NXT – May 29, 2019: I’m Not Sure About This One
IMG Credit: WWE
NXT
Date: May 29, 2019
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Beth Phoenix, Mauro Ranallo
It’s the go home show for Takeover and that means we should be in for some nice final push segments towards the show. The card feels a little thrown together but that has never stopped NXT from making these things work before. If they do things right, we could be in for another classic. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Bianca Belair vs. Mia Yim
Rematch from three weeks ago where Belair won. Mia dropkicks her to the floor early on and Bianca isn’t sure what to do. Back in and Bianca takes her down with a double leg but gets reversed so Mia can hammer away even more. A Cannonball in the corner keeps Bianca in trouble but she comes back with a kick to the face for two.
It’s off to a double chickenwing to keep Yim down, followed by a delayed vertical suplex (with squats) to show off Belair’s power. Mia is right back with a Tarantula and an SOS for two so an annoyed Belair dropkicks her in the face. The cocky cover gets one but what looks like a Glam Slam is countered into a rollup to give Mia two. Belair forearms the heck out of her for one and it’s back to the double chickenwing.
That’s broken up as well and a shot to the face gives us a double knockdown. Code Red (that’s becoming WAY too popular of a move these days) gives Mia two more and Eat Defeat sends Belair outside. They chop it out on the ramp and dive back in at nine with Belair taking over again. Yim pulls the hair to get out of a powerbomb though and Protect Yo Neck finishes Belair at 10:08.
Rating: C+. I’m not wild on either of them but the match was a good one with Belair thinking she was better than Yim due to being so much better of a pure athlete. Yim is the kind of person who is going to fight no matter what and that’s what she did here, which made for a good story being told. Belair continues to be really annoying, so at least she has the heel stuff down.
Long video on Tyler Breeze vs. Velveteen Dream, with Dream talking about how Breeze went to NXT and was overwhelmed so he’s back here to recapture his former glory. There is only room for one person to steal the spotlight here and that’s what Dream does. That’s a good story between two people who are rather similar at their cores.
We look back at Io Shirai saving Candice LeRae from the Horsewomen last week.
Shayna Baszler and the Horsewomen aren’t worried about Shirai because Shirai can’t bring weapons to Takeover. Baszler’s weapons, as in the Horsewomen, are right here.
Drew Gulak vs. Kushida
One fan tries to start a GULAK chant and thankfully gives up in short order. Gulak’s wristlock doesn’t last long as Kushida takes him down, only to get reversed into a hammerlock. Kushida rolls away from that as well and it’s a standoff. A grab of the leg sets up a half crab on Kushida, which is broken up in a hurry. Kushida switches to a triangle and Gulak slaps his leg, which looked a lot like a tap but doesn’t count here.
The hold is broken up again and it’s off to an also quickly broken Crossface. Kushida can’t keep an Octopus hold on either and neither can hit a hiptoss. Instead Kushida gets sent to the apron and snaps the arm over the top rope. Back in and Gulak’s arm is fine enough for a gutbuster, followed by something like an Octopus hold on the mat. That’s broken up as well and Kushida gets the hiptoss, this time into an armbreaker.
Since a hold can’t stay on for more than a few seconds, Gulak gets up and grabs an ankle lock. That’s reversed into another armbreaker which is reversed into another ankle lock. Kushida scores with an enziguri into the corner and the Hoverboard Lock goes on. Gulak rolls away but gets caught in a Downward Spiral. What looks to be a camel clutch is rolled into a rollup to pin Gulak at 8:15.
Rating: B. This was the human chess match which can be so fun to watch. These two were countering everything the other had and it was really entertaining to see where they were going from move to move. The ending felt like a clean version of Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit at Wrestlemania XVII with all those submission holds (they even had a Crossface and ankle locks) until someone got caught in a pin.
Post match Gulak yells but Kushida holds up three fingers.
Io Shirai isn’t worried about the Horsewomen but Candice LeRae comes up to say she has her back at Takeover.
Takeover rundown.
Video on Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole. Johnny has worked hard to get here but Cole thinks that he deserves the title because of how great he is. Oh and pinning Gargano in the first fall in New York.
Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Forgotten Sons
Burch armbars Blake to start but a blind tag lets Cutler come in for a double back elbow. A double backbreaker gives Blake two but it’s quickly off to Lorcan for the chops. Jaxson Ryker offers a distraction though, allowing Blake to hit a clothesline. Ryker gets ejected (Mauro: “IT’S ABOUT TIME!” We’re not even two minutes into the match.) and here are the Street Profits to jump him. The Profits come in for the double DQ at 2:11.
Post match, with the fans chanting THANK YOU PROFITS, the fight is on with the Sons bringing in chairs. Cue the full Undisputed Era to beat everyone down and hit the pose. Cole grabs a ladder and the Era drives it into Ryker’s face. The ladder is set up on the stage and Cole sits on top of it, promising Johnny Gargano and Matt Riddle that Takeover will be Undisputed to end the show.
Overall Rating: B. I don’t know if it’s the fast turnaround or that we’re coming off the previous awesome Takeover, but this one isn’t feeling like the biggest show in the world. I’m sure it’s going to be very good, but that’s not exactly the kind of level that you expect from NXT. This was a strong enough go home show, though I’m not exactly sold on the entire card.
Results
Mia Yim b. Bianca Belair – Protect Yo Neck
Kushida b. Drew Gulak – Rollup
Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Forgotten Sons went to a double DQ when the Street Profits interfered
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When you consider how good NXT is, a “very good” show for them is still miles ahead of almost everyone and everything else out there. Every TakeOver doesn’t have to be among “the all time greats” because I think you’re setting yourself up to be disappointed when you have such impossibly high standards. NXT is consistently the best wrestling TV program and the TakeOvers are just about the best 2.5 to 3 hours of wrestling you’re going to see at any given time.
On paper, one or two of the matched does seem a little underwhelming. Velveteen Dream vs. Tyler Breeze, for instance, as you know that Dream isn’t dropping to Tyler Breeze and Breeze has been severely damaged on the main roster. However, Breeze is entertaining, has charisma, is fun to watch in the ring and this is fine for a one off match. I have a feeling it was supposed to be Dream taking on Dijakovic this time around, but he’s out with a knee injury and while Breeze does sort of seem like it’s someone just sort of thrown at Dream out of the blue, at least they went with someone that the Full Sail audience knows, likes and has the talent to put on an entertaining match.
I was kind of disappointed in the crowd for not reacting to Kushida/Gulak, it was very technical and I totally got your comparison to Benoit/Angle at WM 17. I love technical stuff like that where you can see the wrestlers actually trying to out think each other. I guess Kushida’s still new to WWE and Gulak hasn’t been doing anything lately so there wasn’t a lot of story but you would think the NXT crowd would’ve been more into something like that. They did applaud at the end but they didn’t really get hot for it throughout.
Maybe it’s because NXT is so consistently good that fans don’t appreciate it as much.
That’s certainly a reason. It’s been the best weekly TV show that even a bad week is still better than most shows.
Yeah I generally have higher standards for NXT than I do for Raw or even SD.