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Kevin’s WWE NXT Review 9.23.20

September 23, 2020 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
WWE NXT Kyle O'Reilly
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Kevin’s WWE NXT Review 9.23.20  

NXT Women’s Championship No. 1 Contender’s Battle Royal

Candice LeRae gets an entrance while other girls are in the ring. Moments ago, Candice hurt Tegan’s knee and drove a cart into it, preventing her from competing. Rhea also gets an entrance. She jumps out someone who I didn’t recognize or get a good look at. Raven(?) gets eliminated next. Rhea launches out someone else who never gets TV time and it was rough. Brandi Lauren gets sent out by Raquel. Rhea also gets out another rookie who barely gets shown. The same goes for Raquel. She and Rhea are dominating. Like in the 2019 Royal Rumble. Kacy Catanzaro gets tossed but her feet never touch the flow. She rolls into a handstand and gets her feet under the bottom rope to pull herself back inside before a commercial. During the break, Robert Stone tries to save Aliyah from elimination but Rhea still knocks her out. I may have missed an elimination or two. Returning, Kacy is knocked off the apron and into the guardrail. She latches on and climbs onto the plexiglass. She leaps back onto the stairs and Indi Hartwell kicks her off but she gets back to the guardrail. Kayden Carter on the apron tries to help but is eliminated. She then helps Kacy get back in the ring. Rhea and Raquel now go at it. Raquel gets her on her shoulders and they fall over the top and both get eliminated. We’re down to Dakota, Candice, Indi, Shotzi, and Kacy. Kacy dumps Indi and then Dakota attacks. She and Candice work together to eliminate Kacy and then work on Shotzi. Blackheart turns it on them and dumps Dakota. She goes to toss Candice, who latches onto the ropes. They go at it and both come close to getting eliminated. Candice ends up on the steps and Shotzi uses her boot to try and get rid of her. Candice ends up on her back and boots Shotzi to the floor to win.

Winner: Candice LeRae in 15:11 [A fun little battle royal. It started bland but once the no-names were gone, it picked up. Kacy is so much fun in these, the Rhea/Raquel stuff worked, and i liked the finish being on the stairs. ***]

Johnny Gargano celebrates with Candice. Then, we cut backstage as Damian Priest is interviewed because he’s facing Gargano at TakeOver. He plans on retaining and winning his match tonight.

The tag teams argue backstage and Fandango, dressed as Sherlock, has a plan to set up new contenders. He explains it to Regal and it seems like Lorcan and Burch are taking on Imperium with the winners getting a shot.

Jake Atlas vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Atlas comes out firing but Ciampa turns it around. Atlas avoids Willow’s Bell and attacks outside. Inside, Ciampa works him over for a bit the Atlas gets going with some aerial stuff including a diving blockbuster. Ciampa weathers the storm and hits Willow’s Bell. He can win but stops the pin to talk trash. He added a modified Fairytale Ending to win.

Winner: Tommaso Ciampa in 4:48 [I dug this as a sprint. Atlas looked spirited and showed fight but Ciampa was too much for him. **3/4]

A Ridge Holland vignette runs.

A video package airs for the gauntlet tonight.

Danny Burch and Roderick Strong vs. Fabian Aichner and Raul Mendoza

Okay, so I had it wrong earlier. Fandango’s idea was for a member of each team to team with each other and then the winners will have their teams meet. If Burch and Roddy win, their teams will meet for a title shot, for example. Right off the bat, there’s uneasiness with the teams heading into commercial. Returning, Aichner is going at it with Burch and hits a back suplex. Tag to Mendoza who keeps Burch isolated. They also knock Strong off the apron to avoid the hot tag but he gets back up and tags himself in. Roddy fires off offense. Things break down soon after and Mendoza ultimately falls to a popup knee and running European uppercut.

Winners: Danny Burch and Roderick in 9:49 [It had the bones of a solid match but was hurt by the commercial break and the teams not being all that familiar. **1/2]

Austin Theory is interviewed about facing Damian Priest and his recent struggles. Gargano interrupts to say that he won’t forget it if Theory can soften up Priest.

Austin Theory vs. Damian Priest

Despite losing a lot lately, Theory remains confident. Anytime he gets a bit of offense in, he’s quick to pose or taunt. Priest seems to be taking him rather lightly and it puts him trouble. He gets going but then is knocked outside when trying a springboard move heading into commercial. Returning, Priest starts to rally again and gets two on a release falcon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL). The fight goes outside and Priest levels Theory with a spin kick. He adds a Razor’s Edge onto the apron and then wins with the Reckoning inside.

Winner: Damian Priest in 11:06 [Really bland. It was fine from a technical standpoint and not much more. **1/2]

Priest’s celebration is cut short by a Johnny Gargano superkick.

A weird vignette runs set seemingly in night vision. They say something about returning but commentary suggests this is someone new. They arrive on 10/4/20.

An Isaiah Scott vignette runs where he talks about pinning Santos Escobar twice so far. He wants one more shot at Escobar with no outside interference or gimmicked masks.

Antonio De Luca vs. Ridge Holland

Holland dominates here, including throwing some brutal looking headbutts. He wins with Northern Grit.

Winner: Ridge Holland in 1:34 [NR]

Io Shirai is interviewed about Candice LeRae and straight-up says that she never liked Candice. Candice comes over and asks if Io is scared, which Io hilariously reacts to, especially since she beat Candice before. Johnny gets in Io’s face and Priest arrives to knock him out.

NEXT WEEK ~ Dakota Kai vs. Shotzi Blackheart!

Gauntlet Eliminator: Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. KUSHIDA vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Timothy Thatcher

KUSHIDA and Kyle O’Reilly, who had two stellar BOSJ matches in New Japan, start. Typical strong back and forth to start between these two great wrestlers. KUSHIDA retains his aggressiveness from the past few weeks as he targets the arm. At the 4:00 mark, Bronson Reed joins the fray and the two smaller men stop fighting to go after him but he runs them over a few times. He also launches KUSHIDA into Kyle. He has control until they go up top and all three men battle there. After Reed gets crotched, the referee checks on him. Velveteen Dream comes out and hits KUSHIDA with the DVD. Reed nails the Tsunami to eliminate him in 7:48. 8 minutes in and it’s Tim Thatcher time before a commercial. Returning, Cameron Grimes joins and everyone is now in. Everyone goes at it and Grimes gets tossed out by Reed, which also knocks the other men down. Reed thinks about a dive but decides against it and resorts to pounding on them outside. Inside, he can only get near falls, though. Back outside, Reed connects on the dive this time and takes everyone out heading into another break. Returning, Reed is still throwing people around. However, he misses the Tsunma and takes a leaping knee by Kyle which eliminates him at 21:40. Thatcher immediately puts Kyle in the ankle lock but Kyle counters into one of his own. Thatcher gets out and they start trading blows. With Kyle down, Grimes hits him with a release German. Commentary announces Priest & Shirai vs. The Garganos next week. Anyway, back to Kyle and Tim trading shots. Grimes interferes and gets knocked out. Grimes gets put in an ankle lock as Tim puts Kyle in a sleeper hold. No submissions come from it though. Kyle rolls up Tim to eliminate him in 25:14. Grimes nails the Cave In on Kyle but he gets his foot on the bottom rope. Grimes talks trash and says Kyle is nothing without Adam Cole. Moonsault slam when kyle charges but it only gets two. They go at it again and Kyle traps him in a kneebar. Grimes taps!

Winner: Kyle O’Reilly in 27:50 [Hell yeah! That was a great main event with non-stop action. Kyle got to look like a million bucks and even KUSHIDA was protected. Things moved smoothly here and it was a strong way to close the show. ****]

Roddy and Cole come out to congratulate Kyle. Finn Balor shows up on the stage and stares down Finn.

8.0
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
It's a higher rating than usual but I really enjoyed this episode. Sure, the matches in the middle weren't great but they worked well. Ciampa/Atlas did what it had to, the tag was interesting, and the Holland squash worked. The battle royal was entertaining and that main event ruled. Nothing was bad on the show and even with this TakeOver seeming rushed, they've set up Kyle/Finn and Io/Candice II, which is wonderful.
legend

article topics :

WWE NXT, Kevin Pantoja