By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Taped earlier today in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University
Aired June 17, 2020 on USA Network
[Hour One] Highlights from last week’s NXT show aired with new music playing in the background (as opposed to the usual Slipknot theme). Mauro Ranallo hyped both male and female tag team championships being defended on this show…
Mauro Ranallo, Tom Phillips, and Beth Phoenix were on commentary. Imperium made their usual entrance. Tyler Breeze and Fandango did a male stripper version of the Imperium entrance. Breezango were calling themselves “Emporium”…
1. “Imperium” Marcel Barthel and Fabien Aichner vs. “Breezango” Tyler Breeze and Fandango for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Imperium attacked Breezango quickly after the bell. The match got under control, with Barthel dominating Breeze. Breeze escaped a cravate with a jawbreaker. Aichner got the blind tag on Barthel and took down Breeze with a deep armdrag. Aichner’s deep armdrag kept Breeze under control during Breeze’s armdrags. Breeze got to a vertical base, where he took he and Aichner to ringside with a lariat. Barthel attacked Breeze which allowed Aichner to backdrop Breeze into the Plexiglass barrier at ringside. Aichner and Barthel worked on Breeze with quick tags and strikes.
To remind you that Barthel was German, Barthel said “Nein” (which he has said less than he used to). Breeze managed to backdrop Barthel, which allowed Breeze to tag in Dango who cleaned house. Dango kicked off of Barthel and hit Aichner with a Tornado DDT. Dango hit Imperium with a very impressive looking Tope Con Hilo, heading into commercial. [c]
Breeze hit Barthel with a vertical suplex back from break. Aichner tagged in and Barthel placed Breeze into the shoulder of Aichner for a brainbuster. Mauro talked about Aichner’s cruiserweight past (before he gained about 50 lbs). Breeze hit Barthel with a enzuigiri. Breeze put Aichner in a surfboard so Dango could hit him with an elbow drop. Barthel broke up the subsequent pin attempt by Dango. Barthel kicked Dango to escape the corner. Dango escaped a European Bomb attempt and Breezango hit Imperium with superkicks. Dango hit Aichner with a Last Dance. Barthel broke up the pin.
Suddenly, Rinku, Surav, and Malcolm Bivens walked to ringside. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch ran out to brawl with Indus Sher. Breeze tried to roll up Barthel, but Barthel wasn’t the legal man. Aichner hit Dango with a snug DDT for the victory.
Imperium defeated Breezango via pinfall in 9:03 of on-air TV Time to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships.
Tom Phillips checked in from the commentary table. Tom Phillips interviewed Velveteen Dream, who was sitting on his sex couch. Dream talked about how he doesn’t care about not being able to challenge for the NXT Championship at the moment. Dexter Lumis creeped behind dream and put a caricature drawing next to Dream. Dream saw the drawing, which was a caricature of Dream and Lumis being tag team champions. Dream said Lumis’s caricature is a mistake because Dream sees himself as a singles act, not as a team…
Damian Priest was shown walking outside of Full Sail…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A really fun tag team match with good usage of the breaking up of finishers. I like the match winning of a basic DDT because it’s always fun mixing things up. Not all matches need to end in a finisher and having finishes like this makes nearfalls more compelling (even if this wasn’t supposed to be the finish, just keeping that in play). If we can get more matches like this, the NXT Tag Division might be on its way to a successful recovery. It looks like we’re also building towards Dexter Lumis and Velveteen Dream being built up for a NXT Takeover Tag Team Title match down the road (given the high profile matches Dream and Lumis have been in recently).
Damian Priest made his entrance to the Full Sail ring. His opponent is the returning Killian Dain (who has spent recent weeks on Twitch streams with his fellow NXT wrestlers Brennan Williams and Mansoor)…
2. Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain. Priest no sold a shoulder block early on. Priest did a leapfrog, but was selling a back injury. This allowed Dain to hit Priest with a shotgun dropkick. Priest used kicks to fend off Dain. Mauro noted that Priest’s dad once trained with Chuck Norris. Priest regained control and hit Priest with a Guillotine Draping Legdrop. Dain smashed his forearms into the kidney of Priest. Priest fought his way out of Dain’s crossface. Dain went back to the kidney kick.
Priest used an uppercut to escape the corner. Priest missed a haymaker and got hit by two back suplexes. Dain then hit Priest with an inverted back suplex for a two count. Priest reversed a back suplex into a crossbody. Priest then sidestepped Dain, sending Dain into the top buckle. Priest bobed and weaved away from Dain’s punches. Priest hit Dain with a Tae Kwon Do combination. Priest hit Dain with a Back Suplex for a two count.
Priest hit Dain with a corner splash and running elbow to shake up Dain. Dain hit Priest with his signature running crossbody for a two count. Priest recovered, countered Dain, and hit Dain with the Reckoning for the win.
Damian Priest defeated Killian Dain via pinfall in 5:41.
Highlights from the match aired…
Tom Phillips hyped up Santos Escobar appearing live. They cut to a vignette for Escobar. It was spoken in Spanish and English, with subtitles. Escobar said he’s going to rewrite cruiserweight history in his own words, starting tonight. The vignette ended with Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Raul Mendoza taking off their luchador masks.
John’s Thoughts: The commentary was very different during the match compared to other Priest matches. I may be reading it wrong, but it seemed like Damian Priest is now a babyface given how favorable Mauro’s commentary was. If so, he might be in NXT for a little bit longer, to test out this new Babyface character. Maybe he’s there to fill the void left by Dominik Dijakovic if Dijak is expected to move to Raw. Speaking of voids, Damien Priest is a very underutilized wrestler. The guy can high fly, is a big man, and can talk well. It wasn’t too long ago that Dain was mixing it up at an equal level with Priest, Keith Lee, and Dijak. Hopefully he gets rebuilt soon too to give NXT another agile big man to be showcased.
“During the commercial”, Robert Stone was shown looking drunk, dissheveled, and with a brown paper bag (presumably with malt liquor or some other cheap booze). He was leaning ton the Plexiglass. Killian Dain bangged on the glass to scare Stone to the ground…
John’s Thoughts: Right? They have to be doing the drunk and crazy Laurel Van Ness storyline with Robert Stone, right?
Xia Li made her entrance first. Aliyah made her entrance, but went to pick up Robert Stone, to pick him up (along with his bottle of 40oz Malt Liquor) to drag him to ringside. Phillips noted that Stone hasn’t taken a bath in weeks…
3. Xia Li vs. Aliyah (w/drunk ass Robert Stone). Aliyah hit Li with a Thesz Press early on. Aliyah got a two count off a Northern Lights Suplex. Li rallied back with precision strikes. Li hit Aliyah with a flying jump kick. Drunk ass Robert Stone got on the apron and projectile vomited on Li. Aliyah rolled up Li for the literal dirty win.
Aliyah defeated Xia Li via pinfall in 1:49.
Stone took a tumble (but nice bump) at ringside from the apron to the floor…
Tom Phillips advertised a Roderick Strong therapy session for after the commercial…
Vince McMahon’s Thoughts: He’s gonna! He’s gonna! He’s gonna PUUUUUUUUUUKE!!!
John’s Thoughts: Uhm? A victory via projectile vomit. I guess? As strange as this was, I’m oddly very intrigued at the artist formerly known as Robbie E presumably picking up Chelsea Green’s TNA gimmick where she didn’t take baths or change her clothes for weeks too. Robert Stone has always been an underutilized actor in the ring so this has me hook, despite the puke jokes. I’ll give Robbie some extra props for presumably having some Old E under that brown bag. Maybe he’s a Mickey’s person?
It was time for the next part of Timothy Thatcher’s wrestling class segment. Thatcher taught and tortured one student in a Fujiwara Armbar lesson. Thatcher did the same for a wristlock lesson. Thatcher lined up his students and told them that the real work begins during the next lesson…
John’s Thoughts: Back when Walter was Thatcher’s mouthpiece (yes, that was a thing) in the OG Imperium, I always saw Thatcher as one of the most boring wrestlers in the world. His MLW run did a lot in giving him a lot of grittyness to the point where he stood out as one of the best looking “pure fighting” pro wrestlers in the world. Thatcher has looked very solid in NXT so far and I liked these last two weeks of simple “training” segments. Thatcher has broken away from that “most boring” moniker for me. Then again, the MMA style in pro wrestling might not appeal to non-fighting enthusiasts, so I can understand this not clicking with others too.
Tom Phillips introduced a Undisputed Era segment where Adam Cole and Bobby Fish took Roderick Strong to therapy. Cole and Fish tried to cheer on Strong while sitting in the limo, but Strong was looking depressed. Cole promised Strong that they found the best professional help and this guy will bring back the old Roderick Strong. They drove to the Doctor’s office. Roderick Strong laid down on a couch. His doctor was Kyle O’Reilly, who was dressed up as Sherlock Holmes for some reason.
Roderick Strong talked about how he was scared of Dexter Lumis to Dr. O’Reilly. Strong started freaking out again. Cole gave Strong a inkblock test. He said the first was muscles. Strong freaked out and said the second image was Lumis. Strong said the third picture was the Truck. Dr. O’Reilly assumed the Truck was the source of Strong’s fear. Strong continued to freak out and not accept help.
Adam Cole and Bobby Fish tried to encourage Roderick Strong to go in a car trunk. Roderick Strong was about to do it, but then ran away. Roderick Strong sprinted in a scene similar to Sammy Guavara running away from a golf cart. Cole and Fish shrugged at Strong just running away…
John’s Thoughts: Fun usage of the cinematic camera angles. This was presumably a very creative way to record Kyle O’Reilly in the same room as Cole, Fish, and Strong without him actually being in the room with them. Good stuff, and I always enjoy me some O’Reilly comedy, as cheesy as this was. The Sammy Guavara-like moment was fun too.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Adam Cole back at Full Sail and Cole was standing in front of the Scarlett Bordeaux hourglass (which was also sitting next to a Sonic milk shake, given by the sponsor of this episode). Cole talked about how it always ends the same way no matter who it is, Cole will always still be champion. Keith Lee walked up to Cole and said that it’s not Kross who will take the title from Cole, It’ll be Keith Lee. Lee broke the hourglass. Cole walked away and Lee said “Tick Tock”…[c]
[Hour Two] Adam Cole made his entrance to the Full Sail ring. Cole bragged about being champion for 381 days. He said he hasn’t taken it for granted because he’s the hardest working champion in the business. Cole talked about how people have been failing against Cole for 381 days . Cole brought up Karrion Kross challenging him next and praised Kross for beating Ciampa. Cole said he beat Ciampa too. Cole said Kross has been in NXT for a hot minute and needs to prove that he can challenge for the NXT Championship. Cole brought up Lee challenging Cole too.
Cole said that he feels like he would like to challenge for the North American Championship. Cole said when he beats Lee, he can call himself Champ Champ Bay Bay. Keith Lee made his entrance. Lee confronted Cole in the ring. Before he could get a word out, Johnny Gargano made his entrance with a mic. Gargano said he doesn’t care about moments, he cares about results. Gargano brought up pinning Keith Lee last week. Gargano said he’s coming for the championship. Gargano then talked about being the first Triple Crown Champion in NXT. Gargano talked about how he and LeRae want to be the NXT and NXT Women’s Champions as the same time.
Lee asked if LeRae was doing okay and talked about how he felt how sad he felt for LeRae last week. Lee joked that LeRae told Lee “thank you Mr. Limitless, that’s the most action I had all year”. Finn Balor made his entrance and called everyone in the ring “Marks”. Balor talked about how he won a lot of championships but was never North American Champion. Gargano said his name is not Mark and that Balor has to wait in line. Balor said he cuts in line. Balor challenged Keith Lee. Balor then moved over to Cole. Cole talked about breaking Balor’s record. Cole pointed at Cole’s jaw and said he’s going to punch Cole in the jaw…
William Regal appeared on the big screen. Regal announced Keith Lee vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Balor for the North American Championship. Regal then announced Adam Cole vs. The North American Champion in a winner takes all the championships match.
Tom Phillips hyped Bayley and Sasha Banks vs. Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships for later in the show. This match was sponsored by Sonic…
John’s Thoughts: While they are involving a lot of bodies in the picture, which also includes Karrion Kross, I like that all of these title claims are logically put together. I’m usually not a fan of convoluted title pictures like this, but each person delivered their case very well. Kross being out of the segment adds a layer of intrigue behind this title picture as well. This has the opportunity to lead to some strong Takeover level matches. I hope they deliver on those because NXT on USA has underdelivered on heavy hype too during the COVID era.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Keith Lee about potentially being a double champion. Candice LeRae walked up to argue with Keith Lee. Mia Yim showed up and a break apart brawl ensued between Yim and LeRae…
4. Kayden Carter (w/Kazy Catanzaro) vs. Dakota Kai (w/Raquel Gonzalez). Beth Phoenix gave Gonzalez a “Big Mami Cool” nickname in reference to Kevin Nash. Carter got Kai to the mat and hit Kai with a springboard dropkick. Carter and Gonzalez jawed at ringside. Carter punched Kai and avoided a lariat from Gonzalez. Kai hit Carter with a Scorpion Kick and got a two count on Carter. Carter had a rally. Carter dropkicked Kai and Carter took off her own shirt and let out a war cry. Carter hit Kai with a back kick for a two count.
Kai caught Carter with a right hand. Carter draped Kai and hit Kai with a draping Pedigree. Kai distracted the ref so Gonzalez could slam Carter on the apron. Kai locked Carter in an arm trap triangle submission for the win.
Dakota Kai defeated Kayden Carter via submission in 2:42.
The camera cut to backstage. The camera had a Black and White grainy film filter. Scarlett [Bordeaux] Walked up to the sand and picked some of it up. A male boot stepped on the broken glass. We can all assume this male is Karrion Kross…[c]
A vignette aired to reintroduce Mercedes Martinez. It said she was returning “soon”…
5. Bronson Reed vs. Leon Ruff. Reed quickly ran through Ruff and hit Ruff with a Senton Splash. Reed hit Ruff with a top rope splash for the win.
Bronson Reed defeated Leon Ruff via pinfall in 0:24.
Reed took the mic after the match. He called out Karrion Kross for a match next week. After the promo, Reed carried Ruff to the back on his shoulders. Phillips said it looked like sportsmanship…
They cut to Damian Priest outside who had the tires to his car flattened. Cameron Grimes drove up next to Priest and started making fun of Priest, saying that Priest needs an Uber. Grimes drove away with Preist looking frustrated…[c]
The artist formerly known as El Hijo Del Fantasma and King Cuerno, Santos Escobar, made his entrance. He was flanked by Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde. The trio all wore black suits. Escobar talked about how Hijo Del Fantasma was know as the best Lucha Libre artist ever. Escobar said when you wear a mask, they only see a luchador in a mask. Escobar talked about how he was that for years, but soon he earned the opportunity to get to NXT. Escobar said the story of Hijo Del Fantasma had to end. Escobar said his father Fantasma told him that he was going to be a leader and now it was time for Escobar to lead Wilde and Mendoza to being leaders.
Drake Maverick cut off Escobar, talking to himself that he has more brawn than brains. Maverick tried to attack Escobar, but the heels had the numbers game. The trio tossed maverick to a table area. Escobar hit Maverick with a nasty looking, but nice, Thrill of the Hunt (Samoan Driver) to leave Maverick lying…
Tom Phillips plugged the Sonic milkshake again and said that the Women’s Tag Team Title match is going to happen after the commercial…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A bit simplistic, but I really like the look of the heel trio that Escobar is leading. One tool that Escobar has that a lot of mexican born wrestlers don’t is his perfect English. I’d say that Escobar’s promo ability might surpass Alberto Del Rio’s ability, but we’ll wait to see how he handles the new Escobar persona. This looks to be very similar to his King Cuerno character, except he traded in the cowboy attire for a black suit. This should be really fun feud and Maverick is the perfect plucky babyface to get any heel over.
The camera showed that Drake Maverick was being stretchered into an ambulance during the break. Jake Atlas was escorting Drake Maverick in support. Phillips noted that Maverick is being sent to a local medical facility…
Tom Phillips advertised Karrion Kross vs. Bronson Reed for next week. Beth Phoenix advertised Damian Priest vs. Cameron Grimes for next week. Phillips then announced Keith Lee vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Balor for the North American Championship next week…
The tag team championship entrances took place, complete with Shotzi driving her toy tank to the ring. Alicia Taylor handled the formal in-ring introductions…
6. Sasha Banks and Bayley vs. Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Tom Phillips plugged the Sonic milkshakes again. Nox got an early pin attempt on Banks. Blackheart tagged in and rolled up Banks for a two count. Bayley and Blakheart traded reversals with Blackheart getting a two count on Bayley. Bayley countered a Blackheart and hit Blackheart with a knee strike. Bayley mocked Blackheart’s wolf howl heading into the break.[c]
Bayley was dominating Nox back from the break. Nox slapped Bayley’s back to get a window of opportunity to tag in Shotzi. Shotzi and Sasha tagged in. Shotzi gave Sasha a splash in the corner. Shotzi hit Banks with a Switchblade Kick and Suplex for a two count. Sasha held open the ropes to spill Shotzi to ringside. Banks hit Blackheart with a meteora from the apron to ringside. Banks got a two count on Blackheart. Blackheart avoided getting hit by a meteora in the corner. Nox and Blackheart hit Banks and Bayley with inploding cannonballs.
Nox hit Bayley with the Lady Kane Chokeslam from the apron to ringside. Blackheart hit Banks and Bayley with a diving crossbody to ringside. Blackheart hit Bayley with an assisted Sliced Bread #2. Banks broke up the pin attempt. Nox and Banks tagged in and traded hockey fight punches. Nox put Banks in the electric chair, but Banks escaped. Shotzi tagged in and hit Banks with a missile dropkick. Both women traded rollups with Banks locking in the Bank Statement.
Shotzi Blackheart reversed the Banks Statement into the Cattle Mutilation (Daniel Bryan’s old finisher). Bayley brought a chair in the ring and Nox took it away. The referee was distracted, thinking that Nox brought the chair in the ring. Bayley flipped Banks out of the Cattle Mutilation and put Shotzi into Banks’s Bank Statement. Shotzi tapped out.
Sasha Banks and Bayley defeated Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox via submission in 8:06 of on-air TV time to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
The Women’s Tag Team Champions were gloating in the ring. Io Shirai ran out and cleaned house. Shirai hit Banks and Bayley with meteoras in the corner. Shirai posed with the NXT Women’s Championship. Banks and Bayley backtracked. Shirai’s theme played with Phillips recapping the closing segment. Phillips brought up the advertised matches for next week’s show again before the show closed…
John’s Thoughts: This week’s NXT was bookended with Tag Team Championship matches. Both had a similar pace and both delivered in a positive way. I didn’t know what to expect from Blackheart and Nox, but they had really good chemistry with the tag champs. What’s even better is Banks and Blackheart didn’t injure themselves from doing a overly risky move, so that’s a plus. I wouldn’t mind seeing more women’s tag team matches on NXT here and there as I feel it won’t hurt and it’ll give some of the credible women on NXT something to do when they aren’t in a title or grudge feud.
So this was a good episode of NXT as usual, but I thought that this week’s episode of NXT did something that other wrestling companies need to take a look at. That thing is, making the championships and wins mean something. I brought up earlier how the North American and World Championship titles are a bit cluttered, but what makes it work is everyone involved in those feuds are treating the championship titles like it’s the biggest things in their worlds. Both Tag Team Titles got some shine on this episode too. Even something as little as having Indus Sher and Lorcan and Burch run out adds some prestige to the title due to multiple forces running in to gun for it. Let’s see if NXT can keep this championship prestige up in upcoming weeks. They were had on advertising next week’s show (which should already be taped), so they might be confident that next week’s show is killer too. Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow with my NXT Audio Review for the Dot Net Members. Jason Powell will be by when he watches the show with his Hit List…
“Not all matches need to end in a finisher”
Too many matches don’t end until the 53rd finisher. Too many moves like the DDT aren’t used as finishers anymore. We need way more of this kind of win (DDT, superkick, etc) than we need kickout fests.