NXT – August 15, 2018: They’re Going Home
IMG Credit: WWE
NXT
Date: August 15, 2018
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson, Mauro Ranallo
It’s the go home show for Takeover: Brooklyn and we now have a new main event of NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano in a Last Man Standing match. The big question now is who attacked Aleister Black, who was originally in the match but was found unconscious in the parking lot last week. Odds are that one is going to take some time to find out though so let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
In Memory Of Jim Neidhart. Why didn’t they have that on Raw and Smackdown? I’d really like an answer to that.
We open with a recap of the NXT Title situation, including a look at Black being laid out.
Street Profits vs. The Mighty
The fans sound like they’re chanting MIGHTY JOBBERS. Miller and Ford start things off with the former taking over off some chops in the corner. Ford jumps over him though and it’s off to Dawkins to run Thorn over. A belly to back suplex into a moonsault (Black Panther Splash) sets up the old World’s Greatest Tag Team jump over the back to keep Miller in trouble.
Miller avoids a twisting splash in the corner and scores with a northern lariat. A double belly to back suplex gets two and the chinlock goes on. Miller’s spinebuster is good for two more but another suplex doesn’t work, allowing the hot tag to Ford. House is cleaned and a sunset flip gets two on Miller. A second rollup to Miller, with a handful of tights, is good for the pin at 6:23.
Rating: D+. Just a match really as these teams have been kind of feuding for weeks now and it hasn’t exactly taken off. The new look is an upgrade for the Mighty but the Profits are still a lot of fun. The match was fine enough and the right team won, but you can tell they’re going with more of a placeholder show, which makes sense.
The Undisputed Era isn’t sweating Moustache Mountain or the War Raiders. Adam Cole talks about the team beginning a year ago and they’ve never been stronger. They’ll continue to show the world that this is their era and that is undisputed.
Aaliyah vs. Kairi Sane
Shayna Baszler is on commentary. Sane wastes no time in grabbing a Stretch Muffler (Brock Lock) to make Aaliyah scream. A rope is grabbed fast enough so Kairi spears her in half and hits the sliding elbow in the corner. Kairi hits the Insane Elbow, glares at Baszler, drops another elbow, glares at Baszler again and drops a third elbow….for two as she pulls Aaliyah up. That makes Baszler get up as Sane puts on the Anchor (bending back to stare and point at Baszler) for the tap at 4:00.
Rating: C. That was way more effective than I was expecting with Sane looking like a killer that she has never been before. Baszler is walking out with the title (or she should) but egads what a performance from Sane here. I didn’t think she would be able to turn it on like that and it’s the kind of character stuff she needs going into this big of a match.
Video on Adam Cole vs. Ricochet. Cole talks about how amazing of a year he’s had and that’s going to continue. Ricochet is a good superstar but Cole is a great one. Ricochet talks about having his hands on the gold in New Orleans and on Saturday, he’ll have it for real.
Here’s Velveteen Dream to talk about EC3. The fans chant for Dream, until he brings up EC3 and then the chants change to NX3. Just like all of us, EC3 had the Dream’s curiosity, but now EC3 has Dream’s attention. On Saturday, it’s Dream Over, but here’s EC3 to interrupt. EC3: “Sick fanny pack by the way.” Dream is trying to get into EC3’s head but EC3 builds theme restaurants in people’s heads. Dream again says Dream Over, earning another FANNY PACK chant. The fight is on and it’s a One Percenter to Dream.
We look at some people leaving the parking lot when Black was injured, including Kassius Ohno, Undisputed Era, Lars Sullivan, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa and others.
Video on the history of Gargano vs. Ciampa. This includes looks at New Orleans and Chicago, with Ciampa coming out in the end of the second match, leading to becoming NXT Champion. Johnny is still freaked out that he caused the title change and now he has to take the title from Ciampa to save NXT. Gargano has one more shot to take Ciampa down and he won’t stop until Ciampa can’t get up.
Tyler Bate vs. Roderick Strong
Trent Seven and Kyle O’Reilly are here as seconds. Bate kicks him in the face at the bell and hits a fast backdrop. Some right hands in the corner have Strong in trouble but he drop toeholds Bate down and puts on a chinlock. It’s off to a seated abdominal stretch for a bit before Strong loads up a superplex. That’s broken up as well and a middle rope European uppercut puts Strong down.
Bate can’t do the airplane spin due to the back but he’s fine enough for the reverse hurricanrana. The Stronghold is broken up so Strong knees him in the corner for two instead. A Rock Bottom backbreaker looks to set up End of Heartache but Bate lands on his feet. Well of course he does. The bounce off the ropes into the forearm puts Strong on the floor for the no hands dive and they head back inside. Seven takes care of O’Reilly and the Tyler Driver 97 is good for the pin at 7:59.
Rating: B-. Bate continues to be incapable of having a bad match and Strong is as good a hand as you’re going to have around here. The tag match is going to rock in front of that kind of a crowd on Saturday and if it’s anywhere near as good as their previous matches, we’re in for a major treat.
Overall Rating: C+. This was a pretty safe and secure go home show and that’s how things should be. The card is completely set so there’s no point in doing anything crazy and messing with it. Just let them get to Brooklyn on a roll and that’s what’s happened here. The crowd is going to carry things as high as they can go on Saturday and I’m very interested in how things go.
Results
Street Profits b. The Mighty – Rollup to Miller with a handful of tights
Kairi Sane b. Aaliyah – Anchor
Tyler Bate b. Roderick Strong – Tyler Driver 97
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Kairi basically channeled her LU character here, and it was great. The tag match could be one of the best we’ve seen in a while, and I wish the main roster could pull off a tag division like NXT does.
I’m not sure about Shayna walking out with the title at Brooklyn, to be honest. They generally like to have -one- big babyface moment on the show, and the main roster is absolutely hurting when it comes to credible female heels.
Not to mention that Shayna has pretty much completely leveled the rest of the babyface division on NXT. And it’s been subtle, but they’ve been giving a lot more time to building up the female heels on NXT than the babyfaces. There’s a deeper pool of feuds you can run with Kairi as champ opposed to Shayna. You have Bianca, Lacey, Shayna (who will probably get a rematch), and probably some of the MYC 2 girls.
I should clarify the part about the main roster. If Ronda wins the title at Summerslam, she really won’t have many people to feud with after she’s done with Alexa. And on Smackdown, your top heel champ is Carmella, who is okay on the mic, but absolutely awful at everything else, and has some serious credibility issues.