Reviews by Dave
By David E Houston II
Show air date: August 31, 2021
Sarray defeated Mandy Rose
By countout
Want to see three women trying to sexy walk and failing? Me neither but that’s how they started Episode 63 of NXT with Mandy Rose making her in-ring return to the brand, accompanied by Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin, for her match with Sarray. This wasn’t that good but after the fiasco of last Monday night, it was a step up. Trash finish with Rose being counted out after taking a Sunrise Dropkick, with Dolin and Jayne ushering her to the back. Yawn.
Kyle O’Reilly defeated Duke Hudson
If there was a thing called “NXT DARK”, Kyle O’Reilly beating Duke Hudson would be on it. It was fine. Some good work here but way too long. O’Reilly shouldn’t eat up the much larger Hudson, but the guy is a clear future NXT champion. He shouldn’t take all night with Hudson either.
Pedestrian In-Ring Promo
Pedestrian in-ring promo from new NXT: UK champion Ilja Dragunov. I thought he was just killing time before he was interrupted but nope.
Bast-awful!
This Arash guy doing the sit-down interviews is Bast-awful. He interviewed Kay Lee Ray this week, and I hope she got a bonus for that.
Didn’t Really Make Sense But WWE
Breakout Tournament winner, Carmelo Hayes (needs a nickname) was doing okay in his backstage interview when he was interrupted by Elektra Lopez and Legado del Fantasma. Didn’t really make sense but…WWE.
Imperium defeated Drake Maverick and Grayson Waller
Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner of Imperium beat Drake Maverick and a supremely confident Grayson Waller. Basic WWE TV tag match.
All things Indi and Dexter bore me to the point of crying blood, so I got nothing for any of that.
LA Knight defeated Johnny Gargano
LA Knight vs Johnny Gargano was going pretty good and starting to really get somewhere and then it went off the rails. Gargano is a babyface for one week and became stupid again. Good match spoiled with Dexter shenanigans.
MSK wanting to defend the tag titles against Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan isn’t a bad idea or look for them. The execution? Nah bruh.
Raquel González defeated Jessi Kamea
NXT Women’s champion Raquel González beat Jessi Kamea (accompanied by Robert Stone and Franky Monet). One-sided as it needed to be.
Ember Moon Can Do Better Promos
I know Ember Moon can do better promos than that, as she challenged Kay Lee Ray. How did no one tell her to look at the camera if she’s directing her words to Ray? That’s on them.
Roderick Strong defeated Ikemen Kiro
The Diamond Mine’s Roderick Strong beat Ikemen Jiro and his jacket. It was fine. Basic WWE TV match. That should be the last anyone takes that particular hip toss/steps bump.
Main Event: Tommaso Ciampa defeated Ridge Holland
They ended a mild show with a good main event that saw Tommaso Ciampa beat Ridge Holland (with Pete Dunne, Lorcan, and Burch) in the kind of hard-hitting match you would expect from these two. It’s only poppin’ to complain about AEW officiating but man, they were on the floor at least 2-3 combined minutes throughout this match and no countout. Dunne’s Dudes jump on Ciampa after the match, prompting a save by MSK. Right here is where the title match should have been made.
Not even close to their best show but thanks to Raw, not the worst WWE show of last week.
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