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

NXT 282 Review // The Undisputed Era vs Aleister Black & Roderick Strong

On 11th January 2018, NXT aired its 282nd episode of NXT, taped at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 4th January. Our main event of the evening was set to be an NXT Tag Title rematch between SaNItY and The Undisputed Era but shenanigans would occur and, well, you can see in the headline what happened. The show also featured a few big debuts/ returns in the form of Lio Rush taking on Lars Sullivan, Kassius Ohno against Raul Mendoza and MMA star and MYC finalist Shayna Baszler taking on Dakota Kai. But was it any good?

We get a unique cold open as Adam Cole welcomes us to 2018, the year of the Undisputed Era, Bobby Fish says they closed 2017 in style by winning the tag titles, but that's just the beginning, in 2018 they prove to everyone why they're the baddest, Kyle O'Reilly talks of how their year of dominance begins tonight as they're going to take out SaNItY and Cole swears to take out anyone who gets in the way of him becoming NXT Champion.

Shayna Baszler def. Dakota Kai //Ref. Stoppage

Both of these women were in the Mae Young Classic with Kai being eliminated in the Quarter Finals by Kairi Sane and Bazsler by the same woman in the finals, we see backstage footage of Baszler bullying recruits until Kai steps in and most importantly, we get the NXT debut of Nixon Newell, heal up soon, Nixon. They lock-up to start as Baszler powers to the corner, holding the lock, she breaks just before 5 before sweeping Kai's legs out, Kai goes for a waistlock but is forced over into a double wristlock, Shayna wrenches at the finger and elbow joints before applying a leg stretch to the shoulder and hitting a knee to the head, she grinds down the hand with her foot and stomps out the shoulder leaving Kai defenceless for a referee stoppage.

Quick Squash m8. The first and certainly not the last of its kind for 2018 as Baszler announced herself as a cocky, destructive force with just a shade of a certain Bruiserweight to her heelish antics. While there's no story for her at the moment, I hope bigger things are to come for Kai who is too talented to be just developmental enhancement talent.

Post-match, Baszler locks in a Kirufuna Clutch (grounded sleeper) on Kai till Ember Moon comes in to break it up, Baszler walks away signalling that she wants Moon and most importantly, the NXT Women's Title around her waist.

The Authors of Pain speak, not just Paul Ellering but the actual Authors! They speak of being the baddest force in NXT and how anyone who gets in their way will suffer, Ellering says they don't care where or when or who but they want their titles back. How about in Philidelphia, Paul?

Christy St. Cloud backstage with Bazsler being asked about why she broke Kai's damn arm, William Regal turns up and tells her that going around bullying people, breaking arms and attacking people after matches, just call him Shania Twain because that don't impress him much, more importantly, it won't earn her a title shot. Baszler shrugs it off, she ain't shook, not one bit.

Kassius Ohno def. Raul Mendoza // Pinfall

Well, this was refreshing, a match with no outward storyline that wasn't just a quick squash (m8) and begins with a good ol' handshake, you crowds may chant 'this is awesome' but you know what is awesome? Respect. Mendoza starts in with a waistlock transitioning to a headlock but Ohno lifts him with his head to show dominance, Mendoza gets a sunset flip for a 2 but Ohno reverses it into a package of his own for a 2, Ohno with a lateral press for a 1 and throws Mendoza to the corner who flips the ropes, hits a shoulder tackle, goes up top, Ohno picks him up for a powerbomb by Ohno but Mendoza flips him with a hurricanrana, he lays into a seated Ohno with kicks but Ohno is nothin' to mess with and knocks his head off with a boot, in the corner, Ohno hits corner elbows for a 2, picks up Mendoza into a Gory special but Mendoza rolls through for a pin, Ohno is immediately back up and hits a forward slam and a senton for a 2, picking up Mendoza, he immediately springs to life with an arm drag, an enziguri, another arm drag and another enziguri for a 2, he jumps onto Ohno but is caught into an electric chair position, dropped onto the ropes and Ohno hits an elbow to the back of the head and another High Tension running elbow strike for the pin.

This was good work by both men, Ohno was his usual dominant self but he worked hard to make Mendoza look good and the offence that Mendoza got in was crisp and effective. Ohno seems to have been put into the Player Coach role for the forseeable but it works for him and if he can keep putting on enjoyable stuff like this, you won't hear me complaining.

Zelina Vega is getting the 'interview by disembodied hands' treatment. She speaks about how she and Andrade are more on the same page than ever and it's more work to stay the champ than to become it and at Philly, Andrade will put in the work. When asked about Johnny Gargano earning a title shot, Zelina says Johnny hasn't earnt a shot, he got lucky and took advantage of an opportunity, they've beaten Johnny twice and that Ciampa was always the success not him and that Andrade won't need to try to beat him again, when asked whether there'll be a change in tactics for match 3, Zelina refuses to disclose secrets but says there'll be no running for Johnny come Philly.  

Christy St. Cloud is with Jonny Wrestling, he acknowledges a lot of people didn't think he had a chance of winning his shot at the title, suddenly, a wild Velveteen Dream appears, Dream tells Johnny to say it, in this instance 'it' is not his but thank you for him getting lucky as Dream was meant to have the match with Kassius Ohno but he was injured, he tells him that he could have beaten Ohno in 30 seconds, not the twenty minutes it took Johnny, Johnny got lucky against Black and that he can't beat Almas, he tells Johnny that Dream earnt his spot and Johnny doesn't deserve it. I'm fully up for these two having a match, they're both great and I'm sure this match will be.

Street Profits stuff happens, they're backstage being all street and profitty, they eventually get to the point that they want a tag title shot, they go to Regal's office that is now just a table of water, they ask when they get a title shot, Regal announces that next week the Street Profits will take on Authors of Pain for the number one contendership. They seem happy about this.

Lars Sullivan def. Lio Rush // Pinfall

This is Rush's return to TV since he got into hot water for making jokes about Emma losing her job, my guess, this won't go more than a minute, Sullivan rushes but Rush dodges, moving around the ring lightning quick avoiding Sullivan, on the ropes and Rush hits a handspring heel kick, goes for a springboard but is caught and choke dropped by Sullivan, Sullivan whips Rush from one corner to the other, goes for a shoulder tackle but Rush dodges, Sullivan crushes him in the corner, goes for another but Rush dodges again, Rush goes in for an attack but is hit with a massive clothesline and the Freak Accident side slam for the pin.

Well, I was wrong, it lasted longer than a minute. Not by much, but it did. Rush being destroyed here was an appropriate act of comeuppance for him making a bad joke but give him his credit, I haven't seen a crowd get this hopped up by someone just dodging for a long time. Sullivan did his big man thing, it still works.

Post-match Lars is on the mic, he faced opponent after opponent in 2017, sometimes two at once and they all fell, but now he keeps going back to a force he'd never dealt with before but that brings him joy as he wants to destroy, he's going to take Killian Dain and break him like a toy, he grabs Rush, picks him up and hits a top rope Freak Accident on him to make a statement.

Backstage and The Undisputed Era lay out SaNItY or at least the male members. Where's Nikki Cross when you need her?

The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) def. Aleister Black & Roderick Strong // Pinfall

Before the match begins, The Era lads are in the ring and looking real smug because SaNItY aren't there to take their rematch after Cole & The Gang 'kicked the chaos out of them' and promised to do so to anyone who opposed them, before Cole can finish, out comes Nikki Cross who tries to murder everyone while two referees really fail to hold her back effectively, Cole says 'as I was saying...' but before he can finish, out comes Regal to announce that they will still have a tag title match tonight and, but before Regal can finish, out comes Roderick Strong to announce he'd fight them and that he's going to go backstage and, but before he can finish, out comes Aleister Black to announce he'll team up with him, they nod at each other and charge the ring, laying into Fish and O'Reilly as Cole flees just before Black kicks Fish out of the ring and into the ad-break, back from the break and the match proper starts, Black and O'Reilly start as Fish comes in and both members of the era take all the kicks, O'Reilly tries to go for kicks of his own but Black has All The Kicks and throws in some Muay Thai strikes and a knee for a 2, O'Reilly rolls out to recuperate but a wrecking ball dropkick from Strong takes them both out and he rolls O'Reilly back in and straight into an O'Conner roll for a 2, Black is straight onto the arm wrench, Pulled arm-first to the corner and a tag to Strong as O'Reilly is whipped into a single leg dropkick for a 2, Strong hits chops and a backbreaker for a 2, O'Reilly goes to escape but is pulled back again for a tag to Black who immediately goes for yet more kicks but O'Reilly dodges to the apron, Black follows but O'Reilly dodges back again, before Black can follow, his leg is swept by Fish onto the floor and into the second break, back again and Fish and O'Reilly are working quick tags, wearing down Black with a nice near fall off a modified figure-four/slingshot senton combo, Black goes to escape but O'Reilly leaps on him and just hits a shit ton of palm strikes, tag to Fish as O'Reilly runs at Strong knocking him off the apron, both men hit corner forearms on Black and an exploder suplex from Fish gets another good near fall, Fish immediately applies a cravat chinlock but Black elbows out, he's whipped to the ropes but on the rebound gets a sunset flip for a 2, and his back up, dropping Fish with a high knee, this gives Black the breathing room to get a tag, Strong bursts out hitting forearms and dropkicks, there's a lovely spot where he keeps throwing O'Reilly into Fish before chopping him on the rebound repearedtly before he hits a backbreaker on O'Reilly and a belly-to-belly on Fish and a high knee on O'Reilly but Fish breaks the pin, Strong throws Fish out and O'Reilly is back up with a roundhouse but Strong responds with another knee, Black crushes Fish outside and rolls him back in, he goes to follow but Cole pulls him out, Black doesn't like this and chases Cole up the steps but this leaves Strong alone in the ring with two men who hit Total Elimination for the pin.

This was a fun, little match with both teams working hard to pack a lot of content in. It's impressive considering common storytelling logic that Black and Strong were so good that I even thought they might pull it off and walk away with the titles. If I had to criticise the match, I did feel that it was a little too rushed, taking some of the drama and emotion out of proceedings as clearly, it was a lot of set-up for Black and Cole to have another match (and with a Number One Contender's match next week, it would seem odd to have a quick title change so soon before a TakeOver) but as an event in itself, still a lot of fun.

Post-match, Black comes back in and kicks away at the Era but Cole posts him, the three men hold down and batter Black with Cole hitting a shining wizard onto Black before using his foot to lift Black like Black does, Fish and O'Reilly hit another Total Elimination and Cole hits Last Shot onto a chair. Out comes Regal again who has really had enough of this shit for one day and announces that with Philidelphia's extreme history, there'll be a match between Aleister Black and Adam Cole at TakeOver: Philidelphia, and it will be Extreme Rules.

On The YouTubes

Lio Rush has had a lot of time to think since not being ready for everyone's response to his Asuka joke and now that he's come back and still losing, he's got a lot of re-evaluating to do...

Papa Hunter talks about meeting Dusty Rhodes for the first time at the venue we came to you from tonight.

William Regal checks on Black as he's helped to his feet, the audience gives him an ovation as he walks to the back.

Dakota Kai talks about how she's feeling after her match with Shayna Baszler. Not great, Bob.

Finally...

A good, entertaining start to the new year over here on the developmental brand. Not by any means a standout episode as everything was good but nothing was great but with some strong character work, especially by Baszler and Dream, 2018's looking good over here. The future's bright everyone and the future's not just now, the future's yellow.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)