Posted in: Review, Sports, TV, USA Network, WWE | Tagged: adam cole, bleeding cool, cable, candice lerae, Io Shirai, Matt Riddle, NXT, Review, streaming, television, tv, wwe
"WWE NXT" Brought Back Wrestling This Week – Finally [REVIEW]
This week's edition of USA Network's WWE NXT opened with Austin Theory and Tyler Breeze in a really even-keeled match. This was a great opening segment for NXT — and was a stark contrast to last weeks show.Theory and Breeze are both fun to watch in the ring. While Breeze might have the upper hand in terms of experience, Theory was able to match him. This current rivalry could be turned into a friendship. Breeze took the win.
Tonight's NXT was shot at Full Sail, and not the performance center. As there will be no Takeover before WrestleMania, the Takeover matches will be put into regular NXT programming. While the circumstances aren't great right now, at least the planned matches aren't going to waste.
Killian Dain and Tehuti Miles were next. These two heavyweights weren't shy about throwing each other around. This was a classic wrestling match, and just a lot of fun to watch. Dain took the win after a Vader Bomb. Cameron Grimes and Tony Nese were next, in an interesting mix of flashy wrestling gimmick and cowboy gimmick. Both showed a great deal of talent though, and this was a good match. Grimes took the win.
We then got a qualifying match for the women's ladder match originally scheduled for Takeover. Aliyah and Io Shirai went head to head next, as Xia Li was injured backstage before the match. Io is electric in the ring, and wasted no time on Aliyah, and took the win very quickly. Keith Lee sauntered down to the ring next, cutting a solid promo. Unfortunately he was interrupted by Dominik Dijakovic and Damien Priest. This was a good in ring promo, and felt natural in the order of things.
Adam Cole did a phone promo, which isn't out of the norm for WWE. It was sufficient, but you can skip it.
Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch went against Shane Thorne and Brendan Vink had a solid tag team match. Lorcan and Burch took the win. Candice LeRae and Kayden Carter gave it their all to earn a spot on the upcoming ladder match. I've been a fan of LeRae for a while — she's just exciting to watch in the ring. But Carter is just as good. With the right push she could very well be a powerhouse in the WWE universe. LeRae took the win, thought it was hard earned.
The Original Bro — Matt Riddle — went against Roderick Strong for the final match of the evening. This was a good way to finish out NXT. It's a great match with a lot of exciting moves and excellent story telling. Riddle took the win. If you're new to wrestling as a whole, keep your eyes on these two. They're going to go far.
Overall, WWE NXT was a vast improvement from last week. The non stop action works, and is much appreciated.