BRM Reviews the 4/1/2020 NXT (disappointing)

[Big Red Machine]

BOBBY FISH vs. THE VELVETEEN DREAM- 6.5/10
Fish worked over TVD’s knee but TVD made a comeback and won. He got the win with the Dream Valley Driver and not the Purple Rainmaker. That was odd.

MALCOLM BIVENS & PALS INTERVIEW- good… and thus disappointing.
His muscle were given names Rinku & Saurav. They have a tag team name, too, which I didn’t catch. The promo was perfectly fine for what it was, but this is STOKELY F*CKING HATHAWAY for G-d’s sake. He can be SOOO much better than generic manager lines with a very good delivery.
Rinku and Saurav each got to speak in Hindi for a moment… and while we were getting these close-ups of their faces, I lost my ability to take them seriously because I realized that they look like giant versions Elias and Rusev with deep tans and fake beards.

DEXTER LUMIS vs. JAKE ATLAS- 4/10
They let Atlas get in a lot more than I was expecting, which was nice, but that’s probably due to them trying to fill time rather than any plans they have for Atlas. Lumis is good at his character, but it’s one of those characters that I don’t think has much in the way of range of what you can do with it.

KILLER CROSS IS STILL COMING- just get here already

GAUNTLET MATCH FOR THE FINAL SPOT IN THE #1 CONTENDERSHIP LADDER MATCH: Shotzi Blackheart vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Xia Li vs. Aliyah vs. Kayden Carter vs. Dakota Kai (w/Raquel Gonzalez)- 4.5/10
Shotzi got to run through everyone, then lose due to interference from Gonzalez. The match was not particularly interesting. Shotzi continues to annoy me with how fake she comes off.

Our only follow up to Raul Mendoza getting ABDUCTED RIGHT OUT OF THE PARKING LOT OF THE WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER… was a quick joke about it. Dude… ONE OF YOUR COWORKERS IS MISSING! POSSIBLY EVEN DEAD! AND NO ONE CARES!

JOAQUIN WILDE vs. KUSHIDA- 6.5/10

JOAQUIN WILDE IS ABDUCTED BY LUCHADORS IN THE PARKING LOT- Once again, this was a rather gentle abduction, without much force. Hey just sped up, hopped out of the car, ordered him to get him and lightly pulled him towards them. The blonde interviewer whose name I don’t think they’ve ever given us was present at both abductions. Maybe she’s in on it?

NXT NORTH AMERICAN TITLE MATCH: Keith Lee(c) vs. Dominik Dijakovic vs. Damian Priest- 6.75/10
This match really just didn’t work for me. There were a few too many cutesy three-way spots (any time you’ve got guys falling down simultaneously into a pin on the same person, it’s going to look fake), and they just seemed to be moving about half a step slower than it needed to be to not feel they were working together.


A rather disappointing episode of NXT.

[Big Red Machine]

Forgot to mention it in my review, but commentary tonight was Tom Phillips and Sam Roberts, and they worked very well together. Roberts in particular was a really great heel.