NXT MAY 16TH 2018
The show opened with Gargano’s music hitting, but Tommaso Ciampa coming out. Ciampa said Gargano may have won the battle at Takeover but he’d always win the war, which was why he was there and Gargano was sitting at home in a neck brace. Ciampa claimed he’d broken Johnny piece by piece and he won, which brought out Candice. Candice said she didn’t recognise what he’d become and she didn’t understand why he was obsessed with ruining their lives. Ciampa mocked her and Candice said she was done shedding tears for him, ending by telling Ciampa that while Gargano’s future was uncertain, he’d know that her husband was better than him. Ciampa said maybe Gargano was better than him, but he wasn’t half the man, that’s why he sent Candice out here instead of confronting him himself. Ciampa kept insulting Gargano until Candice slapped him, at which point Ciampa laughed and repeated that he won as Candice left.
Brandi Lauren vs. Lacey Evans
Squash win for Evans. She dominated the whole match, showed plenty of poise and some nice moves. Seems like a push is coming for her and she seems ready for it, on the microphone as well. She hit a second rope moonsault, before pulling Lauren up and winning with the same punch she knocked Kairi Sane out with. Apparently the punch is called the Woman’s Right, which is quite the pun, but also sounds like something you’d find in an old WWE video game.
As Evans was leaving after the match, Kairi ran out and attacked her on the stage to a big pop and brought her back to the ring to try and hit the InSane Elbow. Evans rolled out before she could hit it though.
Recap of Ricochet and Velveteen Dream’s confrontation last week. Aleister Black was questioned as he entered the arena how he felt about Ricochet and Dream pursuing his title, with Black saying he knew being the champion made him a target. Everybody had seen the history between him and Dream, if it came down to him and Ricochet let’s find out if he was the One And Only and he hoped both realised when they stepped in the ring with him then they became the target.
Dakota was interviewed earlier in the day by the hands holding recording equipment and asked what was going on with her and Nikki Cross. Dakota didn’t know and said Nikki was crazy. She was asked another question about training before Nikki scared the faceless hands away and asked her own question, when would Dakota fight Shayna? She told Dakota with fear came opportunity and to face her fear.
Velveteen Dream vs. Ricochet
I was surprised they didn’t save this for Takeover when this was announced. That did also kinda tip off that there might not be a finish here and sure enough, there wasn’t. Crowd were really split between the two. The story of the match was that the two were evenly matched. They kept things relatively simple and worked it like a feeling out process. Just as I thought they might be simply doing a TV match to lay the groundwork for bigger and better ones down the line, Lars Sullivan ran out and attacked both though, to cause a no contest. Lars ran through both guys and laid them both out with the Freak Accident to stand tall, shouting about wanting the NXT Championship.
Kona Reeves vs. Raul Mendoza
Reeves already, after one appearance, has a new theme and a new jacket. I’ve always said, one thing NXT aren’t shy about is tweaking things that aren’t working, whether that’s aesthetics or it’s finishing moves that aren’t landing. This was also a better, more assured performance from Reeves than in his (re)debut. Granted, he was in there with one of the better opponents he could have had, but EC3 and Mendoza had an awkward match a couple of weeks ago, so you’ve still got to go out there and actually do it. Mendoza got a brief comeback and with it things briefly picked up quite a bit. A boot from Reeves and the Hawaiian Drop finished it though. If Reeves’s re-debut was an inauspicious one, this was much more promising.
Cathy caught up with Ricochet trying to speak with Regal, with Dream appearing soon afterwards trying to do the same thing. They both wanted Lars and both ended up entering the office together.
Segment from earlier in the day, with Heavy Machinery filming themselves on their phone and running into TM61. TM61 tried to be friendly and Heavy Machinery said they didn’t drink with cheaters. Miller said it didn’t matter how you got there, all that mattered was the sweet taste of victory, with Thorne adding that was the only thing Heavy Machinery hadn’t tasted in a while. So Heavy Machinery challenged them to a match for next week.
Undisputed Era vs. Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch
Hot six man to close out the show. Undisputed Era were in control of the match, working over Burch, until Dunne got tagged in and went wild on Strong, who had refused to start the match with Dunne initially. After a triple finger snap by the faces, Undisputed Era regrouped though and got the advantage on Pete. Lorcan ended up getting the hot tag, leading into a frantic last couple of minutes. Strong ended up pitching Dunne to the apron and using Lorcan to knock Dunne to the floor. That left Burch three on one, but he hung in and got it down to one versus one. The faces would get a triple submission on the Undisputed Era, but Strong’s escape caused a domino effect to breaking the other submissions. It seemed like the idea was they were teasing dissension would be coming between Dunne and Lorcan. Instead, it came down to Lorcan and Burch against Strong and O’Reilly, with Burch picking up the surprise win over Strong after a wheelbarrow DDT double team. The crowd seemed a bit off guard for the finish, but that at least fit with the upset and aside from that this was a lot of fun.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: A hot crowd and some fun matches mean this was a show worth checking out in full. The main event was obviously the stand-out match, while the show as a whole continues to move in a good direction.
NXT WEEK: Heavy Machinery against TM61 and Lars Sullivan versus Ricochet and Velveteen Dream in a handicap match.