Kevin’s NXT Review 11.25.20

Kevin Owens is a guest on commentary.

Candice LeRae vs. Ember Moon

Candice does a lot of running at the bell, scurrying to the corner and taking a rest. Ember gets going and even takes out Indi Hartwell at ringside. Candice’s cross body is caught and Ember hits a fallaway slam. Candice escapes to the stage but Ember gets her and sends her back inside. Once there, Candice with the step up senton for two. Ember gets pulled into an inside cradle for two and Candice also gets the same result for a clothesline. She’s frustrated as she fires off more shots. Ember fires up with hard strikes just as Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez walk out for a closer look heading into break. Returning, Candice has the upper hand and is wearing down Ember. Ember fights out with a hip up rana and rollup for two. However, Candice counters her and traps her in a sleeper hold. Still, Ember fights out and hits a series of suplexes capped by a release front suplex. As she wants the Eclipse, Dakota and Raquel get on the apron. The distraction allows Indi to sneak in and she takes the Eclipse for Candice. Then, Candice takes out Ember and wins with Wicked Stepsister.

Winner: Candice LeRae in 12:59 (A very good opener that continued to showcase just how good the women’s division in NXT is. Even when they don’t deliver their best, it’s still really good. ***1/4)

Ember manages to slip free and avoid a post-match attack. Toni Storm comes out to help her to her feet. They go to enter the ring for an attack, only for Toni to pull Ember back and throw her into the steel steps. She sends Ember inside, feeding her to the wolves. Raquel ends the beating with the one-handed powerbomb. Toni laughs outside.

The Undisputed Era enter the building.

Legado del Fantastma have a vignette where Santos Escobar says they’re focused on turning lucha libre into their own form. They put the Cruiserweight Title on the main show, including on TakeOver for the first time. The next challenge in Curt Stallion, who they don’t see as a threat.

The Undisputed Era hit the ring for a promo. Adam Cole finds it laughable that Pat and his boys think they’ve run things in NXT. He admits they gave them a solid taste of their own medicine but that’s it. Pat isn’t there tonight and one of them will face Pete Dunne in a ladder match for the War Games advantage. Cole says UE are unbeaten in earning the advantage. Kyle O’Reilly steps up, saying he NEEDS to fight Dunne after what happened at Halloween Havoc. Cole and the rest of the guys agree completely. Cole loves angry Kyle, putting him over as the man who put Finn Balor on the shelf. It’s a different Kely and at TakeOver, they’ll face a different Undisputed.

Backstage, Candice shoos away an interviewer and gets Dakota and Raquel to agree to be on Team Candice. She introduces them officially and adds Toni Storm. Toni appears and says we’re seeing the new Toni Storm that she promised.

KUSHIDA vs. Timothy Thatcher

Tommaso Ciampa brings out a chair and takes a seat at the edge of the ramp. They’re evenly matched in the opening exchanges of this, showing off aggressive yet technical work. KUSHIDA hits the hip toss into the cartwheel dropkick and then wants the handspring kick. Thatcher catches his leg and wrenches on it over the top rope. Commercial time. Returning, KUSHIDA fights back with right hands and kicks. He eventually applies the Hoverboard Lock. Thatcher fights out and gets him to let go a bit, able to turn it into his own armbar. They continue to jockey for position and exchange submissions on the mat. They include an ankle lock and rear naked choke. Thatcher yells at Ciampa when they go outside. That gives KUSHIDA the opening to drive his shoulder into the post and then hit a single arm DDT. Thatcher stares at Ciampa while in pain. Inside, KUSHIDA with a soccer kick but he runs into an uppercut. Ciampa stands up and that opens the door for KUSHIDA to slap back on the Hoverboard Lock, winning via tap out.

Winner: KUSHIDA in 12:33 (Quality match with some really good mat work. The first half didn’t quite click for me but I liked the final few minutes. ***)

Ciampa tells the camera that maybe Thatcher has a problem with him now.

We get a video package recapping last week’s great main event between Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai. Rhea might not like her but she respects her.

Backstage, Pete Dunne is asked about facing Kyle O’Reilly. Pete knows that Kyle broke Finn Balor’s jaw but if Finn faced him, he’d be out for 2 years and not 2 months. Burch and Lorcan say they’re better than UE at everything and they’ll break them.

It’s time for a special edition of the Kevin Owens Show, with special guest Leon Ruff. Ruff says he’s dreamt of being a WWE superstar for his whole life and this has been a whirlwind experience. Kevin Owens throws to a video of him from two weeks ago. It’s the clip of the title being too big for his body, which they laugh off. He cuts a generic face promo and KO tells him that he agrees with his words but he needs to say it with more personality and fire so people backstage can take him more seriously. Ruff gets up and kicks away the chair, then shouts that he beat Johnny Gargano twice. KO hilariously facepalms because he knows that saying someone’s name on the show triggers their interruption. Almost on cue, here comes Gargano. He calls Ruff a child but when he gets in the ring, KO gets him a chair, which Johnny throws outside. KO gets another chair for someone but doesn’t say who. As soon as Johnny mentions Damian Priest, KO knows it’s coming. Priest arrives. The three men argue and Johnny shoves Leon. It leads to Priest reminding Ruff that he said he’d defend the title against both of them. KO says Teddy Long or the NXT version of Teddy Long should come out and book it. That brings out William Regal to make the triple threat match for TakeOver: War Games. He adds in a, “playa” at the end.

A Finn Balor vignette airs. He says he laid the groundwork for war. He wants these guys to go to war and then come to see him. “The cat is back” and he says something about kitty litter. It’s not good. He says the champ works Wednesdays.

Cameron Grimes vs. Jake Atlas

Right off the bat, Grimes uses his slight power advantage on a shoulder block, so Atlas responds with quickness. They move into a series of counters before throwing strikes at one another. Atlas sets early and eats a boot but rolls up Grimes for two. Atlas keeps coming until he takes the moonsault slam. Grimes shouts, “TO THE MOON” and wins with the Cave In.

Winner: Cameron Grimes in 2:49 (Although that was way short, it was packed with action. **1/2)

Grimes has his celebration cut short by an appearance from Dexter Lumis. He runs away but then Dexter points to the tron, which shows footage of Grimes running scared through their haunted house match and including a Lumis drawing of him. Lumis reveals a strap, wanting a strap match.

After break, Grimes tries to leave and says he’s not scared of Lumis. William Regal finds him and books him against Lumis in a strap match at TakeOver.

Rhea Ripley is in the ring to address her future. She promises that the hug with Io was only about respect and nothing more. It’s not a sendoff or anything like that. Candice LeRae interrupts with Toni Storm at her side. Candice says Io stole two wins over her with help but beat Rhea solo. Candice says Rhea talks the talk but they walk the walk. Dakota and Raquel come out, with Raquel carrying a battered Io Shirai. They hit the ring and Rhea fights them off as best as she can, doing quite well until Raquel joins in. The numbers are too much and the heels leave them lying. War Games looks like Candice, Raquel, Dakota, and Toni against Shotzi, Ember, Rhea, and Io.

A terrified Xia Li and Boa enter a car and are scared as they are driven somewhere. They get to a figure under a hood and beg for forgiveness and a chance to prove themselves. They are both marked by the old dude from a few weeks ago. The person under the hood appears to be a woman but no word on who.

An Ever-Rise match is scheduled but Grizzled Young Veterans hit the ring and jump them in suits. They basically put the division on notice and finish with Ticket to Mayhem.

Outside, Candice LeRae says that anyone dumb enough to join Shotzi’s team will get run over. Indi Hartwell has a neckbrace on. She says that Raquel faces Shotzi next week. Johnny Gargano gets them to get in the car, where another person in the Ghostface mask sits.

War Games Advantage Ladder Match: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne

The two slug it out before the bell and Dunne is sent packing. Kyle sweeps him up on the apron and we go to commercial. We return with the match in progress and Kyle catches Dunne with a kitchen sink but he then leaps off the apron into a right hand. He avoids the next shot and hits the knee off the apron. A ladder gets set up bridging the apron and guardrail. Kyle slingshots Dunne into the plexiglass. Kyle sets up the ladder inside but Dunne gets in. He places the ladder on Kyle’s hand and climbs but Kyle gets free and dragon screws his leg on the ladder before tearing at it in a submission. They fight to the apron where Dunne hits a suplex off of it and through the ladder heading into another commercial. Returning, Kyle uses a guillotine choke and a pump knee before a suplex on a ladder. Their teammates watch from perches in the arena. Kyle misses a flying knee and hits the ladder. They start trading shots and Dunne goes after the hand again but Kyle just kicks him. They get into a tug-of-war in the ladder that sees them both crashing into it. They climb and fight up top, where Dunne kicks him down. Kyle grabs the arm and snaps it over his shoulder to stop him. They both fall from the ladder and trade more shots, capped by the Nigel from Kyle. Dunne ends up using a chair on the knee and back before hitting a Bitter End onto the guardrail. Dunne climbs and Kyle is somehow back in time to tilt the ladderback and drop Dunne back first onto it. As Kyle gets to the top, someone in a mask runs out and knocks him over and onto the floor. He leaves, Dunne climbs, and wins.

Winner: Pete Dunne in 15:51 shown (There were great ideas and moments in here but at times it felt rushed, especially down the stretch, keeping it from being great. ***1/2)

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

It was a promo heavy show but that worked. It set up a lot for TakeOver and gave Candice LeRae a ton of TV time. I think the Toni Storm turn was super weird as they keep turning people heel for no reason, especially on the women's side. An entertaining show that mostly flew by.