NXT DECEMBER 5TH 2018
Matt Riddle vs. Punishment Martinez
Martinez’s NXT debut. Martinez looks made for WWE and I don’t just mean because he’s big and tall, the way he works doesn’t look out of place whatsoever, like the exaggerated wind-up on his big strikes. This was presumably just a teaser, as like Dijak, he lost fairly quickly, while getting to look pretty competitive. Riddle got him in the Bromission and they teased he was going to power out of it, but Riddle was able to re-apply it for the tapout. The one thing Martinez is going to have to find is a look, because tall, long wet black hair and long black gear is a well-trodden route. There’s time to sort that though.
Ohno laid out Riddle post match, ambushing him with a rolling elbow on the ramp while he was celebrating.
Hype video for Ricochet. Ricochet was interviewed by the hands holding phones earlier in the day. He pointed out he’d never been pinned at Takeover and said he’d be defending his North American Championship next week, against whoever Regal had in mind for him.
Heavy Machinery training montage and promo, with them targeting an NXT Tag Title match with Strong and O’Reilly.
They announced Bianca had qualified for a number one contender’s fatal four way in 3 weeks at a live event.
Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza vs. Forgotten Sons
Smartly, it looks like Carrillo and Mendoza are going to continue being a thing. Like their match with Lorcan and Burch, they got to shine in a losing effort and if they stay in that role for long enough, I think people will start to get behind them, as opposed to seeing them as losers. Forgotten Sons of course beat them for now, pinning Carrillo with their double team reverse DDT/stomp combo.
Cathy interviewed Dream backstage. He was asked what was next for him and he said people were still talking about him, but didn’t give an actual answer to the question.
Undisputed Era cut a promo, not from their usual arch, but from a safer position, which was presumably the back of a truck. Fish addressed EC3, Strong brought up injuring War Raiders and O’Reilly addressed Heavy Machinery. Hanson’s multiple injuries were then confirmed, so I guess they’re having to go in a different direction with the Tag Titles for now.
Shayna Baszler vs. Dakota Kai
Shayna had Jesamyn and Marina in her corner, which seems like an oversight from Regal since they keep getting involved in matches. Shayna dominated in her usual fashion for a while, focusing on the arm, but ended up firing Dakota up and leading to Dakota fighting back. And this turned into a really good little match from there. Shayna would end up getting the clean choke out win, so clearly Jesamyn and Marina are merely misunderstood. Good stuff and a good continuation of the Baszler/Kai history.
Post match, Jesamyn and Marina joined Shayna in beating down Kai , until Io made the save. She cleared Marina and Jesamyn off, before they pulled Shayna to safety to avoid a facewash kick from Kai.
Speaking of Dijak, or Dijakovic, as I did earlier, we got a short teaser video for him.
The show would close with a Ciampa segment. He bragged about beating Dream and complained that people still refused to accept him as champion and believe in him, singling out Mauro in all of this. Black would interrupt his tirade, saying that Ciampa was responsible for Gargano’s sins and challenged him for the NXT Title at Takeover. Gargano showed up to say they weren’t finished though. Ciampa stirred the pot between them and suggested that they finish things in a cage match, coaxing them both into agreeing to the match, before Black attempted a Black Mass and Gargano escaped. Black then laid out Ciampa instead.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: All three matches were fun for what they were, with Shayna and Dakota being the best of the bunch. The Ciampa/Black/Gargano interaction was solid as well.
NXT WEEK: EC3 against Bobby Fish and Ricochet defending the North American Championship.