NXT MAY 8TH 2019
Mia Yim vs. Bianca Belair
Good competitive match to start the show, coming off of Belair confronting Mia last week for mentioning her defeats to Baszler. They got a decent amount of time and came up with a clever finish, as Belair tried to use the ropes to block a sunset flip and got caught by the referee, but maneuvered her way back on top and hooked her hair around the rope for leverage instead, which the referee didn’t see.
Security camera footage from the Performance Center was shown, with the Viking Raiders being stopped from leaving the building by Jaxson Ryker and being jumped three on one by Forgotten Sons. Viking Raiders were referred to by their new names this week.
More Performance Center footage showed Baszler overseeing a sparring session between Marina and Jessamyn, with Io Shirai running into the ring and attacking Baszler from behind leading to a pull-apart.
Raul Mendoza vs. Riddick Moss
This was Riddick’s first TV match in about a year, since he and Tino Sabbatelli’s run as a team came to an end. They explained that he was coming back from an achilles injury, which might explain it. He had a new look here and a new gimmick, essentially an updated and less over the top Simon Dean style workout gimmick, with a lot of ‘Riddick Regimen’ branding. Moss distracted himself by going for his Riddick Regimen branded bottle of water mid-match, allowing Mendoza to make a comeback and win with a twisting springboard splash, which they sold as a big win for him.
Recap of KUSHIDA’s debut last week.
Matt Riddle vs. Adam Cole
This also got a good amount of time and ended up being a strong main event. Riddle outwrestled Cole early on, but this was mostly pretty even after that. The finish was a little strange though and I’m not sure what they were going for. Strong came out to help Cole but got kicked by Riddle. Strong then distracted the referee, sort of, while Cole caught Riddle with a superkick. Riddle kicked out though and turned the pin into the Bromission for the tapout win, after which Fish and O’Reilly came out and had to try and calm down Strong and Cole. I’m not sure what Strong was supposed to have done wrong here, since he really didn’t factor into the finish much at all. Whether something else was supposed to happen and didn’t, I don’t know, but they all had words for a while before leaving and that part was all a bit underwhelming. Match was fun though.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Three decent matches this week, Riddle and Cole the best of them.
NXT WEEK: A Viking Raiders appearance and KUSHIDA in action.