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

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 273 Review // Roderick Strong v Adam Cole

On 9th November 2017, WWE aired its 273rd episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 4th October. Our Main event was an NXT TV first-time meeting of Adam Cole and Roderick Strong, though far from the first time these two have faced each other with matches in Ring of Honor & Pro Wrestling Guerilla under their belt. The show also features The Velveteen Dream against Cesar Bononi, Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane taking on the half of the Iconic Duo who doesn't have a title shot, Billie Kay and Heavy Machinery taking on Sean Maluta and Chris Payne. But was it any good?

Heavy Machinery (Otis Dosevic & Tucker Knight) def. Sean Maluta & Chris Payne via pinfall // 2:20 

Quick squash m8. Otis and Payne to start, Payne ducks under Dosevic and slaps him on the back which just makes the big meaty man angry, he knocks over Payne, picks him back up, slaps him on the bum, hits a shoulder barge, a delayed body slam, starts hype-slapping himself and then hits THE WORM into a big elbow drop, tag to Knight and they pick up Maluta who sillily got involved for a double shoulder barge, a double splash in the centre of the ring on Payne, one bottom-rope springboard elbow drop, a tag to Dosevic and a Trash Compactor slam-bulldog combo later and it's a pinfall for the big boys. Otis Dosevic hit the worm 11/10.

Christie St. Clair or any one of the number of nondescript backstage interviewers is backstage with Ember Moon, in response to Mercedes Martinez saying that she can't win when it matters, if that's the way she feels, she wants Martinez to meet her in the ring next week and she'll show her how much of a threat she is. Them's fightin' words.

Kairi Sane def. Billie Kay via pinfall // 3:53 

Quick, slightly-less squash m8. Kay and Sane lock-up to start, trading holds and running the ropes till Kay hits a shoulder block, back on their feet and Sane hits a tilt-a-whirl rana and a dropkick for a 2, Royce is up on the apron and Sane punches her off opening up for Kay to forearm her down for a 2, grounded strikes from Kay transition into an Argentine torture rack, dropped to the corner and rolled up for a 2, Sane retaliates with chops pushing Kay to the corner and hitting a sliding knee strike for a 2, Royce is back on the apron and kicked off, a back fist knocks down Kay setting up for the Insane Elbow for the pin. X marks the Spot, shouts Mauro Ranallo presenting us with another better name for the Insane Elbow. This was meant to be another solid win for Sane to remind us of how much of a threat she is going into TakeOver: WarGames but it didn't really work with it relying too much on heel domination over the short time and also reminding us that as much fun as Kay is as Royce's manager/tag partner, she's a far less compelling in-ring presence.  Not great, Bob.

Regal's on the phone, chatting to Robbie Brookside about World of Sport or something when Kassius Ohno comes in dressed in a Cesaro T-Shirt like a right King of Wrestling, talking about how his return to NXT has had ups and downs but recently, it's been on the up and he'd like to get back into title contention by taking on Lars Sullivan at TakeOver: WarGames. Regal says OK but looks like Ohno's an idiot. Big Boots and Elbows, probably.

There's a package for the WarGames match with talking heads from Dustin Rhodes, Arn Anderson & Booker T. Beyond the affectionate tributes to Dusty Rhodes, you could probably re-edit this to be any number of Hell in a Cell packages, playing up 'demonic structures' and the like, and it would still make sense.

Andrade Almas & Zelina Vega are being interviewed backstage, they ask about the strategy going into TakeOver, Vega says that she wouldn't be as 'successful' as she is if she gave away her secrets but suffice to say that they have given Drew what he wants by coming up to him and looking him in the eye but he clearly wasn't ready for Almas, who does he think he is? Asuka? When asked about what the relationship is between Vega and Almas (which is clearly Client and Manager, would you ask the same of Lesnar and Heyman?) She instead diverts to talking about how she's known Almas for 7 years and knows what he's capable of when he keeps his eye on the ball, she says that people may have wins over the old Almas but no one can take down the new Almas, Almas says some bits and pieces tl;dr he says he's going to the next NXT champion.

The Velveteen Dream def. Cezar Bononi via pinfall // 1:17

Quickest squashiest m8. Dream and Bononi lock-up, Dream takes control with a rear-waist takedown, uppercuts in the corner are interrupted by a back elbow from Bononi, he hits strikes and picks up Dream for a big slam who slides out, hits a kick and a clothesline to take down Bononi hitting ground strikes, in the corner Dream stomps out Bononi till nearly five so ref Jessica Carr separates the two of them and Dream screams at her not to touch him, big spinebuster and the rolling Death Valley Driver and Dream has the pin. Dream is so much fun to watch, even though this was just another short burst, here's hoping he can deliver in a PPV-length match setting.

Post-match, Velveteen Dream tells Aliester Black he's given him what he wanted and now he's on his mind, at TakeOver, everything that is in the dark will come to light and Black will say his name. Don't worry, I'll do the Destiny's Child jokes eventually.

Ruby Riot is backstage getting an update on the injury sustained during her triple threat match back at NXT #269, the doctor tells her she'll be out for another two weeks, Sonya Deville turns up and tells her that she should have just tapped instead of taking the cowards way out and trying to crawl to the ropes, especially as it caused Deville to lose her shot at the title, Riot responds saying she shouldn't have stopped and should have just broke the arm and that she's tired of Deville making excuses, challenging her to a match in a few weeks when Riot is healthy, Deville accepts and tells her to heal up her arm, so she can break it.

Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) are backstage handing out solo cups to children in business attire when in comes a delivery man from a dry cleaners with a suit for Tino Sabbatelli, who Ford pretends to be, up come Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss and all of them exchange promo in their signature promo style, namely talking all over each other. Constantly. Somewhere amongst this, a match challenge is made for next week.

Next week: Ember Moon v Mercedes Martinez, Street Profits v Moss & Sabbatelli, Drew McIntyre and Andrade Almas meet.

Roderick Strong def. Adam Cole via Disqualification // 8:35

Cole is out on his own so Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish are definitely going to get involved and fuck up the match later, collar and elbow tie-up to start as Strong goes for a double leg takedown transitioning to a rear arm bar into a headlock, a reversal by Cole into a hammerlock is returned to a headlock by Strong into headscissors from Cole, Strong escapes and hits uppercuts and slaps, whipping Cole to the corner he runs into a double boot, whip by Cole allows Roddy to hit a running dropkick, knocking Cole out of the ring, on the apron, Roddy hits a flying forearm and hits further forearms on the floor before rolling Cole back in, Cole takes momentary advantage, hitting a superkick straight into the ad break, back from the break and the two men are trading kicks, Cole whips Strong to the corner and hits a floored axe handle before going into what seems to be about ten minutes of headlocks, Strong escapes with a pendulum backbreaker straight into a boo-yay sequence, Strong hits chops, slamming Cole's head off the turnbuckle, a leaping lariat, corner strikes and a twisting backbreaker get a 2 count for Roddy, standing switches from the two men lead for an enziguri from Adam Cole for a 2, Cole goes to hit a suplex but Strong escapes, hits a boot and a step-up enziguri, goes for a backbreaker but Cole knees his way out, a kick, a superkick and  a Last Shot twisting brainbuster into a Neckbreaker for a very close 2, Strong comes back with a huge leaping knee before planting Cole up top, the two of them trade strikes for control before Strong hits a brutal avalanche backbreaker, before he can crawl to get the pin, up turn O'Reilly and Fish to fuck up the match and give Strong a DQ victory. The opening and closing stretches of this match were very much up to standard for Strong's current run in NXT with some smooth, clean and well-sold action. Sadly the middle section, where Cole could really show off was just headlocks and shtick. The ending itself, continues the run of trying to present The Undisputed Era as a threat while never letting matches end without a DQ. The problem is this doesn't feel like an organically evolving story but one being put in place to precipitate the War Games match with especially the haphazard team of Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong seemingly thrown in just to make it a triple threat like some of the War Games matches of old, even when quite clearly the booking of early in this feud could have leant into British Strong Style being put in as the third team far more naturally. Overall, I'm sure the match will be fine but for a feud that has been the main event of NXT for what feels like half a year, it's going to have to do a lot to make all this build up seem worth it.

 AoP turn up before the Undisputed Era can jump Roddy, as do SaNItY, after a staredown, everything goes fucking wild as everyone trades punches, Dain and an Author slide out of the ring, Eric Young throws O'Reilly and Fish out of the ring and Fish pulls him out, Wolfe does a crazy dive out onto Fish as the other Author follows, Cole and Strong fight in the ring to the corner and Strong hits an outside superplex onto everybody leaving a pile of sweaty men on the floor to close out the show.

On The YouTubes

Nothing on the YouTubes this week so instead, here's this...

I'm all in for Otis Dosevic becoming his generation's Scotty 2 Hotty, I'm also here for Velveteen Dream and Roderick Strong continuing his quest to have a match that is 100% backbreaker. The highlight of this week's episode was of course, Kassius Ohno's classic Cesaro shirt. That's about it for this week.

Review by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

WWE NXT #264 Review (Aired 7th September 2017)

On 7th September, WWE aired its 264th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida on 23rd August. The show's main event match would see the dastardly Hideo Itami take on the still employed and underused Kassius Ohno in a No Disqualifications Match but the true main event would be Asuka's emotional farewell to NXT after having her never-ending title run cut short by real-life injury. With an undercard formed of Sonya Deville taking on Mae Young Classic competitor Zeda, Lars Sullivan taking on a trio of tiny men & Andrade 'Cien' Almas getting some revenge on Cezar Bononi, it had a lot of potential as an hour of television but as always, was it any good?

Andrade 'Cien' Almas (w/Zelina Vega) def. Cezar Bononi

In a rematch from NXT #250, the two lads Lockup to begin with Almas powering the Brazilian to the corner, the ref calls for the break and Almas obliges but hits a thunder slap before stomping out Bononi in the corner, a snapmare takedown into a basement drop kick and more corner stomps follow, Bononi tries to fight back and takes a knee to the head for his effort, the two trade strikes, run the ropes and Almas goes into a pair of big clotheslines from Bononi, punches in the corner, a reverse atomic drop and a drop kick swing things back in Bononi's favour, Almas gets a moment of control and goes for a DDT but Bononi leverages into a pinfall for a 2. Shades of their first match here but Almas regains control with a stiff punch leading to a Rope hung GTR and some forearms in the corner, Almas is about to go for the corner double knees till Vega tells him to destroy him, hits the Hammerlock DDT for the pin. A nice, little match that continues to build Almas and Vega as something of a Latin American Rusev & Lana. The match itself wasn't much more than it needed to be but it was still smooth, hard-hitting and gave Bononi just enough in terms of hope spots to continue to build the big lad.

• General Manager William Regal isn't mincing words or pies right now as he calls out Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly (& Lars Sullivan probably) for being naughty boys and attacking people all over the shop and Regal wants it known that he only wants fighting to happen in the ring. Let's ignore that Team ROH's TakeOver attacks took place in the ring yeah?

• Itami and Ohno work out backstage before their match.

• The Velveteen Dream says something about, I dunno, Prince things. He's going to give a proper promo soon, or a match or just drop a fire mixtape. Who really knows?

Lars Sullivan def. A Trio of Tiny Men

Quick squash m8. Lars is presented with a tag team match but he says no, he wants all the meat, all at once. He immediately double clothesline two of the tiny men before choking the other to the corner and launching him across the ring, he then ragdolls the fuck out of the men throwing them about like (I don't have a reference here, help me, Mauro). After some corner splashes, he hits his big modified Uranage Slam on all three men for the pin. Solid big lad fun and Lars didn't even have to do a...

• Lars continues to do a murder post-match, all three men try to crawl away from the man that resembles a gigantic, bald, Sami Callihan clone injected with Bane Venom, until No Way Jose's music hits to a big reaction. He talks about how Lars attacked him back in Brooklyn interrupting the biggest conga line Barclays has ever seen and he wants to see Lars do the same now his back isn't turned. Jose throws fists but Lars takes over and hits big ol' crossface blows before hitting another slam finish on Jose. RIP Jose.

• Jonny Wrestling is at the PC being interviewed about Brooklyn and talks of how amazing it was for him and how he refuses to see Zelina Vega and her DIY T-Shirt as a distraction and owns his failures. Talking of failures, enter Riddick Moss & Tino Sabatelli who talk of how they consider themselves responsible for breaking up DIY and how they wanted Johnny to know he won't cut it as a singles guy. Johnny responds by saying he's glad they enjoyed the match from their sofa and that next week he'll take either of them on. Which would he prefer, doesn't matter he says. Savage words, Johnny m'lad.

• Hype reel for Sonya Deville, lots of TapOut gear & punching. She manages to get in her  'put your hair up and square up' catchphrase.

• SANitY recap from Team ROH attack last week. A video message from SANItY as recorded on Killian Dain's old flip-phone (Editor: Probs a Motorola Razr) plays. Eric Young talks about how he can respect Team ROH for doing things their own way but that he doesn't care for them or about them and especially not for them if they're going to beat up his gang. He only knows one thing and that thing according to Alexander Wolfe, is chaos!

Sonya Deville def. Zeda

Another quick squash m8. The commentary team put over both women's real combat backgrounds before Sonya Deville puts on about two minutes of controlled waistlocks, interrupted by Zeda leveraging into a pin for a 1 and some running the ropes. Deville gets back to waistlocks, Zeda escapes but runs into a modified spinebuster takedown knocking her out of the ring. Back in and Deville hits a roundhouse, a front strike and locks in a Triangle Choke for the pin. This felt like a faint variation on the match that Zeda and Shayna Baszler had in round one of the Mae Young Classic but Deville looked great & Zeda has such a distinctive look and enough charisma to suggest she's worth keeping around.

• Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch are friends now and as a result, beat up Marcel Barthel (the former Alex Dieter jr.) and a friend while Regal looks on like a proud dad. Ruby Riot comes up to Regal and requests a handicap match to shut up the iconic duo for good, Regal tells her he won't book that match but if she can find a partner, he'll give her a tag match. She agrees. So who could it be? Perhaps Dakota Kai, she's been excellent in the Mae Young Classic, she's already held tag gold with Riot back in their Heidi Lovelace/Evie days, she competed in a womens tag match at PROGRESS: New York the other week and two of the PROGRESS owners Jim Smallman and Glen Joseph could be seen in the back of shot during this segment. Still, with all that evidence it'll probably be Liv Morgan.

No DQ Match: Kassius Ohno def. Hideo Itami

Ohno's gear for the evening has gone for those Neville: Main Roster Debut colours. As the match starts, Itami immediately bails to the floor, Ohno follows, Itami back, Ohno follows again, Itami tries to go for a sneak attack off the rope but Ohno is refusing this and represents a brick wall that Itami runs into. Ohno follows up with a body slam, a leaping leg drop, a slap and a delayed vertical suplex for a 2 count. Running boot, during a second one, Itami reverses and sends Ohno flipping over the rope before taking out Ohno with a running forearm and slamming him into the post. Ohno commits fully to this bump and falls to the outside in a terrifying manner, out of the ring and Itami bashes Ohno off those steps before taunting on his prone arm. Back in the ring and Itami starts on, you guessed it, kicks, all the kicks, into the corner, kicks, hits a hesitation dropkick for a 2 count. Itami heads out to get a chair, slides it into to the ring, goes to pick it up but Ohno grabs it, a tug of war starts which Ohno wins, he throws the chair to Itami before going for a Rolling Elbow but Itami smashes the elbow in question with the chair to send the two lads to an ad break. Back from the ad break and Itami is taunting Ohno with a series of kicks to the head, Ohno begins to hulk up and tells Itami to kick him with his best shot, on his feet and Ohno goes for a big boot but Itami catches it so Ohno hits a leaping boot to the head, another leg drop, a shining wizard and a senton get Kassius back on track, on their feet and Ohno sets up for a neckbreaker but Itami snaps the arm, sets up for a GTS but Ohno slips out and hits his own GTS, a Firemans Carry Into a Rolling Elbow knocking Itami out of the ring. Itami crawls up the ramp away from Ohno who begins kicking a Itami and picks him up for an elbow, he wants Itami to know how much that hurts, a lot from the looks of it, Itami is back up again and Ohno goes for a suplex but Itami reverses into a fisherman's suplex, Itami gets Ohno in the corner and straps the chair to Ohno's face before hitting a shattering hesitation dropkick but takes too long getting to the pin so only gets a 2. He demands respect, Ohno hits a swift right to daze itami, Itami goes for a boot but Ohno catches it, Itami pokes him in the eyes before setting up the GTS, Ohno escapes and hits the low blow to end all low blocks before following up with a Rolling Elbow for the pin. This was some truly glorious nonsense. With less than 10 minutes, the two men manage to create something truly powerful and memorable with Ohno picking up his biggest victory since returning to NXT (yes, even more important than his match with Elias Samson). Credit must also go to Itami who has not only firmly settled into a very satisfying groove with his current heel run but gave the most beautiful performance as a man whose nads are in the most possible pain after that low blow. I can only imagine what could have been done had these two been given 5-10 extra minutes to create chaos. Elbows and kicks probably.

Thank You, Asuka

William Regal introduces Asuka who gets a hero's welcome as she comes to the ring in her fly-as-fuck suit. She talks of how she's been in NXT for nearly two years, has fought so many great superstars and loves NXT, she's grown so much and is so grateful for it. Regal talks of how he respects Asuka's determination to constantly defend her title and knows she'll go down in history as one of the greatest champions in WWE history. Others have started to notice how great she is and Regal has been discussing her move up to main roster with Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan. Regal is sad to see her go but happy to watch the world discover that "no-one is ready for Asuka". The entire locker room come out to join in with the 'Thank You, Asuka" chants as Asuka grabs the mic declaring "you are NXT, I am NXT. Wherever I go, NXT comes with me". The crowd are on their feet. Ember Moon steps forward as her music hit, she goes to the ring, her music dies down and they face off, Moon extends her hand for shaking but as Asuka goes for it, she pulls a move from the Asuka playbook and slides it back before going in for a big, long hug, friendship is fucking beautiful. Finally out comes Triple H with his flowers lackey in tow, he takes her title and trades it for roses before putting over the 'undefeated, women's champion, the empress of tomorrow'. Asuka basks in the crowds adoration as the show goes off. I bet there were more than a few moist eyes in the house and at home during this one. You could say that this segment really undercut the move towards heel-dom that Asuka was taking but the truth is that this was such a show of respect and such an all-encompassing emotional event that it's hard to critique it. Asuka seems to be gone and that makes me sad, not just as someone who reviews NXT because it means I don't get to talk about her anymore but as someone who never really wants her streak to end. Treat her well, Main Roster, she deserves it.

ATPW Scale Rating: 7/10

A series of strong angles, some very good in-ring work from Itami, Ohno and Almas as well as the emotional farewell of Asuka led to one of the most cohesive episodes of NXT in a long time. That they were able to fit in so much, at such a breakneck speed and have it not feel overstuffed at only the standard one hour running time was impressive. Now let's watch as all this goodwill and positive momentum is squandered. Andrade Almas for NXT Champion, that is all, goodnight.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)