NXT – June 20, 2018: Last Train From Chicago
IMG Credit: WWE
NXT
Date: June 20, 2018
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness
It’s another slow down week as we’ll be looking at what happened this past Saturday plus the two matches taped before Takeover went on the air. Therefore it’s not going to be the most important show in the world, but after everything WWE has had going on this week, a little break sounds like just the ticket. Let’s get to it.
Here are Saturday’s results if you need a recap.
In Memory of Vader.
We get a highlight package from Takeover, with a crawler of tweets about Vader’s passing.
Opening sequence.
It’s always a little jarring to see the big arena for NXT.
Dakota Kai vs. Bianca Belair
Belair throws her around to start but takes a kick for an early two. A suplex takes Kai down for two and Belair is rather cocky about this level of dominance. With Kai not being able to fight her off, we hit an abdominal stretch to keep Belair in control. That goes nowhere so Belair tosses her down again, only to have Kai come back with some running kicks in the face. A hard forearm to the jaw takes Kai down though and the sitout torture rack faceplant finishes Kai at 6:03.
Rating: D+. This was nearly a squash with Belair running over Kai and not even blinking during the destruction. That’s what this match should have been, as Belair looks to have all the potential in the world. Let her run with that and see how far the natural athleticism can take her. At the moment, it looks quite far.
Video on Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream. That was awesome.
Ricochet says he showed tonight that the spotlight belongs to him.
Velveteen Dream says Dream Over.
Video on Shayna Baszler vs. Nikki Cross.
Baszler, along with two more of the Four Horsewomen, say you defeat chaos by putting it to sleep. Baszler: “And still.”
Video on Aleister Black vs. Lars Sullivan.
Aleister Black is too banged up to talk.
Video on Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Undisputed Era.
Lorcan and Burch are upset that they lost but glad that they got here.
Long recap of Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano.
EC3 isn’t sure why he wasn’t on Takeover but that won’t happen again. He goes into Regal’s office and demands to face EVERYBODY.
War Raiders vs. The Mighty
TM61 of course, with a better name. The Mighty, now in matching tights, jump the Raiders to start but Rowe demands that the match start anyway. Rowe cleans house and Hanson throws him into Thorn in the corner. Fallout is broken up and Miller gets two with his feet on the ropes. It’s Rowe in trouble for a bit until he runs Thorn over, allowing the hot tag off to Hanson. Everything breaks down with Hanson using the size advantage to clean house with reckless abandon. Fallout ends Miller at 4:33.
Rating: C-. That wasn’t much more than a squash and that’s what War Raiders should be doing. They’re bigger and stronger than any team around and having them flatten a team with some success like The Mighty is as good of an idea as they could have. There’s a real chance that the Raiders are going to be in the title hunt sooner rather than later, and really that’s what they should be doing.
Overall Rating: C. As usual, this was just a rest stop on the way back from Takeover and there’s nothing wrong with that. The wrestling was there to warm the crowd up and prevent them from having to put together a full show between Saturday and today. The recaps were a nice touch and as usual this is one of those shows that helps new viewers if they watched Takeover on a whim. Exactly what this show should have been.
Results
Bianca Belair b. Dakota Kai – Sitout torture rack faceplant
War Raiders b. The Mighty – Fallout to Miller
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:
https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/05/25/new-book-nxt-the-full-sail-years-from-dallas-to-new-orleans/
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