NXT MAY 9TH 2018
Ricochet came out to open. He said it was his mission that everyone was talking about him after Wrestlemania weekend and he intended on taking over NXT. He went on to say that the one and only thing on his mind was the NXT Championship. The promo was fine enough, delivered well but not particularly memorable, but there were a couple of rogue people in the crowd trying to get on Ricochet’s case for wearing shoes and no socks and he managed to keep his cool and shoot them down in the midst of what he was saying, which was far more encouraging and impressive than what he actually said. He was interrupted by Velveteen Dream, who asked who was giving him the authority to come out and ask for title opportunities. Dream took issue with Ricochet calling himself the One And Only and the two of them traded words. I felt Dream had been a little hit and miss in some of his backstage promos recently, but both guys did really well here. It ended with Dream saying anything Ricochet could do he could do better and Ricochet daring him to prove it. Dream teased a cheapshot and slid to a halt when he realised Ricochet was ready for him. Really excited for a match between these two.
Raul Mendoza vs. EC3
Mendoza’s been a good opponent for a lot of guys since he got the NXT gig. Here though, it looked like he and EC3 were on different pages at points. When Mendoza was on offence, this was more than a little shaky. When EC3 was on offence, it was better. EC3 of course won with the One Percenter.
EC3 was interviewed in the aisle by Cathy afterwards, saying adversity was what makes a man and the only thing people would see from him now was victory after victory, until he rebranded NXT to NX3. The promo went down better than the match did.
Footage was shown from backstage last week. Burch and Lorcan told Dunne that just because they saved him didn’t mean that they liked him, but they all had a problem with Undisputed Era. Dunne seemed to agree to team with them.
Dakota Kai vs. Vanessa Borne
This was another encouraging performance from Borne. She controlled things for a while, before Kai got on a roll with a succession of kicks and a weird over the back, almost canadian destroyer style lungblower for the win. Kai’s celebration was quickly interrupted by Baszler though, with Baszler confronting Kai, before locking Borne in a choke, while a scared Kai got out of the ring and up the ramp. It wasn’t mentioned on commentary, but aside from the Dakota being afraid of Shayna angle, this also made sense since Borne claimed she’d have slapped Shayna if she were Dakota to set this match up in the first place.
After commercial, we saw what happened when Dakota got to the back, accidentally interrupted a Cathy piece to camera with Cathy asking why Shayna was being so successful with her mind games. Dakota said she wanted to run away but she just froze, at which point Shayna appeared behind her and dared Dakota to do something, before exiting when she wouldn’t. Dakota then noticed Nikki Cross behind her, laughing, for some reason.
Heavy Machinery vs. War Raiders
Four beefy men doing beefy things. Match was kept fairly short, which was probably the right call for a first TV match between the four. Tucker made a brief comeback, but after Hanson took out Dozovic with a dive to the floor, Tucker was left two on one, allowing War Raiders to hit Fallout to get the win.
Recap of TM61’s shady win over Street Profits last week. We then got a montage of Street Profits working out and saying they wanted the Tag Team Titles.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Kassius Ohno
Ciampa still has no music. So long as he retains the kind of heat he has right now, it’s a pretty effective idea. Ohno was aggressive early on, as the story was he was fighting for Gargano and the story took this one to a greater level. Ciampa would end up getting control of the match briefly and the match stayed heated, which shows how strong the Ciampa/Gargano feud still is, when you can plug a third guy in and get the same kind of grudge feel to it. Ohno targeted Ciampa’s injured eye when he got back into the match, before Ciampa hid behind the referee to get a cheap shot in. Ciampa then distracted the referee so he could gouge Ohno’s eye in retaliation. Ciampa ended up getting the win with a twisting swinging neckbreaker that ended up in a faceplant, after an exchange of moves at the end. Really strong main event. Ohno has become a much more valuable guy on NXT in his new role. They’re using him smartly to help get other people over and it’s the most I’ve been into Ohno in either NXT run. For all the attempts to push him as you would anyone else, having him take a more complimentary role might end up being the best chance of him earning a more featured role some day. Taking a step back to take a step forward.
Ciampa attacked Ohno with his knee brace after the match and yelled that Gargano’s fairytale was over.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Ciampa and Ohno really delivered in the main event. I thought the opening segment with Ricochet and Dream was a good set-up for both of them going forwards as well. Kai/Borne and Heavy Machinery/War Raiders were solid and the show as a whole is still in a good spot at the moment.
NXT WEEK: Undisputed Era versus Dunne, Burch and Lorcan.