Csonka’s NXT TV Review 4.04.18

Csonka’s NXT TV Review 4.04.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic Finals: The Authors of Pain vs. Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne went to a double DQ @ 8:50 [***]
– Kairi Sane defeated Vanessa Bourne @ 4:15 via pin [**]
– Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan went to a no contest @ 5:40 [**]

---

– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– Charly opens the show, hyping the finals of the Dusty Classic. She also confirms Bobby Fish’s injury and that he’s out of action.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic Finals: The Authors of Pain vs. Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne: The AOP attack, isolating Strong to start. Strong backs off and Dunne tags in. Post break, and AOP are working over Dunne. It’s all AOP here, working quick tags and just beating down Dunne. Dune tries to fire up, but he’s cut off immediately. More tags by AOP follow, and the double teams follow, and they again cover for 2. The crowd tries to rally Dunne, and he does the finger break spot and looks for the tag and Strong is in. Strong runs wild with chops, takes out Akem and continues to attack Rezar. The dropkick follows, and then the knee strike. The Angle slam follows for 2. Knee strike by Strong, Dunne tags in and hits an enziguri. Dunne up top and hits a double stomp for a great near fall. Dunne stomps away at Rezar, but Akem tags in and they hit the double team neck breaker, and Strong makes the save. Rezar dumped to the floor, they hit the double team biter end but Akem makes the save. Dunne and Strong run wild, but get cut off by AOP. Everyone is down. Cole & O’Reilly arrive for the no contest, attacking everyone. The Authors of Pain vs. Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne went to a double DQ @ 8:50 [***] Once the AOP dominance ended, this really picked up and turned into a good match, with a hot crowd. The Undisputed Era attack makes sense, as they have issues with Dunne & Strong, and were looking to get out of defending the titles, due to Fish’s injury.

– NXT dad William regal arrives, and he’s pissed. Regal announces that the Undisputed Era will defend the tag titles at Takeover, against The Authors of Pain AND Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne. The winners will be the Dusty Classic winners and the tag team champions.

– We get a great video package on the announcement of the NXT North American championship. It will be a ladder match on Saturday with EC3 vs. Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Killian Dane vs. Ricochet.

– Commentary hypes Saturday’s card.

– We get a great video package on Gargano vs. Ciampa.

Kairi Sane vs. Vanessa Bourne: They lock up, but Bourne overpowers Sane to begin. Bourne attacks the arm, Sane counters out and hits an arm drag. She follows with a roll up for 1. A bridging cradle follows for 2. Bourne cuts her off with a flapjack, and follows with elbows. She follows with clubbing strikes and a curb stomp variation to the buckles; the cover gets 2. Bourne grounds things, but Sane escapes and hits the spear. Sane fires up, hits the sliding D, and heads up top. The elbow strike connects for 2. Sane up top, Bourne follows and Sane fights her off and knocks her into a tree of WHOA; the double stomp follows. Sane finishes her off with the top rope elbow drop. Kairi Sane defeated Vanessa Bourne @ 4:15 via pin [**] Sane picks up the TV win, keeping her in the eyes of the fans, and possibly setting her up as the next challenger after Takeover: New Orleans, likely against Baszler. This was an ok match over all, Bourne is still a project, but is showing potential as a heel.

– Lacey Evans issues a statement, and says she can’t get a title shot until Regal stops giving trash opportunity. She has shown what a strong woman is capable of. She calls Nikki Cross insane, and runs down Moon. She also mocks Dakota Kai, as well as Sane.

– Cole & O’Reilly yell at Regal for making Cole to work twice on Saturday. Regal says Cole can work twice, O’Reilly can go alone, or Cole can pull out of the ladder match. He tells them to figure it out.

– We now get a video package on Black vs. Almas. This was another very well done video package.

– We see Moon & Baszler having an altercation at the PC last week.

– Next week, Kairi Sane faces Lacey Evans.

Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan: BIG LADS COLLIDE! They lock up and both look for control, but they work into a stalemate. They trade strikes now, Sullivan takes control until Dain hits a bicycle kick. Sullivan pulls him to the floor for some brawling. Post break, and Sullivan has control back in the ring. He lays in clubbing strikes, Dain fires up, lays in strikes and hits wasteland and the big lad senton. Sullivan avoids the Vader splash, and heads up top. Din cuts him off, follows him up and Dain knocks Sullivan to the floor. Velveteen Dream arrives and heads up top and Cole arrives. EC3 is here as well. Dain is back in as is Sullivan. Ricochet now makes his TV debut as he arrives and hits the superhero pose. They all stare down. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan went to a no contest @ 5:40 [**] The match was ok while it lasted, but was really just there for the big stare down and final hype for the match. I was actually a bit disappointed that they didn’t break down into a big brawl, but also understand not wanting to give away Ricochet’s first action ahead of Takeover.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.8

The final score: review Average

The 411

I thought that tonight’s NXT TV was a pretty good go home show, with the highlights being the opening match and the great video packages. It wasn’t the blow away show I had hoped for, and I wouldn’t have run two non-finishes on the same show, but it did a pretty good job of setting the stage for Saturday.