BRM Reviews the 2/20/2019 NXT (GREAT!)

[Big Red Machine]

RODERICK STRONG vs. ALEISTER BLACK- 7/10
All of the hard-hitting awesomeness you’d expect.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- very good
Undisputed Era attacked Aleister Black so Ricochet came out and made the save, returning the favor from last week.

NEW RECRUITS DON’T BACK DOWN FROM THE HORSEWOMEN- The (lack of) physicality and generic yelling of the confrontation made it feel very forced. On the bright side, we had a Sara Del Rey sighting. Rachael Ellering was name-dropped as a new recruit.

BIANCA BELAIR VIDEO PROMO- an excellent summation of her feelings about the NXT Women’s Title picture and should be where in the line. That being said, she really needs to stop the “un-de-fea-ted” thing now that she has lost. If you didn’t hear that one promo where she explained it she comes off like a delusional heel refusing to accept her loss, and if you did see it… well… her reasoning (“being undefeated is a state of mind”) is a little silly.

THE DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC RETURNS- It starts in two weeks!
Already announced are the Street Profits, Aichner & Barthel, the Forgotten Sons, and Undisputed Era (Fish & O’Reilly). We’ll find out the other four teams next week.

MIA YIM vs. XIA LI- 4.25/10
The match was fine while it lasted. Yim won with Eat Defeat/Sole Food, which is being called “Protect Your Neck,” which makes it seem like it’s attacking the neck.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great!
We just Roderick Strong and his friends assault a babyface after a victory, so seeing as how we have a Women’s Evolution™ going on now, gender equality demands that Roddy’s wife and her friends do the same. They attacked Mia Yim, who is apparently the veteran who was standing up for the new recruits when the Horsewomen tried to bully them (I thought we were just supposed to assume she counted as a “new recruit”). The new recruits tried to save Mia but they all got beaten up, too. The heels looked like very, very, very, dangerous assholes, which is pretty much exactly what you want a top heel group to be.

JOHNNY GARGANO, CANDICE LERAE< TOMMASO CIAMPA BACKSTAGE- GREAT!
Candice comes up to Johnny as he is stretching for his match and tells him “you know what we need to do,” to which he replies “I know.” Cryptic.
Then Ciampa showed up and Candice demanded to know “what the hell are you doing here?!” Ciampa offered Gargano his help if he wanted it. Gargano said he won the belt without Ciampa’s help to win the belt and doesn’t need his help to defend it, either. Mr. & Mrs. Wrestling leave, at which point Ciampa mutters “I’ll be watching.” I am now a hundred times more excited for the main even than I was before this segment, and I was already pretty darn excited for it.

MATT RIDDLE SIT-DOWN INTERVIEW- got his personality over well enough.

Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler has been booked for next week!

NXT NORTH AMERICAN TITLE MATCH: Johnny Gargano(c) vs. The Velveteen Dream- 8.5/10
An awesome, exciting, and completely clean wrestling match, with TVD shocking the crowd by taking the title from Gargano in his very first defense. Ciampa had been shown watching from some sort of darkened, secluded area, and looked assumed by Gargano’s loss.

If I had to guess, I would say that this was probably the plan all along and Gargano getting called up had nothing to do with him losing the title. The pieces with Johnny, Candice, and Ciampa fit together too perfectly. Gargano losing the belt will tempt him to ask for Ciampa’s help next time, pushing us even closer to a DIY reunion (or at least a major tease of one before Candice convinces Johnny to come back to the light side and Johnny beating Ciampa for the belt).

A GREAT episode of NXT! I guess the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic was the teased “big announcement.”

[KILLdozer]

Tvd has obviously taken the two weirdo parts of Orlando Jordan and Goldust and made them work. I'm still not sure which one he's supposed to be more like...maybe it's just "very sharp fashionable metrosexual", if I had to guess...

[Big Red Machine]

Tvd has obviously taken the two weirdo parts of Orlando Jordan and Goldust and made them work. I'm still not sure which one he's supposed to be more like...maybe it's just "very sharp fashionable metrosexual", if I had to guess...

He's also got something of The Rock in there, too, with the babyface arrogance.

[KILLdozer]

Tvd has obviously taken the two weirdo parts of Orlando Jordan and Goldust and made them work. I'm still not sure which one he's supposed to be more like...maybe it's just "very sharp fashionable metrosexual", if I had to guess...

He's also got something of The Rock in there, too, with the babyface arrogance.

Yeah...what with the "referring to himself within the first person constantly and always."

[Big Red Machine]

Tvd has obviously taken the two weirdo parts of Orlando Jordan and Goldust and made them work. I'm still not sure which one he's supposed to be more like...maybe it's just "very sharp fashionable metrosexual", if I had to guess...

He's also got something of The Rock in there, too, with the babyface arrogance.

Yeah...what with the "referring to himself within the first person constantly and always."

It's not just that. It's the way he'll treat the interviewers and two or three other things. If you change the delivery, I could definitely see the "Johnny Jackass" line coming out of The Rock's mouth, for example.

[KILLdozer]

He's also got something of The Rock in there, too, with the babyface arrogance.

Yeah...what with the "referring to himself within the first person constantly and always."

It's not just that. It's the way he'll treat the interviewers and two or three other things. If you change the delivery, I could definitely see the "Johnny Jackass" line coming out of The Rock's mouth, for example.

Just tell 'em "Who in the blue hell are you?" and get it over with...

Now if he only can adopt The Ultimate Warriors entrance...

[KILLdozer]

I can't see much reason he won't do really well for years to come though honestly. He might be 25 at the most.