BRM Reviews the 10/31/2018 NXT
Posted: Nov 1st, '18, 08:08
OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- Only while watching this did it occur to me that the conclusion of the episode two weeks ago probably spurred a scary amount of people to start shipping Nikki Cross and Aleister Black.
The announcers told us that no one has seen or heard from Johnny Gargano all week.
NIKKI CROSS vs. MERCEDES MARTINEZ- 6.5/10
Cross’ finisher is apparently called “The Purge.” Martinez got to look very strong in defeat, even though the match wasn’t particularly long.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- LOVED IT!
Candice LeRae came out and confronted Nikki. She didn’t have a mic, so you had to listen closely to hear, but that did a great job of making this feel a lot less like it was “done for TV.” Candice was saying things like “why didn’t you just tell somebody?” and “why did you do this?” She was very annoyed by Nikki’s attitude, saying things like “are you smiling right now?” “This isn’t funny,” “these are our lives,” and “you’re messing with people’s lives! And the whole time Nikki just kept on laughing and smiling and rolling around, as she made her way to the back while Candice yelled at her.
Candice’s frustration here was so tangible it was fantastic. It’s clear that her husband attacking Aleister from behind the way he did and not telling her about it has disturbed her, but you could also completely understand why she would be annoyed that Nikki- who has no issue with Johnny (or her, for that matter), and no love for or allegiance to Aleister- decided to bring this down on them. Whether consciously or not, I think Candice is using Nikki as an outlet for some of her anger/frustration with Johnny. But at the same time, while I was watching Candice yell “these are our lives!” at Nikk and Nikki respond by just rolling around and laughing… and then, when Candice is yelling “These are our lives! It’s not a game. It’s not funny!” at her, and Nikki has the gall to respond to this by laughing even harder… well, it really makes Nikki look like a massive asshole.
One other detail here that might be of note was Candice’s appearance. She was dressed in all black, including black lipstick, and she had let her hair grow to the point where the top of her head was mostly it’s more natural blonde color, while the back was still the more metallic blonde dye she has been using for the past five or six years. I actually didn’t even recognize her when she came out. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but a real effort seemed to have been put into making sure she looked different than the Candice LeRae most fans have known. And a different look is often an indicator of a character change… and all black from someone who is usually bright and bubbly just screams “heel turn coming!” to me (or at least some sort of flirtation with the Dark Side of The Force).
POST-MATCH SEGMENT: PART 2- So Nikki walked to go backstage… but bumped into Aleister Black. Nikki backed off to the other end of the stage… and Aleister walked down to the ring. Candice walked right up ato him and stared him down. He wanted to know where Johnny was. Candice said he wasn’t here. Aleister kept demanding to know where Johnny was and I think Candice said she hadn’t seen him. Aleister then said that Johnny’s “future is gone” and then walked off This part I had to piece together from my own attempts at lip-reading, listening extremely carefully several times, and stuff Nigel said. This was fine from a story point of view, but unlike the other part, I couldn’t hear anything here anywhere close to clearly, and I had to watch and listen to this at least five times to get what I got out of it. That was quite frustrating.
THE MIGHTY vs. THE STREET PROFITS- 6.75/10
Oh yeah. This feud is a thing that was happening, wasn’t it?
They had a fun tag team match. Your new Evolve Tag Team Champions the Street Profits won the match, so Gabe Sapolsky did not have an aneurysm.
CATHY KELLY INTERVIEWS WILLIAM REGAL- good
Regal was quickly interrupted by Aleister Black who demanded to know where Gargano was. Regal said that- like Candice already told Aliester (apparently)- Regal ordered Johnny to stay at home this week. Regal told Aleister he would get his chance for revenge on Johnny at TakeOver: War Games II. Aleister vowed that Johnny’s future in NXT would “Fade to Black.”
LARS SULLIVAN IS SMASHING THINGS BACKSTAGE- He’s furious because The Velveteen Dream was given the title shot at TakeOver instead of him. He said he would smash TVD so Regal would have to give him the title shot instead.
MATT RIDDLE vs. LUKE MENZIES- 3/10
I don’t like Riddle’s new music at all. This was a lot less of a squash than I assumed it would be. They let Menzies get in quite a bit of stuff before Riddle bad his big comeback and won with the Bro-mission.
EVOLUTION WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH RECAP/HORSEWOMEN INTERVIREW FROM AFTER EVOLUTION- Good
Marina and Jessamyn are wearing Baszler’s t-shirt. Kairi showed up wanting to one but she was so hurt and hacking up a lung to the point where just one small dude was able to hold her back with ease.
They are advertising that Lacey Evans will be “in action next week!” as if this is a big deal, so they seem to be ready to push her really hard.
DANNY BURCH & ONEY LORCAN vs. RAUL MEDNOZA & HUMBERTO CARRILLO- 5/10
This match was short but INSANE for the time it got. Carrillo in particular came off great. This dude is CRAZY athletic.
THE BIG BRAWL- GREAT!
Undisputed Era were cutting a promo when War Raiders attacked them from behind. While attacking from behind is a heelish tactic, this was mitigated somewhat by the fact that they were running into a situation where they were down four to two. This turned into a big crazy brawl in this outside cafeteria area, with Ricochet getting involved as well. Things spilled into the ringside area and the heels finally started to take over due to their numbers advantage, but then Pete Dunne showed up with a chair to make things more than even. The babyfaces won the brawl and the heels began to scurry away up the ramp. Regal then came out and angrily declared that Brawling like this is not okay, and the only way to settle this is with WAR GAMES. This announcement would have been a lot more exciting and surprising if the name of the next TakeOver hadn’t been “War Games.”
This was a very busy, but a very fun episode of NXT. I’m quite interested to see what direction Candice LeRae winds up going in, as well as what the ultimate result of Lars Sullivan’s anger will be. Are we getting a three-way? Will Lars attack TVD and wind up suspended? Will an attack lead to TVD being willing to put his title shot on the line in exchange for revenge and then losing it? We’ll have to find out. The build to the War Games match itself has been quite great, the Horsewomen are a new wrinkle in things as well, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say their newfound desire to push Lacey Evans doesn’t make quite curious as to what part of her formula they think has changed enough to make the character worth trying to push harder.
The announcers told us that no one has seen or heard from Johnny Gargano all week.
NIKKI CROSS vs. MERCEDES MARTINEZ- 6.5/10
Cross’ finisher is apparently called “The Purge.” Martinez got to look very strong in defeat, even though the match wasn’t particularly long.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- LOVED IT!
Candice LeRae came out and confronted Nikki. She didn’t have a mic, so you had to listen closely to hear, but that did a great job of making this feel a lot less like it was “done for TV.” Candice was saying things like “why didn’t you just tell somebody?” and “why did you do this?” She was very annoyed by Nikki’s attitude, saying things like “are you smiling right now?” “This isn’t funny,” “these are our lives,” and “you’re messing with people’s lives! And the whole time Nikki just kept on laughing and smiling and rolling around, as she made her way to the back while Candice yelled at her.
Candice’s frustration here was so tangible it was fantastic. It’s clear that her husband attacking Aleister from behind the way he did and not telling her about it has disturbed her, but you could also completely understand why she would be annoyed that Nikki- who has no issue with Johnny (or her, for that matter), and no love for or allegiance to Aleister- decided to bring this down on them. Whether consciously or not, I think Candice is using Nikki as an outlet for some of her anger/frustration with Johnny. But at the same time, while I was watching Candice yell “these are our lives!” at Nikk and Nikki respond by just rolling around and laughing… and then, when Candice is yelling “These are our lives! It’s not a game. It’s not funny!” at her, and Nikki has the gall to respond to this by laughing even harder… well, it really makes Nikki look like a massive asshole.
One other detail here that might be of note was Candice’s appearance. She was dressed in all black, including black lipstick, and she had let her hair grow to the point where the top of her head was mostly it’s more natural blonde color, while the back was still the more metallic blonde dye she has been using for the past five or six years. I actually didn’t even recognize her when she came out. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but a real effort seemed to have been put into making sure she looked different than the Candice LeRae most fans have known. And a different look is often an indicator of a character change… and all black from someone who is usually bright and bubbly just screams “heel turn coming!” to me (or at least some sort of flirtation with the Dark Side of The Force).
POST-MATCH SEGMENT: PART 2- So Nikki walked to go backstage… but bumped into Aleister Black. Nikki backed off to the other end of the stage… and Aleister walked down to the ring. Candice walked right up ato him and stared him down. He wanted to know where Johnny was. Candice said he wasn’t here. Aleister kept demanding to know where Johnny was and I think Candice said she hadn’t seen him. Aleister then said that Johnny’s “future is gone” and then walked off This part I had to piece together from my own attempts at lip-reading, listening extremely carefully several times, and stuff Nigel said. This was fine from a story point of view, but unlike the other part, I couldn’t hear anything here anywhere close to clearly, and I had to watch and listen to this at least five times to get what I got out of it. That was quite frustrating.
THE MIGHTY vs. THE STREET PROFITS- 6.75/10
Oh yeah. This feud is a thing that was happening, wasn’t it?
They had a fun tag team match. Your new Evolve Tag Team Champions the Street Profits won the match, so Gabe Sapolsky did not have an aneurysm.
CATHY KELLY INTERVIEWS WILLIAM REGAL- good
Regal was quickly interrupted by Aleister Black who demanded to know where Gargano was. Regal said that- like Candice already told Aliester (apparently)- Regal ordered Johnny to stay at home this week. Regal told Aleister he would get his chance for revenge on Johnny at TakeOver: War Games II. Aleister vowed that Johnny’s future in NXT would “Fade to Black.”
LARS SULLIVAN IS SMASHING THINGS BACKSTAGE- He’s furious because The Velveteen Dream was given the title shot at TakeOver instead of him. He said he would smash TVD so Regal would have to give him the title shot instead.
MATT RIDDLE vs. LUKE MENZIES- 3/10
I don’t like Riddle’s new music at all. This was a lot less of a squash than I assumed it would be. They let Menzies get in quite a bit of stuff before Riddle bad his big comeback and won with the Bro-mission.
EVOLUTION WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH RECAP/HORSEWOMEN INTERVIREW FROM AFTER EVOLUTION- Good
Marina and Jessamyn are wearing Baszler’s t-shirt. Kairi showed up wanting to one but she was so hurt and hacking up a lung to the point where just one small dude was able to hold her back with ease.
They are advertising that Lacey Evans will be “in action next week!” as if this is a big deal, so they seem to be ready to push her really hard.
DANNY BURCH & ONEY LORCAN vs. RAUL MEDNOZA & HUMBERTO CARRILLO- 5/10
This match was short but INSANE for the time it got. Carrillo in particular came off great. This dude is CRAZY athletic.
THE BIG BRAWL- GREAT!
Undisputed Era were cutting a promo when War Raiders attacked them from behind. While attacking from behind is a heelish tactic, this was mitigated somewhat by the fact that they were running into a situation where they were down four to two. This turned into a big crazy brawl in this outside cafeteria area, with Ricochet getting involved as well. Things spilled into the ringside area and the heels finally started to take over due to their numbers advantage, but then Pete Dunne showed up with a chair to make things more than even. The babyfaces won the brawl and the heels began to scurry away up the ramp. Regal then came out and angrily declared that Brawling like this is not okay, and the only way to settle this is with WAR GAMES. This announcement would have been a lot more exciting and surprising if the name of the next TakeOver hadn’t been “War Games.”
This was a very busy, but a very fun episode of NXT. I’m quite interested to see what direction Candice LeRae winds up going in, as well as what the ultimate result of Lars Sullivan’s anger will be. Are we getting a three-way? Will Lars attack TVD and wind up suspended? Will an attack lead to TVD being willing to put his title shot on the line in exchange for revenge and then losing it? We’ll have to find out. The build to the War Games match itself has been quite great, the Horsewomen are a new wrinkle in things as well, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say their newfound desire to push Lacey Evans doesn’t make quite curious as to what part of her formula they think has changed enough to make the character worth trying to push harder.