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BRM Reviews the 5/20/2020 NXT

Posted: May 21st, '20, 00:00
by Big Red Machine
KARRION KROSS (w/Scarlet) vs. LIAM GRAY- DUD!
I’m sure I’m in the minority with this opinion, but I think their entrance is terrible. It comes off like a parody of an over the top wrestling entrance trying to be cool.
This match was the exact same match we saw last week. Two Saito suplexes, followed by Kross picking the guy up so he can drop down and put on this submission hold that looks WAY too loose. Yes, it served as a logical reason for them to be in the ring so Ciampa could come out, but between the over the top entrance and doing literally the exact same match as last time, I’m giving this a DUD.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- GREAT!
Tommaso Ciampa came out and put Kross over big-time. I was actually fine with Ciampa not being angry about being attacked from behind, as Ciampa is exactly the type of person who would take someone debuting by attacking him like that as a compliment because it means Kross sees him as a top guy. I’m also firmly in the camp that because Ciampa never really had a moment where he turned babyface, I’m fine with him having the mindset that jumping someone for no reason other than to make a point that “I’m a main eventer” is an acceptable thing to do. But just because Ciampa finds it acceptable doesn’t mean that there won’t be consequences. In this case, the consequences are going to be having to face Ciampa’s wrath at TakeOver: In Your House.
Kross and Scarlet’s behavior here seems to indicate that Ciampa has interpreted the attack on him correctly. Major props are due to whoever put this segment together, because it seemed specifically designed to turn the lack of fans into a positive. The silence that would otherwise be sad became ominous, allowing tension to build up while you waited for either the next line or for someone to make a sudden movement towards the other. In a regular setting, this wouldn’t have been possible to do because the spaces between the words would undoubtedly have been filled with inane “THIS IS AWESOME!” chants.

INTERIM NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE TOURNAMENT GROUP B MATCH: El Hijo Del Fantasma(1-1) vs. Akira Tozawa(2-0)- 7.25/10
Why couldn’t more matches in this tournament be like this?
El Hijo Del Fantasma picked up the win here, and thus secured for himself a place in the finals by virtue of now having the tiebreaker of Tozawa.

TIMOTHY THATCHER PROMO- good
He wants a rematch with Riddle, but with no pinfalls so that there are no flukes. Knockouts or submissions only. That offer to let Riddle pick the location of the fight was weird, though. They’re pretty much stuck in Orlando, right? And I can’t see these two doing a cinematic match.

SHOTZI BLACKHEART VIDEO PACKAGE- good, but…
Okay, so we know more about her character now. That doesn’t change the fact that she comes across like an industrial-grade tool who is trying WAY too hard. Also, am I really supposed to believe that she owns her own tank? Either way, it doesn’t make her look any less stupid coming out in that miniature tank every week.

MIA YIM vs. SANTANA GARRETT- squash

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great
Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae came out and cut a promo on her for losing to Charlotte. Candice says that opportunity should have been hers, and they said they would show Mia what happens to people who get opportunities they don’t deserve in their NXT. They went to beat her up. Yes, they, as in both of them.
One of my major pet peeves in wrestling is when some sort of outside, non-kayfabe rule intrudes on the logic of segment. That means that if you want to have a rule against man-on-woman violence, you need to either make that a stated rule coming from some sort of higher authority (either the promotion itself or the network or the state commission) with actual consequences for violating it, or you need to keep your men and women away from each other so that we don’t wind up with a situation where a male heel should logically be running in to help his female partner but he doesn’t attack the female babyface because of this non-kayfabe rule.
What NXT did here is find a beautiful way to skirt the line so that there was no man-on-woman violence, but that Johnny Gargano still felt like part of the fight. Johnny and Candice tried to flank Mia, so Mia ran at Johnny and knocked him down with a boot as he was getting into the ring. This allowed Candice to attack Mia from behind. Mia eventually made a comeback, but when she went to hit the ropes, Johnny low-bridged her and she went tumbling to the floor. Johnny never hit Mia, but he was very much still a part of the fight.
With Mia down on the outside, Johnny began to stalk her like he was about to do something, but Keith Lee ran out to make the save. I don’t know if this is their plan, but I really like the idea of the first TakeOver match for the new Johnny & Candice being them teaming together.

CAMERON GRIMES PROMO- very good
He brags about beating Finn Balor last week, ignoring the fact that he had help from Damian Priest. This was a great example of how to be a bit over the top, but feel like a genuine person (as opposed to Shotzi Blackheart or Karrion Kross & Scarlet).

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS DRAKE MAVERICK- decent
He rambled on a little bit at the end, but other than that this was good.

DEXTER LUMIS vs. RODERICK STRONG- 7/10
This was a very enjoyable combination of a brawl and power-fest. Roddy worked over the back and won by essentially faking Lumis out like he was going for the Stronghold but when Lumis tried to roll over to block it, yanked him under him and sat down on him for the victory roll-esque pin.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
While Roddy was celebrating on the outside, Lumis reached through the ropes and caught him in his choke. Lumis is another guy who, like Ciampa, I don’t really quite buy as being a babyface by morality, even if he is aligned with the good guys for the moment. Fish and Cole ran out to make the save but Lumis wouldn’t let the hold go no matter how much they kicked him. Cole started to setup for a Shining Wizard, but The Velveteen Dream ran out and attacked Cole, ending with what was a very well-edited shot making it look like TVD hit the craziest diving elbow drop you’ve ever seen, off the top turnbuckle all the way over the barricade onto the Cole on the concrete floor. We closed with a great shot of TVD celebrating as best he could after his big elbow drop in the background, while the foreground had Lumis sitting there, staring blankly ahead, and creepily stroking Roddy’s forehead.

ANOTHER ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION IN THE PARKING LOT BY MYSTERIOUS LUCHADORS!- Wait. No. That’s just El Hijo Del Fantasma driving up to Tozawa to tell him how much he respects him. Much hugging happened, and EHDF got back into this car…
And then an actual attempted abduction occurred! The luchadors jumped Tozawa and started pummeling him, and they did so against the door of EHDF’s car so he couldn’t just jump out and help. He eventually got out through the passenger door and scared the abductors off. This was done well.

EVER-RISE vs. DANNY BURCH & ONEY LORCAN- squash

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS KEITH LEE- good follow-up to the Gargano stuff

MATT RIDDLE PROMO- good
He accepts Thatcher’s challenge, calling Thatcher a “putz” and “not a stallion.” He suggests that they have their match in a cage. So it’s going to be a steel cage match, or are they doing an MMA fight?

INTERIM NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE TOURNAMENT GROUP A MATCH: Drake Maverick(1-1) vs. KUSHIDA(2-0)- 8/10
There was SOOOO much drama and emotion here. KUSHIDA basically ripped Maverick’s arm to shreds, and with the lack of crowd all of the kicks sounded louder, and so did all of Maverick’s screams of pain. Hearing him stuck in the Kimura, alternating between screaming in pain and yelling “DO NOT STOP THIS MATCH!” at the referee was unreal.
As you’d have probably expected, Maverick won, though he did so by roll-up to keep KUSHIDA strong. This means that we have a three-way tie for first place in the division between Maverick, KUSHIDA, and Jake Atlas, who had come out to watch this match. Mauro asked “what does this mean?” for the tournament. Shouldn’t there already be a secondary tie-breaker provision in place?
Oh. Apparently there was one. Byron Saxton came out and announced the obvious solution for three guys tied at the top of the standings with identical head-to-head records: a three-way match to determine the winner. That match will take place next week.

DAMIAN PRIEST PROMO- fine
He wants a match with Finn Balor at TakeOver: In Your House.

IO SHIRAI vs. RHEA RIPLEY- 6.5/10
I was really enjoying this show until Charlotte came out and caused a f*cking DQ in the main event. Can we please knock it off with these f*ck finishes? If you’re going to do this, at least switch it with Roddy vs. Lumis or Maverick vs. KUSHIDA so that we can have a main event with a clean finish and a good post-match hook for the future.

This was a very god show from NXT. I might have even called it great if not for that DQ in the main event.

Re: BRM Reviews the 5/20/2020 NXT

Posted: May 23rd, '20, 00:22
by Serujuunin
Okay so, not knowing anything about Kross or Scarlet...

What should I think? I mean, Kross hasn’t really had any opportunities yet to have a competitive match so I can see a bit more of what he does, but I’m with you, Red. And I’m into all that dark, edgy bullshit. It’s just too over the top.

Re: BRM Reviews the 5/20/2020 NXT

Posted: May 23rd, '20, 19:58
by Big Red Machine
Serujuunin wrote: May 23rd, '20, 00:22 Okay so, not knowing anything about Kross or Scarlet...

What should I think? I mean, Kross hasn’t really had any opportunities yet to have a competitive match so I can see a bit more of what he does, but I’m with you, Red. And I’m into all that dark, edgy bullshit. It’s just too over the top.
I honestly don't know much about Kross. I've seen a few matches, but that's it. He usually seems to have some sort of "the end is coming" gimmick. Scarlet is a solid wrestler and an a very good promo who can fit into any role you need her to.

Re: BRM Reviews the 5/20/2020 NXT

Posted: May 23rd, '20, 22:22
by KILLdozer
I swear it'd be better off if I had full booking control over all these "Oooohhh I'm a dark scary mysterious supernatural guy!!!: in WWE...