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WWE NXT has been delivering some of the highest quality matches to the WWE Universe for the past several months. With the inclusion of Finn Balor to the mix, the brand seems to have taken off even more and gotten much more eyeballs than it got previously.
While all eyes were on Finn Balor’s segment for the week, it was the women who took over the night and gave fans some of the best matches and segments we’ve seen all week. This was a great way to end the Black and Gold brand’s transmission just before Crown Jewel, where the women will make history in the ring.
Apart from that, we saw some great action from Cameron Grimes and Tyler Bate who reminded fans that the brand is loaded with some great talent. The Undisputed Era also stood tall once again to close out the transmission, but they seem to be making too many enemies to stay afloat for long.
In this article, we will take a look at the five things that NXT got right on this week’s episode.
#5 Enter Shirai
The show opened up to a live performance by Poppy, who played Io Shirai in for her match to kick off the night. The entrance was nothing short of TakeOver worthy and gave Shirai that high spot she so well deserves.
Candice LeRae squared off against her arch-rival, as the two women put on a great show to start the night. LeRae played an excellent babyface, following her match against Shayna Baszler, and gave Shirai much more to play with than she could have asked for.
Shirai used a steel chair to her advantage and stole the victory once again, handing LeRae yet another loss on NXT. It’s unfortunate to see LeRae take so many losses to build on storylines, but it could prove to be for the greater good in the coming weeks.
After the match, Rhea Ripley protected LeRae by taking the steel chair away from Shirai and sending her running back to the locker room. WWE booked the match right, and we could see Shirai emerge as the perfect contender for the NXT Women’s Championship post-WarGames.
#4 The WarGames Era
The main event of the night saw NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of The Undisputed Era take on the heavyweight team of Keith Lee and Matt Riddle.
The heels focused their attack on Riddle for most of the match and kept Lee out of the game for as long as possible to capitalize on the damage they inflicted on Riddle.
A hot tag turned the contest on its head, and Lee exploded with some great moves to both Fish and O’Reilly. The King of Bros also recovered to come out with all guns blazing and the two babyfaces seemed to be in a great position to pick up the win.
However, a distraction from Roderick Strong and Adam Cole was enough to set up Fish and O'Reilly to hit the High-Low on Riddle for the win.
This was a great booking as it protected Lee from taking another pin, and allowed Riddle to take the fall without losing any credibility.
The post-match segment saw Tommaso Ciampa make the save as The Undisputed Era continued to beat down the two men. This perfectly set up the Undisputed Era's WarGames match once again, as we will most probably see Lee, Riddle, and Ciampa join forces with either The Velveteen Dream or Dominik Dijakovic to take down the villainous faction.
#3 Finn Balor speaks the truth
Finn Balor’s appearance on NXT was once again the most anticipated segment of the night. Fans wondered how Balor will justify his actions from last week, and whether he has any reasons for what he did or not.
Balor came out to a chorus of boos and cheers for the first time in several years which was interesting to watch. He addressed the crowd in the dark lit arena and spoke about how he’s the hottest thing in the business today. Balor put himself over by claiming that there were too many fans in the locker room who belong to be in the crowd, and he doesn’t watch the business but the business watches him.
This was a great heel promo that put the words of the WWE Universe in Balor’s mouth which made him come across as a selfish villain more than anything else. Fans have always put Balor over everyone else, but hearing him put himself over just made things sound as heelish as possible.
He ended his promo by sending a warning to Johnny Gargano and claiming that if the former returns from the hospital, he will become Johnny Watches Wrestling, not Johnny Wrestling.
This fittingly sets up a huge clash between the two men for NXT TakeOver: WarGames during Survivor Series week which will be best for NXT.
#2 Women TakeOver: WarGames
After the Women’s Tag Team Championship match was done and dusted, the heel team of Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke made their way out to send an even bigger statement to the WWE Universe.
As the trio tried to do more damage to Team Kick, Rhea Ripley arrived to make the save. She was attacked by Io Shirai and Bianca Belair until Candice LeRae made the save.
As the chaos got out of hand, Willian Regal appeared to break up the fight and made a huge announcement in the process.
He announced that the women would fight in WarGames for the first time ever. This was a brilliant move as it gives the women a massive task which can propel them to the top of the NXT brand.
At a time when WWE is bringing the women to the forefront of the industry, a WarGames announcement is a big step in the right direction just a day after the company announced the first-ever women’s match to be held in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel.
The entire segment worked well for the women involved and managed to scoop up the cream of the talent to battle in one of NXT’s most innovative matches.
#1 The Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
How did this match not main event the night?
The Kabuki Warriors arrived on NXT this week to answer the challenge from Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox for the WWE Women’s Championship.
This was a great match which could be termed as the match of the night as Asuka and Sane allowed Kai and Nox a great base to work on and provided them with some top spots by playing excellent heels.
Sane attacked the knee of The Captain of Team Kick, and a late tag to Nox allowed her to almost pull off an upset victory. Chaos followed which allowed Asuka to once again use the green mist, this time on Kai, and The Pirate Princess then landed the InSane Elbow for the win.
The match was arguably the best we’ve seen for the Women’s Tag Team Championships and established The Kabuki Warriors as the top heel Champions in WWE. Team Kick got their high spots which will allow them to stay on top of the roster, and possibly get in contention for the titles once again.
The segment and the announcement that followed were absolutely great and allowed the entire NXT women’s division something to be proud of.
