BRM Reviews the 9/21/2021 NXT (worrying)

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- This was a good recap of last week’s show. A graphic or two for the people who didn’t say their name in the clips might have helped, though.

OPENING SEGMENT- extremely worrying
The show started with a bunch of people in the ring for an unexplained reason. We then got one of those definite markers that Vince and Kevin Dunn are running this show, as Beth Phoenix gave a speech on commentary saying to “pay very close attention, because you are getting a glimpse of the future.” That sounds fine… except that instead of telling the viewers this, she was telling Vic Joseph, as if he had just stepped in off the street and had no idea what NXT was.
Ciampa got into the ring and, of course, everyone lined up facing the hard-cam. Ciampa started to cut a promo, pacing back and forth… and every time he turned around, he made sure to do so facing the hard-cam instead of facing the other people in the ring with him.
Ciampa started to talk about regaining his title, but then it transitioned into the rah-rah speech talking about it was a new era and the talent were hungry and ready to prove themselves. It’s the John Cena speech.
He then assured us that what made NXT so great has not changed… and proceeded to name himself and then announcers. Really? He gets the fans to shout “WE ARE NXT!”… and the wrestlers in the ring behind him joined in. What a bunch of f*cking marks.
He declared NXT to be the new A-show, which almost felt like a shot at Hunter. Maybe I’m reading too much into that.
Cameron Grimes came out and was an obnoxious clown. He wants a title shot. Joe Gacy stepped forward from the line of wrestlers in the ring and said “as charitable as it would be for Mr. Ciampa to give you a championship opportunity…” At that point he was interrupted by L.A. Knight’s music. I can only presume that night was sick of this WWE-speak and decided to interrupt. He insults them all until he is interrupted by Odessey Jones, who was also one of the wrestlers in the ring. Do they all have mics in their pockets or something? That’d be better than what I’m worried about, which is that they’re just passing it back and forth like good little students all saying their part in the elementary school play.
You guys will never guess what happened next. Someone came out and interrupted Odessey Jones. Shocking, I know. As unpredictable as a post-match attack on Dynamite, or Delirious’ booking seeming like it’s going somewhere good and then turning out to be a let-down.
The interrupted this time was Pete Dunne, who brought Ridge Holland with him. He said they were all “scared to throw the first punch,” so Ciampa punched him. Holland went after Ciampa. Just kidding. He randomly attacked Bron Breaker instead, so of course everyone else started to throw punches at each other, and it turned into a schmoz. Other people ran out from the back to join the fight just because (Grizzled Young Veterans, I think). It’s really hard to care about a fight when you barely know anything about sixty percent of the participants.
Ciampa and Breaker were the last two left in the ring, but instead of punching each other, they apparently knew they were on the same team so they just posed to Ciampa’s music. Of course, they ended it with these two staring at Dunne and Holland, who were at the bottom of the ramp, and everyone else has disappeared.
This has me worried. This was a bunch of things I hate about the main roster, but now with a bunch of guys I barely know anything about, who have been put on TV in order to push out a bunch of guys and gals I thought very highly of and whose journeys I had been following.

Tom Phillips told us that there was “a commotion” going on in the back,” so we cut to…
SOME WOMEN ARE POKING EACH OTHER IN THE CHEST, PUSHING EACH OTHER, AND/OR SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER- meh
We’ve got B-Fab and Elektra Lopez in the background and Kay Lee Ray and… someone else in the foreground. And, of course, the two heels were standing on the same side. Some people came in to pull them apart. ONE GUY was holding back both heels. This would be bad enough on its own, but it’s even worse when you consider that the two women being held back here are Kay Lee Ray, their new top heel, and Elektra Lopez, who they are trying to portray as a powerhouse. They yelled at each other a lot.
Then we cut back to the ring, where Dunne and Holland had gotten into the ring and started trading fists with Ciampa and Breaker. Beth Phoenix let us know that there was “chaos and turmoil” going on here. Yes, both. Because Beth is incapable of talking like a normal person while on commentary. She just can’t not come off like she’s trying to sell you something, or like she is being overdramatic.
The heels quickly decided that they had had enough and tried to bail, but Breaker grabbed a mic and insisted that those “bitches” stay and fight because the fans wanted to see them keep fighting. But I guess he doesn’t think the fans wants them to keep fighting exactly right now, so he challenges them to a tag match “tonight.” Vic says we will see if Regal makes it official.

NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: KUSHIDA(c) vs. Roderick Strong (w/Diamond Mine)- 5.75/10
KUSHIDA worked the arm and Roddy worked the back. Shocking, I know. This was the beginning of a great match… and then a commercial break happened, then a bunch of interference, and Roddy won the title in a grand total of 8:42. That’s just disheartening.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- no so good
That Grayson Waller clown who has been teaming with Drake Maverick came out said that “NXT 2.0 is a straight-up jungle,” although with his strong Australian accent, it sounded like he was saying “junk.” He said he wasn’t waiting for his opportunity. He was going to step up and take it. Even with Waller’s Australian accent, I couldn’t not hear those words in Vince McMahon’s voice. This loser wants a title shot next week that he has done absolutely nothing to earn. Roddy agreed to give him one despite the fact that it seemed like Stokely was objecting at first. I don’t see why Stokely would have had any objection. This goof should be a cake-walk for Roddy.

TONY D’ANGELO PROMO- meh
You can tell that Tony himself is trying very hard to be a character rather than a caricature.

JOSH BRIGGS & BROOKS JENSEN VIDEO PACKAGE- very good
Apparently they met by getting into a fight at a bar the night Briggs lost his match in the Breakout Tournament. They hit each other so hard they won each other’s respect. They showed some security camera footage and fan cellphone footage of the fight. These guys are your stereotypical Southern bar room brawlers. I’d like to see them be able to show a more serious and less jovial side in the future (which I know Briggs can do, as his indy personality was basically the opposite his current NXT personality), but as a start, I thought this was quite good.

AMARI MILLER PROMO- meh
She cut a promo that was, as Wade Keller would probably put it, “reading the back of her baseball card.” It’s an okay start, but the problem is that in WWE, this sort of thing usually winds up being the end of a character’s development, not the beginning of it.
She was the woman who was in the shouting and shoving match with Kay Lee Rae earlier tonight, so we got…

KAY LEE RAE VS. AMARI MILLER- squash

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS BRON BREAKER- good
Apparently the tag match has been made official. Breaker talked quickly and excitedly, which is getting quite annoying. Tommaso Ciampa showed up. They had a good little moment when Ciampa started to talk about them teaming together and Breaker jumped in and said “and who better to do it with than...” and he took a nice long pause and focused his eyes on the NXT Title before finishing his sentence with “the champ.” He then clapped Ciampa on the shoulder and left.

EARLIER TODAY, A BAD SEGMENT HAPPENED OUTSIDE- bad
Some dude I didn’t recognize arrived at the building with two chicks I didn’t recognize fawning over him. He didn’t actually do or say anything rude to them, but he came off unlikable because he seemed so grunting and just kind of “felt” mean.
He opened the door for them, and some other dude tried to rush in. The first guy stopped him and said “ladies first.” The second guy responded that “chivalry is dead.” The women went inside, and the first guy closed the door and ran the second guy’s head into it before heading in. The second guy was definitely being a jerk (you don’t try to rush through when someone is clearly holding the door for someone else), but the first guy just had a kind of mean vibe about him and was definitely overly violent here, so neither guy came off likable. Throw in the fact that I had no idea who any of these people were, and I had no idea how I was supposed to feel about any of this. Is it that hard to give the first guy a squash this week and then do this angle next week?

TREY BAXTER vs. DANTE CHEN- 0.75/10
This was very short, but everything they did was good. Chen won clean with a move that I think was Roxxi Laveaux’s old Voodoo Drop.

CHASE UNIVERSITY- terrible
He’s Dean Douglas, except instead of just using the teacher thing as a gimmick, Chase has actual people there he is lecturing to, like this is an actual class in an actual college. He was criticizing a cover that Odessey Jones made in the finals of the Breakout Tournament. One of the students pointed out (as politely as possible, and in the form of a question) that Chase lost to Jones in the tournament, so Chase yelled at him to “GET THE *BLEEP!” OUT!” Then Chase (who was wearing a sweater) threw a chair, because Bobby Knight isn’t a reference twenty years out of date.

KYLE O’REILLY UPDATE- He’s week-to-week, which is a little ridiculous for a beating that didn’t look severe at all.

JOE GACY PROMO- terrible
He’s talking about the ring being a “safe space” and “microaggressions” and “male privilege.” Whoever is writing this seems to have maybe about 55% idea of what those words mean. Cameron Grimes came out for their scheduled match, at which point Beth and Vic started talking about last week’s wedding segment, which tells you how important this match must be.

CAMERON GRIMES vs. JOE GACY- 2/10
Grimes won a short match cleanly. Gacy gave him a hug afterwards.

IN-DEX WEDDING RECAP PACKAGE- This was all to set up Wade Barrett saying “thankfully, he learned some oral skills prior to the honeymoon.”
Apparently we’re going to get to see their honeymoon “live” next week. Okay… well then where are they this week?

VON WAGNER VIDEO PACKAGE- meh

ANNA SCHEER vs. ELEKTRA LOPEZ (w/Legado del Fantasma)- squash
They did a good job of getting Lopez’ power over.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- mostly bad
Santos Escobar cut a promo putting Lopez over. Lopez cut a promo saying she would dominate the division and destroy B-Fab if B-Fab came out here. Hit Row showed up on the ramp, but B-Fab wasn’t with them. They were a distraction so that she could attack Lopez from behind like a total coward. The women brawled while the men didn’t get involved because… um… chivalry, maybe? Instead they just watched the fight until they decided to separate the women. Aren’t these two factions supposed to be feuding?
The promos were fine to good, but the build to the physical angle was not.

TREY BAXTER’S GIRLFRIEND TRIED TO CHEER HIM UP AFTER HIS LOSS- She said that he shouldn’t take his loss so hard because his opponent looked like a superhero. She made out with him and then left. Baxter smiled and said “superhero” thoughtfully. Oh no…

FRANKY MONEY’S CREW BUMPS INTO RAQUEL GONZALEZ BACKSTAGE- bad
Gonzalez has just come from Regal’s office (where I guess Monet and her crew were headed). She tells them that she took care of getting their title match booked. It will be next week. Has Franky done anything to earn this shot? If so, I can’t remember it.
Franky and Raquel traded some barbs, then Raquel left. Some other woman then came up to Franky and said that next week’s title match was not as big of a deal as her talk show debuting next week. The other woman flipped her hair in Franky’s direction as she left. She seems like a jerk, so I guess we’re getting a heel talk show.

HANDICAP MATCH: Odessey Jones vs. Cary Millman & Darren Chiapetta- squash
I was disappointed that Mr. Chiapetta wasn’t very hairy. Chase came out to yell at Jones in the middle of the match. He tried to attack him with a chair afterwards but Jones destroyed the chair while blocking it, and Chase ran away.

GRAYSON WALKER AND SOME OTHER DUDES ARE INTERRUPTED BY CARMELLO HAYES & TRICK DAIVS BACKSTAGE- meh
The others congratulated Walker on this opportunity he has gotten himself by doing nothing. Hayes and Davis showed up and Hayes said that Waller could win the Cruiserweight Title and then lose it to him in the same night. So this Breakout Tournament title shot is MITB-style, now? Since when?
The babyface losers left. Then Mandy Rose’s crew strolled by. They acted like they were interested in the heels (well… the other heels. They’re heels, too), but then weren’t. Davis observed that Mandy and her crew were “fine.”

IKEMEN JIRO VIDEO PACKAGE- bad
He’s a clown. The “Style Strong” idea is very clever, but it’s being wasted on someone so one-dimensional.

TOXIC ATTRACTION PROMO- snore
Toxic Attraction is Mandy Rose’s group. Mandy cut generic heel promo #17. Gigi Dolan cut a promo that probably sounded full of platitudes if you haven’t seen any of work as Priscilla Kelly. Jacey Jane was also generic.
Mandy wants the women’s title and the other two want the women’s tag titles.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ZOEY STARK & IO SHIRAI- bad
Io is going to give them a title shot. So is all you have to do to get a title shot around here just say that you want one?
Zoey doesn’t disagree with giving these undeserving losers a title shot, but is unhappy that she wasn’t consulted. She came off as a little petty.
Some tall woman came up to them and said that Toxic Attraction aren’t the only ones who want a title shot, and declared her intent to team with Indi Hartwell to get a title shot when Indi gets back from her honeymoon. She says she is Indi’s best friend, so I guess that’s who that is. I didn’t even think she was a wrestler, but apparently she is. Way to introduce your characters, NXT 2.0.

BRON BREAKER & TOMMASO CIAMPA vs. PETE DUNNE & RIDGE HOLLAND- 7/10
The heels didn’t even get their entrance shown for this main event, while Breaker came out to Ciampa’s music, making him look completely secondary.
Ciampa was the babyface in peril. This actually got pretty good. It’s probably one of the lower matches I’ll ever give a 7/10 to, but it just inched it out. Kyle O’Reilly hit Holland in the gut with the truncheon that Dunne had tried to use on Ciampa moments before. Breaker pinned Holland with a Military Press Slam. Vic apparently doesn’t know what a Military Press Slam is, because he said he had no idea how to describe Breaker’s move, while Beth said that pulling this off “broke the laws of physics.” Beth’s continued employment in this position is an extreme source of frustration to me.


This was not a good show from NXT (2.0). Yes, there were one or two good, things, but so much of what we saw felt like ill omens of things to come. Is it possible that I’m jumping at shadows because I know who is now running the show? Yes. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you.