NXT APRIL 3RD 2019
War Raiders vs. A Jobber Team
War Raiders have had their entrance upgraded. This was the kind of squash where the poor guys getting squashed don’t even get the courtesy of a name, which is annoying for people like me. It didn’t really matter here though, because after dispatching of the two nobodies easily, Rowe started to cut a promo about sending a message and asked for ‘the next team’.
War Raiders vs. Adrian Jaoude and Cezar Bononi
War Raiders squashed Jaoude and Bononi almost as easily as the first two guys, pinning Bononi after Fallout. I’m not sure squashing two teams instead of one added that much to this, especially since there wasn’t much of an escalation in the competition and they just stopped at two matches anyway.
A really good hype video for Dunne against WALTER aired. They also aired an awesome little commercial hyping the Performance Center’s YouTube channel.
Footage from earlier in the day showed Candice being asked about Gargano’s match at Takeover. She said she was happy for him, but that wasn’t the only match she was going to be watching. Aliyah and Vanessa Borne appeared behind her, looking either absurd or incredible depending on your viewpoint and took issue with the idea Candice was going to become the next NXT Women’s Champion. Aliyah said she and Johnny could be failures together and Vanessa said she’d been deemed a ‘lower’. Candice said she was going to earn her title opportunity and she was going to start with Aliyah, so I guess that’s one of your pre-Takeover matches.
Oney Lorcan vs. Jaxson Ryker
On the face of it, this was a pretty strong squash match, but I’m not sure it’s the person winning who came out in credit. Ryker really looks the part as the silent, scary muscle and was fine here in ring, but there was no real sign of a second gear. All the spice this match had came from Oney, who did a great job selling and always manages to wake an NXT crowd up with the chops and slaps. Ryker won with the polish hammer and a sitout chokeslam, but you came away from this understanding why Oney is being used as much as he is on so many different shows recently, more than you did seeing potential in Ryker.
Hype video for Gargano versus Cole. This featured a little bit of Ciampa footage, which they’ve done a good, understated job of and closed out with some footage of Cole and Gargano training for the match, which elevated this to feeling like a much more big-time match than it otherwise did.
Riddle/Dream hype video. The weakest of the three on the show, but still solid.
Recap of Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic match, which at this point was five whole weeks ago and their confrontation at the Performance Center four weeks ago. They interviewed Lee and he alluded to the fact that a rematch was planned, but the Ciampa situation seemingly caused it to be bumped. Lee then said he spoke with Regal and officially announced they’d have a match in two weeks time. So, not on the pre-Takeover line-up. Instead, Street Profits will face Aichner and Barthel as the other match next week.
Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair
This was a little bit of a strange match. The action was really good, as you’d expect, but I didn’t feel like it completely clicked into being a great match and I’m not entirely sure why. There wasn’t really much of a story and at times it was maybe a bit too hectic. Things just kinda happened and although they were generally good things, it almost felt like a long sprint. Maybe the reason for it feeling a bit directionless was that the direction was for Shayna to show up mid-match and attack Bianca for the DQ. Jessamyn and Marina got involved too, before Io ran out to try and even the odds. Referees tried to separate everyone, before the women’s locker room were sent out to try and pull everyone apart. Bianca press slammed Lacey Lane onto the pile and Io moonsaulted onto everyone. She then posed with the Women’s Title, with Kairi looking on.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Not much to see this week. The best parts of the show were the video packages and I can only assume they’ll be played during Takeover anyway. All the matches were fine, but nothing to seek out.
NXT WEEK: Candice versus Aliyah and Street Profits versus Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel.