Csonka’s NXT Review 2.05.20

Csonka’s NXT Review 2.05.20

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Angel Garza defeated Isaiah Scott @ 10:40 via pin [***½]
– Dominik Dijakovic defeated Killian Dain @ 8:00 via pin [**½]
– Mercedes Martinez defeated Kacy Catanzaro @ 3:00 via pin [NR]
– Non-Title Match: Champion Jordan Devlin defeated Tyler Breeze @ 15:25 via pin [***½]
– The Broserweights and Tommaso Ciampa defeated The Undisputed Era @ 13:40 via DQ [***¼]

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– The Broserweights arrive in a custom golf cart. Riddle says they’ve been celebrating all week and he calls the cart the Broserweight mobile. Dunne says he never expected to be in a team with Riddle but look at them now. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish arrive. They don’t acknowledge them as a real team. Kyle wants to fight now but Roderick Strong runs out to change their mind. They have bigger fish to fry. Riddle jokes that Bobby Fish said the word fish. He asks Pete, “How much fish could Bobby Fish fry if Bobby Fish could fry fish?” Riddle gets the crowd to chant that. Dunne says all that matters is that they’re gonna smoke the Undisputed Era at Takeover.

Angel Garza vs. Isaiah Scott: They get right to action, working through counters until Garza cuts him off. Scott counters back into an avalanche RANA and teases the dive and follows with the superkick. Garza cuts off the dive and to the floor they go. He dropkicks Scott to the steps and back in, Garza follows with strikes. He grounds things, but Scott fights to his feet and transitions into an arm bar. Garza escapes, delivers stomps and strikes. They trade, Garza cuts him off and works him over in the corner. he follows with chops, Scott fires back, trips him up but Garza counters the head scissors into a slam The pants are off, the superkick follows and that gets 2. Scott counters the slingshot suplex and hits the German, flatliner and covers for 2. Scott follows with chops and kicks, strikes and an enziguri. Garza cuts him off with the superkick, they trade strikes and Garza follows with head butts, until counters into a sitout driver for 2. Scott lays the boots to Garza, Garza fires back, they work up top and Garza throws his pants at Scott, house call by Scott and that gets 2. Scott fires up and Garza counters and crotches Scott; the wing clipper finishes it. Angel Garza defeated Isaiah Scott @ 10:40 via pin [***½] This was a really good opener, with the right man winning and Scott getting some time to shine in loss.

– Garza gets a mic, says he beat Scott, took out his cousin Humberto Carrillo, and then took out Mysterio. Since he didn’t lose his Cruiserweight Title, he wants it back, and he will be watching Jordan Devlin tonight.

– Undisputed Era bully random workers while searching for Tommaso Ciampa. Some young guy is getting a haircut and Strong shaves and fucks it up.

– We get a Mercedes Martinez vignette.

Dominik Dijakovic vs. Killian Dain: They brawl right away as fain charges Dijakovic. He follow with strikes, Dijakovic counters back and follows with strikes. Dijakovic gets dumped and Dain follows him out but Dijakovic posts him. Dijakovic hits a cannonball off the steps, and back in, Dain hits the divide. Post break and Dijakovic does the deal with a falcon arrow and choke bomb for 2. Dijakovic heads up top and Dain cuts him off, follows him up and hits the superplex. Dijakovic fires back, they trade kicks and Dijakovic covers for 2. Dijakovic up top and the moonsault misses. John Wooooooooooo by Dain and the senton follows. Dijakovic cuts off the Vader bomb, hits feast your eyes and that’s it. Dominik Dijakovic defeated Killian Dain @ 8:00 via pin [**½] This was a solid hoss battle, used to solidify Dijakovic as lee’s Takeover challenger.

– Commentary announces that Dijakovic has earned a shot at Keith Lee’s North American Title at Takeover. Lee comes out and has a stare down with Dijakovic.

– Undisputed Era ask Kushida if he knows where Ciampa is. They get annoyed he doesn’t answer and shove him. He attacks and Cole slams him through a crate. Bronson Reed shows up and they want no issue but Strong hits a jumping knee to lay him out.

– Mauro interviews Gargano and Balor via split screen. Balor says he hurt Gargano back at the end of last year. Gargano says he’s counted down the days for three months. Balor says he’s wanted it for four years because Johnny Takeover is not worth the hype and that he’s not the next Balor. Johnny says he’s the first Gargano and the first triple crown winner. Balor doesn’t care if this is MOTY or not as Gargano says he sees the right Balor in his eyes. That’s NXT Balor, not the guy who lost 17 times in a row to Bobby Lashley on Raw (DAMN). Balor says that Finn is dead and this will be Johnny’s last match of his life. Johnny will drive the NXT flag Finn left behind through his heart. But Finn says he has no heart.

Mercedes Martinez vs. Kacy Catanzaro: Kacy tries to use her speed at the start, but Martinez hits the spinebuster for 2. She follows with strikes, but Kacy counters the suplex into a dropkick. The RANA follows and Martinez cuts her off, until Kacy hits the RANA into a cradle for 2. Martinez counters the springboard, dumping Kacy to the floor. Martinez posts her, slams her to the apron, barricade, and back in, Martinez hits the fisherman’s buster for the win. Mercedes Martinez defeated Kacy Catanzaro @ 3:00 via pin [NR] This was fine for the time given, Mercedes Martinez is great and Kacy Catanzaro getting to work with her on TV will only help to continue her growth as a performer.

– Cathy Kelley asks Rhea Ripley about the Charlotte Flair challenge. Rhea says her focus tonight is on the face off with Bianca Belair, but it’s nice of the Queen to show up.

– Backstage, the Undisputed Era are looking for Ciampa. he sneaks up behind them and takes one out. The rest attack and he manages to get it down to just Cole. They brawl to the arena, Ciampa slams his head on the announce table but before he can do more, the rest of the Era show up and beat him down. They get him in the ring but the Broserweights to help. Security breaks things up and out comes William Regal. He announces a match between these teams tonight. They continue to fight through the crowd again until security finally gets control.

Champion Jordan Devlin vs. Tyler Breeze: Devlin attacks before the match and we take a break. We start things off officially as Devlin is beating down Breeze. He works him over in the corner, follows with strikes until Breeze fires back with kicks and covers for 2. Devlin cuts him off in the corner, works a butterfly lock until Breeze escapes, attacks the knee and grounds the champion. He posts Devlin’s knee, back in and Breeze continues to work the knee. Devlin counters back hits a backbreaker, and covers for 2. They trade strikes, chops and Breeze hits a dropkick for 2. He grounds Devlin, Devlin fights to his feet and Breeze then dumps him. Breeze follows him out but Devlin counter into a PK and moonsault to the floor. Back in and Devlin delivers strikes, chops and Breeze fires back as they trade. Uranage and standing moonsault by Devlin and that gets 2. Post break and Devlin starts attacking the arm of Breeze, Breeze fights off the Devlin side and hits a superkick and dropkick. He follows with a clothesline for 2. They work up top, Devlin counters and the high cross follows but Breeze rolls through into the cradle for 2. Devlin counters into a standing Spanish fly and that gets 2. He heads up top and the moonsault eats feet as Breeze gets the half crab. Devlin escapes, but eats a superkick as Breeze covers for 2. The unprettier is countered but Breeze hits a knee strike. Devlin fights back and the slingshot cutter gets 2. They trade, head butt by Devlin and the Devlin side finishes things for the champion. Champion Jordan Devlin defeated Tyler Breeze @ 15:25 via pin [***½] This was really good and a ton of fun. Breeze has been really good since transitioning to a single on 205 Live, Devlin is great and I an thrilled he’s finally getting a bigger audience to show his skills off too.

Charlotte, Rhea, & Bianca: Bianca is out first, saying that Rhea must’ve forgotten that she’s facing her in Portland because she’s too busy going to Raw. She says she doesn’t care about any Queen and she wants Rhea now. Charlotte arrives to a huge reaction. Charlotte says she respects her and puts her over as an amazing athlete but says she’s not Charlotte. Bianca’s happy they’re talking about her but points out that Rhea overlooked her. Rhea interrupts, Bianca steps in front of Charlotte to confront Rhea. Charlotte puts her hand in her face to get in her way and Bianca laughs at this. Rhea says she’s all about dropping the Queen at Mania. Bianca interrupts to tell Charlotte that she don’t even go here. Rhea is wrong to think she’s gonna run through Bianca at Takeover as Bianca says it’ll be her and Charlotte at Mania, and she can’t whoop her. Charlotte says it’s a conversation for champions, so Bianca should stand to the side and fix her braid. Rhea says she didn’t disrespect Charlotte on Raw so she can’t come here and disrespect them. She says her and Bianca will tear each other apart at Takeover but “We are NXT.” Bianca hits Charlotte and they combine to drop her with an electric chair drop style facebuster. GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE CHARLOTTE! Bianca and Rhea then have a face off over the title. Strong segment as it looks like we may get a triple threat at Mania.

The Broserweights and Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Undisputed Era (Fish, Cole, & O’Reilly): They all brawl before the bell on the floor. I don’t think these guys like each other. Dunn suplexes Fish on the apron, Riddle knee strikes Kyle and they beat down Roddy. The match officially begins as Kyle attacks Ciampa from behind and follows with ground and pound. Ciampa cuts him of, Riddle tags in and Fish joins him as they trade strikes. Riddle pulls an arm bar but Fish counters out and Cole is in, but cut off by double teams. Dunne runs wild on Cole, takes out Fish but Roddy attacks and posts him. Back in and TUE take the heat on Dunne, senton atomico by Fish. Dunne slowly battles back, tags in Riddle and he runs wild with kicks on everyone. The XPLODER follows, he hits another and then hits brotons. TUE regroup on the floor. Back in and Riddle maintains control until Fish cuts him off and tags in Cole. The neck breaker follows for 2. Kyle tags in, follows with kicks as they ground Riddle and take the heat. Riddle tries to fire back, Cole tags in and keeps him grounded. Kyle back in, and double teams follow for 2. Riddle and Kyle trade Germans and Work into a double down. Roddy distracts the ref as the faces get pulled to the floor to stop a tag. Dunne is back tags in and runs wild on Cole and suplexes Kyle onto Cole. The moonsault misses, Cole cuts him off and the Panama sunrise is countered. Cole battles back, hits the OG last shot and that gets 2. Dunne fights of the high low, tags in Ciampa and daddy is pissed, dumps Fish and suplexes Kyle. He cuts off Roddy and hits project Ciampa on Kyle for 2. It breaks down, Ciampa lets Cole tag in and they brawl. It breaks down, Cole hits superkicks and eats a lariat. Roddy attacks for the DQ. The Broserweights and Tommaso Ciampa defeated The Undisputed Era @ 13:40 via DQ [***¼] This was a good and fun trios main event that led to a really hot closing angle, but lacked a bit of fire. It was not only a good set up match for Takeover (as the six have title matches with each other) but Cole previously beat Dunne & Riddle in title matches, and Strong turned on Dunne to join TUE back in the day so there were a lot of stories intertwined here. The return of Dream also played into that as they were the ones that took him out of action.

– Post match, we get the big brawl as Cole spray paints an X on Ciampa’s back looking for revenge. The lights go out, and the 2/5/20 video appears and it turns into Velveteen Dream’s face. He’s on the top rope and leaps off, taking out everyone. Dream throws strikes at the Undisputed Era, hits superkicks and Dream Valley Drivers. He poses for the crowd and stands tall(in a tribute to Rick Rude he has Roddy’s wife & kid air brushed onto his tights), cool closing segment.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 87. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Steve Cook break down the WWE management woes, the latest roadblocks for NXT Japan (DDT/NOAH), hit more news & notes and then talk TNA There’s No Place Like Home. Finally, Larry reviews NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo. The show is approximately 142-minutes long.

* Intro
* Corporate WWE/Management Woes: 3:35
* NXT Japan Road Blocks/DDT & NOAH: 34:45
* News Roundup (Beyond Wrestling to TV?, Harper Potentially to AEW, NJPW Back to US TV?, More): 48:45
* TNA There’s No Place Like Home Wish List: 1:05:35
* TNA Stars That Would Have Been Better Off Never Leaving For WWE: 1:41:55
* Larry’s NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo Reviews: 1:57:11

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

This week’s NXT was an improvement over last week’s effort, solidifying the Takeover card, lots of good wrestling, the Charlotte/Bianca/Rhea segment delivering and as usual an easy watch and a rather great night overall.