NXT JULY 31ST 2019
Tyler Breeze vs. Jaxson Ryker
Story here was Ryker largely dominating, but Breeze taking the fight to him when he could. Breeze then caught Ryker out of nowhere with a rollup and stole the win, which if it wasn’t clear already should signal that the Forgotten Sons are being dialed back, since it was Ryker’s first loss. Forgotten Sons attacked Breeze post match, until Fandango appeared to make the save and clear the ring of all three of Forgotten Sons single-handedly, before Blake came back in to take a double superkick.
Recap of Candice attacking Shirai last week. Candice was then shown waiting outside the arena for Io.
NXT BREAKOUT TOURNAMENT SEMI FINAL
Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes
It’s interesting in watching this tournament that eight name indie stars were thrown out cold and the one person who really seemed to win over the crowd instantly was the least recognisable, in Angel Garza. I’m not sure what that says, but it was pretty striking here at how little crowd reaction there was for this match. The action was fine, of course it was, but after Grimes got the win with his double stomp, you didn’t really come away thinking anything different about either guy than you would have coming in. I imagine the Grimes/Myles match at Takeover gets a much stronger reaction, because much of that audience will know them from the indies and probably won’t have even watched the rest of the tournament, but pre-final, Angel Garza and Dexter Lumis were the big winners out of all this and I’m not sure that’s what anyone would have expected.
Riddle was interviewed as he was finishing training, inviting Killian Dain to fight him face to face.
Baszler came out, in a bad mood, to (quite rightly) call out Mia for attacking her friends. She reminded Mia that they were professional fighters and this wasn’t the street, which is why she’d already lost before even boarding the plane to Toronto. She threatened to put Mia to sleep at Takeover, before Mia interrupted. She asked if Shayna was scared and said she had nothing to lose, before telling Shayna she was going to bring a fight that she couldn’t train for. Baszler called her street trash, which you’d imagine would spark a fight, but instead Baszler just held up the belt and left. I’m not entirely sure about this direction they’re going with Mia.
Regal approached Candice outside and said he’d told Io not to show up tonight. Candice asked for a match at Takeover instead and Regal agreed.
Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong
This got plenty of time and was exactly the competitive, physical match you’d expect it to be with these two. This was back and forth the whole way, with the commentators selling that Dream would be enjoying seeing his two opponents at Takeover weakening each other. The finish saw Dunne get out of the Strong Hold by going after Strong’s fingers and then tapping him out by bending back the snapped fingers. Dream would sneak out post match and teased hitting Dunne with the belt, but blew it off when Dunne spotted him. Strong said it was his title before leaving and Dream then posed with the belt, only for Dunne to snap Dream’s fingers and lay him out with the Bitter End to close the show.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Dunne and Strong is well worth watching and the Formerly Fashion Police reuniting in the opener was a nice moment.
NXT WEEK: Matt Riddle against Killian Dain.