropkick, managing a pumphandle powerslam for a 2, after he threw Jose to the ropes, Jose would return with a swinging neckbreaker, a sequence of strikes and the pop-up forearm gets Jose the pin. Jose was his normal energetic self and did manage to get the crowd going but the action itself was clumsy and Bononi's selling seems odd and laboured. It did what it had to do but it didn't exactly make for an entertaining ride there.

We get another video package for Adam Cole v Aleister Black II. Much like last week's, it was well-made and a good way of telling the story if you hadn't seen their previous three interactions but as a part of the go-home NXT, it did feel a little like padding.

Bianca BelAir def. Latoya Allsopp // Pinfall

Another quick quash m8. Allsopp, under her better-known name of Luscious Latasha is a thirteen year veteran of the scene having worked predominantly in SHINE wrestling and Woman's Superstars Uncensored, a company we've discussed before around these parts. While she gets very little in the way of offence here, she works hard to make BelAir look good, a deed that's not exactly difficult as BelAir is a very fun performer. Not really much to say about this match as it was mostly just re-establishing BelAir as someone to watch, something very much achieved by a moment where Allsopp went for a diving axe handle and BelAir ponytail-whipped her in the air. Eventually, BelAir would get the pin off a Reverse Powerbomb-Alley Oop Thing. Decent stuff but hardly thrilling.

Percy Watson sits down with Ember Moon, Shayna Baszler & an ominous non-copyright backing track for the Table for 3 you never knew you didn't want. He asks Ember about why she called out Baszler and Moon reiterates last week's point about Baszler being a bully and thinking she can come in, take shortcuts and try and injure people, Ember questions if she's trying to over-compensate because she doesn't think she can hang with such heavyweight talents as Aliyah, Baszler responds by stating that she knows what she's doing but you have to stir the waters to catch a fish and Moon is the big fish at the moment, Moon reiterates that she is the big fish and this is her division and her division has a code that they follow and as champion she has a responsibility to make sure people are following that, come Saturday, Baszler is going to see how far away from ever being in Moon's position she is. Baszler, smirking her way through the interview tells us that she doesn't care what people think about the route she's taken to get here, when she walks away with the title, they'll have to get used to it. This didn't exactly raise my excitement for the match but it didn't diminish it either which is something.

WHO ARE TM61? Part II

We carry on from last time, covering the fact that they share a name with a missile as well as the item used to teach Will O' Wisp in Pokemon. We then go to the story of how Shane Thorne injured his leg, hitting a double stomp on Roderick Strong back in the second round of the last Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic and then went on to perform on it for a few months after, only leading to further injury. What's interesting is that it really doesn't seek to dive too deep into either man as an individual but more seems to sell them as a unit, it's important and refreshing to see them being sold as two people genuinely interested in tag-team performance and not just using it as a leaping pad to singles stardom. Also this week we get some more premium-strength Harley Race, it's always a delight to see the first ever United States Champion back on our screens. Next week, TM61 are back in action for the post-takeover NXT. It would have been a nice surprise to have them back without all the build-up but as far as build-up goes, this has been really enjoyable. Plus we got to watch them fuck up promos which is always fun.

Authors of Pain vs. Smith & Evans never gets started as the pair of tiny men get killed with big boots and corner valley drivers, on the mics, Akam & Rezar tell Undisputed Era to look at this as on Saturday it's their turn, they then pick them up for the Supercollider double powerbomb, as they leave the ring, Rezar nearly trips on a tiny man which is my new favourite thing. 

Next Week: Nikki Cross vs Lacey Evans

NXT Championship Number One Contender's // Johnny Gargano def. Velveteen Dream // Submission

Now, this is more like it, a match with stakes, energy and most importantly, the time to actually build drama. The two men went back and forth over a match given two ad-breaks worth of content, it started off strong as Dream came to the ring in a tassled crop-top made of a Johnny Gargano shirt, not as strong a look as his Aleister Black leggings from the last TakeOver but still, a strong look. They worked a good opening section as the two men worked a technical back-and-forth with Dream coming out on top but making the mistake of taunting Johnny leaving him with an opening to lock in a GargaNo Escape immediately but Dream was able to break on the ropes. The meat of the encounter was a simple tale of Gargano targetting the right arm to weaken the effects of the Purple Rainmaker while Dream tried to follow up on Gargano's neck that he injured off a draped swinging neckbreaker. While there were some strong sequences outside as Gargano dropkicked Dream onto the announce table and followed it with an apron cannonball, the best work happened in the centre of the ring with both men throwing everything they could at each other but neither seemingly able to get enough of an advantage early on including a second-rope tornado flatliner from Gargano and a beautiful twisting DDT from Dream earning some convincing near falls.The finish came as Dream hit a top-rope death valley driver but Gargano was able to kick out, Dream would go back up to attempt a Purple Rainmaker diving elbow drop but having taken armwork from Gargano, had to use his left instead of his right giving Gargano a chance to dodge, hit a low SUPERKICK and lock in the GargaNo Escape for the tapout. On a pure in-ring level, this was up there with some of the best TV encounters of recent years with Gargano earning a strong win but Dream hardly looking less than legitimate in defeat. If there's an issue with Dream's work so far it's that by running at Gargano's pace, he made for an exciting opponent but almost too exciting as if you didn't know, you might think this was a face v face encounter. Still, I'm sure that if they are as committed to Dream as they should be based on his performances in the last few months, they'll find a way to make the crowd boo him. As it stands, this was still a highly engaging match that really cements Gargano's position as the best male babyface in WWE since Sami Zayn.

Post-match, Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega come down to the ring and taunt Gargano with the title, as Almas hands the title to Vega he goes for a sucker punch but Gargano has worked him out and fights back immediately but Almas takes him out with some stiff strikes, posing in the ring with the title, Gargano climbs back to the ropes and hits an enziguri and a slingshot DDT on Almas, posing with the title to close out the show.

On The YouTubes

Almas is pissed that Gargano got one over on him, Vega says that at TakeOver, Gargano is done for.

Kassius Ohno mocks Dream in a corridor for losing, Dream tells him that at least he looks good doing it so Ohno pushes him into a wall. Well, I guess we have our fifth match for TakeOver then.

You know that one cocky promo Undisputed Era have been doing for a few weeks now? Yeah, they did it again. This tie for a mild change, there's an actual target for their threats in the form of Authors of Pain instead of just being generally antagonistic.

Finally...

Not exactly the home-run it should have or indeed needed to be but still a show with a lot of good points to it. Gargano V Dream was the obvious highlight, with only that and the second part of Who Are TM61? feeling entirely necessary, but nothing felt outright bad, not even the first match. The other positive is there's a lot of newer talent being given a spotlight here which can only be a good thing in the long run.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJoeRaczka)

NXT #266 Review - Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Trent Seven & Tyler Bate

On 20th September 2017, WWE aired the 266th episode of NXT on the WWE Network, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 24th August. The show featured Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish's debut as a tag team against Trent Seven & Tyler Bate, as well as appearances from General Manager William Regal, NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, Roderick Strong, Tag Team Champions SAnitY and Aleister Black. But was it any good? Let's take a look! 

Johnny Gargano def. Tino Sabbatelli (3:48)

A continuation of last week's match between Gargano and Sabbatelli's tag team partner Riddick Moss, playing mostly with the same theme, as Gargano battled from underneath to win. Sabbatelli looks serviceable, yet not particularly impressive in the ring, but he did hit a nice dropkick, in between lots of trash talking, before Gargano picked up the win after a superkick and a lovely transition into the GargaNo Escape (Chickenwing over shoulder crossface) for the submission victory.

Roderick Strong met with General Manager William Regal, asking about a match with Drew McIntyre for the NXT title, with Regal agreeing and booking the match for next week. Awesome. 

A recap of Asuka surrendering the Women's Championship two weeks ago, sad emotional scenes. This was followed up by a promo from Sonya Deville, where she said that she could've defeated Asuka given the opportunity and put forward her case for getting a chance at the now vacant belt.

Bianca BelAir def. Lacey Evans (4:18) 

Similar to a lot of the Mae Young Classic matches, there was a lot of good quality action here, but often a feeling that there was very little linking everything up, leading to a few awkward moments in between the more impressive ones. Both ladies have a tonne of potential and their athletic ability helped to create a number of cool spots, like lovely modified verticle suplex from BelAir and a wicked delayed bronco buster from Evans, yet I feel like BelAir is a step ahead in her character and crowd work, looking much more comfortable with that element of the performance, so it was good to see her get the victory here, even if it was with an Alley Oop for some reason.

Aleister Black met The Velveteen Dream

This segment may have been my favourite part of the show as Velveteen Dream interrupted Aleister Black as the Dutchman spoke for the first time in NXT and while it's a slightly off-centre pick for a feud, but the characters are so different that it was fascinating to see them interact. Dream shone in his role as antagonist, leading to great moment after Black knocked the microphone out his hand with Black Mass as Dream joined Black on the mat in his signature cross-legged pose, crawled up into his face, to a massive reaction, before slinking away, leave Black bemused and me excited to see where these two go from here.

A recap of the feud between No Way Jose and Lars Sullivan, beginning with Sullivan's attack in Brooklyn and concluding with their confrontation two weeks ago. 

Dakota Kai put forward her case as a potential NXT Women's Champion, letting us know she's willing to kick people's heads in to make the title hers. 

Lars Sullivan def. No Way Jose (3:10)

This was a massive victory for Sullivan as Jose had only previously lost to big names like Austin Aries, Bobby Roode and Eric Young, so seeing Sullivan plough through him really got over the idea that Sullivan is a forced to reckon with on the show. The match kept things simple with Jose trying anything he could to take down Sullivan, only for nothing to work and Sullivan to pick up the win with a diving headbutt and a waist-lift sideslam to conclude the extended squash to win his first televised singles match.

Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish def. Trent Seven & Tyler Bate (8:55)

A strong main event, that felt like a taster package for what these two teams could do together, under different circumstances. The bout was built nicely around a stint as the Super Don in peril for Trent Seven, as Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish did some naughty distraction to take and keep control. Seven works well when fighting from underneath, he's got a scrappy style that suits that role and has a move-set that means he can shift gears and look for the tag at any given moment. The contest built nicely from that point with a Bate hot tag sequence coming together nicely with uppercuts, a cute german sequence, exploder suplex, kip-up and standing shooting star press with the foursome changing gear as they began to work a series of nice reversal and submission sequences and momentum shifts. The last third of the match saw some great wrestling, with a well-done near fall off Chasing the Dragon where Bate got his foot on the ropes and a crisp and physical exchange between Seven and O'Reilly, that concluded with Trent transitioning an arm bar into a single-leg Boston crab. Adam Cole superkicking the fuck out of Bate on the outside was a disappointing, yet understandable way to signal the end was nigh as Seven succumbed to a pair of roundhouse kicks and Total Elimination as O'Reilly and Fish picked up the win. With the chains off and without the need to push Cole, O'Reilly and Fish as a dominant bad guy unit, then you know this match would've been at least two levels above what we got here, but this still a good to very good television main event where the five men involved made the most of what they had to work with and showed flashes of brilliance.

After the match, NXT Champion Drew McIntyre headed to the ring with Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish legging it through the crowd, only to be met by Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain of Tag Team Champions SAnitY, leading a brawl to close the show with McIntyre and SAnitY standing tall at the end.

An enjoyable hour of NXT television this week, with O'Reilly/Fish v Seven/Bate providing a nice cap on a fun evening's entertainment. Whilst I consider the main and the Black and Dream segment to be the only things here that are really worth going out of your way for, the rest of the show had it's merit as well with the continuation of Johnny Gargano's current storyline and the impressive performance from Lars Sullivan providing watchable content that will hopefully begin to pay off over the coming week heading towards Takeover: Houston. The brand really seems to be finding it's footing again recently as a hour-long weekly show with a deep cast of characters to pull from a number of well-developed storylines across the card.

Review by James Marston