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WWE NXT – Drake Maverick and Killian Dane, Best Friends Forever?!

Published Thu, 08 Oct 2020 09:35:22 -0500

In the first hour of NXT, Tommaso Ciampa and KUSHIDA book their own match, Drake Maverick and Killian Dane get a new theme song, and the Garganos get a new TV. Welcome to Bleeding Cool's WWE NXT report. We watch WWE, so you don't have to!

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WWE NXT Report for October 7th, 2020 Part 1

NXT opens with a video recap of NXT Takeover 31. Did you know I covered every match from that show live? Read 'em here if you need to catch up. Then we get right to the Capitol Wrestling Center, where NXT looks about ten times bigger than it did at Full Sail, so who cares about a bunch of dumbass fans taking their masks off in the plexiglass pods?

Tommaso Ciampa heads to the ring, and Vic Joseph tells us that he and KUSHIDA had to be separated during a brawl backstage before the show, so William Regal booked a match, KUSHIDA comes out.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. KUSHIDA

I know a lot of people like him, but NXT lifers like Tommaso Ciampa do nothing for me. Have the courage to go to the main roster and get ruined like everyone else, Ciampa!
These two are really mad at each other… for some reason. Why were they brawling before the show? How very main roster of NXT to not bother explaining any of this.
This is a really spirited grudge match over a grudge I have no clue about. Commentary sells this as "Takeover-worthy." Does Takeover usually have non-title matches with zero build that everyone pretends are high stakes?
When KUSHIDA has Ciampa in the Hoverboard Lock, Velveteen Dream shows up and hits a double axehandle on… Ciampa, accidentally. Ciampa wins by disqualification. Takeover quality, my ass.

Maybe I was a little harsh on that match, but it rubbed me the wrong way. From a workrate perspective, it was fine. KUSHIDA chases Velveteen Dream away after the match. Then we see a video of Ember Moon returning at Takeover last weekend, and NXT takes a commercial break.

Ember Moon comes to the ring to cut a promo about why she's back in NXT. She thanks the fans and says she's shocked they let her talk on the mic tonight because it's been a while. The crowd, some unknown portion of which are wrestlers, chants welcome back. Ember says a lot of things have changed since she was last in NXT. She rode her motorcycle around until she found clarity and figured out who the real Ember Moon is. She found Ember's Law: no one's gonna walk over here anymore. No one's gonna tell her what to do. She's gonna do what she wants to do because she's Ember Moon, damn it! And one thing she wants to say is, "mama wants some gold, baby."

You know what? She was right. They shouldn't have let her talk on the mic.

Io Shirai comes out to save this promo. When the person coming out to save the promo can barely speak any English, you know you're in trouble. But before Shirai can speak, Rhea Ripley comes out to the ring. Ripley claims to love Ember's new attitude, but before she can say anything else, Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai run out and attack her. Ember charges and gets knocked on her ass. William Regal comes out and calls everyone Sunshine. he says Ripley and Moon will face Gonzales and Kai in a tag team match tonight.

So the opening match was made on the fly five minutes before the show, and now what I guess is the main event was made just now. What was NXT planning to do for the show tonight if these matches didn't just spontaneously break out?

In a video filmed earlier today, Drake Maverick arrives at the Performance Center. The disembodied voice of a cameraman asks where Maverick and his tag team partner, Killian Dane, have been for the past two weeks. Maverick doesn't want to say "COVID" and get fired again, for real this time, so he claims they've been doing tag team-y kinda stuff. Dane walks up and demands to know why Maverick thinks they're a team. Maverick says he and Dane have a match against Ever Rise tonight. Either they're fighting some jobbers, or they're taking viagra. Either way, Dane is annoyed and walks off. Well, at least something got booked ahead of time. NXT takes a commercial break.

McKenzie Mitchell talks to Io Shirai backstage. Shirai says Ember Moon and Rhea Ripley aren't her problem. The NXT Women's Championship are her problem. Great interview.

We see a video about Ridge Holland beating up Adam Cole at the end of NXT Takeover 31. Adam Cole, hanging with Undisputed Era, cuts a promo on Ridge Holland. He says Sunday was not the best night. Kyle O'Reilly says, tell him about it. Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong tell him he put on a great match. O'Reilly says it doesn't matter. They need to deal with Ridge Holland. Adam Cole says Holland broke his ribs, and now he's a dead man.

Ever Rise head to the ring. Maverick and Dane come out. Maverick has gotten some cheesy entrance music for their team. Dane is pissed and makes the production truck cut it off. He tosses Maverick into the ring. He's not pleased to be fighting these jobbers.

Ever Rise vs. Drake Maverick and Killian Dane

Dane is gonna start the match, but Maverick wants to start instead. Dane tags him so hard Maverick screams.
Maverick gets beat down by these jobbers while Dane gets angrier on the apron.
One of the members of Ever Rise calls Dane a "fat bozo." Dane gets in the ring, drags Maverick to the corner, tags himself in, and kicks Ever Rise's ass.
But before Dane can finish them off, Maverick tags himself in. He and Dane argue. The jobber rolls Maverick up and almost pins him…
…but Maverick kicks the jobber in the face. Then he powerbombs Maverick on top of the jobber, and Maverick wins.

The silly music plays. Dany looks annoyed. Maverick wants to celebrate with him. He does a dance in the ring and encourages the crowd to cheer. He wants Dane to dance too. Dane punches him in the face. I get that Drake Maverick is annoying, but why is Killian Dane so grumpy all the time? This was the most entertaining segment of the night so far.

Dane is about to leave but changes his mind. He pulls Maverick out of the ring and carries him out. Maverick gives a thumbs up to the fans.

We see a video about Toni Storm's return at Takeover. It details Storm going to Cancun, Mexico, three weeks ago to prepare for her return. Then NXT takes a commercial break. Thank god! I have to pee!

While I was up, I poured myself a nice Baileys on the rocks. That should make watching NXT more enjoyable.

Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRea are seen walking their dog, complaining about losing their matches at Takeover. They believe they deserve rematches because it's their destiny to win those titles. They just need a new plan. When they arrive at their house, there's a 65 inch UHD TV with a note from Indi Harwell. I think it's a JVC, the cheapest model available.

Austin Theory and Leon Ruff are in the ring. Will this be Theory's latest punishment? Getting pinned by a jobber? Find out in part two of Bleeding Cool's WWE NXT report!

Thanks for reading our WWE NXT report. If you want to see any of the segments described, WWE should have videos of most of what happened up on YouTube.

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