‘WWE NXT’ Review (March 20th 2019)
Welcome to this week’s NXT review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and NXT is going to find the next contender to Tomasso Ciampa’s NXT World Title…or is it? Isn’t that…spoooooooooky?
Match #1: (Main Event) Adam Cole def. Ricochet, Velveteen Dream, Matt Riddle and Aleister Black in a No. 1 Contender’s Fatal 5-Way Match
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
With the NXT Title vacated for the first time in NXT history, the grueling Fatal 5-Way Match to determine Johnny Gargano’s opponent at TakeOver: New York certainly lived up to its high-stakes billing. As for the Superstar who stood tall among the black-and-gold brand’s finest to earn the NXT Championship Match in the Big Apple, it was none other than Adam Cole … “Bay Bay!” With his gold-laden plans for Undisputed ERA initially off on the wrong foot earlier in the year, The Panama City Playboy managed to pull things together with a big victory and swap that minor setback for a major comeback. However, Cole’s path to securing a championship ticket to TakeOver was far from undisputed.
With the first pinfall or submission determining who gets an opportunity at the vacant NXT Title, it didn’t take long for things to go from zero to 100 on the action odometer. As classic rivalries became renewed, such as TakeOver: Brooklyn IV opponents Ricochet and Cole coming to blows in a matter of minutes, new intense chapters seemingly took shape, as displayed between Velveteen Dream and Matt Riddle. The Original Bro wasted no time latching onto his opponents with the Bromission hold – finding prey in Aleister Black and Cole – but not far behind was the ever-opportunistic Dream, who short-circuited every submission attempt. Riddle also found himself going strike-for-strike against the rip-roaring offense of The Dutch Destroyer, who served him a hard dose of the Black Mass.
Amid the mayhem, the gravity-defying Ricochet attempted to take flight from the top rope, only for all the remaining Superstars to lock onto him and each other like K’NEX pieces and crash into the mat with a unified superplex. Despite the air traffic during his previous attempt, The One and Only found more fuel in his gas tank for a cartwheel-leading moonsault from the ring to the outside on Cole, and later flung Dream out of the ring with a hurricanrana from the top rope, before going airborne once more with a Shooting Star Press on Riddle in the middle of the ring. However, before Ricochet could capture the three-count, Cole clocked him with the Last Shot and pinned him, sending a shock to the system.
My Take: 3.5 out of 5 – This was a spot-fest, but a good one, so there is that to consider. The action went from one big move to the next and made each one feel important. There was a lot of suspense here and you could cut the tension with a knife. Having so many people that Triple H would be willing to book in a title match wrestling each other at once made the outcome all the more difficult to anticipate, which is great. Ricochet was a real stand-out here, as his aerial offense was able to fill in a lot of the blanks that an odd number of people in a match might present. Adam Cole won this thing and I’d say that he is the best choice. Overall, as the one match on the show, this did very well.
News Of The Night:
- Tomasso Ciampa had to relinquish his title due to injury, so Triple H has set a 2 out of 3 Falls Match between Johnny Gargano and the winner of the main event.
- The Forgotten Sons attacked Aleister Black and Ricochet after the main event.
Final Verdict: 2.5/5
As a one match show, this wasn’t bad. What I don’t get is why you wouldn’t just run a gauntlet match for the hour instead of a more dangerous 5-way match? I get that NXT is filmed in one big taping, but if you balance the booking better, than you can make cool decisions like having an emergency gauntlet match.
