BRM Reviews the 3/13/2019 NXT (awesome)

[Big Red Machine]

DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC SEMIFINAL MATCH: Moustache Mountain vs. Forgotten Sons (w/Jaxson Ryker)- 6.75/10
A pretty good match. There was one very weird segment where Bate went for an Airplane Spin on both Forgotten Sons but only got a revolution or two in before he gave to and the Forgotten Sons had to sell it like this actually made them dizzy. Then Bate got them on the outside and went for a standing Shooting Star Press off the apron but missed and landed on his knees on the ground… and then just hopped right back up, ducked a clothesline from one Forgotten Son and suplexed him into the other. I assume the planned spot was for Bate to land on his feet, but he didn’t, so just call an audible. Having someone no sell a missed high-risk move kills the whole concept of the move being high-risk.
Moustache Mountain seemed to have things won at one point but Ryker put whichever Forgotten Son’s foot it was on the rope. Yeah, I can’t tell them apart. Actually it’s worse than that, as I was originally just going to type that Ryker “put Blake/Murphy’s foot on the rope,” and only after I type did I realize that it’s not Blake & Murphy but rather Blake & Cutler. Can someone please get these doofuses’ names sewn onto their gear?
The Forgotten Sons got the win, which was the right call here. Moustache Mountain’s place is in NXT UK now, not NXT Prime.

ADAM COLE INTERRUPTS MATT RIDDLE’S INTERVIEW- good
Cole declares that he, not Riddle, is worthy of an NXT North American Title shot. Riddle suggests they settle it with a wrestling match.

Wow. That commercial for Becky vs. Ronda vs. Charlotte does absolutely nothing for me. It is in no way intense. It’s just three women standing there.

#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Bianca Belair vs. Io Shirai- 7/10
Shayna Baszler provided guest commentary for this match. Io and Bianca were on their way to what felt like it was going to be a fantastic match when Baszler ran in and attacked both of them for the DQ. First she took Io out, then put Bianca in the Kiramuta Clutch. Kairi Sane came out to make the save but Baszler just let Bianca go and put Kairi in the Kiramuta Clutch instead. Io attacked Baszler and got her off of Kairi and Baszler bailed out of the ring, but when Io went to check on Kairi, Baszler came back and choked Io out as well.

SHAYNA BASZLER INTERVIEW- She is asked why she attacked Io and Bianca. She said that that neither of them deserved a title shot. The interviewer then told her that Regal is punishing her by making her defend her title against Kairi, Io, and Bianca in a four-way at Takeover: New York


DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC SEMIFINAL MATCH: Aleister Black & Ricochet vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano- 8/10
Stuff happened that was awesome. Ricochet was the babyface in peril. The important part is that Gargano went down with an injured knee so Ciampa had to finish the match on his own. He wound up getting pinned by Ricochet after taking both Black Mass and a 630 Senton.


POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great (make sure you watch this for yourself before reading on)
Candice LeRae came out, and she and Ciampa helped Johnny up the ramp. Near the top of the ramp, Johnny completely crumpled. Ciampa helped Gargano up… and then decided to take advantage of his weakened state running him into the LED board.
Except that Johnny wasn’t in a weakened state. He was faking it, so he was able to stop Ciampa and instead it was Ciampa who was sent into the LED board. A couple of superkicks later and Ciampa is down while Johnny and Candice posed over him and the fans all chanted “JOHNNY WRESTLING!”
I figured that Johnny was faking the injury, just because the only other possible outcomes were that this was a shoot injury (which we would have heard about by now) or that Ciampa was going to take advantage of Johnny in his weakened state after Johnny had trusted him, which would make Johnny look like an idiot. Combine that with the fact that Johnny told Candice “I know what I’m doing” after he agreed to team with Ciampa, and the fact that this was a knee injury in a feud where the running knee has been prevalent and the fact that one of them helping the other up the ramp after a tag team loss mirrors the situation where Ciampa originally turned on Gargano, and I figured something had to be up.
What I did not see coming was the way they structured this. I figured Johnny would just attack Ciampa and throw him off the stage, which would actually make Johnny seem kind of heelish (which would feel counteractive to his seeming return to babyface-hood this year). The way they did this was MUCH better, as it shows us that Ciampa was untrustworthy and that Johnny’s deception was a necessary move to outsmart Ciampa.

Anyway, this was an awesome and newsworthy episode of NXT and you should all go watch it.

[Serujuunin]

I loved the little bit where Ricochet and Aleister did their bit off the middle rope and then Ricochet sat there like Aleister with a silly smile. Man I never thought I’d say this a few months ago but I am loving the two of them together.

[Big Red Machine]

I loved the little bit where Ricochet and Aleister did their bit off the middle rope and then Ricochet sat there like Aleister with a silly smile. Man I never thought I’d say this a few months ago but I am loving the two of them together.

I wonder if Aleister knew that was coming or if Ricochet did it as a rib. I can totally see "try to make Aleister crack" becoming a thing on house shows.

[Serujuunin]

I loved the little bit where Ricochet and Aleister did their bit off the middle rope and then Ricochet sat there like Aleister with a silly smile. Man I never thought I’d say this a few months ago but I am loving the two of them together.

I wonder if Aleister knew that was coming or if Ricochet did it as a rib. I can totally see "try to make Aleister crack" becoming a thing on house shows.

I want this to be a thing on tv. I don’t know why I found this one spot so funny but I was actually hysterically laughing. It was so good!

[Big Red Machine]

I loved the little bit where Ricochet and Aleister did their bit off the middle rope and then Ricochet sat there like Aleister with a silly smile. Man I never thought I’d say this a few months ago but I am loving the two of them together.

I wonder if Aleister knew that was coming or if Ricochet did it as a rib. I can totally see "try to make Aleister crack" becoming a thing on house shows.

I want this to be a thing on tv. I don’t know why I found this one spot so funny but I was actually hysterically laughing. It was so good!

On TV would be bad because cracking would kill his gimmick.

[Serujuunin]

I wonder if Aleister knew that was coming or if Ricochet did it as a rib. I can totally see "try to make Aleister crack" becoming a thing on house shows.

I want this to be a thing on tv. I don’t know why I found this one spot so funny but I was actually hysterically laughing. It was so good!

On TV would be bad because cracking would kill his gimmick.

Only if he cracked!

I know, I know. But I’m just loving the dynamic between the two. It reminds me of a little sibling (Ricochet) trying to emulate the older sibling (Aleister), and I just love it...

Which actually makes me worry when it’s over. Dammit WWE why do you do this to me.

Edit: I think it would actually be kind of charming if Ricochet kept doing things like this and instead of cracking, if Aleister would just give him kind of a sideways look, and carry on like nothing happened. I love little bits of characterization like that.