Csonka’s NXT Review 5.13.20

Csonka’s NXT Review 5.13.20

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– NXT Tag Team Title Match: Imperium defeated Champions Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher @ 11:10 via pin [**½]
– Tegan Nox defeated Indi Hartwell @ 3:10 via pin [NR]
– Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament: Jake Atlas vs. Tony Nese @ 5:00 via pin [**½]
– Cameron Grimes defeated Finn Balor @ 9:50 via pin [***¼]
– Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament: Jack Gallagher defeated Isaiah Scott @ 3:30 via pin [*½]
– Kayden Carter defeated Aliyah @ 2:50 via submission [NR]
– Matt Riddle defeated Timothy Thatcher @ 12:30 via pin [***¼]

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Champions Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher vs. Imperium: Thatcher and Barthel start us off, grappling right way to the mat as Thatcher controls. They work into unique counters, Thatcher delivers ground and pound; the arm bar follows until Barthel makes the ropes. Aichner in and grounds Thatcher. Thatcher battles back, Riddle tags in and Aichner hits a tackle but Riddle battles back with suplexes. The PK follows and the broton misses. Post break and the challengers continue to isolate Riddle. The dropkick combo follows as the challengers work quick tags and double teams until Riddle hits a knee strike, a head kick and tosses Barthel into Thatcher. Thatcher is pissed and refuses to tag in, walking off. Imperium attacks and while Riddle fights back, at the end, the European bomb finishes Riddle and we have new champions. Imperium defeated Champions Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher @ 11:10 via pin [**½] This was a solidly fun match, it started off strong but the title change felt really flat with the Thatcher angle, and I love Imperium. I am happy for them though, as they should have been NXT UK tag champions by now.

– Post match, Thatcher says he wants to be a tag champion but not with Riddle because he has no time for lip flops or game shows. Riddle arrives and they brawl.

Tegan Nox vs. Indi Hartwell: They lockup and Hartwell shoves her away. She overpowers Nox, picking up near falls and stomas away at Nox. She lays the boots to her and Nox finally fires back, but runs into a side slam for 2. Nox counters back, and then catches Hartwell with the lady Kane chokeslam. Nox follows with chops, uppercuts and the cannonball. The high cross connects and the shiniest wizard finishes it. Tegan Nox defeated Indi Hartwell @ 3:10 via pin [NR] This was a nice, quick win for Tegan.

– We get a clip on the issues between Io Shirai, Rhea Ripley, and Charlotte Flair last week. Earlier this week, Rhea said she is sickened by Charlotte walking around with her title. Io couldn’t get the job done and she’s going to be the one to bring the title home. Even if she has to beat that into Io.

– Regal books Riddle vs. Thatcher for later tonight.

Jake Atlas vs. Tony Nese: They lockup and work into counters as Nese follows with kicks, strikes but Atlas picks up the pace until Nese stops that. Nese stuns him over the ropes, follows with ground sand pound and then hits a suplex for 2. Nese grounds things, follows with knee strikes as Atlas fires back and they trade. Spin kick by Atlas and the German and enziguri follows for 2. They work into counters, Atlas hits a neck breaker but Nese fires back as Atlas is up top. He follows with kicks, He heads up top and Atlas fires back and dumps him; he hits the cartwheel DDT and that’s it. Jake Atlas vs. Tony Nese @ 5:00 via pin [**½] This was a short and solid match, that thankfully got a little more time than last week, as Atlas picks up a win over a former cruiserweight champion.

– Adam Cole talks with Kyle O’Reilly via webcam, Kyle is “shooting a move,” Fish joins in and they’re excited. They call themselves the OG Three. Roddy joins in and they get more excited as Cole brags about embarrassing Dream last week. They talk Dexter Lumis, Kyle calls him Dexter Loonis. They all talk about who should take care of Lumis. Everyone agrees that it should be Roddy. If Lumis has can’t have good outing with Roddy, it’s time to cut bait.

– We get a Karrion Kross & Scarlett vignette; they’re not here to shock a system or be a savior. They’re the entertainment. Tommaso Ciampa was first but he’s certainly not the last.

– We get a video package for Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. Dakota says she cared too much about what other people thought, and had to get mentally tougher. She had to stop her rehab just so they could film Tegan Nox’s and she could be in the clip. She only returned to be in the shadows of Tegan. War Games happened and that felt good to take her out. Takeover: Portland was her night, not Tegan’s. Raquel helped make sure of that. She’s the only woman Dakota can trust, and they’re going to hurt a lot of people.

– Isaiah Scott says if he loses tonight, he’s out of the tournament. He says that his confidence is high and he feels untouchable right now; he will beat Jack Gallagher and protect this house.

– DX discusses the 25th anniversary of In Your House. On June 7th, NXT will deliver Takeover: In Your House. (YAY!)

Priest arrives and hits Balor with the night stick allowing Grimes to hit the cave in and win. Cameron Grimes vs. Finn Balor: Grimes goes for the cave in, but Balor counters and he attacks and grounds him. Grimes has control until Grimes counters out but Balor lays the boots to him. Grimes slams him down, follows with ground and pound and delivers kicks. Balor counters back with the basement dropkick but Grimes hits a blue thunder bomb for 2. Post break and Grimes has things grounded. The running knee strike follows for 2. Balor fires back, they trade and Grimes cuts him off. Grimes then hits a lariat for 2. Balor battle back with the standing double stomp, lays the boots to him and to the floor they fight. Balor follows with the apron PK, Damien Priest arrives and hits Balor with the nightstick. Back in and Grimes wins with the cave in. Cameron Grimes defeated Finn Balor @ 9:50 via pin [***¼] This was good, they worked hard, nice aggressive work and they got solid time; then we finally got the reveal of Finn’s attacker.

– Post match, Priest hits Finn with the Reckoning on a chair and reveals he attacked him a few weeks ago.

Jack Gallagher vs. Isaiah Scott: Nese attacks Isaiah pre-match and Jack hits the gentleman’s dropkick for 2. he follows with kicks, dominates until Isaiah counters back and hits the house call kick for 2. Isaiah follows with kicks, but Jack locks on the guillotine and grounds Isaiah. Isaiah fights, powers up and counters out but Jack KOs him with a forearm. Jack Gallagher defeated Isaiah Scott @ 3:30 via pin [*½] They tried really hard but got completely boned on time; I didn’t need to see Aliyah lose or dinner with the Garganos, I need more match time in these tournament matches. The short match worked here due to the pre-match attack, but the last two weeks, they’ve roughly averaged 3.5 minutes.

Kayden Carter vs. Aliyah : Aliyah attacks right away, Carter counters back and grounds things. Aliyah escapes, they talk shit and Carter cradles her for 2. The dropkick follows but Aliyah cuts her off, covering for 2. Aliyah tosses her around, beats her down and Carter fires back until Aliyah kicks her away. Robert Stone watches o as Aliyah hits a leg lariat. T the ropes and Aliyah is cutoff and Carter fires back, and hits the superkick for 2. She taps Aliyah with a deathlock. Kayden Carter defeated Aliyah @ 2:50 via submission [NR] So they tease doing something with Aliyah and then have her lose the very next week; the story of her developmental career.

– It’s time again for dinner at the Gargano’s. Johnny puts over Candice for beating a ninja (Kayden) and says he beat a 7’8″ Dijakovic. They watch clips of him beating Dijakovicas Johnny calls himself a stud and says that if he took Keith Lee to the limit. Things get black and white and slow motion as Johnny says that mentioning their names will get you hurt. Candice is annoyed that Mia Yim gets a match with Charlotte while she only got Kacy Catanzaro. Johnny calls her a ninja and a warrior, which Candice denies, but they agree that Kacy is American so Candice calls Kazy an example. Johnny focuses on Keith Lee again, saying the “glory” stuff is just a fancy catchphrase and the people will bleed him dry before moving onto the next flavor of the month.

– NEXT WEEK: KUSHIDA vs. Drake Maverick, Akira Tozawa vs. El Hijo del Fantasma!, & Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle: They brawl at the bell, work to the ground and then to the ropes, Thatcher follows with a judo throw and they grapple on the mat. Back to the feet and Riddle takes him down, Thatcher counters out and Riddle spears him down and follows with ground and pound. Riddle beats on trashy Tim, but Thatcher counters into an arm bar. Riddle sweeps and rolls, delivers knee strike and a head kick. Thatcher spills to the floor. Post break and Thatcher takes control, stomping on the feet of Riddle. Riddle fires back, Thatcher hits a German, final flash by Riddle and Thatcher stomps on his feet again and follows with an uppercut. He follow with grounded knee strikes, but Riddle counters and powers into a powerbomb. They trade, Thatcher counters into an ankle lock and grounds Riddle. He escapes, enziguri by Thatcher but Riddle counters into bro to sleep. The floating bro eats knees, Thatcher lock on the arm bar, but Riddle counters into a powerbomb as Thatcher gets the arm bar back. They scramble and Thatcher grabs the leg, they battle for position and Riddle manages to cradle him and win. Matt Riddle defeated Timothy Thatcher @ 12:30 via pin [***¼] This was good, they’ve worked together in the past, have good chemistry and stylistically, they match up well together. I just didn’t like that they immediately went to a singles match on the same show as the turn.

– Thatcher then locks on the arm bar again to close the show; bad night for the bro. I wonder if Thatcher joins up with the Imperium lads.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 114. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Kevin Pantoja look at current state of NXT & review WWE MITB 2020; Jerome Cusson joins to talk Dark Side of The Ring: Cocaine and Cowboy Boots: The Herb Abrams Story. The show is approximately 149-minutes long.

* Intro
* Looking at The State of NXT w/Kevin Pantoja: 2:00
* WWE MITB 2020 Review w/Kevin Pantoja: 46:05
* Dark Side of The Ring: Cocaine and Cowboy Boots: The Herb Abrams Story w/ Jerome Cusson: 1:41:20

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This week’s NXT was another fine show, it’s far from bad, but it still feels like it’s missing something. There was some good wrestling, the cruiserweights got boned again and they have made me not care about the little tournament due to that. NXT right now feels like a fine show that does little to excite me about the next week, although the In Your House announcement made me happy.