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

NXT 278 Review // Aleister Black v Adam Cole

On 14th December, WWE aired its 278th Episode of NXT, filmed at Full Sail University in Winter Gardens, FL on 29th November. The main event of the show once again saw Pro Wrestling Guerilla's slow invasion of NXT as Adam Cole took on Aleister Black for the third spot in the Number One Contender's Fatal Four-Way. The card also featured Women's Champion Ember Moon fighting one half of the Iconic Duo, Peyton Royce, the former Tag Team Champions Authors of Pain taking on the newly formed duo of Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan and current NXT Champion Andrade Almas against Fabian Aichner. But was it any good?

Andrade Almas [La Sombra] def. Fabian Aichner [Adrian Severe] // Pinfall

Almas is straight in with a dropkick, he taunts the crowd who are fully against him, it's almost like you're meant to boo the heels, he walks round into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker from Aichner, Almas rolls out of the ring, Aichner follows with a springboard sommersault plancha, rolls Almas back in and hits a springboard tornado DDT for a 2, he stomps Almas in the corner till Almas slaps his way out, he runs the ropes but is caught by Aichner, he manages to elbow out but Aichner gets a kick to the gut and a powerbomb for a 2, he climbs to the second rope for a moonsault but is distracted by Vega, ALmas pushes him out of the ring, throws him into the steel steps, rolls him back in and hits the Hammerlock DDT for the pin.

Considering how little time they were given, there was a lot of content here with Aichner once again impressing with his big lad flippy stuff, expect to see more things from him in 2018 as he's too good for NXT to waste. Almas looked every inch the champion here, he won with some help from Vega but he really brings his all to these matches looking as good as anyone can. A thing you're going to hear me write a lot there though, it could have done with more time to really take it to the next level.

Ahead of tonight's main event, we get an Aleister Black package.

SaNItY have promo time ahead of next week's title match. Eric Young talks of restless nights & unfinished business, how WarGames was beautiful but the outcome was not ideal, though sanity have not left the battlefield and next week, they will finish what they started. Then there's some crazy laughing and stuff. 

The Authors Of Pain def. Danny Burch [Martin Stone] & Oney Lorcan [Biff Busick] // Pinfall

Akam and Burch start as Burch prepares to grapple but Akam just pushes him to the corner, Burch uppercuts his way out, Akam pushes him to his corner and Lorcan blind tags as the former CZW Champion comes in and lights up Akam with chops, in comes Rezar but both men get slapped to f*ck by Lorcan, in the centre of the ring, Burch and Lorcan work synchronised running corner chops till a double shoulder tackle from Authors of Pain gets them control, a corner death valley driver, a Super Collider double powerbomb and The Last Chapter clothesline-leg sweep combo finishes off Lorcan for the pin.

This was quick and brutal doing the job of rehabbing AoP in the wake of their loss (though they didn't take the pin) at WarGames. I would have liked more as there were glimpses of what could have been a much better match here. If they actually do another Dusty Classic, I can see Lorcan & Burch having a good run.

We get a recap package from NXT TakeOver: Chicago of Tyler Bate v Pete Dunne II. Next week: Their third televised singles match in WWE as Tyler gets his rematch.

Ember Moon [Athena] def. Peyton Royce // Pinfall

Lock-up to begin and Royce takes down Moon with knees and kicks her on the floor, on her knees and Moon hits a forearm but a kick by Royce, Moon powers out and springboards over Royce, she goes for a roundhouse but Royce catches, she goes for a kick of her own but Moon hits a low rana sending Royce out of the ring, while she recuperates with Kay, Moon hits a plancha onto both women, Moon rolls Royce back in and goes to follow but Kay holds onto her leg till she gets kicked away but it allows Royce a chance to hit a 619 to the back of Moon and lock in a tarantula to send us to the break, back from the break and Royce is maintaining a headlock and hits a low kick on Moon, 'I hate you' says Peyton as she takes a spinning back kick and an enziguri for a 2, back up and Royce rolls up Moon for a 2, a big slap from Moon who goes for a double underhook but Royce escapes, Royce whips Moon to the ropes and on the rebound hits a big striking combination for a 2, she picks up Moon for the Uooohhh bridging suplex but Moon powers to the corner, Royce manages to slip out, posting Moon and clubbing her back, Moon fights back, picking up Royce for a Liger bomb but Royce clings to the ropes, Moon slides out, kicks out the legs, hitting the double stomp and heads back up, hitting the Eclipse twisting top-rope stunner for the pin.

As with the past two matches, there was never any doubt that the champ was taking home a victory here but with such a quick match, it didn't really need to sell that story. What matters here is that both performers had a good showing with Royce continuing to be one of the more underrated in-ring performers on any WWE roster. As always with a loss for the Duo I ask, where do they go from here?

Post-match, the Iconic Duo attacked Moon and beat her down till Nikki Cross made the save, chasing off both of the villainous Aussies before staring suggestively at the title and doing crazy things on the ropes before running away. Now, this could be interesting...

After the Aleister Black package earlier, we get the contractually mandated package for Adam Cole as well.

So you know that mysterious figure last week that we all said was Shayna Baszler? It was Shayna Baszler. She works the scary biker look better than Triple H ever did.

Next week: As well as Dunne v Bate III, The Undisputed Era vs SaNItY with the Tag Titles on the line.

NXT Championship #1 Contender's Tournament Semi-Final // Aleister Black [Tommy End] def. Adam Cole // Pinfall

The last time these two men met one-on-one was at Fight Club: Pro International Tekkers in 2014 when Black defeated Cole but also Black was responsible for defeating both of Cole's stablemates, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish, in their respective NXT TV debuts, the two lock-up to start as Black transitions to a wristlock, Cole tries to get a sidelock headlock but Black goes to a leglock, they break and go for a second lock-up as Cole gets a snapmare before throwing some taunting slaps at Black's had and going for a taunting 'baybay', he grabs Black into a headlock but Black just tosses him aside, grabbing his arm and while hes in close, laying in knees to the gut and muay thai strikes sending Cole out of the ring before full lotussing into the ad break, back from the break and Cole has Black caught in a crossface but after a while, Black makes it to the ropes as Black breaks just before the count of 5, he stomps out Black, telling him to stay down and asking him if he knows who he is? He's 'Adam Cole BayBay', this was a mistake as we all know Black hates people saying their names and he's up and hits all the different kicks, strikes and knees, in the corner he hits a running forearm and a standing straight leg moonsault, goes for Black Mass but Cole rolls out of the ring, Black goes to the ropes but Cole catches him on them before climbing up top, going for a diving double axe handle Black responds with a roundhouse for a 2, Black lifts his head up with his foot but Cole hits an enziguri and a backstabber for a 2, in a fireman's carry, Black escapes and hits a kick to which Cole responds with a forearm, they trade strikes and Cole hits a big boot and a SUPERKICK but Blac gets a roll-up for a 2, Cole hits the Last Shot for a 2.5, goes for a superkick but caught with a high knee from Black, Cole taunts him, asks him to show him what he's got, turns out what he's got is a Black Mass for the pin.

Another good match that felt a few minutes off being very good. Cole and Black have complimentary styles and manages to work well, transitioning from technical to power moves to just striking the hell out of each other at a moment's notice. I would have liked if the crowd could have been a little less behind Cole as it never felt like he was given a chance to even play the heel. It may have been that coming just a week off the potential modern classic that was Gargano v Ohno that this really had no chance unless it topped that match but this still had enough to make it worth a watch.

On The YouTubes

Yet more Street Talk.

See the inspiring ascent to the title of Ember Moon. It's inspiring, are you inspired? I am.

Finally...

Every hot streak has to cool off eventually. Whenever NXT tries to do their four or five match shows, it never fully works as with only an hour of full air time including ads, they packed all four matches into less than 20 minutes of that run time so no one match really had the time to impress. Not a bad hour of TV, not a great one either but it was good enough. Though next week with two title matches should be a corker.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

NXT #271 Review - Andrade Almas v Roderick Strong

On 26th October 2017, WWE aired its 271st episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 4th October. Our Main event was another big TakeOver rematch, this time from back at San Antonio as Andrade 'Cien' Almas took on Roderick Strong. The show also saw the newly formed tag team of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch take on Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss as well as a 17-Woman Battle Royal for the final spot in the NXT Women's Championship Fatal Four-Way at TakeOver: WarGames. But was it any good?

We get a Regal  cold open as everyone's favourite GM announces that due to Taynara Conti being a complete and utter Conti, Nikki Cross has got a spot in the Battle Royal tonight. Also next week, the Authors of Pain get their rematch for the Tag Team Titles and whichever member of SaNItY isn't competing is banned from ringside. So have SaNItY been competing under Freebird rules this entire time?

Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch(4:00)

Lorcan & Moss are in to start and Lorcan says 'fuck this' to lock-ups and goes straight in with fore-hand slaps and strikes till Moss powers his to the top right corner, Moss pulls back for an attack but Lorcan speeds out of the corner with a single leg dropkick, pulling him to the top left, Lorcan tags in Burch who works down the larger Moss with forearms, Moss picks up Burch and carries him to the bottom right, tag to Sabatelli who gets Burch in the middle of the ring, Irish whip to the top right corner, goes for a running clothesline, Burch dodges, goes for an enziguri, Sabbatelli blocks it, dodges underneath, Burch goes to the second rope, hits a raised boot and a front dropkick for a 2, Sabatelli responds with a lariat, tag to Moss as the two hit Burch in the corner with a splash, a leaping forearm, a spear and a dropkick for a 2, they attempt to hit a double team manouevre but Burch escapes, crawls underneath the two of them and tag in Lorcan who goes wild hitting slaps on both, a running uppercut to Tino, a blockbuster to Moss, he psyches himself up, goes for a running crossbody on Moss but is caught into a fallaway slam, Moss knocks Burch off the apron, tag in Sabatelli and they hit a Gory Bomb-Running Bulldog combo for the pin. This was a neat, little sprint that did the job of giving Sabatelli & Moss a win that actually means something, a role that Burch and Lorcan excel in, but also builds up the debutting team who are obviously over because who doesn't love a pair of sprinting shit-kickers? My only complaint would be that Moss & Sabbatelli didn't do enough to sell the other team's offence but that's why they're in developmental.

NXT Women's Championship Qualifier Battle Royal: Nikki Cross wins (11:50)

Vanessa Borne, Bianca BelAir, Sage Beckett & Mercedes Martinez all get entrances but to the old NXT theme tune so it's not like they're a priority,  Abbey Laith, Aliyah, Dakota Kai, Lacey Evans, Reina Gonzalez, Rhea Ripley, Sarah Logan, Sage Beckett, Taynara Conti & Zeda don't get entrances so they won't win, Candice LeRae, Billie Kay & Nikki Cross are the only three to get full entrances and therefore the only ones I would expect to have a chance of winning, Cross goes straight for Conti, who of course cheated her out of victory in her Triple Threat two weeks ago, she eliminates Conti who then pulls her under the ropes and slams her into the barricade before Royce throws Cross into the steps, making it obvious at this point that Cross is going to come back and win this, Battle Royal stuff happens, lots of working over on the ropes and in the corner, Bianca BelAir eliminates Rhea Ripley by using Zeda as a battering ram then eliminates Zeda as well to go to break, back from the break and I think Reina Gonzalez was eliminated because I've lost track of her, Sage Beckett eliminates Dakota Kai (your time will come, Team Kick Captain) & Aliyah, Lacey Evans punches Abbey Laith in the bum, Nikki Cross comes back in with a plancha on basically everyone, she then punches everything in the face before eliminating Vanessa Borne, Sage Beckett, Santana Garret and Abbey Laith (your time will come too, Suplex Princess), Martinez & BelAir team up to eliminate Sarah Logan, LeRae eliminates Lacey Evans when BelAir picks up LeRae and gorilla press slams her out of the ring onto Beckett and Logan which leaves us with our final four, Cross, Kay, BelAir and Martinez, BelAir drops Kay onto the apron but she avoids elimination by using BelAir's braid as a rope to pull herself in, the crowd love it, Bianca doesn't and whips the shit out of Kay, Cross tackles Kay out of the ring, BelAir ties up her hair, she battles Martinez to the ropes, they trade near falls till Cross comes and double clotheslines both of them out, Kay tries to flip Cross out and celebrates till she realises Cross is still in, runs at her and Cross throws her out to win. It did what it meant to do, the people they wanted to look good did, especially BelAir who is going to be a megastar in a few years. While Cross is unarguably the right person to be in the match as she and Moon are responsible for Asuka's best matches, the layout of the match and the storytelling around it didn't do anything to make us not think Cross would win. Also, it was quite long at nearly 12 minutes. It was fun for what it was though.

Peyton Royce hits the ring again as a wild Regal appears holding the title, Ember Moon turns up looking like the final boss of the new Virtua Fighter while Kairi Sane turns up looking like everyone's favourite character in that same game. They have the customary staredown around the title.

Drew McIntyre is outside the PC being interviewed by those disembodied hands they keep attached to a camera there, he's heading out on an NXT media tour when up turns Zelina Vega, she's wondering where the contract for the NXT Championship match is, Drew has made it very clear, all Andrade needs to do is come up to him and look him in the eye, like a a man and ask for the match like Roderick Strong did. Zelina Vega does a girl-bye to the disembodied hands because who deosn't miss Cameron?

Aleister Black is making his entrance when Velveteen Dream rises up behind out of the smoke in cowboy boots and double denim, he attacks and ties Black up in the ropes, telling him to say his name, when Black still says nothing he slaps him, and again, Black escapes with a boot and goes for Black Mass but Dream slides out. The build for this feud has been so well done, I hope the match is as good in that we've yet to see longer than a few minutes in the ring for the Dream.

Zelina Vega has a pre-match promo. She talks about how you don't get the success she's had in 'business' by being patient, she and her client have been waiting for a contract from McIntyre but nothing has come, Vega understands how difficult it must have been for McIntyre to climb the mountain of success and now he's at the top, he must have realised the higher up, the harder it is to breathe. McIntyre has been avoiding Almas and tonight, Almas is going to show McIntyre and Roderick Strong that some people just aren't ready to breathe such rarified air.

Andrade 'Cien' Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) def. Roderick Strong (9:06)

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you all that you should appreciate the effort I go to bringing you play-by-play because this was a fast-paced match, lock-up to begin as the two quickly trade holds, they trade strikes as Almas locks in a side tackle, bounce off the ropes and Almas hits a shoulder tackle, Strong grabs him with a left take-down to a grounded headlock, powering to their feet, Strong tries to transition into a hip toss but Almas blocks, goes for a hip toss of his own, Strong blocks and drops him with a backbreaker before laying into him, on the apron and Almas goes for a suplex, Strong escapes, Almas begins elbowing the back of the neck but Strong gets him in a fireman's carry position, Almas escapes and hits a modified GTR onto the apron and rolls Strong back in, pounding on him into the break, back from the break and Almas hits a corner clothesline and slaps Strong's chest, they trade strikes, Strong whips Almas to the ropes but Almas catches him in a rope-hung triangle armbar, back in the ring and Almas applies further pressure to the arm, despite all this arm work, Strong hits an armdrag to escape and another fling Almas out of the ring, Almas is striaght back in but heads right into a boot and an enziguri, they trade strikes, Roddy wins at striking and hits a running forearm, goes for an olympic slam, Almas escapes but is hit with a pop-up gutbuster,  taking a moment to pause, he runs at Almas who is in the corner but Almas gets a boot up, going up top, Almas gets another rope hung armbar but Strong reverses it into a rope-trap stretcher, on the apron, an enziguri and a backbreaker and Almas is rolled back in for a 2, Strong places Almas up top and the two trade strikes till Almas hits a reverse DDT for a very close 2 count, on their feet, they trade Pokemon cards, just kidding it's strikes, Roddy gets a butterfly float over tries to hit a tiger driver but Almas turns it into a rana and hits a spinning back elbow then a corner double knees for a 2, goes for the El Idolo hammerlock DDT but Roddy escapes only for Almas to hit another back elbow, goes for the corner double knees again but Roddy bursts out with a knee strike, an olympic slam, another knee strike and as Almas falls out of the ring, a wrecking ball dropkick, as he rolls Almas back in the ring, Vega hits Roddy with a hurricanrana into the stairs, Almas gets up, rolls Roddy in, hits El Idolo for the pin. This was very good and just a hint below their TakeOver match earlier this year. It was let down a hint by a lack of time but what they were given they made use of going for an intense sprint feel yet they structured it well to make the offence seem impactful. There were certain elements that seemed off, like Roddy going for an armdrag with ease straight after enduring arm work from Almas but with this and Gargano recently, Almas is on a tear looking he could win at TakeOver. There is a certain problem with TV encounters that they can feel like the finish is almost too telegraphed because of time constraints and even though this was well done with Vega showing whatever they're paying her after this week, double it, I couldn't help but feel this could have got in a few more minutes to really make it excel.

Vega and Almas hit the announce booth to announce that next week they'll see if Drew is a man of his word, Almas says Drew won't turn turn up because he's scared, he's asustado, which means scared. He's scared basically.

As Roddy's leaving the ring, The Undisputed Era turn up, Adam Cole is telling Roddy he's not a loser as the gang try to get him to join, telling him it will be best for him and his family. Cole offers him an armband, which Roddy takes but doesn't put on, they tell him to take some time and think about it. Bobby Fish continues to have the best facial hair in NXT. That is all we need take away from this.

On The YouTubes:

Mercedez Martinez is disappointed that she's not going to get her shot at the title at TakeOver: WarGames. When she's asked who's going to win, she doesn't know but she knows it's not Ember Moon.

Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch discuss their loss tonight and how they need to find some way to gel more as a team.

Finally, William Regal makes it official, at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Andrade Almas will get his title shot. Next week, we're getting a contract signing.

This did everything it needed to, it gave us three good to very good matches and every segment felt like it was pushing a story forward. Even though no-one has ever said 'that was a thrilling Battle Royal', it did its job (though I can't help but wish they'd just given us a fatal five way with the last five competitors). The only question that remains is with two title matches, a WarGames match, Dream v Black all but confirmed, and Johnny Gargano v Shawn Michaels In an AB-OFF, what will round out the card? In terms of screen-time priorities, it seems we're heading towards Lars Sullivan v Kassius Ohno. Hope you like big lads.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

NXT #267 Review - Adam Cole vs Eric Young

On 28th September 2017, WWE aired its 267th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 14th September. This week's main event had the competition debut of the Baybay of wrestling, Adam Cole against current NXT Tag Team Champion, Eric Young. A thoroughly packed undercard featured another debut as the CWC's Fabian Aichner took on Kassius Ohno, Liv Morgan faced Vanessa Borne while Oney Lorcan, Lars Sullivan and Heavy Machinery were also in action. With all this taken into consideration, was it any good?

We get a backstage cold open as William Regal tells us that there will be a fatal four-way at TakeOver: Houston to determine the holder of the vacant NXT Women's Title with a guaranteed spot Mae Young Classic winner, Kairi Sane. In two weeks, they'll start matches to determine the other three.

SaNItY hit the ring. Eric Young talks about making a mark, that SanITy wrote the book on making the mark, between this and Authors of the Books of Pain and Domination, the NXT library is getting stocked up. In this universe time and space doesn't exist or matter, what matters is chaos, the only thing that's certain is change and tonight Eric Young is going to take Adam Cole to the edge of sanity.

Lars Sullivan def. Oney Lorcan 

Before making his entrance, Lorcan is backstage, he says he didn't like Lars and how he pushes people around so he's going to teach him a lesson. They feel each other out to begin as Lorcan goes straight into a side headlock, he's bounced off the ropes and into a shoulder tackle, Sullivan deadlifts Lorcan who escapes with his elbows and lands a dropkick but Sullivan the big lad no sell rule and throws Oney out of the ring, he goes out to get him but Oney kicks him in the face to escape and then elbows Sullivan off the apron, Lorcan goes for a tope but is caught perfectly and dropped onto the apron before being gorilla pressed into the ring, back in and Lorcan hits European uppercuts and palm slaps to try and level Mr. Sullivan but he can't quite take him down till he himself is levelled by a large lariat from Lars and Sullivan slams him with the Side Spinebuster for the pin. This was a lovely, little violent spectacle. It made Lars look incredible but as always, Oney Lorcan still looks like the real fucking deal even in defeat. When they eventually let him escape from the sub-five minute match position, it's going to be beautiful.

Post-match, Lars goes to do a murder but Burch comes to Lorcan's rescue, giving Sullivan a bit of "come on then if you think you're 'ard enough". Friendship is alive again in NXT.

Kayla Braxton is backstage with Ruby Riot, the Iconic Duo have requested a rematch with Riot and 'her friend, Nikki Cross', Riot corrects Kayla, Cross is not her friend, she doesn't know what Cross is doing but if the Duo want a fight, she'll give them one and if Cross turns up, she'd better not get in her way.

Heavy Machinery def. Demetrius Bronson & Patrick Scott

Quick squash m8. Tucker and Patrick to start, Tucker quickly overpowers the tiny man with some wrasslin, Scott slaps Knights chest and immediately regrest it after, suplex to his corner and tag to Demetrius Bronson who is immediately taken out by Knight, tag to Dosevic for a double shoulder barge and a double diving headbutt, Bronson to the corner and jump into a sleeper on Dosevic, Bronson tries to take out Dosevic from the second rope but is caught into another suplex, tag to Scott who is run down by Dosevic and crushed with an elbow drop, Scott in the ring but he's corner splashed to death, tag to Knight and they hit the Compactor splash on both opponents for the pin. By Heavy Machinery match standards, this didn't annoy me too much but it really didn't do much to further any storytelling as Machinery aren't doing anything at the moment.

William Regal is being interviewed by some floating hands with microphones about Houston outside the PC, Johnny Gargano is leaving the PC and Regal tells him that he's going to give Gargano the rematch he wanted against Andrade Almas. Lads.

Inside the PC, Christy St. Cloud is with Roderick Strong, he's training like this could be his last chance, he's doing this for his family but also for himself, Drew McIntyre talks about knocking him out but Strong is the guy that always gets back up, he's got close to the title before but this time will be different because he knows he's indestructible and he wants Drew to know this might just be business but to Roddy, business is personal and he won't stop till he hears "...and new, NXT Champion Roderick Strong".

Liv Morgan def. Vanessa Borne 

Hey everyone, Liv Morgan's still alive having not been in a televised match since NXT #246 back in April when she was in a battle royal for the Women's Title number 1 contendership, her opponent, Vanessa Borne, is another MYC competitor who lost in the first round to Serena Deeb. They lock-up to start as the two women try to power into a bodyslam but neither can hit it, they trade pinfall attempts, Borne hits a reverse elbow and goes to hit a second but Morgan dodges underneath, takes down Brone and hits a leg drop for a 1 count, Borne powers back htting forearms and a snap suplex to ground Morgan before slamming her head into the mat and a low boot, in the corner and Morgan dodges again spearing Borne into a schoolboy pin for a 2, Borne retaliates with a lariat for a 2 of her own but Morgan hits a drop toe hold into an O'Connor Roll for a 2 before hitting running facebusters and an enziguri into a kip-up, a corner stomp, a running bulldog and a Jumping Double Knee smash get Morgan the pin. These two worked a good match showing enough fire to propel them through the limited time sprint they had with Morgan looking possibly the best she's ever been. It lacked a little bit in dramatic tension but that can be pinned down to lacking the time to really let the story develop any structure.

We see a re-cap of Velveteen Dream crashing Aleister's Black Mass. Cut to: footage from the PC of Aleister Black kickboxing, he gets out of the ring and into an interview about the Dream. Black says that in this age of individuality, there is always one who thinks they're more unique, more special and left to their own devices, they have nothing left but to antagonise the hoard to get attention. Aleister Black refuses to acknowledge a child who holds their breath to get want they want, that throws a tantrum for attention and that if by being bizarre, Patrick (Velveteen Dream' Clark) thinks he has Black's attention, he's wrong. Savage

We get a hype-up promo package for recent NXT signee Fabian Aichner who lost to Jack Gallagher in the first round of the Cruiserweight Classic having done some great work in the past year on the independents (check out his matches at PROGRESS Chapters 37 & 41). He also had an interview earlier in the day on the YouTubes...

Kassius Ohno def. Fabian Aichner

If you were guessing lock-up to start, you guessed correctly, Ohno takes control into a headlock, Aichner tries to escape but Ohno adjusts into a cravate hold, Aichner escapes with a snapmare takedown into a standing armbar, breakout by Ohno into an uppercut from Aichner who goes for a boot but Ohno catches and hits a bigger one, knocking Aichner out of the ring, Ohno goes to follow but Aichner slides back in so Ohno does a flip on  the ropes, Aichner runs into a big boot Ohno and back in the ring Ohno runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, Ohno rolls out of the ring and Aichner follows with a springboard crossbody to the outside on Ohno that only just avoids him headbutting the floor, back in the ring and Aichner with a delayed vertical suplex for a 2 count, he clubs Kassius' back with forearms and tries to go for a powerbomb but Ohno rolls him into a small package for a 2, a Euro uppercut by Aichner who runs the ropes, Ohno jumps for a Lou Thesz press but is caught into a fallaway slam, Aichner goes for a triangle springboard moonsault but Ohno dodges, hitting an elbow to the back of the neck, a shotgun kick, knees to the head, a cravate suplex and a Cyclone Kick for the pin. This was everything it needed to be, making Aichner's low-key re-debut at Full Sail as competitive a match as you were going to get in such a short time, displaying both his power game and his ability to the flips that Florida love. Ohno is picking up some steam again after a great TV feud with Itami and is looking like a strong contender to be contesting for some kind of title again soon.

A man is interviewing Drew McIntyre about his match with Roderick Strong, anyone who wants a match, all they have to do is ask and Strong has earnt his match but that he needs to give Drew his full attention, Drew believes Roddy could beat him but that next week is his first televised NXT title defence but it will not be his last.

Hype-up package for Kairi Sane. Nothing you haven't seen before if you watched the MYC.

Adam Cole comes out to the most generic entrance music I've heard in a while (bay. bay). Before the match, Cole gives a promo asking how NXT ever made it without The Undisputed ERA, that there's something new in the air, he asks the audience to take in the moment and how they feel change, a shock to the system and that are untouchable, unstoppable, undisputable, systematic, hydro-matic, ultro-matic, why, they're greased lightning!

Adam Cole def. Eric Young

Eric Young is out with his gang, Adam Cole is out with his, Young tries to psyche out Cole by not doing shit while Cole screams 'fight me', Cole goes for a clothesline but Young dodges and hits a double leg takedown before wailing on Cole, he powers him to the corner but the ref breaks things up, giving Cole a chance to cheap shot Young, he does the 'bay bay' shtick which is far too over for a heel, boo the heels Full Sail, fuck sake, back to the match and the two of them run the ropes and flip over each other till Young hits a running neckbreaker, a brawl looking to break out between the two gangs creates distraction for Cole to hit Young from being, work him over in the corner and hit him out of the ring with a leaping roundhouse kick, landing between the two warring factions, Cole rolls out and rolls Young back in for a 2, straight with the knees to the back , Cole works a grounded chinlock, Young escapes this but ends up back in a standing sleeper which he escapes as well with a belly-to-back suplex, both on their feet again and Young hits a reverse elbow, a big boot, running discuss strikes and a neckbreaker to ground Cole, he goes up top, Cole follow but is quickly knocked back down, ReDragon get back on the apron to distract Young from hitting an elbow drop but they are pulled down by the rest of SaNItY, Young decides to join the chaos and hits a crossbody to ReDragon on the outside, back in the ring and Cole hits a Standing Shining Wizard (not the shiniest though. We miss you, Nixon) for the pin. What could have been a lovely match resulted in probably one of the most ignominious debuts on NXT since Solomon Crowe. Cole was given nothing special to do and showed off no reason why he should be immediately pushed to the top of the deck, if I didn't know of some of the corkers he'd performed before coming to WWE, I can't imagine what I'd think of him. Young in the low-key face role, however, is shining and really can get the crowd behind him. Overall, not great.

On The YouTubes:

Kassius is hoping to keep this momentum going and beat some more people.

Some good, some bad but frankly, an overstuffed edition of NXT. 5 matches over the hour, which between them took up less than 25 minutes of screen time and a lot of heavy-lifting promo work made the entire affair feel a tad rushed. Perhaps if the undercard had been split over two weeks and given more time to actually let things have some impact, it could have been improved. Lorcan v Sullivan & Ohno v Aichner are both good fun if you have the time but otherwise, nothing much worth your time here.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)