DRAKE MAVERICK VS. JAKE ATLAS VS. KUSHIDA – INTERIM CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT GROUP A FINAL
These three should put on an interesting triple threat and the WCW mark in me always enjoys when Cruiserweight’s open the show.
So much fast paced action switching between all three getting their stuff in to start the match.
Not sure who is being more heelish in the match so far, Kushida or Jake Atlas.
While it looked cool, the briding double pin by Kushida should have ended it because Atlas was still pinned after the ref stopped counting when Maverick kicked out.
Did Kushida land on the back of Atlas when he did the moonsault off the turnbuckle to the outside? Looked like we almost had another Jesse Sorenson moment.
Smart from Kushida to work on the still injured arm of Maverick from their match last week.
All three have looked strong in the match so far.
How long before the plexiglass is used as a weapon?
Drake has sold his arm/elbow the whole match so well.
Maverick gets the pinfall on Atlas while Kushida had the armbar on Atlas. Maverick advances to the final against Fantasma.
Fantasma comes out and shakes hand with Maverick in front of the belt.
Backstage we see Angle in a ref shirt going over the rules with Timothy Thatcher.
Wow. They show another angle where Atlas tapped out before the three count without the ref or our camera angle from seeing it. Smart and interesting booking.
Here comes the Gargano’s with the crowd booing him but Johnny letting them know they have a job because of him even if they are all good hands.
Johnny is calling himself the face of NXT.
He is letting us know tonight it will be the first Johnny Gargano Invitational.
JOHNNY GARGANO W/ CANDICE VS. ADRIAN ALANIS
Evolve getting a mention with Alanis’ entrance including him being a member of the Skulk.
Gargano offers the handshake and sucker punches him and tells Candice to start the car.
Adrian goes after Gargano and it pisses him off leading to a superkick then a Submission win the Gargano Escape.
Post Match Johnny actually puts his shirt back on while Kieth Lee and Mia Yim come on the screen doing an impersonation of the Gargano Dinner promos.
Tegan comes in to deliver a pizza wearing a Latino Heat t-shirt!
Looks like we are building to a mix tag at In Your House.
They are interviewing Drake who says he is willing to fight Kushida to make this right but Kushida comes in and says Drake can have the spot just go win the title.
Drake promises Kushida first shot when he wins the championship then finally shows excitement for making it to the finals.
Video promo from Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner showing off their newly won NXT Tag Team Championships.
This is the first time I can even remember hearing Aichner speak in forever. Great to see it is to respond to the actions of Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan last week.
SHOTZI BLACKHEART VS. RAQUEL GONZALEZ W/ DAKOTA KAI
Out comes Shotzi in her tank.
Not sure who this is meant to put over as both had promos recently and both are being used strongly as of late.
Lots of kicks by Blackheart early to try to break down the limbs of Gonzalez but every time Shotzi goes for the high flying moves Gonzalez is able to over power her so far.
Kai is able to let Raquel know Shotzi was coming so she could move and regain the advantage.
Dakota taunts Shotzi from the outside by trying to steal and dismantle the tank until Tegan comes out to stop Dakota.
Not sure who had the worse landing in the last two weeks, Shotzi Blackheart doing that Coffin Drop to the outside or Rey Fenix missing on his moonsault.
Candice comes out now to confront Tegan for participating in the video with Keith Lee and Mia Yim earlier.
Candice arguing with Tegan causes enough of a distraction for Dakota to help Raquel who gets the pinfall victory over Shotzi.
Time for a video promo from Priest and Balor to push their In Your House match.
RHEA RIPLEY & IO SHIRAI VS. CHARLOTTE FLAIR & CHELSEA GREEN W/ ROBERT STONE
With all the years of Crowds getting muted or having crowd noise added, why has WWE or any other company done that yet?
The mystery partner is coming out last. Chelsea Green is a great add and makes sense on a lot of levels. Chelsea and Stone want exposure as characters and what better than tagging with the champ who can’t get anyone else to tag with her.
My guess is Chelsea was mainly added to get pinned.
Chelsea has been taking all the punishment from both Io and Rhea with Charlotte staying out of the match. Chelsea was able to gain the advantage and now Charlotte is finally asking for the tag.
Back from Commercial and Charlotte has the advantage on Io Shirai in the ring.
Chelsea gets chopped by Charlotte after Io moves out of the way.
Chelsea did a good spot where Chelsea pushed Charlotte out of the way to take the shot from Io Shirai allowing Charlotte to steal a pinfall on Io.
Backstage with the Gargano’s getting interviewed and get mad when the interviewer isn’t impartial.
Turns out no mix tag as Candice challenges Mia Yim to next week.
Riddle and Angle going over the rules backstage.
Tom Phillips is letting us know the reasons for Cole and Regal to having a video conference call.
No celebration this week with Undisputed Era because of Velveteen Dream.
Regal basically tells Cole to get to the point which Cole turns it to Regal needing things simplified for him.
Cole’s first demand is Strong and Fish get a fair tag team match for the championships.
Second demand is that Dream is not able to get in his business again.
Regal says Dream deserves another shot and that is likely happening at In Your House.
Cole says he will give Dream the shot at In Your House only if Dream never gets another shot as long as he is champion when Cole wins.
Regal says that is fine but the venue will be under his terms and it will be one deserving of the spotlight Cole and Dream desire.
Actually getting a video promo where we are actually hearing from Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch about their past and about their history together.
They go over why they did the Imperium pose and their plans to take on Imperium for the gold.
LEON RUFF VS. TOMMASO CIAMPA
How many Evolve members we getting today? Or the poor boy has to face Ciampa?
Saw Scarlett coming out behind Tomasso pretty quickly even if the announcers didn’t mention it until Ciampa saw her.
Ciampa hasn’t even looked at Ruff and only at Scarlett leading to Ruff trying to get a roll up pin but only got a 1.
Ciampa is barely bothered with Ruff once he has the advantage and just staring at Scarlett.
Fairy Tale Ending by Ciampa after blowing a kiss to Scarlett and he gets the easy pinfall victory.
Post Match Scarlett walks toward the back before Karrion Kross comes on the screen to address Ciampa’s comments form last week.
TIMOTHY THATCHER VS. MATT RIDDLE – SPECIAL REFEREE: KURT ANGLE – CAGE FIGHT
Really like the look of the “Fight Pit.”
Riddle coming off the cage wall with the kick was just sweet looking. Thatcher is bleeding from the mouth and appears he lost some teeth. Looks almost like it was a blood capsule popped in his mouth with the way the blood came out.
Really great mat wrestling with Thatcher trying to break down the limbs of Riddle so he can get one of his submissions on.
You had to know that the fight was going to end up on the ledge of the pit.
Love the submission by Thatcher with Riddle just hanging down from the ledge.
Awesome floating Bro from Riddle off the ledge to Thatcher on the mat.
Minute Thatcher moved I knew Riddle would be going into the Cage Wall.
Thatcher chokes out Riddle for the win with a Technical Submission.
#WWENXT #WWE #NXT #NXTCruiserweight #CruiserweightTitle #Wrestling #FightPit
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