Reviews by Dave
By David E Houston II
Show air date: August 10, 2021
NXT Episode 632 was a lot of stuff- some good, much not- but they bookended the below-average show with two very good matches. They must have been trying to bring back the TV squash match, having four.
I want to say commentary was better just having two instead of three but maaan, Wade Barrett needed someone to cut off his mic. He just rambled on and on like he needed to fill his air time and the absent Beth Phoenix’s time.
Dakota Kai defeated Sarray
I give Dakota Kai a hard time about her disastrous wardrobe choices, but she’s made me a real fan the last year plus. This week’s match with Sarray continued her run of very good matches as she filled in for Sarray’s original opponent, Ember Moon. Would I have booked a match with Sarray? No. Neither could afford to lose and NXT fans are still learning about Sarray. Women’s champion Raquel González came out, ran Kai off, and cut a decent promo. She be rolling them Rs now, doesn’t she?
Gargano and LeRae Would Fit in Just Fine on Raw or SmackDown
I had zero interest in anything Lumis-Indi related but dammit, the way they’ve embraced the foolishness, Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae would fit in just fine on Raw or SmackDown.
Nice Try with the Hit Row Segment
Nice try with the Hit Row segment but a couple of things:
- A flaming barrel in a trailer looks dangerous. Don’t let nobody pass out from carbon monoxide poisoning.
- The segement would hits better if they used a Fantasma mask and not one they got from the gimmick table up front.
A Man of Few Words
To hype his NXT: UK title match with WALTER, Ilja Dragunov comes out and starts to cut an interesting promo but is (of course) cut off by Pete Dunne. Decent exchange with them booking themselves into the main event (how was that slot just open this late?). Dragunov said he was a man of few words, he should have stuck to that. Felt terrible watching one of the all-time great talkers of his generation have to remember what they told him to say.
And The Million Dollar Man looking too much like he greets people on Wednesday at the Kingdom Hall.
Gigi Dolin defeated Amari Miller
Gigi Dolin (with a very hard walking Jacy Jayne) got a nice win over Amari Miller. Don’t think I’ve ever seen an abdominal stretch bomb before. Very impressive. They’re reloading the Women’s division with these new additions. Now stop beating them.
Long Segment (Hopefully) the Final Face-off
A long segment with (hopefully) the final face-off between heated rivals Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly. O’Reilly picking just a standard match looked soft AF. Ultimately, they land on the gimmick match Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert created in Tri-State Wrestling in 1990: the WWE coined “3 Stages of Hell” where each fall of the 2 out of 3 fall match has a different stipulation.
O’Reilly picked a standard match for Fall 1 (which looked lame and soft), Cole picked a street fight and William Regal said the third fall (if necessary) will be in a steel cage. They had a little scuffle because those security dudes could not tell O’Reilly was going to hit Cole, even after he took off his jacket (must be cold in the building).
Two Dimly Lit Promos
Good backstage, dimly lit promo from Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa, directed at Ridge Holland. Solid backstage, dimly lit promo from tag champs, MSK, directed at Imperium, who were on before them.
Odyssey Jones defeated Trey Baxter
Odyssey Jones punched his ticket to the NXT Breakout Tournament final, steamrolling Trey Baxter.
Boa defeated Drake Maverick
Boa, with Mei Ying (begging for a C&D from Su Yung), just dominated Drake Maverick. Drake needs to make sure “Rockstar Spud” is still available.
Mei blows steam. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Main Event: Pete Dunne defeated Ilja Dragunov
Simply an excellent wrestling match with Dunne and Dragunov. They were working tight, logically and realistically and it made for a great match that didn’t insult your intelligence and felt like a fight. As the match was winding down, WALTER made a cameo on the stage and Dragunov turned into a complete idiot and started looking at him and forgetting about Dunne, leading to Dunne beating him clean.
That’s right: the guy they brought in to build up a huge pay-per-view title match got beat clean on TV. Then there’s a completely useless scuffle at the end where somehow Dragunov gets the best of “The General”. Dumb, dumb, dumb finish to a strong main event.
Thanks for reading! Tell us what you thought about the August 10, 2021 episode of WWE NXT in the comment section below or on our social media platforms. Use the hashtags #DDTDivas and #ReviewsByDave
