Reviews by Dave
By David E Houston II
Show air date: June 15, 2021
WWE NXT on USA was a decent effort in their post In Your House show. There was a lot of basic promo work. The show made some real news and build up a couple of new title challengers.
Had to Appreciate William Regal
I had to appreciate William Regal digging in and trying to find a way to put some emotion in a pretty typical promo segment where they set out to do two things: announce Samoa Joe as his new “enforcer” and establish NXT champion, Karrion Kross, firmly as a heel. I’m not even sure why he had that level of beef with Regal, who has given him everything he’s wanted since arriving. It’s just not a WWE show if the executive doesn’t punk a top star.
Breezango defeated Imperium
Breezango beat Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) in an okay match. I fell out laughing when Fandango actually did the dying sloth crawl for a hot tag. Imperium didn’t take it lying down and immediately beat Breezango down. Having to go back to this shows they need some fresh blood in that tag division.
O’Reilly vs Cole II Announced
Regal books Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole for a match at the July 6, NXT Great American Bash on USA. So it’s not just AEW booking big feuds backwards. I have hope they up the stakes in the ensuing weeks. Joe choked out Cole. That’s how you treat a top guy, folks.
KUSHIDA (c) defeated Trey Baxter
for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
After a nice introductory video/promo package, Trey Baxter answers the open challenge of Cruiserweight champion, KUSHIDA. He got beat but he looked good. Seeing as they love to debut people and not do jack with them, this will be the highlight of his run for the foreseeable future. O’Reilly stood ringside throughout the match and after, challenged KUSHIDA for next week. It’s a great look for a higher-level guy to want that title. Good segment.
Franky Monet is back. But she was in a segment with the Robert Stone Brand. Ew.
In a Pretty Good Heel Move
In a pretty good heel move, LA Knight accepted the Million Dollar Belt from Ted Dibiase and then beat his old azz. Cameron Grimes made the save because he’s a face now so he’s forgotten how Ted has treated him the last two months.
Raquel González and Dakota Kai defeated Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro
NXT Women’s champ Raquel González and Dakota Kai beat Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro. It was fine. Raq and Dak said they want the tag titles back. They’re already out of challengers for González?
Tag Champs Out of Opponents?
Tag champs Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae are out of opponents too so they beat up Io Shirai, who was saved by Zoey Stark. This probably lands better if they hadn’t jobbed Stark out the last few months. Hopefully, they reboot her run, starting now.
Joe got in his second staredown, this time with Pete Dunne backstage. No point to any of this if the big man isn’t wrestling.
Main Event: Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans
After snatching a bucket of popcorn from tag champs MSK, Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa beat Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) in the best thing on the show and the only match to really get the CWC crowd going (it is different having more real fans in and fewer trainees). Very good brawl with the grizzled old veterans knocking off the younger opponents in an old-school Texas Tornado match (all four are legally allowed in the ring at the same time).
It was an okay show to set up their immediate future.
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