Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: NXT, wrestling, wwe

NXT Report – Who Are on the Mount Rushmore of NXT, Anyway?

The first hour of NXT was bonkers. It seems like somebody had a fire lit under their ass. Whatever the case, it's been a good night so far, and it's shaping up to be better because we're about to find out what will happen with the NXT Championship that Karrion Kross relinquished earlier tonight.

NXT Report for August 26th, 2020 Part 2

McKenzie Mitchell interviews Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. Kai says tonight's tag team match will be a piece of cake against Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai. She points out Ripley wants Io's title so they won't be able to get along. Gonzalez says Ripley messed up by getting in her face.

William Regal addresses the NXT Championship situation.

William Regal is in the ring. He talks up the main event from Takeover XXX. Yesterday's news, dude. He talks about Kross giving up the title. We already knew that, man. Regal wishes Kross well on his recovery. Regal says they'll have a four-way next week on Tuesday Night NXT between four former NXT champions to decide the new champ. Oh good, so nothing new then? We wouldn't want that. The competitors are Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Finn Balor, and Adam Cole.

Apparently, next week's NXT will be called NXT Super Tuesday. Oh, and it will be a 60-minute Iron Man match. Okay, now that makes things interesting. Hello, ratings! Oh, and sorry, Impact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D66yG4Elb1Q

Wade Barrett says he'll be on commentary again next week because he doesn't want to miss the match.

Isaiah "Swerve" Scott comes to the ring. Santos Escobar comes out with Wilde and Mendoza. But he sends them to the back for this match.

Isaiah "Swerve" Scott vs. Santos Escobar – NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match

• We get about 30 seconds of a match before some commercials. I guess I'll write another article about the NXT Championship situation during the break. This is turning out to be a very lucrative night for me, in terms of clicks!
• Swerve and Escobar have a very competitive match… until Swerve stands on the apron and allows Escobar to launch him into the plexiglass. Swerve takes a beating on the outside after that.
• Right before another set of commercials, Escobar and Swerve are both standing side-by-side on the ropes. Swerve goes for a hurricanrana, but Escobar counters into a powerbomb. It was sweet.
• Escobar controls after the break, but he riles Swerve up by spitting in his face. Swerve makes a comeback then. He hits some big moves — a backflip over the top rope to the outside and a flatliner — but can't get the pin.
• Wilde and Mendoza come out for a distraction, but Escobar can't close the deal. Breezango comes out and removes the distraction, leaving the match one-on-one again.
• Swerve gets a bunch of near-falls, but Escobar rolls outside the ring and puts on his El Hijo del Fantasma mask. He headbutts Swerve and gets the pin.

I guess the idea is there was a metal plate in the mask or something? I'm sure that'll play out later. That was a good match. I thought we were gonna see another title change, but WWE can't give us too much. There has to be at least a little suffering when you're watching a WWE show.

Backstage, Johnny Gargano cuts a promo about that bad bump he took last week and how if that ended his career, he would have left his legacy unfulfilled. But now he has a new opportunity because of the 4-way next week. He's gonna remind everybody who he is. He's been the iron man of NXT for years, and next week he'll have the title to prove it. We get a graphic for Kyle O'Reilly vs. Drake Maverick and then some commercials.

Finn Balor cuts his own promo about the four-way. He says Gargano is probably right and Gargano's the one that's gonna win it. Just kidding, Balor says everyone wants him to win, and he's gonna win.

Kyle O'Reilly comes out with Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish. Adam Cole must be busy cutting his own promo for next week backstage.

Kyle O'Reilly vs. Drake Maverick

• Marverick's marketability ended with the Cruiserweight Championship tournament earlier this year. He's here to be a jobber. And job he does.
• O'Reilly taps Maverick out with a leglock in a very short match.

Undisputed Era (back to being heels now that Pat McAfee is gone) attack Maverick after the match, but Killian Dane comes out and makes the save. But then when Maverick tries to thank him, Dane knocks him out. Poor Drake Maverick. This is the job he was crying about getting laid off from in that video?

We see some highlights from NXT Takeover XXX's Women's Championship match. McKenzie Mitchell interviews Rhea Ripley backstage and asks why she's teaming with Io Shirai tonight. Ripley admits she does want Shirai's title, but that won't get in the way tonight. The reason she came out to save Io at Takeover was to send the message to Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez that Io is hers. Commercials.

Adam Cole cuts his promo about next week's title match. He calls the competitors the Mt. Rushmore of NXT. Now that Cole has finished with Pat McAfee, he can focus on getting the belt back. He says he's the iron man of NXT, not Gargano. He's gonna be a two-time champ, and that's undisputed.

Io Shirai comes out as the main event approaches. Ripley comes out next. Then Kai and Gonzalez.

Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez

• Shirai controls the part of the match that happens before the first commercial break, which happens very quickly.
• It's Ripley's turn… to get her ass kicked after the break. Who saw Rhea Ripley as the face in peril for this match?
• YouTube TV's audio has gotten out-of-sync and is about five seconds behind the action in the ring, which is extremely distracting.
• If only Hulu Live TV would get Viacom channels, I would totally switch. But I need my Jersey Shore fix from MTV.
• Shirai gets the hot tag and takes on both Gonzalez and Kai.
• Watching this match with the audio out of sync feels kind of like the Thunderdome, with the crowd noise completely disconnected from the action.
• Shirai can't keep up this two-on-one forever. Eventually, she becomes the victim of a Raquel Gonzalez beatdown.
• Ripley gets a false hot tag because the ref was paying attention to the heels.
• With the ref's back turned again, Mercedez Martinez runs out and attacks Ripley.
• But like ten seconds later, Ripley climbs back up on the apron and tags herself in. But she's beat up, and Gonzalez hits a powerbomb and gets the pin.

Good match.

Okay, some thoughts on the show:

• The performance center trainees sound way better than the Thunderdome crowd. This may be because they only have to pretend to care about one show per week instead of three.
• Speaking of sonic pleasures, Wade Barrett has a very soothing voice. I'm not sure I paid attention to anything he said, but I felt calmer just listening to him.
• I like that we got a title change. Breezango are funny. I don't see them having a long reign, though.
• I wanted Swerve to win the Cruiserweight title too.
• The main event was very good… aside from the audio issues that weren't WWE's fault.
• I'm kinda glad Karrion Kross had to give up the title (though sorry he's hurt, of course). Winning the title was kind of the thing with him. Since he's a monster, who murdered everyone else on the roster on the way there, who could even challenge him?
• It should be interesting to see the ratings with basketball canceled today.
• It should be interesting to see how well NXT retains its viewership after all the postponements are over. They worked to put on a really good show tonight when they might have some new people giving them a chance, and next week is shaping up to be pretty awesome with that 60-minute four-way Iron Man match.

It was a solid NXT from start to finish tonight. Tomorrow is AEW Dynamite… unless it's not. Who knows what happens now with the NBA postponements. So maybe I'll see you tomorrow, and maybe I won't.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!