Previously on the Best and Worst of WWE NXT: Nikki Cross tried to motivate Dakota Kai from the shadows, EC3 had his NXT television (re-)debut, and the Velveteen Dream and Ricochet got in each other’s faces about who is or isn’t wearing socks.
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.
And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for May 16, 2018.
Best: Johnny’s Better
Up first this week is a confrontation between Candice “Wrestling” LeRae Gargano Esq. and Tommaso “Cruiserweight Kratos” Ciampa. This is one of those angles that could go belly-up at any point — two people feuding over who should or shouldn’t have a job, with a heavy lean toward one of them being married, and how that affects their marriage — but everyone involved is so good at what they do and the story’s been continuing on and growing for so long I think everyone’s on the same productive page.
This week’s bit was great because it established the needed plot reminders — Ciampa is evil to the point of insanity and we’re still not totally sure why, Johnny Gargano beat him at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans and broke him even more, and Candice loves her husband, WANTS to love her former friend Tommaso, and isn’t afraid to back up the righteous indignation she’s speaking with an open hand to the face. Candice not backing down physically is super important to her character; at least, assuming the previous decade of independent work informs the NXT work.
I doubt this ever leads to Ciampa vs. LeRae one-on-one in NXT, but it could, and that’s pretty cool. Everyone’s in their right place: Candice is a compassionate warrior, Johnny tried to do the right thing and had it refused, and Tommaso’s losing his mind via a combination of shame and push-ups.
Best: Ronald Reagan, Larry Bird, And Jesus Christ Himself Y’all
I know I’m probably the thousandth person to think this, but between the World War II pin-up gear, the classically-styled blonde hair, the accent and the saluting, Lacey Evans is just Liberty Belle from Glow, right? Like, they should just go with that and cross-promote. Maybe turn Vanessa Borne into an evil 1980s Russian or something. Shayna Baszler vs. Welfare Queen at TakeOver, please.
Evans gets a win over Brandi Lauren, formerly Ava Storie of Impact Wrestling. Kinda sad she has a normal Divas name now instead of one that made her sound like a JRPG. I thought the finish was kinda dumb — Evans hits a moonsault from the second rope that everyone including the announcers pops for, but then doesn’t go for a cover so she could pick Lauren up and hit her finisher, which is literally one normal punch — but at least the finish is called “Women’s Rights” and that’s worth a Robert Redford nod.
Best: This Match Is Going To Be *So Good*
I was surprised at first that they’d go straight into Velveteen Dream vs. Ricochet in a week, like maybe the former Prince Puma brought some of that Lucha Undrground booking with him, but it was just an excuse to get them jumped by Lars Sullivan. Much like they’ve done with Ciampa, NXT shows a deep understanding of their audience by knowing the most offensive thing you can take from them is a great wrestling match already in progress.
It was great, too. Ricochet and Velveteen Dream managed to build this entire thing out of a hot “feeling out process,” even doing their version of the Ric and Will Ospreay standoff as punctuation. I love that they teased you with the idea that this was going to be a 25-minute classic and then had Lars’ French Angel-looking ass snatch it away with his big ol’ troll hands.
I’m into every combination of this. Velveteen Dream naturally settling into a tweener role as a 100% heel who is beloved because he’s clearly so good at his job is the shit.
Worst: Reeves The Memories Alone
Real quick, I finally realized who Kona Reeves reminds me of. Telma Hopkins. Aunt Rachel from Family Matters. They should repackage Lio Rush as Little Richie.
Reeves is doing a gimmick about how he’s “the finest,” which is hurt a lot by EC3 having just debuted doing a “one-percenter” gimmick plus years of street cred plus the body of like three Greek Gods mashed together. So this week, Reeves differentiates himself by facing Raul Mendoza, the, uh, guy who lost to EC3 last week. Sure, let’s do it.
Mendoza’s great but bland, by design. Reeves is bland but “great” by design. It’s a weird dynamic. Reeves is cold boogers on a paper plate right now, but there’s something really promising in his body language. He’s got this lanky Barry Windham body and a lot of physical personality (even if saying “the finest” over and over isn’t doing much for him), so I think if he steps back from the Fake Rock act a little and develops his own schtick around some great natural physiology for believable punches and kicks, which he already has, I think we’ll dig his work more. You can’t just slap the Jacob Novak “vaguely arrogant and wears a jacket” gimmick on everybody.
Best: Ace Reporter Nikki Cross
It’s pretty great that the feral Scottish Purge gang member has turned into the conscience of the NXT women’s division. This week we get another look at Nikki Cross trying to get Dakota Kai to face her fear of Shayna Baszler by … repeatedly scaring her, I guess. I hope the rest of Sanity shows up on Smackdown like, “Nikki was weirding us out, man, we’re just here to tag buildings and maybe throw a little tear gas, nothing crazy.”
I really hope this sets up Kai vs. Baszler with Baszler violently wrecking and injuring her again, and that we get a big Shayna Baszler vs. Nikki Cross women’s championship extreme rules match or whatever in Brooklyn. Or literally anywhere.
Best: Pete Dunne Becomes Three-ey
This week’s main event is a killer six-man tag pitting Oney, Twoey and Pete Dunne against Undisputed Era. This felt like such a classic NXT episode, from them being at Full Sail through to the Dream/Ricochet tease to all the intersecting backstage segments. The main also helped balance out the amount of good wrestling on the show, which was honestly a little lacking thanks to the Lars attack.
Undisputed Era has a great dynamic going right now, with Adam Cole as the accomplished, championship-quality leader having to spend too much time dealing with his wormy subordinates because his second in command (and his only serious friend) is injured. At least, that’s how I see it. Cole is a great heel, sure, but O’Reilly and Strong are ACES at being obnoxious little talented jerks you wanna smack in the face. It makes sense that he’s in charge of them and not the other way around. I also love these guys — Strong and O’Reilly specifically — being in multi-man matches because it amplifies their strengths (timing, offense, crummy heeling) without ever setting them up to deal with their weaknesses. It’s a perfect role.
I also really liked seeing Lorcan and Burch not only prove they deserve to be Dunne’s partners (and aren’t just an ersatz Mustache Mountain) by getting the pin on the tag champs, which elevates them a little and turns them into believable contenders. And they did it in a six-man, which feels a hell of a lot better than doing a non-title two-on-two tag. I don’t love their finish, though. It’s a wheelbarrow assisted DDT. The point of a DDT is you’re dropping a guy on his head with all his body weight behind it. That’s what creates the force. If someone’s holding up their legs and has their arms wrapped around the guy’s waist, you’re basically DDT’ing them with no force. It’s a nitpick, but it popped into my brain. Same problem I have with a lot of “rope-assisted” moves.
Regardless, really good stuff this week. Good character development, a little positive fine-tuning — I see your monogrammed trunks, Kona Reeves, and I appreciate them — and some good wrestling to set up even MORE good wrestling. [laser noises]
