NXT MARCH 6TH 2019
The show opened with a good video package for the Dusty Classic, that had short comments from all eight teams involved.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC FIRST ROUND
Aleister Black and Ricochet vs. Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel
This started out as a pretty standard tag match with Aichner and Barthel isolating Black, but picked up and turned into a really good one after Ricochet got the hot tag. Barthel got a chance to be in with Ricochet for a few minutes and busted out the double springboard moonsault, before Black got his chance to shine. Ricochet was probably the standout here though and manages to stand out even in matches that involve three other great wrestlers. Black would get the win with the Black Mass on Aichner after Ricochet had taken out Barthel with a dive. Strong way to start the tournament.
Moustache Mountain were shown getting ready backstage and noticed War Raiders watching them do so.
Recap of the double count out finish to Dijakovic and Keith Lee last week. Footage was then shown from the Performance Center earlier this week, with Lee sparring with other wrestlers. Dijakovic showed up and dared Lee to finish things, but he was held back. An official match was then announced for two weeks time.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC FIRST ROUND
Forgotten Sons vs. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan
This was another solid match and more of a story one. The story was the Forgotten Sons working Lorcan’s back. Burch would make a big comeback, but when he tagged Lorcan in to hit their finish, Lorcan’s back was still hurt and he couldn’t complete the move. Lorcan would stay in the match and Burch rescued him from a boston crab. They finally hit the double team elevated DDT to Cutler, but Blake broke the pin. Forgotten Sons then ended up hitting the reverse DDT/stomp on Lorcan after he’d tagged back in to advance.
Velveteen Dream would come out and interrupt the commentary post match, climbing on the commentary table to address the crowd. He was pretty quickly interrupted as well though, as Matt Riddle came out and stated his intentions to go after the North American Championship. Dream told Riddle he wasn’t his bro and said the spotlight belonged to him, complete with an actual spotlight that left Riddle in the dark on the stage.
Clips from a sitdown interview with Shirai and Sane was shown, with Shirai discussing the issue with Belair. Sane said they both wanted the title, but she believed in Shirai and Shirai said she’d become champion.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC FIRST ROUND
Moustache Mountain vs. Street Profits
Another fine match, but probably the weakest of the four on the show. The crowd were into it as if it did, but it never felt like it went to the next level like the other two matches did. They tried their best, with Montez hitting his big flip dive and then taking a dragon suplex on the apron. It didn’t fully grab me like I hoped though and had a couple of problems at the end. One was Bate kicking out of the sky high/frog splash combo, but the crowd being a little pre-occupied with the fact Street Profits tagged in the wrong corner. The second was the finish looking ugly as anything, with Seven not properly getting Dawkins with the burning hammer and Bate just sort of landing on them, which could have ended way worse than it did thankfully. Not bad, but I feel like this would have benefited from them doing a bit of comedy at the start, if only to differentiate it from the other three tag matches on the show.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC FIRST ROUND
Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly vs. #DIY
Gargano and Ciampa came out to their singles themes, before making their way to the ring to the DIY theme. I still don’t know how I feel about this story and how it’s gotten to the point of Ciampa and Gargano as heels re-uniting to a babyface reaction. It’s not what I wanted, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s automatically bad, but it does feel a bit off. The fact Ciampa is now hurt again obviously sucks too and not just because whatever payoff they may or may not have had planned is now going to be delayed. As for the match, Fish and O’Reilly worked over Gargano for the first half of the match. Ciampa got the hot tag and looked good against both of Undisputed Era, before they got into the finishing stretch with all four. They got the crowd going by the end, with #DIY ending up winning after the draping DDT by Ciampa and Gargano’s slingshot DDT got a two, before DIY hit the superkick/knee for the pin.
War Raiders came out onto the stage as #DIY were celebrating for a staredown to end the show.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: The show was built around the Dusty Classic and felt like a kind of special episode as a result. The whole show is worth checking out as a result.
NXT WEEK: Moustache Mountain versus Forgotten Sons and #DIY against Ricochet and Aleister Black in the Dusty Classic Semi Finals, plus Io Shirai versus Bianca Belair for the #1 contendership to the Women’s Title.