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NXT rarely delivers mediocre shows to the fans nowadays. The quality of the content and matches on the brand have been great for quite a number of months. Airing live from the Performance Center this week, there was a lot that needed to be settled inside the ring as things got serious.
Spots in the NXT Women's Championship No. 1 contender ladder match at TakeOver was up for grabs in three separate matches, while two major Championships were on the line.
NXT North American Champion Keith Lee defended his title against Cameron Grimes, while the NXT Tag Team Champions Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle took on The Undisputed Era.
The action was tight all night and the fans got an ending they were not expecting as the fights went all over the arena. In this article, we will look at the 5 things NXT got right on this week’s episode.
#5 Kushida vs Mendoza
This week’s NXT gave a chance to two talented but underutilized Superstars to compete against each other. Raul Mendoza got a chance to battle former NJPW star Kushida during the show.
Mendoza made as much of the opportunity as he could as he used his pace to keep Kushida down on the mat and attempted to put him away multiple times. However, Kushida’s experience came into play once again as he caught Mendoza in a cross arm breaker and forced him to tap out.
While the match was short and no point of it was particularly memorable, it gave two highly talented Superstars to compete in front of the Performance Centre this week. Kushida was riding high when he got in contention for the NXT United Kingdom Champion Walter, and then had a couple of interesting matches before he was sidelined.
Mendoza has a bright future ahead of him and deserves some longer matches so showcase his full potential. Hopefully, this was the first of many matches to come between these two men.
#4 The Spirit Bomb
It’s incredible to see how much Cameron Grimes has improved in a matter of weeks and has become one of the most dependable guys in the company and someone who is regularly in championship feuds.
This week, he got one of his biggest opportunities so far as he took on the WWE NXT North American Champion Keith Lee in a clash for the title.
Grimes used his speed to try and get an early advantage over Lee but the strength of the Limitless one was too much for him. However, Grimes surprised everyone by getting Lee off his feet and delivering a suplex to the champion, giving fans an idea of what to expect from him in the future.
While at no point did it look like that Lee was going to lose his title this early, and that too to Grimes. Grimes attempted a Cave In, but Lee hit a Big Bang catastrophe to end his surge and pick up the win.
Damian Priest attacked the North American Champion, but Dominik Dijakovic was not too far in coming in to run down The Archer of Infamy. Lee then surprised everyone by hitting the Spirit Bomb to Dijakovic, showing everyone that he’s not anyone’s friend.
#3 The WrestleMania build-up
A couple of nights ago on WWE RAW, Rhea Ripley showed up on the red brand to come face to face with her challenger for WrestleMania 36.
Ripley disrespected The Queen as she delivered a big right hand to Charlotte Flair, making a statement that will stick with Flair.
On Wednesday Night, The Nightmare stood in the middle of the ring and spoke about how she was not afraid of Flair, even though she has won gold on all three brands of the company. Flair decided to come to the Performance Centre herself and came out to attack the NXT Women’s Champion.
She trapped Ripley around the turnbuckle and applied the figure four leg lock.
This was a great reply from Flair after Monday’s show, a welcome change from her usual promo. A return attack from The Queen makes things more intense and will force Ripley to watch her words and her back at all times.
The Royal Rumble winner means business, and the creatives need to show that The Nightmare may have made the wrong choice by calling Flair out in the first place. This is NXT’s only WrestleMania feud, and they need to make it a big deal every single week.
#2 The grudge feud
After suffering a defeat at the hands of Finn Balor, Johnny Gargano went dark, much like Balor went after suffering a defeat at the hands of ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt. Gargano not only cost his old friend Tommaso Ciampa an WWE NXT Championship match against Adam Cole but has been tearing away at the Superstar ever since.
Ciampa decided to take to the ring to confront Gargano this week, but Johnny Wrestling forced him into fighting him in the backstage area.
The Blackheart and his nemesis went all over the Performance Center, beating each other down with anything they could get their hands on.
The more officials that got involved in the brawl, the worse it got. They took the fight into the crowd and Gargano applied the Gargano Escape on Ciampa, almost causing him to pass out.
Ciampa then recovered to hit a potentially lethal Air Raid Crash to Gargano off a raised platform through the announce table.
This was just another chapter in their neverending rivalry that was nothing we’ve ever seen before, but a good way to keep the two biggest stars of NXT relevant without getting a Championships involved. The ending of the segment was unforgettable.
They will likely battle at TakeOver: Tampa Bay and the match could be another show-stealer just like their numerous other clashes.
#1 The Stallions
Before the match, Velveteen Dream made his intentions crystal clear. It wasn’t Roderick Strong he was after anymore. Instead, it was the WWE NXT Champion Adam Cole and his belt he has his eyes on now.
These gave way to the NXT Tag Team Championship match between The Broserweights - Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle, and The Undisputed Era’s Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly.
The heels tried to isolate Riddle and kept attacking Dunne in an attempt to weaken him.
It took a while for The Bros to get back into the game, but they were unstoppable once they got rolling again. The Grizzled Young Veterans arrived to try and ruin the party, but Dunne wiped them out with some hard hits.
Riddle and Dunne then got back on the offense and hit their dual-finishers to pick up the victory and retain the belts.
The Undisputed Era has had enough reigns as the Tag Team Champions, and need to move on to other things for a while. Cole has found a new challenger, and we will get a brand new rivalry starting next week.
Roderick Strong, Fish, and O’Reilly need to get back on the drawing board and get into some new feuds. For The BroserWeights, it seems like The Grizzled Young Veterans are the perfect new challengers.
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