BRM Reviews the 9/14/2021 NXT (NXT 2.0 Debut)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 9/14/2021 NXT (NXT 2.0 Debut)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 14th, '21, 23:02

OPENING VIDEOS- fine
Samoa Joe is injured and announced over the weekend that he would have to relinquish the NXT Title. They probably should have started by showing us that. We got good promos from Tommaso Ciampa and Pete Dunne, a meh one from Kyle O’Reilly, and a great one from L.A. Knight to build up tonight’s main event, which is now for the vacant NXT Title.
Knight’s promo was interrupted by someone named Braun Breaker who said he wanted a chance to prove himself. He’s a muscular dude who was smiley and hyper like Mojo Rawley, but more smiley and less hyper. Knight told him to go the ring and said that he would kick his ass. Breaker didn’t seem to realize that he was bring insulted.

I can see why someone would think that this paint-splotch theme is cool, but cool or not, it’s not right for a pro wrestling show.

Vic Joseph keeps saying that the title was “relinquished from” Samoa Joe, proving that Vic doesn’t know how the word “relinquished” works. And speaking of bad announcing, unfortunately, none of the changes to tonight’s show included upgrading the commentary team by replacing Beth Phoenix.

L.A. KNIGHT vs. BRON BREAKER- 4.5/10
So Knight is going to wrestle twice tonight?
Knight lost clean in five minutes. I was worried this was going to happen.

A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WE HAV ENEVER SSEN BEFORE CONGRATULATE BRON BREAKER BACKSTAGE- Yeah, I’m really worried now. You’d have thought they would have stuck some veterans in there to really put him over like with Cena and Angle, but apparently not.

JOSH BRIGGS & BROOKS JENSEN vs. IMPERIUM (Fabian Aicher & Marcel Barthel)- 5/10
Jensen and Briggs cut an in-set promo. Like Breaker, they were large, smiley guys looking for someone to fight. Imperium won a slightly longer match cleanly.

HIT ROW PUT OVER B-FAB- This was very good, but I’m a firm believe that if you’re going to claims that someone has trained with “world champions and Olympic gold medalists,” you need to drop some names in order to not come off as full of sh*t.

KATRINA CORTEZ vs. B-FAB (w/Hit Row)- squash

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great
B-Fab cut a great promo which was interrupted by Legado del Fantasma coming out. Elektra Lopez cut a promo threatening B-Fab. B-Fab said they should fight right now. Lopez was ready to accept, but Santos Escobar put the kibosh on it.

ODESSEY JONES, JOHNNY GARGANO, & CAMERON GRIMES BACKSTAGE- dumb
Austin Theory is back. Johnny is happy to see him. He says that he brought a “Priest” to the wedding, and in comes Damian Priest. I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to believe that Theory is too dumb to understand that Damian Priest is not actual clergy rather think that Theory was making a joke.

SAMANTHA IRVIN INTERVIEWS CARMELO HAYES- great
Carmelo decided that he needs a group because everyone else has a group. He called up his pal Trick Williams. Williams cut a promo telling Hayes to stop being so humble. Hayes agreed… and in this one promo, he convinced me that there is a darn good arrogant heel lurking somewhere inside him, just waiting to be let out.
Duke Hudson, who has a match next, came out and was a jerk, saying that Hayes got lucky against him in the Breakout Tournament. Hudson walked past them and got into the ring. Williams told Hayes he wasn’t going to let this happen anymore, and he took off his shirt and attack Hudson. He put Hudson down, then motioned to Hayes to join in on the beat-down, and after some hesitation, Hayes did. I really liked the little bit of hesitation that Hayes showed it. He feels like a real person being convinced to do something rather than a TV character with a magical switch in his brain that just got flipped from “good” to “evil.”

JACEY JANE & GIGI DOLAN TEASE A “NEW” MANDY ROSE TONIGHT- We saw the back of Mandy’s head in a hoodie. The others swear she looks “amazing,” but they sounded kind of evil while saying it.

JACEY JANE & GIGI DOLAN vs. KAYDEN CARTER & KACY CATANZARO- no rating, fine segment
During this match they showed us a picture-in-picture of Kyle O’Reilly warming up… and it just so happens that cut to Kyle just in time to see Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland attack him. Vic Joseph has apparently been drinking a lot of stupid-juice since last week’s show, as he couldn’t understand why this was happening even after both Beth and Wade explained it to him.
They wrestled for a bit until a creepily brunette Mandy Rose ran in for the DQ. Her face isn’t weirdly scarred or anything and she wasn’t wearing any sort of mask. Sarray came out to even the odds, and when we came back from a commercial we were in the middle of…

MANDY ROSE, JACEY JANE, & GIGI DOLAN vs. SARRAY, KAYDEN CARTER & KACY CATANZARO- 5.75/10
Decent stuff. Mandy won clean with a running knee strike to the face, pinning Kayden.

CANDICE LERAE TELLS ONE OF INDI’S FRIENDS NOT TO WEAR HER KNIT CAP AT THE WEDDING- She ain’t wrong.

WILLIAM REGAL MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT- Kyle O’Reilly is injured, so he will be replaced in tonight’s main event by the man who apparently saved him form the attack (though he didn’t save him well enough, clearly) Bon Wagner (or something like that). The guy showed up briefly and seemed to have almost no charisma.

RIDGE HOLLAND vs. DRAKE MAVERICK (w/Grayson Waller)- squash

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS TOMMASO CIAMPA- good

TONY D’ANGELO IS COMING SOON- No, not the hockey player.
He’s an Italian-American mafioso stereotype, although he was also apparently an All-American amateur wrestler at the University of Buffalo, so that’s a little different.

DAN JARMON & TREVOR SKEELY vs. THE CREED BROTHERS (w/the Diamond Mine)-
Diamond Mine now have a female in their group as well. I love the Creed Brothers so much. This must be what it was like for fans in the 80s to see the Road Warriors when they first came into a territory.

MALCOLM BIVENS INTRODUCES IVY NIAL (OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT)- She’s completely f*cking shredded.

KUSHIDA COMES OUT TO CHALLENGE RODERICK STRONG TO A MATCH- Bivens wants KUSHIDA’s Cruiserweight Title to be on the line in a match next week. KUSHIDA agrees.

BETH PHOENIX GIVES US AN UPDATE ON EDGE’S CONDITION- fine
He’s recovering at home.

FATAL FOUR-WAY MATCH FOR THE VACANT NXT TITLE: Pete Dunne vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Von Wagner vs. L.A. Knight- 7/10
Wagner seemed fine mechanically (to my untrained eye, anyway), but felt like a completely generic dude in there. Ciampa won clean, pinning Drake.

THE WEDDING OF DEXTER LUMIS & INDI HARTWELL- F*CKING ATROCIOUS!
I don’t buy for one moment that the jerk Io Shirai we have seen over the past few weeks would show up at a wedding for people she doesn’t even like. Dumb sh*t happened. About eighteen people were going to object to the wedding, but Dexter showed them that he had a f*cking HATCHET under this jacket and implicitly threatened to murder them with it. And we’re supposed to want to see Indi marry this man? Actually, now that I think about it, if he murders her, there will be one less annoying character on the show, and also it will probably make Johnny and Candice become serious again. I’m sold. Let the wedding commence so that Dexter can chop Indi to pieces on their honeymoon. It’s too bad we can’t have Dexter get married to Austin Theory at the same time.
The officiant was upset at Dexter for not having vows (although, to be fair, Indi’s weren’t vows, either. They were just a speech), so Dexter choked him out. Johnny wanted Regal to take over, but he wouldn’t. You’d have to be an idiot to want to… so of course Beth Phoenix stepped in. She said that she was worried this sort of thing might happen, so she got ordained as a minister.
More dumb sh*t happened. They build up to Dexter speaking for the first time, saying “I do.” I never thought I’d say this, but where are Aces & Eights when we need them? If you enjoyed this segment, I hope the police find your body next to Indi’s.


BRON BREAKER WANTS A SHOT AT CIAMPA’S TITLE- Ciampa is willing to give him one.


This was an okay show… up until that atrocious wedding. The new look makes the show feel small, but in a slightly charming way. This very much did remind me of early NXT, and in a vacuum I think I probably would have enjoyed it, but knowing what it was replacing and the circumstances of that replacement made this a depressing watch.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Thelone
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/14/2021 NXT (NXT 2.0 Debut)

Post by Thelone » Sep 16th, '21, 08:47

I'd be tempted to to give it a try if it wasn't two hours. The format is more reminiscent of early NXT (some squashes, fairly short enhancement matches, a relatively long main event mixed with promos/backstage stuff/vignettes) before Hunter went crazy with indy signings, but two hours of that is a bit too much.

So far, only Rick Steiner's kid and the Creeds feel like they should be on TV, and Nile definitely looks the part but has only four matches under her belt. The only puzzling debut here is that Wagner guy, although Vince supposedly sees him as a future WM main eventer. I guess he didn't embarrass himself in the main event, but it's not like he stood out in any particular way either.

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