BRM Reviews the 9/26/2018 NXT

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- good
Regal comes out to update us on his ongoing investigation into the attack on Aleister Black. Before he could really say anything, he was interrupted by Undisputed Era. And unlike everywhere else in wrestling, there was actually an air of “how dare they interrupt the general manager!”
They had a very tense stand-off. Cole demanded his rematch against Ricochet, but Regal said that because of Undisputed Era’s actions last week, Cole will get his rematch in a Triple Threat match, because Pete Dunne also deserves a rematch. This match will take place in two weeks, while the War Raiders will challenge Strong & O’Reilly for the tag titles in three weeks.

JOHNNY GARGANO INTERVIEW EARLIER TODAY- Good
It looks like Gargano’s redemption story will now start.

LACEY EVANS CONFRONTS JOHNNY & CANDICE- She was a jerk to Candice, implying that Candice was not a good wife. Johnny stopped Candice from going after Lacey.

CATHY KELLEY TRIES TO INTERVIEW THE VELVETEEN DREAM- He claims that Tommaso Ciampa is the one who attacked Aleister Black.

LARS SULLIVAN vs. A JOBBER- no rating, good segment
Lars killed the jobber, but wound up getting the win by DQ when EC III ran in and attacked him as revenge for the attack a few weeks ago, with Ethan actually getting the better of the exchange.

REGAL & NIKKI CROSS SEGMENT- some build to a Cross vs. Bianca Belair rematch, as well as a reminder that Nikki claims to “know.” The expectation is that she knows who attacked Aleister Black, but I think this is misdirection, and whatever Nikki is saying that she “know(s)” is actually related to something else.

THE MIGHTY vs. THE STREET PROFITS- 6.25/10
One of the Aussies was wearing the gold chains he stole from Ford, so the match started out with Dawkins knocking him flat with a punch. They proceeded to have a good, fun match that ended before Montez Ford ever got to make the hot tag, which serves the important role of helping to make all nearfalls during the heat believable finishes (compare to count-outs in New Japan, which never happen but they still tease them all the time, and thus people don’t buy them).

KAIRI SANE vs. VANESSA BORNE- no rating, awesome semi-squash
Kairi basically squashed a much larger woman, and purely by showing us how much better she was than Vanessa at EVERYTHING. She was faster, more agile, a better wrestler, and hit harder.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Shayna Baszler came out and said she wanted her rematch. Kairi suggested they have it at Evolution. They managed to get through this with only one mention of the fact that Evolution is WWE’s first all-women PPV, which was done by Mauro in his bow-wrapping commentary bit at the end. Which is how it should be done. That being said, it probably would have been good if someone had mentioned the date.

KEITH LEE & KONA REEVES SEGMENT FROM EARLIER TODAY- good
This will almost certainly lead to a match next week. Confirmed for next week, however, is Lars Sullivan vs. EC III.

OTIS DOZOVIC vs. TOMMASO CIAMPA- 6.5/10
This was decent, but this is the sort of mini-feud where I wish they had been able to find a way to get Dozovic a title shot without really beating Ciampa. It’s the sort of thing that I think can elevate Otis a little bit (as opposed to just losing a non-title match), makes Ciampa’s reign feel better at the end because there were more defenses (and ones that had actual build to them) and also keeps the title feel like it is at least in circulation. I don’t think NXT has established a Thirty Days Rule yet and WWE has obviously been inconsistent in their application of that over the past few years, but it’s the sort of thing that I think has been around long enough that it makes it feel kind of odd if someone goes months without defending a title. Maybe Ciampa kicks Otis in the nuts a few minutes in because “I decided you aren’t even worth my time” or something like that (obviously you’d have to move Street Profits vs. The Mighty to the main event, but that’s fine because this wasn’t a title match anyway, so a grudge match can certainly take the main event spot over a non-title match with the champion based off of just one segment).

A fun and relatively busy episode of NXT. We’ve got some big stuff lined up for the next few weeks. It should be quite exciting.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Percy Watson scolded Nigel that the Street Profits weren’t being materialistic but rather “it’s about the principalities of it.”
I didn’t realize there were any small monarchies involved.

[cero2k]

you stroke out the second half of the show. was it that bad that you're trying to erase it ?

[Big Red Machine]

you stroke out the second half of the show. was it that bad that you're trying to erase it ?

Neither. Apparently open bracket s close bracket is a shortcut for for the strike command. Who knew?

[KILLdozer]

Maybe it's just how I feel today or something...but these references and similes and metaphors from Renallo are getting to be way too much lol. It's every other sentence literally at this point lol.

[KILLdozer]

Keith 2-0 undefeated against stupid bitty asses and talking about a title opportunity? Uh-uh, no way!