Reading about the supposed multiple endings made it sound to me more like wishful thinking in the face of having the main event result ruined. We shall see.
Reading about the supposed multiple endings made it sound to me more like wishful thinking in the face of having the main event result ruined. We shall see.
Originally Posted by mth
Last edited by mth; July 8th, 2020 at 7:11 PM.
Small thing but giggled at how Mia threw the trash can lid and it ended up out the other side of the ring
Loving this match so far though.
Oh what a finish! LeRae outsmarting Mia and stealing the knucks and that neckbreakeronto the chairs.
Great opener!
Reed/Nese. Here comes Donald's main event!
Yes, I am happy!
Won't be in a bit I think
Yeah most likely going down but have mybroad shoulder foryou to cry on Donald just in case.
Sorry Donald, shoulder right here buddy x
Fucking bullshit!
Gotta love Tony Nese. He's still "the premier athlete!" and he goes for the throat.
I can't believe Gargano swiped his Iron Man garb.
Donald recently put me over to make me the #2 repped person on Rajah. I have returned the favour in light of this time of crisisfor him.
#passingthetorch
Last edited by Badger; July 8th, 2020 at 8:45 PM.
You pass that totch
Scotch torch.
I had no idea you could sort by that until just now. What happens when Donald passes KM? Does he win Rajah?
Swerve is quite good. I would like to see him get a bit more mic time
I paid no attention til he PMed me a few days ago.
Maybe a shoe in for POTTY now.
I just saw that KM is roughly 30x times higher. That catch-up might take a minute.
If he won tonight, would be it be a sw...
Nah e en I have my standards!
Plenty time til POTTY, we could spread our rep every day to help him!
I guess that would've been pretty Bad-ger if you didn't
He already has his son's nursery school picked out.
Its his prekdestiny.
Amazerzing
But more importantly, what school will kdestiny's child be going to?
To pass KM by Jan, Donald would need about 11500000 of rep a day. Badger and I could provide 9%.
Anything less would be a nearmth.
If he goes to a Southern Baptist Daycare, he can sign AMazer's Grace.
Away in a Mazer
No crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down His sweet head
Well from that little interview, looks like Gargano/Balor is being reignited.
No complaints here, especially since they've now switches sides since Balor pwning him.
Martinez looks like Low Ki, but pretty.
I hope she gets to rock Gonzalez some time soon.
She's heel so don't think that's happening soon
Bummer. I should pay closer attention.
UE coming out and Dexter helping Lee out. Calling it now.
Even better that it was clean.UE coming out and Dexter helping Lee out. Calling it now.
KEITH LEE BABAYYYY!!!!
Lee should make for a great champion.
It's now a hidden rule for the NXT female "Street Fight" rule that the match gets started before the first participant can get to the ring. Phillips' line "there's an IKEA under there" as Mia was grabbing stuff under the ring was a funny comment. The match was pretty good in terms of physicality. The finish had a good setup, looked very cool and emphatic. Right woman won this one. Super solid move to have the ladies sell the brutality of the match as long as they did.
NXT is just flexing at this point. They manufactured a needless dark match in order to set up a cold matchup? I appreciate the attention to detail and creating a reason for two people to square off. We might have seen more Leon Ruff WWE TV matches than a fair amount of regulars on the main roster in the same amount of time. Match was fine for what it was. Curious to see what they do with Reed. He feels like more of a fit within NXT as opposed to a guy like Killian Dain, who coincidentally was in the next segment. Wouldn't be surprised if they pull a move similar to Britt Baker on AEW with Robert Stone in terms of having a uniquely obnoxious vehicle to transport him.
Gargano/Scott was as impressive as the hype suggested. Takeover-like quality. Those two have eclectic styles and they put some really fun stuff together. I would have liked to see Scott get the upset victory, but I get Gargano winning. Scott seems like a guy who really hasn't done much with NXT. There's potential for him there obviously, but I'm curious to see what route they take with him. There's an interesting wrinkle they could tape into due to the fact he was the only guy who beat the one fka EHDF in the tournament.
The underwater promo approach is really unique but Io is able to pull it off and make it look really cool. Good on them, though it is way overdue, to give some more personality to Tegan. It was good spin by Io to say Tegan has been connected to people to lift her up while Io has been a loner. I think that adds more fuel for Tegan and they played off that with her not wanting to be the guest of honor to the pity party. Surprised the match is happening next week but I like the approach they went with it.
Fandango has to be a potential leader in the non-existent category of guys who gets kayfabe injured within a match. Escobar feels like a really good hybrid of two guys we actually see on Raw: Garza and Andrade. Escobar has it in him to show that swagger and charisma that can resonate but it hasn't fully clicked just yet (but improving), then he's also got that ability to show some crisp stuff in the ring.
I could see Candice ultimately costing Tegan next week, protecting Tegan in defeat, and letting Tegan/Candice be the next heated feud not in the title picture. Gargano teasing another tussle with Bálor is something. Their Takeover match was fun, so I'm interested to see what meat is left on the bone with Gargano now rolling as a heel. They're doing a fair amount of work to protect Bálor, but I don't know what good it does to have Gargano lose again.
Santana seems to get a lot of entrance time for someone who is generally a jobber. I was curious to see how they went with Mercedes. She's a pretty sharp wrestler but I think the presentation suggests she's going to be a heel. I think there's a lane for her to gain some serious momentum with that distinction. She could be a Shayna-like imposing heel who is extremely methodical.
"Cameron Grimes is a little bitch." - Damien Priest
Yup.
The lowering of the cage music is always welcomed and fit for the pre-match introductions. I really enjoyed the layout of the match. It made Cole look like a champion who has experience and knows how to work through a storm like Lee in the early going. Then Lee showed his resolve in the second section of the match and imposed his will. Those two work very well together and a real live crowd would have loved that match. Clean and convincing win does wonders for Lee, which is saying something. Kross watching from above is ominous for Lee. That's a tricky situation because both have been built to the moon and back and someone is going to need to take a brutal fall at the expense of the other. It was an impressive 403-day reign for Cole as champ. The landscape has changed multiple times over during his reign. I'm not sure what's left for UE on NXT as a group. Should be interesting to see what comes of them.
Last edited by BGMaverick; July 8th, 2020 at 10:08 PM.
So would you say the leak last week was deliberate or did they just roll with it?
I'm going to be kind and say it was deliberate.
I don't watch NXT every week but I think I may do so more often. I deliberately did not read the spoilers because honestly I don't know everyone, who's heel or face, etc. But I recognize a lot of the talent, and I have heard a lot of great things about NXT. I saw Cole and Keith Lee on Raw or Smackdown after the Saudi Show, or was it the Rumble, so when I saw the ad for them during Raw this week, I made a point to watch. I am glad I did.
That was fun. I liked the build during the whole show, with the prediction spots from Drew, Shawn, and Mick. I also am getting more of an understanding why folks keep saying Mauro is the best announcer - I think he and Beth did a great job on commentary during the entire match.
And of course, Keith Lee is something special.
No way the leak was deliberate but no reason for them to switch things up because of it, either. Just pissed that I saw it.
Street Fight delivered as expected. That finish was nasty.
Seems like they're starting to do some stuff with Bronson Reed as of late and I am pleased 'cuz he's dope.
Robert Stone screaming that he was dying after his foot got run over was hilarious. Dude is killing it in the comedy roll and yeah, I think he's going to be getting that ritzy wheelchair gimmick. Surprised to see Dain be the guy that got a face full of coffee. Not sure if that's going to go anywhere...
Scott/Gargano was an absolute banger. Really becoming a big fan of Scott, dude can move. Ricochet-esque with the speed and athletic flippity business, I dig it.
Dig that El Legado have matching gear, really helps present them as a united front. Match-up was fine and did what it needed to do but nothing really special about it.
New entrance/theme for Mercedes which is cool. Solid victory. Very eager to see where she goes, would love to see her and Rhea Ripley tangle, and for sure want to see her in the title scene in the near future. Queen Badass.
Main event delivered. Probably would've jumped out of my seat for the Lee victory if I didn't know about it going into it. I think I'm mostly curious to see how they get the titles separated now that he's got both. I assume Kross will cost him the NA belt in order to get a shot at the NXT belt, maybe? Kross vs. Lee will be a very interesting encounter whenever it comes around, that's for sure.
And I am already stoked for next week with the Women's Title match and Grimey (plus Dexter'll probably be back).
I'm not really sure how significant it would be to give away the result simply to tell people they're going to see something big happen. I doubt it would have had an impact like Schiavone back during the Monday Night Wars. People were going to be invested in that match, regardless. I think they just rolled with the punches.
The Rolling Stone.
Ach I suppose the Indus Sher guy did try to delete it but too late so they probably just rolled with it I guess.
Either way, glad they kept things the same.
Now I went back and read the spoilers. If that Indus Sher guy isn't fired, he deserves to be, else it would make me suspect they were deliberate. I realized that one of the best things about all these shows being taped is that they HAVEN'T had spoilers. So I am glad I chose not to read them ahead of time. If all the rest of the talent can manage to keep a lid on things, what makes this guy think the rules don't apply to him?
Wouldn't be the first time a feud was started over coffee. Would've loved it if Stone had said
"Sorry Dain I hope that didn't...burn you!"
Firing him would be harsh, new guy who possibly got carried away. I mean it was his personal IG and not like he deliberately leaked it to Meltzer lol. Slap on the wrist and a reminder not to do that should suffice.
I get that it would be harsh, but I thought I had read that it was made clear to everyone that the punishment for leaking spoilers would be severe.
He's really put them in a bind, they pretty much have to do something else they are sending the message that keeping secrets isn't important. Fire him, to send a message to everyone else, then quietly bring him back in a few months or so if he's any good. Hell, even tell him that they will likely bring him back if he can keep his mouth shut about it.
At the end of the day it was just a slip and a photo and let's be honest they've kept guys on the payroll for a while for far worse shit than this. Major time-out and not being used for a while to send a message would probably suffice. Cutting him off completely ruining his career just for a slight spoiler leakage that hasn't done damage would still be way harsh.
Also unless he specifically signed a piece of paper that leaking spoilers would rrsult in termination, he'd probably have a case if they just let him go.
Seems like they'd be completely negating the message if they did that.
I do seem to recall reading they'd punish folks for leaking spoilers but I don't think it was or should be termination. I'd say Indus Sher drop out of the tag title scene for a few months to get humbled and that's about it. Maybe dude gets fined, too.
The threat was in regards to spoiling Mania. SI reported that they were told it was a fireable offense but I think it was in relation to that specific set of tapings.Seems like they'd be completely negating the message if they did that.
I do seem to recall reading they'd punish folks for leaking spoilers but I don't think it was or should be termination. I'd say Indus Sher drop out of the tag title scene for a few months to get humbled and that's about it. Maybe dude gets fined, too.
Imagine Undertaker just spoiling stuff left and right, he'd be like "fire me bitch"
Week 01: 1,179,000 viewers
Week 02: 1,006,000 viewers
Week 03: 891,000 viewers
Week 04: 790,000 viewers
Week 05: 714,000 viewers
Week 06: 698,000 viewers
Week 07: 580,000 viewers
Week 08: 813,000 viewers
Week 09: 750,000 viewers
Week 10: 916,000 (first week to beat AEW)
Week 11: 810,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 12: 845,000 viewers
Week 13: 778,000 viewers (tie)
Week 14: 795,000 viewers (win and win all the demos)
Week 15: 831,000 viewers (unopposed and Christmas Day)
Week 16: 548,000 viewers (review and awards show)
Week 17: 721,000 viewers (not in the top 50 for cable programming for the 18-49 demographic)
Week 18: 700,000 viewers
Week 19: 769,000 viewers
Week 20: 712,000 viewers
Week 21: 770,000 viewers
Week 22: 757,000 viewers
Week 23: 794,000 viewers
Week 24: 717,000 viewers
Week 25: 718,000 viewers
Week 26: 697,000 viewers
Week 27: 542,000 viewers
Week 28: 669,000 viewers
Week 29: 590,000 viewers
Week 30: 693,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 31: 692,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 32: 665,000 viewers
Week 33: 637,000 viewers
Week 34: 663,000 viewers
Week 35: 604,000 viewers
Week 36: 592,000 viewers
Week 37: 731,000 viewers
Week 38: 715,000 viewers
Week 39: 673,000 viewers (four thousand behind AEW)
Week 40: 746,000 viewers (26,000 behind)
Week 41: 786,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 42: 792,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 43: 759,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Yeah like some I was spoiled with who won the Coke/Lee match. Didn’t get the holy shit for Lee when he won from me but still was a brilliant match.
What next for Cole? Has he signed a new contract yet?
His contract's not up. He signed a three year deal last year so he's got a couple of years left.
Wouldn't surprise me if he gets called up to the main roster pretty soon though.
Long shot, would love it if he had a program with Drew coming up
I hope they make him Michael Cole's son.
Ah right, was there rumours about it then it is it just me thinking of someone else?
Nice pics I’ve just saw on Instagram of Dominik Dijakovic coming out to congratulate Lee, nice moment.
The rumours ere about Cole but they were later debunked.
There was a news article a month or so ago, but shortly after that another article came out saying the previous article was false.
Honestly, I'd be down for it. Dude's got virtually no character whatsoever beyond generic heel right now, so it'd be something.
Warms the heart.
Still not the biggest fan of Yim, but the street fight started to sell me on her.
she still moves like she’s going through molasses though.
Keith Lee looks like some kind of giant, happy baby with Daddy H there to pat him on the head.
Oh but if you ask my boy Matt he'll tell you about the time Adam and his gf the dentist posted a video on their youtube channel giving a homeless man a sandwich. That they recorded themselves.
I'll be honest, the way some fans felt about Roman and Cena is exactly how I feel about Adam Cole. The oddest overpushed wrestler ever.
I could understand Cole if he stood out in any way at all. Small framed wrestlers have been getting pushed a good decade and a half by now. If he was the first coming through and it was a novelty to see somebody undersized who could talk a bit getting the main event push, I'd get it. It's the norm now. It just a recurring, weaker derivative at this point. We've gone from Bryan and Punk, to Rollins and Zayn, to Black and Ricochet, to Gargano and Cole. Slowly getting less imposing by the generation. I dread to think what the derivative of Cole will be.
I hope they make him Michael Cole's son.I agree that he's exceptionally generic as a character, but he's far more talented in the ring. He screams of being the kind of guy who could get lost in the shuffle on the main roster because his character has nothing that stands out as making me want to care about him. So he would benefit by having something to make us think about his character.
But if they tie him to Michael Cole, there's a danger that the story will become about Michael Cole, and not about Adam Cole. And stories that end up being about the announcers - who are not wrestlers - usually just plain suck. I don't mind if a heel is interviewed by an announcer, and gets additional heat by throwing his weight around, but they've used Michael Cole so poorly in stories over the years (feuds with the Miz, or Lawlor). He is very good as a commentator/announcer, but I don't care to see him taking attention away from stories.
If Cole gets to Raw or Smackdown, he's just got zero chance, in my opinion. Like, I don't even see him making either show, he may well be the first to be 'called up' to Main Event.
This is WWE we're talking about. He makes CM Punk look huge.
I'd just carry on with what the UE were doing in NXT to the main roster calling them up together. Present the story that they've won every belt in NXT with him bragging about his long reign too and so they are looking to fulfil the "prophecy" again.
Or just lather him up in salad cream and have him come to the ring as Coleslaw.
seriously. i've never seen anything in cole. i don't get it at all.
I guess the WWE will have to gauge Adam Cole and company's success on tweets and ratings because without a crowd it is hard to tell if something is getting over in wrestling. Damn near impossible.
Honestly, I feel like some of us are in the minority so if people are down with whatever the fuck Adam Cole is other than a catchphrase that he stole from Heath Slater....whatever. I'm 38 years old I'm not supposed to even be watching this shit still lol.
You're like 15-18 years younger than the median audience, I think.
And I feel even worse for them. Most people my age and older do not watch wrestling, if you don't agree, the ratings should help lol. And by that I mean simply, the ratings fucking suck, not that I require a breakdown of what demographic watches. I've already had that argument when talking about how they should have a more mature product considering the majority of the audience are old as fuck.
Not much to disagree with there but I do think the "suck" is relative or different in terms of negative impact. They're definitely not good and trending down and while I imagine USA isn't happy, it's still likely pulling in numbers better than their original content so I'm just guessing they're riding through the storm as best as they can. Fox, on the other hand, is probably a much different story.
USA isn't a powerhouse in cable like they were in the 90's so they probably don't give a shit either way but I'm not trying to compare Raw to other shows I don't watch.
Meltzer's ratings for Great American Bash Night 2:
Candice versus Mia: 2.25
Reed versus Nese: 1.75
Gargano versus Scott: 3.5
Legado Del Fantasma versus Mavericka and Breezango: 2.25
Mercedes versus Santana: 1.0
Lee versus Cole: 4.25
Candice/MIA deserved better and no way was Nese/Reed better than the strap match (sorry Donald).
Tying him to Michael Cole would be a one note joke that would last 12 weeks longer than it should before he's jobbing on Main Event.
It's been long enough since the last actually good heel faction on Raw or SD that I reckon UE would fare okay as they are. A modern Radicalz.
If UE come up they're going to Smackdown and working with New Day and Daniel Bryan. Cole already has a clean win over Bryan and Bryan is a guy who will no doubt lay down for Cole over and over if it helps.
Process of elimination seems to suggest that UE would be SD-bound. Originally, they would be considered part of a "youth movement" or fresh coat of paint that would have been a fit for Raw but that clearly isn't a thing anymore. I would think Smackdown needs more of a jolt in terms of trying to spark conversation so taking the dominant faction from NXT could help that cause. You'd want the full act on board so you could basically run back the prophecy angle with UE trying to drip in gold. Smackdown has a tag division that should work with that for Fish and KOR but KOR is clearly someone who isn't working regularly at the moment. Maybe you can run it with Strong and Fish for the tag, Cole can work in the IC picture and then he can bubble up when/if KOR can return over time.
The Limitless Era begins tonight. Likely we'll see Karrion Kross make his intentions for Lee clear. It'll be interesting to see how things go as far as having title contenders while both belts are on Lee. Can't always be a winner-takes-all situation so how each belt will be challenged for and defended is intriguing.
While it's the beginning of the Lee Era, is it also the end of the UE Era? Could we see a totally UE-free NXT for the first time in forever?
Priest vs. Girmes ought to be solid. I'll absolutely be rooting for Grimey to come out ahead and get him the NA Title soon (so he can feud with Dexter).
Shirai vs. Nox should be a banger. I know others aren't as high on her but I've been becoming more and more of a Nox fan as time goes on.
NXLEE/Basking Season has officially begun. I liked the intro with pretty much all of the performers giving their halfhearted congratulations and saying that the bullseye is on Lee. Puts more of an emphasis of how big of a deal it was that Lee is the double champ in NXT. Dijakovic was a relative surprise as the person Lee called out but it made sense on their history.
Good match between Priest and Grimes. That Razor's Edge on the apron looked brutal. Grimes needed his comeuppance, and Priest is being primed for a really solid push. I'm not sure if I like The Reckoning (fka CrossRhodes) as his finisher, but he makes it look good. If you have the benefit of DVRing the show, go back and watch the replay the finish and see what Grimes did as he took the pin
Teasing more Lorcan/Thatcher is good for me.
Shocking that Shotzi was ready to go this week after attempted murder last week. It also looks like she got her self a massive tattoo on her chest. Indi getting as much as she did, including the upset win, was quite a surprise. She's got stuff to work with so I'm interested to see how her character develops. They really missed the opportunity to go with the Rolling Stone approach from Stone, opting to go for the walking boot.
Big, massive heel energy from Escobar by making fun of Maverick's emotional promo after being fired. Good stuff. The cinematic/LU vibe to the promo was good. Making Escobar and the crew look suave and sharp is a good way to go. The character building for Legado del Fantasma is going well.
If Ziggler/Corbin is the worst choice of repeat matches, Black/Murphy is a solid one, then Lee/Dijakovic is the prime-cut choice. Was it me or did Dijakovic look slimmer? It might have been the tank (respect Shad) but he just looked different. I liked how they mixed the match up and didn't necessarily rely on the usual spots they can roll out. The one-armed slam looked absolutely gnarly, especially on a guy like Dijakovic. Looks like Dijakovic is primed for an NXT sendoff next week.
Not sure but it seemed Dain was just as upset about coffee being spilled on him, accidentally, compared to a drawing of coffee being spilled on him, haha.
Hell of a flex on NXT's part to have the double-champ have an impromptu defense and still main event with Io defending her title. It was interesting that most of the early portion of the match had Io giving the impression that she really wasn't taking the challenger seriously. Conversely, I liked how Tegan was aggressive and trying to capitalize on the champ's lethargy. What a damn wall Tegan ran into with that palm strike. Great spot there. It was definitely a gutsy effort by Tegan in defeat. I keep saying it: add some more layers to her and give her a legit character and you've got a future champ there. Case in point: look at who kicked Io.
Good opening promo from Lee. Surprise match with Dijakovic being set up was a decent surprise and as BG mentioned, dig that they could do that midshow and still have a main event that felt worthy of the spot as well.
Priest/Grimes delivered. I'll have to go look for whatever BG's talking about with the pin. Far more into Grimes than i am Priest but whatevs, this made sense for the way it should go down.
I want to like Thatcher but meh so far. He does remind me a bit of Benoit who was my favorite wrestler back in the day so he should have that going for him but I dunno, just not clicking yet.
Would be dope if Stone could have himself a band of rookie ladies as his Brand. Hope Indi joins up with him after this win.
Great vignette with El Legado. Still really seems like they're setting up for them to feud with Lucha House Party, I mean, they legit said "Lucha is not a big party" in the damn promo. Feels like they're calling those guys out but Kalisto seems to be MIA so the LHP isn't a trio so the fuck do I know.
Lee/Dijakovic delivered as expected and I did appreciate that it didn't feel like a "greatest hits" match but they actually did some fresh stuff. The swinging flatliner in the ropes was pretty rad.
Glad to see Lumis has something set up for next week, should be a good slugfest with Dain and hopefully another solid victory for my dude. Amusing way to set it up, too. Love that Dex just communicates via drawings.
Main event was worthy of its spot. Great work from both. Really dig that the focus with Nox is on hos whe wants to stop being the injury/comeback story and move on as that's exactly what her character feels like it needs to do right now. That bridging fallaway slam move is so terrific. And yeah, she took that palm strike like a fucking shotgun blast. I'd have bought that for the finish more than the near whiff of a moonsault that actually did it. I love me some Io but her moonsaults are all over the place.
Already excited for next week's show.
I think Grimes just lost sight of the hard cam in relation to his action, which appeared to suggest he had the gumption to check on Priest's health in an unorthodox way.
Good show. Overall I thought AEW was the better show. I wonder what is in store for Balor? It pandemic definitely put a damper on the WALTER/Balor match
Week 01: 1,179,000 viewers
Week 02: 1,006,000 viewers
Week 03: 891,000 viewers
Week 04: 790,000 viewers
Week 05: 714,000 viewers
Week 06: 698,000 viewers
Week 07: 580,000 viewers
Week 08: 813,000 viewers
Week 09: 750,000 viewers
Week 10: 916,000 (first week to beat AEW)
Week 11: 810,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 12: 845,000 viewers
Week 13: 778,000 viewers (tie)
Week 14: 795,000 viewers (win and win all the demos)
Week 15: 831,000 viewers (unopposed and Christmas Day)
Week 16: 548,000 viewers (review and awards show)
Week 17: 721,000 viewers (not in the top 50 for cable programming for the 18-49 demographic)
Week 18: 700,000 viewers
Week 19: 769,000 viewers
Week 20: 712,000 viewers
Week 21: 770,000 viewers
Week 22: 757,000 viewers
Week 23: 794,000 viewers
Week 24: 717,000 viewers
Week 25: 718,000 viewers
Week 26: 697,000 viewers
Week 27: 542,000 viewers
Week 28: 669,000 viewers
Week 29: 590,000 viewers
Week 30: 693,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 31: 692,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 32: 665,000 viewers
Week 33: 637,000 viewers
Week 34: 663,000 viewers
Week 35: 604,000 viewers
Week 36: 592,000 viewers
Week 37: 731,000 viewers
Week 38: 715,000 viewers
Week 39: 673,000 viewers (four thousand behind AEW)
Week 40: 746,000 viewers (26,000 behind)
Week 41: 786,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 42: 792,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 43: 759,000 viewers (higher than AEW)
Week 44: 631,000 viewers
He’ll be feuding with Gargano, heel and face roles reversed this time.
Surprised to see such a ratings drop for the first week with Lee on top.
Robert Stone walking up the ringsteps.
Very solid episode this week.
Pretty good line up for tonight:
Karrion Kross vs. Domonic Dijakovic
Killian Dain vs. Dexter Lumis
Shotzi Blackheart vs. Aliyah w/ Robert Stone
HUGE Announcement from William Regal
---
Kross/Dijakovic ought to be a good hard hitting affair. Eager to see how they do, could be a nice preview of what Lee/Kross could be like down the line style-wise.
Dain/Lumis should also be a solid hard-hitting slugger. Since it ties in with Robert Stone I'm really hoping he's involved trying to help/recruit Dain because I need some Stone/Lumis interaction on my TV.
Shotzi/Aliyah I'm mostly interested in for Stone's comedy and because Shotzi's dope, the match probably won't be much otherwise, though.
I assume Regal's announcement has something to do with TakeOver next month?
Aye, looks solid, that. Will enjoy tomorrow evening over a light ale.
Regal/Lee's announce was somewhat expected but very...deflating. It deflates the idea of title versus title when this is the eventual endgame. We see Bayley and Becky and others in the past defend multiple belts but I guess it buys into the logic that Lee is so focused on the NXT title with all of the people gunning for him, plus showing his magnanimous side by providing an open opportunity for others to vie for the NA title. It's just a shame that they're not going to really push the dual champion trope. Easy and compelling setup though to build over the coming weeks to build to Takeover XXX.
I didn't have high hopes for Lumis/Dain (mainly due to Dain) but the match was pretty good. It felt like the motivation was to show more versatility and zip to Lumis' attack. He looked good evading the steps on the reversal, showed some flair for the kip-up, and tried a senton (twice). It all adds up to a heavy dose of athleticism displayed by him. If Lumis could make the side effect into Silence a little more smooth, that stuff would look outright class.
You know it was light work for Breezango when there's a match where Dango doesn't get to look like he's seriously hurt. "They're bringing home the Canadian bacon after that win." I see you, Mauro. I don't get Ever Rise other than them being a knock-off version of the Young Bucks. Where is Imperium?
Aliyah isn't lighting the world on fire with her technical prowess but she's certainly doing more with the opportunity she's been given over the last couple of months. Good on her, because I imagine she was awfully close to the chopping block prior to that. Shotzi really comes off as borderline reckless at times but it fits her style. Mercedes kicked the crap out of her after the tank spot. Mercedes/Shotzi should be good. Please NXT, go with The Rolling Stone for Stone, now that both legs are injured lol. I'm fine with Mercedes being part of The Brand. It'll work for the time being. Still weird that The Brand has gotten more time and prominence since Chelsea fired Stone and disappeared off TV.
I like the commitment to showing why Scott is who is he and what's made him who we see. He's a dude that hasn't been given a big opportunity to run consistently so this is promising. Good on them to use the match with Gargano at GAB as a turning point for him. And GOOD on them to call back to the fact that Swerve was the only one to beat EHDF in the tournament. That was a plot point waiting to be used so I'm glad they're going to go with it.
The fake out between Gargano and Strong when they were gong to team up was quite hilarious, with Gargano calling out Strong being the added solid bit of comedy. This probably wasn't the intention of the match but the more I saw it play out, the more I wanted to see just Gargano/Strong because those two are so damn talented. Despite that train of thought, Reed really did well to hold his own amongst two of the best workers in the company. That is certainly a noteworthy feat. The doomsday device counter into the poison rana was gnarly. Good setup for the finish. Strong doesn't look bad for the upset loss because he took Gargano's finisher prior to the actual finish. Remains to be seen as the other four spots are filled but this could be a setup for a refreshing of the NA title picture if it's more underneath developing guys like Reed. Could be very promising for the likes of Grimes, Priest, Thatcher, etc.
There's superkick parties and then there's beat the ever-loving shit out of your parties like Thatcher/Lorcan. This was a different type of physicality compared to the first matchup, which is impressive as they could have just "played the hits". My guess was that they were going to give Orcan and win and settle the score at Takeover with The Fight Pit but I like the resourcefulness shown by Thatcher to steal the win. Good reveal to show Thatcher cheated, too. Hell, still do the damn Fight Pit.
What a hell of a mixed bag for next week's triple threat: Bálor/Thatcher/Lumis. It would have been a HELL of a moment if Bálor said he didn't want charity as he was alluding to but wanted the challenge and was set up to be a challenger for the NXT title and Lee now, but that's clearly not in the cards. I think Lumis is going to Takeover, joining Reed.
I like how the level sparring with Kross' matches have intensified as he's had more matches. It makes sense based on who he has faced and what they have to offer. It says something with how respected Dijakovic is to see how much he actually got and what he was able to do in the match. Then he got obliterated. I'm not really sure how that wasn't a DQ but it was beyond effective. It definitely got the necessary heat on Kross. It was strong storytelling built over time, built off the fact Lee and Dijakovic have built a huge bond based off the fact they competed against each other. Lee/Kross is going to be fire by the time we get to Takeover.
Last edited by BGMaverick; July 22nd, 2020 at 10:04 PM.
Lee relinquishing the NA Title is a bit odd but I do like the "opportunities" idea, it reflects well on his character to be a generous guy, and it sets up the interesting triple threats and you know I'm not gonna complain about a ladder match at the end of it. Hell yeah to that.
Very nice to see Lumis get to show more of his agility/athleticism in his match with Dain. I think the dude's got a lot more to show than we've seen so far and he's going to keep letting more out of the bag as time goes on. Real good match.
Breezango's Mountie stuff was amusing. Ever-Rise are bland AF and look like total jabronis.
Aliyah/Shotzi was a bit better than I expected. I thought Shotzi was going to lose are booting Stone on the apron, that she took too much time and would whiff on the senton and get rolled up, so her getting the win was a pleasant surprise. Mercedes vs. Shotzi? Yes please! And Mercedes joining the Brand should make for some amusing chemistry.
Scott going after the CW Title is
Triple threat was very good and MOTN for me. Was not expecting Reed to win at all, figured it'd be Gargano being opportunistic with Reed just getting a strong showing, so when he got the win I marked out. Super dope. And next week's triple threat? Super interesting trio in that one, very geeked to see Balor and Lumis in the ring together, Thatcher adds an interesting style....and yeah man, if Lumis wins, I'll probably fall off my couch. Would love to see the NA Title match be all new faces getting their chance to shine.
Can't say I was excited to see Thatcher/Lorcan again but at the same time, I do appreciate the style and enjoy seeing dudes slap the shit out of each other. I always liked matches when guys like Benoit, Regal, and Finlay would have matches like this and like I said last week, Thatcher reminds me quite a bit of Benoit who was my favorite wrestler at one time, so I want to get into him but connection's just not there yet.
Kross/Dijakovic was pretty alright. Decent thing with what they were doing when Lee came out, damn good way to get heat on Kross and further the Lee/Kross stuff.
Would’ve been nice if they ran with the double champ thing a bit longer, but with an awesome ladder match awaiting I have no complaints.
Solid episode overall although wonder what the deal with Ciampa is? Coming back eventually or will he be called up?
Unless his mindset has radically changed or they're forcing him, I doubt he's moving from NXT. I'm guessing he's just in a spot where there's nothing really on the horizon for him so they're just letting him recharge.
Ciampa's gone on record saying he'd retire before he'd ever go to RAW/SD.
That’s a fair point as I’d forgotten about that, but part of me also thinks that could be in character to put over the NXT brand because WWE would probably just cut him if he were really that stubborn. Really who’s not going to say no to more money on the main roster?
For the record, I do want him to stay on the NXT brand. If it is part of a bigger plan and he screws Kross over then gets his win back, could be huge.
It's about his health:
...and that he wants to be able to be there for his daughter growing up.https://www.ringsidenews.com/2019/12...e-main-roster/
“So I could do four years of that in the time that I do that in one year in Raw and SmackDown so how long can my career and portfolio grow here as opposed to growing there?”
“Now, it’s become a thing where I’ve legitimately vocalized to them like, ‘If I have to go to Raw or SmackDown, then I’m gonna retire and I would love to produce or coach or be a part of it. There’s no way I taking on that load and going, ‘Yeah, you know what? I’ll just have a six-month run and then call it quits.’ I just won’t do it, It’s just not worth it to me.”
More recent interview:
https://www.essentiallysports.com/i-...ng-out-of-nxt/
“I’ve been on a limited schedule. Right now I feel great, but again, I just haven’t taken on a very hard load. So I try not to fool myself. It’s one of those like, ‘Hey, I probably can’t do 250 days a year. Would I feel great if I did 250? Probably not,” admits Ciampa.
The former NXT Champion also gave fans some details of his potential move to the main roster.
“If somebody came to me with the right offer of saying, ‘We’re gonna limit your schedule,’ anything’s possible. It’s literally just for me, the longevity of my career,” he claims.
That makes sense.
Pre-Covid, NXT's travel schedule was less intensive compared to the main roster (even with the main roster scaling back shows). In addition, I think a lot of the travel accommodations were set up or outright taken care of for the NXT talent. So with that available and the tippy-top guys (Ciampa would be in that scenario) not having to travel for every house show loop, it's a pretty good setup.
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