NXT AUGUST 21ST 2019
Undisputed Era came out to open the show. Cole said he did everything he said he would by beating Gargano at Takeover and he was the greatest NXT Champion that ever lived. He claimed if there was an NXT Mount Rushmore, it would have his face on it four times, before Strong pointed out that the Undisputed Era’s prophecy didn’t come true because he, Fish and O’Reilly got screwed. Strong told Dream that his North American Title reign was on borrowed time and Fish and O’Reilly brought up the legal man controversy from Takeover, with footage and called on Regal to make it right. Cole then put the other three guys over and said they were two steps away from fulfilling the prophecy and making NXT truly undisputed.
As Undisputed Era were leaving, Jordan Myles appeared on the stage, with his Breakout Tournament contract. Cole told Myles if he made the mistake of challenging him he’d break the smile off his face and suggested he challenge Baszler, or go to NXT UK or 205 Live where the champions weren’t the calibre of him. Cole promised to make Myles’s career an undisputed failure if he challenged him. Myles teased handing Cole the contract anyway, dropping it as Cole went to take it and leaving the contract with him.
Footage from the Performance Center earlier in the week showed Bronson Reed being interviewed and being interrupted by Shane Thorne. Thorne said they were mates but Reed already had an opportunity and blew it, so Reed challenged him to a match and Thorne accepted.
Mansoor vs. Damian Priest
This was a good showing for Priest, helped by Mansoor making everything he did look that bit better. Mansoor got plenty of change to shine himself, with a close near fall off an inside cradle and a somersault dive, but Priest would ultimately win with the Reckoning.
The announcement of NXT’s move to USA was covered briefly.
Mia Yim vs. Vanessa Borne
Bounce back win for Mia after Takeover. Aliyah’s interference allowed Vanessa to take control early on, with Vanessa and Aliyah combining to slap a sticker calling her a ‘Lower’ on Mia during the match. Mia would fight back though and won with the Protect Ya Neck.
Baszler came out post match and put Mia over, before suggesting that they didn’t need to be enemies. Marina and Jessamyn appeared from the crowd and the three surrounded Mia as Shayna offered Mia the chance to be under the dragon’s wing. Mia knocked a still injured Jessamyn off the apron though, leading to Shayna and Marina attacking her until referees came out to stop them.
We got a hype video for Keith Lee versus Dominik Dijakovic next week in the stop-start feud of the year, with sitdown comments from both, footage of the two competing before getting to NXT and a recap of their double count-out match 6 months ago which for one reason or another never got followed up on. This video went some way towards making up for that though and making this feel like a big match.
Bronson Reed vs. Shane Thorne
Bronson is going by ‘Oz-zilla’ now and got a better reaction than he, or most, got during the Breakout Tournament. This was also a better match than most in the Breakout Tournament, with both guys looking good. Thorne avoided a third splash in the corner by rolling out and after being thrown back into the ring, caught Reed going to the top rope, before beating him with a running penalty kick to the chest.
Dream was wheeled out onto the stage on his couch for a promo. Dream bragged about his Takeover win and said he always ended up on top. He told Strong that the spotlight was on him now and if he wanted a one on one match, he’d have to give Dream an experience he’d never seen before, or it’d be dream over.
Killian Dain vs. Matt Riddle
Dain has a new entrance and look to go with his new character. Riddle came through the crowd to attack Dain from behind before the match, but we did actually get a match this time. Riddle started out fast, before Dain gained control and slowed the match down, focusing on the injured ribs of Riddle. Things picked back up with Riddle’s comeback, with the rest of the match being mostly Riddle’s, without him being able to get the win. Dain got the knees up to block Riddle’s corkscrew senton and posted Riddle’s shoulder, but Dain missed a charge into the stairs. They then tried a back body drop onto the bottom set of stairs, but somehow it ended up with Riddle going face first into the stairs instead, which was scary and thankfully ended without worse than a busted lip for Riddle. Dain then gave Riddle a senton on the stairs, a Vader bomb off the apron and three Vader bombs in the ring to get the victory. I’ve not been particularly into the feud up until this point, but this was a strong first actual match between the two and I’m now more interested in more. Riddle went after Dain post match as the show went off the air, so it looks like we’ll be getting more too.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Dain versus Riddle was the stand-out of the matches on the show, but everything else was solid this week as well. The video package for Lee and Dijakovic was very well done also and heated up a cold feud very nicely ahead of next week.
NXT WEEK: Keith Lee versus Dominik Dijakovic and Street Profits defending the NXT Tag Titles against Fish and O’Reilly