Quick note, lets hope that NXT can revive a love for wrestling. :emoji_slight_smile:
With the whole Iiconics group thing happening, lets stop going through the motions and emotions long enough to write about some wrasslin.
April 16:
-Velveteen Dream vs Buddy Murphy was awesome!! If you have some time to spare this is a great way to use it. Dream may be my favorite wrestler to watch right now. At first it felt like another fun character display from Dream with his crazy antics playing a distraction and bringing some creative counters... then he just showed how much of a young hungry talent his is going out and wrestling this match like a dude with a chip on his shoulder, before getting back to his "anything you can do, I can do better" mantra getting in an absolute slugfest and slapping the shit out of Murphy. Great moment there. I love how whenever it felt like I was starting to zone out a bit there was a unique spot to draw me back into it. The slide-in pose with the suicide dive, the jumping sunset flip canadian destroyer reversed into a DVD, the hard-hitting stuff in the middle and even some heat spots at the end. Man, this was good.
As for Murphy, I always love his matches, but this seems par for the course for him. I'm usually more impressed by the other guy, hardly a bad thing but he got plenty of shine here too with some devastating knee strikes and superkicks. He's a beast, but... breaking news.
-I still think the Tommaso Ciampa injury isn't getting enough cred as an all-time terrible WWE decision. This was the biggest match of NXT history and it really isn't close... well, Sasha vs Bayley, but... Maybe this may secretly for the best. Gargano got that incredible match with Adam Cole, but this still has so much more mileage with Gargano vs Ciampa still being on the docket.
As for Gargano's promo, I... really feel like it would have been great to put the storyline stuff on hold for a second. The beatdown by UE is fine and all, but... Actually maybe this was for the best. Johnny Champion really doesn't feel right without beating Ciampa. Johnny hasn't conquered his demons by winning the belt, he really does need closure to the story with Ciampa. This whole thing spitting some top-shelf version of WWE Babyface shit-talk was fun enough, I guess
-I missed a few episodes and have missed the re-debut of Dominik Dijakovic but LMFAO THAT WAS COOL. His little shot at Great Value Rich Swann looked so effortless, but in a way that just made crushing this dude seem easy. I've heard from his ROH days that this dude is no Baron Corbin, so his match with Dream should be a blast!.. This is how you build a match though. Have a match that highlights Dream's strengths and make him feel wonderful.
-Vanessa Borne sucks.
-I'm really going to miss Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler. I love the sheer intensity Shayna brings to any match, and seeing playful ass Kairi having to adapt to being a wrestler in a fighter's world is always fun. Shayna's scary as hell, some of the arm breakers she was doing here made me scream. She's so damn good, and I appreciate this feud for not just being an incredible bit of storytelling but how great Shayna's become because of it.
As for the end, that was... interesting. Io Shirai running in and costing Kairi the match would have been great drama had Kairi not been called up to Smackdown... stupid main roster. -_- Kairi could easily look over like... no more title matches... ever. thanks to you. :emoji_slight_frown: But Io was just going in to protect her friend, meanwhile after Shayna smiled really evilly it really got over the right way, then watching Io scream as Shayna breaks Kairi's hand on the way out the door was pretty heartwrenching. This feud is going to be amazing.
This whole ending could have went so badly so easily, but they nailed it.
9/10
April 24:
-It's not just because I don't want to watch them, but I seriously think the Forgotten Sons should be the next team called up. Hell, I'd replace the War Raiders with them. You don't call up the damn War Raiders for depth, but these three stompy dudes are perfectly fine filler match people for hour 2 of Raw. This feud with Oney and Danny seems fine I guess.
-Gargano playing Ciampa-level mindgames trying to create a divide between Cole and Strong is fun psychology if they want to play with it. I'd love to see Gargano doing more of his heel-like schtick, because he hasn't had closure yet. Let the evil flow through you, Johnny.
-Catanzaro? Star of the Women's Royal Rumble? Cool. Her little brief flashes of offense I've seen from her remind me of Charlotte when she started, when she was using her gymnastics background to hit offense while learning how to be a "wrestler". One submission escape spot, pulling off a quality hot tag escape spot before LaRae just mops the floor with both of them en route to a W. Valuable experience for the newbies here was accrued
-I usually like Cathy Kelly but wow what a lousy interview. "Io, last week your best friend got brutally attacked and made you watch, how do you feel?" Holy cow you couldn't have given less of a shit if she was interviewing me. "Hey Snow how do you like your eggs?" Sunny side up I guess. Oh, there's a beatdown? That's cool.
-War Raiders vs Street Profits was a lot of fun! Montez Ford is such an absolute beast, it's a shame that the top of the card in WWE as a whole is so loaded that it feels like he has to be "tied down" with this tag team. Profits tried their best to strategically get an advantage at first, then just fought back but the two trees were just too much...but man, I wish we got tag sprints on the main roster. GET WITH THE DAMN TIMES. WE NEED THIS. THIS WAS EPIC. War Raiders are insanely good. How are they doing on the main roster? Even ignoring the name change? Terrible, I assume?
-Johnny Gargano vs Roderick Strong was pretty damn good. I've always struggled with Roddy's single's matches, so the more you like those the more you'll like this. Think the main issue I had was that I was just waiting for the finish - likely because it's 4:30 AM lol. Maybe on a fresh viewing this is better. And again, let the hate flow through you! Get in peoples' heads, cause them to question their friends, their allies... good johnny...
6/10
