Csonka’s NXT TV Review 7.04.18

Csonka’s NXT TV Review 7.04.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Dakota Kai defeated Santana Garrett @ 3:35 via pin [**]
– Handicap Match: The Mighty defeated Otis Dozovic @ 5:55 via pin [**]
– Velveteen Dream defeated Chris Dijak @ 5:05 via pin [**½]
– Johnny Gargano defeated EC3 @ 10:30 via pin [***½]

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Dakota Kai vs. Santana Garrett: It’s nice to see Garrett in for another look. It still amazes me that no one has locked her up to a deal and made her a star. Kai is in desperate need of a rebound win. They lock up, both look to work the arm and work into some nice counters. Garrett now hits a shoulder tackle, but Kai picks up the pace and hits a dropkick. Garrett fights back with arm drags, and now works a modified octopus hold. Kai escapes, but Garrett hits the Russian leg sweep and locks on the Muta lock. Kai fights and makes the ropes. She fires back with elbows and an enziguri. Kai now lights up Garrett with kicks, and the running corner kicks follow. The backstabbing destroyer finishes it. Dakota Kai defeated Santana Garrett @ 3:35 via pin [**] That was a nice little back and forth opener, with Garrett getting in solid offense before falling to Kai. I really hope Garrett gets another shot in the MYC.

– We see Heavy Machinery working out as they have some steaks cooking out back. STEAKS & WEIGHTS BABY! Tucker is attacked off screen…

– NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler arrives, fresh off of title defenses over Cross & Storm. Baszler says everyone asked her how she deals with competition, and with Cross, she put her to sleep. She answered her doubters. She’s the most dominant force this division has ever seen. Baszler runs down BelAair, LeRae, & Sane, they have no chance, the winner will always be her. They are having a second MYC just to find a challenger for her. She doesn’t care who it is, because she will put them to sleep. This was a solid promo from Baszler as she proclaims her dominance.

– The commentary discusses Lorcan’s injury. Burch is here and says that Takeover was years of hard work, but they came up short. Lorcan had surgery and will be out 3 months. Undisputed arrives and makes fun of him and says next week, they get a rematch for the NXT Tag Titles. Burch mocks then for losing the tag titles and challenges Cole to a title match, next week. Cole laughs and accepts.

– We get a War Raiders promo.

– We get highlights of Ciampa challenging Black last week. They face off in three weeks.

The Mighty (Thorne & Miller) vs. Heavy Machinery: It’s only Otis as Tucker was attacked earlier today. (Tucker was actually away for the birth of his child). Otis attacks right away and runs wild, tossing his opponents around and dumping them to the floor. Thorne back in and gets leveled with a clothesline. Miller in and Otis works him over until Thorne dumps him to the floor. The Mighty take control and back in, work double teams and beat him down. They work quick tags and more double teams, covering for 2. Thorne grounds things, tags in Miller and he lays the boots to Otis. Thorne back in and Otis fights back and suplexes both of them. He follows with clotheslines, hits an overhead toss and corner splash to both. He slams them down and the worm follows and the elbows connect. Otis climbs the ropes and misses the Vader bomb as Miller saves Thorne. The knee strike and northern lariat finish him. The Mighty defeated Otis Dozovic @ 5:55 via pin [**] This was another ok outing, with Dozovic getting in a lot before falling. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough steaks & weights for him to overcome. I think they missed an opportunity to have the Mighty steamroll him to give them a strong rebound win, but it was ok overall.

– Bianca Belair sent a video from her honeymoon, mocking the other women that think they deserve a title shot. But she’s undefeated and she’ll enjoy her honeymoon and give the others a chance to catch up.

– Kairi Sane cuts a promo on Vanessa Borne. She tells her to focus on fighting and challenges her to a match next week, and will then go on to win the title.

Velveteen Dream vs. Chris Dijak: Dijak is coming off of a loss in a tremendous little sprint against Ricochet. Dijak overpowers Dream to begin. They talk trash and trade chops as Dijak beats Dream down. Dream cuts him off, but Dijak hits a dump suplex. He follows with forearm strikes and a superkick. The back breaker and toss slam follow. Dream cuts off Dijak and follows with rights and kicks. Dream is pissed, hits a clothesline and neck breaker. The leg drop follows for 2. Dream grounds things, Dijak fires back with rights and levels Dream. Kicks and forearms follow, and the cyclone kick gets 2. Dream rolls to the floor and Dijak heads up top, but Dream cuts him off and slams him to the steps. Dijak back in and Dream spikes him with a DDT and picks up the win. Velveteen Dream defeated Chris Dijak @ 5:05 via pin [**½] While Dijak lost once again, they are allowing him to show a lot in his outings so far. Dream picked up the rebound win as he should have.

– EC3 arrives, likely still salty over Dream walking out on him during the UK special. Dream powders.

– Mustache Mountain comments on next week’s title defense.

Johnny Gargano vs. EC3: Gargano attacks and they brawl to the floor. Back in and EC3 yells at him to settle down and mows him over with a shoulder tackle. Gargano fires back with rights, and follows with chops. EC3 hits the inverted DDT to take control and follows with chops. Knee strikes follow and then clotheslines. The rolling neck breaker gets 2. EC3 grounds things, working a neck vice. Gargano escapes and lays in strikes, but EC3 immediately cuts him off with a back elbow and corner splash. EC3 again grounds things, maintaining control. EC3 follows with a big elbow drop, but Gargano fires back and hits an enziguri and slingshot spear. The suicide dive follows. Back in and EC3 about kills him with a lariat for 2. They trade strikes, Gargano fires up and hits an enziguri. EC3 catches a high cross, but Gargano counters into the Gargano escape. EC3 is too strong and powers out into a sitout powerbomb and that gets 2. They go face to face and Gargano lays in strikes and superkicks. Gargano drops the kneepad, EC3 counters, but Gargano locks in the Gargano escape but EC3 makes the ropes. Back to the escape and EC3gets the ropes, no break at first, but when he does, he nails a running knee strike. EC3 to the apron and Gargano hits the DDT in the ropes like Ciampa did to him at Takeover and covers for the win. Johnny Gargano defeated EC3 @ 10:30 via pin [*** ½] Gargano picks up the rebound win as EC3 takes his first singles loss in NXT. On the surface a good wrestling match for sure, but the character work by Gargano takes it over the top into a very good match. Gargano descending into madness/the thing he hates the most (Ciampa) was well done, and while Regal booked the match so that he can move on, Gargano is still haunted by the ghost of Ciampa, they are far from done.

– NEXT WEEK:

* Kairi Sane vs. Vanessa Borne
* NXT Tag Team Title Match: Champions Mustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era
* NXT North American Champion Adam Cole vs. Danny Burch

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

This week’s episode of NXT TV was a nice and solid show, with Kai, The Mighty, Dream, & Gargano all picking up rebound wins that they all needed. They teased Dream & ECW continuing their recent issues, set up three matches for next week, and as we saw in the main event, Gargano is still obsessed with Ciampa. This was an overall effective hour of TV.