NXT SEPTEMBER 19TH 2018
Dakota Kai and Deonna Purrazzo vs. Lacey Evans and Aliyah
This stemmed from the indecipherable arguement these four had last week. Evans seemed to get a good reaction coming out, while Deonna definitely did. This was a solid enough match, worked with decent energy. It didn’t really hit a second gear as a match, but I think all four looked good. After Deonna was worked over, Dakota made a comeback and had Aliyah pinned, but Lacey had blind tagged herself in and KOed Dakota with the Woman’s Right for the win.
Dream was interviewed by the hands holding recording equipment. He was asked how he’d carried his momentum from beating EC3 forward and reminded them he beat Gargano, before avoiding any questions about the Aleister Black investigation.
Somebody caught up with Street Profits at a basketball court, with Montez doing a good job of explaining why they were so upset about The Mighty stealing their chains two weeks ago during their match with The Forgotten Sons.
Recap of Belair and Cross’s double count out last week and the post match brawl. Belair was asked about what happened afterwards, with Bianca saying she wouldn’t back down from Nikki and reminded everyone she was undefeated.
Jaxson Ryker vs. Humberto Carrillo
Jaxson Ryker is a very old-NXT type of name, with letters where you really don’t expect them. Speaking of old-NXT, Nigel dropped some William Regal ‘scurfing’ talk here. This was a showcase for Ryker, winning easily with a slingshot powerbomb.
Regal spoke with Candice in the investigation room. Candice said she didn’t know, but gave reasons why it made sense to be Ciampa. Regal said there was no evidence it was Ciampa though, before asking about Gargano’s state of mind and his whereabouts during the attack.
Hype video for Ricochet and Dunne, which they repeatedly referred to as the biggest match in NXT TV history during the show.
Short profile video on Keith Lee.
Recap of EC3 blaming Lars Sullivan for the Aleister Black attack and EC3 beating attacked by Sullivan the next week.
North American Championship vs. United Kingdom Championship
Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne
So, the elephant in the room here. It was kinda obvious this was going to end in a no contest with an Undisputed Era run-in so both guys kept their titles. The kind of obvious where you start thinking “well, maybe they won’t do that, because I’m expecting it”. But, no. That’s exactly what happened.
The match itself was, unsurprisingly, great. The first part of the match saw a lot of mat work, a lot of joint manipulation and a lot of dueling chants. It took Ricochet a long time to really get going, with Dunne keeping him grounded and contorted for a lot of the first ten minutes or so. Even when Ricochet did start to pick up the pace, it seemed like Dunne was able to keep cutting him off. It was Ricochet who got most of the big near falls though as the match progressed. At about the 3/4s mark, I was still anticipating the Undisputed Era run-in, but the last part of the match got so good that I kinda forgot all about it. And it was at that point that Undisputed Era ran in for the DQ, just as Ricochet and Dunne were about to start exchanging strikes. I guess the fact they managed to make me not expect the run-in I was expecting means they timed it really well. The crowd certainly didn’t seem to be distracted by it, as they were super into this the entire way through. Another great Pete Dunne UK Title match. Maybe not the very best, although it was getting into that kind of territory for the last 5 minutes. The commentary was REALLY trying to sell this as an amazing match, to the point that it still got a bit intrusive and distracting even though they were right. But, it was great, obviously. Even with the obvious ending.
Both guys were given their belts after the match. The crowd didn’t seem unhappy about the finish, which also must mean they did something right here.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: With half the show devoted to the main event, the rest of the show was a succession of short, simple segments after the opener, as tends to be the way with these one big match episodes. There was no way the main event wasn’t going to be worth watching. The rest of the show was merely the prelude, although the women’s tag match was good for what it was.
NXT WEEK: Lars Sullivan in action and Tommaso Ciampa against Otis Dozovic.