wrestling / TV Reports

Kevin’s NXT Review 9.16.20

September 16, 2020 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
WWE NXT Damian Priest
7
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Kevin’s NXT Review 9.16.20  

Io Shirai vs. Shotzi Blackheart

This stems from their slight altercation last week. Shotzi offers a handshake and Io slaps it away. Quick start that sees the women come to a standstill before Shotzi gets some near falls on flash pins. Shotzi puts on a submission that Io only breaks when reaching the ropes. Shotzi misses a dropkick to the outside and Io hits an Asai moonsault heading into break. Io holds serve during the commercial but Shotzi rallies and fires off a string of offense when we return, including a pump knee. They trade shots until Io traps her in a crossface. Shotzi reaches the ropes, avoids the 619, and hits an enziguri. She then hits a running cannon ball of sorts. Io survives Cattle Mutilation and gets going, hitting the 619. Missile dropkick follows but Shotzi kicks out and hits a super rana for her own near fall. Io avoids an apron Code Red and hits a sick German suplex there. Corner knees from Io, who finishes it with the moonsault.

Winner: Io Shirai in 14:20 [A hell of an opener. It started hot and only picked things up as we neared the finish. It was pretty great. Bit performance for Shotzi. ***3/4]

NEXT WEEK ~ A #1 Contender’s Battle Royal will be held to find Io’s TakeOver opponent.

Desmond Troy vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Ciampa is aggressive from the start, though he does get rolled up for two. He does the slingshot apron gimmick but on the turnbuckle instead so it’s not as bad. Willow’s Bell ends it.

Winner: Tommaso Ciampa in 1:53 [Total squash. NR]

Ciampa goes to use a chair but Jake Atlas shows up to interrupt. He could attack him from behind but he’s not a coward. He knows Ciampa is dangerous because he’s been at the top of the food chain but it’s his turn to eat, so he challenges him to a match next week.

We hear from Finn Balor who talks about being champion four years apart and how NXT is different. He longer needs the brand. he made NXT and he’s the start. Since he holds the NXT Title, it’s the most important. They even show WALTER, McIntyre, and Roman. People need to fight to get a shot and the queue starts here.

Austin Theory is out to cut a promo about how he’s a future hall of farmer. He says Bronson Reed won a fluke and he issues an open challenge to prove it. KUSHIDA answers with no music or fanfare, which I like for this situation. He dropkicks Theory outside.

Austin Theory vs. KUSHIDA

Commentary says that KUSHIDA put Dream on the injured list. He keeps that aggression going here, never letting up on Theory. His cartwheel dropkick and handspring kick send Theory outside. Theory hits his arm on the post and KUSHIDA hits a single arm DDT outside. He stomps on Theory’s face and then applies the Hoverboard Lock to win.

Winner: KUSHIDA in 3:20 [KUSHIDA is a badass. Squash. NR]

KUSHIDA refuses to break the hold at first but eventually does.

Candice LeRae cuts a promo from home saying that Tegan Nox was ungrateful. Johnny shows up, furious that their TV was busted. He says he hasn’t gone downstairs in a week and there’s still spaghetti everywhere. He wants to send Tegan a bill for the expensive TV he will buy. She says she’ll win the battle royal and he calls the guys in tonight’s main event frauds.

NXT Tag Team Championship: Breezango [c] vs. Imperium

Imperium hit the ring quick and things had to be broken up before the bell. Once it started, they still jumped the champions. They hold serve as they isolate Fandango. He gets a small opening but is quickly cut off by Aichner. They hit tandem offense heading into commercial. Returning, Fandango is finally able to get free and make the hot tag. Breeze fires off kicks and foearms. A superkick nearly ends it but Barthel breaks things up. Breeze is launched onto Aichner, who catches him right into a vertical suplex. It’s awesome. Fandango drags Breeze to the corner and tags in before using a cross body to take Imperium outside. Superkicks are fired off inside but Fandango then misses the diving leg drop. Aichner hits a release German suplex but can’t score the win. Tornado DDT by Fandango opens the door for another tag. They both make the tag. Breeze misses a second blind tag and nearly eats the European Bomb but the move is broken up. Breeze counters the doomsday device position into a victory roll to retain.

Winners: Breezango in 14:23 [This was good but got hurt by the fact that we couldn’t see what happened during the commercial break. ***]

Jessi Kamea and Xia Li vs. Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter

Carter starts against Li and they go through some quick exchanges. Tag to Catanzaro for some great double team stuff capped by a Catanzaro slingshot senton. Kamea gets the tag but also falls victim to some tandem offense, this time with multiple kicks. Kamea turns the tide and hits a corner forearm on Catanzaro, who is now being isolated. It doesn’t last long before Carter is in and firing off shots. She hits a roll through superkick on Li and adds a regular superkick on Kamea. Tag to Kacy for a pump kick from her into a Samoan drop Kayden into a cool pinning combo.

Winners: Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter in 3:53 [I’m really digging this tag team. This was fun. **1/4]

Post-match, Kacy and Kayden want to fist bump the opponents but Xia walks off angrily and Kamea just backs away.

Backstage, Drake Maverick is happy to finally find Killian Dain, his partner for tonight. Dain basically tells him that he should go out there by himself.

Tegan Nox speaks from home saying that she hasn’t changed, even if Candice thinks she has. The Candice that she knew wouldn’t sit back and listen to her husband complain about a $200 TV that she broke just to watch himself lose. Ouch. She says she’s going to win the battle royal and this time, everything will be different against Io Shirai.

Drake Maverick and Killian Dain vs. The Undisputed Era

Bobby and Roddy representing UE tonight. Drake points to the stage but there is no Dain, as he was warned about. Drake decides it would be okay to go at it alone and quickly gets lit up by chops from Roddy. He and Bobby take turns beating on Drake and enjoying it. They show Dain watching backstage and he seems disappointed in Drake’s performance. We go to break. Returning, nothing has changed. William Regal comes up to Dain and tells him to go do his job. Dain arrives and puts Drake back in the ring before leaving. Roddy makes the mistake of calling Dain a name, causing him to turn around. They throw Drake into him but he avoids him. Inside, Dain starts reeling off shots on both until Fish uses a chair on him for a DQ.

Winners via DQ: Drake Maverick and Killian Dain in 9:40 [As a match, this was rough. It was just the Undisputed Era beating on Drake. Though he can take a good beating, this wasn’t interesting. As an angle, it at least advanced the Dain/Drake story. *1/2]

Drake stops Bobby from using the chair again and they send UE packing. Drake shouts that they’re a team and he shoves Dain, leading to him getting knocked out.

During the break, Jake Atlas was interviewed outside about challenging Ciampa, who jumps him from behind. Surprisingly, Kyle O’Reilly comes over to stop it and tells Ciampa to save it for next week.

William Regal speaks and says there are five deserving contenders for an NXT Title shot. He announces a Gauntlet Eliminator. Two men start, every four minutes, someone new enters. Elimination can only happen by pinfall or submission and the winner gets the shot. No word on who’s in it.

NXT North American Championship: Damian Priest [c] vs. Timothy Thatcher

Thatcher immediately tries to take this to the mat and Priest uses his quickness to combat it, sending Thatcher backing into the corner. Their next exchange sees Priest again get the upper hand until Thatcher goes to a tight headlock. They get up and start trading blows, with Thatcher throwing uppercuts to Priest’s forearms. Things go outside where Thatcher blocks a piledriver or powerbomb and sends him into the steel steps before adding a suplex on the floor. Commercial time. During that time, Thatcher has control by keeping things on the mat. Priest fights back when we return by hitting multiple strikes. A slap from Thatcher wakes up Priest, who lights Thatcher up with kicks, a forearm, and a clothesline. Corner jumping elbow and tossing falcon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL) gets two. Pump kicks from Priest but Thatcher avoids his springboard somersault. He wants the Fujiwara Armbar but Priest is blocking it. He succeeds at blocking and they’re back to strikes. Thatcher catches a kick, eats a slap, and wants a submission. Again, Priest blocks but still ends up in a half crab. Priest gets out but ends up in the Fujiwara Armbar and screams in pain. He uses his long legs to get to the ropes. Jumping Flatliner and sitout chokeslam follow get two. He adds a top rope spinning heel kick and wins with his finisher.

Winner: Damian Priest in 12:48 [While it had some good moments, something about this didn’t quite click for me. It lacked in parts and I never bought Thatcher as a winner. **1/2]

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
It may not have had any standout matches other than Io/Shotzi but this was a good episode. Almost nothing was bad and things moved along nicely, while furthering several angles. That's all you can really ask for in a quality weekly TV program.
legend

article topics :

WWE NXT, Kevin Pantoja