Kevin’s NXT Review 10.14.20

`Before our opening contest, The Undisputed Era (sans Adam Cole) cut a promo saying that whoever paid off Ridge Holland to take out Cole will pay. Kyle says the second coming of the golden prophecy begins tonight when Strong and Fish earn a Tag Team Title shot.

NXT Tag Team Championship Number One Contender’s Match: Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan vs. The Undisputed Era

With O’Reilly and not Fish, this was an incredible match in 2018. Quick start that sees Oney trap Strong in a headscissors.Fish and Burch become legal and Fish starts getting isolated as they target his arm. Tandem Russian leg sweep on Fish followed by a double suplex that drops Strong onto Fish for a near fall. Breezango watches from afar as Undisputed turn the tide heading into a break. Returning, Oney begins to rally and avoids a diving headbutt from Fish. He tags Danny who tosses Roddy into Fish and fires off strikes and uppercuts. Powerbomb gets him two. UE comes back and set up for tandem offense but Danny escapes and takes them out with a double missile dropkick. Tag to Oney with an uppercut on Roddy. Double running Blockbuster. Double submissions don’t finish it as things break down. After a closer call, Oney and Danny have a miscommunication. That allows Rody to win with a pump knee on Oney.

Winners: The Undisputed Era in 13:28 [A good way to start the show. That had a lot of action and these are four very good wrestlers. ***1/4]

Finn Balor’s successful surgery is discussed. As for the NXT Title, William Regal says they will see how Finn’s recovery goes over the next few weeks.

A video package airs discussing why Ember Moon returned to NXT. She says that after her year away, her first thought was NXT. She took herself out of the Draft equation to come back to where she feels at home and to the best women’s division in the world. She knows it’s about what you’ve done lately, which is why she will go through whoever she has to so she can earn a title shot.

Ashante “Thee” Adonis vs. Jake Atlas

These cruiserweights come to a stalemate at the start and Adonis’ showboating lets Atlas kick him in the face. Adonis turns it around and talks smack, leading to an unexpected exchange of strikes. Adonis gets distracted by the arrival of Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde, so Atlas uses an inside cradle to win.

Winner: Jake Atlas in 1:54 [Not much of a match. NR]

Legado del Fantasma jump Adonis but Atlas dives out onto them and evens the odds. Santos Escobar comes out in a sweet emerald jacket. As they walk to the ring, Isaiah Scott arrives with chairs. The three heels back up the aisle.

The Garganos are interviewed backstage. Candice calls herself the uncrowned champion ahead of her number one contender’s match with Shotzi Blackheart tonight. Meanwhile, Johnny says that Dexter Loomis doesn’t deserve a North American Title shot. He kidnapped a guy for crying out loud.

Austin Theory vs. Johnny Gargano

Theory asked for this after Johnny criticized him for not getting the job done against Damian Priest. Theory uses his power early to gain an upper hand. The same goes for his athleticism, doing things like hitting a rolling dropkick. However, he is too cocky and wastes time gloating and showboating. Commercial time. Returning, Gargano looks like he will rally but gets caught with a tilt-a-whirl slam. Another Gargano run sees him eat a superkick and it leads to a near fall. Johnny has a cross body rolled through and he is hoisted up but slips out into a pin, only to get cradled for two. Johnny finally gets going and hits a string of offense, including the lawn dart. One Finale Beat ends it.

Winner: Johnny Gargano in 14:19 [This was solid but it got hurt by the commercial break and being a bit too one-sided for Theory. ***]

Backstage, Raquel Gonzalez says she’s sick of Rhea Ripley walking around here like she runs the place. She challenges her for Halloween Havoc but Rhea is nearby and accepts. Before they can fight now, security gets in between them.

Tommaso Ciampa is after Velveteen Dream for interfering in his match with KUSHIDA last week.

NXT Women’s Championship No. 1 Contender’s Match: Candice LeRae vs. Shotzi Blackheart

Winner faces Io Shirai at Halloween Havoc. Quality exchanges to begin with both women being relatively even. Candice uses underhanded tactics to try to get firm control. Shotzi counters a suplex with one of her own but eats a boot. Candice also counters Shotzi on the apron, sends her into the post, and does a facebuster style move on the apron going into the commercial break. Returning, Shotzi rocks Candice with strikes and hits the rope hung senton for two. Her top rope senton eats double knees and Candice covers for two. Candice avoids corner offense and hits a German suplex off the middle ropes and a superkick for another near fall. Shotzi with a near fall on a tiger suplex. Backstabber by Candice and she nails the quebrada for another two count. Shotzi comes back with a pretty sick looking submission but Candice gets to the ropes. They move the fight to the top where Shotzi shoves her down and hits a modified Meteora. She wants the senton but Candice rolls outside. Indi Hartwell sneakily hands Candice some kind of weapon from the crowd. She uses it to his Shotzi and steals the win.

Winner: Candice LeRae in 15:37 [Match of the night. It started a bit slow but everything after the commercial break was strong, even if it did rely a bit too much on near falls. ***1/2]

Earlier today, Drake Maverick bothers Killian Dain with ideas he worked on with a marketing team. They include shiny outfits, branding, drawings, and a team name of the Fury and The Fury, with Drake being the Fury.

Aliyah vs. Toni Storm

Robert Stone says that people keep overlooking the brand and their losses will be someone else’s gain. Toni’s new entrance looks pretty cool. Aliyah jumps her and starts hot because of it. She adds a sweet neckbreaker. Toni gets going and hits the corner hip attack and a clothesline. Storm Zero gets the W.

Winner Toni Storm in 2:29 [What it needed to be. Toni is a star and I hope she is pushed to the moon. NR]

William Regal is interviewed about Candice/Shotzi. He doesn’t like the ending but the referee’s result is final. However, he wants to ups the stakes of Candice/Io, though he doesn’t know how yet. He officially makes Rhea vs. Raquel for Halloween Havoc. Xia Li comes up with Boa and says that she needs to compete next week. He will take it under consideration. She adds that it’s important.

Drake Maverick and Killian Dain vs. Imperium

Dain is still not a fan of the theme music choices. When Drake is legal, he gets his ass kicked. Dain comes in and cleans house but actually gets worked over a bit. He has to trust Drake and tag him in, which goes well. He does his thing for a bit until he gets hit with the Imperium finish.

Winners: Imperium in 3:51 [Fun for what it was. I’m like Dain most in this role. **]

Ever-Rise shows up and bullies Drake for last week until Dain runs them over with a double clothesline. Drake is scared of Dain, who says, “NOBODY HITS YOU BUT ME!” Drake  leaves up the ramp with him and the whistling theme hits again.

NXT North American Championship: Damian Priest [c] vs. Dexter Lumis

Priest seems unnerved by Dexter’s weirdness. He manages to use arm drags and the combination of his size and speed to get the first upper hand. Broken Arrow connects for the first big near fall heading into break. Returning, Lumis gets two on a spinebuster and puts Priest on the defensive. Priest goes after the leg and twists on the ankle with an ankle lock. Lumis escapes and surprisingly uses the ankle for a leg drop that gets him two. Priest comes back with a clothesline but he misses a spin kick. Lumis hits the uranage and locks in his submission. Priest gets free and behind the referee’s back, Cameron Grimes appears and attacks Lumis. Priest doesn’t see it. He hits a sitout chokeslam to retain.

Winner: Damian Priest in 12:07 [Kind of bland. What happened before the break was okay and what happened after wasn’t much better. **1/2]

Priest gets back in the ring to level Grimes for celebrating. Then, he’s hit with a chair from behind on the stage by Johnny Gargano, who then adds a superkick. Candice LeRae joins Johnny as they stand over Priest. Here comes William Regal behind them. He announces that Candice will face Io at Halloween Havoc, while Johnny gets a shot at Priest. However, the stakes will be higher. He brings out Shotzi Blackheart, host of Halloween Havoc, to announce the high stakes. Their stipulations will be determined by SPIN THE WHEEL, MAKE A DEAL!

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Another good week of wrestling. Nothing must see but some good matches, solid angle advancement, and the women's division continues to be the best in the world. Plus, they are making Halloween Havoc feel like a fun show.