NXT SEPTEMBER 5TH 2018
Kassius Ohno vs. Kona Reeves
This was surprisingly short. While it lasted, Reeves showed that he’s got some personality and he’s starting to find his footing with the gimmick. However, judging by this, it seems like he’s going to have to work back up the ranks, because this was a pretty definitive win for Ohno, with Reeves playing the almost-comedy foil. Ohno was all business and won with a rolling elbow after avoiding the Hawaiian Drop, as he continued to a- pick up wins and b- act more no nonsense in recent weeks. Seems like he’s being built up for something.
Ohno spoke after the match, saying there was so much buzz when he came back to NXT, until he became an afterthought. He said it used to tear him up, but now he got it, there was always going to be someone new and whoever the next guy with buzz was, he was going to be the first one to welcome them and knock them to the back of the line. Ohno stepping into the ‘anti-new guy’ role is an interesting twist on that role.
The Forgotten Sons vs. Street Profits
The Forgotten Sons were Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake, with Jaxson Ryker, aka Gunner (not Bram, the meme mistake that I’ve genuinely made two weeks in a row now) in their corner. This ended up being a good debut for them, with an enjoyable first match. Blake in particular looked eager to impress, after his long absence. Honestly, Cutler didn’t do that much of note besides wind up with a busted face and was the most, *ahem*, forgettable guy in the match, but Blake and both Street Profits were on form. Ryker ended up being the deciding factor, but it was with an assist from a balaclava’ed Thorne and Miller, who’s distraction stealing the Street Profits plastic cup lead to Ford taking a clothesline from Ryker outside. Blake and Cutler then put Ford away with a double team reverse DDT and stomp off the second rope, while Dawkins chased after The Mighty.
Regal spoke with Heavy Machinery, as the Aleister Black investigation continued. There was comedy, or an attempt there-of, before they ended up implicating Ciampa.
Recap of Strong and Cole’s win last week, after Ricochet accidentally hit Dunne with a dive. Footage was then shown of Ricochet and Dunne arguing after the match, with Dunne blaming Ricochet and the arguement escalating into them both wanting shots at each other’s titles, setting up a champion versus champion match for two weeks time with both belts on the line.
Hype video for War Raiders and their pursuit of Undisputed Era over recent weeks.
Kairi Sane vs. Trish Adora
Kairi came out with the Women’s Title in a treasure chest on the stage. Because she’s a pirate you see. First instinct was that it was really corny, but if that’s going to be her entrance going forward, I kinda don’t hate it. Sane dominated here and won with the InSane Elbow.
Baszler came out during Kairi’s celebration and pushed over Kairi’s treasure chest. She told her to enjoy her pirate fantasy while she could and mentioned enacting her rematch clause, before attacking Kairi. Kairi would fight back though and got the better of Baszler, hitting a backfist and a spear to send Shayna retreating.
Ciampa cut another handheld promo somewhere backstage. He explained that he hadn’t shown up recently because there was no number one contender for him and he truly was the last man standing with Gargano and Black dealt with. He said he was recording this there because he was fed up of hearing the fans and he wanted people to follow the lead of the NXT Champion.
Regal spoke with Lars in his office. Lars was asked why he was there the night Aleister was attacked. He claimed he was looking for Black, but he heard Black scream in the distance and he was already laid out when he got there. Lars said if he did it, he’d still be standing over Aleister’s body and he’d be out for a lot longer than he was, just ask EC3. Regal didn’t seem convinced, before booking Lars in a match with Raul Mendoza next week, as EC3 wasn’t cleared and warned Lars to keep his path of destruction to the ring. I’m not sure why Regal is questioning anyone else, since Nikki Cross said she saw who did it last week. Keep asking her, mate.
Velveteen Dream vs. Johnny Gargano
This ended up being quite the main event. The match can essentially be split into three parts. The first part was a slower built opening, with Dream trying to goad Johnny into wrestling him, with mixed success, until a stun gun turned the tide in Dream’s favour. The second part was when they stepped it up and stepped it up impressively, to the point that this turned into a Takeover level match, with both guys throwing themselves around with reckless abandon at various points. And then the third part was all story, as they looked to further the Gargano downfall. Gargano wound up putting Dream in the Gargano Escape on the floor, with the tease of a count-out. Gargano ended up breaking the hold and getting back in, with the idea that he realised he’d snapped. They would then tease a draping DDT off the apron, with Gargano again stopping just short and him playing off of a kid in the front row with a Johnny Wrestling sign. The finish saw Gargano set up for either the kneeling superkick or the Ciampa running knee and Dream calling him a failure again, causing Gargano to lose his cool and run into the Dream Valley Driver for the pin, continuing Johnny’s story and giving Dream a big win. A great match, that like a lot of Johnny’s matches recently, skirted the line as far as melodrama goes towards the end.
Post match, Gargano would sell the defeat big and left the arena through the side exit instead of up the ramp, which is symbolic of something. The crowd were split during the match and split again here. At least here, it is a legitimate split and they’re seemingly starting to play into it. The fact there was a chant for Johnny after people sang the goodbye song at him kinda makes the story. If the entire crowd were jerks, it wouldn’t work.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: All four matches on the show did their job, but in particular, the tag match was good and the main event was fantastic.
NXT WEEK: Lars Sullivan against Raul Mendoza.