A stellar promo segment dominated the show while new faces looked to breakthrough and old ones seek to cement their credentials.
Tag-Team Division
NXT kicked off this week with the flashy charismatic duo of Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, aka The Street Profits, in action against inde duo The Metro Brothers, Chris Metro and JC Metro. The newcomers looked a lot like Deuce ‘N Domino from Smackdown circa 2006 2.0, wearing white vests with black pants. The Street Profits made quick work of the enhancement talents for the night, Montez picking up the pin after a thunderous frog splash from the top rope.
However, things weren’t done here. As the Street Profits celebrated, the Forgotten Sons ran out and attacked them from behind. Outnumbered, Ford and Dawkins would be quickly overwhelmed as Cutler, Blake, and Ryker – especially Ryker, laid them out with a number of high-impact moves. Management seems to be the highest on Ryker as he always looks like a million bucks in the Forgotten Sons segments.
Women’s Division
The NXT Women’s championship will be on the line a week from Saturday in Phoenix as Shayna Baszler defends against Bianca BelAir.
This week, BelAir came out to the ring for a rare in-ring promo and got a warm, babyface reception from the Full Sail crowd. “Undefeated” chants would ring around the arena as she took the mic. The no.1 contender called out Baszler and her horsewomen and claimed that she was walking out of TakeOver: Phoenix the new NXT Women’s champion.
BelAir would soon be interrupted by the champ but Baszler didn’t appear alone as she was flanked by her Four Horsewomen of MMA cohorts, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke. Shayna would give her credit for her accomplishments in the Performance Centre before telling BelAir that she obviously wasn’t the smartest if she thinks she can beat her.
Bianca’s exchange with Shayna and her entire promo was absolutely top notch. She held her own throughout the segment and came off as a real megastar on the mic. The crowd was lapping up every word.
Shayna would get the last word in though, stating that she would make Bianca’s vocabulary go from “undefeated” to “overrated”. This would bring about dueling undefeated-overrated chants from the NXT audience.
This was a terrific segment when both women were trading words and it got even better when Bianca slapped the taste out of Baszler’s mouth just as she took her eyes off of the challenger for one second before evading Duke and Shafir and escaping out of the ring. As Mauro Ranallo said on commentary, Bianca just poured kerosene on the fire.
Next Week
The Velveteen Dream was penciled in to be in action next week on NXT, after a video package showing some of the greats of the industry like John Cena, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels talking up the 23-year old.
A face-to-face confrontation between the NXT North American champion, Ricochet, and challenger Johnny Gargano was also advertised for next week.
Promos
Aleister Black was in a backstage promo segment where he talked about absolving Tommaso Ciampa of his sins and take back the NXT championship. Black also said that he was looking forward to starting their fight a little early.
The NXT champion, Tommaso Ciampa, replied later in the show to the challenger’s words, giving a stern warning to Black, telling him to be careful what he wished for.
Dijakovic
NXT newcomer Dominik Dijakovic faced Brazilian martial artist Adrian Jauode this week on NXT. Jauode did get some minor offense in by Dijakovic finished him off with a stiff-looking modified version of a GTS for the pin.
Johnny Gargano
Johnny Wrestling was in action against the newest member of the 205 Live roster, Mexican luchador Humberto Carrillo.
This would be an entertaining, back-and-forth bout with lots of high-flying lucha spots from Carrillo but Gargano would gain the upper hand with a long dart into the middle turnbuckle before following it up with a slingshot DDT for the win.
Main Event
Two of the biggest behemoths in NXT, Kassius Ohno and Keith Lee, collided in this week’s main event.
Matt Riddle had been shown earlier in the show in a backstage segment with Lee and asked about his thoughts on his friend’s match with his rival, Ohno. Riddle said that he couldn’t be out in the Limitless One’s corner because he hadn’t yet been medically cleared but he was just hoping Keith Lee leaves a little of Kassius Ohno for him to beat up once he’s done with Kassius tonight.
This match wouldn’t be amiss on an episode of 205 Live, except that both competitors easily exceed the weight restrictions. Some unreal show of athleticism and agility was on show in this fantastic match combined with an intense ground battle.
The match would near its culmination when Lee had Ohno cornered near the ropes but the experienced Kassius Ohno pushed Lee onto the referee who got laid out. As Lee would try to check up on the ref, Kassius would deliver a low blow from behind before delivering a rolling elbow to the jaw for the knock out and the pin.
An incensed Matt Riddle would make his way down to the ring, restrained by two referees since he still isn’t medically cleared for physical action, as Riddle tried to check up on his friend. Ohno bailed on the ring and the show ended with a face-off between the King of Bros and the wily-old veteran, Kassius Ohno. The two collide at NXT TakeOver Phoenix, a week from Saturday.
