NXT APRIL 18TH 2018
Gargano and Candice came out to open the show. He said it was good to be home and for too long, he was defined by two words, Tommaso Ciampa, but he now had his life back and he was back where he belonged. Gargano thanked the fans for bringing signs, chanting his name and having his back, before telling Candice he couldn’t have done it without her. Gargano said they had one piece of unfinished business, with Candice saying she’d be going one on one with Zelina Vega tonight and Gargano promising that if Almas got involved, he’d drop him like his name was Tommaso Ciampa. And after they dealt with that, there was a new NXT Champion and he was going to be his first challenger.
Killian Dain cut a promo outside, claiming that Lars took his chance to make history in New Orleans, so tonight he was going to take everything from Lars and he’d do so on his own. I don’t really remember how Lars specifically was the one who stopped Dain from winning the ladder match, but okay.
Ricochet vs. Fabian Aichner
Ricochet’s got the making of a cool laser entrance now. I still don’t understand why his entrance video is an ode to 2007 era One Night Stand/Extreme Rules though. Fun little match to get Ricochet his first win. Aichner got his fair share of the offence, before Ricochet built momentum and won with the 630.
Kayla interviewed Ricochet in the aisle after the match about making his Full Sail debut. Ricochet named off people like Bayley, Zayn and Rollins who’d made it into WWE, but now it was his turn.
Recap of the debut of War Raiders on last week’s show, jumping Moss, Sabbatelli and Heavy Machinery.
EC3 hype video.
Lars promo, also outside, saying he got to do whatever he wanted to tonight as it was no disqualifications and everyone would find out why he was a real life freak of nature.
War Raiders vs. The Metro Brothers
Every time The Metro Brothers appear and dress the way they do, I will reference Deuce and Domino. They were here to get squashed by Hanson and Rowe and get squashed they did. Hanson and Rowe ran through their repertoire and finished the match off with the Fallout.
Footage of Shayna from the Performance Center was shown, where she deliberately showed up late for a meeting with the talent, saying she didn’t follow rules and she was about to make some new ones. Shayna addressed the people assembled after ripping Ember’s name down from her old dressing room spot, saying things were different around here now and they should get in line or get out if they were too scared. Dakota left the room and Shayna tried intimidating her.
Kona Reeves is next up on the NXT conveyor belt, as he’s graduated from enhancement guy to actual gimmick and re-debuts in two weeks. It looks like he’s got an updated version of Breeze’s pseudo-supermodel deal, which is certainly a departure from what he’d been doing prior. In the wake of all the NXT call-ups I was assuming that one of the Aichner/Raul Mendoza level guys might get a shot but I’d forgotten all about Reeves. I remember seeing the potential when he was last on TV though, so we’ll see how the gimmick fits.
WWE.com footage of Dunne leaving the building earlier in the day was shown, saying he’d be back in a couple of weeks and we’d see his thoughts on Roderick Strong when he got his hands on him and ripped his head off.
No Disqualification Match
Lars Sullivan vs. Killian Dain
Like their first match two weeks ago, there was plenty of hoss-like action in this one to start. The no-disqualification stipulation at least meant they could mix things up however and they didn’t really have to stick with too much of a regular match lay-out. As such, this wasn’t a particularly thrilling match early, but once they took advantage of the stip it was miles better, which is a good indication of where these two are at I feel. Sullivan hit a flying clothesline from the top to the floor at one point, which ended with him taking a landing on the ramp which probably wasn’t very pleasant. Dain ended up with a busted face as weapons ended up coming into play. Sullivan, who probably doesn’t need to be doing these things, missed a flying headbutt onto a chair. He blocked a crossbody through a table with a slam for a one count, before Dain put him through with the crossbody on the second attempt. Then, Dain teased a coast to coast. That was cut off by Lars though, who took out Dain with a chair and won with the Freak Accident onto two more of them. If the idea is to let Lars win people over by doing things you wouldn’t expect someone his size and look to do, mission accomplished.
Hype video for Zelina versus Candice.
Undisputed Era were shown having a photo-shoot with their titles.
Zelina Vega vs. Candice LaRae
They were trying to get ‘Candice Wrestling’ over on this show and hey, maybe it’ll catch on, but I’m not keen. This barely got started before Almas appeared from through the crowd to distract Candice and give Zelina the edge, bringing out Gargano to be in Candice’s corner. Zelina used Almas’s double knees in the corner and tried his hammerlock DDT, before Candice fought back. The finish then saw Candice get the Gargano Escape, Almas come in, Gargano get him in the Gargano Escape and Zelina tap out. They didn’t really mention anything about Zelina being or not being a wrestler going into this, considering this was her first NXT match, it was just assumed that she was I guess. Obviously, she is, but I hope she doesn’t just become another wrestler on Smackdown. I feel like just being a wrestler, even though she was competitive, took a bit from her aura as a manager. This at least put a bow on the Gargano/Almas feud, without Almas taking a loss.
Post match, Gargano said that now they’d officially taken care of Almas and Vega, he was challenging Black for the NXT Championship. That brought out Black, who accepted the challenge, for next week. As Mauro pointed out, Gargano is the only man to have pinned Black in NXT.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: This was a good overall show coming out of a Takeover, with some new faces and some loose ends being tied up before people get called up. All the matches were good for the different purposes that they served and this is probably a show better watched as a whole than picking and choosing, to get a good sense of where NXT stands going forward.
NXT WEEK: Gargano versus Black for the NXT Championship, presumably, Undisputed Era will be on the show and Adam Cole defends the North American Championship against Oney Lorcan.