BRM Reviews the 10/21/2020 NXT

[Big Red Machine]

KUSHIDA vs. THE VELVETEEN DREAM vs. TOMASSO CIAMPA- 8/10
Ciampa jumped Dream from behind during his entrance. This was an excellent match revolving around the Velveteen Dream’s injured hand… and the cast on it that allowed it to both be a weapon and a target. The finish saw TVD hit Ciampa with the cast, but Ciampa bumped into Dream at the same time, taking him off the apron, and allowing KUSHIDA to hit Ciampa with a German Suplex for the win.

UNDSIPUTED ERA PROMO- good
Adam Cole was only there via Zoom because he’s not medically cleared. Kyle talked next and is definitely starting to sound like he’s a leader. Roddy and Fish built up their title shot against Breezango later tonight.

Wade Barrett challenged Vic Joseph to a costume contest next week. I really hope that was a joke.

RHEA RIPLEY VIDEO PACKAGE- fine

EMBER MOON vs. JESSI KAMEA- 2.5/10
This was fine for what it was, which was a short match where Ember gets a dominant win while still allowing Kamea enough offense to at least look credible.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Dakota Kai attacks Ember Moon, setting up a stepping-stone feud for Ember.

SOMEONE HAS ATTACKED BOBBY FISH BACKSTAGE!- One assumes this is connected to the attack on Adam Cole. During the next match, we were told that Fish was on his way to a hospital and Kyle O’Reilly has been cleared to take his place.

BRONSON REED vs. AUSTIN THEORY- no rating, questionable segment
Theory got beat in three and a half minutes. Then he demanded that Reed come to the ring for a rematch and got squashed in fifteen seconds. This has to be leading somewhere, right? Otherwise, it’s a waste of a great talent who could be a big player, but won’t be able to be if you damage him the way they have been doing to Theory.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS XIA LI & KACY CATANZARO- fine segment
Xia kept repeating “I have to win this match” but was evasive as to why. Kacy said she volunteered to face Xia tonight because Xia has been a friend to her in the past.

AUSTIN THEORY LEAVES THE BUILDING AND TELLS A CAMERAMAN HE IS QUITTING- Okay, so this was going somewhere.

LEGADO DEL FANTASMA vs. ISAIAH “SWERVE” SCOTT, ASHANTE THE ADONIS, & JAKE ATLAS- 7.5/10
Great six-man tag team action. Adonis got pinned here, which feeds my theory hat he’s really a heel and they’re just waiting to make that clear with a turn on Atlas.

VIDEO FROM THE GARGANOS- pointless and goofy

EVER-RISE vs. DRAKE MAVERICK & KILLIAN DAIN- no rating, bad segment
Dain was in trouble, so Drake grabbed a chair and went nuts on Ever-Rise, getting his team DQed. I guess this builds to another match, but Ever-Rise have been pretty clearly defined as jobbers at this point so them have Dain in danger of tapping out feels ridiculous, and Dain praising Maverick for hitting people with a chair and causing their team to lose was also bad. And I don’t like Maverick’s comedic dancing to their stupid music, either.

SOMEONE HAS ATTACKED RODERICK STRONG BACKSTAGE- the plot thickens

WILLIAM REGAL AND A BUNCH OF PEOPLE BACKSTAGE- the plot thickens even more
Burch and Lorcan were in the area. Regal is going to give them a title shot as they lost last week’s #1 contendership match, which I guess makes them the second most deserving team? They insist that O’Reilly be in the match and pick one of them to be his partner, but Kyle just wants to go check on his friends (Beth would phrase it as Kyle “putting the UE brotherhood first) so Regal gives Burch and Lorcan the title shot. They shook hands with Breezango.

XIA LI vs. KACY CATANZARO (w/Kayden Carter)- no rating, meh segment
The announcers speculate that Xia’s change in attitude has to do with that letter that Boa gave her. I have no memory of this.
Kacy won a quick match, at which point Xia finally snapped and attacked Kacy. This would have been fine, but then they pulled a WCW and buried both of them by having the big person (in this case Raquel Gonzalez) come out and beat up the smaller people. Raquel then cut a bad promo to build up her match against Rhea Ripley next week. She said she would be “the devil of your nightmares.” Yes, really.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS CAMERON GRIMES- bad
This Cameron Grimes character is a total undercard chickensh*t good, and the man is capable of so much more than that. He and Dexter Lumis are having some sort of gimmick match with a silly Halloween-themed name next week, to which they didn’t explain the rules. Upon hearing this, Grimes became all scared, even though he tried to play the tough guy. Meanwhile, Deter Lumis looked on through a nearby doorway, unseen. I almost screamed because it actually looked like it was a mirror and he was standing two feet in front of them and they somehow couldn’t see him (either that or we’re doing “Warrior in the mirror” again), but by the end it was clear that it was a door, which made this merely very lame rather than infuriatingly stupid.

IO SHIRAI PROMO- meh

LIVE THATCH AS THATCH CAN- no rating, bad segment
His victim tonight is Anthony Greene. Thatcher purposely got his name wrong, which feels completely out of character for Thatcher. The goofs in the stands are now chanting the wrong name. Darn wrestling fans.
Thatcher called for a referee, then forearmed Anthony Greene and told the referee to call for the bell for an “exhibition.” Thatcher dominated and once again didn’t break the hold for a while. This served no purpose, as it didn’t move any story along and told us nothing new about the character. Where was the babyface to come out and make the save for this poor abused kid?

DAMIAN PRIEST PROMO- GREAT!
My one caveat with this is that Priest still comes off like more of a heel than a babyface.

NXT TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Tyler Breeze & Fandango(c) vs. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan- 6.75/10
Burch and Lorcan turned heel and won the titles with help from a masked person who revealed himself as Pat McAfee. McAfee declared them to be the new tag champs, “and that, my friends, is undisputed.” This is a good use of McAfee and a good continuation of his feud with Adam Cole and Undisputed Era.

This was a very up-and-down show from NXT. I liked a lot of the wrestling, but found pretty much everything I didn’t really like to be questionable at best and often very bad. Hopefully next week’s big show delivers on all fronts.