BRM Reviews the 6/22/2021 NXT

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- meh
Adam Cole came out and cut promos on Kyle O’Reilly and Samoa Joe… and then said the won’t take the advantage of picking his own opponent tonight because… um… Regal wants him to? That’s pretty short-sighted.
Cole said that no one would change his mind. Carmelo Hayes came out and said he would change Cole’s mind with “ruthless aggression” and slapped Cole in the face, leading to a match. Cole’s non-compliance here felt like it was contrived in order to set up for Hayes to have a moment.

CARMELO HAYES vs. ADAM COLE- 7/10
A great match. I liked using Hayes here because he feels like an actual part of the show now instead of some random one-off they used against KUSHIDA, which is what he felt like before. Cole won clean, but Hayes raised his stock with a great showing.

EARLIER TODAY ON TWITTER, FRANKY MONEY TALKS WITH THE ROBERT STONE BRAND UNTIL ROBERT STONE SHOWS UP- very good
Franky is clearly stealing Stone’s stable out from under him while keeping them heel. She’s a good fit to be their leader. Also… if she managed to train the dog to bark at that perfect time, that would be the coolest thing ever. Otherwise, this was just an amazingly happy coincidence.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ZOEY STARK- bad
She asks McKenzie why she helped Io Shirai last week. Um… because it was the moral thing to do? And haven’t we already established that those two have a mutual respect? What a bad question.
Io showed up to clarify that while she respects Zoey, she doesn’t like her. That was mean and unnecessary.
Also, LEARN TO HOLD THE F*CKING CAMERA STEADY!

L.A. KNIGHT VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- a fine promo on Cameron Grimes

THE WAY/DUNNE & LORCAN SEGMENT- very bad
Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory came out. Gargano claimed to be the #1 contender in the clowniest way possible. Dunne came out and said Gargano was crazy. Gargano and Theory left, but Theory decided to stick his finger in Dunne’s face, so of course Dunne snapped it, and Theory sold it in the most cartoonish way possible.

EARLIER TODAY, CAMERON GRIMES GIVES AWAY MONEY WHILE ARRIVING AT THE BUILDING- bad
One guy made fun of Ted Dibiase, so Grimes punched him. This did not move any story along or tell us anything new about any character. What it did do was force me to listen to Grimes’ annoying voice and cartoon laugh. Therefore it was a bad segment.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL’S INTERVIEW WITH ADAM COLE IS INTERRUPTED BY WILLIAM REGAL- fine
Regal stops by to lay down the law to Cole about Joe. “You put your hands on him.” “He’s allowed to defend himself.” Cole got angry and said he would do everyone a favor and leave… so I guess we’re not getting a clean finish to Kyle vs. KUSHIDA.

WE’RE CHARGED UP TO 30% NOW- What a sh*tty charger.

JOHNNY GARGANO & AUSTIN THEORY BOTHER WILLIAM REGAL- bad
They want him to punish Pete Dunne. Instead, Regal books Dunne & Lorcan vs. Theory & Gargano. Theory and Gargano were obnoxious clowns.

ZOEY STARK & IO SHIRAI vs. ROBERT STONE BRAND (w/Robert Stone)- 6/10
The babyfaces won clean. Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell came out to watch from ringside.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
Indi and Candice approached the ring. Then Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez came from the other side with a microphone and said that they should be the #1 contenders. Then Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart came out onto the ramp and said they should be the #1 contenders. They were very annoying. They decided to start a fight. Candice and Indi slipped out up the ramp. Samoa Joe showed up… and then motioned for security to come out and pull the women apart because I guess they didn’t like the visual of Joe restraining them.
Any time you’ve got a segment where people come out from different sides already holding a microphone and all talking about how they want the same title, then standing apart from each other until someone says the equivalent of “let’s fight now!” it’s going to feel scripted, and this segment was no exception. It felt like a segment that someone booked to build up a match rather than anything that happened organically.

KUSHIDA VIDEO PACKAGE- odd
He’s talking about this match against Kyle O’Reilly will be a special moment in his career, but he never explained why.

Vic accidentally referred to Wade Barrett as a “King of the Ring Award-Winner.” That makes it sound so much less impressive.

As a result of their win last week, Ciampa and Thatcher are getting a title shot at the Great American Bash.

PETE DUNNE & ONEY LORCAN vs. THE WAY (Johnny Gargano & Austin Theory)- 8/10
This was an awesome match with The Way essentially being the babyfaces. Gargano got the win and Kross attacked him afterwards. Pretty much everything here felt like it was done to turn The Way babyface, but it falls flat for me because they got themselves into this situation in the first place by being loud annoying goofs.

WE’RE CHARGED TO 41%- I’m already board

KARRION KROSS AND SAMOA JOE HAVE A RUN-IN ON KROSS’ WAY OUT OF THE BUILDING- fine tension building

SAMOA JOE AND PETE DUNNE HAVE A STARE-DOWN- random

A three-way women’s tag team #1 contendership match has been signed for next week.

ELEKTRA LOPEZ vs. FRANKY MONET- fine squash
Maybe I’m just a stickler, but I really hate his “Franky Monet” name. She’s spelling “Frankie” wrong so I always have to go back and correct it, and “Monet” sounds like something Cameron Grimes would change his name to in order sound fancy because it sounds like someone trying to say “money” in what they think is a “cool” way because they’re stuck in the year 1997.
Elektra Lopez is the former Karissa Rivera. They gave her a teeny bit of offense, but this was pretty much a squash.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL’S INTERVIEW WITH BRONSON REED IS INTERRUPTED/STOLEN BY HIT ROW- Reed was bad, Hit Row was decent in the little they said.
Reed got a little too silly for my tastes. Or, if you think he was being serious, then he started to sound more like a heel than a babyface. You don’t’ understand why Santos Escobar wants another match with you? Really? Umm… because that title you hold is important and prestigious?

EARLIER TODAY, EVERISE ARE CLOWN- bad
They went to spray-paint hit-row’s car, but Top Dollar was in it. Instead of getting out and obliterating them like he should have, he kindly pointed out to them that “ski-masks don’t work when your name is on your shirt.”

EVER-RISE vs. HIT ROW (Ashanti The Adonis & Top Dollar) (w/Isaiah “Swerve” Scott & B-Fab)- squash
They beat them up a bit after the match. Not nearly enough, though.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS MERCEDES MARTINEZ- fine
She has been booked in a mixed tag against Xia Li & Boa next week. McKenzie asked Mercedes “do you have any idea who your partner may be?” Mercedes did not know. I’m not sure if this means she hasn’t been told yet, or Regal is lazily leaving it up to her to find one. It’s probably the latter, as she talked about not making friends easily, but it could be read either way.
She got jumped from behind by Xia Li. Security pulled Xia away, but then Boa came in and menaced the downed Mercedes, so Jake Atlas came in and kicked Boa in the head.

KYLE O’REILLY VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO ON HIS MATCH AGAINST KUSHIDA- If you’re going to build this match up this big, you had better not f*ck us on the finish.

KYLE O’REILLY vs. KUSHIDA- 8/10
I guess my cynicism was unwarranted. Clean finish (Kyle over via roll-up). This was exactly the awesomeness you’d expect from these two, but it did not live up to the expectations set by the “dream match” billing. That was a big mistake by NXT. You don’t tell us something is a “dream match” and then give it less than fifteen minutes.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Ah. There’s Cole. Security came out and failed to keep them apart. Joe came out to direct the security guys.
While they went away, KUSHIDA was jumped by three guys in black hoodies. I had Retribution flashbacks, but it turns out this group is led by the returning Roderick Strong! Roddy was the only one who actually touched KUSHIDA. One of the other guys was Tyler Rust. The third guy was Hideki Suzuki, although no one ever said his name. Oops.
And, best of all (yes, even better than Roddy’s return), they’re being managed by MALCOLM BIVENS! Bivens handed Roddy KUSHIDA’s NXT Cruiserweight Title and declared that they are the Diamond Mine.


This was a very good episode of NXT. The wrestling was great, but there was still too much clowniness for my taste.