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WWE NXT had a couple of championship matches scheduled for this week’s show. KUSHIDA was set to defend his NXT Cruiserweight Championship, while Raquel Gonzalez defended her NXT Women’s title.
Gonzalez had a decent defense against Mercedes Martinez and both women put on a good match. However, it looks like Gonzalez has a lot more work to do to continue performing at the top level.
Breezango competed in a tag team match against MSK, while Leon Ruff found himself in a rough spot after answering an opening challenge. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott introduced his new stable, Hit Row, and sent a warning to the rest of the NXT roster.
Karrion Kross squashed his first opponent as the NXT Champion and came across the first challenger for his title soon after. A surprise return also helped NXT build towards a potential new storyline.
Let’s take a look at the five things WWE got right on NXT this week.
#5 Karrion Kross got the match he needed on WWE NXT
Karrion Kross competed in his first match since winning the WWE NXT Championship from Finn Balor at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. Austin Theory made his way out for the non-title match and did not look as confident as he usually does.
Theory tried to avoid the NXT Champion in the early part of the match and dodged a few moves.
A couple of Saito Suplexes was all it took to break Theory’s will and he was no match for Kross. Kross punished Theory before locking in the Kross Jacket.
Johnny Gargano watched on as Theory passed out before the referee called for the bell and awarded the match to The Herald of Doomsday. After the match, Balor appeared once again to confront the NXT Champion.
The Prince told Kross that he wasn’t willing to wait in line, and the two men agreed to fight again. This set up another NXT Championship match between the two Superstars.
This was the kind of match Kross needed to get more of a spotlight. While Theory is a great performer, he is no match for The Herald of Doomsday. A squash victory will allow Kross to push ahead as a dominating performer who’ll need to overcome The Prince of NXT again.
That match is set to take place in two weeks, and NXT seems to be doing well at spreading out its championship matches to keep the weekly shows entertaining.
#4 MSK and Breezango put on a good match on WWE NXT
WWE NXT Tag Team Champions MSK competed against Breezango in a non-title match this week. Tyler Breeze and Fandango were ready to prove themselves worthy of another title shot during the contest.
Breeze and Wes Lee locked up early on and exchanged some good moves. At one point, the referee had to leapfrog just to stay out of the way and make the match more entertaining.
Fandango and Nash Carter followed with some impressive moves to keep the pace of the match up. Prince Pretty took out both the members of MSK with Superkicks. Carter returned the favor by taking out Breezango with a moonsault outside the ring.
Soon after, MSK found Breeze alone in the ring to hit End Transmission to pick up the win. After the match, the two teams shook hands and showed each other respect.
MSK then turned their focus to Legado del Fantasma and issued a challenge to the heel team. The contest was fun and allowed both teams to shine. Breezango is ridiculously talented and deserves another title reign sooner rather than later.
MSK is doing a great job at the top of the tag team division, and WWE seems to have struck gold by signing Lee and Carter to NXT.
#3 Pete Dunne continued to break fingers on WWE NXT
Leon Ruff was looking for a fight on WWE NXT. However, William Regal wasn’t ready to give him a match just one week after his brutal encounter with Isaiah "Swerve" Scott.
Later on, Pete Dunne came to the ring looking visibly upset. He called Karrion Kross a coward for choosing Finn Balor as his first opponent and taking the easy way out. The Bruiserweight issued an open challenge to anyone who dared to face him in the ring.
Ruff answered the challenge by attacking Dunne from behind. This led to a match between the two men, and Ruff was much more aggressive than usual.
Dunne started taking advantage of his injuries and worked over his joints to weaken him. He took down Ruff and locked him in a triangle choke. The referee had no choice but to call for the bell and award Dunne the victory.
The Bruseirweight was still not done as he broke Ruff’s fingers before staring him down. Dunne has had a great change in his character and it is working in his favor.
He is one of the best wrestlers in NXT, and the brand needs to put him in a more meaningful rivalry. Looks like Dunne will be next in line once Kross is done with The Prince of NXT.
#2 Bobby Fish returned to WWE NXT this week
An interaction between Kyle O’Reilly and Oney Lorcan led to a match between the two men on WWE NXT. O’Reilly continued to impress during the contest and matched Lorcan’s offense early in the contest.
Pete Dunne watched on from ringside and distracted KOR to allow Lorcan to take control of the match. Lorcan wore down Kool Kyle with several big chops and punished him to gain the advantage.
O’Reilly struck back with a series of kicks and chops to gain momentum in the match. He kept Lorcan down and stared down Dunne to issue a warning.
After a few more moves, O’Reilly put away Lorcan with a Brainbuster and Diving Knee Drop. After the match, Dunne entered the ring and attacked KOR with Lorcan. Just as they were looking to do more damage, Bobby Fish made a surprise return to save his former tag team partner.
The two men cleared the ring, but Fish issued a warning to O’Reilly before leaving. The match was decent and gave both superstars a chance to shine on NXT. Fish’s return was unexpected, and it will be interesting to see what the two superstars do together on the Black & Gold brand.
#1 KUSHIDA earns the right to lead the WWE NXT Cruiserweight division
KUSHIDA was ready to defend his WWE NXT Cruiserweight Championship in a 2-out-of-3 falls match in the main event. Santos Escobar was ready to take the title back from the Japanese Superstar on the show.
Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde tried to interfere early in the match before MSK arrived to make the save. All four men were ejected from the ringside area soon after to make this a fair contest.
Escobar wore down KUSHIDA with some technical strikes and kept the pressure on the NXT Cruiserweight Champion. Soon after, Escobar earned the first fall by hitting the Phantom Driver.
The leader of Legado del Fantasma got way too confident after the first fall and ran right into the Hoverboard Lock. It did not take him long to tap out and allow KUSHIDA to even the score.
The action started picking up after the second fall as both men continued to take each other down with some technical moves. Escobar hit a suicide dive into the ramp to take out KUSHIDA. The NXT Cruiserweight Champion replied by nearly pinning Escobar on a couple of occasions.
In the final moments of the match, the two men climbed to the top rope as KUSHIDA locked in the Hoverboard Lock. He kept the lock on for some time as Escobar struggled to fight his way out.
A bridging suplex ended the match as KUSHIDA pinned Escobar clean to retain his NXT Cruiserweight Championship. NXT usually has good championship matches, and this was a great one to make KUSHIDA’s reign better.
The Japanese Superstar is the future of the cruiserweight division, and this match helped establish hims as a worthy leader.
