‘WWE NXT’ Review (August 15th 2018)
Welcome to this week’s NXT review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a match that might be the best WWE match of the week. As Reese Witherspoon always says, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash is a gas, gas, gas”!
Match #1: Street Profits def. The Mighty
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
The Mighty were out to make The Street Profits pay after Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford’s partying caused the “Aussie Action Heroes” to lose to Heavy Machinery two weeks ago. As is their new M.O., Shane Thorne & Nick Miller bent (and outright broke) the rules whenever they could, allowing them to quench the Profits’ red-hot start (which included a special shout-out to Wakanda). Thorne & Miller smothered Dawkins and used quick tags to cut off the ring on The Curse of Greatness.
Dawkins eventually broke free and tagged in Ford, who lit up both Mighty Superstars with clotheslines. Thorne tried to stop Ford’s momentum by illegally grabbing a handful of his opponent’s tights while rolling him up for a pin, but Ford reversed the rollup and, taking a play out of The Mighty’s book, grabbed Thorne’s trunks outside the referee’s line of vision to score the three-count. The Street Profits gave The Mighty a taste of their own medicine, and Thorne & Miller didn’t seem to enjoy it.
My Take: This was a nice little match that had some good action and a nice, brisk pace. It’s a shame that all of the WWE tag teams are split between RAW, Smackdown and NXT, as they could do a lot more if they were united. The Street Profits are a good team, for example, but what heights can be reached if they only have five teams to wrestle? When the Street Profits get to the main roster, they will still have only five teams to work with at a different time, so the only difference will be an increase in pay, which is nice but won’t lead to much if they have very little to do.
Match #2: Kairi Sane def. Aliyah
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
After watching Kairi Sane dismantle Aliyah in a powerful show of force, NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler might be rethinking her opinion that The Pirate Princess, who is set to challenge The Queen of Spades this Saturday at TakeOver: Brooklyn 4, lacks killer instinct. Joining the announce team for the match, Baszler enjoyed an up-close viewing of Sane’s emphatic beatdown of Aliyah. She watched as the 2017 Mae Young Classic winner blasted The Cat’s Meow with her full arsenal of moves, culminating with the InSane Elbow. Yet, instead of going for the sure-fire pin, Sane instead stared daggers at Baszler in between hitting two more InSane Elbow Drops on the helpless Aliyah. The Pirate Princess then locked in the Anchor leglock, bending over backwards so that she could point at The Queen of Spades while making Aliyah frantically tap out. The message was loud and clear: If Baszler still insists Sane doesn’t know how to “go for the jugular” after this emphatic performance, The Submission Magician will be in for a big surprise this Saturday in Brooklyn.
My Take: The idea here was to make Kairi Sane look tough and it worked. Sane is looking more formidable by the second and may prove to be a worthy opponent for Shayna come Saturday.
Match #3: Main Event – Tyler Bate def. Roderick Strong
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
Moustache Mountain and NXT Tag Team Champions Undisputed ERA will have to wait until Saturday to duke it out over the black-and-yellow brand’s tandem titles, but that didn’t stop Tyler Bate and Roderick Strong from tearing into each other with fervor in a topsy-turvy singles bout on the final stop to TakeOver: Brooklyn 4. As can now be safely assumed when any combination of these four Superstars are in action, the match was a high-voltage, hard-hitting affair that left the NXT Universe breathless. Bate and Strong’s respective teammates, Trent Seven and Kyle O’Reilly, were seconding their partners at ringside, and O’Reilly made sure Bate knew it, distracting “Textbook” Tyler early in the contest to give Strong the chance to pull ahead.
Bate remained resilient and stayed one step ahead of the Undisputed ERA member as the battle reached a fever pitch, out-reversing the NXT Tag Team Champion and clobbering him with a clothesline before hitting him with a spectacular dive over the top rope in the waning moments. O’Reilly tried to stall Bate, causing Seven to go after O’Reilly and, subsequently, Strong to nail The Don with a dropkick through the ropes. Strong then decimated Bate with an enzuigiri, but Bate fought back with a rolling capo kick before ending Strong’s night with a Tyler Driver ’97. Undisputed ERA may enter Brooklyn’s Barclays Center with the NXT Tag Team Titles this Saturday, but following Bate’s victory against Strong, there’s no doubt that Moustache Mountain will have momentum on their side.
My Take: This was an excellent main event that could be the WWE match of the week… could be. Strong and Bates beat the hell out of each other. The mat work was great and kept this whole thing grounded in reality. I would love to see these two together again very soon… like this weekend at NXT: Takeover’s tag team title match.
News Of The Night:
- EC3 and Velveteen Dream had a brawl tonight that was pretty good. I don’t expect to much from their match, but it should be a lively affair, if nothing else.
Final Verdict: This was a good card with a great main event. I hope NXT is able to start building some momentum soon, because you can’t be a global sensation with only one great match a card.
