NXT MAY 15TH 2019
They began the show announcing that Percy had moved on from NXT commentary, with Beth Phoenix replacing him.
Viking Raiders opened the show, cutting a promo. They said they were far from done raiding Raw, but since they still had the NXT Tag Titles, they wanted Regal to come out. Regal did so and Viking Raiders tried to relinquish the titles since nobody could beat them, but they were interrupted by Street Profits. They said that even though they didn’t win their match with Viking Raiders last time, everyone realised that Street Profits could beat them. Viking Raiders then took their belts back from Regal and told him to make the match, which Regal did, for later in the show.
Recap of Riddle’s win over Cole last week and the Cole and Roderick arguement post match. They then showed footage from after the show, with Cole having to be kept away from Strong by Fish and O’Reilly and berating Strong to the point that Strong threw his Undisputed Era shirt away. Cathy interviewed Cole, Fish and O’Reilly about what happened and Strong not being with them. As Cole was talking about not knowing where Roderick was, a commotion was happening off screen. Strong then appeared and patched things up with Cole, before telling him that the Matt Riddle problem was taken care of, presenting Cole with one of Riddle’s flip-flops.
Keith Lee vs. Cezar Bononi
Mauro referenced a knee injury for Dijakovic putting him out of action during Lee’s entrance. Crowd were really into Lee here. This wasn’t a squash, but it was a showcase for Lee, winning with an impressive looking Spirit Bomb.
Recap of Io going after Baszler at the Performance Center last week. Cathy announced a match between Baszler and Shirai signed by Regal for Takeover. Forgotten Sons tried to enter Regal locker room and told Cathy they weren’t happy that Street Profits were getting their title shot, after they attacked Viking Raiders last week and said if Regal didn’t have a good reason, he’d find out first hand why people shouldn’t forget them.
KUSHIDA vs. Kona Reeves
This was a decent enough match, but the real story was Drew Gulak coming out to watch from the stage. KUSHIDA got the win with the Hoverboard Lock after a big flip dive to the floor and pointed up at Gulak post match.
Backstage, Bianca brought Cathy with her to Regal’s office, but found Mia coming out of the room. Bianca accused Mia of trying to steal her match with Shayna, but Mia said she’d asked Regal for a rematch with her.
Riddle was shown being taped up, with Gargano checking on him. Gargano was questioned about it and he said Undisputed Era wouldn’t like Riddle when he’s angry, before being asked about dealing with Undisputed Era himself. Gargano said he knew he had a target on his back next and he was cool with that, because at Takeover it’d be him against Cole one more time.
Vanessa Borne vs. Jessie
Aliyah accompanied Vanessa and got involved briefly with a slap, but this was mostly a clean win for Vanessa, with Curits Axel’s swinging neckbreaker version.
NXT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Viking Raiders (c) vs. Street Profits
They teased an early win for Street Profits, with Viking Raiders starting strong, before Ford almost caught Hanson with small package, then hit the frog splash soon afterwards for another near fall. Forgotten Sons would then come out and went after Viking Raiders causing the match to be quickly thrown out, which the crowd weren’t happy with. It turned into a big brawl, with Lorcan and Burch running out to join in as they went after Forgotten Sons. Ivar ended up taking out Forgotten Sons with a cannonball, before Street Profits hit Erik with the doomsday blockbuster, counted their own quick pin and celebrated. As they left, Viking Raiders attacked Lorcan and Burch, press slamming Lorcan out of the ring onto a pile and giving Blake the pop-up powerslam before posing with the belts. The finish wasn’t what the crowd wanted to see from the match, obviously, but they managed to do enough post match to not get a hostile reaction.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: A bit of a down week. Nothing wrong with the show as a whole, but nothing essential to go out of your way for, particularly in ring, with the highlight being the few minutes the main event got before the angle began.