KOR might be the angriest Canadian I've ever seen lol. Good fire by him and it's a good tease to have everyone but Cole come out to address him to start the show. The thought of a full-blown implosion but Strong holding true to the faction and just represents UE on his own made me chuckle. It feels like things really went to crap for UE when Cathy Kelly left NXT.
I was surprised Escobar cut his promo in the parking lot but I forgot he's pretty much the overseer of that dangerous hot spot. While Escobar's logic for bailing made sense, it seemed a bit out of place for him in the context of Kross. He hasn't really been ducking Kross so doing it now was a bit off. I do like how Regal nips things in the bud when he's put into a situation. Good way to raise the stakes and make sure we're getting a match by having the threat that Escobar will be stripped of his title if he doesn't compete. They've really done a lot of nothing in terms of building this match but it's clearly leading up to something substantial.
Gargano called Indi "my daughter" lol. Hilarious. I'm surprised the tag match went as long as it did but I guess it made sense because they wanted to give them proper timing due to the fact that a good chunk of it was a wash due to Gargano being a story for the other portion. Indi does have some pretty good flexibility for a woman her size. Still rough around the edges but she's got some promise.
"Hey! Internet Wrestling Community, it's me your favorite wrestler, Pat McAfee."
Pretty interesting wrinkle that McAfee leaned into the convenient timing of the truth he's been trying to preach since he came into NXT. It's interesting because he's been gone since WarGames but promising that he's not completely out of the picture. Now that the NFL season is totally done, he's probably going to be a little more available to NXT. Looking forward to when he's back. I doubt they can do a double turn between him and Cole but that would be an interesting way to attempt it.
Like how Kushida is still going to be in the mix, as he should be, for the NA title. Nice to include Reed and Rust. The transition out of that scene clearly showed the have nots in that title picture though in the form of Scott and Ruff. That was a really smooth match between the two of them. Lean more into the heel turn for Scott and probably have another fun match between the two of them.
Nice to see that despite the Dusty Tournament being over, NXT rolled out two women's tag matches. Probably for the best that they went away from the Phoenix Senton as the finish for Team KC. Put way too much shine on just one performer and it wasn't clean lol. I knew it wasn't going to be much but it was still set on telling another story for the ladies and I'm totally fine with that. Kacy is going to get wrecked next week but I'm pretty intrigued to see how that match goes.
Burch and Lorcan are on notice. I'll be very surprised if MSK doesn't win the title in two weeks. I know Raquel had the benefit of some heels but she still would look imposing next to MSK lol. I thought it was interesting that Dakota and Raquel played more like faces in this element but it actually kind of worked. I really appreciated the callback to when Shayna and Dakota had their moment in NXT. Glad to see Dakota wasn't intimidated like she was in past. I thought everyone played their part well in that entire segment. Big night for NXT in two weeks for the tag title pictures. The stuff between MSK, Beth and the popcorn was perfectly timed.
Grimes works in small or large doses. Not missing a beat with busting up his own Lambo was hilarious. I'm curious to see how it's kept fresh. Either way, it feels like an act that's main-roster ready.
Kudos to the sticktoittiveness for that photographer. Your talent was getting ambushed and you were all about the shots! That story made sense though. Mercedes was just used in the story to eat the pin and allow Toni get in the spotlight some more to built to the eventual singles match between Io and Toni.
Kushida/Rust wasn't as good as the Takeover match with Gargano/Kushida but this was pretty good and I was anticipating that it would be. That was a pretty scary fall Kushida took from the top. Luckily it just looked bad and he kept going. Bivens took the MVP route with Lashley: protecting his investment. Bivens showing different layers to his character is a nice touch.
LA Knight is going to talk a lot lol. Who knows when he will actually get into the ring to wrestle but he's certainly going to establish himself verbally. We'll see how that takes.
I'm surprised Zoey Starks (fka Lacey Ryan) was the first from the new female signees to come back around after the Dusty Tournament. She totally came across as a damn tank with physicality. The division is just so damn deep that the hook for her is going to have to be incredibly compelling.
Smart for either opponent from Takeover, but smart of Bálor to be the first to really strike by going back to the injured body part from Sunday's match. That's a nice attention to detail there. The ref took a hell of a beating there at the end haha. Cole made it very clear that he's pissed at KOR but it remains to be seen as to why (probably just tired of KOR getting the spotlight). That spot on the steps was kind of tough to see but it was a nice touch to show Cole is willing to hurt himself a bit to take out KOR. He covered a lot of ground quickly, leaving the traditional route and then sneaking around from the opposite side to kick Bálor. Really interesting set of circumstances. Cole wants his title back, Dunne remains in the mix, KOR is losing allies and is pissed, and everyone wants a piece of Bálor.