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With just a few days to go for WWE NXT TakeOver 31, NXT looked to cross the t's and dot the i's to help deliver a great show on Sunday.
Shawn Michaels was advertised to appear during this week’s broadcast and host a meeting between Finn Balor and Kyle O’Reilly in the ring. The two NXT Superstars will compete for the NXT Championships at TakeOver 31.
NXT North American Champion Damian Priest, and NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai, teamed up to compete against Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae on this week’s show.
KUSHIDA defeated Tony Nese with authority to continue building his new character, while Ridge Holland impressed with a dominant performance, even though he was disqualified from his match. Adam Cole looked to reestablish The Undisputed Era as a threat and teach a former RAW Superstar a lesson.
Xia Li teased a heel turn once again during this week's episode; it will be interesting to see if WWE NXT is ready to push the little powerhouse in the months to come.
In this article, we will look at the five things WWE NXT got right this week before TakeOver 31.
#5 WWE NXT tries to build a monster in Ridge Holland
WWE NXT is filled with some of the best wrestlers in the world, however, the brand were missing a powerhouse. With Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic gone, and Karrion Kross out with an injury, Ridge Holland’s arrival has helped the brand deliver something new.
Cameron Grimes was out in the middle and decided to have an invitational series of matches. He brought out a local competitor who was no match for him and it took him one move to take him out.
Holland then walked out to the middle and stepped into the ring with Grimes. He delivered a headbutt, and the referee called for the bell to get things going.
The big man then threw Grimes around and then beat him down viciously, forcing the referee to call for the bell and disqualify him. Holland did not stop and continued to beat down Grimes to make a statement.
Holland has arrived at the right time and made an impact when NXT needed a big man who can pose as a threat to other Superstars. He’s had matches before, but a big showing against someone like Grimes will help establish him as a big threat.
#4 Shotzi Blackheart continues her build on WWE NXT
Dakota Kai looked to get back some momentum and was scheduled for a match against Shotzi Blackheart this week on WWE NXT. Kai came out with Raquel Gonzalez, and she tried to get a pinfall over Blackheart early in the match.
Blackheart then got back in the game and delivered some impressive moves to try and take down Captain Kota early. She trapped Kai in a submission, but could not get her to tap out.
Gonzalez tried to influence the match and looked to cause a distraction. However, Rhea Ripley arrived to take out Gonzalez outside the ring by driving her into the steel steps. Kai looked to take Blackheart out with her finisher, but Blackheart rolled her up to pick up a hard-fought victory.
The match was pretty good and allowed NXT to build a possible long-term rivalry between Kai and Blackheart, and also between Gonzalez and Ripley.
WWE has been building towards a big Gonzalez and Ripley rivalry, and it will be interesting to see where NXT will go from here.
#3 Adam Cole shows Austin Theory what WWE NXT is all about
Adam Cole appeared on WWE NXT this week and spoke about how people think that The Undisputed Era has changed. He reminded the NXT Universe that it was still the same faction that won all the men’s titles and dominated NXT for three years.
He then turned his attention to Austin Theory and called him out for running his mouth against Kyle O’Reilly. He gave Theory two options: either face him in the ring or suffer a beatdown from the entire group. Theory went with the first option.
While Theory tried to put up another good performance, Cole was on top of him for almost the entire match and kept him down with technical strikes. He continued to counter most of Theory’s moves and showed him what the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all time was capable of.
Theory countered a Panama Sunrise attempt and hit a Blue Thunder Bomb. The Panama City Playboy ended the match by taking down Theory and then cut a promo to push KOR ahead of his NXT Championship match.
This was a good match that allowed Cole to deliver a memorable performance for the first time since losing his NXT Championship. Theory has a mountain to climb, but he’s staying at the forefront by getting himself into big feuds.
#2 Finn Balor and Kyle O’Reilly come face to face on WWE NXT
Shawn Michaels returned to the WWE NXT ring and hosted a meeting between WWE NXT Champion Finn Balor, and his challenger, Kyle O’Reilly.
The two men began the meeting with a handshake and Balor congratulated KOR for making it through to the NXT Championship scene. Both men spoke highly of each other and showed some respect.
The Heartbreak Kid wanted to know what The Prince of NXT thought of O’Reilly, and Balor revealed that he would never underestimate someone like KOR, who is the underdog in this match.
KOR was confident and claimed he would beat Balor, but The Prince mocked him by asking if he was going to do so himself or by bringing his Undisputed Era buddies.
The two men exchanged a few more words but did not throw a single punch. This was a very civil and good segment that allowed both men to talk without getting physical before the actual match.
Both men showed great respect to each other, and it's good to see Balor repeatedly acknowledge the achievements of his opponents before big matches, showing that he is ready for the challenge. This will likely be a show-stealer at NXT TakeOver 31.
#1 The Garganos show the WWE NXT Universe the strength of the power-couple
Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae are preparing to challenge for the WWE NXT North American Championship and the NXT Women’s Championship, respectively, at NXT TakeOver 31.
This week, they teamed up to take on the Champions in a tag team match. Damian Priest and Io Shirai went after the power couple before the opening bell and it took a while for things to calm down and the match to get started.
Priest and Shirai proved to be a great tag team, and they seemed to be happy working together. They kept the heels down for extended periods of time, but were unable to put them away. At the end of the match, Johnny Wrestling saved his wife from taking a moonsault from Shirai.
The Archer of Infamy tagged himself in, but The Poison Pixie hit him with a low blow behind the referee’s back. Gargano took him down with a DDT and picked up the victory for his team.
While the power couple were on the back foot for most of the match, they did well to win using heelish tactics. NXT has found a formula to make Mixed Tag Team matches work well, and this was another great one.
