Reviews by Dave
Show air date: October 14, 2020
Nothing really special or “must-see” this week on WWE NXT on USA. They were building to their Halloween Havoc show in 2 weeks but did so rather meekly, which is what happens when you come up with shows on the fly with no long term plans.
The Undisputed Era defeated Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan
NXT starts with a tag match to determine the top contenders to the NXT tag championship with the Undisputed Era (Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish) beating Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan in what ended up being the best match of the program. Not great by any means but very good.
Good Video Package for Ember Moon
Good promo and video package for Ember Moon. Much better than her in-ring promo last week.
Jake Atlas defeated Ashante Thee Adonis
While the match was nothing, I liked that Ashante Thee Adonis got a televised entrance for his match with Jake Atlas. Adonis lost but was involved directly in the angle with Atlas, Swerve Scott, and their rivals, Legado del Phantasma (Joaquin Wilde’s heel facials are funny to me). Legado thinking Santos Escobar came to fight in his good Christmas jacket shows them boys don’t pay attention.
Johnny Gargano defeated Austin Theory
Johnny Gargano beat Austin Theory in a match that really went far too long, even with the story clearly being how the youngster gave the first NXT Triple Crown champion a tough fight. Gargano gets a North American title match at the Havoc.
Backstage Confrontation
Very good backstage confrontation between Raquel Gonzalez and her now Halloween Havoc opponent, Rhea Ripley. Ripley better have her working boots on for that one.
Candice LeRae defeated Shotzi Blackheart
In a match that shows NXT should have been in the Draft to refresh their women’s’ division, the last two women to lose to NXT champion Io Shirai, faced each other to figure who loses to her again as Candice LeRae beat Shotzi Blackheart in a match that just didn’t come together for me. LeRae wins when Indi Hartwell slides her some brass knucks. Old school!!!
Toni Storm defeated Aliyah
Toni Storm made her return and squashed Aliyah, and I still think Aliyah got in too much bad offense. Someone put her in front of a monitor and force her to watch Rick Rude sell a reverse atomic drop. How did she mess that up so badly?
Drake Maverick and Killian Dane defeated Imperium
The tag match with Imperium–Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner–vs Drake Maverick and Killian Dane was a solid TV match but a good exhibition of the comedy stylings of the Mav/Dane pairing. Why Aichner slammed Maverick so hard on that European Bomb is beyond me and we would have to talk about that backstage.
Main Event: Damian Priest (c) defeated Dexter Lumis for the NXT North American Championship
In a nice finale but not a compelling main event, North American Champion Damian Priest beat Dexter Lumis after interference by Cameron Grimes. As is custom, WWE refs are made to be incompetent as this one couldn’t hear one grown man jump on another one 12 inches away.
Unhappy with the finish to the earlier women’s match and I guess just not liking the Garganos, General Manager William Regal (who should have appreciated the knucks finish) informs the Garganos they will both get their title matches at Halloween Havoc but the stips will be decided with the return of a WCW classic: Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal, which is hosted by Shotzi Blackheart. Blackheart didn’t shine here any better than she did earlier.
It was alright. Just there.
