NXT MAY 23RD 2018
Heavy Machinery vs. TM61
This was TM61’s first match since turning heel a few weeks ago. They spent most of this match being pinballed around by the larger faces. The crowd were firmly behind Heavy Machinery from the off, which certainly helped the match along. It was hard to get a read on TM61 as heels in this though, beyond the fact they can take a good beating. When they did have the advantage on Tucker in the middle of the match, it seemed like they didn’t really do much, maybe because he was too big for anything beyond a standard beatdown. And character-wise, I didn’t get any real feel for how they’re going to do going forward. They won the same way they won against Street Profits, with Thorne holding Miller’s feet on the ropes to get the pin on Dozovic. If nothing else, they made Heavy Machinery look good.
Video feature on Bianca Belair, with comments from her, teasing a bigger feature on her and her background next week.
Short EC3 hype video/promo for his next match.
Kairi Sane vs. Lacey Evans
This stemmed from Evans laying Sane out with a punch three weeks ago. Sane started out hot as a result and showed a bit more fire than usual throughout the match. Evans would work the arm, doing a good job of being vicious in her own right. Sane ended up making a comeback, including a flying elbow strike off the apron after Lacey had rolled outside to avoid the InSane Elbow. When Sane tried a second flying elbow inside the ring though, Evans caught her in mid air with the Woman’s Right and scored the upset victory. Evans continues to impress and I’d be all for a few more matches between these two.
Cathy caught up with Gargano and Candice as they arrived to the building, with Gargano in a neck brace. Gargano teased that the two of them had made a decision about his future and he was going to tell the fans.
Recap of Burch and Lorcan’s win in the six man tag last week. They were interviewed afterwards and said they’d earned a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championships. Undisputed Era then cut a promo from their archway, with Cole calling the result a fluke and Strong saying there was no way they deserved a shot at Takeover. O’Reilly claimed he didn’t even know who Lorcan was until last week and Strong said he’d show Burch they weren’t in their league in a singles match before Takeover.
Two On One Handicap Match
Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet and Velveteen Dream
I’m not a fan of handicap matches, particularly two on one handicap matches. As handicap matches go though, this wasn’t a bad use of one. Ricochet and Dream worked well together, almost too well since it seemed like they were going to be feuding a couple of weeks ago. It did all serve to make Lars look like a threat though. On paper, feuding heel and face in a handicap match against heel really shouldn’t work, so the fact this wasn’t a mess should probably be a testament to the job that’s been done with Lars. Dream would be kept in the ring for a while, before Ricochet and Dream’s teamwork got them back into the match. Then, out of nowhere, Dream gave Ricochet a rolling DVD, which well timed because I’d put any idea of him turning on Ricochet out of my mind by that point. Maybe they did too good of a job, because I ended up thinking how they’d work as an actual team on the main roster. Anyway, Lars beat Ricochet with the Freak Accident. On the very short list of effective two on one handicap matches, this probably makes the cut.
Cathy interviewed Dakota about the fact she’d be facing Shayna for the Women’s Championship next week. Dakota said she’d been dreaming about a title shot for so long, but Shayna was the biggest bully she’d ever come across. Shayna interrupted and tried intimidating Dakota again, saying she had no chance. Dakota summoned up enough courage to say she’d see about that though and walked off, which confused Shayna.
The show closed with Gargano and Candice coming out. It was a nice touch how, after Ciampa coming out to his music last week, nobody bought it, including Mauro, until Johnny actually appeared. Gargano talked about the Ciampa attack and teased like he was going to retire, but he ended up calling Ciampa out to finish things instead. I assumed this was just going to be a big prolonged tease and it was all worded for him to say the decision they’d made was he wanted one more match, but when he took the neckbrace off Candice wasn’t expecting it, so I guess the idea was he’d actually decided to quit and the crowd changed his mind. Candice ran off as Ciampa appeared, telling Johnny that if he was still in the ring when he got there he’d finish this. Candice returned with a bunch of referees though, with the referees keeping them apart and Candice trying to drag Johnny away. Ciampa ended up goading Gargano into coming back to the ring though, with Ciampa knocking Gargano off the apron and into Candice, who had to be checked on. I’m not saying Gargano is a bad husband for listening to a bunch of professional wrestling fans over his wife, but…
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: A solid episode, but with nothing that particularly stood out. The closing angle was obviously important, but coming off the back of the Ciampa attack, it didn’t match it and maybe Candice getting KOed because of Johnny was where the feud is going to skirt the line of too much story. All three matches were solid for what they were, so it was a watchable hour.
NXT WEEK: Shayna versus Dakota for the NXT Women’s Title, an appearance from Aleister Black and a feature on Bianca Belair.