WWE NXT Review // 21st March 2018

On 21st March 2018, WWE aired its 292nd episode of NXT, filmed at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 7th March. Our main event saw a pair of PWG Champions face off in the form of Adam Cole and Kassius Ohno. The undercard featured Raul Mendoza taking on NXT Champion Andrade Almas, Ember Moon against Aliyah and Dusty Classic First Round action in the form of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch taking on Roderick Strong and a mystery opponent. But was it any good?

Ciampa Still Has Something to Say

Ciampa did his routine that he's done the last two weeks but this time actually said something as he told the crowd that Johnny Gargano was gone and he was never coming back and that all the people in the crowd with their signs should get used to it. He went around the crowd tearing up signs and squaring up to Nans till he went to tear up a sign near a man in a snazzy black and gold Lucha mask who turned out to be Johnny Gargano! Gargano leaping barricade would wail on Ciampa till security were able to separate them. This was well thought-out as clearly Gargano wasn't looking to wrestle, he just wanted to Ciampa in his stupid, bald face (definitely no bias here). If this isn't building to an Unsanctioned Match at TakeOver: New Orleans, I'll be damn surprised.

Charly Caruso gives us a recap of the Dusty Classic First Round thus far and 'exclusive' footage of Tyler Bate talking about his injuries forcing Moustache Mountain to drop out of the tournament. Roderick Strong does a mobile phone camera promo requesting a shot in the Classic in their place and thank goodness the production team don't add any word graphics to this.

Adam Cole & Kassius Ohno have a Twitter spat. The Undisputed Era, they talk about Roderick Strong being a loser, how no-one likes him and how whoever wins the Dusty Classic is heading for a loss, as is Ohno later.

Dusty Rhodes Classic First Round // Dunne & Strong def. Lorcan & Burch // Pinfall

So we get the debut of the team that Across the Pond Wrestling would like you to know as either Roderick Strong Style or Strong x Bitter, as I like my tag-teams like I like my coffee, I'm going for the latter (if anyone can organise Omari & Joe Coffey aka Black Coffey to face Strong x Bitter at Fight Club: PRO, please do). This wasn't quite the masterpiece I'd expected from these four who are capable of delivering some of the best performances in modern wrestling but for the time they were given they made the most of it with team Strong x Bitter working a technical masterclass and team Lorcan x Burch going for striking really, really hard and really, really often. It started strong and finished well but seemed to lose an amount of excitement in the middle section as Strong x Bitter worked on top, leading into the Lorcan hot tag but the crowd didn't seem willing to split their sympathies away from the de-facto heel team. The finish came as Strong got the pin off an End of Heartache on Burch. These two against Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe should be a lot of good, a lot of good indeed.

We get a video package for Trevor 'Ricochet' Mann who is coming to NXT TV soon.

Ember Moon def. Aliyah // Pinfall

Quick squash m8. Shayna Baszler came out and did guest commentary duties for this one and as often is the case with the WWE guest comms. style, there was no actual play-by-play, it was just an interview with Baszler while Moon and Aliyah grunted in the background. Moon won with the Eclipse if you cared.

Next Week: The Dusty Classic Semi-Finals come to town as Authors of Pain face Street Profits & SaNitY face Strong x Bitter.

Andrade Almas Vs. Raul Mendoza // Never Happens

As Mendoza was making his entrance, Almas jumped him and threw him off the stage before delivering an intense promo, calling Aleister Black a 'piece of shit' and telling the man in Black to face him in the ring. He doesn't, probably because he wasn't just hanging round backstage on a day he wasn't booked. While normally I prefer letting Zelina Vega do promo duties over her charge, Almas, he did a good job here of selling his seething rage. Keep going like this, he might not need Vega soon. Who am I kidding? Everyone needs Vega.

William Regal announces that next week he'll be making an announcement. Hopefully it will be announcing a best of seven series of him making announcements.

Adam Cole def. Kassius Ohno // Pinfall

There was one very annoyingly loud Adam Cole fan near one of the crowd mics, I will never not give credit to whoever created Ohno's current black and gold look outfit with 'boxing hoodie/wizard robe', I will continue to give no credit to this crowd who were about '60-40' split in support Cole-Ohno. Boo. The Heels. I'm getting bored of saying this because I think it's part-crowd response, part-Cole's performance style but whenever anyone calls Cole over as a heel, he is over, yes, but he never gets boos, this was basically face vs face. If you ignore that theoretically Cole was meant to be the villain here, this was very good in-ring action as two of the American Indies best quite simply beat the piss out of each other with a refreshing lack of interference by Fish and O'Reilly forcing Cole to step his game up to make his clean victory seem more convincing. While the intensity had a good build, for me, the match peaked in the first few minutes when during a running-the-ropes, leapfrog segment, Ohno booted Cole out of the air. It was nice seeing competition for competition's sake, beyond a few tweets, these two men were both just fighting to prove that the victor was worthy of more opportunities. The finish came as Adam Cole hit a Shining Wizard to the back of the neck for the pinfall. We all know that when it comes to violence, Cole has earned his stripes, now NXT needs to just work out if they can make people boo him or if it's worth making him the hero Atlanta clearly wants him to be. 

On The YouTubes

Johnny Gargano shmoozes with the fans outside but security stop him getting back into the building, he points out that they are selling his merch but not letting him inside and announces he's staying out there till Ciampa comes to him. See you next week, Johnny.

When the video says Kassius Ohno is speechless about his defeat, they aren't kidding.

Finally...

This was one of those weeks where a lot of what happened seems like it was more to push the story into the next act than it was to present a compelling section of the story in itself. Cole vs Ohno was definitely the match highlight of the show but it can't be argued that the biggest response of the show was the surprise return of Johnny Gargano. While they weren't here, I can't help but feel big things are on the horizon for the yellow brand. I'll see you when we get there.

Written By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

WWE NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia Review // 27th January 2018 // Andrade Almas vs. Johnny Gargano

On 27th January 2018, NXT took over Philadelphia and more specifically, the Wells Fargo Center (it still feels wrong to not type 'centre', darn Yanks). It was a packed show with all three NXT titles defended aswell as grudge matches between Kassius Ohno & Velveteen Dream and Adam Cole & Aleister Black. The evening itself began with some high-class pre-show action as former NXT champion Samoa Joe, former NXT Tag-Team Champion Corey Graves, along with Renee Young, Charly Caruso and Sam Roberts, really got into the meat of the issues. As Graves & Young presented the NXT 2017 awards, we also got some fun interview action as Velveteen Dream promised to knock out Ohno in less than thirty seconds and Pete Dunne called out Brock Lesnar, RIP Beast Incarnate. Anyway, onto the main show and as always, we ask, was it any good?

NXT Tag Team Championship // Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish (c) def. Rezar & Akam // Pinfall

This was a good, hot opening match as AoP, sadly not in their turtles gear, came straight in and cleaned house, it's odd seeing the men who were once not so much boo'ed but meh'ed out of the building be given the hero's welcome but I guess that's a lot down to Fish and O'Reilly having got their heel act to be so impressively irritating. The early sections of the match were interestingly thought out as the champs were consistently overpowered by the former champs and so kept bailing to the outside to recuperate. It was nice getting to see another side the Authors' arsenal as Akam & Rezar as with their amateur wrestling/MMA background, they were able to work in some almost shoot-style sequences with ease, combined with a sense of spectacle with moments like the Authors steamrolling the Era around the ring after they bailed from the ring one too many times.

Now if you hadn't seen in coming, this match was brought to you by the letter 'L' for 'Legwork' as after Akam and O'Reilly were brawling on the apron, Fish hit a sneak attack, kicking Akam's leg out of his leg before Fish would rush Rezar on the apron and tackle him out. From here on, the two worked a clinic in classic heel tag tactics as they cut off the ring and worked over Akam, keeping the focus on inflicting as much pain as possible on the leg, full props to the big man as well who gave his best individual performance, selling it superbly. Of course, this being a tag match, eventually, Rezar would get tagged in after Akam was powering closer to his corner, Fish would turn around to knock Rezar off the apron but forgot, the Authors are big lads and he shrugged it off before Akam backdropped him away to get the tag. 

Rezar worked your standard big lad hot tag throwing strikes, power moves and the fallaway slam-Samoan drop double on the champs, the last few minutes of the match were impressively content heavy with highlights including Fish hitting an assisted exploder suplex, the Authors escaping a kneebar/sleeper hold by dropping Fish onto O'Reilly and a hot finish as the Supercollider double bomb connects on Fish but O'Reilly manages to rana Akam into Rezar before rolling up the injured Akam for a pin. This was easily the best tag-team action on NXT since AoP fought DIY in Chicago and as much as it was another reminder of how far they've come since, this acted as a superb coronation of the Undisputed Era's tag division as we saw them get their victory without any involvement from Adam Cole which helped establish their own odd chemistry. I think if they could have thrown in a few more near falls, something to present a stronger sense of jeopardy for the champions, this could have gone truly into the stratosphere but as it was, a very enjoyable match and a great way to start.

War Machine (Hanson - the one with hair everywhere & Raymond Rowe - the one with hair just on his chin) are in the audience.

Zelina Vega and Andrade Almas discuss game plan backstage. My bet, it involves winning.

Velveteen Dream def. Kassius Ohno // Pinfall

This match is a, sigh, dream for fashion watch fans as Dream came out in Philidelphia, setting of Rocky, in boxing shorts, like Rocky and he's got an entourage, like Rocky except Rocky never hung out with anyone this cool. The frilled short don't make quite as much of an effect as the Black-Dream tights but they're still great. Ohno, no slouch in the outfit department has black and gold wizard's fight robes. After Dream declared he could knock out the Knockout Artist in thirty seconds, the crowd were very invested in chanting along to see if he could, playing the part of the boxer, Dream ducked and weaved hitting a strike at around 28 seconds seemingly having done it but Ohno was soon back up and elbowed the mouthguard straight out of Dream. From here, it became a neat, little encounter as the two worked back-and-forth neatly, keeping a classic youth vs experience dynamic. It never quite escaped the constraints of this but it made as much of it as it could with Ohno making Dream look even better than normal. The finish came as Ohno went for a rolling elbow but Dream caught him in a rolling death valley driver to set up for the Purple Rainmaker diving elbow drop for the pin. After consecutive losses to Black and Gargano, Dream needed a win here to legitimise himself where Ohno is clearly here to help raise the next generation of stars and frankly, having someone as good as him in the player-coach role is a great plan. This fell short of the Dream-Black match purely because there wasn't the same level of context for the encounter but certainly for what they were given, another superb notch on Dream's ringpost.

Maria Menounos is in the audience. This means nothing to me, maybe it will to you.

Johnny Gargano is backstage with his entire family, including Candice LeRae, hmmm.

NXT Women's Championship // Ember Moon (c) def. Shayna Baszler // Pinfall

Baszler gets the walk from the locker room treatment, somehow since debutting, she's already been made to feel like Goldberg. Much like her MYC matches, Baszler played the bullying heel, targetting a weakness in Moon, in this case, her arm, and exploiting it. Moon, managed to work well from underneath coming back with some beautiful strikes with an early highlight being a triple dropkick sending Baszler out of the ring before following her out with a suicide dive. The match suffered down its home stretch when Moon managed to hit the Eclipse twisting top-rope stunner but off her bad arm. Unable to cover, the medical team checked on her to a chorus of 'boo's and 'bullshit's as Baszler says 'fuck off' to the medical team, applying and re-applying an armbar further into the centre of the ring until Moon, unable to escape, instead manages to force herself on top and leverage a pinfall to retain her title. This was a different approach to the traditional David vs. Goliath approach and one that has its faults as somehow, it felt too slight and too underplayed to be where the title changed hands. Somehow despite Baszler working almost entirely on top and being treated as a threat, it never felt like Moon wasn't going to be able to come back from this. While the finish did a lot to protect both women, I'd expect down the line we'll be seeing another title shot for Baszler, possibly one with some kind of submissions-based stipulation but for now, this was still rather good.

Moon is helped to the back but Baszler decides to go and fuck her up some more, locking in the Kirufuda Clutch (sorry for misspelling it repeatedly, Shayna) on the ramp, she breaks it but then decides to lock it in again because lol.

Trevor "Ricochet" Mann is in the crowd. Expect flips, probably.

Extreme Rules Match // Aleister Black def. Adam Cole // Pinfall

First off, it has to be said that bear in mind when you disagree with me in a second, such is the nature of reviews that I never pretend that this is anything more than my opinion and such is the nature of wrestling in its many styles, that there will always be some that don't appeal to everyone. Where I can appreciate the work that has gone into this match, I. as an individual, am just not that keen on Extreme Rules-type encounters. That said, for one such encounter, there was a lot to enjoy here. It started off strong as Cole tried to resort to weaponising the items under the ring but Black kept it comfortably in his wheelhouse, throwing kicks and strikes of the kind Wikipedia would probably describe as multiple variations. Cole got some impressive variation out of a kendo stick as he first hits Black out of the air mid-lionsault before applying a crossface with the kendo stick in the mouth and then when that didn't work, turning it into a backstabber. The weaker section of the match came when the crowd began chanting 'we want tables', so get tables he does because that's what the heel does. 

Once they get through the standard middle section of back-and-forth with tables being set-up, ladders, chairs, bins and more coming into play (including a painful looking death valley driver by Black onto the backrest of two chairs), it really managed to come down into its home stretch as before Black can get a cover, the O'Reilly and Fish arrive and pull him out of the ring before hitting the high-and-low Total Elimination, clearing the announce table, they set up Black for a suplex through it but in come SaNitY to even the score as Young and Wolfe wrangle away Fish and O'Reilly before Dain, who was keeping an eye on Cole in the ring, hit a big boy suicide dive onto the four of them. Black, rolling back in, does so straight into a superkick but, in an echo of the finish to WarGames, Cole goes for a chair, giving Black the opening to hit Black Mass for the pin. I did like the story of Black being out of his element with the stipulation so continuing to use his most lethal weapon, his kicks where Cole really does throw himself head, back and neck first into some incredible bumps but as much as I can recognise the effect of the stipulation, it didn't add that much to the encounter that a straightforward singles encounter might. Still, you have to give it to Black and Cole for giving this one their all. Having won this one decisively, I'm still thinking Black is on his way to an NXT Championship match come New Orleans.

EC3 is in the crowd, Derrick Bateman returns to NXT!

NXT Championship // Andrade Almas (c) def. Johnny Gargano // Pinfall

There is so much to cover here and all of it's incredible. Instead of trying to tell you about the in-ring action, let's all just take a moment to consider how important it is that these two have been given this kind of opportunity. While both Almas, back in his La Sombra days that he paid tribute to by pulling out the mask once again for a mariachi-ed entrance that felt straight out of Guacamelee, and Gargano, of course, had strong reputations on the indies, they didn't exactly come in with the same fanfare as a Shinsuke Nakamura or Finn Balor and for the longest time, it seemed like midcard was going to be the peak for the two of them, even when Almas had his title shot, one that no-one really saw him winning, he worked second-fiddle to the War Games match. In fact, for a while there, it probably seemed like Almas was one loss away from taking his toys and going home to CMLL. Then they paired him with Zelina Vega, then they gave him motivation, then he came out and became the second-most consistent performer in NXT, possibly in WWE, behind the other man in this match the man who's so good at professional wrestling, they made it his nicksurname, Johnny 'Wrestling' Gargano. Two people who for the longest time were given a ceiling, had that ceiling taken away, they were given the best part of the last hour just for build-up, entrances, their match and the aftermath and well, quite simply, they delivered big time.

One interesting early touch here was that after the initial grappling phase, Gargano maintained his upperhand against Almas using a sequence of lucha-inspired offense with ranas, arm-drags and just a hint of flips. Like any good third chapter in a trilogy, it worked some of its strongest moments when playing off earlier encounters with moments like Johnny going to the corner to leapfrog backwards over Almas but Almas instead not following him and chopping him square in the back. The match in fact, actually kept its storytelling quite simple and focussed for such a long encounter with the two men trying to throw whatever they could at the other man in order to put them away but such is the history between them that neither man was willing to give the other even an inch yet even with this, they made every near fall count, playing off the build-up with Gargano having taken out Almas with a slingshot DDT on the previous Wednesday so when he hit one roughly halfway through, you could believe it was the finish. Yet there was so much more to go. Johnny went for an apron cannonball but missed and landed like there was no water in the pool, Almas going for a moonsault, Johnny dodging so Almas turning it into a standing moonsault, Drake Wuertz responding to this by doing his best Red Shoes impression and leaping both into shot and into the count, hitting signature offense on the hardest part of the ringmat like Johnny's slingshot DDT to the apron and  am unashamed to admit that my heart skipped a beat when Johnnny got a near fall off a SUPERKICK with the theatrics before of the Meet In The Middle finish that DIY use to do. It seems like I've been prioritising Johnny in the highlights section but in terms of apron offense, did I remind you about the bit where Almas mashes Johnny's head into the LED boar or where he hit a corner knees off the apron and it sounded like something cracked, or just the sheer heft that man throws behind a strike, there are not many people in wrestling who actually make a punch work, Almas is one of them.

Of course with Zelina Vega, in an Essa Rios- Era Lita-inspired red outfit, in his corner,  Almas was never going to do this one without any shenanigans and what glorious shenanigans they were with Johnny having locked in the GargaNo Escape but with his feet facing the ropes, Vega placed Almas' foot on the ropes but Gargano powers Almas outside and follows with a beaut of a suicide dive but a referee distraction would lead to Vega throwing Gargano rana-first into the steps with echoes of the finish to McIntyre vs. Almas and a Hammerlock DDT for the closest possible near-fall you might see. But Johnny had some in his corners too as Candice LeRae leapt the barricade and battered Vega all the way to the back. It's gratifying that even though Johnny didn't win that the Vega-LeRae interference didn't actually play directly into the finish as there was still another GargaNo Escape attempt but Almas actually got the win off ramming Gargano into a previously exposed ringpost before hitting one last Hammerlock DDT. It shows so much character progression that even now we has Vega, Almas doesn't rest on his laurels, he still cheats to win but it's his cheating and as much as the layout is perfectly developed such that you want Gargano to win, you can't help but argue that Almas earnt it. I've said enough about this match but really, this is as close to perfect as you're going to see, I could continue to talk about it or you could just go and watch it. Even if you've seen it already, it's not a bad plan.

Post-Match LeRae checks on Gargano as Almas leaves, LeRae helps Gargano up the ramp but look who's here like a dark cloud on an already dark day, Tomasso Ciampa, strikes down his former tag partner with a crutch. 

Finally...

On a pure, in-ring basis, this is as good as Chicago, my favourite TakeOver so far with probably the best NXT Championship match, not since, just the best. It obviously invites comparisons to Neville vs. Zayn and where this didn't have the feelgood ending of the match, the layout was so well told and thought out, you could almost believe that McIntyre's injury was planned to lead into this. As for the rest of the show, it wasn't perfect but nothing was less than very good. As strong a start to the year as you could hope for. Everything else, follow that.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJoeRaczka)

WWE NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia Preview

On 27th January 2018, NXT are taking over Philadelphia as they take their show live to the Wells Fargo Center (it still feels wrong to not type 'centre', darn Yanks). As NXT looks to cement its position as not just the developmental brand but more the show that the Royal Rumble has to try, and possibly struggle, to follow. If you're planning to watch live, why not jump onto the Network or YouTube at 7pm (Midnight on the 28th here in Blighty), for the pre-show and find out what the all-star panel of Renee Young, Corey Graves, Charly Caruso, Samoa Joe &, sigh, Sam Roberts think of the evening ahead. Till then, let's enjoy the sounds of our official TakeOver house band, Asking Alexandria.

Kassius Ohno vs Velveteen Dream

At once point, this match was set to be a first round match in the NXT Championship Number One Contender's tournament but Velveteen Dream was so shook by Aleister Black actually saying his name, he couldn't make it to the match. In reality, he had a minor injury but was back in time for the set of January taping. There's not much in the way of story here as it was a match made after this week's NXT went off the air but there's always something at stake as both men have recently had intense battles with current number one contender Johnny Gargano so regardless of the outcome of the main event, you can't help but feel this might have implications in their contendership status. Both of these men have a strong grounding in amateur wrestling but much like Dream's match with Aleister Black, expect this one to quickly go to blows. As to who's going to win, it's hard to call as both men could do with a win but considering Ohno's player-coach role, don't be surprised if Dream walks out with the win. Slightly more contentious prediction, considering Ohno's been losing a lot, he's also been getting more salty about it and people seem to love Dream, a double turn might not be a ridiculous outcome.

NXT Tag Team Championship: Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) (c) vs Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)

Back at TakeOver: Brooklyn III, SaNItY became the first team to pin the, at the time undefeated, NXT Tag-Team champions Authors of Pain. After that match, they were attacked by Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish, better known on the indies as the team ReDragon but later when they teamed with Adam Cole, now known as The Undisputed Era. Since then, all three teams have battled in various combinations, including all three being in War Games, but as a dramatic capper to 2017, The Era became the NXT Tag Team champions. Now with the SaNItY members 'injured' (maybe really injured, I don't know), Authors of Pain defeated Street Profits to earn the right to try and claim back the titles that made them. From matches the champs have had previously vs Chosen Bros & Death by Elbow for PWG and War Machine for AAW, expect this to be a classic Davids and Goliaths affair with O'Reilly and Fish trying to use their superior grappling acumen (see - Sleeper Holds and Octopus Stretches) to try and knock the bigger men down to size, also, they'll probably kick at the legs and Mauro will say something about 'chopping down tree trunks' and he'll make a clever, timely reference. Who wins: well you have to think that The Undisputed Era is clearly the hot-ticket item at the moment so I can't see them losing the titles after one defence. With SaNItY not on the card currently, don't be too surprised if they get involved in this one.

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

On 27th December, Ember Moon had her first successful title defence against Sonya Deville, after the match, Kairi Sane would come to the stage indicating her intention to challenge for the title but the woman who she defeated in the last round of the Mae Young Classic, Shayna Baszler, would come out onto the stage and choke her out, then doing the same to Aliyah and Dakota Kai to make her point clear, she wants Ember and more importantly, her title. The interesting element going into this match is that if we just consider what we've seen of Baszler in the WWE, she can brutalise smaller opponents and she is certainly taller than Moon but when it came to her biggest match, she couldn't get the job done. This could be Moon's key to victory as she has worked longer matches and is used to them so might have the stamina advantage, yet Baszler is presented as a force of nature. Expect this to come down to two factors: Ember's Eclipse top-rope twisting stunner and Shayna's Kirufuda Clutch rear naked choke. The smart money here tells me that Moon might be about to lose her title because it's easier to turn a top rope move into a rear submission and Moon, having plied her trade for a while in NXT, could be a strong contender in the Women's Rumble the following evening but at the same time, it took so long for Moon to get to the title, don't expect her to be giving it up easily.

Extreme Rules Match: Aleister Black vs Adam Cole

Another match that has its beginnings in the Number One Contender's tournament as in the first round, Black defeated Cole but in the final, Cole and his cronies attacked Black, causing him to not only lose but also ending his undefeated streak. On the first NXT of this year, Black and Roderick Strong were also involved in a losing effort at obtaining the NXT Tag-Team titles after Black became too involved in trying to hunt down and murder Cole, leading him to be given the three-on-one treatment post-match with weapons and whatnot. This forced William Regal to come out and declare this rematch to happen and because it's Philidelphia so there had to be a faintly hardcore match on the card, it was made Extreme Rules. Trying to call the outcome here entirely depends on its position on the card (the order of matches in this preview is based on the order of the NXT website), if it's a pure one-on-one encounter, you have to think if Black did it once, he can do it again but if this match occurs before the tag titles, with a fresh trio of assailants and no lousy rules forcing them to not all be constantly in the ring, this might just become a handicap encounter for the former Tommy End. That said, I see Black winning this one, setting him up for a title match at TakeOver: New Orleans either against Gargano, the man that finished his streak or Almas, the man he faced in his first NXT match back at TakeOver: Orlando. Also, not hard to predict, expect a lot of kicks and probably a fair few ref bumps.

NXT Championship: Andrade Almas (c) vs Johnny Gargano

For the last time tonight, cast your mind back to TakeOver:Brooklyn III. Almas and Gargano had a match that was made practically at the last minute, one that seemed like it was saying 'we have nothing for these two, let's just give them each other, fill out the card', so they went out and had the match of the damn night. A match so good, soon after they had to have the rematch on NXT and it was still great but Almas won both of those. In fact, cast your mind back further to TakeOver: Chicago where Gargano watched Authors of Pain walk away with the tag titles they took from him and Tommaso Ciampa, since then, bar a Tino Sabbatelli here and a Riddick Moss there, Gargano didn't really win anything till a first-round match in the Number One Contender's Tournament where he beat Kassius Ohno before going on to win the final and defend his Number One Contender's status against Velveteen Dream, so the question is, has Johnny's luck turned around enough for him to beat the man who's beaten him twice? In any other encounter, I'd say this all comes down to how well Gargano can deal with not only Almas but also his manager Zelina Vega but then, Gargano's wife and MYC competitor, Candice LeRae, just signed with the company, predicting a surprise even-ing of the odds by the Toughest Cupcake. Yet there is another consideration with Gargano and that is the potential involvement of his former tag partner, Ciampa. Part of me thinks that Almas should win this because so much of the story here is about Gargano, he's a babyface performer who has the audience right where he wants them and frankly if Ciampa returns, setting up a match between those two has stakes such that it doesn't require a title to sell it and Almas has been working really hard to make it to where he is, putting on one of the best matches of every card he's on, surely he deserves a more impressive run for all the work he's done? Whatever happens, this is unlikely to be a clean finish with so many additional moving pieces but if the two men in the ring can re-capture the magic of their first two encounters, this could be one of the best NXT Title matches. Yes, even better than Bo Dallas vs Leo Kruger.

Any Other Predictions...

First off, the hottest free agent/s in the crowd segment, it could be Trevor 'Ricochet' Mann, it could be Christopher Dijak, it could be War Machine, for once, it's actually hard to call but it's almost certainly one or two of those four at least. Another potential surprise, there were two other men in the Number One Contender's match: Lars Sullivan and Killian Dain, neither of them are on the card currently. While TakeOvers tend to be five-match affairs these days, they could throw in an extra match with little difficulty. As always, I ask if we can have another UK title match on the card, I know that there's a number one contender's match planned for the post-TakeOver NXT but I need my Bruiserweight fix goddamnit. Finally, a prediction that might come true, probably going to be another superb show. See you on the other side, Yellow rope fans.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJoeRaczka)

NXT 277 Review // Johnny Gargano vs. Kassius Ohno

On 7th December, WWE aired its 277th Episode of NXT, filmed at Full Sail University in Winter Gardens, FL on 29th November. The main event of the show saw Kassius Ohno taking on Johnny Gargano for a spot in the NXT Championship Number One Contender's Fatal Four-Way. The show also featured another qualifier for the aforementioned match in the form of Trent Seven taking on SaNItY's Killian Dain & Ruby Riott taking on Sonia Deville in a No Holds Barred match. But was it any good?

We Open on an announcement from William Regal. Regal says that in light of Drew McIntyre's injuries at TakeOver: WarGames, there will be four singles matches, the winners of those will go on to compete in a Fatal Four-Way for the Number One Contendership to Andrade Almas' NXT Championship. Tonight there'll be Trent Seven vs. Killian Dain & Kassius Ohno vs. a mystery opponent after Velveteen Dream also sustained injuries at WarGames.

Andrade Almas [La Sombra]: A Championship Celebration

Almas and Zelina Vega come to the ring looking like the title has been there's this entire time, Vega says that the audience are all witnesses to the beginning of a historic reign, that we should respect the man, embrace the legend and rise for the for the NXT Champion, this provokes mostly boos but some people rising and chanting 'si' for the champ, Full Sail boos the heels, Almas takes the mic and tells us that he told us he would be champion and now he is, he then says I am the champion half a dozen times, he beat Drew and he hurt Drew, he's sorry for that, he then says a bit in Spanish before reminding that this is NXT that he and Vega are NXT and he is the champion, El Idolo.

While the belt couldn't look more right on Almas' shoulders (except perhaps around his waist, when did that go out of fashion?), it seems a mistake to let Almas take the lead on this promo. He's not the worst, even considering it's his second-language but you have Vega there to act as his manager, let her manage. Still, some solid stuff here and Almas has been so good this year that even if he's a heel, he does deserve it.

Lars Sullivan is interviewed backstage by the litany of floating hands, he's asked about his qualifying match against Roderick Strong, he puts over Strong as a competitor and says that Roddy is really handsome, Lars isn't, Roddy fights for his family, Lars doesn't have a family, he only cares about winning that match and then winning the fatal four-way and winning the NXT title, when asked what winning the title would mean to him, it would prove no one can stop him and when he wins the title, everyone will see that. 

NXT Championship Number One Contender's Tournament Semi-Final // Killian Dain [Damian O'Connor] def. Trent Seven // Pinfall

Trent Seven had a pre-match promo on the YouTubes where he talked about how he won a Battle Royal in order to earn his shot in this match. Killian Dain on the other hand, appears to have earned this match purely by virtue of being a big lad.

This is only the second ever match between the two former ICW Heavyweight Champions with the first, back in April 2016 at ICW Fight Club, ending in a victory for Dain. Trent runs straight in, lighting up Dain with slaps, Dain hits Seven with a forearm and a John Woo dropkick, he keeps Trent grounded with corner stomps before hitting a forearm and a body slam for a 1, locking in a grounded cravat, he keeps down Trent till he can fire back with further slaps, he goes for the Seven Stars Lariat but Dain kicks it away, Trent runs straight into a running crossbody for a 2, back on his feet and Trent gets straight in with a Seven Stars Lariat for a 2, Trent tries to pick up Dain but Dain is too damn big and gets Trent in a fireman's carry of his own, hitting a wasteland, a senton and a Vader bomb for the pin.

This was a fun, little encounter with both men bringing an intensity that you don't often get in these shorter matches. While it was obvious that Dain was going to win as the full-time talent, I don't know whether it was necessary to have Dain kick out of the Seven Stars as it didn't make Dain look significantly better but it may have devalued Seven a little. I am definitely biased as I've made it clear, I don't think you can ever have enough Trent Seven but I'll be interested to see if Dain can step up to the opportunity he's given

The Undisputed Era are backstage, Cole is talking about how he told us that he'd win, this is the episode where everyone loves to say told you so, anyway next week he has a qualifier for the NXT title against Aleister Black and he's noticed Black has been on a tear and the only reason he hasn't lost yet is because he's never faced Cole. Fish and O'Reilly also talk about how next week they want to take a shot at the NXT Tag Team Belts.

No Holds Barred: Sonya Deville [Daria Berenato] def. Ruby Riott [Heidi Lovelace] // Referee Stoppage

So they're really going all-in on this second 'T' in Riot huh? The two women sell the blood feud between them as they run straight for each other with Deville grabbing Riott into a waistlock takedown, she picks her up for a second and hits a gut wrench suplex, Riott gets a quick roll-up but Deville kicks out at 1, Riot hits a big combo throwing a roundhouse and a back kick, a back elbow and a suplex but Deville is straight back up and trapping Riott in the ankle lock, Deville takes advantage of the No Holds Barred rule as Riott crawls to the ropes but there aren't rope breaks, Riott crawls to the top rope and pulls Deville into deadly nightshade sending us to the ad-break, back from the break and Riott has Deville in a seated submission but Deville uses her free arm to gouge Riott's eyes for an escape, Deville hits grounded kicks to the ribs and forearms, Riott manages to knee her way out but from standing, Deville takes her back down with a leaping lariat for a 2, Deville locks Riott in a side triangle, twisting round her arms to keep her from escaping, eventually Riott elbows her way out again and Deville tries for another leaping lariat but Riot catches her with an STO, Riott hits strikes, a forearm, a back elbow and a knee strike, she slides over the ropes, hitting a middle shoulder barge and a slingshot side facebuster for a 2, Deville rolls out of the ring and Riott follows with a crunchy tope suicido onto the ramp, rolling Deville back in, Riott climbs in gingerly and gets caught with a vicious roundhouse and is trapped in a rope-hung triangle choke, passing out to give Deville the win.

This was another excellent match from the two of them and seemingly, their actual farewell match. While it was well-laid out with Deville once again taking advantage of Riott's injured ankle as well as the less restrictive rules of the match stipulation and Riott once again playing the superb fighting-from-underneath babyface, it would be a satisfying next chapter in these two's feud if they were just in NXT but with Deville positioned as one-third of the heel trio up on RAW and Riott as the leader of Smackdown's trio, it seems an odd choice in terms of continuity to have the leader of one beaten by another's underling. It's not even like they have the excuse of having filmed this match before both women were called up as this takes place after. If this is the last we see of these two between the yellow ropes, I wish them both luck up in the big rooms and if they continue to perform like this, I'm sure they'll be great.

Ember Moon is backstage being interviewed about her title win, she says that it is a dream come true and that she wants to take this momentum and be the greatest NXT Women's Champion of all time, up come Peyton Royce and Billie Kay of The Iconic Times to ask her who she actually pinned to win her title, reminding her it was in fact Nikki Cross, Ember can't be bothered to deal with their shit so she asks them which one of them wants a match next week, ignoring the fact that in NXT continuity, Moon pinned Cross but Sane pinned Royce so Sane should have a match first. Anyway, they eventually agree Royce can have a go first.

In two weeks: Tyler Bate gets his WWE UK Championship rematch, just a mere seven months after he lost his title. We see a recap of the WWE UK Championship Tournament Final because even a good episode of NXT needs some padding.

We get a mysterious promo for someone coming 'SOON'. The O's in 'SOON' were stylised like spades so I'm assuming it's Queen of Spades and Mae Young Classic Finalist, Shayna Bazsler.

William Regal meets with Kassius Ohno, presumably to explain to him the updated rules for the War Games match. Everyone must know!

Next Week: Adam Cole v Aleister Black & Ember Moon v Peyton Royce.

NXT Championship Number Contender's Tournament Semi-Final // Johnny Gargano def. Kassius Ohno [Chris Hero] // Submission

Surprisingly, considering how much both men have worked for the same companies, this is only a third-ever time match, having had contests in AAW and Dragon Gate USA with Gargano coming out on top in both prior match-ups. This is one of those matches where the atmosphere is already there before both men have even shook hands, which they do to start us off, they go in for a lock-up but Ohno just throws aside Gargano, they lock-up again and Gargano reminds us once again why he earnt the last name 'wrestling' by transitioning to a hammerlock with Ohno trying to power into a rear headlock but as soon as he can, Gargano is back on the hammerlock, Ohno breaks and the two men run the ropes, flipping over each other and generally being a good pair of wrestle boys, Gargano goes to the ropes and tries to hit an early slingshot spear but Ohno catches him, ties him up in the ropes and slaps his chest tae fuck sending us to the ad-break, back from the break and Ohno is kicking Gargano in the corner, he picks up the former NXT Tag Team Champion into a thunder slap before cravat rolling him into a pair of knee drops, Gargano tries to elbow his way into control but this only serves to make Ohno angrier who nearly kicks his head off for a 2, Ohno goes for a senton but Gargano gets his knees up, the two trade strikes, Ohno goes for a suplex but Gargano escapes, further strikes, Ohno goes for a running boot but can Gargano rana? Yes, Garganocanrana sending ohno out of the ring, Gargano goes to follow but Ohno rolls back in and runs at the ropes straight into a slingshot spear for a 2.9, Gargano tries to keep down the larger Ohno with kicks but Ohno just laughs them off, going for the rolling kick, Ohno ducks the leg, stands up and gets the senton for a 2, giving time for Gargano to get to his feet, Ohno considers showing mercy before hitting a big fucking boot to Gargano's jaw sending him out, Ohno goes to follow, flipping over the ropes, but Gargano slides back in and hits a tope con DDT on the ramp, back in the ring and Gargano hits a step-up enziguri but Ohno immediately responds with a cyclone kick for another 2.9, in the corner, Ohno hits yet more elbows before picking up Gargano into the electric chair, Gargano lays into Ohno's head before victory rolling for a 2.5, to his feet and Gargano rests on the ropes, big mistake as he takes a bicycle kick and a northern lariat for a 2.99, my fucking god, Ohno means business as shown by pulling down his sleeves, Ohno goes for Death By Elbow but Gargano hits him with a SUPERKICK, and another, and a third SUPERKICK PARTY, he runs at Ohno getting a headscissor takedown into the GargaNo Escape and there is indeed no escape for Ohno who taps out, giving Gargano his first televised victory since August.

This was bloody marvellous, when I say this is the best non-TakeOver NXT match of the year, I say so without even a hint of hyperbole. This wasn't a Kassius Ohno match, this was a true Chris Hero match with the big man using his power and striking acumen to bully the smaller man, playing something of a subtle heel in this David vs. Goliath encounter. The layout of the match was simple but like a lot of the best matches this year, it has shown that the simplest and often most effective storytelling that wrestling can employ is that these two men both have the same goal and will come as close to killing each other as needs must in order to get it. While this was a great performance from both men, I do wonder where does this leave Ohno now with two consecutive big losses. Hopefully, the knockout artist's time will come. For now, let's just enjoy this match for what it is, true violent art.

On The YouTubes

The Street Profits have a talk show now. Yup. It is what it is.

Sonia Deville tells Christy St. Cloud that the best part of being on RAW is not having to deal with her. Bit harsh.

Finally...

NXT has been on a hot streak for a while with a must-see main event match seemingly every week and this edition was no different with all involved delivering, even Killian Dain, a performer I have been traditionally underwhelmed by. While there was some questionable booking to the ending stretches of the first two matches, there's nothing less than enjoyable here and that final match, that fucking final match. Just, if you are reading this and haven't seen it, go watch it, now. What are you waiting for?

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)