By John Moore, Prowrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Aired November 21, 2018 on WWE Network
Taped November 17 in Los Angeles, California at Staples Center
NXT started off with a recap video of last week’s NXT Takeover: War Games from Los Angeles. The NXT Theme aired…
Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson checked in from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Keith lee made his entrance to start off the show…
1. Keith Lee vs. Fidel Bravo. Fidel Bravo was also in the enhancement match on 205 Live a half hour ago. Mauro noted that Lee’s collegiate football background. Bravo tried to taunt Lee a bit. Lee took down Bravo with a left hand. Lee hit Bravo with a double slap which could be heard throughout the arena. Lee hit Bravo with a flying crossbody block. Lee hit Bravo with the Jackhammer Powerslam for the victory.
Keith Lee defeated Fidel Bravo via pinfall in 1:59.
Mauro noted that Keith Lee is a fan of Anime including One Piece (and also Dragon Ball as evidenced through his move names)…
A Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane highlight package aired…
Cathy Kelley interviewed Shayna Baszler who had Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke with her. Baszler said she’s the most dominant woman in this division and Cathy should be asking more about that instead of the match. Baszler also said that nobody can stop her crew…
Nigel McGuinness hyped Gargano vs. Black footage…
John’s Thoughts: I like these “clip show” episodes. Not only does it count as a break for me as far as paying attention is concerned, but they do serve as good selling points for the On Demand version of Takeover. As for Lee, Mauro mentioning One Piece makes me want to see a Kairi Sane and Keith Lee pirate stable where they go out to try to find Kairi Sane’s “treasure” (the Women’s Championship).
Mauro Ranallo thanked Nita Strauss or providing the “Mariana Trench” song for Takeover: LA. Mauro then cut to a replay of Kassius Ohno interrupting Matt Riddle during the Takeover Pre Show. Ohno talked about how the word “Bro” can make a person physically ill.
John’s Thoughts: As a person who’s reviewed BroMans segments, I can confirm that Ohno is not lying.
They aired Ohno’s seven second loss…
Sarah Schreiber interviewed Matt Riddle after his match at Takeover where she told Riddle that Riddle had the fastest knockout in Takeover history. Riddle talked about having his Takeover “de butt” and how he’s excited for the future…
2. Lars Sullivan vs. Kida Murray. Sullivan slammed the enhancement guy and hit him with a basement lariat. Sullivan hit Murray with the Freak Accident for the victory.
Lars Sullivan defeated Kida Murray via pinfall in 0:35.
Sullivan said that match will serve as an example of what will happen until he gets what’s coming to him, an NXT Championshp match. Sullivan said to make sure that Sullivan’s point is registered he’ll continue to make an example of the enhancement guy. Sullivan continued to beat Murray. Keith Lee ran in for the save. Lee took Sullivan out of the ring with the Monty Brown Pounce…
John’s Thoughts: We know Sullivan’s main roster bound, but this is a good farewell feud for him which should also elevate Lee. I know how this ends because I was in attendance for the Lee and Sullivan payoff which was taped in San Jose and will air either next week or in two weeks. They taped a lot of big Takeover worthy (but not Takeover quality) matches at San Jose which are going to be canon and timeline appropriate.
Mauro Ranallo plugged the Red Cross donation number for the California Wildfires…
John’s Thoughts: As a Californian, I can tell you that the wildfire seasons are really surreal (and sadly a regular occurrence). Prayers out to those in the epicenter of the fires and to those in surrounding areas, make sure to wear your gas masks when doing things outside because the air quality has been bad for a while. Again, so surreal being covered in smoke and ash for over a week.
An Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano highlight package aired…
John’s Thoughts: In addition Black vs. Gargano being my favorite match of the show, I really liked Gargano’s Marvel Punisher ring gear. It works because Gargano’s promo about being a hero who is seen by the public as a “bad guy”.
Sarah Schreiber tried to interview Aleister Black to find out if this is the end of Black’s feud with Gargano. Black didn’t answer and instead had a standoff with Candice LeRae in the backstage area of the Staples Center…
Percy Watson thanked Bring Me the Horizon for providing the song “Wonderful Life” at NXT Takeover: War Games…
Nigel McGuinness recapped the highlights from Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream…
Percy Watson hyped Nikki Cross vs. Candice LeRae as the main event of this episode… [c]
Mauro Ranallo thanked the band Motionless in White for providing the song “Voices” for Takeover: WarGames II…
Mauro cut to footage backstage at Staples Center where Keith Lee and Lars Sullivan were arguing from a distance with referee’s keeping them at a distance. Nigel McGuinness hyped Keith Lee vs. Lars Sullivan for next week’s show emanating from San Jose State University…
A War Games Match video package aired…
3. Nikki Cross vs. Candice LeRae. Candice was in babyface mode and got a good reaction from the home state crowd. Cross did her usual crazy rocking in the corner. Cross powered LeRae into the corner. LeRae and Cross then had an aggressive shoving match. Cross tripped LeRae against the apron. Cross trapped LeRae in the ring skirt and pummeled LeRae into the skirt. LeRae contered being tossed in the ring with a Tiger Feint Kick. LeRae caught Cross with a botched crossbody which Mauro tried to cover up but Nigel brought up it was a screwed up move.
LeRae got a few nearfalls on Cross. Cross came back with a back suplex. LeRae escaped the corner and hit the Natural Selection on Cross which didn’t get much on Cross. LeRae slammed Cross for a nearfall. LeRae hit Cross with the Unprettier. Cross dodged a lionsault attempt. Cross hit LeRae with the Purge finisher. LeRae kicked out at two. LeRae tried to go for a Sunset Flip Bomb but Cross held on to the Ropes. LeRae surprised Cross with a Super German Suplex for the two count. Cross was rolling on the ground with her masochistic smile on her face. LeRae went at Cross with her rapid fire slaps and chops. LeRae used some clinch moves in there too.
LeRae put Cross in the Death Lock and then slammed Cross into the ground with a curb stomp. LeRae locked Cross in the GargaNo Escape. Cross was kicking the ground which hit the bottom rope for the rope break. Cross took down LeRae with drop toehold into the bottom rope. Nikki Cross hit LeRae with a modified Tower of London for the victory.
Nikki Cross defeated Candice LeRae via pinfall in 7:00.
Nikki Cross celebrated her win to close out the show…
John’s Thoughts: A good women’s match. While good, I would have preferred this be Cross vs. Belair and on the actual Takeover card. As fellow staffer Will Pruett and I have advocated for, it wouldn’t hurt to extend the show 15 minutes to accommodate for a second women’s match. I was in the crowd for this entire show, but I could barely see this match because I was sitting in an area where it was extremely hard to see the ring close to the stage. Thank God that the final three matches took place in the ring closest to the announce table, where I was sitting around.
A skippable show if you watched Takeover (and if you have the WWE Network, then why haven’t watched Takeover yet?). If you haven’t watched Takeover, then these recap shows are good sampler platters to get you excited to watch the full on show. Trust me, the preview may be nice, but the actual matches will really awe you if you like good in-ring storytelling. I’ll be by tomorrow with my member’s exclusive audio review…
You forgot to mention Candice got booed after hitting the curb stomp. I was there as well.
I forgot about that. As I mentioned, I was sitting in an area where it was extremely hard to see, and I was in the first few rows (the ropes made it hard to see the inside ring)…