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WWE NXT – Because U Demanded It, The Return of Pat McAfee

Published Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:35:35 -0500

In the second hour of WWE NXT, the most promising rookie since Tom Magee finally makes his long-awaited return. But will Adam Cole turn out to be Bret Hart? Welcome to Bleeding Cool's WWE NXT Report. We watch NXT, so you don't have to. You're welcome!

The official logo for WWE NXT.

WWE NXT Report for October 21st, 2020 Part 2

In a video package at the Gargano house, Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae practice for Spin the Wheel, Make a Deal by spinning a toy wheel they put match stipulations on. Gargano spins Buried Alive and freaks out. LeRea spins Trick or Street Fight. She likes it. Gargano tries again, hoping for Coal Miner's Glove. But he gets a Casket Match. They're really pushing Priest as the next Undertaker, huh? Gargano cuts a promo on the wheel and storms off to go to bed.

Drake Maverick and Killian Dane are seen walking backstage as NXT takes a commercial break. Ever-Rise are in the ring after the break. Then Maverick and Dane come out. They have ditched The Furry and the Fury, apparently, and are going with Killian and Drake. They do have the silly music, but Dane insists it is turned off.

Killian and Drake vs. Ever-Rise

Drake Maverick gets beat up a little bit, but Dane gets a hot tag, and kicks takes on both members of Ever-Rise.
Ever-Rise does manage to double-team Dane and get him in a half crab. The other member of EVer-Rise holds Maverick and taunts him. "That's your only friend!" Maverick flips out, kicks ass, grabs a chair, and clears the ring.

Winners: Ever-Rise (by DQ)

Maverick realizes his mistake after the match. Dane limps toward him. He looks like he's about to deck him as usual… but instead, he slaps him in the chest. He says that was awesome, and Maverick kicked ass. He should do that more often. Their music plays. Maverick dances. Dane leaves. But halfway up the ramp, he stops and waits for Maverick to join him.

Do you know what I've figured out? I like longer matches from AEW Dynamite, but on WWE weekly shows, I want short matches. If it's a short match on WWE, it's usually pretty entertaining, or at least not offensively bad. I think it might have to do with there just being too much WWE programming every week, usually featuring the same people fighting each other week after week.

Backstage, Roderick Strong has also been assaulted. He's found lying halfway in the bathroom. My god! Roderick Strong was assaulted while taking a shit! Who does that?! NXT takes another commercial break.

William Regal talks with Kyle O'Reilly backstage. Breezango are there, as is Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. O'Reilly tells Regal he should just give the match to Lorcan and Burch. Lorcan and Burch are like, no; you earned this, Kyle, you should just use one of us as your partner. But Kyle says no. He's going to the hospital with his friends. Regal makes the match. So… Lorcan and Burch attacked Undisputed Era then?

Kacy Catanzaro vs. Xia Li

This match starts right after the previous segment. The story here is Li got a mysterious letter last week and then begged for this match for some reason. She says it's the biggest match of her career. So figuring out why is the hook here. The match itself is an afterthought.
Catanzaro rolls up Li for the pin.

Winner: Kacy Catanzaro

Li attacks Catanzaro after the match, shouting, "I should have won!" Kayden Carter, who is at ringside, tries to stop it, but she gets beat. Li continues to beat on Catanzaro until… Raquel Gonzalez attacks Li. Then she attacks Catanzaro and Carter too. She gets a mic. "Rhea Ripley! This is what awaits you! I'm bigger! I'm badder! And next week at Halloween… Havoc, I'm going to be la diabla of your nightmare." Alrighty then.

McKenzie Mitchell talks to Cameron Grimes. He learns from McKenzie that his match with Dexter Lumis will be a Haunted House of Terror match at Halloween Havoc. Grimes is not into that at all. Dexter Lumis is watching this promo through a window in the background. Grimes says he's gonna win, but you can hear in his voice that he's scared.

NXT takes a commercial break. We see a promo for Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae, heavily focused on Spin the Wheel, Make a Deal. It's a silly name for the gimmick (where there are a bunch of stipulations on a wheel, and whichever one you land on,

Timothy Thatcher hosts a live edition of Thatch as Thatch Can, in which he stretches his "student." It's funny that Thatcher is a heel here, but this is like, legitimately, how WWE did training like five years ago. Anyway, Thatcher's student eventually gets fed up and puts Thatcher in a headlock. He has him for a second, but Thatcher gets out. He calls the referee in and tells him to ring the bell as he decks the student.

Timothy Thatcher vs. "Andrew"?

I think the student's name is actually "Anthony," but Thatcher called him "Andrew," and now the crowd is chanting "Andrew," so that's your name now, kid. Gotta give the people what they want.
Thatcher makes him tap quickly with a half crab.

Winner: Timothy Thatcher

I'll give it this: it was more interesting than the usual Thatch as Thatch Can segment. We see a video package for Damian Priest. He cuts a good promo on Johnny Gargano, talking about Gargano trying to figure out what happened to Johnny Wrestling. But nothing has changed with Gargano. It's just that Priest is now here.

Fandango begin their entrance, which is the cue for a commercial break. Lorcan and Burch are already in the ring after the break.

Breezango vs. Lorcan and Burch – NXT Tag Team Championship Match

I like Breezango, but they aren't serious champions. Lorcan and Burch, however, don't even have the comedy thing going for them. Just a couple of jabronies looking like Gillberg.
Breezango controls most of the match. It's an epic bout of the sort we see so often on NXT that frankly, I'm sick of them.
It ends with a screwjob. Breezango has it won, but a mysterious person in a mask comes out from under the ring and shoves Fantango off the top rope. While the ref is distracted, Danny Burch hits a low blow on Tyler Breeze and pins him.

Winners: Lorcan and Burch

I long for the days when the credible team of Breezango held the NXT Tag Team Championships. The masked man comes into the ring to celebrate with Lorcan and Burch. He unmasks: it's Pat McAfee. He did this just to mess with Adam Cole. I wouldn't hate it if McAfee became a wrestler. He seems to have a natural talent for it.

WWE NXT – Was It Any Good?

NXT was, as it often is, a mixed bag tonight. Some stuff I liked, like Ember Moon's match and the Drake Maverick/Killian Dane stuff. Some stuff I'm willing to give a chance, like Pat McAfee, who I didn't like originally, but who proved himself to be an alright dude in his match a couple of months ago. Like Lorcan and Burch, other stuff becomes tag champs, and anything involving Velveteen Dream or Austin Theory just reeks of the disease that's eaten away at Raw and Smackdown over the past twenty years, a problem of creative bankruptcy. It's hard to come to grips with the fact that great wrestling minds like Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and William Regal are working down in NXT… and this is the best they can come up with. Not bad. Better than Raw or Smackdown. But not necessarily good either. Certainly not as good as it ought to be.

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