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Cook’s WWE NXT Review 2.20.19

February 20, 2019 | Posted by Steve Cook
Aleister Black
7.5
The 411 Rating
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Cook’s WWE NXT Review 2.20.19  

Cook’s WWE NXT Review 2.20.19

OFFICIAL RESULTS
-Aleister Black beat Roderick Strong (***)
-Mia Yim defeated Xia Li (**)
-Velveteen Dream won the NXT North American Championship from Johnny Gargano (****)

-Johnny Gargano is the new North American Champion, and his first title defense takes place TONIGHT against the Velveteen Dream. The opening video told me so.

Aleister Black vs. Roderick Strong: You might remember Strong laying Black out at the end of the most recent NXT episode, leading to this match right away this week. Strong takes Black down and we get some mat rasslin to start. Black gains the advantage & lands some heavy lumber to Roddy. Spinning back elbow & a bridging German get a nearfall. Strong backdrops a charging Black outside, then backbreaks the man using the steps. These guys aren’t getting paid by the hour here, and Strong doesn’t mind hitting those backbreakers. Black fights back after a chinlock but gets whipped hard into the turnbuckles. Chop! They nearly take a tumble on a superplex, but hang on, Black turns it into a powerbomb attempt, but Strong slips out and hits backbreaker for two. Strong misses a knee in the corner, but not off the ropes. Series of clotheslines & another knee strike by Black. Lionsault cross-body, Big o’ Cro Cop kick & a Snow Plow gets two. Gut buster by Strong, who runs into a knee strike. They head onto the apron, Strong tosses him from a torture rack position onto the turnbuckles, which gets two. Black kicks his way out of the Stronghold but gets reverse Angle slammed for a very near fall. Black Mass after Black slips out of a suplex attempt finishes it! Fun little sprint here, both guys were landing big shots & Strong was coming up with new backbreakers as he typically does. Nice way to start a show. (***)

-Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole & Bobby Fish are out to attack Black, and here comes Ricochet to fight them off. This seems nowhere near over.

-The Horsewomen created a ruckus in the WWE Performance Center women’s locker room last week.

-Bianca Belair says she got robbed at TakeOver, insists she’ll always be undefeated in her mind, and wants Kairi Sane & “her little best friend” to wait for their title shot until she gets hers.

-NXT people were on Raw & SmackDown this week!

-Mauro, Percy & Nigel are here hyping the return of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic! Fish & O’Reilly, Aichner & Barthel, Street Profits & Forgotten Sons are the first four teams in. Do they still do one or two mis-mash teams in these? I’m hoping so.

Mia Yim vs. Xia Li: If Xia doesn’t watch out, she’ll blow herself up with that pre-match routine. Code of Honor is upheld. Some chain wrestling to start. Mia manages to avoid a bunch of kicks by backing up into the corner. Xia with a series of rollups, then a kick to the chest. Misses off the top, but Mia doesn’t miss with a dropkick. Cannonball in the corner gets a one count, then a two count. Xia with some strikes, a twisting kick to Mia’s back gets two. Backfist to the Future from Yim, then she hits the Protect Ya Neck for the three count. Xia has a lot of potential, but she’s not there yet. Matches with people like Mia will help, and I’d expect better from this match this time next year. (**)

Shayna Baszler & her fellow Horsewomen are here to attack Mia, and a bunch of the trainees are here to help Mia out. It’s not going so well for them, and Mia ends up with Shayna’s knee bouncing off of her face.

Johnny Gargano is working out. Candice LeRae enters the frame, looks to the side and asks Tommaso Ciampa what he’s doing there. Johnny Freaking Wrestling says he’ll do it by himself tonight.

-Jeremy Borash has a sit-down interview with Matt Riddle recapping the bro’s stay in NXT thus far. The full interview is on YouTube!

-Mia gets a match with Shayna next week. All she had to do was get her face kneed off to get a non-title match. You’d think there would be easier ways.

NXT North American Championship Match: Velveteen Dream vs. Champion Johnny Gargano: This one’s getting a lot of time. Dream working Gargano’s arm over early, but Johnny Wrestling has the advantage on the mat. Ciampa looks on from the shadows. This pretty wrestling was going well until Dream slapped the taste out of Gargano’s mouth. Gargano doesn’t lose his cool though, but does end up in the side headlock. Dream getting an edge with the mind games, dropping down next to Gargano’s drop-down, doing some gyrations, fun things like that. He gets too cute on the turnbuckle though, as Gargano sweeps Dream’s foot in the middle of a springboard. Johnny Punchkick goes for a more aggressive style now & some more high impact moves like a neckbreaker. Now he’s stretching Velveteen’s arms like he’s Stu Hart (or whoever) in the Dungeon. Dream was playing possum in the corner, but Gargano slings him over the top rope to make that pain legitimate. Johnny chops the man on the outside and is taking pleasure in the adulation of the crowd. Modified Abdominal Stretch! Velveteen gets out and hits the spinebuser, which I’d rate at .6 on the Anderson scale. Dream re-takes the advantage in the match and sends Gargano onto the floor so he can hit the double axehandle! Rocker Dropper by Dream inside gets two. Dream teases the DVD off the turnbuckle, but Gargano gets out and hits a Flatliner for a two count. Double knockdown with Velveteen running into Johnny & heads colliding. They meet up on the apron & exchange big strikes. Velveteen goes for the DVD on the apron, but Gargano escapes & gets him back in the ring…spinning DDT by Dream gets 2.5. Purple Rainmaker misses, Gargano’s superkick gets two. NXT chant! How come you never hear a Raw or SmackDown Live chant? Gargano climbs the turnbuckle, but Dream pauses him from doing anything. He goes for the Dream Valley Driver from the turnbuckle this time, and hits it! 2.5! Gargano rolls out to the floor, Dream dives towards him, and Gargano superkicks him! Snap suplex on the steel ramp, and a slingshot DDT only gets two! I agree with Mauro…come on! Gargano lands some strikes, goes off the ropes into a superkick, then clotheslines Dream! Another superkick, Dream with the Dream Valley Driver! Another one, then the Purple Rainmaker! We got a new North American Champion! These guys are known for their classic matches at Takeovers, and they acted like this was a Takeover. It was only a matter of time before Dream tasted singles gold in NXT, and if Vince doesn’t call him up he at least has that going for him. It was also only a matter of time before Johnny lost the title, because he can’t be happy for too long. Story of the poor lad’s life. (****)

-Dream celebrates in the ring, Gargano crawls up the ramp, and Ciampa cracks a smile backstage.

-Thanks for reading!

7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
NXT brought the goodness this week with two top-flight matches featuring some talent we saw on Monday & Tuesday, and other talent we might see there sooner rather than later. Dream's feel good moment makes this an easy thumbs up.
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NXT, Steve Cook