By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV Hits
Breezango vs. The Forgotten Sons: Pretty much a one sided showcase in favor of showcasing the reunion of Tyler Breeze and Fandango. The Sons got some offense in, but it was much akin to an main roster squash match involving the Ascension where the Ascension would get about two minutes of methodical offense in only to get destroyed by the team they are enhancing. A part of me is surprised that the comedy duo of Breeze and Dango looked so strong, but I’ve been saying for months that the Cutler and Blake tag team is dead in the water and are in need of a serious overhaul (I do feel NXT was doing a good job with Ryker though). Good showcase. Here’s still hoping that they give up on Dango as a Chaz Michael Michael from Blades of Glory wannabe because I feel like that act has played itself out (though there is a small part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing Dango come out with flamethrowers similar to what AAA’s Aerostar does).
Io Shirai video package: The video package was ok. Nothing too special. But the Hit comes in NXT giving Io the attachment to a mainstream music act for the video package (YouTuber/Music Artist Poppy in this case). WWE investing mainstream music rights in Io shows you that they’re really confident in the potential behind Io’s new Black Lotus-like persona; and I can’t argue with that because I’d be all in on Io’s new heel act too. While the music video didn’t use any out-of-the-ordinary techniques, it was solid in that it was built around telling summarized story of the Io heel turn.
NXT TV Misses
Jordan Myles vs. Cameron Grimes: First of all, this was an okay match. That’s where the Miss comes in, it was “okay”. It got a “this is awesome” chant, but I feel like it was just hardcore wrestling fans being hardcore wrestling fans. It’s kinda their gimmick at this point. I kid. The ultimate miss comes from high expectations given the two talents involved. To compare apples to apples, I’ve seen both men deliver in even lesser situations – Grimes as Trevor Lee in Impact has shown flashes of greatness even though they presented him as a redneck idiot stereotype; Myles as ACH has wowed fans in most matches he’s involved in, so there was a higher expectation for him too. In fact, Impact Wrestling held their version of a breakout tournament, The Super X Cup, and ACH did a better job there in showing what he could do compared to this match. Again, this was a fine match, just not meeting expectations and I’ll attribute that to the crunch in time given that they were on the pre-Takeover tapings (I’ve witnessed one of these in person and even saw them cancel an advertised match, which I believe was a Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno match).
Overall Show: These “fallout” editions are never the greatest, but they do work in that they offer the viewers a week break after a hot show. The quality of these shows are predicated on the matches taped for the show before the Takeover. These two matches were “okay” and therefore this was a missable show. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to record one match before Takeover and also do what they used to do in airing one of their house show matches?
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