Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT: Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic tried to kill each other again (like they do) only to be interrupted by a small child who holds the North American Championship. Also, Undisputed Era injured Velveteen Dream with a USB drive.
If you’d like to read previous installments of the Best and Worst of NXT, you can do that here. Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter, where everything and everyone is terrible.
And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for October 23, 2019.
Best: This Est My Brutality
Up first this week is a spotlight on the incredibly dope NXT women’s division, with two physical specimens that more or less represent the future of what the division can be: Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair. I’m not sure if you need it or not, but if you watch pro wrestling and need to know that the people in the ring could beat the ever-loving shit out of you if they wanted to, congratulations, American women’s wrestling has reached that milestone. It reached it years ago, but I don’t want to hurt your confidence.
This is all about continuing to tie together all the loose ends in the women’s division. Everyone wants a shot at Shayna Baszler, so Shayna’s interrupting Team Kick matches — a team made up of a woman Baszler’s been bullying to great effect for like a year now and her tag team partner who’s injured all the time — and letting the threatening gridlock at the heart of the division work itself out. You’ve got Candice LeRae still working through her issues with Io Shirai, Io Shirai trying to resist the intimidation of Rhea Ripley, and Ripley and Bianca Belair both believing they’re the division’s next evolution. It’s a lot of assumption and entitlement jammed up in this glut of fantastic pro wrestlers, with the champ just kinda meandering around the outskirts being all, “hey SHAX, want a title shot??” It’s great.
The best part is that Shayna’s not even really feuding with Team Kick, she’s letting her little homies ride on them. Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir take advantage of William Regal’s generosity and the size of the NXT women’s tag team division that never formed because Bayley and Sasha Banks were bullshitting about coming back to Full Sail to get a number one contender match for the Women’s Tag Team Championship. I guess it still involves more work to get a championship match than on Raw, where the prerequisite is, “be Alexa Bliss.”
But anyway, the One Dakota Nation defeats the Lesser Horses in about three minutes by remembering they’re pro wrestlers and the bottom half of the Four Horsewomen really, really aren’t. No shade on them, they’re trying very hard, but the group already had too high an immediate success rate with Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler. The Kabuki Warriors pop up on the TitanTron after the match to chide Team Kick in Japanese, and I am in favor of literally anything that gets Asuka and Kairi Sane away from the main roster’s four-person idea of what a women’s division’s supposed to be and back at Full Sail to cave in some well-intentioned international domes. I love you a lot, Team Kick, but you’re gonna get rekt.
Best: First Of All, I’m Not Your Bro, Bro
Two great things happened in this Matt Riddle vs. Grimy Cameron match. Firstly, Full Sail crowds have started chanting “Rid-dle” in the cadence of “Gold-berg,” and he’s doing the JACKHAMMER in response. If you haven’t been keeping up with the Matt Riddle vs. William Scott Goldberg beef you’re seriously missing out, as there’s nothing on God’s green name I want to see more than those two throwing hands. Just watching a 52-year old man who can’t really fight try to intimidate a friendly stoner who really can is hilarious enough. Climb the ladder of none of this being real, kid, make yourself famous!
Secondly, Grimes lost a competitive match to one of NXT’s toughest singles competitors and was like, “you know what would make this better? Starting a fight with ANOTHER guy who could effortlessly lift me above his head and throw me into the sun.” So he shoves a randomly occurring Tyler Bate in the chest and puts on his ’70s rock top hat just to get feinted into a FACE PUNCH.
Glorious. I hope he reacts to eating a bunch of koppu kicks and a Tyler Driver by staggering to the back and spitting in Cesaro’s face.
Best: Killzango
The Forgotten Sons (whoever THEY are) lose a competitive six-man tag team match against Breezango (as fighter pilots) and their mystery partner, Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott. Scott appears to be just doing anything asked of him over the past few weeks, popping up on 205 Live and wrestling in tournaments and being the third for a trio of Hot Occupational Bros. Honestly, the only thing you’re gonna remember about this match is Scott moonsaulting off Jaxson Ryker’s chest, but that’s probably by design. It’s also the best thing Gunner’s ever contributed to a pro wrestling show. We’ve found your talent, Xmus Jaxon Flaxon-Waxon, it’s being the ring post. If NXT was a kindergarten Christmas play, you’d be the kid cast as a tree.
And while we’re on the subject, please watch the backstage followup with Swerve and Breezango where Fandango’s brilliant ass drops the line, “We were pilots. No no no, we ARE pilots. I’m as real as the streets, buckshot.”
Best: The “NXT” “Cruiserweights”
“Why wasn’t 205 Live always taped at Full Sail in front of people who’d obsessively love it,” is one of the great WWE mysteries. As @snokealarm put it, I wonder who got wind of the Cruiserweight Classic and decided it would get over AFTER an audience in Omaha sat through an entire Smackdown taping/live show?
Anyway, NXT Cruiserweight Champion (which is a thing now) Lio Rush sits in on commentary for a woefully short but fun Jack Gallagher vs. Angel Garza match. I was hype to see Gallagher show up on NXT Domestic and think he’d be one of the most valuable hands on the roster if they properly integrated him into/onto the show, but Garza’s just undeniable right now with his cheek-kissing entrance and catch-as-pants-can style. And you know, that’s maybe the greatest strength and creative disadvantage of the cruiserweight division right now; you don’t really care who wins because it’s all about how good the matches are, and you know for sure the next random combination of short kings is gonna be just as good. Everybody’s more or less on the same tier. Rush vs. Garza’s definitely the kind of match that will keep me from wondering what’s on the other channel.
Best: Inanimate Carbon Roderick
Finally we have the main event, which I think a deaf, dumb, and blind person who’s never watched wrestling in their lives could’ve predicted the finish to. It’s tiny baby heel champion Roderick Strong against BIG GIANT STRONG MAN WHO WANTS TO KILL KEITH LEE Dominik Dijakovic and BIG GIANT STRONG MAN WHO WANTS TO KILL DOMINIK DIJAKOVIC Keith Lee. Of course Lee and Dijakovic are going to incapacitate Strong, try to finish the match themselves, and fall victim to him worming his way back in at the last second and stealing somebody’s win. It’s one of those wrestling things were you know the outcome, but it’s fine because (1) the match is good and (2) any deviation from the norm would feel less honest, like you only booked it to subvert expectations.
Everyone overdelivered here, because Lee and Dijakovic are in the overdelivery business. Roderick Strong is the perfect guy to hold a title like the North American Championship, too. He’s got a Tully Blanchard vibe on a lot of levels, but very much so in regard to how he’ll keep winning with or without help because his inherent dickhead will is so damn strong. He’s so internally corrupted that he’s achieved a kind of upside-down confidence that makes him unstoppable. Plus, even he is smart enough to know the most reasonable finish to the match and work toward it accordingly. As an added bonus, two more guys get to have beef with Undisputed Era, and Lee and Dijakovic get more in-ring time together without having to bring their rivalry to a conclusion. Lee vs. Dijakovic is the only rivalry, quite frankly.
OH, and then …
BEST: FinnXT
Hey, here’s something we legitimately never expected.
If you want to see “subverting expectations” on a wrestling show done right, peep Finn Bálor showing up pretending to back DIY against Undisputed Era and kicking Johnny Gargano in the head. I think it’s a wonderful move that breaks two too-obvious storytelling conventions; that Finn Bálor is going to challenge for the NXT Championship again, and that either Johnny Gargano’s going to turn on Tommaso Ciampa, or Ciampa’s going to turn on Gargano.
Let’s talk about the second one first. If you’re like me, you spent the entire time between Gargano’s music starting and him getting into the ring going, “OH MY GOD JOHNNY HOW STUPID ARE YOU, DON’T GET INTO THE RING WITH THE ENTIRE UNDISPUTED ERA AND TOMMASO CIAMPA WITH THE CRUTCH.” By having Finn show up and be the guy who randomly turns heel, you eliminate (at least temporarily) the need to “understand” which DIY member’s going to flip out and attack the other. It gives Ciampa and Gargano a true common enemy besides the vague threat of nWo Ring of Honor and lets you believe/accept them as a team, at least for now, without the swerves. After two years of story without a proper finish, “what’s going on between Ciampa and Gargano” is always going to be in the back of our heads.
Plus, if Finn’s burned out on the Raw and Smackdown scene and wants to go have fun on the Good Brand for a while, wouldn’t he also want to play the character that’d allow him to have fun? Do you know how much we’ve been collectively dying to see PRINCE BY GOD DEVITT on NXT for once? No more smiling Alex Wright bullshit, give me Finn riding to the ring on somebody’s shoulders and the light-up jacket. It’s not like Jericho’s going to be using it again any time soon. Give me full tilt Devitt, revisit some Bullet Club drama between him and Adam Cole, and truly work me into believing that crutch isn’t gonna end up bent around Johnny Stinger’s neck.
Next Week:
Team Kick challenges the Kabuki Warriors for the Women’s Tag Team Championship, not remembering that Full Sail adds +10 to all of Kairi Sane’s attributes and +40 to Asuka’s. Also Lio Rush vs. Angel Garza, maybe, and Undisputed Era not realizing they decided to squad-up on the corpses of the two most psycho dudes to ever hold the NXT Championship and their new friends, NXT’s two large guys. You’re gonna have a bad time. Just wait until they’re joined by the supernatural Prince with the human couch and the ability to control light and you realize you’re only a week or two away from a War Games! Oh no!
Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week
The Real Birdman
*Gargano instinctively kicks out two seconds later*
Jericho7820
Lio Rush looks like the 4th or 5th Gemini Man
AJ Dusman
I haven’t disliked a Grimes this much since Lori.
AwkwardL0ser
Let Bo Dallas be the 4th man in this Former NxT champion stew he’s meat if I ever seant it!
Pdragon619
Ok, Asuka coming back to NXT is reason to watch it live next week. Sorry AEW, I’ve been loyal so far, but I promised my sword to the empress long ago.
Checkered? Nah Mauro, Ciampa and Gargano’s past is a whole chess set
Endy_Mion
Baron Corbin and Jessemyn Duke and King Cuerno should make a stable. Add Welfare Queen and Earl Thomas in there to round out the set. The Count from Sesame Street can manage them. Oh and add Jack “The Jack” Evans so we can get a royal flush.
Dave M J
Just awaiting the deleted scene where Finn looks into the Oculus
Clay Quartermain
Ok, Dead Eye Balor is my favorite rainbow
AddMayne
I guess Biz Cliz really is 4 life
That’s it for this week’s Best and Worst of NXT. Thanks for Wednesdaying with us!
Drop a comment down below to let us know what you thought of the show, give us a share on social media to get at least like a quarter of the amount of people who read about Raw and Smackdown every week to read about WWE’s good show, and be here next Wednesday for more pro wrestling that doesn’t make you feel stupid for devoting two hours of your life to it. See you then!
