NXT returned last night (January 27) from the Capitol Wrestling Center (CWC) in Orlando, Florida. You can find the results of the live blog here.
Spinning Wheels
This week’s main event was a tag match, in a show filled with them, featuring former enemies Finn Bálor and Kyle O’Reilly taking on the tag team champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in an untitled fight.
The match itself was good, although it was easy to be tired of doubles matches, as there were so many. Finn Bálor threw his face in danger with his heels working on his arm, and O’Reilly was the scorer who decisively won with a submission.
After the match, Pete Dunne appeared to employ a defeat to the disadvantage of the winners before Adam Cole and Roderick Strong expelled the Kings of NXT.
In short, this angle is turning its wheels. Kyle and Finn had a fun rivalry against each other, but there is little spark in their story playing with reluctant allies against Pete Dunne and the champions of etiquette. In general, NXT is losing a spark, and much of the problem is that there is nothing interesting going on with the main titles. (The female title still doesn’t have a clear direction, only starting to unravel it after weeks.)
I support them to make Finn Bálor’s act literally stand back to stand shoulder to shoulder with ERA looking like a very important moment, but that was not enough to make this event look worthy.
This story needs to be stimulated so that it looks worthy of a prominent place on a card with TakeOver just a few weeks away.
Friendship Goals
Raquel González and Dakota Kai predictably defeated Jessi Kamea and Aliyah to advance on Dusty.
There is not much to say about the game. Dakota did much of the work, but González took care of business in the end. It was nothing spectacular, but he did what he intended: remember that González is dominant.
However, what I most appreciate is the evolution of the relationship between Dakota Kai and Raquel González. Raquel debuted as Dakota’s bodyguard last year. She was clearly working for Kai, with a focus on advancing Kai’s career.
So Raquel started to run away on her own and, instead of giving up on the team or fighting, the dynamic changed. Dakota was more than happy to try to play the role of supporting the rising González. She was even locked in a closet for her help during Raquel Last Woman Standing’s match against Rhea Ripley. And now they are functioning as a team, both working towards that common goal.
They may be bad girls, but I enjoy this friendship.
Elevation
The opening fight on the tag night featured MSK facing Drake Maverick and Killian Dain.
One thing I generally appreciate about Dusty Classic is how they use it to elevate tag teams to more serious status. Dain and Drake liked comedy when they started. Over time and now a place at Dusty, they were introduced as another respectable team.
The team’s DNA is still there: Dain is the threat and Maverick is the ‘weak link’. But this week, Drake held on. He was not the responsibility he had played in the past. This is important if they want this team to be more than just a comedy act. (Which to be fair, if that’s what NXT wants, is a good role for them.)
The team still doesn’t feel like a cohesive unit. There is still a feeling that two guys are in a doubles match as opposed to a duo actually working together. It is part of who they are, although we hope they will evolve into more than one team.
On the other side of the ring, MSK is very exciting. I have some experience of watching them as Rascalz on Impact, but I’m many months away from watching Impact, so I don’t know the caliber of the work when they left. That said, they feel more special here. They are unique in style and personality. I was excited for this match because of them this week and I look forward to seeing what they will do in the next round.
Superb Underdog
My favorite fight of the night was Dusty’s quarterfinal fight, where the Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Kushida and Leon Ruff.
It was Dusty’s only game of the night when it really felt like the submission wasn’t right. Yes, GYV was the favorite. But Ruff and Kushida had a big win in the first round.
This match fulfilled the task of getting me to a point that I really wanted the underdog team. Leon Ruff does a fantastic job working as a likeable character. His personality makes it so easy to root for him. In the meantime, GYV is not flashy, but its style allows you to easily cheer against it. So, it’s even more disappointing when they win.
After the match. Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory attacked Ruff & Kushy, revenge for the defeat for them last week. They ended up being scared by Dexter Lumis, who also has problems with Way, as he lost a fight for the American title in an unclean way.
Who is next?
It looks like Io Shirai will have to defend his title in a triple threat fight.
Toni Storm called the champion, but after Shirai replied, Mercedes Martinez was part of it all. With Storm and Martinez not on the same page, despite being a complete team, there is enough here to go with the triple threat.
Honestly, a triple threat makes sense. There are so many women who deserve a title shot, running a program with two of them at the same time helps to move the line. And if there is a person they want for a singles match with the champion in the future, they will not accept the pin.
It is not official, but it is our best guess as to what lies ahead for the champion.
Everything else:
– Bronson Reed stepped over Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. Of course, they are gaining a lot from Reed. I question doing this at the expense of Swerve, who won nothing significant in his time at NXT. I think a victory to share a series with Jake Atlas (who also never wins) was his greatest achievement. They need to find a program so that Scott can emerge victorious.
– Curt Stallion should have a cruiserweight title fight this week. But he was attacked before, so he was pushed until next week. William Regal imagines that El Legado del Fantasma is to blame and, although he is probably right, Karrion Kross leaving a business card in Santos Escobar’s purse makes me wonder if he is the real striker. I don’t see what his motive would be.
– Malcolm Bivens scheduled Tyler Rust for a cupcake match for an easy week after Rust tried to do his own business last week and sued himself for a match with Bronson Reed. The rust won, so Malcolm is winning is money.
With the abundance of tag combinations and the lack of really hot angles, this show seemed to drag on. Nothing was apparently bad. Each segment would have worked well in a show that had some hot angles. But it felt like a bunch of complementary stories tied together, making it look like a more boring episode of NXT.
Note: C +
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