NXT NOVEMBER 14TH 2018
Bianca Belair vs. Mia Yim
This was fine, but never really got going into anything more than that. They got plenty of time, but for some reason it felt a little lacking. Not sure why. Belair’s time in control seemed to drag a bit and by the time Mia made a comeback, the steam was gone. Belair won clean with the KOD to keep her undefeated streak intact.
Cathy interrupted a conversation between Ricochet, War Raiders and Dunne backstage, as they were deciding who’d compete in the match tonight to decide man advantage for War Games. Ricochet and Dunne ended up arguing over which of them it’d be, until Hanson said he’d do it.
Hype video for Gargano versus Black at Takeover.
Cathy interviewed Riddle. He said he was ready to take on anything, when Ohno interrupted. he said he’d been waiting all week to hear back about Riddle’s challenge and had heard nothing. Riddle said he’d take his test next week and leave him knocked out in the ring.
Lacey Evans vs. Karissa Rivera
Squash win for Evans. Karissa landed a few chops, which just ended up making Evans mad and led to her hitting the Women’s Right for the win. Evans cut a promo afterwards, saying NXT was full of classless nasties who’d forgotten how to carry themselves with sophistication. She said she’d lead by example as the lady of NXT and if they didn’t adhere to her standards, she’d teach them a lesson in class and manners, with the Women’s Right.
Ciampa/Dream hype video.
Hype video for Kairi and Baszler, centered around a promo by Kairi.
War Games Advantage Match
Hanson vs. Kyle O’Reilly
There were a couple of inherent problems with this match. One, it was clearly late in the taping and two, it was fairly obvious who was winning due to the stipulation. They did their best to have a fun, big man/little man match in the circumstances though and it was a pairing that worked, with O’Reilly both able to believably hang with Hanson and be an entertaining bumping heel. It probably would have come off better in a better spot. They did get there in the end though. O’Reilly focused on the knee to gain the advantage, but Hanson made a comeback anyway, including a big dive. Of course, Undisputed Era would get involved, with a Cole distraction that caused Hanson to miss a moonsault. An O’Reilly ankle lock and some Cole interference couldn’t get the job done though, by which time Rowe came out to take care of Cole and allow Hanson back into the match. Strong and Fish jumped Rowe though, Dunne made the save, Ricochet hit a big flip dive, but O’Reilly used the distraction to hit Hanson with the title belt for the win. The run-ins did serve to spice up the finish and the match was good up until that point.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: A bit of a nothing show, pre-Takeover. Hanson and O’Reilly was fun, but that’s the only thing really worth checking out before Saturday.
NXT WEEK: Ohno and Riddle, which is being taped before Takeover.