By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
NXT Hits
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler vs. Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez confrontation: I am more interested in their upcoming title match after one verbal exchange than I’ve been for 99 percent of the main roster WWE Women’s Tag Title match. I wondered if Jax and Baszler would drop the tag titles to Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair soon when Kai and Gonzalez won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. And while I suppose that could still happen, I am now invested in seeing Kai and Gonzalez challenge for the tag straps. Sure, they are all heels, but Kai and Gonzalez are fighting on their home turf and will be fun babyfaces for one night.
Finn Balor, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong vs. Pete Dunne, Danny Burch, and Oney Lorcan: A good match that set up the continuation of Adam Cole turning on O’Reilly. The post match angle was strong with Cole taking out O’Reilly and Balor. I also like that they left us waiting for Cole’s first promo coming out of his betrayal.
Kushida vs. Tyler Rust: An entertaining match. I like the way that Malcolm Bivens tried to take advantage of Kushida being banged up coming out of his Takeover match. Rust was given plenty of offense and looked good in defeat, especially with Bivens forfeiting for him to protect his investment so that he could live to fight another day.
Isaiah Scott vs. Leon Ruff: A nice match with underdog Ruff beating the overly confident Scott. This was similar to Scott losing to Jake Atlas, but this time around he finally snapped and beat the hell out of Ruff afterward. Hopefully the plan now is for Scott to start winning matches.
Zoey Stark vs. Valentina Feroz: A solid showcase win for Stark in her NXT singles debut. Stark’s ring work wasn’t flawless, but she performed a couple of impressive high impact moves, including a wicked suplex before going over.
LA Knight: Knight debuted at Takeover and I was hoping that we’d see him at least appear at the Capitol Wrestling Center. But the “at home promo” was good and it’s okay to be left wanting more.
Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro vs. Jessi Kamea and Aliyah: With two matches on this episode, it was nice to see that the women’s tag matches aren’t stopping just because Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic has concluded. The other women’s match was better in terms of quality, but it suffered from other issues. This was more about setting up the post match angle that set up Carter vs. Xia Li for next week.
NXT Misses
Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon vs. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell: A match that felt like it went longer than it needed to even before the oddball distraction finish. And after all that, the heel duo didn’t even sell the loss because they were too busy celebrating the return of Austin Theory. As such, the babyface duo didn’t feel like they really accomplished anything. If nothing else, at least the always entertaining Johnny Gargano was on commentary for a good portion of the match.
“Sure, they are all heels, but Kai and Gonzalez are fighting on their home turf and will be fun babyfaces for one night.”
And that in a nutshell answers your own questions about why wrestlers care about brand supremacy during Survivor Series.
Um, sure…