Previously on the Best and Worst of WWE NXT: Two weeks ago we covered NXT TakeOver: Chicago II, one of the most incredible top-to-bottom WWE shows of the year. All you missed last week were the “take a week off” TakeOver pre-show matches.
If you missed this episode, you can watch it here. If you’d like to read previous installments of the Best and Worst of NXT, click right here. Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter, where everything is terrible.
And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for June 27, 2018.
Best: Boy! Read The Card For The Next TakeOver
You know, I had a big section planned where I wanted to explain how great it was to see Tommaso Ciampa using the momentum from the Johnny Gargano feud to instantly “move on” as soon as he won something and start challenging for the NXT Championship, but then Ciampa tweeted out this GIF comparing himself vs. Aleister Black to Kratos vs. Baldur from God of War and said everything.
https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/1012131402899390464
It’s so perfect. Ciampa’s being followed around by a tiny, hot-tempered Candice LeRae; he’s wearing know-it-all Johnny Wrestling’s head on his belt as an accessory; and Aleister Black as NXT Champion makes it impossible for me to feel anything. All we need now is someone to represent the World Serpent and we’re set. Alex Wright, maybe?
But yeah, I love Ciampa getting one fluke win due to Johnny’s hubris and immediately being “done” with a feud he spent months and months and months propagating. Now he’s like, “Johnny? I haven’t heard that name in YEARS!” Aleister Black’s Finn Bálor But Cool gimmick limits him to lots of stoic reaction shots and waiting to hit his catchphrase — I can see “fade to black” on the main roster having the same shoehorn qualities as Bobby Roode calling shit “glorious” and AJ Styles announcing everything in life as “phenomenal” — so the story writes itself. Ciampa looks like a clear winner, Johnny messes it up for him, and we build to a “final” Ciampa/Gargano match while also, if we’re smart, setting up Black to drop the title to Velveteen Dream. And then we move DIY up to 205 Live as friends or enemies, send Black to Smackdown to have matches in the abyss with Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas, and let Dream rule over NXT with a velveteen fist for the next however many years he’d like.
Best: El LeRae Network
Speaking of Candice, she’s also allowed to re-contextualize herself as not just “Johnny Gargano’s wife in this important storyline,” but as … well, for lack of a more creative way to say it, Candice fucking LaRae.
In this match with Liberty Belle, Candice is allowed to do what she does best: selling her ass off, then making a big fired-up comeback to kick ass and win the match. Outside of being the one female wrestler in a bonkers tag match, it’s pretty much what she’s known for. She’s very good at it, so we end up with a few constructive minutes reminding us that yeah, she’s a top-level talent and not a demure character that passes out because her 5-foot tall husband fell slightly and bumped into her. Lacey Evans gets to look like the best possible version of Dana Brooke; a lower mid-card bruiser type who still has a ways to go, but is working with some talented folks and seems to be putting it together. I don’t know if what she’s got going right now makes her seem as important as Candice or Bianca Belair or Nikki Cross, but like I said, she’s clearly working hard.
No more sad wife stories for Candice! When Johnny inevitably goes ape on Ciampa again, Candice’s segment should be her saying “vaya con dios, you crazy assholes,” and doing some push-ups for her match with Shayna.
Best: Vanessa Borne Asks The Tough Questions
Answer: because her life is dope, and she does dope shit.
Worst: The Fine-al Countdown
Here’s another Kona Reeves jobber squash, this time against poor Maximum Humberto, aka Max Castellanos, the San Antonio equivalent of Marty Scurll. Seriously, look at him. You know how these matches go by now. Reeves can’t decide if he’s The Miz or Ric Flair or Nation of Domination Rock or Jacob Novak so he does them all at once, and his finish is a Samoan drop where the guy lands wrong so it looks awkward. It’s … fine. It’s the finest thing they do.
Worst: JUSTICE FOR TEAM DICKROD
Mustache Mountain is supposed to have their first match at Full Sail as NXT Tag Team Champions against the A+ jobber team of Dave Dixon and Carl Axelrod, but Undisputed Era attacks them and takes their place. How you gonna treat Team Dickrod that way? The nerve of these Ring of Honor guys.
But Obviously The Best: The Match
Undisputed Era attacks Bate and Seven, Ricochet makes the save, and we Teddy Long our way into a six-man tag. Undisputed Era and Mustache Mountain already have great chemistry and are the best part of those NXT UK specials, assuming you don’t like seeing the same little muscular white guy who loves big strikes and suplexes fighting himself 16 times in a row. I think the UK guys work better in an NXT context, because it allows them to seem unique instead of like the best versions of a ubiquitous breed. The same kinda goes for Ricochet as well, as removing him from Lucha Underground eliminates guys like Pentagon and Fenix from the playing field and you’re like, “holy shit, this guy does stuff NOBODY ELSE CAN DO.” Removing him from a ladder match with EC3 also makes those endless abs a lot more appealing. Undisputed Era have settled into a wonderful spot as the Millennial nWo, mouthing along to their own entrance theme and ruining everyone’s day with a mix of in-ring skill and out-of-ring social malice.
You don’t need a guy on the Internet telling you this is good, but hell, it is. Go watch it. Ricochet is somehow a one man Dragon Gate match, organizing these big set pieces where he fights three people at once and making it look timely and organic. Bate and Seven are an unbelievable tag team, and the Ring of Honor Pals are about as easy to appreciate while booing the shit out of them as wrestlers can be.
Look at this GIF. It tells you everything you need to know.
It’s a shame that it looks like we’re moving right back into a title change, turning the UK tag match into a “WCW’s on tour in Japan and wants to do something special” vibe instead of an actual change on top. But hey, at least we’ll get another great tag match out of it.
Great, great stuff this week, as long as you aren’t looking directly at Kona Reeves.
