NXT – November 2, 2021: Gimmicky

NXT
Date: November 2, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Beth Phoenix, Wade Barrett

We’re done with Halloween Havoc and that means it is time to get ready for…well I have no idea actually as I’m not sure what they’re going to do as far as Takeover goes. There were a bunch of title changes last week and now it is time to see where things go from here. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Here is Mandy Rose to open things up and Barrett is VERY happy to see her as the new Women’s Champion. She is very proud of her win because she is the best looking champion in the title’s history and she is still the baddest b**** around. Last week was a great night for Toxic Attraction and we see all of them holding up their new titles last week (Mandy: “D*** I’m hot.”).

Her girls aren’t here, so we cut to the back where the rest of Toxic Attraction is beating up Zoey Stark. Mandy is proud of them but wants some competition. Cue Io Shirai to say she’ll fight right now, but Rose says she isn’t scared. Rose wants a referee out here right now so Shirai looks to the entrance and gets hit with the microphone. The beatdown is on until Shirai fights back, which draws out the rest of Toxic Attraction for the real beating. Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter run in for the save, likely setting up the six woman tag.

In the back, Toxic Attraction find Dakota Kai, who says she didn’t help them last week. She just wants to get rid of Raquel Gonzalez.

Cameron Grimes is in Duke’s Poker Room with a bunch of other people, though he doesn’t seem to know the rules. Grimes: “You got 21? I GOT 22!” Hudson looks happy.

Dakota Kai vs. Cora Jade

Kai wastes no time in knocking Jade down and grabbing a chinlock. Back up and Jake fires off the running elbows, setting up the running hurricanrana. Jade gets two off a sunset flip but Kai scorpion kicks her. The running boot in the corner finishes Jade at 2:24.

Post match the beatdown stays on, including another shot to Jade’s head. Kai pulls out a table and lays it on Jade on the floor, but stops before jumping off the apron. Instead, she walks away and leaves Jade down.

Kyle O’Reilly/Von Wagner have been yelling at Legado del Fantasma on Twitter over the weekend.

Robert Stone doesn’t like everyone being happy with Xyon Quinn beating him up last week. The challenge is on.

MSK is depressed by their Tag Team Title loss but they’re getting help from someone. They don’t say who it is, but he invented the legend of MSK and has helped millions and millions. We’re about to hear the legend, but a bus pulls up and we can’t hear the explanation. And they missed their bus, so they’ll just have to walk.

Xyon Quinn vs. Robert Stone

Stone doesn’t like Quinn and promises to win in a hurry. This one is for Frankie Monet though and it’s time to dance to Monet’s theme. Quinn stands in the middle of the ring while Stone dances around him before asking if Quinn can dance better. After Quinn says no, Stone dances around like a chicken so Quinn says play the music and then dances/sings to Shawn Michaels’ theme. He even dances with Stone a bit, including a Dirty Dancing lift. Stone slaps him in the face so Quinn says ring the bell. A Samoan drop and Jackhammer (better than that running elbow) finish Stone at 47 seconds.

Joe Gacy talks about how horrible the world is, including clips of people arguing and talking about how evil social media really is. Harland is called a monster because he’s big and has tattoos. They will change the world together.

Legado del Fantasma, including Elektra Lopez, seems impressed by Xyon Quinn, who says he has a lot of sides to him.

Legado del Fantasma vs. Kyle O’Reilly/Von Wagner

Elektra Lopez is here with Legado. O’Reilly headlocks Wilde’s head to start so Mendoza comes in and has his sunset flip blocked. The much bigger Wagner comes in to take Mendoza down as well but Mendoza springboards over him for a breather. That doesn’t go well either as Wagner plants him, allowing O’Reilly to come back in and go after the arm. Wilde comes in so Wagner shoulders them both down, setting up a double suplex as we take a break.

Back with O’Reilly loading up a kick on Wilde but getting distracted by Lopez. Wilde’s kick connects in the corner and it’s Legado taking over for the first time. Mendoza kicks Wagner off the apron and it’s a springboard flip dive to drop O’Reilly for two. O’Reilly comes back and kicks Mendoza down, with Wilde making the save. Wagner comes back in but has some miscommunication with O’Reilly, allowing Wilde to roll him up for the pin at 10:59 (with Wagner’s foot in the rope).

Rating: C+. For the life of me I cannot get into this O’Reilly/Wagner team. O’Reilly was a main event player in NXT and now he seems to be there to mentor a pretty run of the mill big guy. The team isn’t bad or anything, but it’s not something I’m going to be interested in, which is making for some rough sits.

Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams are ready to move on from the Way but Andre Chase pops up to say he has their back. Chase insists that he was NOT a coward last week and promises to give someone a beating to blow off some steam.

Back to the Poker Room, where Cameron Grimes is on a streak of beginner’s luck despite hitting on the women and not knowing the rules. Duke Hudson takes all of one of the women’s money and Grimes starts losing. More later.

Here’s Andre Chase for the open challenge (required on every show) but his microphone doesn’t work. We get a replacement microphone so Chase can say that people have been calling him a COWARD after last week. That sounds like a teachable moment so the challenge is on.

Andre Chase vs. Bron Breakker

Chase gets knocked outside in a hurry and Breakker blasts him with a clothesline. Back in and Chase chops away a bit but Breakker grabs the gorilla press powerslam for the easy pin at 1:41.

Post match, Breakker says he fell for one trap after another last week. Tommaso Ciampa is the man in NXT but they’re not done, because Breakker is coming after the title. Breakker’s voice in this promo was so Steiner that it might as well have been the University of Michigan fight song.

Imperium is proud of their Tag Team Title win, but they don’t like America. Toxic Attraction comes up to say Imperium should watch their six woman tag next week. Barthel thinks America has its benefits. I’m not sure if you noticed, but Toxic Attraction is a bunch of good looking women, just in case you didn’t get it from how many times we heard about them.

It’s time for Lashing Out With Lash Legend, with Lash talking about last week’s Halloween costumes. She doesn’t like the suggestion that LA Knight and Grayson Waller were the hosts because she is the REAL host around here. This week’s guest is Tony D’Angelo, who talks about allegedly kidnapping Lash’s producer, but here is the producer in person! D’Angelo makes vague threats to the producer’s family before moving on to saying he wants to face bigger NXT stars. This was the dumbest thing on a show with a lot of dumb things and feels like it belongs on a low level territory show from 1989.

Solo Sikoa vs. Jeet Rama

Sikoa sends him into the corner for the running Umaga attack and scores with a kick to the head. The Superfly Splash finishes Rama at 1:29.

Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen cook steak, play cornhole and pitch horseshoes while talking about loving to fight and compete.

Boa vs. Grayson Waller

LA Knight is on commentary. Waller drives Boa into the corner to start but gets taken down into a crossarm choke. Back up and Waller fires off some clotheslines into a cravate with knees to the head. Knight offers a distraction though and Waller gets kicked off the ropes. Boa scores with a kick to the head to finish Waller at 2:28.

Back to the Poker Room where Cameron Grimes beats Duke Hudson on a big bluff. Grimes hat 2’s, because he’s going TO THE MOON. So a poker game gets three segments, a good fifteen or more years after the poker boom hit its peak. That’s very WWE of them.

Kay Lee Ray is back in a rage next week.

Boa can’t find Mei Ying. I’d call that a positive.

Here is Tommaso Ciampa for a chat. Ciampa talks about how last week was a changing of the guard in NXT and lists off the new champions. Bron Breakker was supposed to be the next NXT Champion but no one told Ciampa about that. With this title comes a target, but he knows that this is usually the time when someone interrupts. Cue Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams, with the former saying he is that guy. Hayes says he is the A Champion in NXT, but Ciampa can’t hear him over the CIAMPA’S GONNA KILL YOU chants. The brawl is teased and Williams gets dropped, making Hayes think twice as Ciampa leaves.

The Way vs. Carmelo Hayes/Trick Williams

Ciampa is still in the aisle as Johnny Gargano comes out for a tease of the good old days. Lumis and Williams start things off, with a single glare sending Williams over for the tag to Hayes. That’s fine with Lumis, who crawls over to scare Hayes, meaning Williams comes back in to hammer away. Lumis scores with a Thesz press and right hands before it’s off to Gargano to work on the arm.

That should mean a top rope ax handle, but instead Lumis lands on his feet and uppercuts Williams in the face. Hayes comes back in and gets his kick to the ribs caught, meaning Gargano can come back in for some more traditional wrestling. Gargano nails the slingshot spear to cut Hayes down, allowing the Way to clear the ring as we take a break. Back with Hayes cutting off Gargano’s tag attempt and hitting an assisted springboard legdrop for two. Gargano gets over for the tag to Lumis a few moments later though and it’s time to clean some house.

An assisted superplex gets two on Hayes and Gargano superkicks Williams. Gargano loads up his own glove for stereo shots to the face, followed by stereo superkicks. Lumis adds a top rope elbow for two on Williams with Hayes making the save. We settle down to Hayes and Gargano chopping it out until Hayes goes to the throat. A discus lariat turns Hayes inside out and there’s the Silencer to keep Hayes in trouble. The referee gets Gargano out though, allowing Williams to hit Lumis with a shoe. That’s enough to set up the top rope ax kick to give Hayes the pin at 13:32.

Rating: C+. Another perfectly decent if not fairly good match, as Gargano and Lumis have a weird chemistry, but are also an established team. What matters here is they made Hayes and Williams look pretty good, which is exactly the point of something like this. Hayes looks like a possible NXT Title challenger, so it isn’t like he was going to lose here. I’m not sure what is next for the Way, but this father-in-law/son deal could be funny.

Overall Rating: C-. The two longer matched helped this show a lot but my goodness this felt like a circus. There are so many characters and so many gimmicks running around that it felt like a high school improv exercise where you pulled your character out of a hat and figure it out in ten minutes. That’s fine for some low level place that needs something for people to do, but this is national television and I’d expect a bit better.

There are a lot of problems on this show, but there are certainly good parts too. I want to see where some of the new characters go, including Sikoa, Quinn, Breakker and Hayes, which shows that NXT does know how to do some things right. At the same time though, there are a bunch of things that are a bit less than thrilling, including Toxic Attraction, Duke Hudson’s Poker Room, Tony D’Angelo and Lash Legend (egads). Those things are bringing the show down, because they do not exactly offer the greatest hope.

Overall, this show was a microcosm of what NXT is at the moment: a bunch of things happening, with some interesting prospects but a lot of people who are bordering on disaster because it isn’t 1994. Why would I want to see a mobster on a talk show with a loud host when I could see more of the talented athletes getting to do their thing? This was a rough sit, but it did have some bright spots to keep some hope alive.

Results
Dakota Kai b. Cora Jade – Running kick in the corner
Xyon Quinn b. Robert Stone – Jackhammer
Legado del Fantasma b. Kyle O’Reilly/Von Wagner – Rollup to Wagner
Bron Breakker b. Andre Chase – Gorilla press powerslam
Solo Sikoa b. Jeet Rama – Superfly Splash
Boa b. Grayson Waller – Kick to the head
Trick Williams/Carmelo Hayes b. The Way – Top rope ax kick to Lumis

 

 

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