BRM Reviews the 6/3/2020 NXT
Posted: Jun 4th, '20, 00:38
MIA YIM vs. CANDICE LERAE- 3/10
They wrestled for a bit, with Candice working over Mia’s back. They brawled on the outside and were both counted out.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
They brawled up the ramp. Mia got hurricanrana-ed into the LED screen, which supposedly took out a section of the board, even though she hit it WAY too soft for it to feel believable that she took a whole section offline.
Mia eventually made a comeback and took over until Tegan Nox ran out to pull her off. Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai came out to attack the babyfaces and some referees finally came out to break things up. Johnny Gargano came out to check on Candice. Just when things seemed to have calmed down, Candice attacked Mia from behind. Johnny went over as well, but Keith Lee ran out to make the save and the two babyfaces scared the two heels off. We were then told that Regal had ordered a mixed tag match started. This was definitely one of those times where it would have been a lot less annoying to just book the mixed tag from the get-go instead of setting it up by booking something else and giving us a f*ck finish.
MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH: Keith Lee & Mia Yim vs. Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae- 0.5/10
We got some gaga in the beginning with Lee having to force the heels into the ring, including a spot where they made Candice look like total crap by having Lee basically no-sell her putting him in a sleeper. I can absolutely buy that Lee can walk around with Candice hanging on his back with no trouble, but she’s not just hanging on his back; she’s supposedly applying a move that cuts off your blood-flow (and that’s assuming that heel Candice isn’t taking a shortcut in her efforts to save her husband by using an air choke).
Then the match itself started and we got some okay stuff between Mia and Candice… and it fell off a cliff. I almost gave this a dud just because I hated the booking so much. It started off by spiraling into that horribly cliché bit where the babyfaces are just sooooo much better than the heels that the heels are getting bested at literally every single turn. Gargano eventually managed to escape a Spirit Bomb by stabbing Lee in the face with his car keys (he had them in his pocket because he and Lee were both in street clothes because this match was booked on the fly and they weren’t expecting to wrestle when they came out to ringside). This also distracted Mia enough for Candice to roll her up for the pin.
The heels bailed. Lee tried to crawl after them, but was dumb enough to stick his hand in between the ring steps and the apron, so Gargano kicked the steps and crunched his hand. Gargano then posed with the belt and made out with Candice. No one came out of this looking good.
TOMMASO CIAMPA VS. KARRION CROSS VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT!
MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS DEXTER LUMIS- weird
She asks him if he thinks The Velveteen Dream will win the NXT Title from Adam Cole at TakeOver: In Your House. Instead of answering her, he goes and gets and easel and some sharpies and starts to draw while we head to our commercial.
MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS DRAKE MAVERICK EARLIER TODAY- odd... but it worked
He rambled on a lot, but that was all part of the point he was trying to get across (that he actually didn’t feel much pressure because he knew that after tonight, he would either be champion or be unemployed, but either way, there would be resolution). This was absolutely not the sort of big babyface promo I was expecting, but it got the point across well.
I absolutely laughed my ass off at him saying “Hi cameraman! I can look directly into you, today!” That right there was a MUCH funnier joke at Vince McMahon’s expense than any of those stupid skits AEW has done with the Dark Order.
NXT TITLE MATCH VIDEO FEATURE- solid
The important news here is that their match will be a Backlot Brawl.
DEXTER LUMIS HAS FINSIHED HIS DRAWING- He’s drawn a picture of Roddy, Bobby, & Kyle tied up in the back of a car, with him driving, and with the TakeOver: In Your House logo in the corner.
ISAIAH “SWERVE” SCOTT vs. TONY NESE- 6/10
A great little six-minute match. Jack Gallagher came out to distract Scott, but he was able to reverse Nese’s finisher into a roll-up to get the win. Gallagher sped into the ring to attack Scott but Scott was able to escape.
#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong) vs. Breezango- 7.75/10
The Fashion Police are back. They won an action-packed match. Breezango vs. Imperium should be quite the feud.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Imperium came out to stare down their challengers… and out behind them came Malcolm Bivens and Indus Sherr. Didn’t see that one coming. I guess they’ll be built up for the next TakeOver.
MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ROBERT STONE & CHELSEA GREEN AFTER LAST WEEK’S VICTORY- baffling
Chelsea admitted that she was at the hottest she had ever been, and then promptly fired her manager who has helped get her there. WHY? Also, why the f*ck would you break up this act? These two are great together!
ALIYAH vs. SANTANA GARRETT- 3.75/10
Robert Stone came out looking disheveled and told Aliyah that she had to win this match. She lost cleanly.
SO WHO DID YOU SPOT IN THAT PICTURE FROM THE FIRST CLASS AT THE PC?
I found Emma, Corbin, Scott Dawson, Sylvester Lefort, Eva Marie, Simon Gotch, Mojo Rawley, Pac, Sami Callihan, Bo Dallas, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Alexa Bliss!, Viktor, and Braun Strowman (and I see people who I think are Rusev, Big E, and Summer Rae, but it’s hard to tell due to the blurriness of the photo.
WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT!
CAMERON GRIMES vs. BRONSON REED- 4/10
A short match, but with good big man vs. small man stuff.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Karrion Kross and Scarlett showed up and Kross proved he could hit one of his two moves on someone who isn’t jobber-sized.
NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE TOURNAMENT FINALS: El Hijo Del Fantasma vs. Drake Maverick- 8/10
They’ve dropped the “Interim” part of the title. Interesting.
They told a great story with Maverick getting his back worked over but refusing to stay down. Eventually he got some momentum and had EHDF on the outside but the two kidnapper luchadors came out to menace EHDF, and Maverick, being the good babyface that he is, dove onto them and kept them from interfering in the match… only to get back in the ring and get superkicked by an ungrateful EHDF, hit with the Fantom Driver and pinned.
The only problem I had with this is that I think the kidnapper luchadors came from the back, which means that there are clearly dangerous, unauthorized personnel running around backstage and no one stopped them. Unless, of course, the faces under those masks are faces that are supposed to be here, and the kidnappings are an inside job.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great
Drake is crying and looks into the camera and thanks the fans for their support as the NXT trainees chant for him. He heads up the ramp, and Triple comes out to meet him… with a brand-new NXT contract. This was a great way to give us a happy ending while still getting the belt on the guy they clearly want it on.
This started off very rocky, but after that first bit it managed to be both very good go-home show as well as a show that stood on it’s won, independent of hyping things up for the PPV.
They wrestled for a bit, with Candice working over Mia’s back. They brawled on the outside and were both counted out.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
They brawled up the ramp. Mia got hurricanrana-ed into the LED screen, which supposedly took out a section of the board, even though she hit it WAY too soft for it to feel believable that she took a whole section offline.
Mia eventually made a comeback and took over until Tegan Nox ran out to pull her off. Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai came out to attack the babyfaces and some referees finally came out to break things up. Johnny Gargano came out to check on Candice. Just when things seemed to have calmed down, Candice attacked Mia from behind. Johnny went over as well, but Keith Lee ran out to make the save and the two babyfaces scared the two heels off. We were then told that Regal had ordered a mixed tag match started. This was definitely one of those times where it would have been a lot less annoying to just book the mixed tag from the get-go instead of setting it up by booking something else and giving us a f*ck finish.
MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH: Keith Lee & Mia Yim vs. Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae- 0.5/10
We got some gaga in the beginning with Lee having to force the heels into the ring, including a spot where they made Candice look like total crap by having Lee basically no-sell her putting him in a sleeper. I can absolutely buy that Lee can walk around with Candice hanging on his back with no trouble, but she’s not just hanging on his back; she’s supposedly applying a move that cuts off your blood-flow (and that’s assuming that heel Candice isn’t taking a shortcut in her efforts to save her husband by using an air choke).
Then the match itself started and we got some okay stuff between Mia and Candice… and it fell off a cliff. I almost gave this a dud just because I hated the booking so much. It started off by spiraling into that horribly cliché bit where the babyfaces are just sooooo much better than the heels that the heels are getting bested at literally every single turn. Gargano eventually managed to escape a Spirit Bomb by stabbing Lee in the face with his car keys (he had them in his pocket because he and Lee were both in street clothes because this match was booked on the fly and they weren’t expecting to wrestle when they came out to ringside). This also distracted Mia enough for Candice to roll her up for the pin.
The heels bailed. Lee tried to crawl after them, but was dumb enough to stick his hand in between the ring steps and the apron, so Gargano kicked the steps and crunched his hand. Gargano then posed with the belt and made out with Candice. No one came out of this looking good.
TOMMASO CIAMPA VS. KARRION CROSS VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT!
MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS DEXTER LUMIS- weird
She asks him if he thinks The Velveteen Dream will win the NXT Title from Adam Cole at TakeOver: In Your House. Instead of answering her, he goes and gets and easel and some sharpies and starts to draw while we head to our commercial.
MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS DRAKE MAVERICK EARLIER TODAY- odd... but it worked
He rambled on a lot, but that was all part of the point he was trying to get across (that he actually didn’t feel much pressure because he knew that after tonight, he would either be champion or be unemployed, but either way, there would be resolution). This was absolutely not the sort of big babyface promo I was expecting, but it got the point across well.
I absolutely laughed my ass off at him saying “Hi cameraman! I can look directly into you, today!” That right there was a MUCH funnier joke at Vince McMahon’s expense than any of those stupid skits AEW has done with the Dark Order.
NXT TITLE MATCH VIDEO FEATURE- solid
The important news here is that their match will be a Backlot Brawl.
DEXTER LUMIS HAS FINSIHED HIS DRAWING- He’s drawn a picture of Roddy, Bobby, & Kyle tied up in the back of a car, with him driving, and with the TakeOver: In Your House logo in the corner.
ISAIAH “SWERVE” SCOTT vs. TONY NESE- 6/10
A great little six-minute match. Jack Gallagher came out to distract Scott, but he was able to reverse Nese’s finisher into a roll-up to get the win. Gallagher sped into the ring to attack Scott but Scott was able to escape.
#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong) vs. Breezango- 7.75/10
The Fashion Police are back. They won an action-packed match. Breezango vs. Imperium should be quite the feud.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Imperium came out to stare down their challengers… and out behind them came Malcolm Bivens and Indus Sherr. Didn’t see that one coming. I guess they’ll be built up for the next TakeOver.
MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ROBERT STONE & CHELSEA GREEN AFTER LAST WEEK’S VICTORY- baffling
Chelsea admitted that she was at the hottest she had ever been, and then promptly fired her manager who has helped get her there. WHY? Also, why the f*ck would you break up this act? These two are great together!
ALIYAH vs. SANTANA GARRETT- 3.75/10
Robert Stone came out looking disheveled and told Aliyah that she had to win this match. She lost cleanly.
SO WHO DID YOU SPOT IN THAT PICTURE FROM THE FIRST CLASS AT THE PC?
I found Emma, Corbin, Scott Dawson, Sylvester Lefort, Eva Marie, Simon Gotch, Mojo Rawley, Pac, Sami Callihan, Bo Dallas, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Alexa Bliss!, Viktor, and Braun Strowman (and I see people who I think are Rusev, Big E, and Summer Rae, but it’s hard to tell due to the blurriness of the photo.
WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT!
CAMERON GRIMES vs. BRONSON REED- 4/10
A short match, but with good big man vs. small man stuff.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Karrion Kross and Scarlett showed up and Kross proved he could hit one of his two moves on someone who isn’t jobber-sized.
NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE TOURNAMENT FINALS: El Hijo Del Fantasma vs. Drake Maverick- 8/10
They’ve dropped the “Interim” part of the title. Interesting.
They told a great story with Maverick getting his back worked over but refusing to stay down. Eventually he got some momentum and had EHDF on the outside but the two kidnapper luchadors came out to menace EHDF, and Maverick, being the good babyface that he is, dove onto them and kept them from interfering in the match… only to get back in the ring and get superkicked by an ungrateful EHDF, hit with the Fantom Driver and pinned.
The only problem I had with this is that I think the kidnapper luchadors came from the back, which means that there are clearly dangerous, unauthorized personnel running around backstage and no one stopped them. Unless, of course, the faces under those masks are faces that are supposed to be here, and the kidnappings are an inside job.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great
Drake is crying and looks into the camera and thanks the fans for their support as the NXT trainees chant for him. He heads up the ramp, and Triple comes out to meet him… with a brand-new NXT contract. This was a great way to give us a happy ending while still getting the belt on the guy they clearly want it on.
This started off very rocky, but after that first bit it managed to be both very good go-home show as well as a show that stood on it’s won, independent of hyping things up for the PPV.