By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV Live Review
Taped April 10, 2019 in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University
Streamed May 1, 2019 on WWE Network
The NXT Slipknot theme played…
Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson were on commentary…
1, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch, and Humberto Carrillo vs. “The Forgotten Sons” Jaxson Ryker, Wesley Blake, and Steve Cutler. This was pre-shave Oney Lorcan because it was taped before Lorcan shaved the beard away. Lorcan and Cutler started of the match. Cutler dominated in terms of wrestling but Lorcan came back with his powerful strikes. Lorcan turned the tide after a blockbuster and European Uppercut on Cutler. Lorcan did a dive to the outside to take out the Forgotten Sons trio. The babyfaces traded quick tags to work on cutler. Cutler rolled at ringside for respite after getting hit by a Carrillo moonsault.
Blake tagged in and ate some strikes from Carrillo. Ryker got the blind tag in. Carrillo hit Blake with his impressive delayed armdrag, but Ryker came in and slammed Carrillo. Blake tagged back in, hip tossed Cutler into Carrillo, and got a nearfall on Carrillo. Cutler and Ryker tagged in for tandem offense. Ryker hit Carrillo with a diving headbutt for a nearfall. Ryker tried to ragdoll Carrillo with a Cobra Clutch but he ran the rope for a nearfall on Ryker. Carrillo escaped the Sons and tagged in Burch for a hot tag.
Burch took out Ryker from the apron with a shotgun dropkick. Burch hit Cutler with a release German Suplex. Burch then hit cutler with a nice top rope front dropkick. Burch locked Cutler in a crossface but Ryker broke it up. Carrillo took out Ryker with a missile dropkick. He took out Blake with a missile dropkick. Carrillo went for a suicide dive but accidentally hit Lorcan. Burch was stuck in the ring 3-on-1. Burch went superman for a bit by fending off all three opponents but the opponents overpowered Burch. Carrillo tried to fly in but he was swatted by the Polish hammer. Ryker and Blake powerbombed Carrillo and Burch into the legs of Cutler. The Sons hit a triple team finisher (assisted double stomp) for the win on Burch.
The Forgotten Sons defeated Lorcan, Burch and Carrillo via pinfall in 7:32.
Nigel noted that the Sons had the advantage in terms of three person tags…
Cathy Kelley tried to interview Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, and Jessamyn Duke. Kelley asked Baszler if she feels remorse which Baszler talked off. Kelley wondered if Baszler was just mad that Io Shirai has a pinfall victory over Baszler. Baszler slapped the microphone to the ground and walked away… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Again, the Sons are really good wrestlers, but they’re missing something in terms of characterization. Who are they? What do they want to do? Why are they? Whatever for now, but I said the solution may be to take Blake out of the trio and inject some personality in the group. Either that or some Jeremy Broash cinematics.
Nigel cut to footage at the WWE Performance Center. Bianca Belair and Mia Yim were arguing with each other with Robbie Brookside trying to calm them down. Cooler heads did prevail. Bianca noticed the camera filming them and told the camera man to get up out of her face…
Mauro Ranallo advertised Mia Yim vs. Bianca Belair for next week…
The artist formerly known as Manny Faberino, Mansoor, made his entrance. Percy Watson talked about Mansoor’s love for video games which got him into WWE…
2. Dominik Dijakovic vs. Mansoor. Dijak tried to win the match in 10 seconds again but Mansoor dodged the cyclone kick. Dijak managed to corner Mansoor in the corner. Mansoor used back elbows to fight out of a choke hold. Mansoor landed a few corner punches and kicks. Dijakovic caught a flying Mansoor and hit him with a gutbuster. Dijakovic then scarily, but cool, tossed Mansoor like he was a frisbee from the ring to the outside guardrail.
I hope he’s ok. Dijakovic hit Mansoor with the Time to Fly suplex for a nearfall. Dijakovic hit a tightrope splash on Mansoor for a nearfall. Mauro gave Mansoor credit for lasting longer than expected against Dijakovic. Mansoor reversed a suplex into a sleeper. Dijak kept fighting him off his back but Mansoor kept fighting back with kicks and sleeper holds. Mansoor reversed a tilt a whirl into an enzuigiri. Mansoor then ran off of Dijakovic’s knee to hit a slicing kick to Dijakovic. Dijak stunned Mansoor with a thrust kick. Dijakovic hit a kick and lariat combo. Dijakovic then hit Mansoor with the Feast Your Eyes (Burning Hammer GTS) for the win.
Dominik Dijakovic defeated Mansoor via pinfall in 5:11.
After the match Velveteen dream rolled out on his sex couch. Two women dragged the couch out. Dream called for his music to stop. He had the Statue of Liberty theme on the video wall. Dream talked about how this was a Red White and Blue moment. The Star Spangled Banner instrumental started playing. Lyrics flashed on the screen as a remix to the Star Spangled Banner done to put over Dream with Dream singing it. Dijakovic just stood there to try not to laugh. Dream threw in a jab at Buddy Murphy’s red hair in remixing the Rockets Red Glare. The crowd loved this. Dream then got back on his sex couch, put on a pimp hat, and got rolled to the back with his own music playing… [c]
John’s Thoughts: I now know who Dijakovic reminds me of in WWE. He’s the new Ryback in a way. Let’s see if that’s for better of worse. It’ll be interesting to see how he does against Dream. This wasn’t as intriguing or subtle as the last time we saw the Dream sex couch, but I’ll always be a fan of the Dream sex couch presentation.
Mauro advertised Matt Riddle vs. Adam Cole for next week…
After some highlights they cut to an Undisputed Era NWO style promo. Cole talked about Gargano being the luckiest man in NXT. Fish and Strong talked about how Cole’s going to beat Matt Riddle. Adam Cole accidently dropped the line about Roderick Strong dropping the ball. Adam Cole stood his ground, Strong walked away, and O’Reilly and Fish weren’t happy with Cole’s bad comment timing…
Kassius Ohno made his entrance now wearing an all black jersey. He’s facing the debuting Kushida who got a Back to the Future themed entrance. He also came out wearing his usual Marty McFly gear…
John’s Thoughts: Now with Kushida in WWE, WWE has both an Asian Marty McFly and a British Marty McFly (NXT UK’s Kenny Williams). Can WWE sign KM and the Funky Weapon so they can play the roles of Biff Tannen and Doc Brown in the Back to the Future stable that nobody asked for?
3. Kushida vs. Kassius Ohno. Mauro said it was time to go “Back to the Future”. Mauro also mentioned Kushida’s past in MMA and as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Kushida wanted to start the match with the Code of Honor, but Ohno kicked Kushida’s hand away lightly out of disrespect. Nigel talked about Kushida’s history in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament and talked about how other wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Finn Balor wrestled in that New Japan tournament. Ohno and Kushida traded position in chain wrestling.
Ohno locked Kushida and a cravate and body stretch. Kushida reversed the pressure and took down Ohno into a headlock. Ohno rolled several times. Kushida pat Ohno in the back for some showmanship. Kushida got Ohno on the ground and hit him with a dropkick. Ohno caught Kushida and locked him in a cravate. Kushida kicked out of two quick pin attempts. Ohno got on a knee and tried to ask for a handshake that no one was buying. Kushida bit on it though and ate a shorthand boot from Ohno. Ohno got another nearfall off of Kushida.
Kushida staggered Ohno with a kick. He then hit a slingshot shop on Ohno. Kushida missed a roundhouse kick. Ohno kicked Kushida with a electric chair facebuster for a nearfall. Kushida kicked out of a pin attempt. Kushida started to bleed from the nose. Kushida gave Ohno a flatliner into the second turnbuckle. Kushida got a nearfall on Ohno after a springboard huracanrana. Kushida got Ohno on his knee with a right hand and then forced him to shake his hand. Kushida did a handstand but Ohno caught him with a right hand.
Kushida kicked out of the latest nearfall. Ohno caught Kushida with a punp kick. Kushida then hit Ohno with a wind up punch. Kushida hit Ohno with a PK and then locked Ohno in the Hoverboard Lock for the victory.
Kushida defeated Kassius Ohno via pinfall in 8:05.
Kushida posed after his win and the show closed with 12 minutes left at the top of the hour…
John’s Thoughts: To be completely honest, that was not the best debut for Kushida in NXT as I would have hoped. Of course, I’ve seen a lot better matches from Kushida in New Japan, but that’s not the comparative point. I just think he shouldn’t have had such a competitive match to start off and the match wasn’t that smooth to begin with. I like ugly brawls, but this was more of an ugly style indie match. Another detractor from this match is the perception of Kassius Ohno. The guy’s doing great heel work, but the guy is still exactly what the commentators say he is, he’s a gatekeeper to Regal’s “shiny new toys”. So much that the forgone conclusion nature of his match hurts his pinfalls.
Not the strongest episode of NXT, but it’s watchable and fairly good. I forgot to give credit earlier for Bay Area Wrestler Mansoor for having what may be the best showing I’ve seen him in (and I’ve seen a bunch of his indie matches in San Francisco). As for the rest of the show. Again it was fine. I’ll be able to elaborate more in my hit list and member’s exclusive audio review.
Was that the first mention of Chris Benoit since the Raw special devoted to him?
Ah, good catch… (And I need to correct that)
Nigel didn’t mention Benoit but rather Dean Malenko. My fingers were just in autopilot so when I heard Super J Cup, I wrote Benoit and Guerrero out of instinct and association