Reviews by Dave
By David E Houston II
Show air date: June 1, 2021
Taking a page out of someone else’s book, NXT on USA felt like a 1999 Nitro: there’s a whole lot going on and very little of it makes sense or is even that good. Some of it looked like it was fresh from the mind of Vince Russo on TNT. The commentary was its normal bad self with a lot of yelling and overtalking while still not calling the in-ring action.
Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Johnny Gargano
No Contest
I found it odd they started the show with the triple threat match to determine the next challenger for NXT Champion Karrion Kross with Pete Dunne facing Kyle O’Reilly facing Johnny Gargano. The match was fine. Any two of them would have had a better match than throwing in all three.
Never had any rhythm as much as stringing together moves and spots. I appreciate them not doing a typical WWE triple threat match (one wrestler lays on the floor for 4 minutes while the other two fight). Then Adam Cole comes out, attacks Dunne and O’Reilly on the floor, and then Gargano–for reasons beyond me–thought Cole standing on the floor with a chair was an inviting target to dive at. WRONG.
Odd Timing But Solid Scrap
General Manager William Regal forces Cole to leave and when we come back from commercial, he’s still there but everyone else is gone, just as Ember Moon decided right then to challenge Women’s champion, Raquel González. Odd timing but a solid scrap but uh…TF did Dakota Kai have on, son and where did the guys go? No contest, I guess but they never say.
Hit Row Had a Dust Up
Hit Row had a dust up with Killian Dain and Drake Maverick in the parking lot. Eh.
Jake Atlas defeated LA Knight
In a match that went way too long, Jake Atlas (is Legado del Fantasma taking applications, Jay?) upset LA Knight. Nothing special. Ted DiBiase came out. Cameron Grimes came out.
Bit Too Work-Shooty
Adam Cole talks some cold shit, bringing out Kross and they have a face-off. A bit too work-shooty. Who told wrestlers tearing down their opponents was hot mic work? They lied. So Kross decides he will no longer face the winner of the triple threat match at Takeover but will face all three and Cole. WWE just created the Stupid Tweener character.
KUSHIDA defeated Carmelo Hayes
for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
An interesting video package introduction for Carmelo Hayes (these names, chile). He says upfront he’s coming for the Cruiserweight title. He answered the open challenge by champion KUSHIDA and put up a solid effort. We’ll see what they do with him going forward. They can be crazy inconsistent with building new talent.
Moon Showed Good Fire
While the script was trash, Moon showed good fire in her backstage interview, where she sets up her match with Kai next week and announced her Takeover title match with González.
Main Event: MSK defeated Legado del Fantasma
for the NXT Tag Team Championship
I did like Santos Escobar coming out with Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde for their NXT tag title match against MSK. Shows it’s not a one-horse show and he’s got their back like they have his. Most heel factions are missing this. The tag title main event was good but any MSK match where Wes Lee gets the heat and Nash Carter gets the hot tag is booking them wrong. Lee has the best hot tag in the business and that’s been true for two years. Play to their strengths.
North American champ Bronson Reed magically appeared and took Escobar out, with MSK picking up the win immediately after (did not know Cena was booking NXT. Babyface kicks up from everything, heel goes down on one finish. That’s John Boy). MSK wins and they go to black with them and Reed in the ring.
It was an okay show where they were trying too hard and not hard enough at the same time.
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