What an exciting time to not just be a wrestling fan, but to be an NXT fan! 

The show kicked off with The OC beating down the Undisputed Era. The OC went to the ring to say they were “taking over” NXT when Daddy Ciampa came out to challenge them along with Matt Riddle and Keith Lee.

Pete Dunne def. Damian Priest

This week’s first match reminded us why NXT is the best weekly wrestling show on television currently. What an amazing match between these two! Was is 50/50 booking? Yeah. Do I hate 50/50 booking? Absolutely! But this is how you do 50/50 booking. This isn’t around and around we go… this storyline built on top of another storyline to create a new storyline. Multi-layered storylines – No one is doing it better than NXT right now and no one has done it better than NXT for the past 3+ years.

This match was hard-hitting with strikes, chops, enziguris, missile dropkicks and moonsaults. There was a pretty awesome sequence where Priest hit an apron chokeslam on Dunne, Dunne rolled into the ring, Priest went to the top, Dunne caught Priest with a punch and hit him with a Sitout Powerbomb for the two count. They got me on that one.

Priest went for The Reckoning, but Dunne caught Priest’s fingers. Priest backed up into the referee and went for the low blow, but Dunne avoided that and countered with his own low blow to Damian allowing him to grab Priest’s fingers and put him in the arm bar for the submission win.

Brilliant match!

Grade: 3 1/2 Stars

There was a post-match beat down by Killian Dain where he attacked Dunne, but when Priest got involved, he laid him out too as he stood tall at the end. This was good stuff.

Taynara Conti def. Santana Garrett

Well, not everything on this show can be good. Sometimes we have to watch Taynara wrestle. Remember when they had such high hopes for her that they aligned her with the Undisputed Era?! This was Garrett’s debut on NXT television.

This was awkward at times, but the two benefitted from a red hot crowd following the match before. Garrett missed a handspring moonsault. Taynara landed a kick to the face of Santana and scored the pinfall for the win. As far as Taynara matches go, this was one of her better ones.

Grade: 2 Stars

Shayna Baszler (c) def. Dakota Kai (Non-Title Match)

Feels like forever ago when Baszler took out Kai with the stomp on the point of the elbow thing she does. There wasn’t much follow-up and Kai was made to look like she had the bravery of a ring announcer, but that was then and this is now.

Baszler walks out with Duke and Shafir while Kai decides to go it alone. Kai took control early on before Baszler caught a PK attempt by Kai on the outside and launched her into the ring post. Baszler took control from there as she targeted Dakota Kai’s injured leg. Kai’s babyface comeback was pretty freakin’ innovative. The two threw blows in the middle of the ring. Kai tried to catch Baszler with the GTK (terrible name!), Shayna got out of it and murdered Dakota with a step-up knee strike for a 2 count. Kai kicked out and Baszler made an attempt at the Kirafuda Clutch, but Kai escaped only to be caught in the Clutch following a missed kick. Shayna Baszler wins by submission.

Grade: 3 1/2 Stars

There was a post-match beatdown by Duke and Shafir on Dakota Kai. Team Ripley comes out for the save only to see Io Shirai and Bianca Belair join in the fight. And then Mia Yim came down the ramp swinging a kendo stick at everyone on Team Baszler. The segment ended with Yim standing tall with Team Ripley. 

Angel Garza def. Tony Nese – #1 Contenders Match for the NXT Cruiserweight Title

So… I thought cruiserweights were 205 lbs and under. Angel Garza was billed at 207 lbs. just a few weeks ago when he got into it with Lio Rush when he was on commentary. Wildcard Rule?

Anyways, this match was fun. I usually don’t care for the pants ripping off shtick, but this was a creative use of it. Garza started unzipping his pants for the tear away spot when Neese interrupted him. Garza went to the top rope. Neese went to powerbomb Garza when the pants ripped off of Garza and Neese powerbombed the pants. It was great.

Garza hit a backbreaker for a 2 count. Neese hit a pump handle slam for 2. Garza hit Neese with a lungblower. Neese hit a 450 with Garza putting his foot on the rope during the cover. Garza hit Neese with a back kick following a missed counter to his moonsault from the second rope and followed that with the wing clipper for the win.

Grade: 3 1/2 Stars 

No post match beatdown, but Garza slaps Lio after refusing his handshake. 

Dominik Dijakovic def. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott

I’m not the biggest Dijakovic fan, but I love what I’ve seen from Swerve Scott so far. Not sure if he is taking Jordan Myles’ spot or not, but he’s making the best of his opportunity.

Dijak went for the Feast Your Eyes with Scott countering with a rollup for a count of 2. Dominik hit a cyclone kick and a chokebomb for a 2 count. Dijakovic went for another chokebomb, but Scott countered with a poison RANA. Swerve hit a double stomp on Dominik while he was on the apron, a rolling lariat and a cover for a count of 2. Scott went for his finisher, but got caught by Dijakovic. Dijak hoisted Scott onto his shoulders, hit the Feast Your Eyes, and scored the pin for the win.

Grade: 3 Stars

Announced for next week is Mia Yim vs. Io Shirai in a ladder match. Winner gives their team an advantage in War Games. Inject this into my veins!

Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, and Tommaso Ciampa vs. The OC

I never thought we’d see AJ Styles on NXT television, but here we are. The two teams kicked the match off with an all-out brawl. When things finally settled down, it was Tommaso and AJ kicking the proper match off. This was quality stuff. The two traded strikes. Styles went for a Phenomenal Forearm from the ring to Ciampa on the floor, but ended up hitting Riddle instead. Ciampa hit the draping DDT onto Styles for a 2 count. Gallows and Keith Lee traded shoulder tackles with Lee getting the better of him. Anderson tags in and is met with a Lee crossbody. Ciampa tags back in and gets worked over forever until he hit Anderson with a knee strike as Anderson was coming down off the top rope.

Riddle came in off the hot tag and ran through The  OC in brilliant Matt Riddle fashion. And you get an Xploder! And you get an Xploder! And here’s a Broton for you! And here’s a Broton for you! He hit the Bro to Sleep on AJ followed by a German Suplex pin attempt with Gallows breaking up the pin at 2. Lee got hit with a kick by Gallows. Anderson & Gallows hoist up Lee for the Magic Killer only to be broken up by Ciampa. Lee grabbed Gallows for a body slam and held him as Gallows tried to fight out of it, but landed the slam anyway. AJ hit a Tornado DDT on Keith Lee. Styles hit a brainbuster on Riddle. Lee comes back in and bumps AJ into the referee knocking the ref out.

That’s when things really broke down when Ciampa went to give Styles a Fairy Tale Ending Finn Balor came out. He hit a Bloody Sunday on Riddle on the floor. Styles smiled and gave Balor a Too Sweet. Balor gave the guns to Styles. Styles went to give Ciampa the Styles Clash, but Adam Cole ran in, superkicked AJ, and hit Ciampa with the Last Shot. The match ends in a no-contest with Balor and Adam Cole staring each other down.

Even without a finish… this. was. awesome.

Grade: 3 3/4 Stars

Edwin Iguina

Edwin is the founder of BRO.geek. He has a passion for gadgets, comic books, comic book TV shows, movies, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

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