BRM Reviews the 11/25/2020 NXT (DUNNE VS. O'REILLY!)

[Big Red Machine]

Kevin Owens is substituting for Wade Barrett on commentary tonight.

EMBER MOON vs. CANDICE LERAE (w/Indi Hartwell)- 7/10
A great opener. Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez came out and eventually helped Candice get the win.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
The heels tried to beat up Ember but she escaped. Toni Storm then came out o back her up… and then turned on her. Did not see that one coming.

LEGADO DEL FANTASMA SIT AROUND AND PUT THEMSELVES OVER- bad
This came off as painfully scripted.

UNDISPUTED ERA PROMO- AWESOME!
Cole did most of the talking, but the important part is that Kyle O’Reilly wants to face Pete Dunne tonight to get revenge for being turned on a few weeks ago.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS THE FEMALE HEELS- fine
Candice announces that her team with be herself, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez, and Toni Storm.

TIMOTHY THATCHER vs. KUSHIDA- 7.5/10
Give me more grappling!
Tommaso Ciampa came out to watch the match. Thatcher allowed himself to get distracted by Ciampa when he got tossed to the outside. This was sufficient to give Thatcher something to complain about while still having KUSHIDA’s win feel clean.

RHEA RIPLEY VS. IO SHIRAI FALLOUT VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMOS- awesome

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS PETE DUNNE, DANNY BURCH, & ONEY LORCAN- great

THE KO SHOW WITH SPECIAL GUEST LEON RUFF- AWESOME!
As you’d expect, Johnny Gargano and Damian Priest also got involved. Kevin Owens: Genre-savvy wrestling talk-show host hade me cracking up. We’re getting a three-way for the North American Title at TakeOver.

JAKE ATLAS vs. CAMERON GRIMES- 4/10
This was short, but good for the time it got. Atlas took most of the match, but Grimes managed to hit the Cave-In and win.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Dexter Lumis showed up with a blindfold so Grimes ran away. Lumis took over all of the screens and showed video from that stupid zombie bullsh*t match and some drawings of Grimes running away scared. I want to this feud to be done with and for Lumis to disappear forever.

WILLIAM REGAL & CAMERON GRIMES BACKSTAGE- Grimes was asked by a cameraman if he was afraid of Lumis. He said he wasn’t. Regal told him he would be facing Lumis in a strap match at TakeOver.

RHEA RIPLEY ADDRESSES HER FUTURE- didn’t like it
She assured us that she was staying in NXT, and that she was still focused on the title. She was interrupted by Team Candice, who were carrying an unconscious Io Shirai. They then attacked Rhea and beat her up.
Once again, this was a segment where it felt like the booker was making teams for War Games more than it felt like the characters were doing things of their own accords. In this segment, though, it finally hit me why I’ve been having that problem with the build to this match. The captain of the heel team is Candice. Does anyone remember who the captain of the babyface team is?

It’s Shotzi Blackheart, who is nowhere to be found during any of this. A team of babyfaces is being formed without any involvement from the supposed captain.

XIA LI & BO VIDEO- whatever
No explanation for how we’re seeing this or how there are able to be subtitles. They are taken to a warehouse where they beg forgiveness from their master. There is a shadowy figure who is really in charge. I assume it’s the “she” that was referred to last week, but the much easier joke is that it’s Christopher Daniels, so we’ll go with that. They each get that symbol drawn on their hand by the bald guy and they cried a lot.

EVER-RISE ARE JUMPED BY THE GRIZZLED YOUNG VETERANS- fine
The tag division needs the help, but I REALLY don’t want to sit through more Zack Gibson promos.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS CANDICE LERAE & JOHNNY GARGANO IN THE PARKING LOT- good
They’re having that problem that AEW sometimes does where the interview echoes horribly. Indi Hartwell is in a neckbrace. Candice says that anyone who joins Io’s team will get an ass-kicking. She went to take Indi to the car, so Johnny took over the interview. He said they would both win at War Games. There was a person in Scream mask in the back seat of their car, so they have yet another mysterious ally.

Also, somewhere in this show there was a Finn Balor promo that I forgot about, which was also awesome.

LADDER MATCH FOR THE ADVANTAGE AT WAR GAMES: Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly- 9/10
This was insane. A mystery person interfered to help Dunne win. Just… got watch the match. These two are CRAZY.


Yet another awesome episode of NXT.