By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV on USA Network
Aired live October 16, 2019 from Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University
[Hour One] Highlights from last week’s NXT episode aired. An updated version of the NXT slipknot opening video aired…
Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Beth Phoenix were on commentary. Tommasso Ciampa made his entrance for the opening match…
1. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Angel Garza. Beth and Mauro noted that Garza asked for this match after getting clocked by Ciampa last week. Garza managed to elude Ciampa early on with his quickness. He also tricked Ciampa into stalling to eat an Enzuigiri. Garza had a bad floor landing on a baseball slide. Ciampa then tossed Garza around ringside, ending with a toss over the steel steps. Ciampa was trapped in the second ropes near the buckle. Garza dropkicked Ciampa’s knee which Nigel noted was an injured knee of Ciampa. Garza hit Ciampa with a dive and a top rope jump kick.
Garza ripped off his pants while Ciampa was recovering. Garza threw the pants at Ciampa and Ciampa threw it back. Ciampa gave Garza a face wash knee. While Garza was recovering, Ciampa went on to have a pseudo wrestling match with Garza’s pants. He put the boots to the pants and teased giving it a suplex. Ciampa caught an incoming Garza with the Willow’s Bell (draping DDT) for the victory.
Tommaso Ciampa defeated Angel Garza via pinfall in 3:17
Undisputed Era made their entrance to flank the ring. Ciampa set up a chair and held up a crutch in the ring to hold his ground. Kyle O’Reilly went to the commentary table and gave Mauro Ranallo a USB drive. Undisputed Era then retreated while Mauro noted that he was about to figure out how to get the contents of the USB drive played…
Nigel McGuinness advertised a “message form Finn Balor” for later in the show. Keith Lee was shown psyching himself up backstage… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Standard enhancement-like match to hype a returning star. Garza is something special and has the complete package in terms of in-ring and personality. NXT does have a good formula of doing an in-ring match and then an angle afterwards, but it would probably help out if they don’t make it seem like a formula and more natural down the road. So far it’s ok, but that can get a little tiresome if done for months without variation.
Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix, and Nigel McGuinness checked in on commentary. They sent things over to the UE’s USB video file. The video footage showed Velveteen Dream beat up in a parking lot while the UE yelled at him. This was in revenge for Dream saying that Roderick Strong has a micropenis. Strong stomped on Dream’s three lens glasses. O’Reilly ended the video by saying “dream over”…
2. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan vs. “Imperium” Fabien Aichner and Marcel Barthel (w/Alexander Wolfe). Aichner and Burch started out the match. Mauro noted that Aichner gained muscle weight after being a cruiserweight at one point. Burch and Lorcan traded quick tags early on but Aichner tossed Burch to his corner and tagged in Barthel. Burch regained control after a headbutt and a missile dropkick. Beth compared Burch to Rugby Star Vinnie Jones. Aichner and Barthel trapped Burch in the Tree of Woe. Aichner gave Burch a basement dropkick heading into break. [c]
Oney Lorcan got the hot tag back from break. He hit both Imperium members with two different planchas at ringside. Burch hit Aichner with an assisted power bomb leading to a jackknife pin and a kickout. Barthel broke up Lorcan and Burch’s finisher attempt. Lorcan and Aichner traded chops. After a bit of a rally, Aichner hit Lorcan with a brainbuster suplex. Aichner hit Lorcan with a Rey Fenix-like double springboard moonsault for a nearfall. Barthel tagged in and ate some chops from Lorcan. Aichner and Barthel then hit a lot of power moves on Lorcan ending with a European Bomb (Uppercut and Power Bomb) for the Imperium victory.
Imperium defeated Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch via pinfall in 5:04 of TV Time.
Mauro noted that Walter wasn’t in the ring with them today. Mauro then cut to a Johnny Gargano video package…
NXT aired a Johnny Gargano video package which I believe is a chopped up version of one of the video packages leading up to one of the Gargano vs. Cole matches…
John’s Thoughts: Very smart to have Imperium pick up the win because they were getting beat up single handedly by Kushida for weeks. It’s simple wins like this that can keep them from coming off as Walter’s stooges/cannon-fodder. Fabien Aichner is something special and can essentially do anything luchador Rey Fenix can do. It’s crazy. Just he can also do power moves. Barthel is a hidden gem as well. In fact, I was higher on him than Walter when they teamed up in the European indie scene.
Cathy Kelley interviewed Johnny Gargano “earlier today” about Tommasso Ciampa making his return. Gargano acknowledged his history with Ciampa and said he honestly doesn’t know how he feels before he meets Ciampa in person…
Dominik Dijakovic was psyching himself backstage…
Io Shirai was advertised for after the break (they had Poppy’s “Scary Face” song in the background)… [c]
Io Shirai made her cool as hell entrance…
John’s Thoughts: I’m sorry, Io can do no wrong for me at this point. And I was on team Kairi Hojo when Shirai was in Stardom and Shirai has completely won me over.
3. Io Shirai vs. Kayden Carter. Kayden Carter is the former Lacey Lane from the WWE Mae Young classic which Beth Phoenix noted. Mauro noted that carter had a good match against Rhea Ripley before. Shirai and Carter showed off a few flips against each otehr for a stalemate. They both reversed each other’s chain wrestling. Beth noted that Carter was trained at the Team 3D academy. Carter caught Shirai with a basement shotgun dropkick. Shirai gained control by tripping Carter on the apron. Inside of the ring, Shirai caught Carter with a slingshot dropkick.
Shirai blocked a Sunset Flip. Carter reversed a stomp and hit Shirai with a capoiera kick. Shirai got a nearfall on Shirai. Shirai planted Carter with a deadlift Suplex and then hit her with her beautiful looking moonsault for the victory.
Io Shirai defeated Kayden Carter via pinfall in 2:37.
Shirai grabbed a mic afterward. She received a positive reaction. She said “Not Rhea, not Bianca, Shayna!”. Before she could get everything out, she was interrupted by Rhea Ripley. Rhea snatched the mic from Shirai. Ripley said last week Bianca ran her mouth and next week she’s putting Bianca in her place. Ripley said the next time Shirai puts Ripley’s name in her mouth again she will shut Shirai up too. Shirai backed down and jawed with Ripley in japanese. Shirai backtracked up the ramp…
They aired highlights from the Boa vs. Cameron Grimes 5 second match. This ended with Killian Dain beating up Boa after the match…
Boa was shown talking in Mandarin and shadow boxing. My mandarin is rusty so I couldn’t translate quickly enough…
Cathy Kelley interviewed William Regal about the advertised Strong vs. Dream match next week. Regal said Dream is not cleared to wrestle after the UE’s attack and he was now turning Dominik Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee to a number one contender’s match for a shot at Roderick Strong’s title… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Good stuff as usual from Shirai but I’m not sure if they’re going with her as a babyface and letting the fans choose, or if they’re going to keep Shirai a heel. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if they keep Shirai as a heel because it helps out the opponents she’s against to develop sympathy. I get that it’s tough because Shirai’s so cool, but it’s definitely possible as evidenced in the Candice LeRae feud.
4. Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic for a title shot at the NXT North American Championship. Dijak jawed with Lee early on, saying he was drawing a line in the sand. Lee and Dijakovic then ran into each other and not fazing, ending in stalemate. Lee then managed to get Dijakovic to his knee with a tackle. Lee lifted Dijakovic by thrusting up Dijakovic’s wrists. Lee did a leapfrog into a tackle on Dijakovic. Lee hit Dijakovic’s left arm with a standing Frog Splash. Mauro noted that Lee might be attacking the left arm of Dijakovic to prevent him from lifting Lee and using the Feast Your Eyes. Dijakovic hit Lee with a lariat right before the picture-in-picture commercial. [c]
Back from break, Lee hulked up and started bating away Dijakovic’s strikes. Lee then cornered Dijakovic with a punch combination. Lee tossed Dijak like a boulder. Beth noted that Dijakovic and Lee might be worse for Strong than Dream. Lee launched Dijakovic with a Monty Brown pounce. Dijakovic hit Lee with a chokebomb for a two count. Lee and Dijak got to the top rope. Lee escaped a Superplex by wrenching Dijakovic’s injured arm. Lee hit Dijak with one of his signature chest slaps. Lee then hit Dijak’s left arm with a super heavyweight splash. Keith Lee hit Dijakovic with his finisher, the Spirit Bomb. Dijakovic rolled away from the ring to prevent the pinfall.
Dijakovic managed to catch a running Lee out of nowhere with a Cyclone Kick. Lee and Dijakovic traded suplex positions with Lee winning the deadlift suplex battle. Lee got a two count on Dijak. Dijakovic tried to grab Lee off the top rope but couldn’t because of an arm injury. Dijakovic instead used his head to put Lee in Electric Chair. Lee countered with a Poison Rana for a two count. Lee and Dijakovic both went to the top rope again. Lee blocked Dijakovic’s Frankensteiner. Suddenly Roderick Strong ran out and attacked both opponents with belt shots for the no-contest.
Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic ended in a no contest in 15:20.
William Regal walked out and called Strong “Clever” and “sunshine”. He said instead, Strong will defend his title against both Lee and Dijakovic next week…
Matt Riddle is “in action” after the break… [c]
John’s Thoughts: A really good match as expected; and before the screwy finish this was one of the better storytelling matches of their series. While some may see it as main roster shennanigans, The Undisputed Era has been established even in the old NXT as being the masters of the screwy finish. Having UE as champions allows them to have more screwy finishes on NXT and have them make sense. I also see Lee and Dijakovic both being put in a match with Strong being put in place so that all three have an out when Strong retains the championship.
The Undisputed Era were shown backstage yelling at William Regal for his recent decision. Regal walked pass them and blew them off…
The graphic advertised Roderick Strong vs. Dominik Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee for the NXT North American Championship for next week…
5. Matt Riddle vs. Bronson Reed. Beth Phoenix compared Reed to Samoa Joe in terms of athleticism. Riddle and Reed started off the match with a code of honor handshake. Both men traded power moves. Riddle gained control with a Final Flash and roundhouse kicks. Riddle hit Reed with an Exploder and running PK for a two count. Riddle went for a senton but Reed got his knees up. Reed hit Riddle with a senton of his own. Riddle staggered Reed with a Pele Kick and then lifted and hit Reed with a GTS.
Riddle hit Reed with a Power Bomb and Final Flash for a two count. Reed countered a Whisper of the Wind with a power bomb on Riddle for a two count. Reed pulled down the straps of his singlet. Riddle recovered and put Reed in a sleeper. Reed escaped. Riddle caught Reed and hit Reed with the Bro-Derek for the victory.
Matt Riddle defeated Bronson Reed via pinfall in 3:03.
Reed and Riddle shared a fist bump after the match out of respect.
A Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley hype package aired. The video ended with Belair saying that the match is fun for Bianca but for Ripley it’s going a nightmare…
Tegan Nox (Dot Net Staffer Haydn Gleed’s favorite wrestler) was advertised as making her return for after the break… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Good showcase for Riddle who doesn’t have bad matches in general. I’m surprised they have Reed take so many losses and don’t protect the guy, but he can easily come back due to his size and athleticism. I do wonder if they team up Reed with Shane Thorne down the road given that Reed used to team up with Shane Thorne and Nick Miller back in their overseas days.
Mauro noted that Kushida will be out for a month due to aggravating a wrist injury…
6. Tegan Nox vs. Taynara. Tegan Nox came out to pop punk music (which is a plus in my book). Nox had braces on both knees. She started off the match with a schoolgirl and armdrag. Nox took down Taynara with a dropkick. Taynara caught Nox off guard with a running knee to send Nox to ringside. Taynara went for a pin after a kick to Nox’s arm. Taya hit Nox with a few Judo tosses. Taynara caught Nox with a corner meteora and got a two count after a Monkey Flip.
Nox recovered and hit Taynara with a Uranage which Beth noted was inspired by Kane. Nox hit Taynara with a senton in the corner followed up by a crossbody. Nox hit Taynara with the Shiniest Wizard for the victory.
Tegan Nox defeated Taynara via pinfall in 2:53.
Highlights from the match were shown. Cathy Kelley interviewed Nox afterward. Dakota Kai ran out and gave Nox a hug. Before Nox could get any words out. Shayna Baszler and the MMA horsewomen made their entrance. Baszler assumed that Nox wants to throw her name in the hat of title contention. Baszler said to ask Kai what it’s like to be in the ring with Baszler. Baszler said that Nox is running out of limbs to get repaired. Nox jawed with Baszler and asked for a title shot. Baszler said that Nox hasn’t earned a shot and asked Nox to come back when she does something to earn attention…
Damien Priest was shown backstage with two cute girls standing next to him. Mauro then hyped Finn Balor’s message for after the break… [c]
John’s Thoughts: A good debut for Nox on NXT US. Not the best spotlight with Taynara still in her developmental stages. Taynara is improving and can finally emerge out of being the designated enhancement wrestler once she puts it all together. Nox is good, but I’m still wondering why everyone talks the world about her. That can be easily done with consistent work on TV (hell, it took me years, but Jimmy Havoc is starting to grow on me with his work in MLW recently). Good work after by Baszler who is a damn good bully. Nice referencing of her injuring Dakota Kai and the line about Nox’s limbs was savage.
A Finn Balor video package aired. Balor talked about how he’s returning to the past after being at a crossroads. He said he’s finding his heart. He said next week “my future will be my past”…
John’s Thoughts: At least Balor isn’t waiting for anyone to knock on his door. I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between that and an Aleister Black promo. But it was better.
7. Killian Dain vs. Boa. Boa landed a lot of kicks on Dain and even got Dain to his knees with a dropkick. Dain went to ringside to recover. Dain gained control by catching Boa in the gut with a low crossbody. Dain gave Boa a series of elbow drops in the ring. Dain planted Boa with a snap suplex. Boa kicked out at two and Mauro noted that Dain didn’t put all his weight into the pin. Dain then gave Boa a cravate. Dain planted Boa and hit him with several consecutive Vader Bombs. Dain made Boa submit with a grounded Half Nelson.
Killian Dain defeated Boa via pinfall in 3:38.
Mauro cut to a Drew Gulak vs. Lio Rush highlight package. Rush said he’s the greatest crusierweight in the world right now and that’s a great feeling. He was speaking very humbly…
Pete Dunne made his entrance. Killian Dain met him at the top of the stage. Dunne immediately snapped the fingers of Dain and did his signature shrug. The referees held Dain back from entering the ring… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Nice touch with the Dain and Dunne interaction. I like that it shows that wrestlers aren’t just contained into their specific segments. I wonder if this is setting up for Dain to attack Dunne in the upcoming match to protect Pete Dunne.
Beth Phoenix advertised Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair and the North American Championship match for next week…
8. Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest. Mauro said Damien Priest likes poppin’ bottles and datin’ models. Priest caught Dunne with a flying uppercut early on. He then hit Dunne with a series of martial arts strikes. Dunne came back with a lariat and joint manipulation. Dunne hit Priest with an elbow stomp. Dunne then PK’d Dunne’s elbow afterward. Priest slammed Dunne on the apron. Priest clocked Dunne with a right hand heading into the Picture-in-picture commercial with four minutes left at the top of the hour. [c]
Dunne gave Priest a Superplex back from the break. Dunne and Priest traded slaps. Dunne did his signature flip in the corner followed by a enzuigiri and dropkick. Priest caught Dunen with a back elbow. Dunne came back with a suplex and hand stomp. Dunne caught Priest outside with a Triangle Moonsault. Dunne continued to attack the fingers of Dunne. Dunne hit Priest with a sitout bomb for a two count. Dunne hit Priest with reverse curb stomps but Priest came back with his own stomps from the ground. Dunne came back with an armbreaker. Priest got a break and hit Dunne with an enzuigiri.
Priest threw Dunne into a ringpost. Priest hit Dunne with a Razor’s Edge for a two count. Mauro noted that they were going into overrun again. Priest caught Dunne outside with a springboard senton flip to the outside. Dunne went high risk. Priest hit Dunne with a cyclone kick and Frankensteiner. Priest caught Dunne with a sitout chokeslam for a two count. Dunne hit his rapid punches while Priest came back with Muay Thai knees. Priest turned Dunne inside out with a lariat. Both men countered each other’s finishers. Then they traded kicks. Dunne blocked a Superman Punch with a right hand. Both men were left lying to recover. Dunne went for a moonsault but Priest got the knees up. Dunne escaped Razor’s Edge with the finger manipulation. Priest kicked the balls of Dunne away from the Ref’s vision. Priest hit Dunne with The Reckoning (Cross Rhodes) for the victory.
Damien Priest defeated Pete Dunne via pinfall in 14:15.
NXT closed with Priest celebrating up the ramp…
John’s Thoughts: A fun first match in this feud with a finish that protects Pete Dunne. I’m okay with them going with the ball kick instead of the presumed foreshadow of Killian Dain because it trains the viewers to not necessarily be staring at the ramp waiting for interference. A part of me wishes that NXT didn’t go to the well of heels always having to cheat to win, but there are situations where that has to happen especially since both men here should be protected. I also assume that we’ll be seeing more screwy TV finishes to extend feuds now that they have to fill two hours of television; but maybe they end up toning that down once they introduce more characters to weekly television.
A solid weekly episode of NXT. NXT is starting to settle down into producing solid weekly television instead of trying to go with all the big matchups top to bottom. They are doing a decent job introducing promo and in-ring angles in between the matches, but as I mentioned earlier it would come off better if they made those seem more natural occurring than formula. MLW does that well with the way they plan out their segments. Anyway, solid weekly edition. I’ll be by tomorrow with my weekly member’s exclusive NXT Audio Review and Jason Powell should be by sometime with an NXT Hit List.
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