By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT 2.0
Live from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Aired August 23, 2022 on USA Network
[Hour One] Highlights from last week’s NXT Heatwave Themed episode aired…
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett were on commentary. Alicia Taylor was the ring announcer…
NXT opened up with NXT Champion Bron Breakker making his entrance in street clothes. Wade Barrett assumed that Breakker was coming out to respond to last week’s UK Invasion in NXT. Breakker asked where were his dogs at? Breakker gave JD McDonagh credit for being one of the best wrestlers in the world. Breakker also noted that NXT UK Champion Tyler Bate showed up to make his presence felt. Breakker demanded Tyler Bate confront him. Tyler Bate made his entrance (looking like he was a part time chef. I kid, I kid).
Bate thanked Bron for the invitation and congratulated Breakker for defending against JD last week. Bate talked about how NXT UK has been host to some of the best in the business. Bate said he’s standing here as the proud flagbarer of NXT UK. Bate said he’s the first, and last, NXT UK Champion. Bate said that with NXT Europe kicking off, now’s the time to unify the UK and and NXT titles. Breakker said he’s well aware of how good Bate is. Breakker said NXT US is where great stars are made too. Bron Breakker agreed to a title unification match at World’s Collide. Both men held up their titles to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: Standard setup to consolidate the NXT titles. Breakker vs. Bate should be a fun brawl. I’m curious to see if NXT Europe will spawn a new set of titles. It’s smart to put the current titles on ice now though as to not inflate the length of the title reigns while the brand is on haitus.
Vic Joseph sent the show to a Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang) introductory video package. The trio cut a promo about liking to finish fights and being a dominant faction. Joe talked about how it will always end with the Gallus boys on the top…
Gallus made their entrance first. Before Briggs and Jensen could make their way out, the camera cut to backstage where Fallon Henley and Lash Legend were having a bit of a cat fight. Briggs and Jensen had to drag Henley away…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Look! Everyone gets to keep their names and gimmicks these days. Poor James Drake and Zack Gibson had the worst timing ever, having to get lame ass names, lose all their hair, and be forced to wrestle in bath robes.
1. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen (w/Fallon Henley) vs. “Gallus” Mark Coffey and Wolfgang (w/Joe Coffey) for the NXT UK Tag Team Championships. Wolfgang and Mark quickly dragged Briggs to their corner and cut the ring in half on him. Briggs came back with a clubbing blow on Mark and tagged in Jensen who took down Mark with a shoulder tackle. Jensen hit Mark with a bulldog for a two count. Mark tagged in Wolfgang and the Gallus duo went back to cutting the ring in half, this time on Jensen. Jensen eventually slipped under two lariats and then tagged in Briggs. Briggs and Jensen dumped Gallus to ringside. The show cut to picture-in-picture. [c]
Gallus cut the ring in half on Jensen back from the break. Vic Joseph said there’s extra security around due to Gallus (I think I see NXT Level Up’s Hank standing in the front row). Mark backslid Jensen for the two count. Jensen managed to backdrop Mark to tag in Briggs. Briggs cleaned house. Lash Legend showed up and punched Fallon Henley. Pretty Deadly showed up and brawled with Briggs and Jensen. As the two teams brawled to the back, Gallus somehow won via countout.
Gallus defeated Briggs and Jensen via countout in roughly 8:55.
The referee told Gallus that you can’t win via countout (but they should have lost via DQ!). Diamond Mine ran out to brawl with Gallus. Security ran out to separate the two factions…
Grayson Waller was instruction a production person on how to set up his talk show…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Decent match, but horrendous finish. Not only did they try to shoehorn a brawl in there, but the finish made no sense. The referee was clearly staring as Pretty Deadly attacked Briggs and Jensen. That should have been a DQ win for Briggs and Jensen. On top of that, they should have just put the tag belts on Gallus to set up Gallus vs. Diamond Mine in a unification match. For some reason, I think they want to have Pretty Deadly, Briggs and Jensen, Diamond Mine, and Gallus in a convoluted four way unification match (Only reason I see them taking this illogical approach is maybe they want to port the unified titles to Pretty Deadly).
The show cut to the latest Chase U skit. Andre Chase introduced his students to Charlie Dempsey (William Regal’s real life son). They were all in a wrestling ring. One Chase U student stepped up for a lesson and was tied up by Charlie. Bodhi Hayward also stepped up and was tied up and beat up by Regal’s son. Briggs separated the two and Dempsey said that Chase’s students were soft…
Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett checked in from ringside and verified that the Breakker vs. Bate unification match was made official. Grayson Waller cut off their plugs and introduced his talk show. Waller had a talk show table and for some reason they also had his face on a picture-in-picture. Waller did one of his usual rants against the fans, while bragging about being big on social media. Waller introduced Apollo Crews and said that Crews is an accomplished champion on the main roster, yet he’s taking away opportunities from others in NXT now. Crews made his entrance. He still has his new theme, but they added the “APOLLO” intro back.
After Crews sat down, Waller called Crews a clout chaser. Crews said you shouldn’t wonder why Crews is here because Crews was born in NXT. Crews said he knew the fans would like it, but some people like Waller are just jealous. Waller mocked Crews for losing his Nigerian accent and garb. Crews responded with his accent jokingly. Crews said he’s still a proud Nigerian warrior and proud of his heritage. He said that led him to winning the Intercontinental Championship. He said he was focusing too much on his past, that it stopped him from focusing on the future. Waller said Crews just admitted he’s selfish.
Crews said he’s a visual thinker and we can all speak things into existance. Waller said Crews thinks of himself as a hero, but he left Diamond Mine lying when they needed backup against Gallus. This got on Crews’s nerves. Waller said that Crews must be shook knowing that Waller is going to run off Crews from NXT. Crews asked Waller how it feels being a low budget Miz. Waller said that’s a complement. The crowd chanted Low Budget Miz. Waller asked Crews how it feels to not cut it on Mondays and Fridays. Crews said he tells them he was a champ on Mondays, Fridays, and soon to be Tuesdays. Crews punched Waller and said that was the Crews effect. Waller laughed as Apollo stood tall…
The security guards were holding the Gallus trio backstage. Pretty Deadly showed up to taunt Gallus, talking about how they took the UK titles from Gallus back in the UK. This fired up Gallus and they had to be pulled back by the security…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Great promo exchange. I roll my eyes every time I see the latest WWE talk show, so I went into this segment with low expectations. Grayson Waller carried this segment and took things to a different level. First of all, I actually liked the set because it didn’t look like WWE’s usual stock talk shows. The picture-in-picture was weird, but it differentiated Waller’s talk show. Crews is still a bit rough, but he was decent here. I liked that he tied up the whole Nigerian thing and explained why he’s back in NXT. Waller was a good agitator, and came up with some good heel comebacks. They call Waller “low budget Miz”, the advantage Waller has though is his workrate. So he’s Miz on the mic, but a high flyer in the ring. Crews vs. Waller should be a wonderful feud if given time.
A Tyler Bate introductory promo aired where he introduced himself as the first and last NXT UK Champion. He talked about joining WWE at age 19, and is still here at age 25. He said they call him a “Big Strong Boi” for a reason. He said he’s going to end NXT UK the same way it started, with Tyler Bate standing tall with the championship….
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Von Wagner and Mr. Stone. Stone tried to rant about Tyler Bate. Von Wagner cut off Stone and called himself a “Big Strong Man”. Wagner said after he crushes Bate, Bate won’t make it to World’s Collide…
John’s Thoughts: I mean, the guy has a manager. Why do they keep having him talk?
Javier Bernal made his entrance. He now has an overt heel persona. They aired footage of Javier talking to Security Guard Hank about how he’s going to beat up Cameron Grimes. After Javi left, Hank called Javi a prick. Back at the PC, Cameron Grimes made his entrance. Joe Gacy, Jagger Reed, and Rip Fowler were standing on the crow’s nest. Gacy wished Grimes luck in his next match…
2. Cameron Grimes vs. Javier Bernal. Bernal dominated the early match with strikes and a bulldog. The commentary team talked about how Bernal has been making a name for himself on Level Up. Bernal dominated for a stretch until Grimes backdropped him. Grimes hit Bernal with a knee to the gut and a basement boot. Grimes hit Bernal with a back hook kick. Grimes yelled “to the moon” and then hit Bernal with the Cave-In for the victory.
Cameron Grimes defeated Javier Bernal via pinfall in 2:33.
Grimes glared at Joe Gacy…
John’s Thoughts: Decent squash, but I’m not looking forward to the Grimes vs. Gacy feud. Everyone who feuds with Gacy comes out damaged. It was the same problem as Bray Wyatt. Speaking of Wyatt, this is just a low budget version of the horrible Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt feud (see! Bryan F’n Danielson came out of a feud looking worse). That led to the short-lived “Daniel Wyatt” character where he was forced to wear a janitor uniform for two or three weeks. I’m afraid we might be seeing Cameron Grimes in a bath robe soon.
An introductory vignette aired for Blair Davenport (f.k.a. Bea Priestley). She talked about how she was born in England and raised in New Zealand. The told the women’s division to beware…
Indi Hartwell made her entrance. She gave fan members the Dexter Lumis thumbs up…[c]
An Alba Fyre (Kay Lee Ray) promo aired where she was standing in front of fire, of course. She talked about how Lash Legend tried to disrespect her Scotish firekeeper heritage and how she took care of Legend. She said she’s going to defend the flames of Scotland. She said where there’s smoke, there’s “Fyre”…
Blair Davenport made her entrance…
3. Indi Hartwell vs. Blair Davenport. Hartwell and Davenport started off even with the collar and elbow. Hartwell rolled up Davenport for a two count. Hartwell dominated for a stretch with side headlock variations. Joseph and Barrett recapped Raw a bit. Davenport tripped up Hartwell at ringside. Hartwell blocked the ringpost and gave Davenport with a back elbow. Davenport caught Hartwell with a nice draping twisting neckbreaker driver. Davenport slammed Hartwell for a two count. Blair locked Hartwell in a sleeper. Hartwell fell to the mat to break the hold.
Hartwell rallied with strikes and a spinebuster for a two count. Hartwell hit Blair with a boot. Blair yanked Hartwell off the top rope. Hartwell rolled up Davenport for a two count. Davenport lifted Hartwell in a High Angle Fisherman Driver for the victory.
Blair Davenport defeated Indi Hartwell via pinfall in 3:48.
John’s Thoughts: A bit of a rough match that gave the US viewers a less than impressive impression of Blair Davenport. I understand that Indi needs to look credible, but why not put Davenport in a squash match against one of their dozens and dozens of developmental jobbers? Davenport is someone who I think will be money on the main roster. I don’t watch full episodes of NXT UK, but I’ve followed Blair Davenport segments and she’s been really good there. So good, that I feel like they spin their wheels on her too much despite her charisma and look.
[Hour Two] Blair Davenport hit Indi Hartwell with a Kamigoye after the match. Davenport took a mic and called her the most menacing menace of NXT UK. She talked about dispatching one of the best in the division. She said she was number one contender to the UK Women’s Title, but she’ll settle for the US version. She said she’s the rightful owner of the Women’s Championship. NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose made her entrance. Mandy Rose introduced herself to Davenport. Rose said Davenport is standing in her ring and world. Rose said in her world, everybody follows her lead. Rose said she’s the most dominant women’s champion. Rose asked Davenport to put respect on her name.
Rose’s promo was cut off by NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura making her entrance. Meiko talked about how Satomura is a legend and respected figure in the business. Meiko took the mic and said that Mandy is wrong. Meiko said Mandy is not the most dominant, Meiko Satomura is. Mandy said she agrees that Meiko is a legend. Rose said in order to put respect on Rose’s name, she would be happy to wrestle Meiko. Meiko agreed to a Champion vs. Champion match. Davenport yelled that she’s number one contender and this can’t happen.
Tiffany Stratton was interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell. She had a knew braided look and dark ring gear. Tiffany talked about how she’s going to get rid of Wendy Choo, which will be a win for everyone (she’s right about that)…
Tony D’Angelo was standing next to Stacks, gloating in front of Wilde, Del Toro, and Lopez about getting rid of Santos Escobar. D’Angelo told everyone to follow him as they all witness a win by Cruz and Joaquin…
John’s Thoughts: Huh? That was weird. Building towards a unification match should have been as simple as having Rose confront Satomura. I’m not a fan of Blair Davenport being shoehorned in here (reminds me of when they shoehorned Toni Storm in the NXT Women’s Title out of nowhere with no character development). My guess here is that Davenport was shoehorned here to take the pin from Mandy Rose and protect Meiko. I don’t like that because it sets up Davenport as the fall girl, and she deserves better than that.
JD McDonagh cut a promo, talking about how rehabilitation is important. He said he enjoyed last week’s match probably more than Breakker. He said his pain tolerance for Breakker is growing. He said he’s looking forward to seeing Breakker after NXT UK World’s Collide…
Wes Lee talked with NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Kayden Carter and Katana Chance about how creepy JD McDonagh is. Wes Lee said as a former tag champ himself, he thinks Chance and Carter need to watch over their shoulders. They talked about being confident in defending their titles…
Vic Joseph announced Mandy Rose vs. Meiko Satomura vs. Blair Davenport in a unification match being made official. Indi Hartwell took a mic and interrupted, talking about hitting rock bottom in the last few months. She talked about how she wanted to reach for the stars and be confidant. She said she tried, but is still at the bottom of her career. All of a sudden, Dexter Lumis showed up in a hoodie. Lumis and Hartwell did Lumis’s signature crawl. Lumis and Hartwell hugged in the ring and kissed to pop the crowd. An In-Dex chant ensued.
Lumis held the ropes open for his kayfabe wife and then carried her to the back. Wade Barrett acted like he was sick at what he just saw while Vic Joseph was giddy. In the PC lobby, Lumis handed Hartwell a caricature painting and then walked away. He was arrested by police outside of the Performance Center. Hartwell opened the painting and it said that Dexter Lumis loves Indi Hartwell forever…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Unexpected, but totally awesome. I keep wishing for more wholesome moments in pro wrestling and this was a very wholesome moment. These wholesome moments are made even more wholesome when it involves real life hardship (Lumis getting legit fired) and ending in a happy ending. They played the scene where Lumis handed Hartwell the “I love you” letter very well.
Highlights aired of Roxanne Perez losing to Cora Jade last week. McKenzie interviewed Cora and said her win was controversial. Jade took offense and gloated about her win. She said people are only blaming her because they don’t like her. Jade said that the fans that blame her for cheating, probably only date inflatable dolls…
Joe Gacy and the Dyad, the Schism trio, got a televised entrance. Cameron Grimes was watching from the crow’s nest…
4. “The Dyad” Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid vs. Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde (w/Tony D’Angelo, Channing Lorenzo, Elektra Lopez). Del Toro and Wilde cleared Fowler and Reed from the ring and hit them with flip dives. D’Angelo yelled at them to stop doing lucha libre. Del Toro hit Fowler with a crossbody for a two count. Reid tagged in and caught Del Toro with a enzuigiri. The Dyad cut the ring in half on Del Toro. After hitting Del Toro with a double team backbreaker, the Schism shared a group hug at ringside. Del Toro used kicks to take down Reid and Fowler. Wilde and Reid tagged in. Wilde came back with right hands and hit Reid with an armdrag.
Wilde took down Fowler with a springboard armdrag. Wilde hit Reid with a DDT. Del Toro tagged in and hit Reid with a running kick. They hit Reid with a double suplex. Fowler broke up Wilde’s pin. Wilde put Reid in a crucifix pin for a two count. The Dyad retained control and hit Wilde with Ticket to Mayhem for the victory.
The Dyad defeated Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro via pinfall in 5:01.
John’s Thoughts: The tag team match was actually good for the time given. I’m happy for Fowler and Reid for not having to stumble and bumble in bath robes anymore. I’m still not a fan of anything involving Joe Gacy’s crappy gimmick though. Wilde and Del Toro have something interesting though because it looks like they are in store for some character development involving Tony D’Angelo.
Joe Gacy hugged Fowler and Reed as Grimes stared at them from a distance. Tony D’Angelo berated Del Toro and Wilde for their loss. Javier Bernal was walking backstage where people were trying to cheer him up. He then yelled at a random woman for pitying him. Security Guard Hank showed up to defend the lady. Hank said you should never talk to a woman like that. After Javi left, Hank called Javi a prick again…
John’s Thoughts: As I said in my Level Up quick thoughts, there’s a bit of “normal guy” charisma from Hank. So far, I’m a fan of what I see from Security Guy Hank. What’s funny, is he’s calling Javi a prick, but I think he was the “prick” that Apollo Crews may or may not have killed in that one cinematic that introduced Apollo’s new precognition powers. Funny to see him “reborn” as a nice dude.
NXT UK Champion Tyler Bate made his entrance…[c]
Wilde, Del Toro, and Lopez were looking crestfallen as they were in the parking lot. An SUV pulled up and it was Santos Escobar. Escobar told the rest of Legado that the Familia stays together. Legado Del Fantasma drove away from the Performance Center…
Von Wagner made his entrance. Bron Breakker was watching the match from a monitor…
5. NXT UK Champion Tyler Bate vs. Von Wagner (w/Robert Stone) in a non-title match. Wagner no sold a shoulder tackle early on. Wagner put Bate in an elevated wristlock. Bate escaped and pressured Wagner with strikes in the corner. Wagner fought out of the corner with a big boot. Wagner planted Bate with a press slam. Bate rallied back with strikes. Wagner reversed a Tyler Driver with a backdrop. Wagner hit Bate with a gutbuster and fallaway slam. Bate hit Wagner with a back elbow and dumped Wagner to ringside. Bate hit Wagner with a top rope suicide dive.
Bate blocked a power bomb and hit Wagner with punches. Wagner came back with a shortarm lariat for a two count. Bate got Wagner to a knee with a rubber-band lariat. Bate hit Wagner with the bop and bang punch. Bate followed up with a Liger kick. Bate suplexed Wagner. Bate hit Wagner with a spiral tap for the victory.
Tyler Bate defeated Von Wagner via pinfall in 6:12.
Julius Creed, Damon Kemp, and Brutus Creed were looking forward to beating Gallus next week. They told Roddy that they couldn’t trust him and that they are going to take care of Gallus as a team. Roddy didn’t approve. Briggs and Jensen showed up and told the Creeds to leave a piece of Gallus for them next week. Roddy called Briggs and Jenson dorks. The Creeds and Briggs and Jensen teased unifying the UK and US Tag Titles…
Tiffany Stratton made her entrance for the next match…
John’s Thoughts: An okay match, but I don’t think they did a good job showcasing Bate at his best. Similar to Davenport’s showcase, they put him in an opponent who also has to look dominant to some extent. If it were my choice, I would have set up Tyler Bate vs. Andre Chase (the former Harlem Bravado) to set up an epic match with two veterans. I bring up Chase because he really stole the show a few weeks ago against Giovani Vinci, when Chase is presented as a comedy figure.
The following segments were advertised for next week:Apollo Crews vs. Grayson Waller, Briggs, Jensen and Henley vs. Pretty Deadly and Lash Legend, and Gallus vs. Diamond Mine.
Wendy Choo made her entrance at a bed set up on the stage. Choo took off her onesie and was wearing pajamas. Joseph noted that this match is a No-DQ match with the lights dimmed…
John’s Thoughts: The dimmed lights reminds me of bad Sin Cara matches.
6. Wendy Choo vs. Tiffany Stratton in a lights-out match. Choo dumped Stratton to ringside and then dumped trash on her. Choo put Stratton in a trash can and hit the can with a tennis racket. Choo tackled Stratton in the gut at ringside. Stratton hit Choo with a tool box to the gut. Choo avoided a wrench shot and then tossed Stratton back in the ring. Choo set up a trash can in the corner. Choo hit Stratton with a knee and lariat combo. Choo hit Stratton with a backdrop. Stratton sidestepped Choo to send her into the trash can.
Stratton tossed Choo into the steel steps heading into picture-in-picture.[c]
During the break, Choo rolled her bed to ringside, without a mattress. Stratton had the upper hand and put a chair on Choo. Choo avoided a mooonsault. Choo gave Stratton a suplex on the chair. Choo gave Stratton a crossface using the turnbuckle bar. Stratton got to her purse and sprayed hairspray into choo.
[Overrun] Stratton power bombed Choo on a trash can for a two count. Choo avoided a Vader Bomb. Choo dragged a body pillow to the ring. Choo gave Stratton a clothesline with the pillow. Barrett noted that it was loaded. Choo then dumped the body pillow, which had Legos inside. Stratton recovered and gave Choo a Fallaway slam on the Legos. Stratton body slammed Choo on the Legos. Stratton gave Choo a double stomp on the Legos for a good nearfall. Stratton kneed Choo to ringside and pulled out makeup powder from her bag. Choo kicked the power in Stratton’s face and slammed Stratton through the wooden bed. Choo hit Stratton with a reverse Frog Splash for the victory.
Wendy Choo defeated Tiffany Stratton via pinfall in 13:08 to win the lights out match.
Highlights from the Choo vs. Stratton match aired…
The camera cut to Maiko Satomura, Mandy Rose, and Blair Davenport signing their contract for the title unification match. Bron Breakker and Tyler Bate were also at the table where they signed their contracts to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: Can the censors stop censoring “holy s*it”? Or if anything, pipe in cheers to counter curse cheers. The mute button is annoying. Anyways, A great match that exceeded expectations. The bar gets naturally set low when you have such a clownshoes character like Wendy Choo running around combined with the uncertainty behind Tiffany Stratton’s inexperience. We sometimes forget that Karen Yu (Wendy Choo/Mei Ying) is a solid pro wrestling veteran. This match was a fun hardcore match. The Lego spot is a fun alternative to thumbtacks (though I got numb to it too when Sami Callihan started doing it). We know Choo can deliver, but Stratton is amazing in her own right. I don’t know her wrestling history, but through her vignettes I expect she’s one of the NCAA-ish athletes WWE signed.
Stratton and grown so quick and so fast, and just had her best match in WWE to date. She kinda reminds me of Bianca Belair, who came into WWE as a natural athlete and naturally picked up pro wrestling in an instant. Heck, Tony D’Angelo also reminds me of Bianca Belair in terms of the good matches he’s having with such little pro wrestling experience. Stratton, from what I see now, is WWE’s next Bianca Belair in terms of being a pure athlete that picked up top level pro wrestling in a short amount of time. Choo, I guess the onsie character does well at house shows, but I’d like to see her get back to being Mei Ying (Triple H! Put the Ying, Li, and Boa band back together. For God’s sake!). Choo played the serious role very well here, and that would fit the dark Mei Ying character more than clownshoes Wendy.
This was actually a pretty bad episode of NXT that was saved by a surprisingly good main event. Bonus points to the main event having low expectations. Tiffany Stratton vs. Wendy Choo on paper looks channel changing, but they countered that with a good match. One other standout segment was another one that exceeded expectations, the Grayson Waller and Apollo Crews talk show segment. I would also probably give another plus to the Dexter Lumis wholesome moment with Indi Hartwell. The rest of the show struggled because they had to introduce a bunch of NXT UK Champions all at once. I thought the video packages were nice enough, but when they put them in front of the live crowd, the booking was all over the place. Part of the problem, was they made sure to not have them dominate the NXT US wrestlers (so the parity problem). Another, is they are trying to cram a ton of build into one show.
The Incel World Order chanting for that “main event” shitshow is everything wrong with the HHH world of wrestling.
Well, with a comment like this coming from you. It has me questioning your social status. Hey! Did you feel offended when Cora Jade cut that promo that may or may not have been directed at peeps like you? Nah, you don’t have one of those “dolls”, right?
^_~
I’m kidding, I’m kidding… just teasing.
Oh I am totally convinced Legos are far worse than thumbtacks!!
They probably are. As a former part-time magician, I can tell you that Legos are worse than broken glass (because there is a way to gimmick actual non-sugar broken glass to not hurt you as much).
Tacks are clean and small. Legos got four sharp points, yo!
This was a bad episode of NXT made worse by the main event.
Wendy Choo delivers again. Can’t wait see her sleep her way to success in the main roster
It happened again. You got the censor hitting “Holy shit” but in Australia we didn’t. Interesting!
I think the show was all about Worlds Collide (except for the main event) and really they need more time to set it up. That’s why I think the show was below par as you said. They are rushing into September 4.
I’m glad they added Blair Davenport to the unification match. Her only loss is to Meiko Satomura during their 1st title match and during their 2nd Blair was “injured” Unless Meiko is planning on moving to the US I can see them giving Blair the win since she’s been protected thus far.