NXT JANUARY 9TH 2019
Show opened with Gargano coming out. If you didn’t know he’d turned heel, you wouldn’t have really known until some, but not all, of the crowd started getting on his case. Gargano said success in NXT was measured by wins and championships and his 2019 would be better, because he would become a champion. The crowd started chanting DIY when Gargano mentioned Ciampa, but Gargano stopped it and said what happened in the cage match meant nothing, Ciampa was still a piece of trash. But, he then mentioned that when Ciampa brought up the idea of facing Ricochet, Ricochet came back at him on Twitter about it and told Ricochet that if he wanted the North American Championship then he’d take it. That brought Ricochet out, who said if Gargano wanted an opportunity all he had to do is ask, but questioned if he was planning to take the title face to face or attack him in a parking lot. They ended up setting up a match for Takeover, before Ciampa showed up. Gargano wanted none of Ciampa and told him to leave, but before he could, Aleister Black appeared on the big screen, telling Ciampa he should be more concerned with him than grooming his little dog because he was going to make him fade to black. The lights then went out and when they came back on, Black was behind Ciampa. The fought onto the announce table, where Ciampa blocked a suplex and managed to escape. Gargano the took advantage of the distraction with a superkick to Ricochet. I’m still not entirely keen on where the Gargano story has gone, but this was all good stuff and I am warming to the Gargano/Ciampa dynamic they’ve got going on. The problem is, the crowd are too and if it ends up with DIY as heels that everyone cheers, is that the best way to go?
Bianca Belair vs. Nikki Cross
This was presumably Nikki’s NXT write off, although it seems like that’s been coming for months at this point. They had a really strong match here, to at least blow off the issue between these two. Cross hit the swinging fisherman’s but Belair rolled out of the ring to avoid being pinned. They then teased the move that caused the last match to end in a double count out, Belair dropping Cross on the stage to escape a sleeper hold. This time, though they both beat the count. We then got a few more minutes of action, before Belair avoided a crossbody off the top and won with the KOD to remain undefeated.
Street Profits cut a promo outside, with the idea being they were going to open doors in 2019.
Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel vs. Hector Kunsman and Stanley Watts
Aichner and Bartel were being sold as a proper team here, after they formed as a team on NXT UK. While this was obviously a showcase for the new team, the crowd got really behind the jobbers and especially Watts, who was both small and flippy. Kunsman and Watts spent a lot of time countering and trying to avoid the star team’s moves, before Aichner and Barthel finally caught Watts and put him away with a powerbomb throw by Aichner into a german suplex by Barthel.
Cathy was outside, announcing Ciampa and Black had been removed from the building. Cathy then noticed Ricochet and asked him about what happened earlier, with Ricochet saying he wouldn’t stop until he got his match with Gargano and that Gargano had superkicked all the respect he had for him away.
Recap of Riddle’s win over Ohno last week and Ohno’s post match attack. Sarah interviewed Keith Lee about it, calling Ohno’s attack unsettling and challenging him to a match next week.
EC3 vs. Adam Cole
Cole had the rest of Undisputed Era with him. This was, also presumably, the last NXT appearance for EC3. He had a new shirt with the NXT logo on the back, so that’s some inconvenient timing. This was a solid match and the crowd were into it. It ended with Undisputed Era trying to get involved, EC3 getting rid of them, but Cole capitalising with a superkick and hitting the Last Shot for the victory. If that is it for EC3’s NXT run, it feels like a run that never really got going and never really delivered. Hopefully the main roster holds better for him. I certainly don’t think a change of scenery and a reset is a bad thing for him right now, because on NXT it wasn’t really working.
Post match, Undisputed Era jumped EC3 until War Raiders made the save. Hanson took out Strong and O’Reilly on his own, before Rowe hit a dual front slam and powerbomb to Strong and Fish, leaving O’Reilly to take the Fallout. So presumably they’re going with that as the Takeover Tag Title match, which feels like it’s been brewing for ages.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: A solid show this week. Belair against Cross was the best match, whilst the other two were perfectly fine. The opening segment with Gargano, Ricochet, Ciampa and Black was one of the better NXT opening segments I can recall as well.
NXT WEEK: Street Profits in action and Kassius Ohno versus Keith Lee.