By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV Live Review
Taped August 15, 2019 in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University
Streamed August 28, 2019 on WWE Network
The NXT intro theme aired…
Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Beth Phoenix were on commentary. Evil Io Shirai made her cool entrance to start the show as the commentators recapped Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae at takeover. Shirai’s opponent seems like a designated enhancement talent…
1. Io Shirai vs. Cami Fields. Beth noted that Fields has been on Raw before and was trained by Gangrael. Shirai nailed Cami with a dropkick early on. Shirai kept Fields under control with a hip attack. Fields went for a backdrop on Shirai but Shirai landed on her feet. Shirai hit Fields with a meteora in the corner (which had a good snapping sound). Shirai hit Fields with her finisher, the moonsault. Shirai had the visual pinfall, but Shirai lifted Fields up for added punishment. Io Shirai made Cami Fields tap out to the Harajuku Clutch.
Io Shirai defeated Cami Fields via submission in 1:40.
Nigel noted that Shirai named the submission after her hometown in Tokyo. Shirai struck a sadistic smile as she brought a kendo stick to the ring for more punishment. Candice LeRae ran out to yank the kendo stick and chase Shirai away. Shirai retreated up the stage while LeRae had higher ground in the ring…
Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish were shown sparring backstage in preparation for their title opportunity. Nigel McGuinness hyped a Pete Dunne interview for later in the show…
John’s Thoughts: A good and efficient squash match to get across Shirai’s heel turn and sadism. Nice touch of Shirai not ending the match with her flashy finisher. I’m also happy to see LeRae vs. Shirai continue. We know they can deliver, we know they can do better, and LeRae gets to stay away from the main roster.
A Kushida hype vignette aired with his NXT highlights…
Dominik Dijakovic now has new entrance music (I kinda liked his old theme better)…
2. Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic. The crowd showered Lee in his “bask in his glory” chant to the Seven Nation Army theme. Dijakovic dominated Lee early on with calculated strikes. Lee responded to Dijakovic taunting him with gut punches. Lee showed off his agility with leapfrogs and took down Dijak with a shoulder block. Lee hit Dijakovic with a double chest slap. Lee ran and ran right into Dijak’s cyclone kick. Lee adjusted his weight to block a Dijak vertical suplex.
Lee hit Dijakovic with a forearm smash. Dijakovic blocked being slammed in the corner and yelled like he was Nicholas Cage seeing bees. Lee managed to slam Dijakovic in the corner and hit him with a slingshot splash for a two count. Lee hit Dijak with a Clothesline from hell for a two count. Dijak recovered at the apron and staggered Lee with strikes. Lee countered with a nasty looking chokeslam on Dijak on the hardest part of the ring. Mauro noted that Lee should be cognizant that their last match ended in countout. Lee tossed Dijakovic back in the ring to break the count.
Lee no-sold a few forearm smashes Dijak gave to his chest. Dijakovic dodged a lariat and sent Lee to ringside. Dijakovic hit Lee with an impressive Fosbury Flop for a man his size. Dijakovic went for a top rope cannonball but Keith Lee caught him midair. Dijakovic reversed a Spirit Bomb with a backflip. Dijakovic shook up Lee with strikes and threw the big man with a front release suplex. Dijakovic hit Lee with a moonsault for a two count. Mauro was super fired up after all of Dijakovic’s high flying.
Dijakovic tried to go back to the high risk district, but Lee recovered and the two men brawled to the top rope. Lee walked on the ropes like a tightrope. Beth was impressed by Lee’s balance. Lee hit Dijakovic with a sweet looking big man Super C4 Spanish Fly which fired up the crowd with an amazing kickout. Lee went high risk again now that he had Dijak in the center of the ring. Dijakovic recovered and kept Lee from ascending. Dijakovic and Lee went back to the top rope for more high flying shenanigans. Lee tossed Dijakovic to the mat. Dijakovic recovered and crotched Lee on the top rope. Dijakovic put Lee in the Torture Rack and hit him with the Feast Your Eyes (Burning Hammer GTS) for the victory.
Dominik Dijakovic defeated Keith Lee via pinfall in 11:15.
John’s Thoughts: A nice sweet piece of match. A Takeover-worthy one if you will, at least a pt. 1 of a multi-part takeover feud. This consisted of the greatest indy hits from Dijakovic and Lee and we’ve haven’t seen a lot of those hits in a while. This was a match that got pushed back and taken away almost six months to a year ago and both men delivered on the anticipation. I’m fine if they move on to different feuds after this, but it’s good to know that these two have barnburners in the back of their pocket if NXT needs a hot match.
A Johnny Gargano vignette aired that showed highlights from his career. The commentators tried to recap the video, but Shane Thorne walked up to the table to rant about not getting his own video packages and how he needs to be spotlighted. Mauro said they have to go to commercial now… [c]
A recap aired of last week’s segment where Shayna Baszler attempted to recruit Mia Yim into the MMA Horsewomen. This ended in Yim getting beat down…
They aired a YouTube video where Mia Yim demanded William Regal give her a match against Baszler. Regal told Yim that Baszler was justified because Yim jumped Baszler’s crew from behind…
Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir made their entrance. Baszler was about to cut a promo but she was cut off by Rhea Ripley making her entrance. Nigel noted that Rhea is a former NXT Women’s Champion. I forget if she had this haircut before, but the side dreadlocks look like a haircut and make her look even more like her doppelganger Pete Dunne. Rhea got a babyface reaction. Rhea shoved the mic at Rhea. Rhea said she knows what Baszler is about to say, that she beat everybody here, “but you haven’t beaten me Bitch!!!”. The Horsewomen retreated while gloating while Rhea Ripley stood tall in the ring with her entrance theme playing…
John’s Thoughts: A huge injection into the NXT Women’s Division. Rhea Ripley is an interesting wrestler in that every time she’s given TV time she evolves as a wrestler. Sky’s the limit and this should be a good feud. Still don’t think Shayna’s dropping the title though. Shayna as NXT Women’s Champion is infinite. Hopefully we continue to get two women’s matches at takeovers.
Speaking of Rhea Ripley’s doppelganger, they cut to the Pete Dunne interview. Dunne talked about how rules are different for him because he goes whereever he wants when he wants. He said he’s not done with NXT UK, but rather he’s putting everyone on notice. He talked about having his sights on the North American Championship. Dunne said if he’s at the back of the line now, bring it on. He said he’ll break peoples fingers and spirits if they want to step up to him… [c]
Nigel McGuinness hyped Velveteen Dream vs. Kona Reeves as well as Adam Cole vs. Jordan Myles for the NXT Championship in Myles’s contract cash-in…
John’s Thoughts: Forget about the NXT Championship match! We’re getting the return of “THE FINEST” Kona Reeves! Sadly Reeves has no chance. In all seriousness though, I think Reeves is ready to take the next step. Hopefully he gets a chance to break out once NXT moves to USA. By the way, there hasn’t been any NXT on USA mentions? Odd?
Alicia Taylor handled the formal ring introductions for the NXT Tag Team Title match. Drake Younger was the referee for the match…
3. “The Street Profits” Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford vs. “The Undsiputed Era” Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Ford kept a vertical base to fend off Fish’s MMA. Fish managed to get Ford in a rear mount to a side headlock. Fish then hit Ford with Muay Thai clinch knees. O’Reilly tagged in and continue the headlock dominance. Ford managed to fight out of the corner and tag in Dawkins for some tandem offense with Dawkins. Ford tagged in and worked on Fish. Nigel noted that the Profits might be stretching themselves thin by doing double duty between Raw and NXT (telegraphing?).
Ford hit Fish with a slingshot splash and armdrag. O’Reilly kicked Ford in the lower back followed by a chop block by Fish to Ford. O’Reilly tagged in and pummeled Ford with the Muay Thai. Fish and O’Reilly went into quick tag isolation. This isolation included an innovative Dragon Screw with the second rope as fulcrum. Ford fought off O’Reilly’s STF, but O’Reilly maintained control with a leg slam and isolation. Ford tried to make comebacks but UE, especially O’Reilly, continued to thwart Ford by targeting Ford’s rattled right leg.
Ford avoided a chop block from Fish and tagged in Dawkins with a dive. Dawkins cleaned house. Dawkins threw Fish into O’Reilly. Dawkins hit Fish with a spear for a two count. O’Reilly got a blind tag in and the referee saw it this time. O’Reilly gave Dawkins a chop block. Redragon gave Dawkins a Chasing the Dragon for a two count. O’Reilly locked Dawkins in a kneebar. Fish tried to keep Ford away but Ford fought through and broke up the submission. UE hit Ford with a nice assisted Dragon Screw. More madness ensued. O’Reilly hit Dawkins with an axe with no smash. Dawkins fought out of a triangle with a power bomb on O’Reilly. Ford hit O’Reilly with a Uranage.
Dawkins hit O’Reilly with a Frog Splash. Fish pulled O’Reilly outside to prevent the pin attempt. Nigel noted that it’s usually Ford that does the Frog Splash. More madness ensued. Ford missed a Frog Splash on O’Reilly. Dawkins was tossed away. O’Reilly and Fish hit Ford with Total Elimination to give Undisputed Era the title victory.
Undisputed Era defeated The Street Profits via pinfall in 11:25.
Beth Phoenix said that UE is one step closer to Adam Cole’s “Draped in Gold” prophesy. Adam Cole and Roderick Strong joined O’Reilly and Fish at the top of the ramp to celebrate and do their UE pose. This closed the show…
John’s Thoughts: A strong tag team title encounter. I think it was shorter, but I liked the bell-to-bell story that this match told better than their Takeover encounter. I can’t honestly remember a lot of the story of the Takeover match other than the blind tag. This one was strong with the beginning part built around UE injuring Ford’s leg and the 2nd half of the match consisting of the speed injection that both teams are capable of.
The title change was one spoiler I couldn’t avoid, but I wasn’t sure if they had a series of matches or just one. I’m guessing just one. One can assume that the Profits are moving to the main roster now, but NXT is moving to USA so this title change might also be playing into speculation in addition to moving towards a logical progression of the “Draped in gold” storyline. A really good episode of NXT with two compact, but Takeover quality matches.
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